Free Heir to Rowanlea by Sally James Page B

Claude!”
     

Chapter 5
     
    Having thus given them time to master their surprise, she smiled brightly at them, and Charlotte, responsive to the unspoken plea in her glance, dutifully dropped a curtsey, wondering whether she ought to offer to kiss her aunt. Before she could decide Lady Norville beamed delightedly at her, and approached to sweep her into her arms, bestowing several kisses on Charlotte’s unresponsive cheeks.
    “The dear little Charlotte! How well I recall you as a child. Such a mischievous one, at that, but so much the young lady now. So elegant. I shall have to tell you some of the secrets we have in France, so that you can dazzle the young bucks. And your big cousin Harry. My, how he has grown. I believe he is taller even than Claude!”
    She released Charlotte and went to embrace Harry, but he forestalled her by grasping her hand and raising it to his lips.
    “Welcome, Aunt Claudine,” he said with an effort, and then, unable to control himself any longer, burst out: “Claude? What is this? My cousin’s name is Frederick!”
    “Frederick Claude, named after his dear father and me. Don’t you recall? But Frederick is so ugly a name, and so difficile for us to pronounce, and in France, you know, these last years, it has not been wise to puff off English connections, so my boy is called Claude.”
    Harry stared at her for an instant, frowning, before he spoke.
    “The head of the family has been called Frederick for several generations,” he said quietly, and turned at last to shake the limp hand his cousin extended to him. “It’s good to see you back, Claude. My father sent a man to France a short while ago to try and trace you. It has been a long time.”
    “And there must be so much to tell,” Lady Weare put in. “I am still so startled I cannot think straight. But Claudine, you will wish to go to your room. I will take you up. Let us hope the servants have taken up some of the baggage, and your maid can find you a gown to change into. Harry, will you show Claude to his room? I have ordered the oak guest chamber to be prepared for him and the one next to it for Monsieur. I hope that will be comfortable for you, Claude. “
    “We were so pleasantly surprised to find the house lived in,” Lady Norville said, smiling at her sister-in-law. “I dreaded having to put up at an hotel while Claude saw his man of business, and sent for Henry, and we had this house made habitable. How well I recall it. But it seems very old-fashioned now. No doubt Claude will want to redecorate and throw out this dreadful old furniture. And pray do not disturb yourselves by moving out of the main bedrooms, the others will do admirably for us for the time being.”
    It’s a wonder she doesn’t ask us all to move from our bedrooms immediately, Charlotte thought. She cast a swift glance at Harry, whose face was set and his lips clamped together as though he were restraining himself from comment. She could see life with the newly returned Norvilles was going to be tricky, if not downright unpleasant.
    “My brother wished to keep the house in good order, while not altering it beyond recognition,” Lady Weare said calmly. “You will find he has had all the necessary repairs done, though he would not permit me to indulge my love of redecorating,” she finished with a rather forced laugh.
    “Rowanlea is entirely as it was left also,” Harry put in, his voice cold with suppressed anger. “My father has kept only a skeleton staff there, but has exercised his duties as trustee from Rowanlea Manor. The servants here are in fact his own, and naturally paid for by him.”
    Lady Norville beamed at him and attempted to pat his hand, but Harry moved away.
    “I am sure he has done everything proper, not simply his duty. I do not mean to criticize, my dear boy! I know how much Claude will rely on him to teach him what, after all, he should have been learning these last years, had things turned out differently. And as for