Chapter 17
The ladies greeted Lucy with chill politeness at breakfast. The gentlemen were out on an early morning deer hunt. Lucy wished she could’ve joined them, even though she detested hunting. No one mentioned the previous night’s fiasco, yet everyone gave her the cold shoulder. Lady Louisa didn’t even nod to her. Arabella sat straight and stiff in her chair and had not met Lucy’s eyes when she entered.
Lucy took a big breath, walked up to Lady Louisa, who lifted her teacup to her lips. “I apologise for frightening you yesterday night. It was a silly schoolgirl’s trick. Badly done. I hope no harm has come of it.”
Lady Louisa set down her cup carefully. “Miss Bell. I am surprised you are still here. Didn’t Ashmore ask you to leave?”
Lucy crumpled the napkin between her fingers.
Arabella’s voice was haughty and cold. “Miss Bell is my guest. Ash has no right to ask my guests to leave without my permission. And I never throw out my guests, no matter what they do.”
Lucy looked at her friend, surprised, but grateful that she defended her. She bit into a slice of toast. It tasted like a mouthful of dry ash.
“What’s the plan for today?” she asked Arabella with forced cheerfulness.
“I’ll accompany Lady Louisa on a walk to the Abbey after breakfast.” Arabella didn’t meet her eyes. That Lucy wasn’t welcome to join was left unspoken.
Lucy nodded woodenly.
A footman entered and approached Lucy. “The dowager duchess would like to see you, Miss.”
Glad to have an excuse to leave the dining room, Lucy set down her napkin and went to the dowager’s drawing room.
“Sit down, sit down.” The dowager pointed to an ottoman across from her. She studied Lucy with a pierced look.
“Show me your teeth.”
“Why?”
“Oblige me.” She grabbed her chin to look at her teeth. Lucy tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip.
“I cleaned them with tooth powder, if that is what you want to know.”
The dowager dropped her gnarled hand. “Hump. You have crooked teeth.” Her shrewd eyes looked over her figure critically. “Your figure is too small and your hips are too narrow. But that’s no reason for not being able to carry babies.”
“I’m not a horse, Your Grace,” Lucy replied, stung.
“If they were to choose duchesses like horses, we’d all be saved a considerable heap of trouble. Horses breed well and reliably, if one chooses them wisely.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I may be deaf at times,but I’m not blind. Regardless of how improbable it may seem, you seem to have caught my grandson’s attention.”
“I did. He dislikes me excessively.” She was certain that the duke did. But the gardener? She felt a tingling in her chest.
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Something jolted through Lucy. “Why?”
“Why? Because we witnessed a lover’s quarrel in the middle of the night.”
A bright flush covered Lucy’s cheeks. “It’s not like that at all, Your Grace.”
“Ah, it is not? Then what is it? Pray enlighten me.”
“It is just—I suppose we don’t get along, that’s all.” She experienced a gamut of perplexing emotions.Lover’s quarrel.Was it really true? Was that what she felt towards Henry? Was that what he could feel towards her? Unthinkable.
Her heart started to hammer painfully.
