Embracing Ashberry by Serenity Everton Page A

the Whitney house. Ashberry House, led by a
trio of hostesses—Lady Whitney, the Countess Westhouse and the
Countess Eldenwood, who was Charlotte’s twin sister
Caroline—organized the event. Ellie gave a brief word of thanks for
Caroline, who had begged her new husband to emerge from their
honeymoon in Ireland when she had heard the news. They returned to
London just in time to celebrate her twin’s wedding and then help
arrange her eldest brother’s.
    Both sisters were thrilled at the
announcement. Charlotte rushed to the Whitney house nearly
squealing in her glee, the Gazette still in hand. Ellie was amused
to learn that Ashberry had neglected to tell his family of the
engagement, leaving them to discover the news two mornings after
the scene in the Whitney drawing room.
    “We were all eating breakfast together,”
Charlotte confessed, “And I nearly spilled my plate.” Her
excitement transparent, Charlotte added, “That devil of a brother,
he looked at me as if I had lost my head and said, ‘Charlotte dear,
are you well?’” Her frown turned then to Edward, who immediately
held up his hands in contrition. He claimed to be under the
formidable threat of the marquess. Charlotte, of course, gave no
quarter and Ellie watched, smiling, as Charlotte forced him to
abjectly apologize.
    Caroline’s congratulations were more sedate
and delivered by special courier a week later from Ireland—Ashberry
rushed the news off on a vessel headed for Ireland the very day of
their engagement—but the new countess proved to be as warm and
supportive as her sister. Charlotte was vivacious and
charming—destined to be a mistress of society—when her sister was
elegant but much quieter and extremely organized.
    Dressed alike, one could hardly tell the
difference between them but their personalities swung in opposite
directions. Caroline, between her obligations to her new husband
and home in London, had also calmly taken control of the chaos at
Ashberry House, delegating the final details and arrangements of
Charlotte’s wedding and breakfast to Lady Westhouse and sharing the
burden of Ellie’s own wedding celebration with Lady Whitney.
    Lady Westhouse, too, was surprised by the
news but the marquess spared her the surprise of reading it in the
papers. Instead, he arrived at her townhouse nearly at dawn that
morning, insisting on seeing her before her staff brought her the
morning news. Both she and Sebastian were pleased by the engagement
and Ashberry was relieved to find his brother did not resent the
possibility that the title might be lost to him.
    Ashberry explained to Ellie and her mother
that he confided the story of an ‘illness’ to the countess, as it
was the one that was also confided to Charlotte by Lady Whitney
some weeks earlier, in order to explain Ellie’s previous isolation
from the colorful whirl of London. The courtship between the two
stirred questions that erupted into a conflagration of curious
callers at the announcement. The attention prevented the couple
from spending any periods of time together since the engagement,
though Ellie smiled as she remembered his words on a terse note,
delivered the day following their engagement with a beautiful
hothouse rose in full bloom.
    “The announcement will be in the Gazette and
Court Circular tomorrow morning. I have a great deal of work to do
at Westminster before our wedding and return home, but I shall do
my best to see you at least once every day. My apologies for my
neglect over the coming seven weeks and for my impatience
yesterday.”
    She kept the note, folding it away like a
piece of fine silk. Of course, he often repeated the gentle caress
he initially called ‘impatience’. The kiss on her forehead was
comforting to her, and when she told him so, he closed his eyes,
drew her close and rested his lips against her brow, his breath and
lips warm against her skin.
     
    * * * *
     
    Edward and Charlotte married first, at the
end of November. Ashberry