Chapter Eight
Landon ended up hiding in the attic, which also served as the maid’s bedroom. While he berated himself for running off like a scared fox, he couldn’t talk himself into leaving the safety of the small space. At first, he had tried to leave the townhouse, but Warren had so many servants doing their chores through the entire place that he hadn’t been able to find a way out unless he wanted to run into one of them. And who knew if the servants would tell Warren that his new brother-in-law was trying to leave without the bride?
He should have stayed in the drawing room. Yes, it’d been horrible that he had knocked Opal over, and it had been even worse that her stockings had been exposed to everyone. But it was much worse now because he’d run off. Not only had he proven himself to be clumsy, but now they’d know he was a coward.
He should have stayed right there and helped her up. Then he should have apologized and accepted whatever consequences came from it.
This was why he was the laughingstock of the Ton. He consistently made the wrong decisions. He acted without thinking, often running off at the first sight of trouble, and because of that, no one had any respect for him. The lisp was only a small concern. Deep down, he really was a coward. He was so afraid of people that he needed his brother to do as much with him in social situations as possible. He didn’t know how he was going to break out of his fear of people. He kept thinking the more he forced himself to get out, the easier it’d be, but it didn’t seem to work.
He put his head in his hands and sighed. Of all the gentlemen someone like Opal could have married, he was the worst pick. The poor lady was going to know she married a coward, and she was going to hate it. No lady wanted to be chained to someone who couldn’t get through a simple wedding ceremony without embarrassing her.
He heard someone climbing the steps of the attic and hurried over to the corner of the room, huddling behind an armoire.
“There’s nowhere else he could be,” he heard Guy say. “We’ve searched every other inch of this place, and we know he hasn’t left because his carriage is still here.”
“Maybe he walked to your home,” Opal said.
Landon stiffened. Guy was bringing Opal with him? He wished Guy was with Virginia. Even if he was with Warren, it would have been better. Just how was he supposed to face Opal after what he did to her?
“No, he didn’t walk to my townhouse,” Guy said. “After how embarrassed he was, he wasn’t going to risk being seen by anyone. There are so many servants through here, he hid somewhere in this place.”
Drats. Guy knew him far too well.
The footsteps came closer, and Landon had two options at this point. He could keep hiding and hope they didn’t find him…though he was sure they would. It wasn’t like he could become invisible. Or he could step forward—something he should have done a lot sooner—and confront them.
Bracing himself for what was to come, he forced his steps forward. In the sliver of sunlight coming in through the curtain covering the small window, he saw his brother checking under a blanket that was covering a piece of furniture while Opal was looking inside a large trunk.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. When they looked his way, he said, “I acted inappropriately. Forgive me.”
Opal shut the trunk and went over to him. He studied her face. She didn’t look mad. If anything, she looked relieved to have found him.
“No one is mad at you, Landon,” she said. “We know it was an accident.”
“I’ll leave you two to discuss this,” Guy told him. “But she’s right. You made much more out of the incident than it really was.”
Landon waited until his brother headed back down the steps before he turned his attention back to her. “I feel like a fool,” he admitted, trying not to cringe as he said the words because it only emphasized how inept he was.
“I know you’re embarrassed by what happened.” She took his hand into hers. “I also know it’s easy for me to tell you that you have no reason to feel that way. But in all honesty, while we were eating, we thought the whole thing was funny.”
“Funny?” How could she say that?
With a chuckle, she squeezed his hand. “Well, it was. Take a moment to think it through.”
Since she watched him expectantly, he figured she was waiting for him to do just that. As much as it pained him to recall the whole sordid thing, he did, and he didn’t see where any of the humor was. In fact, it only seemed worse now that he had time to carefully think through the whole incident.
“Maybe it isn’t funny to everyone,” she amended. “But you have nothing to worry about. We all understand you didn’t mean to bump into me. No one is going to be critical of you, and we aren’t going to tell anyone else.”
“But the vicar…”
“The vicar knows it’d be in poor taste to mention it to anyone.”
He hoped she was right. In his experience, it was hard to know who wasn’t going to talk behind his back.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“No.”
