Magic in the Stars (34 page)

She hesitated, overwhelmed, but Theo was made of sterner
stuff. “Meet us upstairs, Mrs. Smith,” he ordered, marching for the stairs.
“Bring a few strong footmen and your maids with you. We have work to do.”

Aster hitched up her skirt and hurried after him, heart
foolishly singing. Theo might declare himself a bookworm, but he knew how to
take charge when he wanted. He was a handsome man, but when his jaw set like
that, he was swoon-worthy.

“We’ll need carpenters,” Theo declared as he led his parade
down the intersecting corridor to the west wing where her female relations had
stayed. “We’ll add a wall and entrance door across here.”

He gestured to an area half way down the rear wing. “Aster,
do you want a parlor in front? I think we could knock out the bedchamber walls
and extend a room across here.” He indicated the area just past where he wanted
the door.

Delighted with the notion of designing her own suite, Aster
opened the doors to the small chambers on either side. “There won’t be a lot of
light, but we could add a chandelier over the entrance. These old pieces will
need to be hauled to the attic. Mrs. Smith, can you direct that?”

The portly housekeeper nodded officiously and gestured for
one of the footmen to begin dismantling old beds. “New draperies, my lady?”

“Yes, certainly, once the carpenters are done. We could
remove these now before the mess ensues. Perhaps some of the fabric is
salvageable?”

Uninterested in draperies, Theo proceeded down the corridor,
opening more doors. “This one for the master chamber, I believe.” He stood
aside so Aster could admire the spacious room he’d chosen. “Do you require a
separate chamber or should we turn the next one into dressing rooms?”

Aster covered her mouth and thought of the immensity of what
he was asking in front of all their servants. Privacy was obviously not part of
the routine here. Rather than answer, she crossed to the connecting door and
peered in. “This chamber would make a lovely large dressing room with small
bedchambers on either side.”

She’d leave it up to everyone else to decide whether one of
the beds was for her or for her maid. For herself—she’d rather sleep with Theo.
She glanced up and saw a sparkle of approval in his eyes. Good. She’d done one
thing right today—proving theirs was definitely not a marriage in name only.
She was ready to shut everyone out and return to Theo’s bed, except they really
didn’t have one of their own yet.

He crossed the corridor to two similar rooms. “Our offices?”

Aster tried not to let her mouth drop open. “Our very own
private offices where we can work uninterrupted?”

“The very same,” he said in triumph. “We will lock the front
entrance against all intruders and have locks for our offices as well. It will
require fire and blood before anyone is allowed to disturb us.”

“You learn well,” she said with laughter. She swept into a
peacock-blue room adorned only with an ancient chest of drawers and a vanity.
The wooden floor was scarred but solid. The window overlooked the abandoned
courtyard and what had once been a rose-covered stone wall. “I want this one. I
shall have my charts brought down so I might start work at once.”

“What about the salon, my lord?” Mrs. Smith asked worriedly,
nodding her head toward the end of the corridor.

Aster followed them down to the unexplored reaches of the
wing. Double doors opened onto a marvelous expanse of windows, old carpets,
fading drapery, and a vast collection of ornate gilded chairs and tables
apparently stored here to protect them against dogs and boys. The ceiling had
been painted and plastered in the style of Adams, and the fireplace surround
was decorated in the same style with blue cameos, gilded plaster roping, and hand-painted
flowers.

“Oh, this must have been grand!” She raced from window to
window. “Why will this not be our parlor instead of destroying those front
rooms?”

“Because this is our
private
parlor,” Theo declared. “Or nursery or schoolroom or whatever you wish to make
of it. Others might visit in the front parlor, but this one is for us alone.”

“And the cats,” she declared pertly, trying not to show how
she felt about the notion of a nursery. “And Hog, of course.”

“Shutters on the windows then,” he agreed with laughter. “I
just want these rooms to look like your London home—all neat and orderly and full
of fascinating curiosities.”

A
home
—he was
creating a nest for her to feather. Aster flung herself into his arms and
covered his square jaw with kisses.

The servants hustled out.

“When the world crashes all around us, we’ll come here,”
Theo whispered in her ear.

When
, not if.

