“Good morning, milady,” one of the passing footmen said and she murmured a suitable greeting before opening the door to the dining room. To her relief, both parents were seated at the end of the table, heads together, talking quietly if intently. Dorothea was nowhere to be seen, however.
“My Lord and My Lady,” she said breathlessly, forgetting to call them mother and father in her agitation, “I am glad you are both here because I have some news.”
They both turned to her, trepidation written plainly on their faces. Lady Cornhill attempted to smile as she got to her feet. “Come then, and tell us your news, dear,” she said, ushering Adelia forward.
She took a deep breath.
Well, here I go.
“I have remembered who I am. Not everything, just a few details.”
“You have?” the Earl veritably paled.
“Yes, I have. I woke up this morning and the memories were just…there. But the most important thing you should know is that I am not Dorothea.”
She was surprised not to see more surprise on her parents’ faces.
“What makes you say that?” Lady Cornhill asked.
“Well, I remembered Alexander and growing up on a farm with a pig and chickens. I remembered the orphanage where I worked. I am Adelia.”
“Are you sure?” the Earl asked, sounding supremely skeptical.
“Of course I am.”
Lady Cornhill sighed. “Dorothea, we know how much regard you have for the Duke but this pretending to be Adelia won’t wo—”
“I am not pretending! I am Adelia.” She looked down at her hands, roughened from years of work. Brandishing them at the Cornhills she cried, “Look at my hands! Are these the hands of someone who grew up pampered? Waited on hand and foot? These are working hands—look at them.”
Lady Cornhill’s eyes dropped and she paled considerably. The Earl blanched, looking away before getting to his feet. “All right, Adelia. We believe you. Put away your hands.” He sounded heavy-laden and defeated. “We will deal with this as a family. Have a seat. Let me call for some breakfast.”
Adelia obeyed automatically, a disbelieving look on her face. “That’s all you have to say?”
“No. But I must watch every word that I speak lest I say the wrong thing. This is a delicate matter, you understand that, don’t you?”
“I do, indeed. Dorothea has been pretending to be me all this time!”
Lady Cornhill made a sound of distress and Adelia realized that her parents were quite a bit more upset than they were letting on. She subsided, accepting the porridge that was put in front of her and eating it quietly. In the middle of breakfast, Dorothea breezed into the room.
“Good morning, family” she said as she took her seat, a wide smile on her face. She looked around as no one answered her and frowned. “Why all the gloomy faces?”
Lady Cornhill stiffened in her seat and looked her daughter in the eye. “Adelia has remembered some things,” she said.
Dorothea gaped at her, mouth opening and closing, but no words emerged. She turned her sharp gaze on Adelia. “R-really? W-when?”
Adelia merely gave her a blank stare.
“She woke up this morning with them,” the Earl answered in her stead.
“How…interesting that you should get your memories back after speaking with that Archibald person,” she hissed.
“His name is Alexander and he is my cousin.”
“No. He is just some boy you happen to have been raised with who now seeks to cause trouble in your real family.”
“So you are admitting that you…did this? That you switched your identity, Dorothea?” her father cut in.
Dorothea paled. “I…” her eyes darted from one to the other. “I was…just trying to help. You had just gotten your second daughter back. I didn’t want you to suffer more grief and heartache thinking that she had forgotten you all over again.”
“But you said you were Adelia even before she woke up. How did you know she would have memory loss?” Lady Cornhill asked, very gently.
“I…I…just. I didn’t think. It just happened. You all confused me for her and I just went along with it.”
“I remember that day clearly, as it is etched in my consciousness,” Lady Cornhill’s voice was low, hoarse, and bitter. “I remember that Adelia was in white and you were in blue. But when you screamed, and we all came, you were in white and Adelia was in blue. Can you explain that?”
Dorothea paled, looking trapped. Adelia smiled. “I suppose you could always try the truth.”
Dorothea shot to her feet and ran out of the room. Adelia looked to the Earl and his wife. “What do we do now?”
Lady Cornhill covered her eyes with her hands. “I don’t know, Adelia. What do you want to do?”
“Well, for one thing, I would like to stop wearing her clothes or having her lady’s maid. The girl is too jumpy. I would also like my room back.”
Lady Cornhill huffed a laugh. “Of course. What else?”
“I won’t let this farce with the Duke go on.”
“No, of course not. But we do not have to tell him about this little mix-up. Let us keep it in the family. You can just call on him as Adelia and leave out these shenanigans that Dorothea has been up to.”
