Sarah giggled and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Well, now, Wes, my love, you will make it up to me in other ways.”
The look that passed between them hinted at what occurred between them behind closed doors. Eva wondered if she would have noticed that a month ago...
A little army of servants marched out the door. Footmen helped them out of the carriage while others brought down the trunks. Men took the ribbons from the coachman. All the soldiers wore livery.
Eva absorbed the activity like a series of fascinating pictures. She angled her head back to study the house, then the ones near it.
“Welcome, Rockport. I see you survived the journey in a carriage with three ladies.”
Her head snapped upright. Gareth stood five feet away, greeting Wesley. He bowed to Sarah and Rebecca, and finally to her. When they all walked to the house, he managed to fall into step beside her.
“I fear we may lose our way in here,” she said with a laugh as they mounted the stone steps.
“You may lose your way, but rest assured, I will not.”
More servants. More activity. A footman took Wesley away with his valet trailing behind. A housekeeper named Mrs. Summers led the rest of them up the long staircase, then up again to the next level beyond that.
They approached a double set of doors. Masculine voices could be heard nearby. Mrs. Summers opened the doors to reveal an apartment of impressive size. Sarah bit her lower lip and tried to appear unimpressed, but her eyes became large and round.
“Mr. Rockport is beside you,” Mrs. Summers said, angling her head toward those voices. She walked through a flanking sitting room, and to a door on its far wall. “This, Miss, is for you,” she said to Rebecca, throwing open the door to reveal a bedchamber fit for a princess.
Sarah and Rebecca were beside themselves, all but dancing with barely controlled glee. They whispered to each other while pointing to the drapery, the silk upholstery, the sitting room’smagnificent secretaire, and the garden views out the back window.
“Your maid will have a chamber above,” Mrs. Summers told Sarah. “Someone will come for her and take her to it, after she has had time to settle you.” She turned to Eva. “If you would come with me now, Miss Russell.”
Eva left the lovely apartment in Mrs. Summers’s wake. Past the stairs they walked. Down a corridor. Through another landing for more stairs. To a door tucked into a corner. Not one of those big double doors, either. A rather small plain one.
Mrs. Summers ushered her in. Eva had been given an apartment like Sarah’s. Perhaps not as large, but it had beautiful light and a group of three big windows on one wall from which one could see the park.
“I was told you draw,” Mrs. Summers said, “I thought that the northern light in the sitting room would suit you.”
“This will do splendidly. Thank you.”
“I will send a woman up to help you.” With that, Mrs. Summers left.
Eva did not wait on the servant. She unpacked her valise, then meandered her way back to Sarah’s chambers. She found all of her travel companions basking in the luxury of their lodgings.
“Where did you go?” Rebecca asked. “You must try my bed. Just lie on it. You will not believe the quality. It will be like sleeping on clouds.”
“My own chambers are at the other end of this storey. You can come see them, but we will need a ball of yarn to unwind, so you can find your way back.”
“Oh,” Sarah said, her enthusiasm dimming. “I hope they are as nice as this. If they are not, I will not be able to enjoy myself as much.”
“They are perfectly charming.” Lovely, actually. Airy and full of cool light.
“We will use this sitting room to gather,” Sarah said. “It will belong to all of us.”
“Thank you. That will prove convenient. Otherwise I might never see you. My apartment is quite out of the way.”
How kind of Gareth to have Mrs. Summers put Eva in a room with such lovely light.
How kind, and how convenient.
CHAPTER17
At Gareth’s suggestion, they all planned a walk in the park during the fashionable hour. It took Sarah and Rebecca over an hour to prepare.
Eva waited on them in the sitting room while feminine talk and laughs poured out of Rebecca’s chamber. Other than having the servant assigned to her fix her hair, and donning her best pelisse of light blue wool, she had made no special efforts. When her sister and cousin emerged from the bedchamber, both eyed her critically, then shared a knowing, meaningful glance.
