He gently pulled her to her feet, placed the robe around her shoulders, helping one arm, then the other, into the sleeves. The robe felt like silk, sliding against her skin in a whisper of coolness. He folded one lapel over the other, wrapped the belt around her twice, then tied it in a bow in the front, as if she were a precious package.
She didn’t know what to say to him. What words were proper? Should she even have any comments about what had just transpired between them?
Raising her hand, she placed it on the side of his face, her fingertips brushing against his night beard. Although he was clean-shaven, unlike most of the men of her acquaintance, his cheek was bristly.
They exchanged a long, wordless look, one that might be interpreted any way she wished. She gathered the material of the robe in one hand so she wouldn’t trip and stepped down from the dais.
She halted at the door and looked back at him. He was standing there, still naked.
When Montgomery didn’t speak, she left him, doing so with the sense that perhaps he’d have spoken if she’d only had the words or the wit to coax his thoughts free.
Chapter 15
Streaks of clouds in shades of orange, gold, and pink stretched across the sky like scarves tossed into the air. Veronica stood at the window of her bedroom, captivated by the sight of dawn in the Highlands.
Elspeth knocked on the door and entered, smiling brightly.
“Good morning, my lady,” she said. “Isn’t it the most glorious day?”
She wasn’t certain what kind of day it was going to be, and wasn’t that a pitiable thing?
The rumble of wheels prevented her from having to respond. A caravan of wagons, each piled high and covered with a canvas tarp, rumbled up the road and disappeared behind a nearby hill.
“What is that?” she asked.
“I suspect something His Lordship ordered,” Elspeth said, coming to the window. “They’ve been coming for hours. Would you like me to go find out, Lady Fairfax?” Elspeth asked.
“No,” Veronica said. “I’ll go see myself when I’m dressed.”
She flew through her morning ablutions, the only difficulty coming when Elspeth attempted to detangle her hair. Finally,she asked her new maid to simply gather it and cover it with a lace snood. No ringlets or elaborately styled hair softened her face. Her eyes looked too wide, their shade an unremarkable hazel. Her face was pale, her lips a little swollen, and softly pink.
Her maid was looking at her oddly, her head tilted to one side, her eyes narrowed slightly.
“What is it, Elspeth?”
“You look different, Your Ladyship, but I can’t quite decide what it is that’s different. Did you sleep well?”
Hardly at all, not a comment she’d make to her maid. She could feel warmth creep up her cheeks as she stood and grabbed her shawl.
“Mrs. Brody asked what time would be convenient for you to meet with the seamstress.”
She turned. “Seamstress?” she asked, although she already knew. Montgomery had made arrangements to augment her clothing.
Elspeth nodded.
“I’ll find Mrs. Brody myself,” she said, leaving Elspeth to set her rooms to rights.
Twice, she turned left when she should have turned right, and was given directions by a smiling maid. She waved away an offer to lead her to the housekeeper, saying she’d rather find her way. After all, she was to live here. The sooner she learned Doncaster Hall, the better.
The Blue Drawing Room was the first of the public rooms she investigated. Here, the walls were hung with a blue damask fabric that focused the eye on the delicate plasterwork of the ceiling and the white mantel, with its frieze design of lions and thistles. A larger drawing room was next, a room she privately thought of as The Picture Room, taking up the whole of the east side of the second floor. Paintings of ships and men attired in naval uniform adorned one of the crimson walls. The other wallswere covered in landscapes of Doncaster Hall and portraits of previous Lords Fairfax with their wives.
Other art treasures sat on tables and credenzas, evidently placed to display them at their best advantage. She wasn’t an expert on porcelain, but the statue of a shepherdess looked valuable, as did the Chinese vases colored the same crimson hue as the walls.
On the top floor, she discovered a ballroom, its inlaid floor shiny with wax, a series of couches and chairs arranged along the sides of the room for weary dancers to rest. The musicians could either perform on the stage at the far end of the room or from the gallery above the dance floor.
As she walked through Doncaster Hall, the magnificence of the house called to her. She suspected there would be charm even in the scullery.
The nursery occupied the whole of the third floor, consisting of adjoining suites for nurse, governess, and tutor, and bedrooms for older children. She stood in the doorway of a room designed for an infant, the large fireplace carefully screened, a comfortable chair in the corner adjacent to a reading lamp. A carved bassinet sat in the opposite corner, ready for a new mattress and an occupant.
