Page 4 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

Richard, in whom later he had confided, had said it was not the kiss that had upset Giulia, but his apologising for it afterwards. He did not understand that, but it was a fact that Giulia had snubbed him at the ball, had actually refused to dance with him. Now he was worried that her accepting Uncle Fergus was somehow connected. He was anxious for her well-being, that was all. It was too bad of Kitty to be giving him Looks across the room at the mention of Giulia’s name!

The bell hadn’t gone yet and he was expecting to be the only one down, but Angus was lurking near the Christmas tree, evidently hoping to waylay him. Ah, yes, Giles thought, he could legitimately be angry about Angus.

The young man got his word in first, smiling anxiously. ‘I was hoping to see you, sir. I wanted to have a private word with you.’

‘And I want to have a private word with you,’ Giles said grimly. ‘What the devil are you doing here?’

‘Well, sir—’

‘For God’s sake stop calling me “sir”.’

Angus blushed. ‘I thought, with you being the earl, head of the family—’

‘Not of your family. Your mother is my mother’s aunt so I suppose it makes us cousins of some sort – is it second, third, or once removed? I’ve never understood all that business. I am, however, responsible for Rachel while she’s under my roof. And to save you time: I know, because my mother told me, that you and Rachel have taken a fancy to each other and want to marry.’

‘It’s more than a fancy. I love her, and she loves me,’ Angus protested.

‘My mother also told me that both she and your father are dead set against the match. Rachel is under age and her mother is her legal guardian, so I must revert to my original question. What the devil are you doing here?’ Another thought occurred to him. ‘Do your family know where you are?’

‘Not precisely,’ Angus admitted. ‘I mean, I expect Father will have guessed, but I didn’t exactly tell anyone—’

‘You had a row and stormed out,’ Giles gathered. ‘You hot-headed young idiot! What sort of good do you think that will do?’

‘You don’t understand – my father was trying to force me to propose to Diana Huntley. She and her parents were coming to stay for Christmas and he said I must do it while they were there.’

‘Go on,’ Giles said. He began to feel sorry for him. He knew what it was to be forced into marrying.

‘I just couldn’t,’ Angus said wretchedly. ‘I told Father I didn’t love Diana, but he said marriage was nothing to do with love. He said young people couldn’t be expected to know better than their elders what was good for them. So I—’

‘Ran away.’

Angus reddened. ‘It sounds paltry when you say it like that. But I couldn’t think what else to do. I thought—’

‘Did you? It seems to me there wasn’t a great deal of thinking going on at all. Well, the first thing we have to do is let your parents know where you are. Oh, don’t look at me like that – unless he has a flying carpet he can’t suddenly turn up here – at least, not until after Christmas.’

The clattering of nails on the marble floor of the hall heralded the arrival of the dogs, Tiger and Isaac, who dashed in to romp fawningly round Giles and then Angus in a serpentine of adoration. Giles guessed they had been with Alice and Rachel in the schoolroom, which meant that the girls could not be far behind.

‘Now, look here, Angus,’ he said. ‘My mother is determined on a grand marriage for Rachel. She was only allowed to come here for Christmas on condition that I wouldn’t permit any correspondence or clandestine meetings between you two. So you’ve put me in the dickens of a position.’

‘I’m sorry, sir – but I really do love her.’

‘Yes, yes, take that as read. Well, this isn’t correspondence, and as a meeting it’s hardly clandestine. And I can’t bring myself to turn you out into the snow. But while you’re here, you’re not to be creeping away together for secret talks – and certainly not for kisses – or you’ll make a liar of me. You’ll see her and talk to her only in the public rooms with the rest of us present.’

‘I understand,’ Angus said. ‘Thank you, sir – Cousin Giles.’

‘But you had better do some serious thinking. You have a few days’ respite. Make good use of them. And now, here the girls are, so no more of this. I’ll have another talk with you later.’

After a fast run, the hounds checked at a spinney, and Nina pulled Jewel up. They had gone so fast there were only a couple of other riders, both of them men, between her and the hunt servants. Her face was stinging from the passage of the wind. The short December day was declining and the air had taken on a chill; the sky was pink behind the bare branches of the trees.

A moment later, Adam Denbigh arrived and halted Talleyrand beside her in a cloud of steaming breath. ‘Good God,’ he said, ‘what was that about? The expression “neck or nothing” comes to mind. My heart was in my mouth.’

She leaned forward and patted Jewel’s neck. ‘He went like a bird, didn’t he?’

‘That’s not the point,’ Adam began.

Fortunately – since he seemed to be about to deliver a lecture that she would not have taken well from him – his sister, Nina’s friend Bobby, Lady Wharfedale, rode up. She had lost her hat and her hair was coming loose. Zephyr was blowing like a train, but her eyes were sparkling. ‘What a run!’ she cried. ‘It must have been ten miles if it was a yard! The way you took that blackthorn with the ditch in front! I funked it and went by the gate.’

‘I was just going to mention that,’ said Adam. ‘It was a wild thing to do, when you didn’t know what was on the other side. Reckless, in fact.’