Devil's Desire (13 page)

"Your wife,'' Browne croaked. The shock on his face giving way to pleasure as he bowed, and, recovering, said, "It is an honor, Lady Trevegne, to welcome you to Westerly."

"Thank you, Browne," Lord Trevegne said, smiling warmly at the old man, leaving Elysia staring at him in surprise, having thought him incapable of any warmth or kindness.

"Browne has been with the family for half a century, practically runs us–or at least he tries to," he added, giving the man a long-suffering look.

"And since when have you ever listened to me, Lord Alex?" he answered back with the audacity of an old and trusted servant.

"I have gotten myself a wife now, haven't I? I seem to remember you, and–" he was interrupted by a wail coming from somewhere above them, and then a hurrying little figure could be seen coming down the center of the grand staircase at the end of the hall.

"Lord Alex," she demanded, "what ye be coming here in the middle of the night like this? You always was the one for upsetting the household, even as a boy," she chuckled, delighted to see him no matter what the hour.

"Elysia, my dear, I want you to meet Mrs. Danfield, my old nanny, and housekeeper at Westerly since I no longer need her devoted ministrations in the nursery. Dany, this is my wife, Lady Elysia Trevenge."

Elysia looked down into her kind, berry-brown eyes, and smiled a lovely, tentative smile, unconsciously asking for reassurance, feeling lost and tired in her new surroundings.

"Lady Trevegne," Mrs. Danfleld curtsied, giving a reproachful glance to His Lordship. "Ye've gone and got yesel' married, without letting me know. What will yer bride be thinkin', with the house all dark and cold, no welcomin' feast or greetins from the staff." Her eyes were skimming over Elysia's figure, taking in her old cloak and mended gloves, the strain evident on her young face.

"We had not expected any such frivolity," Lord Trevegne said shortly. "My bride and I prefer things to proceed as usual," he commanded sternly.

"Well now "Mrs.Danfield said bristling, giving them a puzzled look, "it's not every day you bring home a bride, and I was beginning to wonder that you ever would. How did you manage to find such a lovely and unspoiled child?" she asked, giving

Elysia a friendly smile which Elysia returned. No fancy, snooty town miss here, Mrs. Danfleld thought in relief. "I didn't think any decent mamas would let you within a mile of their daughters." She frowned disapprovingly at him, well aware of his bad reputation.

"Oh, there was nothing on earth that could separate us, Dany,' Lord Trevegne explained, hesitating briefly before continuing.
 
"You might say we both opened our eyes one morning and saw the light of our mutual love. It was quite a revelation, almost as if we'd awakened from a drugged sleep." He grinned wickedly at Elysia's shocked look, daring her to add to it. "Now Dany, show Lady Trevegne to her room. I am sure she grows fatigued standing here while you appease your curiosity." He turned and disappeared into one of the many doors opening off the hall, while Browne, who had been listening avidly to Lord Trevegne's explanation, hurried as fast as his rheumatic legs would carry him after His Lordship.

Mrs. Danfleld hustled Elysia up the wide, marble stairs, sending orders over her shoulder to the maids below as Elysia hurried after her small trotting figure. They walked along the gallery until they entered another wing of the great house, and moved along a wide corridor. Ancestral faces stared down at them out of the flickering light of Mrs. Danfleld's candles as they passed beneath.

At the end of the corridor, she threw open a delicately-carved pair of double doors. Preceding Elysia into the room she lighted the tall tapers throughout, the contents of the room springing to life.
            
 

Elysia stared about her in awe. Everything in the room was crimson, gold, or black. There was a crimson and gold satin settee, black- and gold-painted chairs with gold, velvet cushions, black-lacquered commodes and dwarf bookcases, and dominating the room, a large red and black silk screen painted with beautiful Chinese motifs, while a large Oriental carpet covered the floor in a blaze of colors.

"It's beautiful," Elysia finally uttered in a reverent voice.

"Aye, 'tis a lovely room," Mrs. Danfield said,
pleased with Elysia's reaction, and appreciation. "These' be the Trevegne colors; black for vengeance, crimson for blood, and gold for glory. They were a fierce lot, those first Trevegnes."

