A Hint of Scandal (17 page)

“Well,” Bella said aloud in mild surprise. After reading the note again, she could not decide if she was relieved that he was gone or not. Even though she was anxious to have things settled between them, his presence had become so disturbing, some time to sort out her thoughts would be a relief.

A little later, her curiosity about the duke’s home drew her from her bedchamber. After some minutes of going up and down hallways, Bella realized that she was hopelessly
lost. Though there were innumerable footmen and maids to direct her, she would turn down another corridor and lose her way again.

Since she had nothing to do, she did not really mind. After all, how lost could she get? she mused with a little smile.

Autley was beautifully decorated, and Bella owned herself impressed with the antiques and rare artwork that filled the place. Gainsboroughs and Van Dykes filled the gallery, and when she had wandered into one of the formal drawing rooms, she stopped to stare in awe at the gilded mural depicting a romanticized scene of heaven, taking up all four walls.

It was only by opening one door after another that Bella was able to find a room that seemed lived in. On her fifth try she stumbled into what was apparently a sitting room, and found Margaret Westlake perusing a fashion magazine while seated on a settee by a large bay window.

“Good morning,” Bella said with a little laugh. “I have been wandering this vast place for what seems like hours. What a relief to find another living soul!”

Margaret laughed a little too hard and long at Bella’s attempt at humor, especially since Bella did not think the mirth reached her brown eyes.

“Come and sit with me, my dear sister-in-law. We must become acquainted.”

Bella moved across the room to sit in a chair opposite Margaret and took in the peach confection of the morning gown she wore.

From neck to hem, there were graduating sizes of puffy peach bows. The largest one, at the hem, was probably a foot wide. Bella wondered if Margaret was considered fashionable or if others considered her attire as absurd as she did.

“So how do you like your new home?” Margaret asked once Bella was seated.

“I do not know yet. It is certainly beautiful here. And large,” she told the redhead in an attempt to ease their conversation.

“Yes, it certainly is that. But you would be hard-put to find a grander house in all of England.”

“I am sure.”

“I must say we were all quite bowled over by the news that Westlake had married.” Margaret smiled, but Bella noticed the redhead was watching her keenly.

“It was very sudden, was it not?” she continued.

Bella did not intend to discuss her marriage to the duke with his sister-in-law. “Yes. I suppose it was.” She smiled politely. “Your son seems to have recovered very well from his accident. And he seems a very bright boy,” she offered in hopes of changing the subject.

Margaret looked at Bella with her head slightly tilted before responding. “Yes. At the time I thought his fall was more serious than it turned out to be. But yes, my Henry is very bright. He takes after my poor departed James.” Margaret pressed a bit of lace to her eye to convey her still-fresh grief.

“I am very sorry for your loss,” Bella said gently.

“Thank you, your grace.” Margaret sniffed. “It is very difficult to be a widow, especially at so young an age. I just thank heaven that I have my Henry. He is my only comfort.” Margaret heaved a heavy sigh.

Bella made a sympathetic noise, for she really had no idea what to say to the young widow.

At that moment the door burst open and young Henry came bounding in.

“Look, Mama, I have found some of Uncle Alex’s old toy soldiers in the nursery.” The little boy held out his hand to his mother and showed her the small figures. He then saw Bella and stopped, turning to look at her in wide-eyed surprise.

“Good morning, Henry. How are you today?” Bella inquired gently.

The boy continued to stare at Bella with a confused frown forming on his little brow.

“Make your bow, Henry,” Margaret encouraged.

“Good morning, Aunt Arabella,” the little boy finally said after making a very practiced bow.

“I have a little brother who also likes to play with toy soldiers,” Bella said in an attempt to bring the boy out of his shyness.

He said nothing to this.

Bella glanced to his mother, who was beaming at her son proudly.

“Are you going to have a baby?” Henry burst out as he clutched his toy soldiers.

Bella stared, speechless, at the dark-haired little boy.

