Surrender (42 page)

headed for the door. She paused on

the threshold and glanced back over her

shoulder at Lucas.
 
There was one other

thing, my lord."

 
Somehow I am not surprised," Lucas

said.
 
Pray, continue. You have my full

attention, madam."

 
What is this nonsense about an Amber

Lady?"

Lucas's eyes flicked briefly to the

pendant she wore.
 
Where did you hear

the phrase?"

 
One of the children in the village called

me by that odd title. I simply wondered if

you were familiar with it. Apparently it is

some sort of local legend."

Lucas glanced at Satherwaite.
 
I will tell

you what little I know of the story later."

Victoria shrugged.
 
As you wish, my

lord." She swept back out of the library

and Griggs hastily closed the door behind

her. The butler regarded her with an air

of acute concern

 
Have no fear, Griggs," Victoria said,

grinning with unabashed triumph at her

small, successful assault on the sanctity

of the library.
 
My lord has teeth but

it takes considerably more than a minor

interruption from his wife to make him

bite."

 
I shall remember that, madam."

In the library Lucas sat down again

and reached for the next aging ledger.

He realized Satherwaite was watching him

with an expression of deep curiosity.

 
My wife, as you can see, will be taking

an active interest in the estate," Lucas

remarked.

 
Yes, my lord. She appears to have a

rather keen interest in local matters."

Lucas smiled complacently.
 
Lady Stone

vale is a woman of great energy and

enthusiasm. She has been needing an

interesting challenge to occupy her full

attention."

 
Shopping in our poor village was

certainly an act of gracious mercy on

her part. I cannot imagine a lady of her

excellent taste finding anything she truly

desired in the local shops."

 
I believe the point was to do something

for the local economy," Lucas mused.
 
And

I am grateful to her. It will take both of us

to save stone vale. As I said, we are facing

a challenge." Satherwaite looked at the stack of

journals and ledgers that stood on the

desk.
 
No offense, sir, but rescuing these

lands presents enough of a challenge to

occupy a regiment." He looked back at

his employer with a hint of the sort of

hero worship a young man often feels for

an older male who has seen combat.
 
Of

course, you have had some experience with

military matters, sir."

 
Just between you and me, Satherwaite,

I don't mind telling you that I find the

challenge of making this land productive

again infinitely more appealing than the

business of war."

Satherwaite, who clearly did not see how

anything could be more exciting than the

business of war, wisely kept his mouth shut

and opened the journal in front of him.

Later that evening Lucas leaned back in

his chair, stretched his feet out toward the

fire, and indulged himself in the purely

masculine pleasure of watching his wife

pour after-dinner tea in the drawing room.

It was a small thing, this matter of

pouring the tea, but it seemed to symbolize

so much. He was not so foolish as to think

Victoria had surrendered to the inevitable

yet, but he saw the distinctly wifely act as

a definite step in that direction.

He suddenly realized that in common

with most of his sex, he was not given

to a great deal of idle reflection on all

the small routines that turned a household

into a home. At least, he had not been

particularly conscious of them until recently

when, having gotten himself a wife, he had

discovered he had not automatically gotten

all the little niceties that were supposed to

come along with one.

For the past three days he had been

living in a state of armed truce, a truce

that was only an inch away from open

warfare. Nothing in the household had

been seen to beyond such minimal matters

as producing meals and emptying chamber

pots. Griggs had been getting desperate.

misses Sneath had threatened to quit because

of overwork.

But as of the moment of Victoria's return

from the village, things had begun to

change. Lucas realized he thirsted mightily

for each small sip of the honey of domestic

harmony. Having his tea poured for him

by Victoria was one such golden drop. It

was the first he'd tasted since he'd taken

his wedding vows.

 
About the legend of the Amber Lady,

my lord," Victoria said coolly as she handed

him his cup and saucer.
 
I would like to

hear the details now, if you please."

 
I confess I do not know all of the

tale." Lucas stirred his tea, trying to think

of ways to stretch out the conversation.

Victoria was in the habit of rushing off

to bed early lately.
 
My uncle mentioned

the matter shortly before he died. It was in

conjunction with the pendant he gave me."

He frowned, wishing he had not called her

attention to the amber around her throat.

Victoria appeared totally oblivious of the

fact that she wore it twenty-four hours a

day.
 
I asked for the story, but you must

realize my uncle was a bitter, ill-tempered

man. To top it off, when I saw him, he

was on his deathbed and not particularly

inclined to humor me or anyone else."

 
What did he tell you?"

 
Just that the pendant had been handed

down through the family for several

generations. It apparently belonged to

the first lord of stone vale. My uncle said

I might get more information from the

villagers. I asked misses Sneath about it. As

you know, she was about the only member

of the staff left when the old bastard died.

He had turned off everyone else."

 
Go on, what did misses Sneath say?"

Lucas looked at her and saw the bright

curiosity shining in her beautiful eyes.

 
Having met misses Sneath, you must know

she is not the talkative sort. But she did tell

me that the villagers tell an old children's

story about the first lord of stone vale and

his lady. The man had been dubbed the

Amber Knight because of the colors he

wore into battle."

 
So he was a warrior, too," Victoria

murmured, staring into the fire.

 
Most men who acquired estates the

size of stone vale were," Lucas pointed

out dryly.

 
They called his wife the Amber Lady?"

Lucas nodded.
 
According to the legend,

the lord and his lady were very much in

love and devoted to the land and the

people on it. stone vale grew prosperous

under their guidance. Several generations

of happily married men succeeded the first

and the lands flourished. People began to

say that the well-being of the estate and

its surrounding lands was contingent on

the happiness of the lord and lady who

lived in the great house."

Victoria frowned.
 
A rather precarious

thing on which to hang the welfare of this

entire region."

 
It is just a superstition, Vicky."

 
I know, but"

Lucas interrupted her swiftly.
 
According

to misses Sneath, it became a saying in

the village that the Earls of stone vale

must marry for love or the lands would

suffer. Given the wealth of the estate, it

was very convenient for each succeeding

earl to make a love match rather than a

business match."

Very convenient. There was no need

to marry for money until the present

generation, I take it?"

Lucas hurried on, anxious to skirt the

quicksand he sensed waiting for him in that

direction.
 
At any rate, three generations

back, the Earl of stone vale fell in love

with a young woman who, it seemed,

had already given her heart to another."

Lucas paused.
 
Not only her heart, but

everything else, apparently. Her family

rushed her into the marriage knowing

she was carrying another man's babe, the

child of a penniless second son who left

for America when he found out she had

married the Earl of stone vale."

 
That poor girl. How sad for her to be

forced to marry a man she did not love.

But her family was not about to lose

the opportunity of having their daughter

become a countess, I suppose," Victoria

murmured with a touch of bitterness.

 
Probably not," Lucas agreed.
 
But as

long as you are overflowing with sympathy

for the young lady, you might spare some

for my ancestor who found himself tied to

a woman who was not exactly a virgin on

her wedding night."

Victoria's gaze turned even more frosty.

 
So? I did not come to this marriage a

virgin, either, if you will recall."

 
It is hardly the same thing, given the

fact that I was the one and only man

you slept with before the wedding. In

any event," Lucas added, feeling a little

dangerous now himself,
 
we haven't even

had a wedding night, so your point is

irrelevant, to say the least."

 
Do you know, Lucas, I do not see why

your ancestor or you or any other man

has any right to expect his wife to be a

virgin. You men certainly do not bother to

remain in a chaste state until your wedding

nights."

 
There is the little matter of attempting

to ensure one's children are one's own."

Victoria shrugged.
 
Aunt Cleo once told