Page 25 of Everything But the Earl
Instead, she sealed his promise with a kiss.
*
“Welcome to CaerNewydd,” Owen said as the carriage pulled up to a grand house. “Thenewyddimplies the house is new, but that only means it is two-hundred years old instead of five hundred some odd.Although apparently some mate of William the Conqueror built theoriginalcastle, or so the rumor goes, but the pile of stonework up the road was built by Edward I, and we Welsh have resented the British ever since. Edward hammered the Welsh before he hammered the Scots, you know.”
“I did not know.”
“My aunt will happily lecture you on notable moments in Welsh history. I warn you, there are loads of Llewellyns.”
“Does your aunt live here?”
“Morfudd keeps a house in town, but once she hears we are here, I imagine she will invite herself over.”
“So who is here now?”
A groom ran up and helped them out of the carriage. Owen led the way up the stairs to the front door.
“Just the staff, I should think,” said Owen.
The front doors suddenly flew open and a very tall man in livery stood at the door.
“Lord Caernarfon. Welcome home.”
“This is Driscoll,” said Owen. “Driscoll, this is my lovely bride, Grace.”
“Welcome, my lady. My lord, I will have tea service in the grand parlor if you’d like to adjourn there while we take care of your luggage.”
“That sounds nice, thank you.” Owen turned to Grace. “Would you like the tour first or would you rather have something to eat?”
“Definitely something to eat. I’m famished.”
Owen imagined a house of this size would make Grace feel overwhelmed. Owen felt overwhelmed sometimes; Caer Newydd was much larger than his home in London.
He led the way to the grand parlor. But first, they had to cross the main entrance, and what the staff referred to as the vestibule. It wasn’t really a vestibule. The vaulted ceiling, the columns, the wide-openspace was all a bit cold for Owen’s taste, although he was used to it. The rooms inside were much cozier.
He held out his arm for Grace, and she cupped her hand around his elbow. As they walked across the vestibule, Grace said, “This is…grand.”
“It’s ostentatious, I know.”
“Did I know you owned a house like this?” Grace sounded awed. “I suppose I did, but this is…”
Owen grinned. “I suppose I do have a few spare pounds to spend on nice living quarters. There’s actually a whole wing of the house I don’t really use. It’s too much for a single man without a family. But now that you’re here, if you want to spend some of my money to redecorate, I am open to it.”
“Did you decorate this house already?”
“Some of it. A lot of it was my mother. But I made some modernizations a few years ago. I’ll show you when we go up to our rooms later.”
“Rooms? Will we not share?”
Owen smiled. “That is not customary. Surely your parents kept separate bedrooms.”
Grace frowned. “Yes, but you and I shared a room and a bed on the road, and I thought that—”
“The lord and lady of the house have adjacent chambers upstairs, but you may sleep in my bed if you like. Anytime you want.”
They arrived at the grand parlor, which was just a few steps down a hallway from the vestibule. The parlor was luxuriously appointed; Owen had seen to its decoration himself, and now that he looked again, he felt how dark and masculine it was. But there were two high-backed chairs that faced each other across a small table, situated in front of a fireplace, where a small fire was already burning. Owen pulled out one of the chairs for Grace, then he sat across from her.
The cook came in a moment later with a cart for tea. Owen wasdelighted to see that in addition to a teapot and cups, there was a tower of cakes, biscuits, and small sandwiches.
