Page 9 of The Duke’s Scandal (Bluestocking Book Club #5)

Chapter Seven

“ Y ou do not look as though you are enjoying this ball in any way.”

Isobella glanced at her friend. “Oh, but I am,” she said, not wanting Lady Amelia to think her bored or dulled. “It is a very pleasant evening thus far.”

Lady Amelia sighed. “Ah, but we are all a little more… fragmented, are we not?” she said, softly. “We have all found ourselves a suitable gentleman, and you are left alone. We should be considering you a little more, I am sure, and – ”

“You are doing nothing wrong,” Isobella replied, interrupting her friend gently. “Please, do not trouble yourself on my account. I am quite contented.”

“But shall you be in the future?” Lady Amelia wanted to know, giving Isobella a searching look. “Will you truly be happy alone?”

Recalling how she had previously expressed to Lady Amelia that she had no need for an attachment, Isobella shrugged lightly. “I am determined to be happy.”

Lady Amelia’s lips twisted to one side .

“I have already had a time of being in love,” Isobella continued, feeling the weight of the memories beginning to pull down her heart. “I do not need to be so again.”

“Why ever not?” Lady Amelia’s eyes were wide as they made their way to the side of the ballroom, stepping out of the large crowd and into a quieter part of the ballroom. “Why would you step back from it if it was offered to you again?”

Isobella hesitated. She had not spoken of her past with very many people at all, and certainly none of her friends knew of her pain.

In attempting to keep it out of her heart and mind, in trying to step away from the pain and to leave it in the past, Isobella had determined to say nothing to anyone, and yet, now there came a tug of longing to share with her friend all that had transpired.

“You do not need to tell me if you do not wish to.” Lady Amelia ducked her head, looking a little embarrassed. “I will not be in the least bit upset if you choose to keep it to yourself; I ought not to be pressing you.”

“It is all right.” With a small sigh, Isobella closed her eyes. “I have not shared this with anyone, Amelia. Mayhap I should have done, but I thought to try and forget about it.”

Lady Amelia said nothing, and Isobella, swallowing at a lump in her throat, tried to explain.

“I have had three gentlemen interested in pursuing me,” she said, as Lady Amelia’s eyes rounded. “The first was very eager, but as I was considering his request for courtship, he decided that I was taking much too long and stepped away.”

This made Lady Amelia’s brow furrow almost immediately. “That says nothing good about his character.”

Isobella smiled ruefully. “I suppose that is true. Lord Pollock came next, and he was quite determined to pursue me.” Her head lowered, her gaze on the floor as shame began to climb up through her. “I thought him quite wonderful, truth be told. He was devoted, it seemed.”

“But he did not prove himself to be as you expected?”

With a nod, Isobella glanced at her friend, feeling fire in her cheeks. “He eloped. Most unexpectedly.”

With a gasp, Lady Amelia stared back at Isobella, her hand going to her arm. “You mean to say you had no knowledge of another attachment?”

She shook her head.

“That is utterly disgraceful,” Lady Amelia declared, tossing her head. “How dare he do such a thing? What a dreadful gentleman!”

With a smile at her friend’s solidarity, Isobella took in another breath and then continued.

This was the most painful part. “I was determined to be more careful during my second Season,” she said, looking away, surprised that there were tears burning in her eyes.

“I thought that Lord Hogarth was truly in love with me. He was different from Lord Brookmire and Lord Pollock. There was a genuineness to all his words, his determination to be by my side so sincere, I could not help but believe him. I – I do not like to admit this, but I did fall in love with him.” She wiped at her eyes.

“There came a time when I recognized that I felt more for him than I had felt for any other. My feelings were not overly severe, I admit, but they were certainly present.”

“And then he broke your heart completely and utterly,” Lady Amelia said quietly. “Is that not so?”

With a deep breath, one that seemed to pull her very heart a little further up into her chest, Isobella nodded.

“Yes, he did.” A single tear fell to her cheek, but she dashed it away.

“He told me that he did not care for me any longer. I could not understand him, could not comprehend why he would say such a thing, only to discover that he had not been as devoted to me as he had promised.” Her eyes closed tightly, the urge to keep this last part from her friend very strong indeed.

She spoke it all the same. It needed to be said.

“My brother found a bet in Whites betting book that involved Lord Hogarth and a particular widow. The bet had been fulfilled.”

“Oh, Isobella.” Lady Amelia embraced her at once, her sympathy and compassion comforting Isobella a little. “I cannot imagine the pain that you have endured.”

“It was very difficult,” Isobella admitted, her voice wobbling as she tried to regain her composure.

“I did not know what to do nor what to say when he first told me that the engagement was broken. The ton knew of it all very soon thereafter, of course, and whilst they spoke ill of him, as they ought, there were still remarks made about me.”

“Something there should not have been,” Lady Amelia said, a heavy line drawing between her eyebrows. “You do not trust any gentlemen now, then?”

Isobella nodded. “Precisely.”

“And so you have determined to be alone? You will become a spinster?”

Relieved that her friend understood, Isobella spread out her hands. “My mother, brother, and sister in law are all determined that I shall find someone this Season, although they do not push me with any force into it for which I am grateful.”

Lady Amelia tilted her head, watching Isobella carefully. “But you have determined to remain alone.”

