The compelling voice kept her at it until the mists began to clear and the faintness receded. She discovered that Alex had released her face and was holding her shoulders instead.
“Better?” She nodded, keeping her gaze on his. He let her go and stood up. “Might have warned her, ma’am. And me, come to that.” He turned to the duchess, who had taken a seat in the chair opposite the sofa. “Beg your pardon, your grace, but I ain’t leaving her.”
“Alexander!”
He turned to his mother. “She’s had a deal to bear, ma’am, and now this. Won’t do, I tell you.”
At last the other lady spoke, her tone flat and unemotional. “I won’t distress the child more than I can help.”
It was a mellow voice, and Apple was conscious of an odd flitter of recognition. But that was impossible. Her tongue loosened and she spoke without thinking. “I can’t know you, can I?”
A flicker of surprise showed in the lady’s eyes, and her lips moved in an uncertain fashion before she spoke. “I hardly think so.”
Lady Luthrie cut in. “Alexander, I must beg you to accompany me. Surely you can see the need for privacy on this occasion?”
Alex took a seat beside Apple and reached for her hand. She looked round.
“What do you wish, Apple? Want me to stay?”
She drew a steadying breath. “Yes, but I quite see I must talk to this lady alone.”
“You sure? I’ll not have you badgered.” He threw a minatory look at the duchess as he spoke. “Don’t know what the devil’s afoot and I don’t like it.”
The stranger — for so Apple thought of her still — turned her eyes on him. “You need have no apprehension, Lord Dymond.”
“For heaven’s sake, Alexander! What harm do you suppose could possibly befall Appoline?”
Alex’s tone of suspicion did not abate. “Don’t know, ma’am. But I tell you now, if she’s upset by this, there’ll be the devil to pay!”
“Alexander, how dare you speak so?”
But a faint smile crossed the duchess’s lips and she glanced at Apple. “You have a fierce protector, my dear. I can promise you, Lord Dymond, that I mean no harm to your protégée.”
Warming to that mellow voice, Apple squeezed Alex’s fingers. “Go, Alex. I’ll be all right.”
With obvious reluctance, he released her and stood up. Lady Luthrie was already at the door, but she waited for him to join her. He turned there, again looking at Apple. She’d never seen him so uncertain, and a wave of tenderness swept through her. She smiled and his countenance relaxed a little. The door closed and Apple was left confronting the Duchess of Melkesham. She felt immediately bereft, and a fleeting regret passed through her. She should not have dismissed Alex.
To her astonishment, the lady before her changed in a bang. The dignity she’d been wearing dropped off as if it had been a cloak, and she leapt up from the chair and came to sit beside Apple on the sofa, grasping her hands and holding them tightly.
“My poor, poor little girl! Oh, I am so very sorry!”
Her eyes, large and grey like Apple’s own, became luminous. Apple gazed into them, shock enveloping her all over again.
“You’re my mother!”
The tears spilled over. “It cannot be otherwise! When Oriana came to me with your story, such a presentiment overtook me, I very nearly fainted clean away.” She shook Apple’s hands. “As you almost did, poor child, only moments ago.”
Dazed, Apple could only stare at her. “But … but you are the Duchess of Melkesham. How can you be my mother?”
“I have only lately become the duchess, you must know.” She sniffed and released Apple’s hands, digging instead into her sleeve and producing a pocket handkerchief. An entirely irrelevant memory slipped into Apple’s mind of the first time Alex had given her his handkerchief.
Having made use of hers, the duchess became a little more composed. She retrieved one of Apple’s hands and held it as she resumed. “You see now why I desired to be private with you, dear child. Or may I call you Apple?”
“Yes, if you wish. It’s for Appoline.”
A fluttery laugh escaped the duchess. “I know. I chose it. The moment Oriana said it, I knew it must be you. Oh, my dearest child, you don’t know how many times I’ve thought of you — and wondered … and worried. Had my father not acquainted me with all the duke’s plans, I must have lost my reason.”
To Apple, the whole scene began to assume the aspect of a dream. “This can’t be happening. It feels so unreal.”