Satisfied that he’d given his little general a task that
would make them both happy, Theo left Aster transporting her charts and cats to
her new office and went in search of Duncan.

He didn’t have to go far. With his host duties over, Duncan
had crawled back into his cave. Theo found him stalking his chamber in boredom,
apparently counting his steps from one wall to the other.

“A cane would save a lot of counting,” Theo said dryly,
picking up an abandoned walking stick and looking for a safe place to set it.

“And how the hell do you expect me to find the bloody
things?” Duncan demanded. “They walk off on their own.”

“Not if you would hang on to them instead of flinging them
at our heads. Did you, Pascoe, and Lochmas come to any conclusions about our Swinger
problem or do we just wait for the rioters to destroy the threshers?” Theo rapped
the cane’s handle against Duncan’s shoulder so he’d know where to find it.

Duncan swiped the stick and used it to find a chair. “I will
become old and fat moldering up here,” he complained rather than answer the
question.

“I am hiring carpenters to build a suite in the west wing. I
can have them build you a boxing gym if it makes you happy. Or perhaps we can
hang ropes out the window for you to climb up and down.”

The damned marquess actually looked interested in this last
proposal. “Ropes might be easier than stairs. Or a platform pulley between the
floors.”

“I’m glad I’ve given you something to think about. Now will
you answer my question?” Theo gripped his fingers into fists of frustration. “I
promised Aster a wedding journey, but we cannot go until I know the estate is
safe. I have no understanding of the rioters’ arguments.”

“That’s because they’re not logical,” Duncan said with a
dismissive gesture as he took a seat. “The men behind our local riots are
ninnyhammers who indulge in drunken rages based on jealousies, arrogance,
stupidity, and fear.”

Theo scowled. “Fine, then. Who are these monsters of
depravity so I can ship them to New South Wales, or better yet, deepest Africa
where they might feed hungry cannibals? Sensible Englishmen don’t need iconoclasts
telling them what to do.”

Duncan snorted. “That’s what you get for burying your head
in books and scientific communities.
Iconoclasts
!
Go to my clubs and talk to those so-called sensible Englishmen and see how many
believe trains will be the end of civilization as we know it. Most of them think
steam is the work of the devil.”

“What do your aristocratic clodpolls have to do with our
threshing machines and rioting farmers?” Theo asked, running his hand over his
hair and wishing he could hide in his office with his telescopes and books. The
passages of planets were predictable. Human behavior eluded him.

“Wealthy landowners who don’t want to spend money to change
their ways encourage the Luddites to do their dirty work for them,” Duncan
explained impatiently. “Right now, threshing machines are their target. There’s
similar unrest over our mining improvements. Your glass manufactory is
mysterious and thus cause for suspicion, so you’re next on their list. And if
Pascoe is correct, we may be targeted out of jealousy and spite simply because
we’re Ives. You haven’t made a friend in Montfort. And now that I’m no longer
marrying Margaret, Caldwell is no longer inclined to stand in Montfort’s way.”

“What the devil do they care what we do?” Theo’s fury rose
with his impatience. “It’s our land!”

“I told you, it’s not logical.” Duncan tapped his stick.
“The uneducated and narrow-minded simply fear change. The more educated leaders
resent our wealth, and fear us because we’re more powerful than they are, which
threatens the control of their petty fiefdoms. Pascoe believes my support for
several Whig bills has led Caldwell, Montfort, and others of their ilk to
distrust us. We are, after all, aiding and abetting the despised Cit industrialists
as well as supporting labor against the time-honored traditions of the upper
classes. There’s nothing you can do, Theo. Browne is handling our tenants. They
won’t be joining the rioters. That’s all I can promise.”

“We should steer the drunkards toward Montfort. I’d think
his tenants ought to be ready to rise up in arms given how he treats them. I
can’t keep hanging about, waiting for disaster to strike.” Theo winced,
remembering Aster telling him he tended to act before thinking. She was right.

“So, don’t. Go to London. Present your astronomical papers.
Visit Aster’s family. William can stay here for a change and lead armies, if
needed. We must go on as if all is normal.”

This was his new normal, Theo realized glumly. “I never
wanted your responsibilities. I don’t have the right brain for them.”

