The Reluctant Duchess (33 page)

“Absolutely.”

“Thank you, Mr Collier.”

“You are most welcome, Lady Wyatt. I believe that concludes my business here so I will be on my way. I’ll keep you informed of our progress but in all honesty, it will take years, perhaps even
decades before this matter can be settled.”

They
saw him back to his carriage soon after that and Mr Collier headed back to Dorset, wondering what to make of the reluctant heiress.

Richard’s friends regularly came to visit and although Annabelle felt inclined to avoid most of them, she forced herself to meet them. After all, if she was going to marry him, she couldn’t avoid his friends.

Jonathan Rhyman and his wife, Sophie visited and
quite unexpectedly, Sophie had made Lavinia and Annabelle each a small watercolour as ‘a get well soon’ or ‘sorry you were kidnapped’ present. Lavinia’s painting showed her and Richard, dressed as they were on the day of the hunting party, standing side by side in front of the house.

Annabelle’s showed her and Richard also standing side by side but this time, looking into each other’s eyes. There was something about her technique though, a way in which she infused her paintings with
emotion, which was quite rare. She and Richard almost appeared to be looking into the other’s soul, conveying so much emotion with just a single look.

Annabelle was very touched by the gesture and was forced to admit that perhaps she had misjudged Sophie on that day
, and had been projecting her own fears onto the other woman.

“You have quite a talent,” Annabelle told her.

“That’s what I’m always telling her,” Jonathan chimed in, “but she never believed me. She says that I
have
to like her work.”

“It’s just a hobby,” Sophie insisted, blushing.

Three of Richards’s sisters, Charlotte, Louisa and Caroline, came to stay, although only Louisa was able to bring her husband, the Earl of Boston, on such short notice.

Next came
Lavinia’s sisters, Sophia and Augusta, although it took them a week. Travelling seemed something of a challenge for them and Lavinia had confessed to Annabelle, that Augusta was a home body who disliked crowds and new experiences, whilst Sophia’s eyesight was beginning to fail her, which had knocked her confidence.

There seemed to be approximately 10 years
in age between Augusta and Sophia and five between Sophia and Lavinia, the youngest.

Both women seemed timid when around strangers,
although a time or two during their stay, Annabelle would pass Lavinia’s sitting room and hear laughter, so she assumed that they felt more comfortable when she, a stranger to them, wasn’t around.

The house was
now rapidly filling up and Annabelle began to feel like an interloper among the family. Nevertheless, she kept her resolve and remained sociable, instead of keeping to her room as she might have preferred, although because of the laudanum that they pressed on her, she did often have to take a nap before dinner.

Annabelle and Richard had been given adjoining rooms again, with a connecting dressing room and
whilst Annabelle’s first thought was to wonder who else he had given her to room to in the past, she held her tongue and thought things through. She soon realised that neither Lavinia, nor likely her husband, would allow a mistress to sleep under the same roof. She relaxed a little, until she realised that
she
qualified as a mistress, even if they weren’t having sex right now.

She still managed to hold her tongue until she next saw Lavinia and asked her why both of Richard’s rooms, here and in London, had connecting dressing rooms.
They were in Lavinia’s sitting room and whilst two of her daughters were there too, they were occupied with their own activities of reading and embroidering.

“Lavinia, I hope you don’t think me impertinent,” she began, keeping her voice low, “but am I the only woman you’ve ever allowed to share a bed with Richard?”

“Well, I don’t have much say as to how he behaves when he’s not at home but under my roof, never. But you, my dear, are different, surely you realise that by now?”

Annabelle really wasn’t sure. She’d been here a week now and whilst Richard was affectionate towards her, he had never brought up marriage again, not even just for discussion.

“Why do Richard’s bedrooms have doors that connect to the next bedroom’s dressing room?”

“Oh, I had all the family bedrooms set up that way soon after my eldest daughter married. I hoped that my children would be more willing to stay with me after they married, if they could appear proper and still have access to their husbands, or wives.”

“Did it work?”

“Ha, of course not. It seems I have to get kidnapped to warrant a visit from my prodigy
,” she answered, loud enough to be heard by her daughters.

“Mama, I live in Scotland, it’s not exactly easy to journey this far south, especially with three children and staff in tow,” Caroline ar
gued, although Annabelle could tell that this was a good-natured argument that had been repeated many times.

“And we visited each other all the time whilst you were in London,” Louisa added.
“Where you clearly should have stayed and this whole kidnapping might not have happened.”

“And Charlotte came all the way from Spain,” Caroline added.

Lavinia waved their arguments off.

“Besides, it looks as if you will have a new daughter soon enough,”
Louisa said, winking at Annabelle.

Annabelle blushed and looked away. If Richard had changed his mind, her reputation was going to be ruined!

Each morning Richard and Annabelle took a walk in the orchard. Richard’s breathing was almost back to normal now for most activities, only exertion seemed to labour his breathing.
By the time they reached the far end of the orchard, he was always breathing heavily, sometimes coughing but overall, Annabelle felt that his lungs were healing nicely.

Her ribs were not nearly so
accommodating but they
were
healing and the bruises on her jaw, stomach and abdomen were healing nicely, the one on her jaw just shades of yellow now. She took a few drops of laudanum throughout the day and some to help her sleep but she disliked how drowsy it made her, so she avoided it as much as she could during the day.

