Six Months Later

Bella was practicing the piano. Not because she particularly wanted to, but because in her new role as the wife of an earl she figured she should acquire some ladylike accomplishments. Also, William had gone to town and she missed him desperately and was trying to distract herself. However, she found that playing the piano was not at all effective in redirecting her thoughts away from her husband, and she sunk into a sad reverie, absentmindedly plunking a key here and there.

“I would hardly call that ‘professhent,’?” William said. He had entered the room, unbeknownst to Bella, and was observing his wife’s lackluster performance with a loving smile.

Bella, turning and seeing him standing just a few feet away, gave a little screech and jumped up from the bench to throw herself into arms that were already reaching for her.

“You’re back earlier than I expected,” Bella said, when she could speak.

“I couldn’t stay away a moment longer. I sacrificed a night’s sleep to get here a day early and should probably retire to bed immediately. Would Lady Brooke care to join me?” he asked, dropping very persuasive kisses on her neck.

“To sleep?” Bella asked.

“We could do that, too.”

After William had bathed, eaten, and taken care of other, more important matters, he remembered he had something he hadn’t yet told Bella.

“Oh, I have a bit of bad news for you, I’m afraid,” he said, pulling a little away from his wife, who had been lying drowsily in his arms in bed even though it was midafternoon. However, she was contemplating staying there the rest of the day, and letting the servants think what they chose.

Hearing the serious note in William’s voice, she became fully alert and sat up. “What is it?”

“Lord Dutton passed away last week. I was contacted by his attorney while I was in town. It appears he left our future daughter something in his will.”

Bella had told William that she suspected Lord Dutton was her grandfather, so neither of them was as surprised at the bequest as they otherwise would have been, as it appeared to confirm Bella’s theory. “Our future… daughter ?” she asked, after her initial shock and sadness at the news of Lord Dutton’s death had dissipated a little and she was able to focus on the second part of the announcement.

“Yes. He left her a small fortune: a dowry of twenty thousand pounds. But only on the condition we do not arrange a marriage for her. She is to be allowed to choose her own husband,” Lord Brooke said.

Bella wondered if this stipulation was because Lord Dutton had not been able to choose his own bride, or if it was because he had witnessed Issie and Lord Brooke narrowly avoid a disastrous match.

“And if she is as wise as her mother, as I fully anticipate she will be, I have no doubt she will make the best possible choice. As you did,” Lord Brooke said, running his hand through his wife’s tousled hair and grinning mischievously at her.

“So you were the best choice I could have made?” Bella said, reaching for her husband before whispering in his ear: “Prove it.”