The Reluctant Duchess (5 page)

“
We’ve been sent over from the big house for the duration of your stay,” the girl continued. “I’m Carol; I’ll be your lady's maid. This is Jinny, she’s the parlour maid, and this is Sarah and Mary, the kitchen maids. They’ll prepare your meals, help you in the kitchen and fetch and carry whatever you need.”

Whilst
Annabelle was still debating if she should make a fuss or not, the carriage driver was unloading her belongings and carrying them around to the servants’ entrance.

“Can I show you around, Lady Wyatt?”
Carol asked.

She winced at the name. “I’d like to see the kitchen,” she replied. That was the most
important part of her stay here after all, so if the kitchen and stove were acceptable, then she would stay.

Alt
hough no one had lived here for quite a while, the rooms were immaculate and as much as she might have liked to, she could find no fault with the kitchen stove. The worst she could say was that it was old but then, so was her’s at the coffee house.

Carol insisted on unpacking her belongings, which left Annabelle at something of a loss for what to do with herself. She wasn’t used to having free time.

Carol suggested that she take some tea in the parlour, which is how she found herself sitting by the window, sipping tea and looking out over the grounds.

She felt like a pretender
. These people called her ‘Lady’ and jumped to do her bidding.

Whilst
she did have servants at home, she never asked much of them because they had enough to do looking after her mother and the house. They were more like friends now, bound together by their mutual loyalty. They never called her ‘Lady’, nor did they try to suggest how she should behave.

Annabelle sighed and turned away from the window, looking around the room. In the corner sat a
Walter & Son pianoforte, which drew her attention and she found herself sitting at the stool. She played a few keys and found that it was still perfectly tuned.

She didn’t have a piano because she had deemed it an unnecessary extravagance
, but she had loved playing when she was younger. She sat for a moment trying to recall some of her favourite pieces then, after a few halting starts, she began to play.

Richard Armstrong was in something of a mood as he entered his mother’s sitting room. He had been planning to spend Thursday and a good part of Friday with his mistress, Ada Braddock, a beautiful young lady who was married to a man far too old to meet her needs in the bedroom.

He didn’t see why he was needed so soon
, for his mother was more than capable of organising this weekend without his help. If he hadn’t had so much respect for her, he would not have come. Still, he couldn’t help being sharp as he greeted her.

“Well, you summoned me
and I’m here, Mother. Now what is so important?”

Lavinia smiled at him and he could tell that she was scheming. He wondered if perhaps she had lined
up one of the guests as a potential wife for him, although she didn’t usually employ such underhand tactics.

“Can I not ask for my only son
’s help?”

Richard took a deep breath and tried to relax. “Of course you can. So now that I am here, how can I help?”

Lavinia smiled warmly. “First, I have brought a confectioner up to prepare all the desserts for the weekend. I would like you to take the trunk in the hall to them and then I would like you to invite them to dinner.”

“You want to invite a confectioner to dinner?” he asked. “And why can
’t the servants take the trunk to the kitchen?”

“Because they are staying in the cottage and using the facilities there. As for why I want them at dinner, I merely want the best, and being kind makes people inclined to go the additional mile.”

“Very well.” He checked his watch and saw that it was 4 p.m. giving them another four hours until dinner. “I’ll go now.”

As he approached the dowager house, he heard music and singing coming from inside and wondered who was playing. Very few tradesmen knew how to play an instrument and besides, the singing voice was female. Instead of knocking, he left the trunk on the carriage for now and let himself in, rather than disturb the singer. He knew his behaviour was rude but he owned this house, so he was entitled to enter it whenever he wished.

He followed the singing to the parlour and silently
pushed the door open. Thankfully, his gasp of shock was covered by the music. Of all the people he had expected to find, Annabelle Wyatt was not one of them.

He couldn’t help but admire her beauty as she sat there; her long, ivory neck, with a few esc
aped curls resting against it, her high cheekbones, outlined against the dark wood of the piano. Even her ears looked beautiful, with only a simple pearl adorning each lobe. He wished that he could see her from the front, but then she would see him and stop playing.

He longed to reach out and touch the length of her neck with the back of his finger
, but he knew that such an act wasn’t likely to endear him to her, and his mother would be upset if she didn’t come to dinner tonight.

He leaned against the door
frame and listened to her rendition of Robin Adair, then she moved onto Chopin’s Ballade Number 1. This wasn’t nearly so practiced but it looked as if she was trying to play from memory, and he doubted that she had played for a good few years. Still, she seemed to have a good ear and knew when she had made a mistake and with practice, he had little doubt that she would be extremely proficient.

He knew that he should make his presence known soon or she would be upset with him, so he quietly walked into the room. She was so focused on her playing that she didn’t notice him as he came alongside her and he paused for a moment to watch her. The focus in her expression was possibly the sexiest look that he had ever seen. He wished that she would look at him with such single-mindedness.

Reluctantly he took a few more steps until he was beside the piano, although it still took her a moment to register his presence.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Annabelle stood up, looking flustered.

“It’s fine,” he assured her. “Every instrument deserves to be played; if only they were all so lucky as to get a musician with such skill.”

