by Louise Allen
‘We are good friends. And he is young, rich, influential and everything a young lady needs in a godfather.’ He sighed. ‘I can see I will have one hell of a time as her father, beating the young men off with sticks. She will have her mother’s sweet face—’
‘—and your blue eyes.’
And a duke for a doting godfather. Perhaps I had better dower her with a pittance to keep the mob of young men to a reasonable size.’
‘When shall we have the christening?’
‘Not until the New Year, I think,’ Elliott said. ‘People are scattered for Christmas house parties already—the Bayntons have gone up to Yorkshire, Avery will be holding court at Avery Castle in Lincolnshire, Daniel is going to stay with friends in Bristol, he said, and my great-aunt will be setting off to go up to London by easy stages very soon—and coming back just as slowly.
‘We will talk to the vicar about a date, write to the godparents and then when you are up and about, we can decide on a guest list and have a house party of our own.’
‘And we could invite your aunts from London,’ Bella suggested. ‘I would like to meet them.’ How strange to feel happy and confident about the prospect of a house party when a few months ago she would have been appalled at the thought. If only she could invite her father and Meg and Lina.
‘I’ll see if Bishop Huntingford will perform the baptism,’ Elliott continued, sounding sleepy.
‘A duke and a bishop,’ Bella marvelled. ‘How very grand we have become.’ She was answered by snores, a soft little whiffle from the baby and a loud masculine effort from her husband. ‘I think I’ll join you,’ she murmured, closing her eyes and drifting off, more content, despite everything, than she could ever remember being.
6 January 1815
‘Your Grace.’ Bella sank into the low curtsy that Anne Baynton had spent an hour tutoring her in, only to have both hands seized and be pulled to her feet by one of the best looking young men she had ever seen.
‘William,’ said the Duke of Avery, kissing her with enthusiasm on both cheeks. ‘Elliott, how on earth did you find such a beautiful wife? You don’t deserve her, I can tell that just by looking at her.’
‘Put her down, Will,’ Elliott said with a smile and a look in his eye that said he was prepared to floor anyone, dukes included, if they overstepped the mark.
Bella felt a flutter of absurd excitement. She had been dreading this christening party, but now everything seemed to be perfect.
Elliott had been avoiding her bed, out of consideration and to give her time to recover from the birth, she knew, but since Marguerite’s birth he seemed more distant, not closer as she had hoped.
And although he was concerned, and kind, he showed no signs of doting on the baby as she had hoped from his first reaction. It had just been relief that she was a girl, she realised. The child was not his and so Marguerite would not have his love, only his kindness, as she did.
But she had much to be happy about, Bella reminded herself. She had recovered from the birth, Marguerite was flourishing, the guests for their first house party were all arriving and seemed delighted with their welcome and now Elliott was bristling possessively when another man admired her. It was not love, but it was certainly gratifying.
She turned and ushered the duke into the hands of a footman to be shown his room, then rolled her eyes at Anne Baynton, who was chatting to Elliott’s aunts. Anne smiled back as Henlow opened the door again to admit the bishop, Mrs Huntingford, his chaplain and their servants. The ducal curtsy did very well for a bishop, she decided as greetings were exchanged and the new arrivals welcomed in.
Yes, she was very lucky, Bella decided after dinner as the tea tray was brought in. If only Meg and Lina were here everything would be perfect. Bella looked up and found Elliott watching her. He strolled over. Oh, yes, and if her husband loved her. Now that would be perfection.
‘Magnificent, Lady Hadleigh.’
‘You are pleased? I am so glad,’ she murmured. ‘Everyone seems very comfortable. Just listen to the level of noise!’
The house party had been swollen by the addition of several of Elliott’s friends. The unmarried ones were taking advantage of the presence of several single ladies to flirt outrageously and the two married ones had abandoned their wives to discuss the vital matter of the breeding of foxhounds, a debate in which the bishop was engaging with enthusiasm.
