A Hint of Scandal (30 page)

The duke sat in the chair writing a letter. The scratching of his quill was the cause of the noise that had awakened her. She watched him in silence, her eyes scanning the classical lines of his profile. His aquiline nose and square jaw, with this room as a backdrop, gave him the appearance of a Roman emperor—especially since he was wearing a black robe, she noted.

Suddenly it was all so very clear and simple. She loved him. Though it had taken her until this moment to fully
realize it, she now knew she had loved him almost from the moment he had awakened from his fever.

She loved the Duke of Westlake! She felt the beat of her heart quicken.

This realization explained her confusion over the last few months. It explained why she seemed to no longer know if she wanted to laugh or to cry most of the time.

She had done her best to resist the feelings he evoked in her, but no longer. Now that she had admitted to herself that she loved him, she could not continue to pretend that her heart did not soar every time he looked at her.

Knowing she loved him made the pain she felt over their forced marriage even worse. For the Duke of Westlake would never have chosen Miss Arabella Tichley as his bride. This thought stung even more, now that she knew she loved him so deeply.

At that moment he looked up from the desk and turned his gaze to her. In the dim light of the deep blue and silver room, his darkly lashed eyes appeared icy and arresting.

Laying his quill aside, he rose and came to sit next to her on the bed. “You have given us quite a scare, Arabella,” he said with a gentle smile.

“I hope I did not ruin Louisa’s reception,” she said in a shy voice, overwhelmed by his unexpected nearness so soon after the realization of her love for him.

“Not to worry. This day will be the talk of the
ton
for years to come, and that, of course, delights Louisa.”

An unbidden smile came to her lips at his gentle quip. “I am not exactly sure what happened. For an instant it felt as if someone pushed me from behind. But that cannot be so,” she stated a moment later, her eyes growing troubled.

“Unfortunately it is so,” Westlake began, his jaw tightening. “I shall never forgive myself for not being there to protect you from an assault that I should have known would happen. It was Margaret who pushed you.”

She stared up at him in shock, seeing the anger flashing in his gray-green eyes.

“Margaret! But why?” She gasped in her astonishment.

Westlake turned his head away from her for a moment.
He then shifted closer to her on the bed. “Are you sure you are strong enough to hear this? You have a worrisome bump on the back of your head. Your ankle is also wrenched rather badly, and I suspect that by tomorrow you will be black and blue all over.”

“My head does hurt a little. But I really would like to know what happened,” she said as firmly as she could.

He nodded briefly but said nothing for a moment as he looked down at her with a grim expression. “I shall start from the beginning so that it will all make more sense,” he began. “In February I received a note from the vicar of Tilbourne stating that Henry had had an accident and was near death. I set out immediately for Tilbourne. Two highwaymen accosted my groom and me, and I was shot. This much you obviously know,” he said.

“Yes, of course,” Bella replied.

“After I regained consciousness, my mother came to your home. During our conversation she explained that Henry was not seriously hurt. That seemed very odd, so as soon as I was able, I set into motion a very discreet investigation.”

He paused to look at Bella closely. “Is there anything I can get for you? A glass of water, perhaps?”

“No. But would you help me sit up?”

“Of course.”

Rising, he leaned forward and very gently slipped his arm beneath her shoulder. Bella felt herself tremble at the feel of his strong arm around her, and she inhaled the heady scent of him. Picking up a pillow lying next to her, he placed it behind her back and lowered her down.

“Better?” he asked, leaning back to look at her.

“Yes, please continue,” she said, determined to ignore the pain in her head and in her arm.

Glancing down, she was suddenly aware that she wore nothing but one of her thin lawn nightgowns. A hazy recollection surfaced of her aunt and one of the maids helping her from her clothes. With her left hand, she pulled the bedclothes up to her chin.

“First, I learned that the vicar had not sent me the note. Then I discovered that Margaret had not been paying the tradesmen in Tilbourne. She is provided with a very generous allowance, so this was curious. I also learned that Margaret
was keeping company with a man named Joseph Fitzdowning.”

