Arabella found herself kneeling by his chair on the floor. “There, there,” she crooned. From a horrid old man, he’d suddenly turned into a lonely and sad child. His sobs racked his bony body. This physical exertion couldn’t be good for him.
She looked up helplessly at Mrs Stanyon, who handed her a napkin, which she gave to the duke. With shaking hands, he pressed it against his eyes.
“Ah, Lady Arabella. My life hasn’t been easy.” Tears kept pooling out of his grey-green eyes and rolled over his papery skin. “I have made so many mistakes. Too many to count.”
“We all make mistakes, sir.” She patted his hand.
“Mine are so grave I lost my entire family.” The sigh torn from his heart seemed genuine. It touched her. “He won’t give me a chance to atone.” He suddenly grabbed her hand tightly. “All I want is his forgiveness. I want to hear it from his lips before I die.” He squeezed her hands so tightly, she almost cried out. “Will you help me, Lady Arabella?”
“But how?” Arabella wasn’t sure she ought to meddle in this. This was between Philip and his grandfather.
“Help me meet them. Help me set up a chance to talk to them. That’s all I ask of you. A chance.”
A chance. Everyone deserved a chance.
She’d fought for a chance at taking reins into her own hand so she could shape her own life. But meddling in someone else’s life? That was something different. Arabella hesitated as she thought of Philip. How stubborn he was. How intelligent. The way his eyes lit up when he talked of his inventions, or when he played with his children. Once or twice, she’d seen the same light in his eyes when he talked with her.
A slight smile played about the old man’s lips. “You love him.”
The words reverberated in the quiet room as if he’d blared them out with a trumpet.
Arabella jumped up. “I do not!”
“Balderdash. I wonder what your esteemed brother will say to this?” His eyes gleamed with cunning.
“You’re blackmailing me.”
“Am I? With my eighty years I know love when I see it. It’s in the eyes. Yours have that feverish glow a woman in love has. I have seen it countless times.” He waved his hand as if to dismiss it. “Mind you, not that love was something that I lived by myself. Far from it.” He leaned forward. “That may have been my biggest mistake. Not permitting myself to ever feel an inkling of love for my own flesh and blood. How deeply I regret that now. I have lost them for it, Lady Arabella. I no longer ask. I beg you to help me not to lose my grandson.”
Arabella wrung her hands. Feelings she could barely understand coursed through her.
This man, with Philip’s eyes, was difficult to refuse. Everyone deserved a chance.
“What do you want me to do?” she heard herself say.
Chapter 18
The steering axis and the point of contact between the front wheel and the ground must be perpendicular. Check. Philip sketched a quick calculation on a sheet of paper with his pencil.
The value must be equal to the numerator — when she laughed, like yesterday in the lake, a tiny dimple formed at the corner of her mouth. It was adorable.
Adorable? Confound it. He had maggots in his head.Focus, Philip, focus.Where was he?
Numerator. Yes. The value has to be equal to — or was it denominator? Better double check. That number was off. It should be — where was she, anyway? She’d been gone for most of the afternoon. She said she’d take a walk. ’Pon his soul, it wasn’t any of his bloody business what she did during her free time. She could walk all the way to London if she wanted. Provided she was back in the evening, safe and sound.
He sketched a few numbers down, annoyed at the short stub of the pencil. He swore. Imagine a pencil that one didn’t have to sharpen. A mechanical writing device, yes. Something with a mechanism that propelled the lead forward as it was being used …would save him heaps of time constantly having to sharpen his pencil. He grabbed another sheet and sketched down his idea. Now he had two calculations to work on simultaneously.
A walk didn’t take three hours. He’d seen her head off in the direction of the main road.
Maybe she’d gone to the cliffs. What if she didn’t know the cliffs were there? What if she fell?
Bah. She was naive and the worst liar he’d encountered in his entire life, but she wasn’t stupid. Of course, she wouldn’t fall down that cliff.
But what if a thunderstorm came again? He swallowed. He went out and searched the flawless blue sky until he saw a tiny white cloud in the distance. That’s it. He’d have to go out and look for her.
“Peggy, I’ll be back shortly, the children are out in the back,” he called as he opened the door.
“Yes, sir,” she shouted from the kitchen, where she was baking pie.