“Yes.”

“And what if,” Lady Amelia asked, still frowning, “a suitable gentleman does begin to pursue you? What then?”

Isobella’s lips quirked. “I hardly think that will happen. I am a little older than you all and, besides that, I am a bluestocking. It is not as if gentlemen in London will be pursuing ladies such as myself!”

“And why should they not?” Lady Amelia exclaimed, her voice suddenly louder than before. “You think too low of yourself, Isobella.”

Caught off guard by her friend’s vehemence, Isobella blinked and pressed her lips together, feeling the urge to defend her position and yet, at the same time, understanding her friend’s sharp remarks.

“Has there not been whispers about you these last few days, ever since that Duke stood up with you – and only you at the ball?”

“That means nothing,” Isobella said, quickly. “Come now, you must see that his request was only because of the apology he had made and his desire to make certain all was well between us.”

Lady Amelia arched her eyebrow. “And what if it was not? What if there was more to his desire to dance with you than you were aware?”

“No.” Isobella shook her head fervently, fear tightening her core.

Fear that if she let herself even think such a way, it would do nothing but cause her yet more agony.

“No, Amelia, I do not believe that for a moment. Even if it were a possibility, I would not think to consider it, for I cannot let my heart free again.” She took another deep breath and then pushed back her shoulders.

“It is certainly not a possibility, however. I am quite sure that the Duke of Exeter will never again seek me out to dance.”

“Lady Isobella?”

The moment she finished saying those words, a voice broke into their conversation and, turning, Isobella snatched in a breath of surprise.

“It is you,” the Duke said, his warm smile spreading across his face. “How good to see you again.” Seeing Lady Amelia, he inclined his head towards her. “Might you introduce me to your companion?”

Ignoring the knowing smile on Lady Amelia’s face, Isobella quickly made the introductions, desperately hoping that the Duke had not heard her speaking of him.

“Of course. Lady Amelia, this is the Duke of Exeter.” She waited as Lady Amelia dipped into a curtsy.

“Your Grace, might I present my dear friend, Lady Amelia.”

“I am very glad to make your acquaintance,” he said, bowing again. “I have come in the hope that you might both offer me your dance cards? I have determined to dance again this evening, you see.”

Isobella blinked in surprise, for everything she had just said and thought was now ripped up and thrown aside at the Duke’s words.

He had, despite her belief he would not, come to see if she would dance after all!

This time, at least, it was not only her who would be standing up with him, although Isobella was sure the ton would still take note of her standing up with him again.

“How very kind of you, Your Grace. I should be delighted.” Lady Amelia slipped off her dance card and handed it to him, throwing a wide-eyed look towards Isobella. She swallowed hard, aware that she could not easily refuse and, after a moment, handed her dance card to the Duke.

“Wonderful!” The Duke smiled broadly as he took the dance card from her and, as he did so, their eyes meeting, Isobella’s stomach began to swirl with a gentle, soft warmth.

A warmth that she had felt before, albeit some years ago.

The Duke was handsome, of course, but it was the kindness of his smile and his sincerity that began to tug at her heart.

And I cannot let it .

“I must hope that you will let me sign your dance card thereafter, Lady Isobella?”

Astonished at the arrival of yet another gentleman, Isobella’s eyes rounded as Lord Preston came to stand beside them, his gaze going to Lady Amelia.

“Lord… Lord Preston,” she said, a little overwhelmed by not one but two gentlemen now seeking to dance with her. “Are you acquainted with Lady Amelia?”

“I am, in fact,” he said, as Lady Amelia smiled at him. “I am acquainted with Lord Broughton who has given me the great pleasure of being introduced to his betrothed.”

“A good evening to you, Lord Preston,” Lady Amelia said, with a smile. “A pleasure to see you again.”

“I hope you are dancing also, Lady Amelia?” Lord Preston asked, as the Duke returned the card to Isobella, no smile on his face now as his gaze flicked towards Lord Preston. “I should be very pleased to stand up with you both.”

Isobella glanced at the Duke, then back to Lord Preston. “Might I ask if you are both already acquainted?”

Lord Preston smiled and then nodded at the Duke. “Yes, we are, although it was many years ago when we first made our acquaintance!”

The Duke blinked and frowned, only for his eyes to flare. “In Eton, I think.”

“Yes, precisely!” Lord Preston grinned, then took his gaze to the dance card. “Many years ago now. It is good to see you again, Your Grace.”

“And you also,” came the reply, but there was no easy smile to accompany those words. “I shall take my leave now and leave you to your conversation.” He smiled quickly in Isobella’s direction. “I look forward to our dance, of course.”

She smiled back at him, then took the dance card from Lord Preston’s fingers, searching for where both gentlemen had chosen to sign their names.

Lord Preston had taken the cotillion, but to her utter astonishment, the Duke of Exeter had chosen to take the waltz.

Her stomach dipped, her breathing quickening as Lady Amelia and Lord Preston continued a conversation around her.

Why had he taken the waltz? Had he no understanding that the ton would speak all the more of a connection between herself and the Duke, one that was not there? Or was it that he simply did not care?

There cannot be any real interest there, she told herself, firmly. And if there is, I cannot let myself respond to it. I can never trust him, I can never again let my heart be free… not even if the gentleman in question is a Duke.