Page 85 of His Illegitimate Duchess

“Duke Talbot,” she replied in a breathy voice. “How wonderful it is to see you again.”

“Yes, well. Excuse me, I am looking for my wife,” he said and looked around for Elizabeth.

“A friend of yours?” Elizabeth asked petulantly when he joined her, standing closer to her than would be necessary in any social setting.

Luckily, he made sure to stand with his injured side away from her. His right arm was still in the sling, and to Elizabeth, it made him look only more distinguished.

“From another life,” he admitted, confirming Elizabeth’s suspicions.

Against her will, she started breathing very quickly. She didn’t like being in the same room with this woman. She wanted to leave. Her dress felt too tight. Colin put his arm on her lower back.

“If your sister had provided us with the complete guest list, I would never have agreed to this,” he told her sotto voce.

Elizabeth felt childish for sulking like this, but she desperately needed more reassurance, so she glared at him.

“There it is,” he smiled almost sleepily. “That temper. Keep in mind that I am in no position to defend myself against any physical attacks you may devise. I am, after all, a wounded man,” he whispered dramatically, leaning closer to her ear.

Lizzie wanted to smile, mollified by his attentions. She also felt other things which she knew were better left ignored. She looked up and saw Lady Genevieve surreptitiously looking over at Colin.

“Is your friend... flirting with Pratt?” her husband asked in a confused tone.

Elizabeth followed his line of sight and saw Elinor clearly exaggerating her reactions to whatever idiotic story Pratt was telling her. She sighed.

“She’s probably trying to.”

“Why on Earth…?”

“Don’t ask,” Elizabeth interrupted him.

The rest of the evening was like a game of chess for the Talbots. Colin seemed to possess a keen understanding of how his wife felt, and he never once left her side, taking great care to navigate both her body and the topics of conversation away from any unpleasantness.

They ended up playing whist against the Baron and Louisa, and then against Andrew and Elinor, and overall had a wonderful time.

When she was alone in her room, however, Elizabeth’s mind started racing again, and she was unable to fall asleep for a long time. She wished Thunder were with her. Or Colin.

*

On their second day in Basingstoke, the men went into town to watch a prizefight, and the women stayed home. Charlotte set up a lovely bowl of fruit for them in her sun room, which they sketched and then painted for several hours.

“I was also going to invite Sinclair’s cousin, Lady Helena Grey, but both Sophie and Nicholas advised against associating with her any longer. Do you have any idea why that is?” Charlotte asked Isabella as they all sketched.

“Do you need a reason? I personally find her insufferable,” Isabella said in that blunt manner she had, and Lizzie had to catch her upper lip between her teeth to hide her smile.

Charlotte looked hurt and confused. “I rather liked her.”

“Well,” Isabella shrugged.

Elizabeth decided that she liked sketching.

Part of the charm, for her at least, was the fact that Lady Genevieve had slept most of the day away and joined them only after noon.

That is when they moved to the Blue Room, and everyone found a comfortable place to sit and work on their embroidery while still maintaining casual conversation with others.

Elinor tilted her head at the small parlour door, and Elizabeth nodded. She then did the same thing after catching Amelia’s eye. Soon, the three friends were alone.

“Amelia first,” Elinor exclaimed excitedly once they had all sat down. “Tell us everything about your new life in Wexcombe!”

“Well…” Amelia inhaled. “It’s been an adjustment.”

Lizzie nodded knowingly.

Amelia said nothing else, so Elinor prompted, “And the Corporal? How is he as a husband?”

Amelia, who looked absolutely wretched, took this as her sign to finally burst into tears. Elinor and Elizabeth exchanged a wide-eyed glance before rushing to comfort their friend.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Amelia said between sobs. “I’ve been such a terrible friend.”

“No, what are you talking about!” Lizzie scolded her.

Amelia wiped her tears with both hands and sat up. Her entire face was red and blotchy.

“I just love Oliver so much! And I am so worried that he still loves you!” She shouted at Lizzie accusingly and then cried some more.

Lizzie nodded at Elinor to take over the comforting, and Elinor started stroking Amelia’s back while she cried.

“I’ve been so jealous, and nasty, and I was avoiding you. I was even going to cry off coming to the Basingstoke because I knew you were going to be here,” Amelia admitted after she had calmed down a bit.

“Amelia,” Lizzie said patiently and in what she hoped was a kind tone. “Whereas I am no stranger to jealousy and can completely understand how you feel, I have no clue where you are getting these ridiculous ideas from!”

