Page 46 of Lady Beast's Bridegroom
There had been two more full moons since, the latest a week ago.
She was with child. She cupped her free hand gently around her belly.Hello, little one.A kernel of acceptance opened, grew, and blossomed. Suddenly, the tenderness in her breasts made sense. And her sudden repugnance for smells that had never before offended her.
Apart from those, she didn’t feel any different. If only Lady Deerhaven was here to talk to. Margaret and Clara were both unwed. So was Nancy. And Regina and her husband had never had children.
She should write to Peter. Or perhaps not. She would rather tell him in person. She continued to sit, her hand possessively over the child cradled within, her mind far away in the future.
*
John arrived asshe and Clara were having breakfast, so excited about the news that had been waiting for him when he got home the previous evening that he could not wait for a more civilized hour. He was at Barlowe’s elbow before he could be announced, already talking as he walked into the room. “Good morning, Arial. Cordelia has given birth to twin sons. My brother says that they are very small, but perfect.”
“Set another place, please Barlowe. Sit down and have some breakfast, John. How wonderful for Lord and Lady Deerhaven. Is she well?”
“It was quick and easy, my brother says, as these things go.” He took the plate Barlowe offered and filled it with such a mountain of selections from the sideboard that Arial suffered a pang of longing for Peter, who also filled his plate high in the morning.
John took a seat and a sip of the coffee Barlowe poured for him before tucking into the food. While he ate, Arial and Clara peppered him with questions, most of which he laughingly disclaimed any answer to.
“Cordelia and Deerhaven have asked me to be godfather to the little sprouts,” John told them. “They want me at Deerhaven Court for the christening. I’ll be here for your dinner party tomorrow night, Arial, but I’ll have to go home to Deercroft Hall the next day. If you will give me leave, that is. I know I promised to escort you to Greenmount.”
Arial told him not to give it another thought. After all, she had Clara for company, and all her servants, including Sergeant Miller and the tough ex-soldiers that John and Peter had selected for her protection.
She was in no danger from the ordinary perils of the road, and marrying Peter had, as planned, made any attack prompted by Josiah’s greed futile.
She would be perfectly fine.
*
Word of Deerhaven’stwins was all over town. “I daresay you may expect to be jilted soon, Captain Forsyth,” said Regina Paddimore, when she met John, with Arial and Clara, in the reception line for a ball that evening.
Regina was right. Not half an hour later, Belinda Weatherall stormed up to John where he stood with Arial and several other of their friends.
“You cad!” Her voice was a near shout. She snatched his wineglass from his hand and slammed something into his palm. He picked it out and held it up—the betrothal ring he had given her.
“Our betrothal is off,” Miss Weatherall announced. “You can give that to your paramour. Oh, but you cannot, can you? Her husband might ask questions.” She shot Arial a venomous glance.
The accusation was so unexpected that John’s response was a weak, “I say!”
Miss Weatherall had not finished. “As soon as Lord Ransome left town, you have been in and out of that woman’s house at all hours of the day and night, and you cannot deny it. How dare you make promises to me and then take up with a female who is more beast than human. I am glad that I have seen you for what you are before it was too late.”
She opened her mouth to say more, but John had had enough. “No more! The reason I told you months ago that I would not marry you was because I saw you for what you are. Only a wicked mind would see evil in the commitment I made to my friend to look after his wife while he was absent. I said I would allow you to jilt me. Thank you for finally doing so.” He gave her a courteous bow, ironically deep and theatrical.
Arial was tempted to ask Miss Weatherall whether her decision was influenced by the birth of the new heir apparent to the Deerhaven marquisate and his younger brother. Cordelia’s timing could not have been better. She caught the words back, and watched Miss Weatherall flounce away, probably to spread her own version of the broken betrothal to her friends and sycophants.
Those nearest them had hushed all the better to hear the altercation. Regina spoke into the silence. “When I said she would jilt you now you are no longer heir to the marquess, Captain Forsythe, I did not expect to be proven right quite so quickly.” She chuckled. “And how like Miss Weatherall to make up another calumny when it was her earlier lies that led to you revising your opinion of her character. Does she think Society is made up of fools?”
She had pitched her voice to carry beyond their group.
Arial could admire her strategy but was not confident it would achieve Regina’s aim. After all, in Arial’s experience, Society contained a fair proportion of fools.
Miss Weatherall had stalked the length of the ballroom to join her mother. As people clustered in groups to share what had happened and their opinion about it, Arial lost sight of Mrs. Weatherall. She didn’t see the moment when the two of them met.
However, she did see who stood with the matron. Josiah was back in town, with his wife on one arm and Mrs. Weatherall on the other. Peter’s stepmother and his two stepsisters also stood with the group.
Arial turned to tell John what she had seen, but he was looking in the same direction. “I imagine they mean to cause trouble,” he said. “I am not sorry now that I lost my temper and spoke in an ungentlemanly fashion to my former fiancée.”
“It is to be hoped,” said Regina, “that your words and mine will give the gossips some truth to chew on along with their nonsense.”
*