Adelia pursed her lips as both her parents watched her anxiously. She could understand them wanting to protect Dorothea from public ridicule. She was their family, too. But this could not be swept under the rug.
“I shall not say a word about this to him, if you promise me that there shall be consequences to Dorothea for the distress she has caused.”
The Earl smiled at her, proudly. “I promise you, Adelia, there will be consequences. My word as your father. I simply wish to keep this between us as her family.”
Adelia nodded jerkily. “All right, then.”
* * *
The Duke called on them that afternoon, curious as to what he would find. Something had happened last night at his dinner and he was afraid that he was the only one who did not know what.
He was greeted at the door by the affable butler who ushered him into the portrait gallery where Adelia and her lady’s maid were waiting. She turned and smiled at him, her eyes lit up and the knot in his chest loosened.
“Your Grace, how lovely of you to visit,” she said.
He gave her a wide smile. “Well, you did ask me to.”
She quirked an eyebrow as if surprised but then her face smoothened out. “So I did.” She looked back at the portrait she was standing in front of and he came to join her.
“My great-grandmother, they say. The resemblance is quite distinct, is it not?”
He inclined his head to the side. “I suppose. You seem to have more fire in your eyes, though.”
She laughed softly, turning to look at him. “That is probably because my eyes are not painted on with oils.”
His eyes twinkled back at her, so glad that she was back to her old teasing self, “That could be it.”
She looked back at the painting while he watched her. For some reason, she seemed to shine brighter today than she had at any time recently. He wanted to reach out and touch her again, turn her to him and kiss her soft lips. His eyes flicked to the lady’s maid, remaining discreetly out of earshot but in sight of them both. He regretted not having made an offer last night. He might have been within his rights to steal a kiss today.
He did not like how confused he was. It was not like him. Last night he had been relieved not to have to make the offer. Today, he was regretful.
She turned to stare up at him and smiled. “My lips are tingling,” she said, and then her eyes widened as if she had not meant to say that aloud.
“Is that so? Could be because I am thinking about them,” he leaned low to whisper. Her eyes brightened, and then dimmed. She turned away from him, her shoulders stiff.
“And have you been thinking of them a lot these last few days?”
Her voice was inexplicably cold.
“N
ot really, no,” he answered before the thought hit him that perhaps he should not be so honest. However, she whirled around, the bright smile back on her face. “Really?” she asked as if that was the best thing she had ever heard.
“Er…yes, I’m afraid so. I suppose I was distracted.”
“Indeed. That must be it.” She reached out and placed her hand gently over his heart. The touch was so fleeting it might as well not have happened. Still it left him hard and aching, confused over his own reactions.
“Er, Adelia, you had said that you would speak with your father about lifting the postponement of my proposal. Did you manage to do so?”
Her eyes widened in what looked like surprise. “Uh, I did? Oh, of course I did. And he was…very amenable to lifting the postponement. He was, uh…concerned for my nerves, you see. He thought it all might be too much but I assured him that I was fine.”
“Indeed. I suppose finding out how you came to be raised by people other than your birth parents can be stressful. I do assure you that whatever the reason, it will make no difference to me.”
“Oh…well…that is, very good to know.”
“Very well then, if that is all, then allow me to…” the Duke got on bended knee.
Adelia gasped.
“Adelia my love, our meeting was but pure accident. However, I felt a spark between us immediately. That spark has only grown to a full-blown flame in the time we have spent together. And so I am asking you, to join your wick with mine and let us make this flame a conflagration. Will you be my wife, Lady Adelia Harrington?”
Chapter 31
Family Ties
Despite all the things that were wrong in her life, Adelia was feeling as if she was walking on air. She floated into the parlor where her mother was doing some embroidery.
“Mother!” she cried and flung her hands out in happiness. “I am engaged.”
Her mother dropped her embroidery as she got to her feet. “What? When did this happen?”
“Just now. His Grace asked me in the portrait gallery.”
Lady Cornhill’s mouth remained open, hands splayed wide like she did not know how to react. Then she flung her arms around Adelia’s neck. “This is such good news.” She squeezed Adelia so tightly she could barely breathe. Adelia was smiling so hard that she thought her face might split in two.
Suddenly her mother let her go. “But where is he now? Has he already left?”
“No. He went to father’s office to tell him.”
“Well…this calls for a celebration.” Lady Cornhill leaned down and scooped up the bell that summoned the servants. In a thrice, a footman had appeared. Lady Cornhill clapped her hands together. “Get us some wine and glasses. We are celebrating. Adelia is engaged.”
