“Highwaymen! It must be highwaymen! We need to turn around immediately!”he had cried, much to Percy’s dismay.
It was not a comfortable thing for him to lie to his dearest friend, but in order to protect his own heart and that of Anna, he had done so.
“She did not tell you?”he had said, feigning shock.“She informed me that she intended to remain behind at Westyork, for she had lost her enthusiasm for visiting my ruin.”
Max had not seemed entirely convinced, and still did not, but Dickie had managed to placate him enough so that they could proceed. After all, Anna was safe at Westyork. She would always be safe at Westyork, and after an hour or so on the road, Dickie had pointed out that it was a waste of time to return, only to be told that she was staying there anyway.
“Whatisall the fuss about Lady Caroline?” Max said, shaking his head. “I know I am somewhat biased because Anna is my sister, but surely she has more substance than a mere girl who has just entered society? Of course, a pretty face is a fine thing, but it cannot beeverything.”
Dickie raised an eyebrow. “There is much more to Lady Caroline than a pretty face. She is well-read, well-educated; she is amusing, she holds a conversation well,andshe is beautiful and comes from one of the wealthiest families in England. I might be mistaken, but I thinkthathas something to do with the mountain of interest.”
“Yet, all of that was not enough to tempt you,” Max pointed out. “Or to holdyourinterest, Sinclair.”
Percy sank back into the squabs. “My perception of my needs and wants changed somewhat. I daresay she is a fine lady, but I realized my list of requirements was a rather shallow one.”
“And I know myself,” Dickie added. “It sounds cruel, perhaps, but I would be bored of her in a month. A year at most.”
Exhaling slowly, Max smiled. “This marriage business is much more difficult than anyone warned us it would be, is it not? Everyone says that it is simple—you find someone, propose marriage, get married, have children. But it is not simple at all. Indeed, how does one even begin?”
“Does this mean you are considering a search for a duchess?” Dickie seemed delighted in his irreverent sort of way.
Max snorted. “Not at all. I was referring to the two of you, and to Anna. And to the likes of Lady Caroline, too.”
“You know what should have been done, Max, to make it simpler for both Anna and Percy,” Dickie said with a knowing smile. “Father should have insisted on a betrothal when they were younger, so they would not have to endure the rigmarole at all. Your best friend and your sister, bound together in holy matrimony. That is no bad thing.”
A prickle of unease ran the length of Percy’s spine, making him sit a little straighter in his seat. Did Dickie know something? Did he suspect that Percy was harboring feelings for Anna, or was he just being his usual, agitating self?
Max pulled a face. “You might not think so.I,however, cannot imagine an unhappier household.” He laughed. “Is that not right, Sinclair?”
“Quite right,” Percy replied, forcing a laugh of his own.
They fell into a companionable silence, Dickie quickly falling asleep, while Max also began to doze. But as time ticked on and the carriage drew ever closer to Granville House, Percy had never been more awake.
* * *
Percy sensed, rather than saw, the moment the carriage began to make the final stretch of the journey. The world seemed too quiet, the golden sunset tinged with red, the beautiful hedgerows and immaculate fields transforming into tangles of briars, overgrown boxwoods, and twisted oaks, so large they resembled ancient giants.
The road changed too, the carriage struggling as it bounced and juddered over ditches and furrows. The last time he had been here, he had come by horse; he should have known that it was unfit for a carriage.
He knocked on the interior, and the driver slowed to a standstill.
“It is worse, the closer you get to the manor,” he called out. “Leave us here, and I will send for someone to fill these holes.”
The driver sounded relieved as he replied, “Aye, Your Grace.”
“What is going on?” Dickie sat up, rubbing his eyes.
“We have arrived, but we shall have to walk the rest of the way,” Percy replied.
Max echoed his younger brother, yawning as he stretched out. “What of all the things we brought?”
“There are servants at the house. I will send them to fetch everything,” Percy answered, his heart in his throat. He did not want to be there. He did not want to be anywhere near that wretched manor. If it had not been for his cursed inheritance, he would have done everything within his power to never return there again.
Max shrugged and opened the door. “I could use a walk to stretch out my legs.”
Beneath the bronzed glow of sunset that cast hazy shafts of light through the dense canopies of the oak trees, the three men trudged their way down the driveway, toward the looming structure in the distance. It was not like Harewood Court or Greenfield House, where there were always candles and lanterns aglow of an evening, to welcome visitors. Ever since Percy’s stepmother had arrived, and long after her departure, it remained a hostile place indeed.
“Hasanythingbeen done to it?” Dickie remarked.