Mrs Huntingford was discussing something earnestly with Lady Abbotsbury and the aunts were fussing over whether the unmarried girls were adequately chaperoned.
‘I am more than pleased,’ Elliott said. ‘I am proud of you, Arabella.’
‘Proud?’
‘I never dreamed the wet, exhausted, determined little mouse who turned up on my doorstep in May would turn into such a beautiful, confident viscountess.’
‘I am not beautiful, you flirt,’ Bella protested, laughing to hide the absurd rush of pleasure his words gave her.
‘You are when you are happy,’ Elliott murmured. ‘I must just make sure you are happy all the time, because otherwise you are merely extremely attractive.’
‘You do make me happy,’ she said, the laughter leaving her to be replaced by something intense, something very serious. All the time.’
‘I do?’ There were times when she thought Elliott’s soul was in his eyes, so deep and blue and intense were they. She glimpsed it now, some feeling as real and earnest as the one filling her.
‘I… You are so kind to me, Elliott,’ she said and the shutters came down.
‘Kind.’
‘And honourable. And you are a wonderful father.’ She had said something wrong, but she did not know what it was. But of course, she was gushing at him and he probably hated that. He never spoke to her of tender feelings, only congratulated her on her competence, on the work she did or how well she looked. She must never forget how he came to marry her or that he might have found a bride whose competence, beauty and fitness for her role as Viscountess of Hadleigh could be taken for granted.
When they had all retired for the night she went into Marguerite’s nursery and stood for a while in her night robe, looking down at the sleeping baby.
Are you coming to bed, Arabella?’ Elliott stood in the doorway stark naked, taking her breath with desire, outrage and a shocking desire to giggle.
‘Elliott! You’ve no clothes on!’
‘I know. I think Marguerite is too young to notice, don’t you?’
‘But Mary Humble is most certainly not!’ She jerked her head towards the door to the nurserymaid’s room.
‘Then come and lecture me in private. I’ve missed you in my bed. Will it be all right?’ He scooped her up in his arms and strode through nursery, sitting room and into her bedchamber, Bella reaching out over his shoulder to shut the doors behind them as they went.
‘Yes, it will be all right and I do not want to lecture you,’ she protested. I want you to make love to me and tell me that you love me.
Elliott just grinned and dropped her on to the bed. And he made love to her, very gently. And it was wonderful, as it always was and, as always, he murmured, ‘Thank you, Arabella darling,’ afterwards as he left her. And Bella wanted to cry because, it seemed, happiness and safety and contentment was not enough. She needed everything: she needed his love.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The day after the christening it poured with rain, much to Bella’s alarm as an inexperienced hostess. What was she going to do with a houseful of guests on a wet Sunday afternoon after Matins and luncheon? She need not have worried. The bishop retired to his room to read sermons, the older ladies gathered round to sew church kneelers and assassinate characters and the younger ones obligingly played with the children and cooed over Marguerite and the Bayntons’ new baby, Jonathan.
The men had vanished—some, Bella knew, to play cards or billiards, well away from the bishop’s gaze, the others to the stables. She sat and watched the children, rescued the babies from being over-cuddled and tho
ught of very little, lulled by the patter of rain on the windows and the hiss and crackle of the big fire in the grate.
Then John Baynton came in, rain spangling his hair, and bent to whisper something in Anne’s ear. She looked up at him and whispered back and Bella read her lips. I love you too. The look on their faces as John straightened up and touched his wife’s hair before he went out again took Bella’s breath away.
It had been so fleeting, that tender, loving moment, and yet it showed her exactly what was missing from her own marriage more vividly than a thousand words could have done. I am a coward, she thought. I must tell Elliott how I feel. I will talk to him when the guests have all gone.
She got up and wandered through the house and at last found herself beside the window seat in a little-used wing and sank down to watch the rain running down the windows. The weather was crying for her—she did not need to shed a single tear of her own. Inside she was cold, even though she tried, the sensible, rational, stoical part of her tried, to say nothing had changed, that she should still be happy and content with what she had. Elliott had never pretended to love her; he was nothing if not honest. It was she who had changed, she who had fallen in love and now wanted the impossible, his love too.
