“Yes, when is it to be?” Patience was not one to be denied. “I am very much looking forward to it.”
“My dear ladies, I had not thought to hold a ball at all this year,” Lord Maybridge said and gave a self-deprecating shrug.
“Oh, but that is a dreadful shame. I do so love to dance, but it seems to me that there are very few young men who dance particularly well. But I hear that you do dance very well, Lord Maybridge.” Georgiana, despite being the younger of the sisters, seemed somehow a little more practiced in the art of flattering the male ego.
“Well, I like to dance too. And the truth is, I like very little else but dancing. I live to dance, Lord Maybridge.” Patience’s retort sounded just a little desperate.
As the sisters continued to argue in the same vein, using the Earl of Maybridge as some kind of proxy, Ella found herself curiously fascinated by it all. She had never had a sister herself, but was sure that if she did, she would treat her with a good deal more respect. She would have loved to have had a sister of her own, someone in whom she could confide, someone to take the edge off the loneliness. What dreadful women these were that they could take one another for granted in such a way, so ready to dig holes beneath one another just to get their own way.
“And what about you, Miss Winfield?” The Earl of Maybridge turned to her so suddenly that her mouth dropped open a little. “Do you care very much for dancing?”
“Yes, I do like to dance, Lord Maybridge, when I have the chance of it,” she answered in a very simple way, hoping that all present would see that she was in no way in competition with the arguing sisters.
She truly did not care who got to dance with Lord Maybridge or whether or not he even laid on a ball in the first place. It was immaterial to her life, and she wished that she could escape the drawing room and find something more interesting to do.
And yet, there was something curiously fascinating about the little performance that was going on in front of her. As she watched them all, it was as if everybody was playing a part in a theatrical.
Ronald Bellville was pretending to be a good-natured Earl entertaining his neighbour purely for the pleasure of it, rather than trying to peddle away one of his dreadful daughters to the unsuspecting man.
And her mother, sitting straight-backed and very pleased with herself, was pretending to have been born to such a position, a Countess through and through, not a woman who had ever been reduced to the status of a governess, that was for certain.
And then there were the sisters, Patience and Georgiana. Both of them were pretending to be demure young ladies, not the competitive little dragons they were; bullish little creatures who wanted the poor man to hold the ball simply so they could discover which of them would get to dance with him the most. Anything to satisfy their rivalry.
As distasteful as it all was, it really was fascinating. Fascinating enough, perhaps, that it would divert Ella’s attention from her own sadness for a little while. Yes, she would make a study of them all, as if they were simply mice in a cage and not real people.
She amused herself in such a fashion until the dreadful afternoon tea was over and the poor, beleaguered Earl of Maybridge was finally released.
As the family made their way to the door to wave him off, Ella stayed behind in the drawing room and peered unseen out of the window to watch him depart. As the coach came past, she saw the look on his face, a look that would not have been visible to the family on the great stone steps at the front of the hall.
Ella laughed out loud to see that the Earl of Maybridge looked exhausted and relieved all at once. She thought it very unlikely that the poor young man would lay on a ball at all. In truth, he probably would not lay on another ball for a good many years, or at least he would wait until he had confirmation that the two blonde-haired peacocks had found suitable husbands and were safely married away.
“What are you laughing at? I suggest you pull yourself together, young lady, for your stepfather is furious, and he is on his way,” Ariadne said, scurrying into the room ahead of her husband. “And you had better listen to what he says and say nothing in response unless he tells you to.”
Suddenly, Ella felt afraid. What on earth had she done to produce such a highly excited state within her mother and, apparently, great wrath in the Earl of Dandridge.
“Well, what was all that?” the Earl said immediately he burst into the room.
“I do not understand your meaning, sir,” Ella said truthfully.
“I do not believe that for a minute,” he said and snorted loudly as he slammed the door closed.
Well, if nothing else, at least the dreadful step-sisters were not going to witness whatever humiliation was about to come Ella’s way.
Judging it best not to say anything at all, Ella simply looked at the Earl until he spoke again.
“You ought not to have interfered this afternoon, young lady. I have a duty to find fine husbands for my daughters, and I will not have you trying to steal young men away from under their noses.”
“But sir, I would seek to do no such thing.”
“Silence!” he bellowed so loudly and so suddenly that both Ella and her mother jumped in unison.
Ella knew that she had done nothing to incur his wrath. And she knew equally what had caused his anger, even though she would never dare say it.
Without any prompting whatsoever, the Earl of Maybridge had favoured her over Patience and Georgiana. But she had not invited it at all. She had said nothing and had been as surprised as anybody else that he had continually turned to her to draw her into the conversation.
