Valentin inclined his head again. “Adam. We will talk of all of this later, but for now, allow me to escort you inside. I’msure you’re in need of refreshment and rest after today’s journey.”
Glancing over her shoulder at Linette as Valentin led her toward the massive doors, Estelle wasn’t surprised that her sister looked as amazed at what had just transpired, though Adam appeared to have taken it all in stride. He threw her a reassuring smile, the two of them following close behind as Estelle kept pace with the youngman she’d once feared she might never see again.
Yet here she was…walking with Valentin into his home, a massive castle with ramparts and turrets and the most impressive entrance hall she’d ever seen! Truly, she might need a nap just to have time to absorb everything that was happening, Valentin making the smallest of gestures that caused the place to erupt into a veritable explosion of activity.
Two attendants appeared as if out of nowhere with silver trays bearing crystal glasses filled with white wine and a bowl of ripe red strawberries.
Servants hastened into the hall behind them, carrying luggage to wherever Estelle, Adam, and Linette would be lodging, while their personal servants—a valet and two lady’s maids—entered and appeared as awestruck by the sheer grandeur of the place.
“Wine?” Valentin took a glass from a tray and offered it to Estelle.
For a moment she feared she might still be too overwhelmed to attempt to drink, but somehow she accepted the glass and managed a sip. Adam saw to Linette, not hesitating at all as he offered his wife one of the plumpest strawberries and then sampled the fruit himself.
“Do you like it?”
Realizing Valentin stared intently ather, Estelle managed to murmur, “Yes…yes, it’s lovely,” as she took another sip.
“The grapes are from the castle vineyards, spared at least during the coup,” he said with blunt matter-of-factness, though his expression had darkened.
And why wouldn’t he look grim when thinking about regaining Bratavia from his despicable uncle? Estelle reasoned, her heart going out to him.
It was then she noticedthat the planes of his face were thinner than she recalled, a hint of gauntness to his features, and his physique much leaner, too.
Yet in the next instant she didn’t know whether to trust her observation or not since she’d been so disoriented after he’d rescued her from drowning, and perhaps didn’t clearly remember how he’d looked that day. She considered blurting out her long overdue thanksto him for saving her life, but another gesture by Valentin brought an older woman in a crisp black gown hastening toward them as the attendants retrieved the wine glasses.
“Allow my head housekeeper, Madame Faucher, to show you to your rooms. If you need anything at all, you must let her know. A formal dinner will be held in your honor at seven. I’ll look forward to seeing you then, Miss Easton.”
“Estelle, please, just as you said…Valentin.”
He didn’t readily reply, staring at her again as if he couldn’t quite believe she was standing in front of him as well, and then inclined his head.
“I’m honored, Estelle. I’ll see you this evening.”
“Will you share with me then all the places you traveled?” she burst out, her curiosity overwhelming her. “After you left Porthleven, I mean. We receivedthe one letter from you that you were safe, but Donovan never shared with me where you went. I know it was safer for you that way but surely now it doesn’t matter—”
“Estelle, Madame Faucher is waiting for us,” Linette broke in, Estelle glancing from her sister back to Valentin, who looked momentarily confused until he quickly recovered himself.
“If you’ll excuse me, ladies. Adam,” he murmured,bowing stiffly and then leaving them to stride across the hall.
“His Highness has many things to attend to,” Madame Faucher said in clipped English as she gestured toward the opposite direction. “Please…if you will follow me.”
Linette looped her arm through Estelle’s to propel her along, Adam walking behind them, even though Estelle couldn’t resist a glance over her shoulder to the high-vaultedroom where Valentin had disappeared.
What could she have possibly said to make him act so strangely? One moment so welcoming and then the next so distant? Now she had even more questions swirling around inside her than when she started!
***
“She doesn’t know.” Shaking his head, Valentin leaned his hands against the polished mahogany desk at one end of the library and struggled again toregain his composure.
Estelle had no clue at all that he had returned to Bratavia to surrender to his uncle. Her brother-in-law Donovan, the Duke of Arundale, had never told her…yet why wouldn’t he have wanted to spare her from the harsh truth?
She had been only sixteen and had already suffered cruelly at the hands of those bastards who’d come hunting for him. For all Donovan knew, Valentinmight have been immediately put to death. That would have been the case if not for his uncle’s perverse nature, Archduke Henri preferring him and his father to languish in irons rather than order a quick execution.
So instead, Estelle had clearly thought him a fugitive all along…while Valentin had held fast to the only solace he’d known during the unspeakable ordeal.
That Estelle must surelybe thinking of him.
Praying for him once she’d learned he had returned home to protect her and her family from harm at the hands of any others sent to track him down.
