“I can imagine.” Caroline squeezed Letty’s hands and gestured toward the stairs. “Follow me.”
Caroline tucked her arm in Letty’s, the warmth of the gesture waking Letty from her maudlin thoughts.
“We have a lovely room all prepared for you,” Caroline said.
Letty walked through the gatehouse that formed the front door for the main part of the castle and up the winding staircase Caroline had come down. Richtapestries hung from stone walls, making the medieval castle feel warmer and more welcoming.
“Where is Lord Morrey?” she asked Caroline.
“Adam will be here shortly. He was in his bedchamber, seeing to a few things. He and the housekeeper got a bit dusty when they were up in the attics earlier this afternoon.”
Letty wrinkled her nose in confusion.“The attics?”
“Yes. I believe he was looking for the Morrey coronet. It was our great-grandmother’s. We put it away when she died. It’s perfectly splendid, and you may wish to wear it for tomorrow’s ceremony.”
Letty liked to think that she was above being excited over jewels, but the thought of a coronet did give her a girlish flash of excitement that made her feel extremely foolish. She had graver concerns than pretty diamond coronets. Like the fact that a French spy was likely looking for her.
They entered a wide hall. The stone walls had been covered with wood and papered over with an expensive and lovely emerald wallpaper. Crown moldings painted with gold decorated the ceiling, bordered by Grecian scenes that would have rivaled any Wedgewood china. Between portraits of past Morrey ladies dressed in flowing gowns and dashing men in their bright, brilliant doublets, there were tall mirrors lined with vines covered ingold plating. It was not at all like the outside of the castle. The interior had a gilded, glorious atmosphere, each room exuding a warm decadence. Gillian was right—it was rather lovely.
“James, Gillian, you have the bedchamber here.” Caroline opened a door and showed them into a beautiful bedroom with a dark-red coverlet and red brocade hangings. “I’ll have a footman meet you here in half an hour to escort you to dinner.”
“Thank you,” Gillian said.
“Letty, your room is at the end of the corridor. It’s in the west tower. It has a lovely view. One of the best rooms, in fact.”
The room Letty was to sleep in had painted walls the color of a winter sky. Opposite the bed in the circular room was a bookcase built into the wood-paneled walls. The natural white posts of the bed gleamed in the firelight. It was large for a tower room. The four-poster bed was made fromwhite birch tree wood, roughly hewn. The black knots in the wood were like a dozen eyes staring at her from the pale faces of the posts, but even that was strangely beautiful. The coverlet on the bed and the bed hangings were a shimmering frosty-green color.
“Well? What do you think? Adam thought you might like this room. It will be your own personal room, even after you’re married.”
At this, Letty faced Caroline. “I’m not to share my husband’s room?”
A deep voice came from the doorway.“You certainly may . . .”
Letty and Caroline turned to see Lord Morrey, standing tall and handsome in buff trousers and a burgundy waistcoat. The firelight played with him the way a lover might, caressing his features and illuminating his silver-and-gray eyes.
“Oh, Adam, why don’t you say hello to Letty? I need to run down to the kitchens.” Caroline flashed Letty a knowing smile before hastily leaving the bedroom.
For a second, Letty wavered as she faced the man who had, less than twenty-four hours ago, held a knife to her throat, kissed her, and become engaged to her. The whirlwind that was Adam Beaumont was making her dizzy. She straightened her shoulders, rallied her remaining strength after the trying day she’d had, and met his gaze.
“Good evening, Lord Morrey,” Letty breathed. She still felt nervous around him, especially thinking of that moment in the library and how fear and excitement had mingled together in his presence.
“Adam, please. I cannot have you calling me ‘Lord Morrey,’ even though tomorrow I will become your lord and master.” There was a sensual teasing to his words that dashed the rebellious retort that flew to her lips.
“Adam,” she said softly, and Adam came deeper into the room.
“Yes?” He reached her, their bodies only a few feet apart now.
“I do like this room. However, my understanding of marital relationships was that we would share a room. My parents shared a bedchamber, as do James and Gillian, and that was my expectation. I acknowledge I do not have a large amount of experience to draw on, and we will be married to each other rather quickly. What do you think our arrangement ought to be?”
“What do you wish our arrangement to be?” he countered with a hint of playfulness.
Letty bit her bottom lip. “I want to . . .” She fisted her hands in her skirts as she studied him,and he leaned casually against the doorjamb, blocking her escape. Not that she was sure she wanted to escape.
“Say it. Say what you desire. You need never fear telling me what you need. Do you understand?” The playfulness in his tone was gone, and that brooding intensity of his that left her breathless had returned. His stare ensnared her, rooting her in place.
She sensed he was telling her something deeper, something more profoundly intimate, but she didn’t yet quite understand.
“I would like to share a bedchamber with my husband—with you.”
“I sense some hesitation,” Adam said as he continued to stare into her eyes. He reminded her of a cat her mother once had, a Russian blue beauty with green eyes that could peer into one’s soul. The cat would stare at her, unblinking, and she had been convinced the feline could read her every thought. Adam shared that same trait.
“Are you surprised? You frighten me a little. The way you held that knife, the way you look at me . . .You must know I’ve never been with a man in any intimate way. I have no experience with this. That is why I hesitate.” She lowered her voice when she spoke of intimacy, not that anyone could hear her. They were quite alone for the moment.
Adam’s gray eyes studied her, unlocking something inside her, something that made her feel weak at the knees, yet she held her ground, even as his gaze seemed to burn her skin as it roved over her body. He reached up to catch a loose curl that fell against her throat. The whisper of his fingers against her skin sent her head spinning, her blood humming.
“I will endeavor to make us friends as well as lovers.” He leaned in just enough that she inhaled the scent of him, and her body hummed with a feminine awareness.
Friends and lovers, not merely husband and wife. A marriage, she knew, could have a profound meaning and connection between two people, or it could be a piece of paper and some muttered words that bound two unhappy souls together until one of them died.
“Are you afraid of me?” Adam asked ashe lifted her face to his.
“No . . . Not exactly,” she said, surprised at the ease with which she could answer him when he spoke in that commanding voice.It was true. She didn’t fear him. She was nervous and more than a little anxious, but not afraid. She was worried about what being a wife to him would entail, especially in the bedroom. She had experienced a great range of emotions in the last day,and she’d accepted that the life she’d wanted, the life she’d planned for, was not going to happen. She had longed for marriage, but under much different circumstances.