Elysia shuddered, thinking they still were.

"Now this over here be yer room, M'Lady:'" she said indicating a gold-panelled door, "and that one over there be His Lordship's."

The two doors were separated by a long chiffonier displaying delicate porcelain vases and exquisite jade figures. Mrs. Danfield opened the door of Elysia's new room and proceeded to light more tapers as Elysia followed her into the room. Her eyes feasted upon the huge canopied bed with its crimson velvet hangings, and she remembered her own small, hard bed at Aunt Agatha's, with its faded, blue coverlet. In comparison, this looked like a queen's bed.

"Now, dear, wouldn't you like a nice hot bath to rest in and ease your aches and pains after all of that traveling?" Mrs. Danfield asked, taking Elysia's cloak from about her shoulders and hanging it up in the enormous wardrobe with its many doors and sliding trays to hold all of a lady's requirements and possessions.

"Is your maid to be coming later?" she inquired, frowning slightly at the unconventionality of Lady Trevegne traveling without the assistance of a lady's maid, and with only a small, straw bag.

"I haven't a lady's maid, Mrs. Danfield," Elysia said stiffly, expecting a horrified look from the housekeeper, but she was surprised by the little woman's nod of satisfaction.

"Well, it's just as well, for I've plenty of bright girls here who will make yer Ladyship a good maid, and far better than one of those London pieces of baggage," she said disgustedly. "Ye can't trust the likes of them, gone before you know it, and without a word of warning. So don't ye worry, we'll be getting ye one. And yer clothes?" she asked looking doubtfully at Elysia's straw bag, and the dull and worn dress she was wearing. "Ye'll be having them arrive soon?"

"No, I am afraid that all that I own in the world you see before you," Elysia answered softly, but proudly, her chin held high. "I am an orphan, but at least no one can accuse Lord Trevegne of having married me for
m
y fortune; just the opposite, for I fear that I shall be labelled the adventuress."

"Now, now, no one in their right mind would be believin' that of ye, seein' what a lady ye are, and how pretty. Why, anyone would know why Lord Alex married ye!” she said sympathetically with a motherly smile, her heart going out to this brave child standing so proudly before her. "Ye don't be worrying that pretty little head of yours with nonsense now."

"Thank you Mrs. Danfield," Elysia said humbly, her eyes shining with tears caused by the first kindness she had received in years.

"And ye call me Dany, like Lord Alex; none of this Mrs. Danfleld," She paused uncertainly. '"It would please me so, Ye Ladyship."

"Thank you again, Dany. I would be honored, And would you call me Elysia?" she asked shyly.

Dany flushed with pleasure at her compliment and hurried to the door, turning as she said with a shake of her silver head:

"I just don't know how he manages to win the prize so many times.
As
much as I love Lord Alex, I believe, he's got himself a lady too good for him. Ye be the angel to his devil, I be thinkin', and God help us," she added prophetically as she left the room to arrange for Elysia's needs.

Elysia smiled to herself as she walked around her bedchamber. She had felt so nervous in anticipation of her introduction to Lord Trevegne's household. She had imagined their resentment at having to accept a new mistress and taking a dislike to her, yet she found a friend, one she knew she could trust and love. She suddenly felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Elysia glanced about the gold and crimson room, not a sign of black visible. A gilt dressing table stood along a wall and a gold, satin-cushioned couch with a shell back sat before a crimson-curtained window. A delicate-legged writing desk, and several gilt- and crimson-painted cane chairs and 0ccasional tables made up the rest of the furniture, plus a beautiful gold and white marble fireplace.

Another door stood partly open and, opening it further, Elysia saw that it was another bedchamber, but decorated in black and gold only, and very masculine. Her eyes traveled over the long, golden drapes and a large, four-poster bed, the black lacquered commode, and, covering the floor, a large black- and gold-flowered carpet; the twin to hers of crimson and gold flowers. An Egyptian couch with black leather upholstery sat before a fireplace of black and gold swirled marble. From the opened doors of the closet Elysia could see rows of velvet and satin coats, and the many-tiered riding coat that Lord Trevegne had been wearing earlier. She quickly closed the connecting door between their bedrooms, noticing there was no lock on the door.

