Charming Artemis by Sarah M. Eden

Chapter Eleven

Charlie loved being an uncle. While at Cambridge, he’d not been afforded as much time with his brothers’ children as he would have liked. But Oliver and Hestia didn’t live very far from Brier Hill. And the rest of the Lancaster family gathered at Falstone Castle now and then. Charlie would have nieces and nephews close by again.

The second day of Their Graces’ visit offered a spot of gorgeous weather. Charlie wasted not a moment and not only obtained permission for the little lord and lady to join him on the back lawn for games but also secured the duchess’s participation.

They began with lawn bowls, but that proved too confusing for Oliver and far outside Hestia’s ability. The space was too wide open for hide-and-seek, a game Oliver had adopted as his absolute favorite after their impromptu round on his first day at Brier Hill. Shuttlecock and battledore would be too complicated for such young children.

There was a game Charlie grew up playing with his brothers. It would not at all be beyond Oliver’s capabilities. With her mother’s help, Hestia would be able to participate as well. But they’d need at least one more person.

He spotted Artemis at the terrace door.

“I have an idea,” he said to the duchess and the children. “I’ll be back directly.”

He rushed over to Artemis, excitement building. He loved seeing children’s faces light up. Such small things managed it. Made a fellow feel like a regular hero.

“We’re going to play a game,” he said to her without preamble. “And we want you to join in.”

“Truly?” She eyed her family over his shoulder. “What game?”

“Catch us, catch us.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know that one.”

“You’ll recognize it. My brothers and I didn’t invent the game, only gave it our own name.”

Little Oliver’s voice called over to them. “Is she going to play with us, Uncle Charming?”

He turned his head enough to call back. “She hasn’t said yet.”

“You have to look cute,” Oliver said.

Laughing and a bit confused, Charlie turned back to Artemis. She grinned as broadly as he’d seen in ages.

“Adam is forever telling him when they are trying to convince Persephone to agree to something, ‘Look cuter, Oliver. She can’t resist you when you look your cutest.’ It seems Oliver is convinced that is an applicable approach in many situations.”

So Charlie assumed a babyish, innocent, pouty-lipped expression, complete with hands clasped in a posture of pleading.

“He said cute, not pathetic.” She was being far too dramatic for the evaluation to be a sincere one.

“I was aiming for cutely charming. Must live up to my name, after all.”

“Oliver seems to have enthusiastically adopted it,” Artemis said.

He arrogantly adjusted his lapel. “It’s fitting, don’t you think?”

She shrugged and gave him a look of overblown doubt.

He chuckled. “Do come play with us, Artie. It’ll be a misery without you.”

To his surprise, she reached out and threaded her fingers through his quite as if she intended to hold his hand as they walked.

“Explain this game to me,” she said.

He spun about, keeping her hand in his. “She’s going to join us,” he told the others.

Oliver cheered and jumped about.

“He can be very somber,” Artemis said. “It is good to see him acting more like the five-year-old little boy that he is.”

“I adore him. And that Hestia is an angel. I am half tempted to try to convince their parents to let us keep them.”

Artemis shook her head. “They would never agree.”

“We’ll simply have to go visit them, then.”

“There are seven other nieces and nephews in my family,” she said. “In time, you’ll get to meet them all.”

“There are ten in the Jonquil family, though I’ve heard a few whispers that there might be at least one more on the way.” Charlie didn’t know if Jason and Mariposa’s news was common knowledge, and he didn’t mean to spill the secret. “You’ll eventually get to meet all of them.”

“I would like that,” she said.

He glanced at her and saw unmistakable sincerity in her expression. “Would you?”

She nodded. “I have always liked children.”

Relief wrapped around his heart like a warm blanket. “That’s something we have in common, then.”

“What are we going to play, Uncle Charming?” Oliver asked as they approached.

“A game I used to play with my brothers.”

“You have brothers?” Oliver asked.

“Six of them.”

Oliver’s eyes pulled wide. “How many sisters?”

“I didn’t grow up with any, but all of my brothers are married, so I now have quite a few.”

“You have four sisters on the Lancaster side now,” the duchess said.

“I would be honored to think of all of you that way, Your Grace.”

“Persephone,” she said. “Please.”

Why that request touched him so deeply, he couldn’t say. But he was grateful. Grateful to have gained family. Grateful for the immediate and loving welcome these children had offered him, and now their mother as well.

“What game?” Oliver pressed firmly.

Charlie looked to Artemis. “That one is definitely a future duke.”

“Indeed.” Artemis’s hand was still in his. He’d not have guessed a month earlier that he would enjoy holding her hand, but it was proving a pleasant experience.

“In this game, one person has their eyes covered with a scarf or cravat or whatever is at hand. The others call out, ‘Catch us! Catch us!,’ all the while doing their utmost to slip out of reach. If the one with his or her eyes covered catches hold of someone, he or she has to guess the person’s identity. If the one who has been caught is identified, that person is blindfolded next.”