They never talked much on the way up, Richard was usually breathless and Annabelle didn’t want to make the walk more difficult for him
. They paused at the top to recover and admire the view.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Annabelle said
as she looked around.

“Not as beautiful as you,” R
ichard said.

W
hen she turned to him, he was looking at her, not the view. She blushed.

“Did you ever get your necklace repaired?” he asked, causing her to give him a confused look. “I was looking at your eyes and they reminded me of your sapphire.”

She smiled sadly and looked away as she admitted. “I…I sold it. I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“I would have helped.”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you. I was… too proud to ask for help.”

“You never
sent us a bill for your services that weekend, you know.”

“I know.” She glanced at him.
“You had both been so good to me that it didn’t feel right.”

“You know, it’s not hard to be good to you, it isn’t an imposition.”

She turned to him and smiled sadly. “I think it is. I think I’m a difficult person to like, that’s why I earned the epithet of Ice Queen from my patrons.”

“Then they’re fools,” he
told her firmly. “Your heart is far larger than most people I know and considering your past, I think it’s admirable that you have held onto your compassion for so long.”

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist.

“To be fair, you are somewhat biased though,” she said as she leaned back into him, placing her hands over his.

“
Maybe. Now I have a confession to make, if I may?”

Annabelle’s heart skipped a beat as fear paralysed her. Was he going to tell her that he no longer loved her? That he was still seeing Ava?

“I suspected you had lied about the pendant.”

That wasn’t much of a confession, so she waited for the rest of the story.

“When I left that day, I visited the pawn shops in the vicinity of the coffee house and in the second one, I found your pendant.”

He raised one of his hands from around her waist and opened his fist, to reveal the pendant and chain sitting in his palm.

“Oh Richard!” she gasped, her right hand going up to cover her mouth. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“
I know; I wanted to.”

“But you’ve done so much for me already.”

“And you’ve done so much for those you care for.” He took his arms from around her and undid the chain. “It’s about time someone cared for you.”

He fastened the chain about her neck, then placed a kiss on her shoulder. When Annabelle turned to him, she had tears in her eyes.

“I’m not sure what I did to deserve you.”

“I could say the same,” he smiled, taking her in his arms,
although he was careful not to hurt her ribs. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, pleased when she responded.

F
our weeks after they had been kidnapped, the Armstrong household was back to normal, with all their guests having returned home.

Annabelle was the first to awaken that morning and despite the chill in the room, she felt perfectly warm, cuddled against Richard as she was.

As she did every morning, she took a few deep breaths to see how bad her ribs felt. They had improved a lot recently and although she would not say that she was pain-free, she now refused any laudanum as the pain was bearable. Today she seemed to be able to take a far deeper breath than she had since being injured.

Despite her improvement, Richard refused to make love to her. He claimed that he couldn’t live with himself if he hurt her, and
she believed him, but lying next to him each night, kissing him and waking up beside him were beginning to send her desires into overdrive. Still, no matter what she said, Richard was adamant.

Annabelle moved around a little and raised her left arm
, to be sure that the pain really was bearable as an idea occurred to her. Deciding that she could handle the discomfort, she ducked her head under the covers and slipped down the bed until she could take Richard’s length in her mouth.

She heard him moan a couple of times but it wasn’t until his whole body stiffened that she was sure he was awake. Seconds later the covers were throw back and he looked at her with something akin to shock.

Annabelle took his length in her hand and smiled up at him. “Good morning, darling.”

“You really sho
uldn’t-“

She took him back into her mouth, not giving him the chance to finish his sentence. His hands moved down to grasp her ar
ms, probably to forcibly remove her so, she swirled the rough side of her tongue over his bell end. He groaned with desire and needing only a little extra stimulation, Annabelle brought him to orgasm.

He was breathing heavily as she made her way back up the bed, but no harder than he used to when they made love.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, after she had kissed him.

“No. Besides, I rather thought I was the active one just then, so any ‘hurt’ would have been my own fault.”

“Anna, we don’t need to make love to be in love, we-”

She cut him off with a finger over his lips. “But I do need it. As much as I love spending time with you and cuddling you, I need you in every way, Richard. It’s driving me crazy to spend so much time around you and not be able to
vent my desires. Unless… well unless you don’t want me in that way anymore.”

She dipped her head, embarrassed to admit that she might want him more than he wanted her.

“Is that what you think?”

“I don’t know what to think. You are always sweet and kind and loving but whenever I try to be intimate, you reject me.”

“Only because I fear hurting you, my love.” He put his index finger under her chin and tilted her head up until she was looking at him. “I think the speed of my climax is proof that I want you every bit as much, if not more than you want me.”

Annabelle nodded,
although she didn’t quite believe him.

Richard gently rolled her over onto her back and set about proving how much he still wanted her by worshiping her body with his hands, lips and tongue. Only after he had brought her to
a climax, did he enter her; then he used every trick he knew to bring her to another earth shattering orgasm, just as his crashed through him.

Once both their appetites were sated, at least for a while, he gathered her into his embrace.
They both had a sheen of perspiration that the December temperatures quickly cooled, so Richard pulled the covers back over them.