How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,61
any reason to change her gown three times a day. Everyone wore what was convenient, comfortable and cared not at all about how they were perceived.
Markham Hall was a tight-knit family, including Donahue, the one-armed butler, who often chased Daphne and Susan across the lawns, howling like a wolf and snapping at their heels as the girls squealed with laughter. Mrs. Colden, the cook, sat down to tea with them every day, her hawk-eyes ever watchful as she gathered the information she needed to run her household smoothly. Sarah, Caroline’s lady’s maid and best friend, spoke freely even to Pierce, her head never bowed in fear, her shoulders never hunched with tension. At Markham Hall, servants were people with hearts and voices, not shadows or ghosts, unseen and unacknowledged.
Pierce and Caroline treated them as they would the lords and ladies of London and, in return, they received loyalty and devotion.
Nathanial had never seen anything quite like it.
But he loved it.
He could not imagine ever leaving, and so he pushed thoughts of the kind away, chased them into a little box and locked it with everything he had. Why not live in a fairy tale for a little while and pretend the world was good and would always be thus?
Nathanial offered Charlaine his arm as they walked down the small slope leading from the terrace into the gardens. “Where are the children?” he asked, craning his neck. The lawns, however, remained strangely empty.
“Do you miss them?” Charlaine inquired with a twinkle in her eyes.
Nathanial cleared his throat. “Perhaps.”
The woman at his side laughed, a warm, affectionate laugh that Nathanial had finally come to understand, and it no longer made him feel uncomfortable. “Well, today, it’ll only be the two of us.”
He frowned.
“You’re not shocked, are you?” Charlaine asked as they made their way through the small grove. “I haven’t seen you thoroughly shocked in a good while.”
Nathanial laughed. “I suppose I’m getting used to you and your…oddities.”
“Oddities?” she demanded, a hint of outrage in her voice that Nathanial knew to be false. “What oddities?”
Ignoring her, Nathanial looked out at the calm lake. “Will you tell me why they’re not here? Or do you want me to guess?”
Wiggling her toes, Charlaine marveled that the soft feel of fresh ground under her feet never ceased to ease her heart and soul. “They slipped away again,” she told him. “Emma was beside herself with worry.”
“Where did they go?”
“To the stables,” Charlaine replied with a smile. “They were playing with the new kittens and fell asleep in the hay.”
Nathanial laughed.
“Of course, no one knew and Emma looked like she was about to faint when one of the stable boys came running up to the house.” Cocking her head to the side, she frowned at him. “Did you not notice all the commotion last night?”
Running a hand over his face, Nathanial glanced at her. “I fell asleep.”
Charlaine’s jaw dropped. “In the middle of the day?”
He knew she was trying to bait him, but he felt a hint of red come to his face nonetheless. “It was right before supper so not the middle of the day, and, yes, I was exhausted.”
Charlaine laughed. “You’re looking at me as though this was my fault.”
“Well…”
“Are you saying I exhausted you?”
Nathanial grinned at her. “You all did.”
She stepped closer, her brown eyes lingering on his. “You don’t sound displeased.”
“I’m not,” he told her honestly, still surprised at how deeply his life had changed in a matter of weeks. Never in a thousand years would he have seen this coming.
Never would he have seen her coming.
She was a unique woman in every way, and she had chosen him to be her friend.
Nathanial smiled for he had to be the luckiest man in the world.
“What are you smiling about?” Charlaine demanded with a suspicious twinkle in her eyes.
“Nothing,” Nathanial hastened to say. “So, the girls are not allowed outside today?”
“And tomorrow.”
Nathanial grimaced. “That’ll be hard on them.”
Sighing, Charlaine nodded. “It will.” She stepped around him and gazed out at the lake. “It feels odd being here without them.” Then she turned to look at him over her shoulder, the hint of a wicked grin upon her face. “But I admit I like it. It’s calmer, quieter, rather peaceful.”
Nathanial chuckled. “I thought you liked it loud with lots of laughter and squealing.”
“I do,” she said on another sigh. “But sometimes, sometimes I like to be able to hear the wind stir the leaves, the chirps and trills of crickets and birds.” She closed