“I know this game. An excellent choice.” Artemis sounded excited. “I do worry, though, that the one blindfolded will inadvertently step on poor little Hestia. She is not swift enough to get out of danger.”

Persephone offered a solution. “She and I will play as a team. I’ll hold her. She will be happy simply to be part of the fun, though she’ll not understand at all what we’re doing.”

Charlie had to free his hand. He felt a surge of disappointment. Perhaps Artemis would let him hold her hand again. It was quite possibly the most hopeful moment they’d had together since their marriage. He needed something to cling to.

He tugged at his cravat; it would need to serve as their eye covering. “If ever we have all our Lancaster nieces and nephews together with all our Jonquil ones, we simply have to play an enormous game of catch us, catch us. It would be a beautiful bit of chaos.”

Artemis watched him with surprise. “Are you a fan of chaos, then?”

“What is life without a bit of chaos?”

“That is the Jonquil family motto, no doubt.”

Charlie laughed. “It ought to be. But our motto is Fortitudo per Fidem. Latin for ‘There are a lot of us, so prepare yourself for an aching head.’”

Artemis smiled in clear enjoyment of his jest. Yes, this was proving an encouraging day.

He hunched down in front of Oliver. “Would you like to be the searcher first?”

The boy agreed eagerly. Charlie tied the cravat around his head, covering his eyes. Then he spun the boy about before stepping back.

“Catch us! Catch us!” Charlie called out.

The game that ensued was filled with delightful laughter. Oliver captured his mother, who handed Hestia off to Artemis and took her turn. She caught Artemis, who gave the little girl to Charlie. Soon it was Oliver’s turn again, then Charlie’s. The children’s giggles—even Hestia, who had been all but silent during their time at Brier Hill, laughed a couple times—filled the back lawn with joyfulness.

Oliver caught hold of Charlie’s coat on his next turn. “Caught you!”

Charlie kept still, grinning as Oliver tried to sort out who he had captured.

“Mama doesn’t wear a coat like this,” Oliver said.

“Though she was wearing a cravat a few rounds ago,” Artemis tossed out.

“And tied an embarrassment of a knot,” Charlie said, mimicking Philip’s voice and mannerisms.

Persephone and Artemis both grinned.

“You sound just like him,” Artemis said.

“A talent of mine.”

“It’s Uncle Charming!” Oliver proclaimed.

“I’ve been sorted.” Charlie sighed.

He helped Oliver out of his blindfold, then tied the cravat in place over his own eyes. “I am quite good at this game, I should warn you. I’ll likely find all four of you at the exact same time. You will be amazed.”

Oliver laughed. It was an utterly adorable sound.

“Catch us! Catch us!” He knew that was Artemis. Her voice was exceptionally familiar to him.

All their voices echoed about, calling out the same phrase, broken up by their laughter. Charlie held his arms out, trying to catch hold of someone. Oliver had a bit of an advantage, being so much shorter than everyone else playing.

Hearing a rustle behind him, Charlie spun about and caught someone. It was either Artemis or Persephone.

This time adopting his imitation of the duke’s voice, he said, “I am almost certain this is Oliver.”

“You sound like Papa,” Oliver declared from somewhere behind him.

Charlie set his other hand on his captive’s other arm. She couldn’t have been holding a child, and Persephone had been the one with Hestia in her arms. This, then, was most likely Artemis. He reached up to where her head would be, and his fingers found a long, spiraling curl of soft, silky hair. No one’s hair curled with the abandon Artemis’s did. He stepped closer and caught the unmistakable aroma of earthy pine and citrus.

“Artie.” His voice, for reasons he could not identify, emerged in a whisper. And why, for heaven’s sake, was his heart pounding?

With his free hand, he slipped off his blindfold. He’d identified her correctly, of course, yet the sight of her was still surprising. He let the cravat hang limp around his neck and wrapped his arm around her, essentially a one-armed embrace. She wasn’t pulling away. He brushed his fingers over another of her mesmerizing curls.

Those startlingly green eyes of hers watched him closely. “You caught me,” she said a little breathlessly.

His mind emptied. He could think of nothing to say and couldn’t seem to force himself to pull away. He found he wanted nothing more in that moment than to simply hold her. Her. Artemis Lancaster, who had once declared him such a forgettable, dismissible person that even his own family took no notice of him, who had proven herself insincere and petty time and again, whom he’d been forced to marry.

What was happening?

“Papa!” Oliver shouted.

Artemis’s head snapped in that direction, a look of hopeful anticipation that disappeared almost instantaneously. A hint of disappointment passed through her expression but so quickly he almost missed it. Disappointment at seeing her brother-in-law? Who else could she have been expecting to see?

