Page 66 of His Illegitimate Duchess

“I’m not leaving you to rot. I shall keep coming back until this between us is resolved, sister.

I’m sorry about everything,” Nicholas said in a strained voice.

“I thought I had done everything I needed to do by overcoming my resentment of our father enough to make contact with you. I gave you the monetary and societal protection of my title and influence without looking beyond the superficial and without understanding what true fraternal acceptance meant. I will do better, I promise.”

Lizzie never moved her stare from the window. Nicholas quietly left the room, and Talbot took one step towards the door before turning around to look at her. She was still looking at the window, her face reflecting nothing but scorn.

Dejected, he followed Nicholas into the hallway. His friend was trying to inconspicuously dry his eyes, and Talbot turned away to give him some privacy.

“Get your mistress’s maid and send her to Her Grace’s room,” he told a maid who came out of one of the rooms.

“Let’s talk in my study,” he told Nicholas, and the two men went into Talbot’s study, where they smoked by the fire for a while, each lost in his own thoughts.

Colin was horrified by the depths of his wife’s wounds and was only now fully aware of his role in salting them.

“We need to rectify this,” he said, and Hawkins nodded.

“I agree, but how does one heal a hurt this deep?”

“Putting her name in your family’s prayer book might serve as a gesture of acceptance,” Talbot said reproachfully.

“She told you she wanted that?” Nicholas seemed both surprised and ashamed, like it had never crossed his mind to record her name in it and now, to his credit, he looked like he hated himself for it.

“Yes, idiot,” Talbot said and felt a little better. “And talk to that uppish sister of yours. Your family needs to do better.”

“What about you, idiot? ” Nicholas retorted.

Talbot stared at the fire like it held all the answers.

“I’ve had some time to think about this.

I said awful things about her, I broke her engagement and forced her into another one, and tarnished her name in the process.

I think I shall start working on undoing the damage my selfishness has done to your sister’s name.

I’ve already seen to it that a certain Mr Thorpe only writes flattering articles about my duchess from now on.

Next, I’ll pay visits to Lady Georgiana and Lady Helena Grey, if you wish to join me? ”

“Absolutely. And then?”

“And then…” Colin sighed. “Then I need to give her something that would make up for what I took.”

“You think such a thing exists? And if you find it, she’ll magically forgive you?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps not. In any case, I shall bear your sister’s wrath for as long as she deems appropriate.”

“What if it’s forever?”

“Then so be it,” said the man whom Nicholas couldn’t recognise any more.

“I cannot stop thinking about that little girl in the Park,” Nicholas said after a while.

“Ever since you told me about it, I’ve been holding my daughter a little tighter, horrified at the thought of her going through something like that.

Girls adore their fathers. I’m Emma’s hero.

If I were to publicly renounce her like that, it would break her.

Can you even imagine the damage something like that inflicts on a person? ”

”According to Miss Williams, Elizabeth was never the same afterwards,” Talbot said somberly, then frowned. “I’ve been thinking about your father for a while now. Why do you think he left them so little to live on?”

“I’ve wondered the same thing when I saw the will. Don’t waste time on trying to find a logical reason for his actions; the only conclusion that makes sense is that he was an abominable person.”

“We’re all victims of our parents, one way or another,” Talbot said quietly.

His friend turned to look at him.

“Does she know?”

“No. You know how I dislike talking about them.” Talbot wrinkled his nose.

“Did you ever consider that talking about them might actually help you with Lizzie?”

Talbot sighed. “I did. In fact, it was my first instinct. But after what I did to her, I cannot expect her to believe anything I say, and she has confirmed as much. She would see it as another trick, another one of my attempts to deceive her.”

“But…”

“Leave it alone, Hawkins.” Talbot shook his head, and Nicholas stood up.

“As you wish. We can talk more in Parliament tomorrow.”

*

On the fifth day after she woke up, Elizabeth came downstairs for breakfast. Colin’s heart was beating against his ribs like it wanted out. He quietly observed her as she talked to Catherine while throwing pieces of meat to Thunder.

Doctor and Mrs. Cooper had moved back to their own home a day after she had woken up, as did Jane. Elizabeth’s mother was the only one who’d remained, at Elizabeth’s insistence.

