A Beauty for the Scarred Duke: A Historical Regency Romance Book

by Bridget Barton

  Before Isabella’s pregnancy had even begun to show, Elliot had pulled the tower to the ground. He did not want his child to fall in love with the building and to make it their own as his sister had done. He wanted his child to find contentment and fantasy anywhere but there. It had come as a great relief to Isabella when the tower had finally come down, even though there was much sadness attached to the deed itself.

  But it was a sign for her that her husband, the man she loved so dearly, was finally beginning to live his life free from the shadows which had held him so tightly and for so long.

  As Isabella had wandered the house and grounds, growing larger by the day, she had been surprised at how his constant company made every day exciting and new.

  They walked together and spent time in the little walled gardens. They played music together every day, and Elliot’s attempts to teach Isabella to play the violin had not been without their rewards. Isabella had taken to the instrument with ease and spent many hours in happy practice.

  When Catherine had finally been born, it seemed to Isabella that Elliot’s world was now complete. His happiness at the appearance of his baby daughter touched her more than anything had done in her life before. He loved his little girl instantly, taking her everywhere with him.

  As Catherine began to grow and become more inquisitive and mobile, she often stared at her father with adoring eyes and reached out with chubby hands to grasp his cheeks. It made no difference to the infant that her father had scars. It was clear that Catherine, as a baby, had never even noticed. He was her father, and that was that. He was the man who would love and protect her for her entire life.

  It was about that time that Elliot had surprised Isabella by accepting an invitation to a county ball being held by Lord and Lady Tavistock. It was to be a large and lavish affair, and Isabella had thought it would likely be just a little too large and overcrowded for her husband’s liking. She knew that they needed to take things little by little, without pushing.

  “Are you quite sure, Elliot?” Isabella had said when Elliot told her that he had accepted the invitation.

  “I would be a fool not to go out into the world, would I not? When a man has a beautiful wife and daughter who love him and look upon him without fear or disgust, then he has everything in the world that he needs. Believe me; once a man has that, he can do anything.”

  His happy smile and bold assertion had reduced Isabella to tears of pride and happiness on the spot, and Elliot had teased her greatly for it for days afterward. But he had teased her kindly, knowing how much his wife had wanted him to have the life which seemed to have been stolen from him all those years ago. He knew what it meant to her.

  “Yes, I should like another cup of tea, Esme.” As Esme poured the tea, Isabella was drawn back into the present moment.

  “Are Catherine and Kitty still outside?” Isabella said vaguely. “I do hope our child is not wearing Kitty out.”

  “I do not think there is much chance of that, my dear,” Elliot said and laughed as he looked over his shoulder and out of the large French windows onto the terrace beneath. “If anything, I think Kitty would be loath to give up her new responsibilities.”

  “I should say so.” Isabella laughed.

  “I do not know how that dear woman manages to be your personal maid, Isabella, and nurse your child.” Esme shook her head in admiration.

  “It is determination, Esme. It is determination to be a great part of Catherine’s life, and the child was born just minutes before Kitty had offered herself up as the role of nurse. How on earth could I have refused her?”

  “And she is a very good nurse, is she not?”

  “She truly can turn her hand to anything. The fact that she loves Catherine dearly helps.”

  “And her duties as lady’s maid?”

  “As you know, I can already look after myself very well indeed.” Isabella laughed. “And the larger part of Kitty’s duties have always been more as counsellor and companion to me than as a lady’s maid. It is very fluid.”

  “I just hope that Kitty will accept help when the second one is born,” Elliot said, and Isabella drew in her breath sharply.

  “Second one?” Esme said sitting suddenly bolt upright. “Is there something you ought to tell me, Isabella?” Esme’s eyes were already bright and shining; she knew the answer to her own question.

  “I had hoped to tell you myself,” she said casting a mock annoyed glance at her husband who, for his part, looked suitably chagrined.

  “I really am terribly sorry; it just slipped out.” He shrugged.

  “It slipped out because you are just so excited, my dear, are you not?” Isabella laughed and reached for his hand.

  “I am excited, it is true. And this is not the first time that I have forgotten myself, I am afraid.”

  “Let me hazard a guess and say that you have already told Crawford.” Isabella was still laughing.

  “It just happened, my dear.” He shrugged again only with more gusto this time. “And then, of course, I had to hurriedly let him know that he and his lovely new wife were not expected to be godparents to our second child also. I told him that he could relax safe in the knowledge that Esme and Rupert would be…” He winced. “Sorry.”

  “Esme, forgive me. If I had realized that my husband would turn from hermit to social butterfly in a heartbeat, I would have come here today without him. Truly, I had wanted to ask you for myself.”

