The Reluctant Duchess (2 page)

“What can I do for you, Your Grace?”

“I got the impression that I offended you earlier and I wanted to apologise.”

“You have nothing to apologise for,” she assured him.

Richard didn’t believe her
but he didn’t want to start an argument either. “This is a fine establishment you have here.”

“Thank you.”

“I must ask though, why does a woman of your stature work at all?”

“You think I should enter the workhouse?”

“No, no, not at all! What I mean is, won’t one of your relatives offer you shelter? Surely if your brother knew what you had been reduced to-“

“He would do n
othing,” she interrupted him. “And besides, who says that I would even accept his help if he offered it?”

“But… Why ever
not?”

“I have my reasons, Sir.” She got to her feet. “Perhaps you believe that I have been reduced and certainly many
others share your sentiments but as far as I am concerned, I do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. I am able to keep myself, my mother and a few servants and I see nothing wrong with that. In fact, I believe it far preferable to living off the charity of a relative.”

“Then why don’t you marry? Surely a woman of your beauty must have suitors, even without a dowry.”

“So that I might hand what few worldly possessions I do have over to my husband, and trust that he will do right by me and my mother?”

“A husband would do right by you, and your mother!”

“And when you are proved wrong, Sir, what am I to do then? How do I reclaim what is rightfully mine? Will you reclaim it for me? Because the law will cease to recognise me as a human being.”

“But surely you will only marry someone that you trust!”

He was becoming agitated but his words actually cooled Annabelle’s temper and she looked at him with pity.

“I have trusted only a few people in my life,
Your Grace, and each and every one of them has betrayed me in some way.”

“But surely there must be someone that you trust?”

“Yes, exactly four people.”

“And will none of them marry you?”

Annabelle smiled as she came around the desk. “Three of them are women and I honestly don’t think that Frank, my barman, would be interested in marriage to me.”

Richard was stunned. “And your
mother allows this behaviour?”

Her smile faltered. “No, she does not. In fact she hates my independence, she believes
it to be most unladylike. In all honesty, she rarely tolerates my presence these days.”

The pain in her voice made him want to weep for her.

“And yet you still stand by her,” he said softly.

“I’m all she has,” she answered simply.

Richard looked at the girl before him, an angel if ever there was such a thing, and all he wanted to do was to take her pain away. He stepped closer and Annabelle looked up, startled by his proximity but as she met his gaze, she found herself unable to step away. 

“And who do you have?” he asked softly. “Who do you lean on when times are hard? Who comforts you?”

Annabelle felt very strange looking up into this man’s eyes. Her breathing was shallow, her skin felt flushed and she had the most delightful feeling in the pit of the stomach. It was a heady feeling but most pleasant. Although she had felt nothing like it before, she instinctively knew that it was dangerous.

“I… I don’t need anyone
, Your Grace.” She tried to sound strong but her voice wouldn’t comply.

He took another step towards her and she stepped back.

“You’re lying,” he said, his own voice sounding different, deep and intoxicating. “And call me Richard, please.”

Annabelle backed u
p another step and Richard matched her.

“Everyone needs someone,” he continued, his voice conjuring
up all sorts of desire within her.

“Not me,” she assured him,
although she sounded far from certain.

She had backed up to the wall now and
he placed is hands on either side of her, trapping her.

Richard looked down at her, drinking in
her features as he slowly lowered his head. She looked startled but not afraid and when she didn’t push him away, he gently pressed his lips to hers.

Annabelle let out a tiny whimper, which o
nly fuelled the fire within him, so he gathered her in his arms and pulled her against him, then he deepened the kiss.

Annabel
le knew that she should be fighting him but his kiss felt so good and her body wouldn’t listen to her mind. She kissed him back, wondering how a man that she hardly knew could ignite such passion within her, passion that until now, she didn’t know she had.

Finally sense
returned to her and she placed her hands on his shoulder and began to push. He wouldn’t be moved however, no matter how hard she tried. Panic began to replace joy and she stopped responding to the kiss and finally, he pulled away.

His expression was questioning, asking her why she had ended the kiss. Her answer was a sharp slap across his cheek.

“How dare you!”

Richard stepped away. “How dare I?” he yelled. “You wanted that as much as I did!”

“You are wrong and I will thank you to leave now, before I summon the police!”

“Ha!” he answered. “The trouble with
you is that you don’t know what you want!”

“You think that just because I am
in trade, that you are free to do with me as you wish? Because I can assure you, Your Grace, that whilst I do my utmost to give a good service, I am
not
on the menu! How dare you contrive a meeting, only to force your advances on me? No matter how reduced my circumstances, I am not for sale!”

“You think that I
want to buy you?” He sounded genuinely offended.

“Why else would you ask so many questions
about my situation? But no I don’t think that you want to buy me, I think that you would prefer it if I were free!”

“I am only trying to help you, can’t you see that?”

“Why would you want to help me?”

“Because I like you.”

“You don’t even know me!” she spat. “You were trying to help yourself, is more likely.”

“Y
ou insufferable, stubborn, bull-headed woman!” he yelled and with that, he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

Annabelle made her way back to her chai
r on shaking legs and sat down. A tentative knock came at the door moments later, too tentative to be the Duke of Hampshire come back.