She stepped away from Charlie and looked to her sister. “Oliver will want nothing to do with us now that Adam’s here. Those two are inseparable.”

Oliver had, in fact, already begun running toward the small back terrace where His Grace had appeared. Hestia was lying rather heavily against her mother’s shoulder, likely mere minutes from falling asleep.

“I believe our game was coming to an end anyway,” Persephone said. She looked to Charlie. “Thank you for being so indulgent with them. You have made our visit a delight for both of them.”

“I assure you it was no sacrifice at all,” he said. “I hope they will visit often.”

“And I hope you will come visit us as well,” Persephone said. “Falstone is not terribly far away.”

“I do have a whole slew of new siblings I need to meet.” It was a more pleasant thing to ponder than the mystery of why he felt a tug toward a lady who did not share that pull, indeed one he didn’t even like, who didn’t like him in return.

“Perhaps we can convince everyone to come to the Castle for Christmas this year,” Persephone said. “They did the year Hestia was born, and it was delightful.”

Charlie nodded.

Artemis walked with her sister along the same path Oliver had taken, leaving Charlie alone. Alone and utterly, utterly confused. He stood rooted to the spot, watching his baffling wife. Some questions didn’t have answers, he feared.

The duke stepped off the small back terrace, Oliver held in his arms, and walked directly to Charlie, then motioned him onward. “Walk with me.” His Grace never did make a request that sounded the least optional.

Charlie obeyed. Oliver was not sleeping but looked quite as if he might follow his sister’s lead and drift off. The duke pulled a small carved horse, one a bit worse for the wear, from his pocket and gave it to his son. Oliver clutched it to himself, then rested more heavily against his father.

“Do you suppose we’ll have bread pudding again today?” Oliver asked, his voice quiet and sleepy.

“As this is Artemis’s house, I cannot imagine we will not,” His Grace said.

“Bread pudding is her most favorite.” Oliver’s declaration tapered off into a whisper, even as his eyes grew heavier.

The gentleman all of Society knew as the Dangerous Duke brushed a hand gently over his son’s hair, holding him as naturally as if he’d been a father all his life. Something in the gentle and easy way he interacted with his little boy put Charlie in mind of his own father.

He followed the duke to his father’s garden.

“I like this corner of your home, Jonquil,” the duke said.

“So do I. It reminds me of my father.”

The duke nodded. After the length of a breath, he looked once more at Charlie. “I am a member of the Royal Society.”

An odd and abrupt change of topic, but Charlie accepted it. “Are you?” Charlie had hoped to one day apply for membership. Intellectuals and academics from all areas of study made up its ranks. He’d not yet proven himself though. Considering the state of his career trajectory, he wasn’t likely to ever do so.

“It was suggested to me many years ago that I ought to join,” the duke said. “I do not attend as many lectures as some, but I’ve found the ones I have attended to be interesting and enlightening, for the most part.”

Charlie envied him that. “I’ve heard of a few recent lectures on mathematics that I would have liked to attend. My friends declare that an oddity in me.”

“It’s an oddity that makes sense.”

Charlie didn’t know quite what to make of that observation. “Does it?”

For the briefest of moments, the duke didn’t say anything. He’d done that often during his visit to Brier Hill, though Charlie wasn’t certain if it was a common thing with him.

“Before leaving London, I made a few arrangements.” His Grace adjusted Oliver’s position so the boy was resting in his arms and on his shoulder. They walked slowly around the small flower-filled garden. “Under my recommendation, the Society is extending to you an invitation to offer a lecture on a mathematical topic of your choosing.”

Shock rendered Charlie unable to answer immediately.

“A date has not been chosen. I told them I would inform them of the date that would be preferred.” Only the infamous Duke of Kielder could make such demands of a prestigious organization even he admitted to being only marginally involved with. “Pick your topic. Prepare your lecture. Then tell me when you are ready to have a date selected.”

“You are in earnest?” Charlie pressed.

“I am always in earnest.”

Lectures for pay was one of the few options available to an academic who was married and, therefore, unable to be a don. To be invited to speak to the Royal Society would open doors for him. From this opportunity, if he managed the thing without making a fool of himself, would come others.

Years of struggling to publish papers and gain notice had loomed large in front of him. With a single meeting and a likely imperious set of demands, his brother-in-law had swept all that away and set him on the path he’d been aiming for.

“You must have a degree of faith in my intelligence and reliability,” Charlie said.

“As I told you at your wedding breakfast, I have placed faith in you that you yourself have not yet earned.”

“If you will forgive the impertinence, Your Grace, trusting people for no reason seems very out of character for you.”

The duke turned back toward the garden gate. “I said you hadn’t earned my trust. I didn’t say I had no reason for giving it.” He left on that mysterious explanation.

Was there any member of the extended Lancaster family who made any sense whatsoever?