Bride Enchanted by Edith Layton Page B

you.”
    â€œWhere are the family portraits?” she asked, suddenly realizing that though she’d seen landscapes and portraits of flowers, horses, and haystacks, she hadn’t seen what most great houses held: a corridor of ancestors.
    â€œWe weren’t vain,” he said briefly. “Look at the shadows! It’s time for dinner. I’ll show you upstairs to your chamber, and then we’ll dine.”
    â€œMy chamber?” she asked, stopping in her tracks. “You’ll live elsewhere?”
    He looked down at her. “I have my bedchamber, of course,” he said.
    â€œI wish you didn’t,” she blurted. “That is, I ought to have mentioned it before. I didn’t expect…I don’t want to be alone.”
    He stared at her, consideringly. His lips quirked. “You’re saying you wouldn’t have married me if you’d known we’d have separate bedchambers? Most of the ton does, you know. People in highest Society always have, for ages. When this place was built—and that was so long ago no one quite remembers when the first stone was laid down—there were the master’s quarters, and his wife’s, just as the ancient kings and queens had it. But don’t worry. We’ll share part of the night, of course,” he added, smiling.
    She looked down as her heart sank. The housewas huge, and he’d be far from her through all their nights. The size of the place wasn’t really the point. When he was beside her, she questioned nothing. Long nights apart would surely feed her doubts about this hasty union. She couldn’t tell him that, it would be insulting. Besides, she wanted to be near him day and night. Especially night.
    â€œYou want to change that tradition?” he asked softly.
    â€œI didn’t know about that tradition.”
    He looked bemused, then shrugged. “You’re very different from any female I’ve known. Or any that has ever lived here, in fact. But that’s why I chose you for my bride. Very well. Off with the old. It’s time for something new. I’ll have your night things moved into my chamber, or mine into yours. There’s a connecting door, it won’t be that much work or take that much time. Just decide where we’ll sleep and there we will always sleep together. Come, I’ll show you both rooms, and you decide.”
    He offered her his arm.
    She took it, and stepped more confidently into her new life with him. She’d won a small point. It boded well.
    He led her to the stair, and looked down at her, smiling slightly. She’d managed to surprisehim. She was changing things here, things that no woman had ever thought of doing. That boded very well for him; it lifted his spirits, and made him hope, once again, that this time, he’d made the right choice.

Chapter 7
    S he woke to a kiss, a light warm velvety touch on her lips. Her eyelashes fluttered open. She saw a pair of soft brown eyes smiling into hers, and she felt like a girl in a fairy story.
    Then Eve realized who she was, where she was, and who he was, and she flung her arms around his neck. “Good morning,” she said with joy.
    Aubrey smiled, but backed away.
    She dropped her arms, her eyes widening. She put a hand in front of her mouth, remembering she hadn’t yet rinsed her mouth or brushed her teeth.
    He laughed. “No, your breath is as sweet as the morning breezes, but this morning we have things to do. We have the night to come for loving,” he said in a gentler voice, “and all the nights to come, after that. But this morning,” he said, as he straightened to stand beside the bed, “you have to see more, learn more about this hall and thelands around it. I don’t want you wandering out and getting lost a foot from home. Tonight,” he added, touching her nose with one finger, “is also the night of a full moon. Very propitious. Now, breakfast with