“The man on horseback!” Bella interjected in her surprise.

“Yes, the same. Mr. Fitzdowning had a brother who recently died in an accidental shooting. He died, not coincidentally, around the same time I was shot,” he said with a wry twist to his lips. “Mr. Fitzdowning and his brother were from Derbyshire. That is why I went there shortly after our arrival at Autley. I had people watching Margaret closely. It was reported to me that she was losing large sums of money at cards.”

Bella did not take her eyes off his face as he continued his story.

“Margaret planned with the brothers Fitzdowning to murder me. Upon my death, Henry would then inherit the entire estate, which would give Margaret and Mr. Fitzdowning control of the Westlake holdings. Margaret was planning to marry Fitzdowning. But I lived and managed to shoot the brother. With their plan foiled, Margaret and her accomplice had to regroup.”

Bella could not comprehend such evil and felt shaken to her core that a family member could deliberately arrange for a relative’s murder.

“I insisted that Margaret and Henry stay in London, where it would be easier to keep an eye on her. Fitzdowning showed up shortly after. They were getting desperate. The fact that I am now married complicated the situation for them. I believe that Margaret saw you going down the stairs and seized the moment. They could not take the chance that you would have a baby and then Henry would no longer be my heir.”

“That explains Henry’s questioning me when we were all at Autley,” Bella told him, recalling the event.

“Yes. I have spoken to him. He had overheard his mother saying that she would make sure you did not have a baby,” he explained.

“What is going to happen now?”

“Margaret and Fitzdowning will be transported to Australia. Henry will be living with Alice and Charles. I had discussed this with my sister and brother-in-law before Margaret
had made the attempt on your life. They both want him, and think it best for the boy to become a part of their family.”

“That is good,” Bella said, relieved that Margaret and her accomplice would no longer be able to harm anyone else.

“I am so sorry that this occurred, Bella. If anything had happened to you—”

He stopped midsentence, and Bella saw that he seemed to be trying to gain control before he continued.

“I recall telling you that
my
family was eccentric. I certainly shall never make that claim again,” she told him, attempting a note of humor.

He laughed, and she could tell her comment surprised him. He looked at her intently, searching her deep blue eyes until she lowered her gaze.

“Only you could be so brave, Bella.”

“Brave? I only fell down the stairs,” she said softly, touched and embarrassed by his praise.

“I should let you rest,” he said, and made a move to get up from the bed.

“I really am not at all tired,” she said.

She saw him raise a brow and resume his place. She watched him a moment, thinking how devastatingly handsome he looked in his black velvet robe.

“We previously decided that we would wait to discuss our future together until after Louisa’s wedding,” he said in his deep voice.

Bella’s heart stopped for an instant.

“I have something important to ask you, Bella,” he continued. “I realize that you are in no condition to answer me now, but I would like you to consider what I am about to say.” He waited until she gave him a hesitant nod to continue. “Over the last few weeks, we have come to know each other a little better. I believe that we have the respect and common interests that you deem essential to a marriage. You know my feelings. Would you consider starting again, and giving our union a chance at success?”

His words seemed to repeat themselves over and over.

How naïve and foolish she had been when she had told him her opinion on marriage, she realized. That conversation
seemed like a lifetime ago, when nothing was more important to her than an uneventful, safe life with someone as ridiculous as Robert Fortiscue.

She did not want that kind of life now! She wanted something completely different—his love. She wanted to waltz in his arms, to meet him at midnight in an atrium and have him kiss her the way he did the night he had given her the jewelry.

But something he said caught her attention.

“You say I know your feelings, but I do not,” she said, her voice almost a whisper.

She saw him go very still, and his gaze scanned her face intently.

“Arabella, why do you think I sent all the servants away when my mother brought them to your home to tend me?”

Bella looked up at him in confusion. His question seemed at odds with their conversation. “Because there really was very little for them to do?”