“Did you eat before the ceremony?”
“No.” He just didn’t have an appetite when he was under a great amount of stress, and there was no doubt that getting married was an amazingly stressful event.
“Well, if you’re ready to leave, we can.”
“I need to apologize to your family before we go.”
“There’s no need to apologize. I told you that we all understand it was an accident. You can see my family another time. They aren’t expecting you to see them for the rest of the day. Iris’ parents already left, and Iris is taking care of her children. Warren is getting ready to go to White’s.”
Was she telling him the truth, or was she only saying it to make him feel better?
She sighed and squeezed his hand again. “They understand you’re embarrassed, Landon. No one wants to put you in an awkward position. They want you to be as comfortable as possible.”
Sensing her sincerity, he nodded. “All right. I’ll talk to them later.”
“Good.” She slipped her arm around his. “Let’s go to our new home.” Then she led him to the stairs.
***
Opal had dreamt of getting married since she’d read books about people falling in love. Despite the marriage her mother and father had shared, she’d held onto the hope that she might be one of the fortunate couples who had a love match. Warren and Iris were proof that such marriages were possible. Watching them over the past two years and seeing how their love deepened every day, her desire for such a match had grown stronger than ever.
She thought it might be possible that she and Landon could share such a marriage. He was undeniably sweet. He worried too much about what others thought of him, but it was only because he wished to please everyone. She hadn’t ever come across a gentleman so sensitive to the needs and thoughts of others before. He would, without a doubt, make a kind and gentle husband, as the vicar had said.
Now, as she sat with him in the carriage on the way to their new home, she wrapped her arm around his and offered him a smile. Though hesitant at first, he returned it.
When the carriage came to a stop, she peered through the window to see where she’d be living from this point forward. The townhouse was close to Warren’s, and for that, she was glad. It would be nice to be near her family. Landon had been very thoughtful to take that into consideration.
The footman opened the door, and Landon stepped out and then turned to help her down. Despite his nervousness, he did have a nice grip. Not too tight. Not loose, either. Thankfully, he had seemed to relax significantly since she’d found him in the attic.
He led the way up the stairs, and they went into their new home. While Landon introduced her to the staff, the coachman brought in her belongings. She noticed that Landon spoke slowly as he chose his words, avoiding any that would cause him to lisp.
Afterwards, Opal and Landon went to their bedchambers to change into more comfortable clothes. When she was done, she thought of knocking on the door separating their bedchambers, but then she decided to wait for him in the drawing room.
“Is there anything you would like me to bring to eat or drink?” the butler asked.
Turning from the window, she said, “Green tea and scones will be fine, thank you.”
He offered a nod and left.
Good. Maybe now Landon would get something to eat. Hopefully, by now, he would be relaxed enough so he could manage to get something into his stomach.
Studying the room, she didn’t notice anything personal about it. There was nothing that gave her a clue into what Landon’s interests were.
She heard some footsteps. Expecting it to be the butler, she was ready to tell him to put the tray by the settee so she and Landon could sit together, but it was Landon. He stopped just outside the doorway and peered in as if he wasn’t sure he had a right to be there.
She was ready to invite him in when he asked, “Would you like to see more of this place?”
“Yes, I would.”
She should get familiar with the townhouse. She went over to him, not sure if she should hold his hand or slip her arm through his. When they were in Warren’s attic and Landon was afraid to leave, it’d been easy to make the move. It’d been easy initiating contact when they were in the carriage, too. But now that they were here, she didn’t feel so confident.
The butler came up to them with a tray in his hands. He paused when he saw them. “Should I return this to the kitchen until you’re ready to sit in the drawing room?”
“You can put it in there,” Landon said. “We won’t be gone for long.”
The butler nodded, and as he went into the room, Landon gestured down the hall.
“When Lady Chadwick gave me a tour, we went down here,” Landon explained.
He didn’t make a move to touch her, so she decided to walk beside him. “Do you plan to put any personal items in the rooms?” she asked.
“I hadn’t thought about it,” he replied. “I had a lot to do to get ready for our marriage. Except for my clothing, I have nothing of my own here.”