Colin allowed himself to feel hopeful for the first time in more than a week. His wife was looking better, she was eating more, she was bonding with the dog he’d bought her, and with time ( and persistence , he reminded himself), things would improve.

He kept telling himself so, even though Elizabeth’s refusal to acknowledge his existence in any way made him painfully aware that his wife was capable of erasing him from her heart completely if he gave her even the tiniest opening to do so.

“I shall be out this afternoon, but Stevenson can fetch me if need be,” he said suddenly, disturbed by the direction of his thoughts. “Feel free to send for me. Any time.”

Catherine looked at her daughter, who was looking at the dog. She gave Talbot a look filled with pity, but he shook his head. He deserved this.

After breakfast, he went out in his carriage, first to Nicholas’s house to pick him up, and then they drove to visit Lady Georgiana together. Her imposing townhouse was, like its owner, a monument to times past with its red mahogany furniture and rococo style.

“It reminds me of my grandparents’ home,” Nicholas whispered to him as a butler led them to the drawing room where they would be received.

Talbot had no such memories, so he said nothing.

They were announced and Lady Georgiana greeted them politely and warmly, according them all the respect their titles were due without appearing ingratiating. Talbot had an enormous respect for people who were able to achieve that.

He suddenly really saw her, saw beyond her dignified posture, her wrinkled, veined, frail, bejewelled hands, and into the air of authority that would make lesser men bow even deeper.

“Your Graces,” she said seriously when they all sat down, “to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

She knows the value of time, Colin thought before assuming his signature bored-but-haughty pose in his tapestry-covered Chippendale armchair.

“We’re here because I have, unfortunately ,” he made sure to emphasize that last word accusingly, “seen the inflammatory letter you sent to my duchess. I’m not here to ask for her readmittance into your ballrooms, which I myself will be avoiding, together with her brother, but to right a wrong,” he said ominously.

“Please do, Your Grace,” the Marchioness replied calmly.

Colin smiled, not surprised that the woman who once denied The Duke of Wellington entry into Almack’s didn’t shy away from a challenge.

“I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a man used to getting what he wants,” Talbot said and held Lady Georgiana’s gaze firmly.

“So when, due to my own actions earlier this year, Duke Hawkins’ sister refused to dance or converse with me again, I resorted to contriving a situation which would make her mine.

I was the one at fault, the one who behaved inappropriately, and yet my wife got all the blame. ”

Lady Georgiana raised her eyebrows upon hearing this.

“Don’t look so surprised, you must have heard about my father,” Talbot said nonchalantly, despite feeling anything but.

“I’ve heard the rumours, yes.”

“Well, I am ashamed to admit that we’re carved from the same stone, he and I.”

The three of them were silent for a while.

“You broke my wife’s heart with your insinuations, Marchioness, and Talbot men love fiercely, to the point of insanity.”

“The bell cannot be unrung now, Your Grace,” she said and looked rather upset at that truth.

“It can be tied to another’s neck, though, can it not? All I ask is that you tell anyone who would listen about my family history and remark on how I am, after all, my father’s son.”

“I don’t deal in gossip,” the old woman pursed her lips.

“Please, Marchioness,” Nicholas spoke. “My father has always spoken of your late husband with the utmost respect.”

“Ah, yes, the late duke,” Lady Georgiana turned away from both of them to look at a portrait of a man on the wall.

Talbot guessed it was the late Marquess.

“Did you know that your wife’s people on her mother’s side are relations of my late husband’s?” She asked Talbot.

“I had no idea,” he replied sincerely.

“Yes,” she said absent-mindedly. “When everything happened… with your wife’s mother,” she said delicately, and both men nodded.

“My husband broke all contact with his relations, who were in great need of his help. He believed that your wife’s mother had brought shame upon her family.

And I supported his decision, as a good wife should. ”

She looked away after she said that, as if ashamed.

“Throughout the years, I heard of many similar situations, and it was almost never the woman who was to blame, but my husband, he was… well, a man like most men.”

She smiled weakly, then looked between the two friends, her piercing gaze making them both feel like young boys.

“Just to be clear, neither of you is welcome to Almack’s any longer. I shall help your wife one last time.”

Talbot bowed.

“Thank you. I already got what I wanted from your establishment, so I gladly accept my banishment. Have a good day.”