Aunt Hester sniffed loudly and interjected, “Just as one is leaving, another has arrived? Really, Grace, you must run a tighter ship.”
Henry seethed at the way his aunt and Standish were expressing their disapproval of Grace. It was preposterous, as she could not control who arrived at their door and when. He saw Grace color at the criticism, but she simply paused for a moment before straightening her posture and responding to Standish, choosing to ignore his aunt’s slight.
“You said they wished to see me—who is it that has arrived?” Grace asked, voice polite.
“He announced himself as the Earl of Camden and said he was a relation of yours, Your Grace,” Standish said with a barely concealed sneer. Upon hearing who had called, Grace paled, but quietly asked Standish to see him to the drawing room and to order some tea and refreshments. When Standish left, Grace sank into the nearest chair. Henry rushed to her side. Crouching down in front of her, he clasped her hands between his.
“What is he doing here?” she asked in disbelief. “There is no reason we should need to further our acquaintance.”
“Let’s go and see why he has turned up unannounced. I’m coming with you, I’ll not allow you to face him alone,” Henry stated firmly, rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand.
She smiled warmly, looking like her old self, and he basked in it. “Thank you,” she said, bringing a hand up to cup his cheek. And for a moment, it was the two of them against the world again. “Let’s go then,” she said, putting on a brave face and breaking the spell. He reached out a hand, pulling her from the chair, and she held on as they made their way to the drawing room.
Grace tugged on his hand to stop him as they passed the stairs leading down to the kitchen. “I need to inform Mrs. Nelsen and Mrs. Green we will have a guest for the evening.” She must have seen the displeased look on his face, because she answered him before he could even ask the question of whether the man should stay. “I don’t want him here either,” she said, “but it’s too late in the day to send him back out on the road with another summer storm brewing. You know I’m right.” He grudgingly agreed and waited for her at the edge of the kitchen.
“I’m sorry to make you cook for one more on such short notice again,” Grace said to Mrs. Nelsen.
“It’s not a problem at all,” the cook reassured her. “I was planning to make up the fresh trout that was delivered this morning, and there is more than enough to go around.”
“That sounds wonderful. Can you please prepare it with the lemon sauce?” With Mrs. Nelsen’s agreement, they headed back upstairs to face the unwelcome guest.
When they reached the door of the drawing room, Grace paused to smooth out her hair and dress. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her posture and nodded for Henry to open the door. Upon entering the room, they saw a man sitting on the settee who rather resembled a rodent, with his pinched face.
“Ah, Your Grace, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said, standing to give a quick bow in Henry’s direction. “And cousin Grace.”
“I’m not your cousin,” she blurted in a clipped tone. “What are you doing here, my lord?”
With a smarmy smile, he said, “I just learned of your marriage, and I simply had to come and offer my congratulations.”
Still standing, not granting their guest the courtesy of sitting down for a more formal conversation, Grace said, “I wrote to you of my engagement and impending marriage four weeks ago, this cannot be new information to you.”
Shuffling slightly, but still falsely smiling, he said, “Yes, but I just heard that it was His Grace you married.” He gave a forced laugh before gritting out, “You neglected to mention that part in your letter.”
Looking him straight in the eye, Grace bluntly said, “So you did not come here to offer your congratulations, but rather to ingratiate yourself to my husband, the duke.”
Henry’s cheeks hurt from how wide he was smiling, and he wouldn’t have been able to hold back the grin if he had tired. He had never been prouder as his wife confront this small-minded man who had tried to make her believe she didn’t matter. Even in the midst of feeling insecure in her own home, she had found her confidence again and was standing up for herself. It was a beautiful thing to behold.
As Camden spluttered, Henry spoke up for the first time. “I am well aware of the dismissive way you treated my wife when she found herself in need of support after your cousin’s death, my lord.” Staring the other man down, he added, “As well as how you propositioned her and sought to use her vulnerability.” The man swallowed at Henry’s unforgiving tone. “I’m enough of a gentleman that I will not proactively disparage or slight you in society, but you can be assured that I willneverspeak up for you or lend my favor.”
He took Grace’s hand and looked at her fondly. “My wife, being the kind soul that she is, has arranged a room for you to stay with us for the night, as the weather is about to turn foul. We will allow you to join us for dinner tonight, but you will be on your way as soon as the weather clears, and this will be the last night you ever spend in this house.”
Before Camden could respond, a knock sounded on the door and a maid entered with a tea tray. “Marie,” Grace said, “Lord Camden will be retiring to his room until dinner. Would you mind taking the tea tray up to the room Mrs. Green has assigned him? He will follow you there.” Camden sent a look of utter loathing toward Grace and followed the maid out of the room, knowing he had been dismissed.
The entire confrontation had lasted only minutes, yet as soon as the drawing room door closed, Grace slumped against Henry, completely drained of all energy. He wrapped his arms around her and relished in her touch. “You were bloody marvelous,” he said into her hair. Feeling her start to shake, he worried she was crying until he heard her snort and realized she was laughing.
“Oh,” she gasped, “that felt wonderful. To be able to actually put that horrible man in his place.”
“I mean it,” he said, cradling her face. “You are incredible.” Henry delighted at the light he saw shining in her eyes and he leaned forward to claim her mouth in a kiss.
CHAPTER34
The summer storm was rumbling away outside as Grace sat down to dinner with her husband and their uninvited guest. She hoped they would make it through the meal without anyone wanting to kill one another. After everything that had happened over the past dozen or so days when the dowager had arrived, Grace was emotionally exhausted and could not endure making small talk. Even though Aunt Hester was staring daggers at Grace for not living up to her expectations of a polite hostess, she couldn’t bring herself to care and let the dowager converse with Camden throughout the salad and soup courses.
Grace tried to make herself focus and follow the discussion, but her mind kept wandering to the ways she was failing to be what Henry needed. He had been so sweet and supportive of her when Camden had first arrived, and before when defending her choice of reading material. For a few moments she had thought that maybe they could make this work between them. But in the end, trying to save their marriage would only make things worse when she inevitably besmirched Henry’s family name, ruining his chance to create the kind of change he desired.
As one of the footmen placed the main course in front of her, she pulled herself back to attention. Picking up her fork to take a bite of the wonderful-looking trout, she realized that the dish was not prepared as she had asked.
“Stop!” she cried, startling everyone at the table. Henry turned and looked at her with wide eyes, and Aunt Hester’s fork clattered to her plate as she dropped it in surprise. “Don’t eat the fish!” she implored.