But she had not put any pressure on him at all; she had not demanded a ball or tried to gain his attention in any way, and he was, without a doubt, grateful for the respite that such behaviour afforded him, especially in the midst of two such determined young ladies.
If anything, Patience and Georgiana might do well to temper their gregarious natures. And she had no doubt that the Earl knew it very well, very well indeed. And it was that failing in his own family, in his own teachings as a father, which had made him so explosively angry.
“You will not behave in such a fashion again under my roof, do you understand?” he said in a voice which was very much quieter and yet somehow more dangerous.
“Yes,” Ella said simply, feeling the pure frustration at having to openly agree with something she did not agree with at all out of fear and fear alone.
She was being bullied, intimidated, and she could not bear it. He really was every bit the pig that the entire county proclaimed him to be. Everything she had warned her mother about was coming to pass, and Ella could hardly think which one of the two of them she despised the most.
Without another word, the Earl slammed out of the room, leaving Ella and her mother alone.
“Now see what you have caused, Ella. I think he is as angry with me as he is with you, but it is not my doing,” Ariadne complained like a child.
“And it is not my doing, Mama.” Ella spat the words angrily. “He has raised his daughters to be as forceful as untrained horses. If a young man of the county shies away from such young ladies, it is hardly my doing. You know very well, Mother, that I did not interfere in their meeting. I sat as quietly as manners would allow me to sit, and you know it. It is only your husband’s anger that the man was not interested in his own daughters that has brought this on, not anything that I have done.”
“Ella, you really must try to see things differently.”
“Differently? You have just blamed me for something I have not done. And then you have complained for your own sake. That you would dare to do so after the way you have treated me is quite astonishing. We are only here in this dreadful house at your behest, Mama, not mine. I did not force you to marry a bully with ugly, ill-behaved daughters. You made that decision on your own and, in doing so, you dragged me here against my will. I will not hear your complaints.”
“And you will not speak to me like that again.” Ariadne had cl
early recovered from her husband’s outburst.
“Ah, you seek to bully me as your husband does.”
“I do not bully you, child. But you must see that it is very important to show Patience and Georgiana in their best light. After all, they are young ladies, and it is important for us to find suitable husbands for them,” Ariadne spoke as if she were giving a genuinely sensible explanation.
“What about me, Mama? Or have you taken the daughters of the Earl to your heart as quickly as you took the Earl himself?”
“I will not hear any more of this,” Ariadne said, and Ella knew that the argument was about to be drawn to an abrupt close simply because her mother did not know how to continue in it.
At least some things never changed, she supposed.
“As you wish,” Ella said and turned from her to walk back across the drawing room.
“Just see that you do not interfere again, or I am sure that you will be all the sorrier for it,” her mother snapped and then strode out of the room.
Ella had never felt more alone in her life. She had never felt close to her mother, but Ariadne was all that she had in the world, and to find herself losing her too, even though the woman provided very little comfort in any circumstance, upset her more than she could ever have imagined.
As she stared blindly out across the immaculate and immense lawns of the Dandridge estate, tears rolled hot and relentless down her pale cheeks.
Chapter 4
It was a cool autumn afternoon, and despite the weak sunshine, Rufus Darnley knew that night would very quickly draw in. Still, he was not yet ready to return indoors, enjoying the cool air on his skin and the crunch of the leaves underneath his well-worn old brown boots.
Rufus had been out for a ride after luncheon but, on returning, found that it had not been quite as fortifying as he had hoped. The same old thoughts whirled around and around in his mind and, by the time his horse had been stabled again, he felt more listless than he had before he had gone out.
Since he was already well wrapped against the cold, the Duke decided to take a very good turn around his grounds. He had walked down the great gravel driveway some distance before turning in to walk through the woodland for a while.
He continued to crunch through leaves, enjoying the distraction of the sound which seemed capable of holding his attention in the present instead of allowing him to drift to thoughts of the past. As he walked, Rufus concentrated on the noise, fighting against any little thought that tried to break through his consciousness.
But, of course, he was unable to sustain it for long. Within a matter of minutes, he felt as if he was back on the old track, trapped inside the ball, rolling downhill.
Even though he had made his decision, and made it firmly, that he would now find a wife no matter what, there was no comfort in that decision at all. Rufus had found that there was at first. It was the relief of resignation, in the beginning, a kind of defeated, silent sigh.
But that feeling had very quickly worn off and been replaced with dreadful visions of the future in which he found himself forever tied to a woman of great beauty and little character. And, worse still, he turned to thoughts of the past, thoughts of the one woman who had seemed to turn him away from all the others for many years.
