“Good morning Miss Brock.” Miriam said brightly. “Miss, His Grace was looking for you. He told me to ask you to go down to his study if you would.”
“Oh, now?”
“Yes, Miss.” Miriam nodded vigorously.
“If I am not in the breakfast room before you, Lucy, I am sure that I will not be far behind.” Anabelle said before turning to Miriam. “And thank you, Miriam.”
Anabelle walked briskly through the corridor, patting her hair she went to be sure that it was in order. When she reached the top of the stairs, she peered up at the great stone arch as she passed under it, remembering that very first day when she had walked in to Westward Hall and been made speechless by the stonework and chequerboard floor of the grand entrance.
She walked slowly down the stairs now, taking in every bit of it, looking at every plinth and every marble bust.
Now that Lucy was growing in strength day by day, she could not help but think that her time at Westward Hall must surely one day come to an end. Perhaps that was the very thing the Duke wished to speak to her about that morning.
She made her way easily to his study, hardly able to remember a time when she had not been sure of where she was going. She knocked lightly on his door and was surprised when it opened, the Duke standing there as if he had been waiting for her.
“Oh.” She said in surprise, her knuckles still raised ready to knock again.
“Good morning, Miss Brock.” He said and smiled down at her.
In the weeks which had passed since the dreadful revelations at Newfield Hall, Anabelle had seen a great change in the man who now stood before her. He had suffered because of all he had learned, it was true, but it had been the beginning of a healing process which, once it had taken a hold, was every bit as speedy for him as it had been for Lucy.
He seemed younger somehow, his face a little smoother, his eyes a little wider now that his brows were not perpetually dipped. But his eyes were unchanging. Those mesmerizing, beautiful, hazel eyes.
“Good morning, Your Grace.” She said and walked into the room. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, there is something I have been meaning to discuss with you for some time now.” He said and suddenly looked a little awkward.
His awkwardness unsettled her and the fact that he had not immediately shown her into a seat as he ordinarily did was making her feel even more disquieted. She suddenly realised that something was wrong, and she had a horrible feeling that she knew what was coming next.
“I see.” She said and hoped that she would have the strength to face it all with dignity.
“I think you will understand that it is very soon going to be impossible for me to keep you here as Lucy’s companion.” He said and cleared his throat loudly.
“Yes, of course, Your Grace.” Anabelle said, amazed that she was still able to speak as her world crumbled around her and her heart began to break.
This was the moment she had dreaded for so long, the parting of the ways. But she had always known that it would end one day.
At least it would not end without references; at least she was not going to be cast out.
“Lucy is getting better every day.” He went on.
“Yes, she has done so well. She is such a wonderful young woman and she has such a bright and brilliant future ahead of her.” Anabelle said, meaning it from the bottom of her heart despite her deep disappointment.
But as much as she loved Giles Saville, she would never have wished for anything but the very best for Lucy. She had come to love her like a sister and the pain of loss was now Anabelle’s to live with, not Lucy’s.
“And if you had never come here, I truly believe that we would all be stuck in the same place we were so many months ago. I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done.” He went on and Anabelle could feel herself becoming a little emotional.
“I would like to thank you for taking me on, Your Grace. Especially when I came to you with no experience and no references and from such a background that someone else might not have thought me to be suitable. And I shall miss this place, really, I will miss it more than I can say. But I will always be grateful to you for all of it, for as much as you think I saved Lucy, I do believe that you all saved me.” She blinked hard, she was determined not to cry.
“What do you mean you will miss this place?” He said, tilting his head to one side and narrowing his gaze so far that his nose wrinkled.
“I am to leave, am I not?” Anabelle said and felt a little confused.
“Why on earth have you to leave?”
“Did you not just say that you can no longer keep me here as Lucy’s companion?” Anabelle said, feeling suddenly all at sea and wondering what was coming next.
“For goodness sake, you are one of the most ridiculously modest women I have ever met in my life.” He said and gave a humorously exasperated sigh.
“Your Grace?” She said and stared at him in disbelief as he began to laugh. “You are laughing at me?” She said, hardly knowing if she should be amused or offended.
“No, I am not laughing at you.” He said and continued to laugh.
“Your Grace, I must beg to differ for you are laughing. And you are laughing at me and I do not know why.”
“Oh, perhaps this will help.” He said and suddenly his face became serious as it moved down to meet her own.
The Duke took her into his arms so suddenly that she barely had time to draw breath before his lips were upon hers.
Anabelle was so surprised that she did not move, standing still like a stone statue in his arms. He continued to kiss her and embrace her until finally she responded. She closed her eyes and reached out to touch his face, to stroke his soft, dark beard.
She heard his breathing become labored as he continued to kiss her more and more passionately. She was not afraid, anything but, and very soon she was returning his kisses and embrace with equal passion. She knew now how completely she had misunderstood his meaning. She knew now exactly what it all meant. He was hers, finally, and she was his.
