Page 50 of The Duke Who Loved a Widow
Then suddenly, he knew with certainty that it didn’t matter. He was on this journey, and he had been on this path from the moment they had exchanged those heated words on the woodland track. He didn’t want to turn back.
He looked at her with a gentle expression, wanting her to feel some of his conviction and certainty that they could fend off the legal challenge.
“You’re not alone. We will face this together. I’ll use every power at my disposal to defend your guardianship against these ridiculous allegations. And remember,” he added, smiling openly, “my sister and my mother will add their weight to mine. I somehow suspect the force of a peer of the realm is nothing compared to the power of the Dowager Duchess of Montbury.”
He felt a glow of happiness when he heard Arabella laugh. He offered her his arm and tucked her hand under his. The excitement of the touch was there, but he pushed it down and focused on what he needed to say.
“There is something about this whole business which is very strange. I suspect Mr Christopher Farrington of behaving despicably. There is dishonesty here, but I need to know more to work out what he is scheming,” he told Arabella.
“I’d never even considered that possibility,” she said, with horror, her grip tightening on his arm. “It makes perfect sense in many ways. How could he, though? How could anyone scheme so ruthlessly to get control of a little boy?”
“It’s a distinct possibility, but you need to put it aside and rejoin the others.”
He led Arabella back to the music room. “Let’s dance and forget our troubles,” he suggested as they entered the room. “I intend to shock the company and dance with you twice and then leave the gathering,” he told her with a look of mischief.
As they moved onto the dance floor, his mother began to play a slower folk song, a tale of love and loss, and they joined the couples, weaving in and out of a circular pattern before twirling around in their partners’ arms.
Robert felt the closeness as he guided Arabella through the steps of the dance, absorbed by a strange recognition that this was the only place he wanted to be.
He then danced a reel with Arabella and felt joy at the flushed excitement in her face as they twirled around the floor. They finished breathless as she almost collapsed into his arms.
“I could dance with you all night,” he whispered. “But then we really will cause people to talk. So I must leave you and hope to see you again another day. By the way, I forgot to ask, did you take the boat out today with my sister?”
“No, your sister wanted to help your mother prepare for this unexpected soiree, so we decided to defer to another day. I’m keen to see that island in the middle of the lake, but I don’t think Elinor and I will make it that far on our first attempt.”
***
As he sat in his library after all the guests had left, or gone to bed, he set his mind to what he could do to help Arabella and Henry. Christopher Farrington had spies paid to give him information. He could certainly arrange for investigators to find out more about Farrington’s actions and make enquiries at the London Court. He knew there must be something illegal here. Farrington’s desperation to get his hands on the little viscount’s fortune was clear to see.
Even if the courts had been fed information that misrepresented Arabella, they could produce counter-evidence. He would, if necessary, travel to the court and refute theallegation that she had been negligent the day he fell from Hector.
He would not stand by and see Henry parted from his mother.
Chapter 18
The morning of the summer fair began with dull, drizzly rain. Henry looked out the window in distress.
“We’ve had such lovely weather, Mama. I don’t want it to rain today,” he complained.
“I can see blue sky on the horizon,” said Arabella, looking out the window. “I think it will be sunny soon.”
‘I’m going to lead Snowball in the pony and miniature decorated cart rides, and Freddy is going to lead one of the ponies from the castle,” confided Henry.
“It’s an exciting day, and I can’t wait to see the ponies taking the tiny children for rides,” said Arabella.
“The Reverend Colbrooke and Aunt Emma have helped us to decorate the little carts. I don’t want it to be so muddy in the field that we can’t have the pony rides.”
“Definitely blue skies, and it’s stopped drizzling. It’s going to be a special day,” Arabella reassured him.
“Uncle Joseph told me that I could try and shoot the target with a bow and arrow. I can be Robin Hood once I know how to do that.”
“Well, just be careful. Bows and arrows can be dangerous,” warned Arabella.
He raised his eyes. “I will be careful, Mama. I’m doing better. I haven’t fallen out of a tree this week.”
“You’re doing wonderfully well,” she told him. “I sometimes forget you are only eight years old.”
“Cook has been teaching Aunt Emma to make a strawberry pie with a special secret ingredient. I know what the secret is, but I’m not allowed to tell anyone. There is a competition and if the pie she makes this morning looks like a good one, then Aunt Emma will enter the pie in the competition,” Henry informed Arabella.
