Chapter 21

Arthur, it transpired, had also found company with a gentleman Isabella had never met. They both smiled as she approached.

“This must be your wife,” the unfamiliar gentleman said. “She’s lovely, Arthur. You didn’t tell me how beautiful she was.”

Arthur’s response was clearly annoyed. “I most certainly did tell you,” he said. “This is Taylor Badington, Earl of Henrough?—”

“And your best friend,” Lord Henrough said with a rather cocky smile.

“When he behaves himself appropriately,” Arthur agreed. “Taylor, this is my wife, Isabella, Duchess of Windhill, and this is her sister, Miss Felicity.”

“I see that the the good looks run in the family.” Lord Henrough cocked his head. “These are Lord Cliffrows’ daughters, are they not?”

“They are,” Arthur said.

Isabella understood what Lord Henrough was getting at. “We take after our mother,” she explained.

“Well, your mother must have been a great beauty,” Lord Henrough observed with a smile, and Isabella decided that she liked him.

“I’ve been asking Arthur to bring me over to Windhill Manor ever since the day you two were married,” Lord Henrough said. “It was so unfortunate that I couldn’t join you to celebrate the wedding, and of course, I wanted to meet my good friend’s new bride.”

“You and I discussed this,” Arthur pointed out.

Had they? Isabella couldn’t help wondering how that discussion had gone. What had been said?

Fortunately, Lord Henrough seemed only too willing to satisfy her curiosity. “Arthur didn’t want me to meet you, Your Grace,” he said to Isabella. “He wanted to keep you all to himself—and I think he feared I might be a bad influence upon you as well.”

“And was I wrong to think it?” Arthur asked his friend.

“Oh, no, I suppose you weren’t. But you really can’t hope to keep someone so lovely all to yourself, you know! Others are going to notice her beauty as they should. You should just be glad that you’re the one she chose, Arthur. I don’t know what it is you have that makes her want you, but it seems to me that you made a very lucky match.”

Isabella couldn’t help giggling. “You’re a tease, Lord Henrough.”

“Oh, he’s incorrigible,” Arthur said. “You can see why I would want him kept away from civilized people.”

“And Miss Felicity,” Lord Henrough went on, “I don’t imagine it will be very long before some lucky gentleman makes you his wife as well, but before the opportunity is gone…perhaps I might steal a dance with you tonight if you would do me the honor?”

Felicity blushed. “The honor would be mine, Lord Henrough.”

She handed him her dance card, and he filled in his name. “I’ll be back to claim my turn with you,” he promised.

“You don’t want to dance with her right away?” Arthur asked.

“Oh, what’s the rush? The night is young. Let her make the rounds here at the party, let her get her bearings and see what other gentlemen these festivities have to offer. I don’t think she’ll find anyone as compelling as I can be, but let her have a look, eh?”

“He’s the most arrogant man alive,” Arthur murmured. “I’m so sorry about this, ladies.”

“There was no need to hold your best friend back from me,” Isabella teased him, seeing how frustrated he was by Lord Henrough’s behavior. “I’m ever so glad to have had the opportunity to meet him. I just wish you hadn’t kept him to yourself all this time. You must bring him around the house more often.”

“You see, Arthur?” Lord Henrough cuffed Arthur on the shoulder. “I told you your wife and I would get along well. I knew you should have allowed us to meet before this.”

“Why don’t we all go into the ballroom?” Felicity suggested. The crowd was beginning to move in that direction. “I don’t want to miss out on any of the festivities.”

“Yes, I quite agree,” Arthur said. “And if we stay out here in the foyer, it’s clear to me that the only thing that will happen is that Lord Henrough will continue to make jokes at everyone’s expense.”

“Not everyone!” Lord Henrough said with a laugh. “Jokes at your expense, perhaps, Arthur, but you do make it so easy for me. You’re so solemn and serious all the time.”

“Were you expecting anything else from me after what happened the last time you and I met?” Arthur asked.

Something shifted. Isabella was at a loss to explain it, but it was clear that Arthur had said something of significance and that even the jovial Lord Henrough had been impacted by it. What happened the last time the two of them met? she wondered, but she didn’t feel as if it was a question she could ask.

The two gentlemen were silent for several moments. Then Lord Henrough cleared his throat and attempted to move on as if nothing of particular significance had happened. He commented on the decorations around Manford, and Felicity was quick to praise them, allowing the conversation to move on…but Isabella couldn’t let what she had noticed go by so easily.

Something had happened. Something had taken place the last time Arthur and Lord Henrough had seen one another.

Arthur had never mentioned going to meet with Lord Henrough, and to Isabella, that could only mean one thing.

She finally had an answer to what he was doing when he left the house every day. Perhaps not all the time, but at least on some of those occasions, he was meeting with Lord Henrough. And at their last meeting, something had occurred that had made Arthur unhappy.

Now more than ever before, Isabella wanted to know what it was.

