The Duke's Deception (21 page)

Chapter
Twenty-one

Marianne
scarcely remembered the journey from Drayton House to Frating Hall. She
recalled being held safely in Theo’s arms, being carried in and out of a
coaching inn but little else. She found the world too overwhelming and
preferred to sleep; there she was safe from those who had tried to hurt her.

People with soft
hands and kind voices tended to her, fed her and did what was necessary but
never the one she wanted. Where was he? Why didn’t he come to her, call her
back from the blackness that threatened to take over her mind?

One afternoon
she was woken by strange dragging noises approaching her room. Frightened, she
sat up, pulling the bedclothes higher. Where was Jane? And Annie? Why had they
left her alone when she needed them?

There was a loud
knocking on the door. Surely monsters didn’t request permission to enter before
devouring their victims? Her head began to clear, her eyes refocus and for the
first time in three weeks she was fully aware of her surroundings.

‘Come in,
whoever it is,’ she called.

The door opened
and Charles, on rudimentary crutches, swung into the room. ‘You’re awake. Well
done! I was told you have been like the sleeping beauty up here waiting for
your prince.’

Marianne smiled.
‘Well, you’re certainly not he. I thought you were a monster.’

 
He travelled haltingly across the floor to
collapse on the end of her bed, a horrible breach of etiquette but neither of
them cared. ‘I have come to apologize and thank you for your help.’

For a moment
Marianne looked mystified but then it fell into place. She remembered the
incident in Bath, the smugglers, her flight to London and her terrible stay at
Drayton House.

‘I forgive you,
Charles and you may tell Edward that I forgive him also.’

He grinned.
‘Excellent. I forgot you’re a duchess, too grand for us, should I call you “my
lady” now?’

‘You had better
not,’ she paused and returned his grin. ‘For we do not stand on ceremony here.’

Jane who had
been spending a snatched hour with John returned to hear the sound of laughter.
‘Oh, miss, I mean, your grace…’ she stopped, as the two young people laughed.
‘I’m sorry…’

‘No, Jane,
please. I am Marianne to you and John, not miss, not my lady and certainly not
your grace. You are as much my family as Charles after all.’

Jane smiled. ‘You
have closer family than us, my dear, you have a husband.’

Marianne’s smile
slipped and the joy left her eyes. ‘I have, but he has abandoned me. He did his
duty and indeed I’m grateful for that, but he has no use for a wife or he would
be here with me now, would he not?’

‘Good heavens,
Marianne. I’m sure he would have been back if we’d told him you wished to see
him. But remember he had a mission to finish, a traitor to apprehend. I’m
certain wild horses will not keep him from your side once he knows you’re
well.’

Marianne
blushed. ‘Then I had better get up, start taking back my life. I don’t wish
Theo to find me still an invalid.’

Charles pushed
himself up from the bed. ‘Then I’ll leave you. I hope to see you downstairs
very soon. I’ll tell the parents you’re on the mend and I’m sure they will be
along to see you too. I believe Emily has been in every day reading to you,
she’s going to be pleased you’re finally ready for a conversation.’

The door was no
sooner closed than Marianne scrambled out of bed. ‘I need a bath; is Annie
here? She can take care of that.’

Jane rang the
hand bell and the maid came in all smiles at seeing her mistress up. ‘You’ll
be wanting
a bath, I suppose, your grace? And I will send
down for a tray, you have been eating no more than a sparrow these past weeks.’

Marianne held
out her hand; it did look thinner, she could see the blue veins through the
skin. ‘I’ll soon pick up. I would like some meat broth, cold cuts, sweet rolls
and apple pie and…’

Jane laughed.
‘Enough, my dear, you will never eat all that.’

Three days
passed and Marianne was now able to stay up without fatigue. Her intention was
to join the family for dinner that night. She was delighted both John and Jane,
their status raised by recent events, had been invited to join them.

She stared
intently at her appearance in the full-length mirror. ‘I still look
hagged
, Jane. My face is too thin and my bosom is half the
size it used to be.’ She held out the bodice of her evening dress to make her
point. ‘This is far too loose for me.’

‘Well, so it
might be but you still look lovely. There is no point having it altered, you
will soon fill it out again now you’re better.’ Jane was dressed in her first
evening gown of heavy, dark-blue silk brocade and a jaunty matching egret feather
in her hair. ‘I’m not sure I should be joining you for dinner— we will be out
of place.’

‘Nonsense, Jane.
Anyway, if you don’t go then neither shall I. How are you liking your new
accommodation?’

‘Not much, my
dear. We preferred the cosy cottage we occupied on our previous visit.’

John was waiting
outside for them. He was dressed in a black evening coat with square front and
tails, his grey waistcoat and snowy shirt straining over his chest. ‘You look
smart, my love,’ he said proudly to his wife.

There was the
patter of girlish feet and Emily appeared around the corner. ‘Oh, Marianne, you
look beautiful. I’m so very happy you’re well enough to come down at last. Mama
has opened the grand dining-room for the occasion and we are to have two
courses and dozens of removes.’

The two girls
drifted down the stairs as though nothing had changed between them. Over a
happy, lively dinner the coming ball at Bromley Hall was much discussed.

‘Will you be
well enough, my dear Marianne, it is only three days away?’

‘I’m sure I
shall, Mama. I wouldn’t miss Charles and Arabella’s betrothal for the world.’
Her smile faded as she considered her own invidious position. She had never
been betrothed nor had a ball of any sort. She was a wife without a husband.
The longer Theo stayed away the more she worried.

The table was
suddenly too much for her. She wanted to be alone in her room. She put down her
cutlery and stood up. Instantly the men jumped to their feet.

‘I am so sorry
but I feel a little unwell. I must return to my rooms.’ Without waiting for an
answer she hurried out leaving a worried silence behind.