“So this furniture and the decorations belong to Lady Chadwick?”
He nodded.
“If you don’t mind, can we get a couple of things that are our own to help make the place feel like it belongs to us?” she asked.
“I’d be happy to do that.”
She smiled at him, and they came to an open door along the hall.
“The den,” he said, motioning to the room.
She entered it first, and he followed behind. “I’m surprised she left books here,” she said as she went to the large bookcase lining one of the walls. “There’s not a single spot left to add another book. She must love to read.”
“Either her or Lord Chadwick. Lord Chadwick died. Lady Chadwick might have left them here.”
Noting the way he carefully spoke each word, she glanced away from the books and said, “I don’t mind your lisp. You don’t have to purposely choose words that don’t have the letter ‘s’ in them.”
A blush crept up his face. “I prefer to.”
“I understand. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. You should speak in a way that makes you comfortable.” She smiled again in hopes of making him more comfortable then scanned the titles. “I’m going to guess that it was her husband who read most of these. They seem to involve histories of empires and battles.”
He walked over to her. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“I love to read. I spent most of my life in books. They were a good escape. I only read a couple that dealt with past empires.” She hesitated to add more, but then she thought she might put him more at ease if she made a joke. “I only read the books about empires and battles when I was having trouble going to sleep. Within thirty minutes, they always made me tired.”
As she hoped, he laughed.
“What about you? Do you read?” she asked.
He nodded. “A lot while in the country. I don’t do much more than that.”
“What about riding horses? Do you do that when you’re in the country?”
“I do. Do you ride them?”
“I used to when I was a child, but I haven’t done it in a long time.”
She decided not to tell him that was because when she’d last been on a horse, she’d fallen off of it in an attempt to kill herself. After that, her mother and brother, Byron, had forbidden her to go on another one.
“Do you like riding them?” Landon asked, breaking her out of thoughts of her past—thoughts she’d rather not dwell on.
She turned her attention back to him. “I do.”
“I can rent them, and we can take a ride in Hyde Park. I hear people do that in London.”
“Yes, they do. I’ve seen them do it. It’s been so long since I’ve been on one, I might be a bit clumsy, but I would love to ride one again.”
“Would you like to do it today?”
Surprised he would make the offer so soon, she chuckled. “I think we have enough to do today, what with the wedding and everything. But I would like to do it soon.”
“All right.”
“I suppose there’s not much more to this room than books,” she said after a long moment of silence passed between them.
He shook his head. “Lady Chadwick let me know I could replace them,” he gestured to the books, “if I wanted. We can put them in the attic. I don’t have many people under my employment. No one,” he cleared his throat, “livth there.” He winced then hurried to gesture to the books. “They aren’t going to get in the way up there.”
“Do you like to read those kinds of books?”
“A little, but not that many.”
“They are a lot on the same topic. Even I need more of a variety than that. That will be one of the things we’ll get to later. First, we should think of things we can purchase that will make this our home instead of Lady Chadwick’s.”
Landon scanned the room, “I think a painting or two would go well in here.”
“What kind of paintings would you like to have?”
“I like the country. Maybe a painting like that would be nice. What do you think?”
“I think this is going to be your room, so you should get whatever paintings you want for it.”
“But don’t you want to add book…?” He stopped before he added the ‘s’ then quickly added, “The type you like to read.”
“There is room in my bedchamber to put them.”
He paused for a moment then nodded. “All right. The den will be mine then.”
“For what it’s worth, I love paintings of the country. They will be lovely in this room.” Even if Lady Chadwick had left her husband’s books here, she had cleared the walls for them to do whatever they wished. “You can also replace that inkwell on the desk or add another chair to the room. Then this will feel like your room.”
“It will.”
She slipped her arm through his again and guided him out of the room. “This is going to be fun. We’ll add our own personal touches to these rooms, and they’ll represent who we are.” She paused when they reached the hallway. “Where should we go next?”
He cleared his throat. “The ballroom.”
Ballroom? She and Landon could now host balls! She was definitely looking forward to that. Excited, she encouraged him to lead the way.