The footman grinned at them both before bowing. “Yes, milady. Congratulations to you, Lady Adelia.”
“Thank you.”
Just then the door opened and the Earl stepped in, closely followed by the Duke. He smiled at Adelia. “I understand congratulations are in order.”
“Yes.” Adelia beamed at him, only looking toward the Duke when she heard him chuckle. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Your happiness is simply infectious, my dear.”
Adelia beamed back at him.
The Duke looked around. “Where’s Lady Dorothea?”
There was a dip in the happiness for a moment before the Earl rallied. “She is confined to her chambers. She does not feel well.”
“Oh. I am sorry to hear that. Please convey my best wishes.”
“We shall,” Lady Cornhill said. “For now, let us toast to the happy news!”
* * *
Adelia walked into the Earl’s office later that evening as he was checking his invoices. It was a job he only ever did when he was in turmoil and needed to bring order to his mind.
“You knew she wasn’t me, didn’t you?” she said.
“What makes you say that?”
“You asked the Duke to postpone his proposal.”
The Earl sighed. “I overheard her boasting about it to your cousin-brother. She did not know that I had heard.”
Adelia looked away, shaking her head. “Then why did you not admit to it right away when I tried to tell you who I was? Why try to cast doubt on me?”
He shook his head. “The instinct to protect one’s child…it’s so strong. I just reacted without thinking. But in a way, I was relieved because it meant I did not have to tell you, since you already knew.”
“I thought I was your child, too,” she whispered and he could hear the hurt threading her words.
“You are! But my God, you are so strong and somehow you give the impression that you can withstand anything. We indulged her too much as a child. She is spoiled. So entitled…it had just become…easier to give in to her.” He raised his head to look into her eyes so she would know he was serious. “But no more. I promise you, Adelia. No more indulging her every whim.”
“I suppose it’s a habit hard to break.”
He shook his head in self-recrimination. “It is. But that is no excuse.”
* * *
Dorothea lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She had hardly left her chambers since the whole debacle in the breakfast room. She did not know if she was embarrassed or just annoyed. What she did know was that it was a remarkable coincidence that Adelia had recovered her memories the day after her so-called brother had found Dorothea out.
She wanted to call Adelia’s bluff but there was really no advantage to her if she did so. The cat was already out of the bag. Even worse, she had heard that the Duke had asked for Adelia’s hand in marriage and that wedding plans were already under way.
It is infuriating. I was so close to achieving my dreams.
Now her father was talking about sending her off to the continent to an Italian convent there. It was ridiculous. She had no plans to take the veil now or in the future. She would just have to get herself engaged as well, as fast as possible, so that the Earl would do away with that idea.
She sat up in the bed and turned to her lady’s maid. “Bring me a paper, ink and quill, now.”
She would write to the Earl of Braewood and throw her handkerchief to him. She felt sure he would come up to scratch.
* * *
The Earl was seated at breakfast with his family when he received a note from the investigator.
I have the people you were searching for. What will you have me do with them?
He stared at the note. They had waited so long for answers and now he hardly felt as if they were necessary. What difference would it make now? He handed the note to his wife and as she read it, her eyes widened.
“Have them brought here at once.”
“Are you sure, my dear?”
“Yes.”
Adelia looked up, her eyebrows raised. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, my love. We just…we have located your foster parents.”
Adelia shot to her feet. “What? Where are they?”
The Earl watched her, eyes so wide and frightened. “They are close. Shall I send for them?”
“Yes please, Father.”
He nodded and wrote a note for the footman to deliver, then went back to his breakfast. Adelia sat slowly back down, looking from him to his wife as if she expected more. Dorothea had yet to join them for a meal and he was coming to the point where he felt he would soon have to force the issue. It did not fill him with joy.
The household was tense for the rest of the day as they waited for the two to be brought to them. Adelia had sent a message to her cousin-brother and he had ridden over in company with the Duke. The Earl was increasingly afraid that this would turn out to be a huge spectacle. But he understood why they both felt they had to come.
The Duke spent time with both Lady Cornhill and Adelia, keeping them calm, and the Earl was grateful for that. He himself did not have the capability to do so at the moment and so he was glad of the help. The clock was just striking three w
hen the investigator arrived with a man and woman.
They were not restrained in any way.
They look tired. Defeated.
When their eyes fell on Adelia, the woman began to cry.
A Vixen For The Devilish Duke (Steamy Historical Regency Romance) Page 26