“I can’t ask you to be me,” Duncan said with what almost
sounded like regret. “We’ll just have to muddle along as we can. Tell me, do
you love Aster? Does she love you?”

Theo blinked at this unusual change of topic. “I have no
idea. It’s not as if anyone ever taught us what love is about. I enjoy her
company, and I think she’s what this place needs. Is that not enough?”

Duncan rubbed his stick thoughtfully back and forth across
the floor. “I can’t say for certain. I just feel as if there needs to be
something stronger than
like
to compel
a woman to stay when the odds start stacking against her.”

That’s what Theo feared too, but he wouldn’t admit it to
Duncan. “Any woman who has learned to deal with Lochmas has to be strong.
She’ll stay,” he said with a confidence he didn’t feel.

Duncan nodded doubtfully and they left it at that, although
worry hollowed a deeper hole in Theo’s gut. If he refused to believe in Aster’s
astrology, then he had no right to believe foolish superstition about Ives men always
losing their women.

***

Hearing Theo’s familiar boot steps on the uncarpeted
corridor later that evening, Aster hastily pushed up from the charts she’d
spread across the bare floor of her new office. The day had been a busy one, as
she’d feared, but she’d stolen these last few hours for her work.

She petted the cats and left them in the snug nests she’d
prepared for them out of old drapery and pillows. She suspected Theo wouldn’t
want Tiger kneading his head any more than she wanted Hog panting in her face.

She hurried across the hall to their new—shared—bedchamber.

Theo had thrown his elegant coat on a chair and was sprawled
in his shirtsleeves on their new bed, hands crossed behind his head. He seemed
to be studying the embroidered canopy she’d dug out of the attic for the old
four-poster she’d had carried in from a guest room. He didn’t glance up at her
entrance but apparently recognized her footsteps as she had recognized his.

“Are those planets amid the blue blossoms?” he asked.

“They are now,” she said in satisfaction, lying down beside
him and gazing upward. “I’m not certain what they were intended to be, but I
added a few stitches. I wasn’t aiming for accuracy, just effect.”

“I’m impressed. Your talents are many. I should show you
what each planet looks like and let you paint the ceilings. Or the walls. Or do
you know how to tell workmen to do such things?” He turned on his side and
propped himself up one elbow to gaze down upon her.

Aster stroked the lines of weariness on his bristled jaw.
“Just tell me what you wish, and I can find someone to do it. That part is
easy. Family and tenants and keeping your enormous household accounts and that
sort of thing . . . will take some practice.”

“Just knowing you are here is enough right now.” His fatigue
seemed to dissipate with her stroking, which cheered her immensely. She liked
knowing he needed her. She hated to add to his burdens. “I’ve worked on my
charts some more.”

He tensed again. “Do I want to hear about it?”

“Remember I told you I saw danger in the part of commerce
but accomplishment in the form of allegiance?”

“And remember we laughed at the possibility of my family
working together?” he retorted. “And
commerce
can mean anything.”

“Not when it’s on
your
chart. Your only commerce is the manufactory. And when it’s in my chart as
well, then it almost has to mean the manufactory is in danger. The problem is . . .”
She hesitated, then almost whispered, “A Mars transit to both our moons is
squaring Saturn. It’s not just the manufactory in danger this week, but our
home
— the Hall.
That’s
why I see all these knives in all our charts. Because we’re
all in this house when the heavens align against us.”

“So all your hard work goes up in flames this week?” he
asked with a hint of sarcasm. “Planets do
not
predict doom and gloom. I’ll hear no more about it. Instead, tell me how you
found all this flummery.” He gestured at the bedcovers. “We have carpets and
matching drapery? And rather impressive dressing tables.”

Aster nearly wept at his dismissal of her fear, but
admittedly, there was very little he could do even if he believed her. With a
sign of resignation, she returned to stroking his hair. “This house has vast,
uncharted depths, and no one has thrown anything out in centuries. It’s just a
matter of exploring and asking the servants. They’re the real secret to
everything. Molly has an eye for good fabric and knew exactly where to find
what, even though she’s only been here a few weeks. And I kept Mrs. Smith so
busy, she didn’t have time to tipple.”