  “My dear, are you asking me to be godmother to your new child?” Esme was already dabbing at the corner of her eye with a handkerchief.

  “Yes, just that. I should like you and Rupert to be our new child’s godparents when he or she comes into the world. As long as both you and Rupert are agreeable, that is.”

  “We shall be married by then, my dear, and Rupert will be agreeable whether he is agreeable or not.”

  “Dear me, poor old Rupert,” Elliot said and gave Esme a teasing smile. “It is probably best that he does not yet know all that is to come to him.”

  “Quite so, quite so.” Esme nodded slowly and smiled. “After all, I do not want him to run away to Liverpool and take a boat to Ireland before I have even had a chance to marry him.”

  All three of them laughed at the humorous allusion to Isabella’s daring attempt at escape in the weeks before she had been due to marry Elliot.

  “I am teasing you, of course. Dear old Rupert is a very lucky man, and I should never hear it said otherwise,” Elliot said seriously. “And he is due to have a most interesting and fulfilling married life, of that I am certain.”

  “Between your kindness and the knowledge that I am to be a godmother, I am sure that I shall spend the rest of this day in happy tears. Now then, you really must stop it before I wash myself away.”

  As Esme and Elliot continued to chatter happily, Isabella stared out through the French windows to where Kitty was desperately trying to keep up with the faltering but surprisingly speedy steps of baby Catherine.

  She smiled and blinked back a few happy tears of her own. Everything that Isabella had ever wanted in the world was there before her at that moment. She had a loving husband who was kind, amusing, intelligent, and very handsome. She had a beautiful child and another on the way. And to add to it all, Isabella had the promise of her oldest friend at her side for the rest of her life.

  And with Kitty as the mother figure she had never truly known, Isabella knew that her life was complete. Of course, ups and downs would come as they surely did to everybody, but the foundations of her world were the strongest that she could ever have imagined, and for that she was truly grateful.

  THE END

  (Please turn the page to read the first chapters from “A Governess for the Brooding Duke”, my Amazon Best-Selling novel!)

  A Governess for the Brooding Duke

  Introduction

  When Georgette Darrington’s father dies suddenly and with serious debts, she imagines things cannot get any worse. But when her attorney tells
her that the family home must be sold to pay the debts, leaving her penniless and without a home, her only choice is to become a governess.

  In no time at all, Georgette finds herself in the grand mansion of the Duke of Draycott, teaching his delightful, orphaned nieces. But, the more time Georgette spends with the little girls, the more she realizes they are missing their home and life in Wales, not to mention their own language.

  Georgette must find a way to convince the Duke to take an interest in the girls’ lives, and she must also find a way to keep their native language alive despite his determined instructions to the contrary.

  As the tragic tale of the Duke’s sister and her forbidden love unfolds, Georgette must struggle with the deprivations of her lowered status, not to mention the spiteful plots and schemes of a jealous housekeeper and nurse.

  As her loneliness threatens to overwhelm her, Georgette must find a way put the splintered family back together, even as she battles her own feelings of love for the handsome, taciturn Duke.

  Chapter 1

  “Are you telling me, Mr. Wharton, that there is really nothing at all? My father left me nothing?” Georgette Darrington was so shocked that she felt nauseous.

  “I am afraid not, Miss Darrington. It is not that he chose to leave you nothing, my dear. Rather the sale of the house will barely cover the debts he accrued in his lifetime. In truth, he has made it clear that you shall be the sole beneficiary of whatever the residue is after the debts are cleared. Unfortunately, there is no residue.”

  “But he will have known this, Mr. Wharton. My father would have been very well aware of the size of his debts and the value of his house. He would have known very well that he was leaving me destitute, and yet he chose to say nothing. He chose to give me not one moment’s grace to gather my thoughts and work out what I ought to do next.”

  “I daresay things feel awfully raw at the moment, Miss Darrington. It is only a week since you buried your father, and this must be a most distressing time for you.” Mr. Wharton delivered what Georgette thought was truly the biggest understatement she had ever heard.

  Georgette had mourned her father as much as it was possible for her to do given the relationship they had. His passing had distressed her and had rather given her the feeling of being an orphan, despite being almost one and twenty years of age.

  The reading of the will, however, was truly equally as distressing. In many ways, more so, because it was tinged with fear. Of course, when the reality of it finally settled itself within her mind, Georgette Darrington knew that she would no longer be simply afraid but would be rather terrified. Because, if what the attorney was telling her was absolutely true, then she was not simply homeless, but also penniless.

  “Raw?” Georgette said, surprised by how calm her voice sounded. “Yes, I daresay.”

  “And you have no family to go to?” Mr. Wharton was asking a question he already knew the answer to.

