Duncan Barr, Roman’s valet, discovered he preferred working with the animals instead of polishing boots. With Roman’s blessing, he took over the lambs that would become Bonhomie’s herder. Leonie adored watching the lambs play in the fields and was a touch sad when they matured to the point they didn’t kick up their heels or jump over clumps of buttercups.
Roman had visited an apple orchard where the sheep grazed beneath the trees and he was determined to do the same at Bonhomie. He said it made sense to use the land for two purposes. Of course, right now, his apple trees were little more than twigs in the ground.
A half acre between Bonhomie and David and Catherine’s cottage was prepared for a vegetable garden. His parents took on its management. Every day as spring rolled into summer, they could be found in the garden during the early morning hours. Sometimes Leonie helped with the weeding. Often Edward and Jane joined them. Leonie enjoyed their company. Their childhoods, surrounded by doting adults, were vastly different than her own had been. Their curiosity was encouraged, and she found herself thinking about how lonely she’d been.
Contrary to her vow to avoid all children save for her niece and nephew, Dora began spending more time at the village school, taking over Beth’s role as teacher. The parish was growing and Lawrence needed his wife’s help. Despite detesting her years as governess, Dora found she liked overseeing her classroom and that children were not so dreadful when they went home to their parents each day.
In all aspects, Bonhomie teemed with life. Roman brought ducks for the pond and a cow for her milk. Two huge oxen were purchased to plow the fields, leaving the wagon horses for other chores.
Rabbits discovered the garden. Roman had a fence built around it to keep away the deer, but the rabbits always found a way in and that was when Chester and Soldier came into their lives.
Chester was a herding dog who helped Barr with the sheep. When he was done for the day, he performed a rabbit patrol with Soldier, a lively foxhound pup who, when he wasn’t sniffing out garden thieves, wanted to follow Roman wherever he went—including into the house.
At first, Leonie refused the dogs entrance. Chester was happy in the stables with the hired men but Soldier was crestfallen. It took only one day of the poor pup sitting on the step crying in loneliness for her to relent.
And when she said yes, Soldier’s tail wagged so furiously with joy it threatened to wag off his body.
Leonie was charmed.
Then one afternoon, a scrawny orange tabby came wandering onto the estate. He had one eye permanently shut from a fight. Leonie’s heart immediately went out to him. She offered him fresh milk. He ate as if he was starving and then disappeared.
She worried. Roman told her cats were independent creatures and could fare for themselves. He would return if he wished.
Leonie wasn’t certain. Once, when she was a child, she’d found a kitten. She’d wanted to keep it for a pet but her father had it tossed from the house. The next day, when she’d been taking a walk with her nurse, she saw its body on the street. She’d been inconsolable.
However, Roman proved to be right. The next morning, Cook was horrified to find a dead, fat field mouse on the back step. When the scullery maid came in with the milk, the tabby was trailing behind her. Leonie was overjoyed he was back and served him a saucer of cream herself. She named him Vishnu after the Hindu god for protection. Roman had laughed upon hearing the name but Vishnu lived up to it. He kept the feed room in the stables and the pantry in the kitchen free of rodents. Cook said she’d never seen a better mouser. In the afternoons and mornings when Leonie worked in her gardens, he chased butterflies or sunned himself while keeping watch over her and Soldier.
The rose garden proved to be a touch more challenging than Leonie had anticipated. No one at Bonhomie knew very much about roses. Roman sent to London for information and purchased a book,A Collection of Roses from Natureby a Miss Mary Lawrence, from his friend Thaddeus Chalmers. The book had delightful renderings of roses but little information.
It was up to Leonie to educate herself. Neighbors with roses let her do cuttings. She tried rooting them in water and in damp soil and in peat. She discovered that roses were remarkably sensitive. Some cuttings thrived in water, some in soil.
Word quickly spread that Lady Rochdale had a passion for roses. Leonie learned she was not alone. Rose lovers wrote to her from all over Somerset offering cuttings and advice. In this way, her little garden began to grow.
Catherine helped her with the other beds, but Leonie tended the roses herself. Every little leaf gave her great pride. When Dame Fenlon of Ilminster offered her a whole bush, Leonie almost wept with joy. She might have blooms this summer.
At least once a week, Roman made time to sit out in the garden while she worked. He said he liked seeing her with a bit of dirt on her chin and in her nails.
She knew that couldn’t be true but they had the best conversations during those times. Their lives had become so busy there was rarely time for themselves. He would talk about what changes he was making to the estate that week and she would share her ideas for the house.Theirhouse...
It was times like this that she felt guilty that she thought of her mother’s hidden flask. Or that she yearned for a taste of brandy. The thought of a drink was never far from her mind. She was weak-willed and it shamed her. She was glad Roman had cleared Bonhomie of spirits in any form.
Of course she and Roman shared their bed.
Yes, he had the right to sleep in her bed, but she built a row of bedclothes between them. He had his side; she had hers.
His first act upon seeing what she had done was to toss everything on the floor.
Again, she stacked the bedclothes and, again, he destroyed her little wall.
She assumed this meant he wished to join with her, that they would go on with this act that was so satisfying. And she was not against the idea. Even with his breeches on, her husband was a large man and his arousal was difficult to hide. The sight of it was enough to inspire an answering desire in herself.
However, that was not what Roman had in mind. “I want you, aye, I do. You can see the proof of that.” He indicated his body’s reaction to her. “But we are not ready for ‘us’ in that way, Leonie. It is not the time.”
What a curious thing to say. He proved his words by falling into a deep and easy sleep.
Leonie had not relaxed so easily. Her feelings were a bit hurt. She knew he wanted her. She wanted him... and yet he denied himself?
What did this say about her as a woman? What did it mean for them? He’d talked about sending her away, then kept her, but sleeping with her without satisfying the hunger they both felt for each other’s bodies...?