Once she had dreamed of a knight on a white charger, come to rescue her. And the knight was really an evil goblin and she had deceived herself into love. And now she could be happy again, if she could only remember how to be the sensible, patient Bella again, to have no expectations other than to work hard and do her duty. But this time she really had fallen for the true knight, the honourable man who rescued her from the dragon.
He had given her his protection, his rank, his body, his name for her child, his kindness—and it was not enough.
‘Bella? Here you are! Your are freezing—look at your hands, they are positively blue.’ And here Elliott was, come to rescue her from her own folly once more. ‘You’ll catch your death of cold—whatever are you doing here?’
‘I wanted some peace and quiet before I joined the guests,’ she explained, letting her hands lie limp between his big, rough warm ones as he chaffed them. ‘I didn’t notice how cold it was.’
‘Come along and get warm.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed. She got up and produced a quite successful smile. ‘I will come and try to get warm.’ But she carefully freed her hand from his and walked alone down the passageway.
‘The house to ourselves,’ Bella said as she waved at the Duke of Avery’s carriage, vanishing into the fog. ‘It was a lovely house party.’ So much to do to take her mind off her marriage, so many people to talk to. Now they were alone again.
‘But three days is quite enough,’ Elliott observed. He put his arm round her shoulders and Bella slid out of the embrace as they turned. ‘Are you feeling all right this morning?’
‘Yes, thank you,’ Bella lied. She had hardly slept, tossing and turning, troubled by her thoughts and knowledge that she should tell Elliott how she felt.
‘Come into the drawing room,’ he said, his hand gentle but inexorable under her elbow. ‘I don’t think you are well, whatever you say, and there is something I must tell you.’
‘I’m all right,’ she snapped, cornered.
‘Bella, what on earth is the matter?’ Elliott shut the door and came to stand in front of her before the fire. ‘This is not like you.’
‘No,’ she said slowly, feeling all the old restraints and certainties falling away. ‘No, it isn’t. But you see, I have been thinking and, Elliott, I am sorry, but I find it hurts so much now. I should never have married you.’
‘Arabella, darling.’ Elliott managed to fold her tight into his arms. ‘Listen to me, you really are not well. You are tired. Your nerves are still not calm after the birth. You—’
‘Don’t darling me!’ Her face was crushed against his waistcoat and her arms pinned to her sides. His body was hard and strong and her own body stirred in treacherous arousal. Arabella kicked, making no impact at all on his Hessians with her indoor shoes.
Elliott held her away from him a little, his hands tight on her shoulders. ‘Arabella, stop this. I don’t understand why you bring this up now. Of course we had to marry, it was the right thing, you know that.’
‘Yes, of course it was, once you knew. Don’t you see—’ Bella stared at him, trying to make him understand what she was only just beginning to comprehend herself’—I should have gone the moment I realised Rafe was dead. Now we are trapped. I cannot even run away and leave you—Viscount Hadleigh would not seek a divorce. You are stuck with me and I will be a good wife and breed sons for you. I suppose it will be…convenient.’
‘It is not convenient, damn it.’ Elliott was losing his temper now too. His eyes were dark sapphires, his mouth a hard line. ‘It has never been convenient. I did not want to marry you. But I had to and I have had to learn to live with the emotional baggage our marriage brought with it and you will just have to learn to live with it too. I thought I had,’ he added bitterly.
Elliott, her tower of strength, her refuge, her honest friend and her lover, was telling her the truth at last. ‘Emotional baggage,’ she said, all the anger gone, her voice cold and flat to her own ears. ‘Of course. You are naturally gallant, naturally kind, but it must be a strain. I thought I was happy. I should be. I am so sorry I cannot be happy.’ She twisted in his grip and broke free, ran to the door without looking back.
