Page 49 of A Duke Under Her Spell
“This should prove to be enlightening,” he remarked turning back to his mother. “Are you certain that you wish to host company? This trip is supposed to be for the improvement of your health.”
“Lady Cordelia is good for my health, Felix. I look forward to the day when I might call her daughter.”
Felix’s heart clenched at the thought, but he pushed his emotions aside and managed a smile. “If you are happy then I am happy.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead then stood to see to the preparations. “Have you seen Marybeth?” he inquired, concerned that she was not at his mother’s side as he had expected.
“She tended to my needs, but when Lady Cordelia arrived, she excused herself and returned to tend to Oliver Singer, I believe. I fear Lady Cordelia’s comments about her paternity have made Miss Wright uncomfortable.”
Felix nodded. “What comments? Should I be concerned? Is there a need for my intervention?”
“Nothing for you to be concerning yourself with. Your primary concern now is to resume your courtship of Lady Cordelia. Naught else matters to me more than that.”
“Of course,” Felix bowed respectfully over her hand, kissed it, and then went in search of Marybeth. It was going to be difficult for him to hide his feelings for Marybeth from Lady Cordelia, but he knew he had to try his best.
My life is a series of gloriously maddening complications, he remarked to himself in a mixture of humor and frustration,but it is worth every moment if Mother and Marybeth are a part of it. Heaven help me but I do not believe that I can surrender either of them. If I am to keep Marybeth in my life, I must ensure that no one else ever discovers how I feel about her, for if it were to ever become known she would be lost to me forever. Propriety would demand it.
Chapter 21
The carriage ride to Bath was a long awkward affair. Marybeth sat in the corner next to the Dowager Duchess in silence while Lady Cordelia and the Earl fawned all over the Duke in the seat opposite. Both Lady Cordelia and the Earl continuously sent disapproving looks toward Marybeth as they spoke. Had the two of them not been so desperate to garner the Duke’s favor, Marybeth suspected they would have refused to share the carriage with her. As it was, the Duke had demanded it.
Marybeth found herself wishing that she were sitting atop the contraption with the driver as Mrs. Snow had done, or better yet that the Earl and his sister had not come along at all.
Lady Cordelia is to marry the Duke whether I like it or not. It is not my place to have an opinion on the matter and yet I cannot help but wish that it were not so.
She gazed longingly at the handsome dark head across from her as he stared out of the window at the passing landscape. Feeling her eyes on him he turned and met her gaze. His deep green eyes had dark circles under them from lack of sleep.He looks tired.Marybeth’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of the longing she found in his eyes. Her cheeks grew warm under the intensity of his gaze and she fought the urge to reach out across the carriage and take his hand in hers.
The memory of their shared kiss flashed through her mind, sending tingling sensations all throughout her body. No other man had ever made her feel as Felix did. No other man had ever touched her as he had, but she could not imagine it being the same with anyone else. She had lived a life free from societies conventions and yet she had never been brazen or wanton.
Felix had been her first kiss and if how she felt for him was any indication, he might very well be her last. She feared that no one would ever be able to replace him in her affections. An image of herself as an old woman living alone in the forest, while Felix bounced his grandchildren on his knee flashed through her mind and she closed her eyes at the intense feeling of pain that swept over her at the thought. She had never had a problem with the idea of living alone before she had met him,but now…
“Are you well, Miss Wright?” Opening her eyes, she found Felix still watching her from across the carriage. Lady Cordelia had ceased from speaking and was now glaring at Marybeth. In fact, everyone was staring at her.
Pray God I did not voice my thoughts aloud!
“Are you well?” Felix repeated the question concern on his face. He had leaned forward in his seat attempting to gauge her wellbeing for himself. “You went suddenly pale and looked quite troubled. Is it the tumultuous motion of the carriage?”
“No, no, I am quite well, thank you.”
“Are you certain?”
“A bit tired perhaps, but I am well.”
“Good,” Felix sat back in relief.
“My apologies for causing concern.”
“Nonsense,” the Dowager Duchess remarked from beside her patting Marybeth’s arm. “We completely understand. These last days have been a strain on us all. Let us hope that our time in Bath will prove to be restorative.”
“Indeed,” Felix murmured not taking his eyes from Marybeth’s face. “Perhaps it would do us all good to take the waters.”
Marybeth was not convinced that drinking odorous water was the answer to any ailment, but she was willing to give the benefit of the doubt due to her own lack of knowledge on the subject. In all honesty she was more interested in the Roman ruins than she was in the water itself.
“Have you ever heard the legend of Bath?” Felix asked as if he had read her thoughts.
“No,” she shook her head to the negative.
“Long ago there was a prince named Bladud who suffered from leprosy. His illness forced him from his father’s kingdom. To survive, he took to herding pigs. Somehow, a point I have never been quite clear on, the pigs also suffered from leprosy. One day Prince Bladud was herding pigs by the River Avon and they fell into a steaming swamp. The legend states that when they emerged from the waters they had been cured. Seeing this, Prince Bladud submerged himself into the waters and was cured.”
“And did Prince Bladud return to his father’s kingdom?” Marybeth asked amused.
