Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,273

This journey to Wales would settle things once and for all. She had to believe that Rhys’s heart was pure and that he would offer her a life standing beside him as his wife. As a full partner in everything.

If not, she would take her pride and leave.

Chapter Eighteen

Rhys paced back and forth across the front door of Kington House. He was still huffing when Wister finally made her way downstairs. At the sight of her travel bag, he stopped and quickly came to her side. “Here, let me take that. Have you finished packing?”

It was midmorning two days later and they were making ready to leave for Wales. She had never seen Rhys so tense before.

Is he always like this before he sets out on the road?

With Deri having traveled on to Ruthin Castle the previous day in order to announce his future marriage, she didn’t have the opportunity to ask Rhys’s cousin as to his odd behavior.

“Yes, I think I have everything. Polly kindly packed us a basket with various things to pick and peck while on the road. It’s in the travel coach,” she replied.

Rhys started for the front door, then turned when it was clear Wister hadn’t followed.

He may well be wanting to wait until they were in Carno to talk further, but she wasn’t going to delay having this conversation. “Why are you in such a rush to leave? It will only take us a few hours to reach Crossgates. Or are you not a good traveler?” she asked.

“I am perfectly fine in a coach. I have decided that we are to make for Newtown today, which is a good deal farther on than Crossgates. I want your first view of Carno Castle to be in the early hours of the morning, which staying at Newtown will allow. That’s, of course, if the snow is not too far on the ground. It’s always a bit touch and go this close to Christmas.”

She scowled. What possible difference could there be in seeing a castle in the hour after dawn or in the middle of the day? “You Welsh do have some odd habits,” she replied.

Rhys took a hold of Wister’s arm and led her toward the door. He held it open for her, stealing a quick kiss on her cheek as she stepped through.

“Aros nes I chi wel hud Cymru,” he said.

“What does that mean?”

“Wait until tomorrow, then you will understand.”

The magic of Wales. As she took in the view of the heavy morning fog swirling around the top of the old keep of Carno Castle, Wister finally understood what Rhys’s words meant. It truly was a magical place. She could just imagine what the old castle would have looked like when it was still fully intact.

Now all that remained was the gatehouse and the snow-dusted ruins.

Rhys had gone into the nearby Carno village to let the local villagers know that he was back, and to organize some supplies for them. Wister meanwhile delighted in wandering about the castle grounds.

In the center of what had obviously been the main bailey was now a space carpeted with green grass, topped with a thin layer of overnight snow. High stone walls rose up on three sides. The remains of the old wooden beams which at one time had supported two levels of floors could also be seen. “I wonder what happened here?” she mused.

“A furious fire, followed by a spot of slighting by some Parliamentarian soldiers.”

She smiled as Rhys came to stand beside her. His footsteps had been silent across the soft white of the lawn.

“My forebears picked the wrong side during the English Civil War. In 1644, Newtown fell to Cromwell’s forces. The Morgan family were on the Royalist side, so Carno Castle suffered. They burnt it and then took to it with heavy canons to make certain it wouldn’t be rebuilt,” he said.

Rhys’s words were delivered matter-of-factly, but Wister caught the hint of pain in them. The war had seen his family’s home of some four hundred years destroyed, lost forever.

He offered her his hand. “Come. Let me show you the rest of the site, then we can go to the gatehouse and have something to eat.”

Carno Castle itself was not large, but it still dwarfed everything in the surrounding area. At the back of the keep there was a small, narrow set of steps. Wister and Rhys climbed up them and then stopped at what she surmised had once been the entrance to the first