“Henry! Watch your manners!” his mother chided.

Henry did not even glance in his mother’s direction, but continued to look at Bella. “Well, are you?”

Bella overcame her immediate shock and smiled at the precocious little boy. Obviously the answer was very important to him.

“Well, I expect I shall someday.”

Frowning, Henry turned to his mother.

“But Mama, you said she would not have a baby,” he said anxiously.

Not knowing what to make of this odd conversation, Bella looked at Margaret with raised brows.

“Hush, Henry! Go back to the nursery and play with your toys,” Margaret admonished her son, blushing to the roots of her red hair.

With another anxious look at Bella, Henry reluctantly left the room.

“Children!” Margaret tittered after the door closed. “One never knows what will come out of their mouths. He is a very curious boy by nature. He asked me the other day if you would be having a baby. I, of course, said no, as you have only just married. You know how confused children can get,” Margaret explained hurriedly. “I hope he did not embarrass you.”

“No,” Bella said with a light laugh to put Margaret at ease. “I do know how precocious little boys can be.”

Margaret continued to blush.

“If you will excuse me, your grace, I… I need to finish some letters so they can go out in the post today.”

Without waiting for Bella to reply Margaret jumped up from the settee and quickly left the room, leaving Bella to look after her with a curious frown.

On her second full day at Autley, while dining with the dowager and Margaret, the dowager had informed Bella that she, Margaret, and Henry would be leaving for London.

“When?” Bella had asked, startled by this sudden news.

“It has been planned for some time that we leave tomorrow,” the dowager had supplied. “We shall be staying at the town house of my oldest daughter, Lady Edgeton. My younger daughter, Louisa, is there now. She is to marry the Duke of Malverton this June. Because of my son’s disappearance, the wedding plans were halted, of course. But now that everything is fine we must catch up. We have six hundred guests!”

“Oh, my!” Bella had said, finding it hard to imagine the enormity of the preparations to be made for such an event.

“You shall have to come visit us while we are in London; it is vastly diverting. We shall go shopping together,” Margaret had offered.

Bella had looked at Margaret closely then. She was not one to rush to judgment about a person’s character, but she had come to a conclusion about the duke’s sister-in-law. There was definitely something about her manner that revealed an effort at artifice. No matter how gushingly Margaret spoke to Bella or the dowager, the look in her eyes did not match her tone.

But still, the thought of their going to London and leaving her virtually alone in this cold house was distressing to Bella.

But they had left the next morning as planned, with Bella waving after them from the wide marble steps of the entrance. She returned to the main salon and asked the butler, Hollings, if he knew when his grace would be returning. It was very embarrassing to have to ask a servant such a question, but as the duke had not given any real indication of when he would come home, she felt there was little choice.

The very correct man had looked down at Bella with an expression that could only be described as haughty.

“I do not know, your grace,” was all he said before bowing and backing out of the room.

When the door closed, Bella had flopped down on a settee in complete vexation. She could understand the duke’s desire to take care of estate matters, but she was growing anxious to speak to him about her idea to free them both.
Even if she had wanted to take on such a daunting role as the Duchess of Westlake, which of course she did not, he had to be aware that she had no notion of how to behave. Granted, she was the granddaughter of an earl, but that was no help under these circumstances. As her father was a second son, they had always lived quietly and simply, and there had been no need to learn anything of protocol, court life, or entertaining on a grand scale.

Annulment seemed the only way out for both of them, she concluded with a deep sigh. Certainly the duke did not want to be saddled with a country girl who had no idea of how to conduct herself among the nobility.

She already missed her family and the comforting routine of her life in Mabry Green. As she sat in the luxurious room, Bella experienced a deep, almost painful desire to return home.

Later, sitting alone at the dining table in a state of deep frustration, Bella wondered again how long the duke would be away from Autley. Glancing up at the young footman, she decided to try her luck with him.

