Page 84 of His Illegitimate Duchess

When they arrived, Charlotte and her husband greeted and welcomed them. Thunder was handed over to their game master to be cared for in the Sinclairs’ kennel for the duration of their stay, which Elizabeth agreed to with a heavy heart, since she was loath to part from him.

“He’ll be fine,” Talbot whispered to her as they were being ushered into the manor. “He’ll play with other dogs, maybe even find himself a lady dog,” he smiled mischievously, and despite herself, Elizabeth smiled too.

After she took off her travel clothes, relieved herself, and rested a bit, it was time to dress for dinner, and Mary joined her in her room, carrying a suspiciously familiar dress.

“What is that?” Elizabeth asked in what she hoped was an intimidating tone of voice.

Mary’s response let her know it wasn’t. “A dress.”

“Mary,” Elizabeth said threateningly.

“You left the packing to me, and you gave your old dresses to Elinor,” Mary said defensively. “What else was I supposed to pack, other than the dresses the Duke had made for you?”

“How did you even get them?”

“Pa went to the Duke’s house, and Mrs White packed them all up for him,” Mary said smugly.

Elizabeth gingerly touched the coquelicot raw silk of the dress, recalling the carefree days she had been living when she first laid eyes on it.

“What about my hair?” She asked in a conciliatory tone, and Mary smiled. *

Dinner was at eight, and when Elizabeth came downstairs at half an hour to, a maid informed her that most of the other guests were gathered in the “Blue” sitting room. When she showed her into the room, how the room got its name immediately became clear to Elizabeth.

The thick rug, the heavy, tasselled drapes, the embossed, expensive-looking wallpaper, the intricately woven brocade on the chairs – they were all some shade of blue. Elizabeth hated it.

“And through this door, you enter a smaller, more intimate parlour, where I usually receive guests,” Charlotte was explaining to Lady Louisa when they both spotted Elizabeth.

“It’s wonderful to see you,” Elizabeth told Louisa honestly after they had exchanged greetings. “I didn’t know the Baron would be here,” Lizzie said as the man in question entered the sitting room together with Talbot.

“Good evening, ladies,” both men greeted them.

Their hostess then excused herself to go find her husband. The assembled guests chatted amiably for a while, and soon, Elinor and Lizzie’s cousin Andrew joined them.

“How are your brother and Miss Caroline?” Elizabeth asked the Baron, suspecting that both Louisa and Elinor cared about the answer.

“Just last week he wrote to inform me that his wife was brought to bed of a boy, and his name is Gideon, after his grandfather, who is beside himself with joy,” the Baron recounted happily. “In fact, after my stay here, I plan on joining them in Scotland to meet my nephew.”

“How wonderful,” Elinor said, looking both happy and sad. “Congratulations.”

They all joined in wishing the little boy and his parents well, and Elizabeth quickly announced that she wished to walk about the room with Miss Elinor. Just as they turned to leave the group, Amelia and Oliver came in.

Elizabeth experienced a strong visceral reaction to seeing her former fiancé for the first time since that night. She felt ashamed, anxious, and very uncomfortable. She felt a steadying hand on her lower back and saw that Colin had stepped closer to her.

“Good evening, everyone,” the Corporal said in his military voice.

He seemed different. More tanned and muscular. His face was less open. Elizabeth hoped she was wrong in finding it less kind somehow.

Amelia looked as uncomfortable as ever, which was comforting because it was familiar.

Everyone exchanged greetings and small details about their journeys to Basingstoke.

“Her Grace and I were just about to take a turn about the room. Would anyone care to join us?” Elinor said, looking at Amelia, who shook her head.

The two friends walked a bit and then decided to go into the smaller parlour.

“Are you all right?” Lizzie asked Elinor once they were alone.

Elinor threw herself into an armchair. “I don’t know.”

They were silent for a while, all the while being able to hear, with perfect clarity, what was happening in the Blue Room.

Mr Pratt came in, accompanied by Sir William Stone. Pratt sounded sullen when, after greeting everyone, he announced to the group, “Guess what happened? Stone has just finished negotiating his marriage contract with Lady Ella’s father. Another one of my friends lost to the parson’s noose.”

Murmurs of congratulations followed, and then they heard Talbot laugh.

“I used to think like you, Pratt. But tell me, am I not here with you now? Have you not been my second at a duel just two months ago?”

Lizzie and Elinor exchanged a glance.

“Perhaps you’re the exception,” Pratt replied petulantly.

