Page 52 of Lady Arabella’s Reluctant Hero

Arabella found Thea in the library, which was not a surprise.

What was surprising was that Thea was not reading. She was writing. Hunched over the desk by the window with her fair hair threatening to escape its pins.

"Am I interrupting?" Arabella asked from the doorway.

"Yes." Thea did not look up. "But you may stay if you are quiet."

"I shall endeavor." Arabella's dry tone rarely seemed to register with Thea in the past, and it did not register now.

Arabella settled into a chair nearby and waited. For what, she was not certain.

In truth, she was bored. The sky was heavy with rain clouds so they were all trapped indoors. Clarissa and Kit were nowhere to be found—likely cozy in their rooms. Lucy had been squired away to study her lessons under Mrs. Lennox's guidance, and John had been shut away in his office all morning.

Thea set down her pen and looked up.

"What are you working on?" Arabella asked.

"I am writing to Her Grace," she said.

Arabella's pulse quickened, though she kept her expression mild. "Has there been news?"

"Some. Lord Blackwood is following the financial connections. There are records of payments made through a solicitor in Cheapside that appear to be connected to Mr. Pierce's employer. And Mr. Gage has reported something irregular at his warehouse. Cargo manifests that do not match the goods received. The duchess believes it may be connected."

Arabella absorbed this. The investigation was moving. It was real. People she barely knew were working to dismantle the thing that had held her captive for two years.

She did not know what to do with that.

"Thank you," she said finally. "For telling me."

Thea shrugged one shoulder. "You are the one with the most at stake. It would be peculiar not to tell you."

A silence fell. It was not uncomfortable. Silences with Thea rarely were, because Thea did not appear to notice them. She returned to her letter, and Arabella sat with her thoughts.

Hope was such an insidious little creature. She could feel it stirring now, even as she told herself to cut it off at the roots.

But what if…? a little voice whispered. What if the duchess and Lord Blackwood found a way to stop Pierce? What if they found enough leverage to force him into an annulment. What if…?

"What if I could truly marry?" The words slipped out of her unbidden.

And just as unbidden were the images that flooded her mind all at once. Dreams she'd thought were dead and buried. Visions of a happy home, filled with children, and a smiling husband and⁠—

Oh dear. Why was she picturing Lord Alderton and Lucy? She gave her head a firm shake.

"What do you mean you could truly marry?" Thea's voice cut into her thoughts and gave her a start.

Arabella blinked at the woman she'd forgotten was there. "Er…pardon?"

Her cheeks warmed as she realized that yes, she had indeed spoken aloud before and Thea had heard.

Thea set down her pen and bright blue eyes peered at her from behind her spectacles. "You said you could marry. Is there some reason you're incapable of marrying now?"

Arabella returned her stare. "Did…did the duchess not tell you?"

Thea's arched brows were her only response.

With a surge of gratitude, Arabella realized the duchess truly had done her best to protect her secrets.

"All I know," Thea said, "is that you have been the unfortunate victim of blackmail. And that Mr. Pierce was the man holding some secret over you. That's all we were told."