The day of the
ball arrived and there had still been no word from Theo. He wasn’t going to
come for her. He would leave her here where she was cosseted and loved until
the dust had settled, the scandal was forgotten and then he would ask for an
annulment. She didn’t blame him. Why should he wish to remain tied to a girl
with her reputation? He was an aristocrat, a member of the
ton
with his own massive estates somewhere in Berkshire. Even her
fortune was not enough to remove the taint.

Sadly she
fingered her ball gown, a sumptuous arrangement of white silk and silver gauze
with sparkles sprinkled across the skirt like fairy dust. She wished she didn’t
have to go, but she had promised and everyone would be so disappointed if she
stayed away.

‘You look like a
princess in that gown, Marianne. And now your hair has grown your curls frame
your face to perfection.’

‘Thank you,
Emily. I wish I felt like a princess, I feel more like Cinderella tonight.’

Emily in white
also, her dark hair piled high and
diamante
sparkling around the neckline, glided along beside her, her normal ebullience
subdued by the elegance of her first ball gown.

The two carriages
from Frating Hall travelled smoothly down the drive.

‘Good heavens!
The potholes have gone.’

‘Yes, my dear
Marianne, all thanks to your generosity,’ Lady Grierson said. ‘We will never
forget how you continued to support us even though we had turned our backs on
you.’

‘I don’t wish to
speak of it. You are my family, of course I supported you.’

The Grierson
party had been invited to come early to attend a celebration dinner so it was
still full sunlight as they drove along the lanes. How strange to be so
elaborately dressed when outside the village people they passed were still in
working garb, their day not yet ended.

They were
greeted by a small army of liveried footman and maidservants with crisp white
aprons. Lord and Lady Hawksmith and Lady Arabella were waiting in the hall.

‘Welcome to you
all on this auspicious occasion. And welcome especially to you, dear Lady
Rickham
. We were so happy to hear that you are fully
recovered.’ Lady Hawksmith looked pointedly behind Marianne. ‘The duke is not
accompanying you tonight?’

Marianne
curtsied and smiled, relieved she and Emily were obliged to move in order for
the next group of guests to be greeted so she didn’t have to reply.

Dinner was
elaborate and interminable and they did not rise from the table until guests
were starting to arrive for the ball itself. Lady Grierson had secured a group
of spindly gilt chairs close to the dais on which the band played. Emily was
bristling with anticipation.

‘They are having
waltzes, is that not daring? You could waltz if you wished to, Marianne, you’re
a married woman and so it’s permitted for you to do so.’

‘I shall not be
dancing tonight; I shall sit and watch with Mama.’

The ball was
about to start. The musicians were tuning up. Arabella was standing beside
Charles resplendent in a white ball dress that reminded Marianne strongly of
the tissue paper that had spilled from the boxes of her new gowns. As Charles
could not dance the first dance with his betrothed Lord Hawksmith would lead
her out instead. A ripple of excitement ran round the room. The orchestra were
playing a waltz.

Marianne’s eyes
filled as she listened to the music and saw Charles kiss Arabella’s hand before
passing it to her father. She sensed a movement beside her and looked up. Her
heart flipped over. Theo, magnificent in evening rig, bowed low, and extended
his arm.

‘Will you dance
with me, my darling?’

She put her
fingers in his and he raised her from her seat. She floated into his arms and
he gathered her close; so close she could feel his heat - feel his heart
pounding in his chest. The music started and he guided her round the floor his
eyes never leaving hers.

‘I would have
come before, sweetheart, but first you were too ill and then I had unfinished
business to attend to.’

Her lips parted
and the love in her eyes consumed him. ‘You are here now. I don’t care about
the past.’

‘Are you well?
You have lost weight- you look as ethereal as a fairy.’

‘And so have
you. And you look like Prince Charming.’

He almost
tripped over his feet. ‘Do I by God? Then you are most definitely my princess.’

He held her so
tight they were touching from chest to thigh which did not go unnoticed by the
occupants of the little gilt chairs. Theo rested his chin on her curls and
closed his eyes.

‘Are you
enjoying your first ball, my love?’

‘I would be
happy anywhere you are, Theo. I love you so much it hurts.’

Theo stopped. A
second ripple of anticipation ran round the spectators. ‘If that is the case I
would rather be anywhere but here. I want to be alone with you, finish what we
started all those weeks ago.’

She gazed up at
him, her face transparent,
her
answer written clearly
there. He grasped her hand and they ran, laughing at people’s shocked
expressions, from the floor and headed for the exit.

‘My carriage is
outside. I told it to wait.’

Theo lifted her
easily into the coach and before the vehicle was moving he had pulled her on to
his lap. She tilted her head to meet his eager lips and as his mouth covered
hers they were lost to everything but the joy of their reunion.

When the
carriage arrived at Bentley Hall he didn’t wait for the steps but jumped out,
then reaching back he snatched her up.

‘I should really
be carrying you over my threshold, not yours.’

She giggled. ‘I
care little whose it is as long as you take me inside.’ She rested her head
against his shoulder. Then he felt her stiffen slightly and pull away. He
continued to his bedchamber where he set her down on her feet.

‘What is it,
little one? Are you not ready to become my wife?’

Her eyes
dropped, and she flushed. ‘I am… I am still a maiden, Theo. I wanted you to
know.’

He crushed her
to his heart. ‘It would make no difference to me if you were not. But I will
not hurt you tonight, I promise you. My darling, you are my life, my love, my
very breath…’

She reached up
and tugged at his cravat. ‘Do you intend to stand there talking all night, my
darling, or are you going to show me just how much you love me?’

If you enjoyed
The Duke’s Deception
by
Fenella
J Miller then you might like to try her other
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