When Amelia looked at her in confusion, Lizzie clarified, “The Corporal loving me! He’s never loved me!”

Amelia opened her mouth to protest, but Lizzie shook her head.

“We’ve both always viewed our engagement as a smart, strategic move, and I am certain his pride was hurt by how our engagement ended, but there were never any hurt romantic feelings, not to my knowledge.

” She frowned, then thought some more, then shook her head again.

“No, he never demonstrated any passion or love for me, not like Talbot.”

Elizabeth widened her eyes in shock at her own words. He does love me, she realised. She marvelled at that beautiful new discovery before remembering Amelia’s problem again.

“Listen, Amelia… Colin and I,” she said, and it warmed her heart to call him that again, “whenever we danced, we also talked, we laughed, we shared our views on things. I told him about my past and my dreams, and we argued, and he felt jealous over me. He even went as far in his desperate unrequited love to trick me into marrying him.”

Amelia frowned at that piece of news.

“What the Corporal and I had was the understanding that I had a dowry and he needed it, and he seemed more good-natured than the other men I had danced with,” Elizabeth concluded with a shrug. “I truly don’t believe his feelings for me are a threat to your marriage.”

Amelia looked comforted. “Do you think he might grow to love me?”

“He would be a fool not to,” Elinor said.

“On the bright side, my writing has never been better. I guess all the anguish I feel has been a source of inspiration,” Amelia shared, and they all laughed.

“Does he know about the writing?” Lizzie asked.

“I haven’t told him yet. He saw me reading Emma and asked about it. I was halfway into my explanation, and he said Oh, a novel, in a very mocking tone, I felt.”

“To be fair, Emma is a horrid book,” Lizzie said.

“No!” both her friends exclaimed.

“You cannot be serious!” Amelia said.

“I couldn’t even finish it,” Lizzie admitted.

“Please give it another chance, perhaps you were distracted while reading it the first time,” Elinor suggested.

Elizabeth remembered the period of her life when she’d picked up the book. “All right,” she agreed. “I’ll give it one more chance, only for you two!”

Before dinner, there was a knock on her door. It was her husband.

“Have I interrupted your rest?” he asked somewhat anxiously.

“No,” Elizabeth replied sincerely. “Please, come in.”

They were alone in her bedroom. Elizabeth felt restless.

“It’s Wednesday,” he said.

“I know,” she replied. “I’ve been thinking about some of the girls just before you came in.”

“I’ve grown accustomed to different Wednesdays since my injury, but I imagine it’s rather unusual for you.”

“Less than I thought it would, since we have a lot of company.”

“I’ve bought these for you in town,” Colin said as he handed her the box he was holding.

“Thank you,” she replied unthinkingly as she opened it.

It was filled with sweetmeats. The smile that overtook her face was genuine. “Thank you,” she replied, intentionally this time. He smiled back.

He looked around her room as she examined the sweets.

“What do we have here?” he asked teasingly as he noticed her discarded canvas from that morning.

“No, don’t look at that!” she pleaded, but it was too late.

“You know I’m a lover of art, wife,” he teased. “Why are you denying me this… unique artistic expression? Or should I say monstrosity?”

“Ha-ha,” Lizzie said, feigning coldness she didn’t feel. “I’ll have you know that I am an artist, but with a thread and needle. And I shall be teaching everyone a new embroidery technique tomorrow, something that is far more useful and far more beautiful than drawing a silly bowl of fruit!”

“Teaching is your true artistry, I believe,” Colin said thoughtfully. “You seem at your most confident and natural when you are imparting knowledge, and you get this glow…” he stopped when he seemed to remember himself. “Well,” he cleared his throat awkwardly.

Elizabeth was almost stupidly flattered by his compliment, so, naturally, she said something unrelated, “Have you seen Thunder today?”

“I haven’t,” he replied. “If I take him hunting tomorrow, I’ll bring him by afterwards if you’d like.”

She nodded enthusiastically, but then thought about how young the dog still was. “Will he know what to do during the hunt?”

Talbot laughed. “Yes, he will.”

“How was the fight?” She asked after a while to fill the silence that had descended upon the room.

“It was good,” Colin replied, looking like he was on the cusp of saying more.

Elizabeth waited as he thought about his next words.

“I’ve spoken to Harding. He understands. There will be no unpleasantness for you.”

Elizabeth relaxed and tensed in the same breath. “What do you mean, you’ve spoken to him?”

He gave her a disbelieving look, then glanced down at his arm in the sling. “What do you think I mean? I’ve spoken to him and I’ve… sort of apologised.”