“Did this really happen?” Helena said, now frowning at him.
“I swear to you, my dear Helena,” he pressed his hand on his heart, “it did. I learned after that my great uncle always played the same trick on a young nephew or cousin that had come to visit the chateau for the first time.”
“You have a very imaginative great-uncle. What an interesting time you must have had staying with him.” Faith said, sounding impressed.
“He was that.” Matteo sighed, now with a sad smile on his face. “He passed some ten years ago. But my visits to his house in Florence were always the best years of my boyhood.”
The best summers, at least. He only wished they had been years. Since his parents never bothered with him anyway, would there have been any difference if he had lived in Florence instead?
“What has become of Michael?” Chastity asked, curious.
“The chateau went to him; he now lives there with his wife and children.” Matteo smiled, recalling his last visit there.
“Perhaps you can take Helena to see the chateau after you are married,” Grace said, grinning. “You could show her the tower!”
She will love the view from the tower.
Matteo caught Helena’s eye. Her cheeks turned pink, her eyes suddenly shy. He was unaware that the wistful smile that tugged at his lips softened his whole bearing and rendered her speechless.
“If she would like,” Matteo replied simply.
“Oh, she will!” Grace replied for her sister. “Helena loves old places; she had such praises for Icedale Castle.”
“Is Valen Castle very old, too?” Chastity asked. “I think she will love living there.”
What if?I am, after all, a gentleman with a castle.
Chapter Thirteen
“They have been engaged in conversation since supper, where they were seated next to each other,” Helena motioned to Chastity and Lord Clifton. “And indeed, as soon as you gentlemen returned from your glass of port, he had sought her out again.”
The small dinner party that Matteo, Helena, and Chastity had been invited to the next day was hosted by Lord Algate’s sister, Lady Olivia Metternich, Countess of Carinthia. She and her mother, Lady Algate, had travelled back to England from Austria to attend a cousin’s wedding.
The honor of the invitation was, of course, Chastity’s, for Lord Algate remained a constant suitor to hers. The invitation was for Helena was well, and thus, was extended to Matteo.
Matteo watched the couple discreetly. Sitting across from them, they were engaged in a seemingly pleasant conversation while having their tea.
“She seems to be enjoying his company,” Matteo observed.
“I have been watching them, Lord Clifton appears to be an agreeable gentleman; he appears to be exactly what a gentleman ought to be.”
“But?”
“How did you know that I was about to say that?”
He smiled as an answer and bade her continue.
“But I wish there was a way to know his character, for we know nothing about Lord Clifton.”
“Are we to find out more now? Or wait until he becomes serious in courting her?”
Helena could not help but feel warm at his use of ‘we’. It made her feel that they really were a team.
“Perhaps we should wait and observe,” Helena said after a while.
“Alright.”
Matteo and Helena sat next to each other, enjoying tea and slices of ratafia cake. Since the ladies separated from the gentlemen after supper, Helena had been secretly hoping that the seat beside her would remain empty. And indeed, it had. So, whenMatteo spotted the empty seat, he went directly there and claimed it.