She blushed. “I’m afraid I’
m very out of practice.”

“Nevertheless you play, not to mention sing, beautifully.”

“Thank you,” her blush deepened but she rose to her feet. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I have a trunk from my mother that she says you will need and I am to invite you to dine with us this evening. I should also warn you that I
am under strict instructions not to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Playing the piano for the past hour had helped alleviate a lot of the worries that she carried about in everyday life
, not to mention that being away from home made it much easier to forget her money worries for a while.

“And what if I refuse?” she teased, a playful smile on her lips.

“Then I shall have to throw you over my shoulder and cart you over myself,” he answered with an easy smile. “Believe me when I say, my mother doesn’t like being refused.”

“Then I
suppose I had better accept gracefully.”

Richard looked a little peeved, but he had a playful twinkle in his eyes. “Shame, I was rather looking forward to manhandling you.”

Annabelle froze for a second and for a brief moment, he worried that he may have gone too far. Then she shook her head in consternation

“You are a very naughty boy and if you aren’t careful, I shall tell your
mother on you.”

“You wouldn’t?” he said grasping his heart. “Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t
tell Mama.”

Annabelle laughed. “Would you like some tea or do you have to get home?”

“No, I have some time.”

Annabelle rang the bell and asked for some tea to be brought up, then Richard went out to the carriage and brought the trunk in. It wasn’t very heavy, so he was
curious about its contents. It certainly didn’t contain cooking implements, as he had originally presumed. He left the trunk in the hallway and by the time he re-joined Annabelle, she was serving the tea.

She was seated on the small sofa and he almost sat down beside her, until he remembered that they were actually getting along for the first time and he didn’t want to risk ruining this truce.

“So, is there an occasion for this weekend?” Annabelle asked.

“Just the end of my mother’s mourning period, I believe.”

“She and your father weren’t close then?”

“No, they were, but we knew the end was coming for a while, so we were prepared. We had plenty of time to say our goodbyes.”

“Can I ask…?”

“The consumption. He was ill for
a year before he died.”

“Were you there for him?”

“I was. They gave me a month’s compassionate leave when the time drew near, but then I had to return to my regiment.” She could hear the sadness in his voice.

“That must have been difficult.”

“More so for my mother than for me.”

“Couldn’t you have left the
Army?”

“Not without serving out my contract, or risk being shot f
or desertion. My mother had her sisters come to stay but they are all very shy and sheltered ladies. My grandfather was very protective of his daughters, I don’t think he wanted them to get married and leave home. My mother was sheltered too but she was an exception. When she met my father, it was love at first sight. He showed her the world and encouraged her to come out of her shell, so I worried how she would feel without him.”

Annabelle almost felt like crying as he spoke, for she had never known such a love and even
although his father had died, she had a feeling that the pain Richard now felt was worth it, for the decades of happiness and love that he had received.

“She seems to have recovered well,” Annabelle noted. “I can’t claim to know her
well but after your father died, she used to come into the shop quite often to place an order.”

“Did she?” He wasn’t quite sure what
to make of that information. He did remember her writing to him of her sisters; how timid they were and how it vexed her at times. He wondered if she was drawn to Annabelle’s strength and forthright nature; she would indeed be quite the antithesis of his shy and timorous aunts.

Annabelle nodded. “Her visit
s became less frequent as time went on and she would send a note instead. That’s the reason I was surprised when you asked me to call on her, because it had always been her calling on me.”

“Thank you, for being her friend.”

Annabelle smiled. “Thank you but all I did was share a pot of tea with her occasionally, that’s all.”

“Sometimes that’s all someone needs.”

“How about you, how are you coping with things? It must be a big change from Army life.”

“It is,” he agreed with a smile. “Honest
ly though, adjusting to civilian life isn’t what’s difficult. Adjusting to my responsibilities, that is a challenge.”

“Weren’t you raised to take over from your father?”

“Of course but there’s a difference between knowing that livelihoods will depend on you, and actually having them depend on you.”

“You will be fine,”
she said with a warm smile.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you were a Captain in the Army. You had lives depending on you, not just livelihoods. You just need some time to adjust.”

He smiled, pleased with her assessment. “You’re actually very go
od company, when you aren’t trying to slap me or throw me out.”

“I think it helps that you aren’t trying to kiss me.”
She answered with a smile.

“Perhaps not, but don’t mistake that for a lack of want on my part.”

Her smile dimmed slightly so he quickly moved the conversation on.

“Would you like to attend the events over the weekend?”

“Thank you but no. I think I shall be kept busy enough. Besides, I think that the aristocracy would rather forget that I exist.”

“Nonsense! Besides, your brother is invited on Sunday and as his sister
, you have exactly the same right to attend.”

“Why is he coming?” she asked, surprised by the revelation.

“I think that my mother invited every noble person in the south of England. She says that I should start forging relationships with them.”

“Well just… be careful around him.”

He noticed her hesitancy. “Why?”

She topped up their tea cups to avoid having to look to him. “He’s a foul human being, that’s all.”

“Even more reason that you should attend, so that you can help me spot his nefarious schemes.”

“I don’t think that would be a very prudent idea, especially if he is there.”