He laid his large hand flat on the small of her back and pulled her body even tighter to his. He dug his hand into her neatly pinned hair, disarranging it entirely as he kissed her more and more urgently.
By the time they broke their embrace, they were both breathless and silent for some moments.
“I hope that goes someway to explaining my meaning, Anabelle.” He said and gave her a rueful smile. “And I must apologize for my exuberance. I have wanted to kiss you for so long and in the last moment I could not hang on any longer.”
“There is no need to apologize, Your Grace.” She said and laughed, her cheeks flushed. “I am just glad that you were able to finally express yourself a little more clearly.”
“Indeed.” He laughed and took both of her hands in his.
“When you said that I could no longer remain here as Lucy’s companion, I thought…” She trailed off.
“You thought that I was dismissing you.” He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “When what I meant was that I could not keep you here any longer as Lucy’s companion for I would much rather have you here as my wife.”
“You are proposing to me?” Anabelle said, feeling such an eruption of joy that she knew she would never forget that moment as long as she lived.
“Of course, I am proposing.” He laughed again. “Surely you do not think that I make a habit of kissing beautiful young ladies without any higher purpose?”
“I accept.” Anabelle said and smiled at him brilliantly.
“And I had something else to tell you also. With hindsight, I am glad I did not open with the news or you would have been even more convinced that I intended to cast you out.” He went on with a boyish and handsome smile.
“Oh? What is it?”
“My attorney has resolved the little issue of your sixty pounds a year.”
“My…?” Anabelle was open-mouthed.
“I had set him to work on it some mo
nths ago and it has only just recently been concluded. Your cousin is to relinquish the money that was not his to hold. Although I suppose it hardly matters now that we are to be married.” He shrugged.
“Oh, but it does matter.” Anabelle said with a smile. “It matters very much. It is not the money, you understand. It is justice.”
“And justice is so very important, is it not?” He stared deeply into her eyes.
“Yes, it is.” She said and wished he would take her into his arms again.
“I love you, Anabelle.” He said a little more seriously. “It has always been you. It has only ever been you.”
“And I love you too, Giles.” She said, using his name for the first time and enjoying the way it felt on her lips.
“I am ready to live my life now, Anabelle. I know that my life could never be lived fully without you. I was afraid to live with love and now I know I cannot manage without it. And there is only one woman that I have ever loved and will ever love, and that woman is you.” He pulled her to him once again. “My wonderful, beautiful, clever Anabelle.”
And as he covered her lips with his own once more, Anabelle knew, without a doubt, that she was happy now, truly happy, and she always would be.
Epilogue
“Jenny, be a good girl and help Mrs Arklow with your brother.” Anabelle said as she looked across the garden to the apple trees where Mrs Arklow was holding the chubby toddler whilst he reached out and tried to pick the fruit himself.
“Yes, Mama.” Jenny said, peering up at Anabelle with her beautiful round face and hazel eyes so like her father’s.
She ran off across the lawn at top speed, her chubby four-year-old legs sturdy and adorable.
“I do wish Mrs Arklow would not work so hard.” Anabelle said and turned to Giles.
“I have tried and tried to persuade her to retire into the post of your companion, my dear, but she will not have it. As far as Mrs Arklow is concerned, there is not another housekeeper in all of England who could run Westward Hall the way she does. She is a proud old thing and I am no match for her in an argument as you very well know.”
He reached out and took her hand as they sat side-by-side on the deep wrought iron bench at the edge of the terrace.
Anabelle could hear little Jenny chattering at the top of her voice followed by Mrs Arklow gently chastising her and demanding that she be somewhat more ladylike. She looked sideways at her husband and could see that he was as amused as she was.
What a team they had made in the last five years, what a wonderful adventure their married lives had been.
“Oh look, here comes Lucy.” Anabelle said brightly as her sister-in-law stepped out through the French doors from the morning room. “Come and join us, my dear.”
“Yes, perhaps for a minute.” Lucy said and looked a little nervous.
“What is the matter?” Anabelle said with a little flash of her old concern; concern that had not truly been needed for some years.
Lucy had blossomed into a confident, happy, and bright young woman of one-and-twenty years. Her life had gone from strength to strength, so much so that it was almost impossible to look back and see the utter pain from which that strength had been born.
“I am just mindful of the time, Anabelle. Frederick is coming for afternoon tea today, you see.” Lucy said and could not stop the smile that broke her face every time she mentioned Frederick Archer.
“But that is hours away, Lucy. It is not even eleven o’clock yet.” Anabelle laughed. “And you surely do not need to change, for you look beautiful already.” Anabelle squinted at her a little suspiciously. “In fact, I am bound to say that you have gone to some great effort today. I do love to see you in that gown, it is so pretty.”
“Thank you, Anabelle. I suppose I am just being silly. Of course, I have hours and hours yet and it is not as if Frederick has not been here so many times before.”