  The reason Georgette Darrington was the sole heiress to her father’s estate, albeit a non-existent one, was because there were no male heirs, even in terms of extended family. In truth, Georgette was the very last of the Darringtons, and her father had no other family to speak of. If she had any relations remaining on her mother’s side, then Georgette did not know it. And, in any case, nobody, man or woman, would have inherited in Georgette’s maternal family anyway.

  In truth, she rather wished that her mother had come from a bigger family. If she had, then Georgette would not be entirely alone and without options at that moment. She would have had, if nothing else, at least a few relations to whom to write and beg for shelter. And it would have been begging in every sense of the word, for it would seem that she would not even have a few pounds a year with which to keep herself. Georgette’s father had spent every last penny and more besides.

  Edward Darrington had neither been an easy father nor a hard one. He was simply incredibly detached from his only child, presumably disappointed that she was not a male. It had always struck her that he was further disappointed that she was the one and only child he and his wife had managed to produce in the fifteen years they shared together before Georgette’s mother had died.

  Whilst he had not particularly showered the motherless Georgette with affection, he had not specifically made many demands of her either. In truth, she had been rather left to go her own way and, if she was entirely honest, had quite liked it.

  Georgette had not especially thought much of marriage beforehand, rather thinking herself to have a good deal of time in which to contemplate the matter. And her father, seemingly having no ambitions for her in that sense, simply left her to herself.

  Edward Darrington had not urged her to find a man of wealth or title, nor even one who had neither of those things. In truth, Georgette had been quite grateful for it, for she had known many a young woman with a rather determined family forcing her into the path of a man she did not want.

  “Mr. Wharton, I have no family,” Georgette said, bleakly. “I have no family; I have no money, and now I have no home. I truly have nothing, do I?” She looked up at him with sorrowful, dark brown eyes.

  “Did you have no notion whatsoever of your father’s spending?” Mr. Wharton said, although his tone was in no way judgemental.

  “I knew that my father liked the card tables and the drink; I just did not know how much. What I mean is, I had no idea how much he was spending on the card tables. It must have been the card tables, after all, for a man could not spend an entire house on drink and live to be fifty, could he?”

  “No, indeed.” Mr. Wharton shook his head sadly. “Your father, I am afraid to say, is reputed to have developed the habit of bidding rather large amounts. Perhaps he was simply trying to win back enough money to save himself and thought the larger amounts might do it.”

  “No, I know my father a little better than that. He liked the thrill of such things. He would bet on anything, as long as there was something to be gained from it. I daresay that, in the end, with the thrill lessening, the only way to get that same excitement back would be to gamble larger amounts.”

  “Whatever the reason, my dear Miss Darrington, it would appear that he has left you in rather a sorry sort of a state.”

  “I simply cannot imagine, nor do I really want to hear, the figure that my father owed. Our townhouse in London, when it is sold, would certainly fetch a tremendous amount of money. If that barely pays my father’s debts, then I feel truly ashamed of him.”

  As she spoke of their London townhouse, Georgette felt her throat tighten. For the first time since the terrible news had been delivered, she rather feared that she might cry. In her mind’s eye, she was looking up at the huge house with its white stone frontage and great columns either side of an immense black door. There were four floors to the great house and windows everywhere. She could hardly believe that it would very soon no longer be her home.

  And what of the staff? Her father had kept a butler and housekeeper, a valet, a cook, and two maids. Not to mention a stable-hand.

  “Oh, my goodness, I am going to have to tell the staff, am I not?” Georgette’s voice trembled audibly. “And really, I have no idea what I am to say to them. They will have to find work elsewhere and at such short notice.”

  “Just be sure to promise them all a very good character reference. If they are good staff and are provided with a good character, then they will manage perfectly well. They will find work very easily in London in another home of good standing,” the attorney said kindly. “You have other concerns, Miss Darrington. It is time to think of yourself and only yourself.”

  “I do not know where to begin.”

  “Forgive me for asking, nay intruding, Miss Darrington, but do you have an understanding of any sort with a young man? Is marriage a possibility at this juncture?”

  “You need not ask for my forgiveness, Mr. Wharton. It is clear that you are simply trying to help me,” Georgette said, blinking hard. “And no, I do not have an understanding with any
body. And I daresay that now, that would be quite impossible.”

  “Perhaps not impossible,” Mr. Wharton said, but Georgette could tell from his tone that he was simply trying to soothe her.

  For Georgette knew that it was impossible. Even if she had hoped to marry for love, still there would have been certain expectations of finance, status, and class that any future husband would expect. Of course, had she already been well on her way to marriage, it would likely not have been an issue. However, to actually tempt a young man into matrimony when she had nothing to offer but her homeless and penniless status would be impossible. Not only that but where was she to meet such a young man now?