“Do you happen to know when his grace is expected to return home?”

The young man froze at her unexpected question and looked at her uncertainly.

“Er… yes, your grace. I believe his grace returned this eve and is in his library,” he supplied a little nervously.

One of Bella’s dark brows went up at this information. “Thank you,” she said, coming to a decision.

Placing her napkin down, she did not wait for the footman to pull her chair back before rising from the table. The footman nearest the door had to take a quick step to reach it before the new duchess opened it herself.

Bella headed down the hallway with rapid determined steps, past numerous works of art, tapestries, and antiques, until she reached the duke’s private library. It felt as if she had walked for miles before she came upon the large double doors with a liveried lackey standing in front of them.

Seeing that she intended to enter, the lackey adroitly blocked her way.

“May I announce you to his grace, your grace?”

Bella stood before the burgundy-and-black-clad man and resisted the urge, with some difficulty, to kick him in the shins.

Taking a very deep breath, her eyes flashing blue fire, Bella pushed past the footman and opened one heavy oak door herself. As soon as she was in the room, she turned and slammed the door shut.

The duke, seated behind a massive desk, rose immediately at her unexpected entrance.

“Hello, Arabella. I see you are learning your way around Autley.” His tone was very polite but his eyes held a hint of amusement.

Now that she had achieved her goal in locating him, Bella found that she did not know how to begin.

Stalling, she looked around the very attractive room with its leather-lined walls, two-story bookcases, and air of masculinity. It seemed a fitting atmosphere for the duke, she thought.

Finally she turned to him and looked him squarely in the eyes.

“Your grace, I desire a word with you.”

The duke came around to the front of the desk, leaned his hip against it, and crossed his arms.

“I apologize for not informing you at once of my return, Arabella. I have been tending to some papers, as I have been away from my affairs for too long. Several of my estates have needed my immediate attention. But now I am at your service.”

At his explanation, Bella took a deep breath to cool the anger she had been fanning all day.

“Your grace, I can understand the sense of honor that forced my father to expect this marriage. I can also understand the sense of honor that caused you to agree to it,” she began. “But I don’t think there is anything to prevent us from pursuing every possible avenue to try to rectify this situation.”

She saw one dark arched brow go up as he casually leaned against the desk.

“And what avenues are you speaking of?” he questioned politely.

“Well, I think the most obvious and logical step is to investigate the process of an annulment.”

The duke straightened, his expression completely changing, and took a step nearer.

“Arabella, I agree that the situation we face is far from ideal. But let me make something unequivocally clear: There is not going to be an annulment.”

Bella looked at him with a stunned expression.

Marshaling her thoughts, she tried again, thinking he had not understood her clearly. “Not immediately, I know,” she conceded, wringing her hands a little nervously, “but after some time has passed, and if we go about it quietly I see no reason why it will not work.”

“Go about it quietly?” he repeated, before giving way to a deep laugh. “My dear innocent, there would be no such thing as a
quiet
annulment if a Westlake were involved.”

“But your grace—” she insisted.

“Call me Alex,” he put in.

“
Your grace
,” she emphasized, ignoring his invitation to use his given name. “You are being unreasonable. This
is
an untenable situation, and I cannot understand why you will not help me put it right.”

The duke’s expression hardened. “You are not a child. Even if I would consent to an annulment, it would put nothing right. We both must make the best of this.”

“Make the best of this? We do not even know each other,” she said in disbelief.

She would never have imagined that the kind man whom she had nursed would behave in this autocratic manner, and finally her temper snapped. Thrusting her chin up, she looked at him scornfully. “I will have you know that besides not wanting to be married to you, I find it horrible here! I have been completely alone since your mother and sister-in-law left for London. Your servants let me do nothing for myself and treat me with veiled contempt. And I have continually gotten lost in these endless corridors.”

The duke watched this show of anger with very little change in his expression, but she saw some hint of unidentifiable emotion flicker in his eyes before he spoke.