Eleanor Camden had been the first and only woman that Rufus Darnley had ever fallen in love with. She had been bright and funny and, without a shadow of a doubt, just about the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
Rufus had just reached his twentieth year, and his beloved father’s failing health was a constant source of concern to him. But, as sick as his father was at times, Rufus had never really contemplated the idea that he might die sooner rather than later. He had assumed that his father would go on and on, that he would battle the sickness and defeat it, going on to see many more years in his role as the Duke of Hillington.
When he had met Eleanor Camden at an afternoon event held by an old aunt of his, now long dead, Rufus had been instantly attracted. Eleanor Camden had paid him so much attention that his young man’s ego was almost overwhelmed. And she was so amusing and bright that his heart was won almost immediately.
Rufus had courted her for many months, much to the pleasure of both her father and his own. She very quickly became a regular visitor to Hillington Hall, and he had fully imagined her there in the future as his wife, both of them happy and fulfilled, satisfied with everything that life had thrown at them so easily.
Before they had been acquainted even six months, Rufus had already decided that he would marry her. He waited until the six months of their courtship was complete, however, before deciding that he would, indeed, ask for her hand in marriage.
Despite the fact that he was sure that she would respond favourably to such a proposal, the very thought of making it had filled him with a sort of nervous energy for days on end. He kept imagining the whole thing, planning it out in his head and wondering when he might get his opportunity to actually ask her.
And he had been pondering just such a thing at a bridge afternoon in the home of one of Eleanor’s friends when he overheard a little conversation between the two young women.
He had just finished his game of bridge and had gone in search of Eleanor, never tiring of her wonderful company. It had been an extraordinarily warm summer and that day when they had all played bridge had been no different.
Thinking that the two young women had likely gone outside for some air, the young Rufus decided that he would follow.
He had walked around the side of the house, making his way to the terrace, when he finally heard two feminine voices. Judging it quite rightly to be Eleanor and her friend, he continued in their direction. But, just as he had been about to round the corner of the house and announce himself, something in the tone of the conversation stopped him and, instead of making his presence known, he paused for a moment to listen.
“I really do think that Lord Darnley is all set to ask for your hand in marriage, my dear,” the young woman said excitedly.
“Yes, I do believe you are right.” Eleanor sounded excited herself and Rufus, his ego satisfied that his proposal when he finally made it, would receive a favourable response, smiled to himself.
“And he is a very handsome young man, is he not?” her friend went on.
“He is pleasant enough to look at, I daresay,” Eleanor said in a strangely airy tone. It was a tone that Rufus Darnley had never heard before, and it brought him up short. “But he is perhaps a little dark for my taste. He has a very intense look about him at times, with such black hair and such dark eyes. I do so like a young man to be blonde and to have blue eyes.” She sounded a little far off and dreamy, and he wondered what was going on.
Surely, she did not have somebody else in mind that she preferred to him? After all, she had sounded so excited by the prospect that he might propose. Rufus was greatly confused. So confused, in fact, that he chose to linger just a little longer before announcing his presence.
“Oh, dear me, you are not still keen on Lord Brightwell, are you?” The young woman laughed girlishly.
“No, I should not wish to marry him, even though he is an Earl with a very fine and handsome face.” Eleanor laughed too, but it was a very much more cynical sound. “Not now, at any rate, when I have a Duke in the making.”
“Yes, but he is still in the making. He is not Duke yet, is he?” As the young woman spoke, Rufus frowned deeply.
“I think it is true to say that it is only a matter of time. The old Duke’s health fails day by day, and I think that Rufus will be the Duke of Hillington soon enough.” There was something in her tone, something greedy and foul that he had never heard before.
Rufus felt his mouth go dry as anger surged through him. He could hardly believe it, but Eleanor sounded as if she would welcome the death of his dear father. But how could this be so?
“And then you will be Duchess, my dear,” the young woman said.
“Yes, and then I will be the
Duchess of Hillington. Just imagine that,” she said and laughed.
“Yes. All you have to do now is wait for the inevitable proposal.”
“And I look forward to it greatly,” Eleanor said.
Rufus had not waited to hear any more. As far as he was concerned, he had heard enough. He had thought that he had known Eleanor, known her heart and her mind as surely as he knew his own. But as he had listened, an eavesdropper standing silently just a few feet away, he realized that he had never known her at all.
Everything that he had assumed to be open and honest between them he could now see was anything but. She had not fallen for him with his dark hair and eyes, his olive skin. She had not fallen for his wit or humour, or his interesting conversation. She was simply seeking to make herself a Duchess and was so intent that she longed for the death of a man who had never done her any harm. Rufus had never felt so betrayed in all his life, and it had taken a great effort of will for him not to walk around the corner and tell her as much.
A Soulmate for the Heartbroken Duke Page 29
