Prince of Ravenscar (Sherbrooke Brides 11)

“Oh, you are both very clever girls, as are you, Vicky. Now, Vicky, do you remember how you spent as much time at Ravenscar just as Julian did at Hardcross Manor?”

Vicky was gazing out the carriage window, seemingly mesmerized by the rolling hills interspersed with thick maple forests, but she was listening, Sophie knew it. Finally, Vicky nodded.

That was enough for Corinne. She said, “When Vicky was very young, she was in and out like both Richard and Lily. But you stopped coming, Vicky. Why?”

“I had to stop coming, you see. There was so much for me to do at home when Lily married Julian, so how could I continue to come?” Vicky turned back to the window.

That quashed the conversation.

“Surely you came to visit your sister at Ravenscar?” Roxanne asked her.

Vicky said, “There was no need. Lily spent every day at Hardcross. Why should I come here when Lily was never here anyway?”

That quashed the conversation again.

Roxanne said, “I tried to convince Devlin to ride inside the carriage with us. I even warned him that it was such a beautiful day and the sun would surely roast his sensitive self.” She leaned toward Corinne. “I told him if I had to be closed inside a rolling box, then he should suffer and join us. He said he had no intention of being at the whim of a handful of ladies in a rolling box. He said he doubted we could control ourselves. I did not inquire exactly what he meant by that.”

Corinne laughed. “It will be a full moon tonight. I wonder if Devlin has any special plans.”

The ladies were laughing, except for Vicky, when the carriage pulled to a sharp halt, and the horses snorted and whinnied. They heard Julian shout, “Look—that is smoke!” They saw Julian jab his heels into Cannon’s sides, and his gelding leapt forward, Devlin beside him. They disappeared around a curve in the road.

John Coachman spurred the horses forward.

It was Corinne who cried out, “Oh, no. It’s the Queen Ann Dower House! Thank heavens there is no one living there.” Flames were shooting out of the windows. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind the inside would be gutted, but of course the stone exterior would remain.

A score of people splashed buckets of water on the flames, but everyone knew it was no good.

Roxanne, her head out the carriage window, felt Sophie tugging her away and obligingly made room for her.

Sophie sucked in her breath. “How did this happen?”

Corinne said from behind them, “Who would burn down the Dower House? How can it be an accident?”

“That would mean someone set it afire,” Sophie said.

The carriage stopped near the Dower House. Julian pulled Cannon close. “No one knows how the fire started. It would seem I have an enemy, though I already knew that. Mother, I will be up to the house in a little while.” He gave them a salute and motioned for John Coachman to continue. The carriage rolled up the wide tree-lined drive to Ravenscar. Corinne didn’t point out that the palm and maple and oak trees were new. She said, “I considered living there, you know, when Julian married Lily, but when Lily said she had no wish to displace me, I continued on at the big house. A good thing I did. Look, there it is.”

“It is magnificent,” Sophie said. “A palace and a castle, all mixed together. Look, Roxanne, there is enough stone to empty a quarry.”

Corinne said, “That huge central block was built back in the fourteenth century; the other wings have been added at the whim of succeeding generations. His grace said we didn’t need any more drafty corridors, any more chambers that would serve to house unwelcome guests. He elected to modernize the family wing. There are even water closets and the loveliest airy dressing rooms. The family wing is to the left of the central core. It stretches back nearly to the sea. His grace always said he liked to smell the sea when he awoke in the morning.” She paused, seeing, remembering, Roxanne and Sophie knew, then she said matter-of-factly, “He wanted to be buried here, and he was.”

There were no crenellated walls, no turrets, no moat, despite the house’s having been built during the age of continuous warfare. It was massive, stretching high to the heavens, a solid fierce warrior to vanquish any enemy who dared approach. Sophie said, “I can smell the sea. I agree with his grace, it is a splendid fragrance.”

The carriage pulled to a halt in front of the—palace, castle—Sophie shook her head. No, it was a palace, since a prince lived here.

On the steps stood an old man garbed in stark black. “That is Pouffer,” Corinne said. “He is very old, but when Julian once asked him if he wished to retire, I thought he would burst into tears. Since this is his home, both Julian and I agree he will go directly from here to heaven when his time comes. And there is Mrs. Trebah, our housekeeper, blind as a bat, has been for twenty years, but I swear to you she can smell a dust mote from ten feet. She is a dear woman. Wait until you taste Mrs. Coltrak’s black cakes.”

Pouffer, smiling widely with his six remaining teeth, welcomed the ladies. Then his composure disappeared and he began to wring his hands. “By all the sins of Satan, sin still abounds, your grace, did you see it? Our precious Dower House is no more, burned to the stones by some ruffians. Oh, my, will we be invaded by miscreants and burned in our bed? Begad and begorrah, ’tis too much to bear on a fine April day. Aye, I am feeling on the weedy side.”

“Get hold of yourself, Pouffer, we have guests.” But even as she spoke, Corinne patted the old man’s arm. “Do not worry so, Pouffer, we will be fine. You know very well the prince will keep us safe. Look, I have brought you three beautiful young ladies to amuse. Ah, Mrs. Trebah, how well you are looking. Did you hear me tell Pouffer about our three guests? Yes, they are standing very near me. Now, let us go into the house.” Corinne, her hand now transferred to Mrs. Trebah’s arm, to ensure she didn’t run into anything, led them up the dozen wide stone steps into the entrance hall.

Prince? Sophie smiled. Surely this address, used by all who lived hereabouts, must drive Julian quite mad. She liked it very much.

32

Sophie stood beside Roxanne and Vicky in the huge central entrance hall and stared upward a good sixty feet. A gleaming chandelier hung on a massive rope to within twenty feet of their heads. Everything shone and smelled of lemon wax, and, oddly, there was the scent of dog, not a wet smell but just—dog.