‘Arabella, stop,’ Elliott called after her. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To find my sister. I am going to the War Office. Why haven’t they written to tell me where she is, where they are paying her widow’s pension?’ She needed someone to love, someone to love her. Someone who would understand.
There was something in the utter silence that stopped her in her tracks, sent her back to the doorway. ‘Elliott? What is it? Have you heard something?’
‘Negative news,’ he admitted. ‘I was going to tell you this morning. There is no trace of Margaret. It seems her marriage to James Halgate was never legal. After the battle of Vittoria where he was killed she seems to have slipped from the records.’
‘Meg? But they must know where she is.’
‘They do not know. Arabella, listen to me.’ He took her by the upper arms as though to restrain her. ‘Spain is a vast country, in chaos. This was more than two years ago. Perhaps she has remarried, settled out there, or—you must face it, my dear—she may have died.’
‘No! No, I will not believe it. Take me to London, Elliott.’
‘It is pouring with rain, you need rest, you have a baby and there is nothing you can do in London, Arabella. I am so sorry. We will think about it, find some contacts in Spain—I can send someone to investigate. But not now, this minute. You must see it is not rational.’
‘No, of course not.’ Rational? He wanted her to be rational? She was weary of being sensible and stoical. Something cold and hard settled over her, something like the bitter determination that had seized her when Rafe left. Elliott did not love her. Perhaps he could not love, not after an upbringing by remote parents, after a brother who hurt and rejected him. He did not understand how she felt about Meg and Lina, so she must find them herself.
Perhaps if they had a little time apart they could see their feelings for each other more clearly. Perhaps she could learn to do without love. She would come back, of course. It was her duty to be a good wife, to give Elliott an heir, to give Marguerite a proper home. But just now she could not bear to be here.
‘No. Of course not.’ She turned on her heel and walked away.
What had happened? What had gone wrong? Elliott stared at the half-open door feeling as though his heart had been wrenched out of his chest.
He thought he had made her happy and secure at least, but it seemed it was an illusion that something had shattered and now he did not know how to build it up again.
She would be in her bedchamber, he guessed. Toby sat outside, whining. Elliott tapped on the door, then turned the handl
e. It was locked. With a muttered oath he strode down the corridor to the sitting-room door. Locked. The nursery door was locked too. He knocked again. ‘Arabella?’ Silence.
Elliott wheeled round and stalked back to his own room, went through the dressing room and tried the interconnecting door. Locked. Arabella, will you please let me in?’ He banged on the panels with his closed fist. From close by there was the thin wail of a child abruptly wakened. He felt his temper slipping; Marguerite should be in the nursery with her nursemaid. He banged again, harder with no response.
Locked in the safe were duplicate keys for the whole house. It took him a matter of minutes to return with the ones for the whole suite of rooms. ‘Arabella, if you do not open the door I will.’
He waited and at last the door opened. Arabella stood there, pale and dry-eyed. ‘Please do not make so much noise, you will frighten Marguerite.’
‘Then do not lock the doors,’ he said, walking past her into the room.
‘I do not want you here. I do not know what to say. I am sorry, I should never have spoken, I just lost my…my will, I suppose.’
‘Unfortunately for what you want, Arabella, this happens to be my house, you are my wife and that is my daughter.’ She looked at him sharply. ‘Oh, yes, my daughter. Do not attempt to take her away from me—the only person who would suffer from that is her.’
‘I was not—’ She broke off and turned away to stare out at the chill wet world outside. ‘I made vows, Elliott, and I will keep them.’
‘Then talk to me, Arabella!’ He took her arm, pulled her to him. Even as he spoke Elliott knew he was too rough. He opened his hands a little, but kept her close.
‘I do care for you.’ Arabella sounded weary. ‘I have cared for you almost from the beginning. I admire you and I think you kind and strong. You know I have felt a strong attraction for you or I would not have come to your bed as willingly as I have done. But none of that alters the fact that I should not have married you. Somehow I should have managed. It was wrong and selfish and now we are both hurt and I do not know how to make it better. Please, go away.’