“Perhaps we can stay, just for a couple of days.”
He gaped down at her. “You would have me reward such behavior?”
“Not reward, no. It’s just…”She paused, tense. Then, like a damn bursting, the words poured out of her. “I hardly remember what life is like outside London. And the Isle is so beautiful. Couldn’t we stay, just for a short while?”
Ash was struck mute by the impassioned plea. Regina had always remained closed off, restrained. This was the first time since he had known her that he felt he could actually see to the heart of her. And he saw that beneath the armored shell she had created as a way to survive the great upheavals her life had taken, there was still a young girl whose childhood had been cut short.
He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat. “Very well, Regina. We can stay. But only for a few days,” he warned, even as his heart leapt at the happiness that saturated her face.
“Of course,” she replied, breathless, a small smile lifting her lips. “Thank you, Your Grace.” And then she was off, picking up her skirts and sprinting after her sisters and Mrs. Wheeler.
And as Ash, left alone, looked about the front hall, which was painfully familiar to him and which he had hoped never to set foot in again, he wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.
***
It did not take even an hour before that particular question was answered.
“Nelly, Eliza,” he barked as the two girls hurried through the upstairs hallway, each carting a piece of furniture on their backs. “Put those chairs down at once.”
The only indication they heard him was Eliza’s mocking voice as they made their precarious way down the stairs. “‘Put those chairs down at once.’”
Nelly’s giggle trailed up to him as they descended to the ground floor and out of view.
Ash heaved a sigh, running a hand over his face. Good God, he was exhausted. He had barely gotten settled into his room before the chaos had begun. How was it that two young girls could have so much energy? Were they vampires, draining the life force from him to use for their own nefarious purposes? It certainly felt like it. No wonder they had gone through so many nannies and governesses over the years.
But he had better see what they were up to. For all he knew they were going to break down the chairs and create a bonfire to summon evil spirits. And while he had no qualms if theywerepracticing supernatural arts, he already had enough demons in the form of three young girls in the house, thank you very much.
Eliza and Nelly were easy enough to find. All he had to do was follow the shrieks. That, and the trail of debris. What, he wondered with increasing unease as he sidestepped a pillow, could they be up to?
Whatever he could have imagined, however, it was nothing compared to actual fact. Turning the corner into what he recalled was the dining room, he was struck mute at the sight of what could only be described as a blanket fort.
The table had been extended to its full length, the dining chairs pulled out, several more added to the forest of them to form a long oval. Sheets and blankets and furniture coverings were draped across a good portion of it all, creating a tent of sorts. Beneath were strewn yet more blankets, as well as myriad pillows and couch cushions.
But it was the sight atop the table that his eyes snagged on. Eliza, taking the chair her sister had been carting downstairs, was propping it under the sheets to give them more height.
“What the blazes is going on here?” he demanded.
He half expected them to give a guilty start. They did nothing of the sort, instead looking at him with wide grins.
“Isn’t it glorious?” Nelly asked, bouncing on her toes as she surveyed their handiwork.
“We never managed to make something like this back in London,” Eliza added. Done adjusting the placement of the chair, she stood back on the tabletop and placed her fists on her hips. For a moment Ash’s heart stuttered as her small heel came precariously close to the edge. “Yes, that is perfect. Nelly, pass me up the next chair, will you? I think if we place them just right, we can reach the ceiling.”
“She will do nothing of the sort,” Ash pronounced. Striding forward, he gripped a protesting Eliza about the waist and plucked her from the table, depositing her on the floor.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, glaring up at him.
“Stopping you from breaking your neck,” he replied tightly. “Now, clean this all up. I’ll not have you giving Mrs. Wheeler more work.”
“We won’t clean it up,” Nelly declared, stomping her foot, her small, pointed chin jutting out mutinously. “It’s beautiful.”
“We worked too hard on it,” Eliza chimed in, her eyes snapping fire at him. She stepped next to Nelly, clasping her hand. A united front against their big, bad guardian.
If they only knew. His rush of anger was gone in an instant, only a weary sadness in its place. “Clean it up,” he repeated as he turned and strode from the room.
“Or what, Your Grace?” Eliza taunted to his retreating back. “Will you kick us out into the streets? I know you must have been aching to do just that for five years, the three orphans you were saddled with and never wanted.”
Guilt, that hot knife that was constantly buried in his heart, plunged in deeper. It was true, he had never wanted them, had never wanted to know that there had been much more he had been unaware of besides his mother’s abuse.