Arabella turned in her seat. “I can sit with you in the drawing room.”
Lady Farthington objected. “I find I am excessively tired and do not have the energy for foolish speculation. I will return if you host anengagement party for you and Mr. Ashworth. Otherwise, do not expect me until the wedding.”
“It’s Clodwick, my lady,” Mr. Clodwick corrected.
“Pardon?” Lady Farthington said.
“You misspoke. You said the engagement party of Miss Delafield to Mr. Ashworth, but Miss Delafield has accepted my hand in marriage—it’s Mr. Clodwick, not Ashworth.”
Lady Farthington’s face turned a muted shade of purple. “Delafield!”
Mr. Delafield hurried to take her arm. “Nothing is official.”
“Why do you not have a better rein on your daughter? How can she possibly be engaged totwomen?”
“Two?” Mr. Clodwick asked.
His surprise mirrored my own. Did he really not know of my suit? Poor chap. How had he not logically put together our situation?
“It’s not what you think,” Arabella assured him.
“This is intolerable.” Lady Farthington pounded her cane against the floor. “Take me to my carriage, Delafield!”
I sighed. The entertaining dinner I had hoped for had taken a rather nasty turn.
As soon as Lady Farthington was escorted from the room, Arabella’s eyes welled with tears. “Excuse me.”
Before her mother could grant her request, Arabella darted from her seat. With her skirts fisted in her hands, she disappeared from the room. My feet begged to chase after her, but they were simultaneously filled with lead. The last person in the world she wanted to comfort her was me.
My stomach soured, and the few bites I had eaten turned in my stomach. When we were children, seeing Arabella run off upset meant that I had won and she had lost. As an adult, there was no such pleasure.The reality of this struck me hard. If Arabella was upset, we had both lost. And not just because, as her husband, I would soon be responsible for her well-being. No, this new sensation hit deeper. An unexplainable connection had formed between us, one where her happiness now greatly affected my own.
Was this . . . was this the beginning of love?
Chapter 20
Arabella
Elmhurst’s library had a significant secret I had never told anyone about. Just behind the sofa was a space of two feet between it and the wall. With the way the room was designed, I could hide there, practically in plain sight, and never be discovered. It was a little dusty, as the servants often forgot to clean the small section of the room, but it was easily remedied with the occasional few swipes of a handkerchief against the dark wood paneling along the wall. I could haul the throw pillows from the sofa and sit there in peace for hours reading, or scribbling away on a story, as Lady Farthington had called it. Sometimes I had even been known to fall asleep there.
This time, I hovered behind the sofa without any notion of rest or peace. I should have fled to my room, but somehow I ended up here. My mind was caught up in the storm of events that had led to this night, and I was not thinking clearly. I had a plan, and the plan had failed. Without my aunt’s permission to see her collection or her request to Mr. Hope for us to see his, there was no inducement for Mr. Clodwick to marry me. My chest heaved as I attempted to catch my breath, but with emotion clogging my throat and tears streaming down my face, it was not easy.
I was Penelope Waters from my story, locked in a tower with no perceivable way out.
The library door swung open, and I froze. Of all the times to be discovered, it couldn’t be this time. I didn’t want to talk to Father or anyone else right now.
“Arabella?” The whisper sent a wave of fear through me. I didn’t want Rowan of all people to see me like this. I clasped my hands together and prayed for him to leave.
The door shut and I relaxed my head against the back of the sofa in utter relief. My mouth opened and I took a deep gulp of air. A loud hiccup surfaced, rattling my ribcage.
“Arabella?”
Fear seized me, and my hand slapped against my mouth. Another hiccup shook me. It was noticeably quieter, but my anger flared, and my eyes filled with new tears. How could my body betray me at a time like this? At least Penelope was allowed to suffer in her tower alone.
I felt more than heard Rowan close in on me. “There you are.” I did not look up to see him peering down at me; I hated the warmth I would feel penetrating from his gaze. A moment later, he circled the sofa and slipped onto the floor beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pull his long legs up to his chest and wrap his arms around his knees. “This is a cozy spot. Do you think if anyone catches us that they’ll force us to marry?”
I growled. “That isn’t funny.”
“No,” he sighed. “I suppose it isn’t, but at least you’re responding to me.”
