Page 23

F rannie packed Thea’s gowns and things while Thea gathered up her pages as well as her ink, quills, and paper. The maid had been quiet and Thea wasn’t sure if she was still uneasy after seeing Stephen yesterday, or if she’d been scandalized by whatever sounds they’d made the night before in her room.

While Frannie’s rooms were downstairs, it was still not a large home.

There was nothing for it, and since Thea was at that moment thinking of her husband and wondering when she might get him alone to make those loud noises again, it seemed Thea held no remorse whatsoever.

She went back to seeing to the stacks of papers, making sure they were in order and bound tightly so there was no danger of losing so much as a word. She’d yet to speak to Shay about how much time she would be allowed to work. He’d been most understanding, even asking Mrs. Murray to keep on with her running of the household so Thea could see to her own endeavors. It was so freeing to have someone who knew what she was doing and was pleased to help her continue. She had not realized when she’d been traveling north how much her life would change.

She hoped only for freedom and safety, but now she’d found…

Well, she wasn’t exactly sure what word would be best used to describe what was between Shay and herself. Friendship surely. But she thought there was more to it. She’d have time later to deliberate. At times when she was writing and a word evaded her, she put the closest word to the one she was thinking about in its place and came back later to change it when she’d figured it out.

She would do the same in this instance. And friendship was a fine placeholder until she teased out the correct term.

She placed a full bottle of ink inside the box and carried her most prized possessions outside.

Shay took some of her burden when she stepped out of the cottage toward the carriage. He smiled and she couldn’t help but grin in return. Even the hour she’d been away from him had seemed too long. How had she become such a silly romantic from speaking a few hasty words over an anvil?

It didn’t matter how or why, but it had happened. And now she was moving to live in a castle. Just like the stories her mother told her when she was a little girl. How happy her parents would have been to see Thea so happy.

It seemed strange to have a carriage to take them to the castle she could see on the hill, but it was likely a longer distance than it looked, and would have been made more so for having to carry everything.

Still it took almost as long to load it as it did to traverse the distance.

When they arrived at the castle the servants were all standing in a line along the stone steps awaiting the arrival of their new mistress. Thea had to think back to her training years ago and summon the information she would need to run a home of this size. How would she have time to finish her book if she had to see to meal selections, and household ledgers.

“This is Mrs. Murray the housekeeper.”

“Yes. We’ve met,” Thea said when Shay introduced her to the formidable woman. She’d been kind yesterday when she’d gone to see to Frannie.

“Mayhap we can set aside some time to go over things?” Anna Murray requested, looking neither pleased or displeased about such a thing.

“Yes. That would be most appreciated.”

“Mrs. Murray, my wife has other obligations that will keep her from taking over the household, and unless she disagrees, I believe we would both want you to remain in charge of everything.” Shay looked at Thea and she smiled and nodded. It was kind of him to think of such a thing.

“If you would not mind, Mrs. Murray.”

Mrs. Murray beamed proudly. “It is no bother at all. I’ve been taking care of this house since I was only two and twenty. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

Thea relaxed. “Thank you. I would still like to sit with you and get to know you better, if you have the time.”

Mrs. Murray nodded. “Aye. I’ll arrange it.”

When they were inside, Thea paused in awe of the high ceilings of the foyer. She’d known it would be impressive. It was a castle after all and a castle by definition was the most elaborate of dwellings. She’d expected it to be beautiful, but she also saw the strength of the stone arches. The warmth in the tapestries that hung on the walls showing depictions of sea journeys and starry nights.

“If there is anything you wish to change in the house, you should do so. I want this to be your home,” Shay said.

She shook her head. “It is beautiful.”

He waved a hand. “I know which room you wish to see first. Come.” He held out his hand and she took it so he could lead her up the curved stairs to the second floor. Down the heavily carpeted corridor he stopped at the end. The double doors on the left were heavy looking with carved, dark wood. Thea almost expected to see iron braces ready to hold a bar across them. The double doors on the other side were softer in some way. Still with designs carved into wood, but lighter.

“The marchioness’s rooms.” He opened the door into a small sitting room. Then through another set of doors into a study. He’d been right when he said the desk was small.

Before she could tell him she would make it work, he had rung for a footman.

“Cragen, I’d like the settee from my study brought up and changed out with this one. And for now, bring up the desk from library. The one that sits to the left of the door when you enter. I believe it will be more suited for the marchioness’s needs.”

Every time she heard him refer to her as the marchioness, she felt a little thrill of excitement that faded with a bit of unease. She was a marchioness now. No longer a spinster. Oh, how happy she was to never hear that term again.

Shay took the items from her arms and began setting them on the smaller desk he’d moved to the wall to make room by the window.