The musicians were beginning the first dance number now, and Isabella’s thoughts veered in a new direction. Would Arthur ask her to dance? Would he know how badly she longed to dance with her husband at tonight’s ball?

She waited, holding her breath, wondering whether he would ask her. Imagining how it would feel if he were to take her in his arms and spin her around. Isabella was sure that she would quickly forget about everyone else in the ballroom in the face of the opportunity to dance with him. She could hardly imagine how good it would feel after all the times she had longed to get closer to him. It was strange that something like a ball would be the thing to do it—she would have thought they would have been able to be closer in the privacy of their own home than they would in front of dozens of people. But then, nothing about their relationship had ever been conventional, and maybe it was to be expected that it would take something like this to finally drive them into one another’s arms.

“Shall we take a quick walk?” Arthur asked. “You and I have business to discuss.”

At first, Isabella felt nothing more than simple confusion. What business could she and Arthur possibly have to discuss?

Then she realized—he wasn’t even speaking to her. He meant to discuss business with Lord Henrough.

Business! With Lord Henrough! Was that why they had come to the ball? Had he nothing to say to his own wife? He didn’t even intend to ask her to dance? She was shocked—upset—angry—but before she could say anything at all about it, the two gentlemen were bidding them farewell.

“Wait here with your sister,” Arthur said. “I’ll be back with you shortly.”

And then he was walking away, leaving Isabella to watch him leave.

“I wonder what business could be so important that they need to discuss it at a ball,” Felicity mused.

“Yes,” Isabella agreed, frowning after her husband. “I would have expected them to stay here…”

“Well, they did say they would be back shortly.”

“I know,” Isabella said. “But I really didn’t think that Arthur would abandon me the moment we arrived, that’s all. I thought he would want to spend time with me here.”

“I’m sure he does, Isabella,” Felicity reassured her. “Let’s take advantage of this moment of freedom and walk around together. We can see some of the other ladies and gentlemen. I’m sure that will be a pleasant enough way to pass the time until your husband rejoins us.”

“He wanted us to wait here,” Isabella said uncertainly.

“I know,” Felicity said, “but if we just stand here, Father will find us, and so will Rosalind. You don’t want to speak to them, surely?”

Isabella laughed. “You’re right,” she said. “I would avoid the two of them at all costs.”

“Then come, let’s go for a walk ourselves. We’ll just make sure to be back here by the time Arthur returns.”

The two sisters linked arms and set off around the perimeter of the ballroom. Almost at once, they were stopped by two gentlemen.

“Miss Felicity,” one of them said, beaming.

“Baron Rollings,” Felicity responded. “How good to see you again. This is my sister, the Duchess of Windhill.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Your Grace,” the Baron said. “I had heard that Miss Felicity’s sister was recently married to the Duke. And this is my friend, Lord Hussington.”

“Lovely to meet you both,” Lord Hussington said.

Felicity turned to Isabella. “Lord Rollings and I have seen each other socially a few times,” she explained with a smile.

Isabella knew her sister well enough to read the expression on her face. She understood that there was nothing serious between Felicity and Lord Rollings and that Felicity didn’t want there to be. She could also see that things were perfectly genial between the two of them. It seemed to her that no spark of romance had ignited but that they found one another to be pleasant company all the same.

That suspicion was confirmed when Lord Rollings said, “Would you have time to join me in a dance tonight, Miss Felicity? Or is your dance card already full?”

“Oh, I have time,” Felicity said. “I’ve only promised a dance to one gentleman so far.”

“Only one? I find that difficult to believe—unless you’re holding out on them?”

“Oh, the night is young,” Felicity said with a laugh. “Isabella, do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Isabella assured her. “I’ll happily wait for you right here.”

“Or, if you’d like, Your Grace, I would love a dance,” Lord Hussington suggested. “Seeing as neither of us has a partner right now. But only if you’re interested, of course, and only if your husband doesn’t mind—I wouldn’t want to upset the Duke.”

“Oh, no, he doesn’t mind,” Isabella said though, of course, she hadn’t asked him. But if he minded her dancing with another gentleman, then he should have asked her to dance.

She allowed Lord Hussington to lead her out onto the dance floor, and the two of them began the steps. It was an easy dance, one she had done many times before, and it was nothing for her to lose herself in the rhythm of it—to forget that these weren’t the arms she wanted.

At least she was here. At least she had been allowed to come out tonight, and regardless of anything else, she was going to spend this evening dancing and enjoying herself. She was going to come home with pleasant memories that she would be able to relive. And as long as she didn’t do anything to make Arthur regret bringing her out tonight, there would be more balls. There was no reason to think that this would be the last one he would allow her to attend.

So as the dance progressed, she smiled up at Lord Hussington. The night was not a loss. She was still enjoying herself, still glad to be here, and she meant to make the most of it even if it wasn’t everything she hoped—just like she did with everything in her life.