“Why do you believe that I made no protest to our marriage?” he asked, ignoring the answer she had given to his previous question.

“Because you are a man of honor,” she replied, her expression confused.

“Why do you think I have squired you around town to museums, and to Almack’s, and to the theater?”

“Because you are a gentleman and very kind.”

At that Westlake threw back his head and laughed. His laugh was rich and deep, and when it faded he looked at Bella with an expression of tenderness she had never seen before. “Arabella, I thought I was being quite transparent in my attentions toward you. I must have lost my touch,” he said with a slight smile.

Bella was so astonished by this comment, she could say nothing.

“The day I fully regained consciousness in your bedroom, Tommy told me how the two of you found me and how you removed the slug from my shoulder. Right then I knew you were the bravest, most quick-thinking and intelligent woman I had ever encountered.”

The breath caught in Bella’s throat at his words, and the way he was looking at her made her pulse race.

“I sent the servants home because they would have interfered with our getting to know each other. I made no protest to our marriage because I did not want to. I have been showing you how enjoyable London can be in hopes that you would see what our life together could be. Now do you understand?”

Not fully
, she thought, biting her bottom lip. Looking into his eyes, she felt the intensity of his gaze make her weak.

“Why did you arrange for there to be flowers at our wedding?” she asked.

She saw one dark brow go up in mild surprise at her question.

“I wanted something about the ceremony to be beautiful for you, because you were so beautiful to me. Being forced to marry certainly interrupted all my plans to court your love,” he said with a wry smile.

Bella closed her eyes against the joy that seemed to burst within her. She could not speak. Courtship! He had been courting her and she had been too blinded by her fear to realize it!

Bella struggled to find the words that could express what was in her heart.

“So now you know my feelings,” he continued. “I would ask you to take some time to consider what we have discussed.”

Her lashes flew open and she looked with shining eyes into his. The expression in his gaze told her the truth of everything he had left unsaid.

“I do not have to think about it,” she whispered. “I would like to begin again.”

After looking at her searchingly, he reached over, took her hand, and raised it to his lips.

The feel of his warm lips on her flesh broke through her restraint. No longer did she shrink from the passion she now recognized in his gaze. She met his eyes with the dawning desire in her own.

“While I was still in a fever, your voice was the only thing that soothed me,” he began, the deep timbre of his voice sending chills down her body. “It still haunts me. When I am away from you I think of little else. I don’t
expect you to love me yet, but in time…” His deep voice trilled to a stop.

She smiled, and her heart seemed to leap from her body. “I did not realize it until this evening, but I have loved you from the moment I found you struggling to stand in my bedroom. I never thought such things as love even mattered before I met you. But now everything is different, Alex.”

Very slowly, still holding her hand in his, he leaned forward and kissed her.

It was the most beautiful experience of her five and twenty years.

Pulling back a little, he looked deeply into her eyes. “When I saw you lying on the stair steps, all I could think of was that nothing mattered without you. Without you… Without you…” He could not complete his sentence, and kissed her lips gently once again.

Bella’s heart soared at the wonder of his love. Nothing else in her life could compare to the feel of his lips and the sudden, indelible knowledge that he actually loved her.

He drew back again and inhaled deeply. “It is very late, my darling Arabella. I do not want to tire you after such an ordeal. Will you stay in this room with me and let me take care of you?” he asked, his voice husky.

Putting trembling fingers to his lean jaw, Bella met his gaze with a look of sheer joy.

“Yes, Alex,” she said softly.

“Forever?”

“As long as you will have me,” she said, just as his lips took hers with such compelling passion that her pain was barely noticeable.

“Forever,” he murmured against her lips.

T
he Duke of Westlake was leading his good friend the Duchess of Severly around the impromptu dance floor to the steps of a lively reel. There were several other couples dancing in Autley’s large sitting room on this late autumn eve. As the music ended, Westlake twirled the duchess around in a great flourish before escorting her back to her husband.