“I know you like to have a window to look out of as you write.” He turned toward the door as the first piece of furniture was brought in. A large settee.

“Put it here, and take this smaller piece away.” To her he said. “This one was much too dainty for me to nap on.”

It was true, the legs were even more fragile looking than the settee in her old drawing room.

“Through that door is the bed chamber, but you shan’t need that,” he said surely.

She wasn’t sure if he meant for her to sleep with him as she had the night before, or if he meant she spent many nights asleep at her desk. Thea didn’t ask.

Later that afternoon, when all her things were now put away in the castle, Thea met with Mrs. Murray in the solar. Thea found the housekeeper, Anna, to be a delightful woman who had many stories of the marquess when he’d first come to Cawdor.

“He was such a small lad. I feel directly responsible for the size he is now, for I couldn’t look into those big blue eyes and not succumb to giving him more sweets. Back when he first came here, Master Buchanan could not seem to get enough to eat. And when there was any bit of chill in the air you would find him cozied up to a fire in some room of the house. He doesn’t like to be cold, that one.”

Thea’s heart broke for the boy he’d been. Even knowing how hale and hearty he was now, she could imagine him frail and starving. A child alone in the cold world.

“I don’t know how he survived so long on his own. I was seven and ten when my parents left me and I didn’t know much about taking care of myself. How he did it as a mere child, I don’t know.”

“He’s a survivor. Though he is not without his scars.”

Thea looked at the woman, not understanding. She’d studied near to every inch of Shay’s body the night before and hadn’t seen much in the way of scars. No more than anyone else had, she guessed.

“He was prone to night terrors as a boy,” Mrs. Murray went on to explain. “Calling out for his mother or others for help. The staff would find him sleeping in different rooms, usually in the corners, shivering and whimpering. It broke my heart. My dear husband has carried the marquess to his bed on many occasions. Though more recently, he’s not able to be carried.” Mrs. Murray smiled. “I’m to understand the gang of boys Shay ran with in Inverness became his family. While they hadn’t always stayed on the right side of the law, they found a way to keep food in their bellies and I’ll not judge them for what they’d had to do. Any one of us would have done the same when faced with such dire circumstances.”

Thea nodded, understanding more than what Mrs. Murray might have thought. Thea had turned to writing under a man’s name to support herself and her brother as best she could. If she’d been found out she would have been ruined, though she didn’t know how much lower her family’s name could fall.

“I don’t blame him either,” Thea said because it was clear Mrs. Murray needed to hear Thea say as much. “Everything he went through is the reason he is the man he is today, so while we can wish he’d had an easier beginning, I wouldn’t want him any other way.”

Mrs. Murray smiled and patted Thea’s hand. “You are good for him. I know you didn’t wed under the best of terms but I think it’s the only way he would have ever done it. Even before you married I could see a change in him when he went down to the cottage to visit you. I think you did not have such an easy life living with that brother of yours in London, and while I’d not wish such a thing on anyone, I’m glad that it made you come here.”

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Murray added, “I think it would make a good story, and I hear from Frannie you are writing a story.” She put her hands up. “I don’t need any details, mind ye. It may be an unconventional thing for a lady to do, but the marquess does love a good tale so it seems a perfect match to me.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Murray for accepting me. And for keeping on with the castle so I can manage my other responsibilities. If there is anything you need from me, please let me know. I don’t like to think I am not doing my duty.”

“Many like to think they know what another’s duty ought to be, but I think they’d be better to keeping their noses in their own business and let us do what is right for our home, aye?”

“Aye,” Thea agreed with a smile, using the foreign word.

Mrs. Murray laughed. “Very good. We’ll make a proper Scottish lass of ye yet, Lady Flemming.”

Over the next few days, Thea settled into her new life at the castle. Writing most of the day.

Shay came in and took his place on the larger settee in the late mornings. And then they shared the noon meal together before he would go into his own study to take care of business.

But in the evenings she retired to her own bedchamber alone.

She’d wanted to be invited into his room so they might spend their nights much like they had their first as a married couple, but he never extended the request for her company. And she hadn’t been brave enough to ask him.

Perhaps that was how married life was supposed to be. She didn’t remember if her parents had spent their nights in the same chamber or not. Not that she would compare. This marriage was between Shay and her and wasn’t for anyone else to say what was right or not.

Now that she’d talked to Mrs. Murray though, Thea wondered if maybe the reason he’d not asked her to stay with him had been because of his restless dreams.

She would have to find a way to broach the topic though, for her body, despite never being touched previously, had become needy for her husband’s attention.

She sat at her desk and took up her quill waiting for Lord Flemming to arrive so she might pounce. The man had gone to great measures to not be trapped, but he was about to walk right into hers.