“The housekeeper and the butler. I overheard them speaking. But to tell you the truth, I was eavesdropping. They were below stairs in the servants’ hall. They wouldn’t have known I was there. It was late, and my candle was burning low, so I thought I’d go down to get a new one. I didn’t want to disturb anyone, and…”
“What exactly did they say?” Emma demanded, never one for long-winded stories.
“They said it was a shame he was always leaving me behind on these improper visits.”
“Did they say it just like that?” Emma asked, scooting forward in her seat as if she were a detective.
“They said he ought to have stopped his visits some time ago, and that people would start talking, and that Sir Richard wouldn’t like it…”
“And then what happened?” Hanna pressed.
“Then Brandon, Harry’s valet, showed up and told them they shouldn’t be talking about such matters publicly—or at all.” Arabella sighed.
Her sisters fell silent. Emma bit her bottom lip and Hanna scratched her chin. Arabella had hoped they would encourage her, tell her there was a reasonable explanation for all this, but their silence spoke volumes.
“I can’t help but think there is another woman. Someone he liked to keep company before he was forced to marry me.”
“Well, surely if there was another woman, he would have married her,” Emma pointed out. “He wouldn’t have stood for Father’s schemes. He would’ve simply said he was already betrothed to another.”
“Unless the woman he’s seeing isn’t one he wants to marry,” Arabella replied with a sigh.
“Or she is unsuitable for a duke,” Hanna added, echoing her own deepest fears.
“That’s what I thought as well. What if she’s a married woman? What if she’s unsuitable? Or a commoner? Am I being silly?” Arabella asked.
“You might be,” Hanna said gently. “Have you asked him?”
“Of course not,” Arabella huffed.
“That’s realistic,” Emma said dryly. “It’s not as though you can simply walk up to the man and accuse him of having an affair. Not when he’s made it clear that your marriage is only on paper. Perhaps if you get to know him better, if you establish some sort of connection, then you?—”
“How might I establish a connection with him if he’s never here? And even when he is, he barely speaks to me. It’s not as simple as that.”
“Perhaps what you need to do is spy on him,” Emma suggested.
“You cannot mean it!” Hanna exclaimed. “That’s not proper.”
“Is it proper for him to be seeing a ‘piece of frailty’ behind her back?” Emma fired back.
“Spy on him? How would I even do that?” Arabella asked, dismayed that it had come to this.
“I would start with searching his study,” Emma said. “Gentlemen always keep their secrets in the places they frequent most. His study, or his bedchamber, or perhaps the parlor. But I would start with the study. He’s never here, so what’s the difference?”
Arabella knew that Harry did not keep his study door locked—she could easily walk inside. She was the Duchess, after all. Thiswas her home, not the servants’. Mrs. Blomquist and Brandon were exceptions, but Brandon generally accompanied Harry whenever he went to town.
“I say you simply ask him,” Hanna repeated. “He might admit it—at least then you’d know. It wouldn’t make things any worse, and you’d know for sure.”
“Let us not speak of such sad things anymore,” Emma said, picking up her cup of hot chocolate. “It’s quite enough.”
The conversation shifted to a less vexing topic as Hanna retrieved the latest copy ofAckermann’s Repository,and the sisters examined the latest fashions. However, Arabella’s heart was not in it. She couldn’t stop thinking about what her sisters had said and what her subconscious had conjured up.
Could it be that Harry had a woman he was seeing in town or some other nefarious reason for always keeping her at arm’s length? Whatever it was, she would have to find out.
The pitter-patter of rain against the window woke her up in the middle of the night. She turned to the window and pushed back the curtains around her four-poster bed to see. Raindrops were running down the windowpane.
In the distance, lightning flashed across the sky, and she heard a rumble soon after. Another flash followed, indicating that thestorm was directly above them. It was unusual to have such storms, which only heightened her anxiety.
She sighed and got up. Beside her, Hanna shifted, while Emma remained deeply asleep. Mabel had set up two cots for her sisters so they could all sleep in the same chamber, but in the end, they had all slept in Arabella’s enormous bed together.
