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"Her Grace will be exploring her new estate," Julian informed Thayer "Please provide her hatever she needs—including privacy, should she prefer it"

"Of course, sir" Thayer bowed again

"I'd like to see the sleeping quarters," Aurora suggested, trying hard to sound like an eager bride

"Shall I accompany you, Madam?" Thayer inquired

"No, thank you, Thayer Ason my own"

"Of course, Your Grace"

"I'll be on entlemen will excuse me?"

"You knohere to find me," her husband replied, quietly

"Indeed I do" Warathered up her skirts and headed for the staircase

She abandoned protocol the instant she was out of sight

Darting around the second floor landing, she surveyed the vast deserted hallway, itching to begin her scrutiny There must be dozens of bedchambers here, she mused I certainly have my work cut out for me

With that she began, h it inch by inch beforeon to the next As Julian had predicted, the rooms were all but naked, the desks empty, the wardrobes bare—almost as if no one had ever lived here, not even the late duke whose bedchas It was downright eerie, she thought with a shiver Room after roos, stark any furniture, and a cold barrenness that permeated every chamber like an icy wind

Morland Manor was as much a mausoleum on the inside as it was on the outside

Two hours later, Aurora rounded the hall to the next section of sleeping quarters, letting herself into what appeared to be yet another impersonal room

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she went to work, inspecting the e under the four-poster bed before settling herself behind the desk