“He has been like this all day,” Stone complained.

“I don’t think so. Change is an inevitable part of life, but marriage is no reason for your friendships to stop.”

“We shall see,” Pratt grumbled.

“Engagements don’t have to change a thing,” Lizzie’s cousin Andrew added. “Just look at me, I haven’t seen my fiancée in four years,” he laughed.

“Do you think you’d recognise her in the street?” Lady Louisa asked curiously.

“I don’t think so,” Andrew admitted, and Lizzie found it sad somehow.

“Do you think they can hear us?” Elinor whispered.

“I have no idea,” Lizzie replied in an equally low tone. “Are you all right?” She repeated her question from earlier.

“I will be, in time. I think it was just misguided feelings on my part due to how paternal and kind and protective Powell has always been with me,” Elinor admitted, still whispering.

“My own father was never like that, quite the opposite. His gambling ways have exposed our entire family to hardship, and my grandmother once said he has killed my mother with all the pregnancies, although I don’t see how that’s possible. ”

“I got the sense that Powell was always watching you from afar with some sort of… yearning,” Lizzie said, but Elinor shook her head.

“Believe me, Lizzie. He most likely viewed me as a daughter, you’ve seen how he is with Miss Caroline.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I understand having an awful father very well. But it is so unfair that fathers get to shape their daughters so much, even through their absence and the things they don’t do! Their failures influence how we view men, love, and worst of all, ourselves.”

Elinor nodded sadly. “I don’t know what to do.

I have to get married, but I hate the thought of being a mother.

I’ve been raising my father’s children since I was a child myself.

The thought of now having to raise some more,” she shuddered.

“I think that is why I haven’t managed to secure a match yet; I’m very bad at pretending I want a husband. ”

“I’ve told you repeatedly, there is no rush. Colin’s home is your home for as long as you want it to be. You never have to get married if you don’t want to.”

“Try telling my father that,” Elinor started saying, then stopped because the door to the Blue Room opened.

The two friends exchanged worried glances because, in the course of their conversation, they’d unthinkingly stopped whispering.

“Hello,” Amelia said shyly, and they both relaxed.

“Could you hear us talking out there?” Elinor asked anxiously.

Amelia frowned. “No. Why?”

“Listen,” Lizzie urged her, and when Amelia heard the conversation from the other room, understanding dawned on her face.

She stood in front of them awkwardly, looking like she wanted to say something, but then the dinner bell rang. Both Elizabeth and Elinor stood up.

“You better hurry, Duchess,” Amelia said with a smile, “you have to be the first in line to enter the dining room now.”

“I had completely forgotten about that!” Elizabeth exclaimed, mortified, and they hurried into the Blue Room.

Dinner was pleasant enough, but Elizabeth’s mind kept going back to her conversation with Elinor, so she managed only the most superficial responses to her companions’ questions, promising herself that she would do better after dinner.

The men retired to the smoking room, and the women went back into the Blue Room, where they were greeted by a stunning newcomer.

The woman was around Elizabeth’s height, but her body was much more plump and inviting.

Her skin was soft-looking and radiant in its unblemished whiteness, which was further emphasised by the darkness of her hair and eyes.

“Lady Genevieve,” Charlotte said in her usual cold manner. “I had no idea you’d arrived.”

Lady Genevieve curtsied to the hostess and said, “Countess. You all were at dinner, so I told the butler not to interrupt you.”

Charlotte looked annoyed that this woman had dared to issue orders in her home.

“This is my husband’s stepmother, the late Earl’s widow, Lady Genevieve Sinclair.”

The woman was, at most, fifteen years older than Charlotte, so the image of her with the Earl’s father was very unsettling.

“This is Duchess Elizabeth Talbot,” Charlotte introduced the highest-ranked guest first, but what she said next took Lizzie by surprise: “My sister.”

“Ah, Duke Talbot’s wife. Lovely to meet you, Your Grace,” the other woman said as she looked her up and down.

Lizzie immediately detected the antipathy in her tone, so she just nodded as haughtily as she could without acknowledging her verbally.

That should cut her the most, she thought.

As Lady Genevieve was being introduced to the other women in the room, she kept glancing back at Elizabeth, who pretended to be engrossed in conversation with Lady Louisa.

When the men finally joined them, Lizzie carefully watched her husband’s face. When he noticed the new addition to the party, his eyes widened in surprise, and then his lips twisted in annoyance. Something inside Elizabeth settled.

“Good evening, Lady Genevieve,” he said coldly.