An ornate tub mysteriously appeared before the fireplace, and two young maids were in the process of carrying steaming pails of water to fill it. They glanced shyly at Elysia before leaving the room. Elysia sunk gratefully down into the tub. She rubbed herself with the little bar of fragrant, French soap. She stretched out a slender leg and lathered her thigh, then scooping up handfuls of water, let it cascade caressingly down her leg, washing away the bubbles. She sat up and was running her soapy hands over her shoulders and breasts, when she caught the aroma of tobacco, the same brand Lord Trevegne had been smoking in the coach. Her nostrils twitched in warning. She turned, startled to see the connecting door close sharply. How long had he been standing there, silently watching her bathe? Elysia was embarrassed and flustered as she rose from the tub, wrapping a large, warm towel about her wet body and quickly drying herself. She put on the lacy nightdress Dany had brought to her, the fine lawn material feeling soft and smooth against her skin, and wondered with feminine curiosity to whom it belonged.

Elysia jumped nervously into bed as she heard footsteps approaching, but the main door to her bedchamber opened, and Dany entered carrying a tray with a little china pot of tea and a plate with thinly-sliced bread and butter, and small delicate cakes. Elysia sighed in relief, and began to get out of bed, when Dany ordered her unceremoniously to stay put.

"A cup of tea is just what you need to help you sleep, dear, so just stay where you are in your warm bed," she said placing the tray across Elysia's lap, and looked approvingly at her in the bed.

"It's a lovely nightdress, Dany," Elysia said sipping her tea, glad to see it wasn't a rum toddy. "I hope no one will mind my borrowing it?"

"Aye, you look lovely in it too, but no one will be minding. It belonged to Lord Alex's mother; she always liked pretty things," Dany replied, beginning to unpack Elysia's bag. She pulled out the carefully wrapped doll and unwound it, placing the doll on a small table near the bed.

"This be the prettiest little china doll I've ever seen," she exclaimed in admiration, carefully straightening the long full skirt.

"My father gave it to me when I was just a small child, but I've always cared for it, even when I had grubby little hands. I suppose I knew even then that I would treasure it always. And those belonged to my mother before she died," Elysia said as Dany took out the silver brush and comb and placed them upon the dressing table where they seemed to belong.

"Ye've not much to remember them by, have ye dear?" Dany asked, pity in her kind eyes.

"No, not material possessions, but I have my memories, Dany, and they are precious to me, no one can ever take those from me, like they did my other possessions–the house, and stables–my horse practically everything had to be sold. There is a trunk of my father's things, and a few other family articles that my old Nanny is keeping for me. They will be safe with her, and only because they would not have brought much profit do I still own them. They would have been for my brother, Ian, but he died at sea, somewhere in the Mediterranean in a battle with Napoleon's forces. I received a letter from the Naval. Department the day after my parents died," Elysia glanced away, biting her trembling lips.
 
 

"Oh, my poor little dear," Dany cried softly, putting her arms protectively around Elysia. "Ye've had a hard time of it, haven't ye? Well ye not to worry anymore. Ye be home now, and Dany'll take care of ye. Ye just remember all of the good and happy times with ye family and don't think of the sadness. Try to think that they be away visitin', and will be back soon."

“I’ll try Dany. I’m being so silly–I guess I’m just tired,” Elysia smiled.

"And ye've a right to be travelin' all through the night without a break–I never," Dany said in disapproval. "Now, lie down and close ye eyes, and go to sleep," she ordered, tucking Elysia in like a small child, "and be good
T’is
what I used to tell the boys."

She snuffed out the candles and picked up the tray, bidding Elysia a good night as she left the room. Elysia turned on her side and stared into the darkness, hearing the chiming of a clock on one of the tables.

Would he come? He now had the right to sleep in her bed, and do with her as he wished. She hoped that he would not come, but there was very little she could do to stop him if he wanted to.