“Come in.”

Ethel stood there looking worried. “Are you all right, ma’am? Only, we heard loud voices.”

“I’m fine, thank you Ethel.
His Grace just got a bit ahead of himself. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”

“If you’re sure, Ma’am.”

“I am. Now I just want to drink my tea in peace and rest assured, I’ll be back out before the evening crowd comes in.”

“What about the deliveries?”

“Oh…” Being around men almost all day had introduced her to a few expletives, but she bit her exclamation back and checked her pocket watch. She sighed as she realised that her break would have to wait.

“I’ll go now.”

“Frank volunteered to do the round, if it helps.”

“He doesn’t mind doing
it?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then thank him for me. I’ll watch the cauldron for him when I’ve had my tea.”

Ethel curtseyed and left.

Annabelle went to pour her tea and felt her right palm sting as she flexed it, a reminder of the earlier slap. She ignored the slight pain and pondered the situation.

She had spotted him as soon as she came out of the kitchen and had felt attracted to him. She should have ignored him and left Minnie to serve him
, but she made a point to try and greet all customers when she was able. He was a first time customer too, so that made it doubly important that she greet him. Her notoriety was one of the coffee house’s selling points, people wanted to meet the Marquess’ daughter who had dared to enter trade.

It hadn’t a
lways been so. First she had opened a tea room, hoping to attract women and couples but seemingly, women didn’t like her reduced status and avoided the place like the plague. Perhaps they thought that her bad luck would wear off onto them, or perhaps she was an uncomfortable reminder that in the eyes of the law, they were not people and under the right circumstances, they could be left as destitute as she was.

Either way, after three months with only a few male customers, she had decided to rebrand the tea room
as a coffee house. Trade had increased almost immediately and being so close to Westminster Palace, she found herself attracting politicians. Now it was almost exclusively Whigs who frequented her establishment. They even held party meetings and debates there on occasion.

She had worked too hard and for too long to give this up now
, no matter how handsome the Duke was. Love was a myth anyway, nothing more than a fairy tale that they spun to young girls, to ensure that they would marry young and remain ignorant until after the wedding.

Annabelle simply d
idn’t have time for fairy tales these days.

Richard’s glower ensured that even in the busy thoroughfare of Piccadilly, people cleared a path for him. He could have hailed a cab to take him home but he felt that he needed the walk to clear his head. However, he spent most of his walk counting off Miss Wyatt’s bad qualities, so by the time he arrived at number 4 St James Square, he was still in a frightful mood.

“Is that you, Richard?” he heard his mother, Lady
Lavinia Armstrong, call from the rear parlour.

“It’s me.” He knew that he had little choice but to go and see her. He waved the butler away and removed an
d hung his own coat, then went to see his mother. She was sitting on the small sofa, embroidering something or other.

He bent to kiss her cheek and she favoured him with a smile.

“How was your meeting with Jonathan?” she asked.

“
Aside from some rubbish about joining the Whigs, it was fine.”

“Well something has
upset you,” she said pausing her embroidering to study him. “What happened?”

“Oh nothing
, I just had the misfortune to meet perhaps the most disagreeable woman in London, that’s all.” Richard loosened his cravat and took the armchair next to his mother.

“Oh?” she put her sampler aside
, eager to hear more.

“It’s nothing,” he repeated, leading Lavinia to believe that it was indeed something. “Just the proprietor of the coffee house we met at, that’s all.”

“You mean Annabelle?”

“I didn’t know the two of you were on first name terms,” he said, scowling.

“I can’t claim that we are close friends but she is a very nice woman. In fact I first met her when she was 11 and your father and I were staying with the family. We did not much care for the Marquess but his wife and daughter were a delight. After your father died, she sent me a very nice letter and some of my favourite baked treats. Her cooking is divine, so I often pop in to see her if I want to order something special, for a dinner party or such. She’s always been very gracious to me.”

Richard harrumphed.

“So, what did she do that was so awful?” Lavinia asked, picking up her sewing again. Given Annabelle’s beauty and reputation for refusing suitors, she could guess what had happened, but she did her best to hide her smile, although it wasn’t easy.

“Oh, nothing really. I t
ried to apologise for using her title when I addressed her and she reacted with anger. Odd woman.”

“Try not to be too hard on her, darling, from
what I understand, life has not been kind to her.”

“What do you mean, ‘not b
een kind’?”

“Well I’m sure Jonathan told you about her father dying and her a
wful brother but what is less known, is the state of her mother. Quite insane, I hear. In fact, she doesn’t leave the house any longer.”

“How did you hear this?” Richard asked sitting forward.

“We share a doctor. It must be, oh, three years ago now, Dr Medway came to see me for a bout of influenza and he was sporting a fresh black eye. Naturally I asked him about it and he confided to me that the elder Lady Wyatt had given it to him earlier that day. She is prone to wild fits of anger, so he says, and frequently has to be restrained. She needs constant care and he attends the house three times a week to bleed her. Sometimes more if she has harmed herself or others in her anger. Since then I have spoken to Annabelle about it on occasion and whilst she played the illness down, she did confirm what the doctor had told me.”

Richard could vividly remember meeting his maternal grandfather, George, on occasion and how unsettled he had been by the man’s insanity.