Page 93 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
Athene watched as Hugo pulled the carriage up with a flourish in the stable yard.Paul emerged to take the horses’ heads.“Good morning, Paul.”
He dipped his head in acknowledgment.“Sir Hugo.Lady Brinsmead.”
Athene still started every time anyone called her Lady Brinsmead.She supposed that one day, she’d get used to it.In about twenty years maybe.
She glanced around the empty yard.Hugo’s stables were large and modern and should be bustling with activity.“Are you all on your own?”
Paul and Hugo shared a glance.Hugo answered.“I sent all the staff on an outing to the coast.I wanted you to myself when I showed you your new home.”
“What a lovely thought.”She smiled at him.These days, she did a lot of smiling.“But that means Paul’s missed out on the treat.”
“I don’t mind, my lady.Sir Hugo’s promised to train me up with Fogg.I might be head groom one day.”The prospect made the boy’s eyes shine.
Hugo sent him an approving glance.“You proved your worth when her ladyship was missing, lad.I’m lucky to have you working for me.”
Paul went as red as a rowanberry with pleasure and managed a flustered bow.
“Now, once you get the horses settled, you can head off for an afternoon with your family.”Hugo jumped down from the carriage and held his hand out to assist Athene.“Your mother will love seeing you.”
Paul gave them both a happy grin.“Aye, Sir Hugo.Thank you.”
Athene felt barely a twinge as she stepped out of the carriage.Which was a relief.For weeks, every movement had been agony.“You’re a kind man, Hugo Brinsmead.It’s one of the first things I noticed about you.”
Hugo gave a theatrical grimace as Paul led the horses away.“Not my manly physique?”
She laughed.“Trust me, I noticed that as well.You crowded out poor Sylvie’s shop.”
He hooked her arm through his and turned toward the yard entrance.“I’m a big bugger.”
“You are,” she said.“It’s rather thrilling.”
She thought that she heard him muffle a groan.Since her accident, their relations had been of necessity chaste.At first, even kissing had been painful.Hugo had borne his enforced celibacy with good humor, but she could tell that all this proximity without sexual congress wore on his nerves.
It wore on her nerves, too.Especially once she started feeling better.
“I’m glad you think so.It’s too late to decide you prefer a fellow built like a greyhound.”
She laughed again and looked around as they strolled along the side of the mansion.The unseasonal sunlight turned the local stone silver.
Hugo noticed her curiosity.“Would you like to see the grounds?”
Actually she had a few ideas about what she’d like to do.And appealing as the outdoors might be today, she required privacy to bring those ideas to fruition.“No, inside, I think.”
They rounded the building to reach the front.A gravel turning circle extended in front of an elegant double staircase that led up to a porticoed door.“The house is lovely, Hugo.”
Pleasure brightened his expression.“I hoped you’d like it.”
“How could I not?”It was smaller than Clere Towers where she’d grown up.That appealed to her.Already she sensed a warmth at Hampden Crags that promised future contentment.“It strikes me as a place where people have been happy.”
“I had a very jolly childhood.”He drew her up one of the flights of stone steps.“Although at times, I couldn’t help thinking that a chap didn’t need quite so many sisters.”
She laughed.When Hugo’s sisters had called on them in York, they’d welcomed her into the family.It was clear that they loved their brother and were delighted that he’d found his bride.“Whereas I longed for a sister.You could have sent one of yours over to keep me company.”
After all these years alone, she could still hardly believe that she now had a family.Miles had accepted her back into his life, and Hugo’s large and exuberant clan treated her as one of their own.She’d worried that they might disdain a woman who worked in a sweet shop, but they’d been fascinated about her life in London.
“There were times when I’d have been pleased to send you the lot of them.”He wasn’t doing much of a job of hiding his fondness for his sisters, so she didn’t exactly believe him.
She was yet to meet his mother, who currently enjoyed her wedding trip in Italy.But the new Lady Repton had sent her a lovely letter, saying how much she looked forward to meeting her son’s bride when she and Sir Henry returned in April.