“Ah, but it is not every day that a young man approaches a Duke and asks for his sister’s hand in marriage.” Giles said, and both women turned sharply to look at him.
“What on earth are you talking about, Giles?” Anabelle began, scandalized. “Really, you must not tease your sister like that.”
“I am not teasing.” Giles said with amusing self-satisfaction.
“Oh Giles, how did you know?” Lucy said, forgetting her nerves as she rounded on her brother. “I have been planning this for so long and poor Frederick is as nervous and as skittish as a foal.”
“Do not look as if you would strangle me, Lucy.” Giles said and held his hands out in front of him in surrender. “Jenny told me.” He said, turning to look across the lawn to where his four-year-old daughter was bending over to scoop apples up from the grass, her chubby little bottom high in the air.
“Oh Lucy, surely you did not confide in my daughter.” Anabelle said and threw her head back to laugh. “That four-year-old is the most determined gossip in all of Hertfordshire!” She went on and Lucy began to see the funny side.
“She is, but she is also a rather effective little interrogator. She was questioning me about Frederick and in no time at all I found myself admitting everything.” Lucy said and shrugged in a most resigned manner. “She is absolutely a master of her craft.” She went on, much to the amusement of Jenny’s parents.
“Hopefully our son will not be quite such a busybody.” Giles said, looking up to see Mrs Arklow carrying baby David towards them.
“Mrs Arklow, are they being a trial to you today?” Anabelle said with a smile.
“No more than usual.” Mrs Arklow kissed the top of David’s head as he wriggled and tried to escape.
“Frederick Archer is going to ask Giles for Lucy’s hand in marriage today, Mrs Arklow.” Anabelle said excitedly.
“Oh no, is there to be no surprise left?” Lucy complained wildly.
“I am afraid not, for I already knew.” Mrs Arklow said and turned to look down the garden to where little Jenny was still bent double as she scooped up apples and tried to hold them in her folded-up gown.
“A genuine gossip.” Giles said and nodded slowly. “She has spread your news far and wide, Lucy. She has left nobody out.”
“Well, I suppose that makes me feel a little less nervous.” Lucy went on. “Although it is poor Frederick I feel for. Oh Giles, you will not refuse him, will you?” She said and turned her large hazel eyes upon her brother.
“Not unless he intends to ask for my hand in marriage, Lucy.” Giles snorted. “In which case I shall very much refuse him.”
“Giles!” Anabelle shrieked. “You must behave yourself.”
“Yes, you must.” Lucy said, although she was already laughing. “But you do like him, do you not? You do approve of him, Giles?” She said, determined to have her brother reassure her.
“I have only ever wanted happiness for you, Lucy, and I am certain that Frederick Archer can provide just that.” He began sensibly. “Not to mention the fact that he is a very fine man, not so tall that he will make you look short, and I suppose he is passably pretty.”
“Giles!” Anabelle shrieked again. “Really!” She said and closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the laughter.
Mrs Arklow settled down on one of the iron chairs with the baby on her lap. Jenny marched towards them, her chubby knees on display as she held her gown out wide, apples spilling everywhere she went.
Lucy wandered off across the grass to meet her niece, bending down to pick up every apple she had dropped en route and lovingly chastising her for her gossiping nature.
And Anabelle leaned sideways, resting her head on the shoulder of the most wonderful, handsome man she had ever met.
The whole world felt complete to Anabelle in that moment. Lucy was well and confident, her children were adorable and lovable, Mrs Arklow was still the heart of the household, and she had the only man in the world she had ever wanted.
They had come through some dreadfully dark times, all of them, but they had emerged into the bright sunshine, e
ach one of them improved for the hard times they had suffered side-by-side.
Anabelle felt her heart opening, drawing in every ounce of laughter, every wave of love that passed between them all. It was a sense of contentment so deep that she could never have explained it in words. It was a feeling, in the end, not something that could truly be described. Oh, but it was the most wonderful feeling that she could ever have imagined.
The End
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Keep turning for the first five chapters of my first book, Rescued from the Tower…
Rescued from the Tower
Chapter One
Rowena stared out of her turret chamber window and across to the treetops in the distance. She had always liked being in the round room, its walls smooth and perfect as they encircled her.
It was high up, higher even than the upper story of the main part of Frinton Manor and afforded her the most wonderful view.
Not only that, but the turret caught the very best of the early morning sunlight in Spring and Summer which made up for the minor deprivation of the room being so small.
The room had painted stone walls which always made Rowena think of something more medieval than the building really was, especially since the rest of Frinton Manor was decorated in the most up to date colors and styles.
But Rowena adored the room, she was comfortable there, even if she was not so at ease in the rest of the house. The medieval style often sent her off on a pathway to some romantic tale or other, more often than not one in which she was rescued from the turret by a handsome prince.
The Duke's Heartbreaking Secret: Historical Regency Romance Page 21