Page 62 of His Accidental Duchess

The ladies filed out of the room, talking and laughing, but Anna lingered behind. Beatrice was accosted almost as soon as they stepped into the ballroom by a man who had arranged to dance with her, but there had been no time for Anna’s card to be filled. Not a single name graced her card, not even her husband’s.

She went straight to the punch bowl, but a familiar, sickening voice stopped her in her tracks.

“What a delight to see you here, Miss Belmont. Although, it is no longerMissanything, aha? YourGrace, I should say.”

Very slowly, feeling like a cornered animal, Anna turned to face the smiling Earl of Downton.

CHAPTER 17

“Theo! Theo, there you are.”

Theo paused, turning to face his cousin.

Celine was pushing her way through the crowd in a most unladylike fashion, utilizing her height and her long, bony elbows with cheerful nonchalance. She was wearing a pale blue dress, cut in the latest fashion, and still somehow managed to make the item look frumpy and disheveled.

Theo bestowed a rare smile on his cousin. “Celly, what a pleasure. I suppose this means that Uncle John and Aunt Lucy are in the fleet somewhere?”

“Naturally,” Celine responded, giving him a peck on the cheek.

She was so tall that she barely had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him. Looping her arm comfortably through his, she towed him away from the worst of the crowd, in search of a quiet corner.

As a child, Theo had liked to pretend that Uncle John and Aunt Lucy were his real parents, and Celine his sister. Henry generally featured in these fantasies, when he wasn’t being too annoying. Uncle John—Lord Rackham—was the brother of Theo’s mother and was a kindly, genteel sort of man, handsome in his youth and growing into a sort of comfortable, fatherly-looking figure. Aunt Lucy was short, tubby, cheerful, and the most maternal person Theo had ever met.

How the two of them had conjured Celine, he would never know.

“You’re still in black, I see,” Theo said, once they made their way to somewhere quieter. “You could come out of mourning now, you know.”

Celine’s face tightened. “Did Mama and Papa ask you to talk to me about that?”

“What? No, Celly, I swear it. I just hate seeing you grieving.”

“I lost my husband,” Celine responded a little tartly. “It’s natural for me to grieve.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t. At least, it’s not you,” Celine sighed, rubbing one of her eyes.

Despite her height—which put her above many men—and her boniness, Celine was remarkably pretty. She had a delicate,heart-shaped face, a mass of honey-blonde curls, and large, wide gray eyes that fixed on the world in an unwavering stare. She was also the cleverest person Theo had ever met.

“People keep asking me when I am going to marry again,” Celine continued, a tinge of anger in her voice. “Notif.When. Just the other day, somebody asked me if I don’t think I’m a burden to my parents.”

“What nonsense. Uncle John and Aunt Lucy would never think of you that way. They adore you, Celly.”

“I knew that marrying a ship captain would never make me rich. I was content to beMrs. Wickhamto the end of my days, I just didn’t think… I didn’t think I would beWidow Wickhamquite so soon.”

She swallowed hard, her thin throat working, and Theo bit his lip.

“I am sorry, Celly.”

She sniffed. “It’s alright. Besides, you know what it’s like to lose a spouse, don’t you? I know that you and Isabella had your difficulties, but still.”

Theo’s jaw tightened. Celine, of course, did not know the full story. Uncle John and Aunt Lucy knew, as he’d had to tellsomeone, but they were excellent at keeping secrets, and he hadno doubt that they would not share the information with their own daughter.

It felt almost blasphemous, comparing Celine’s genuine grief and misery with his complex emotions surrounding Isabella.

There was no need for him to think up something to say because Celine gave another hearty sniff and plastered on a smile.

“Now, where is that wife of yours? I barely glimpsed her at the wedding breakfast, and the ceremony was so packed that I hardly saw either of you. It’s Anna, isn’t it? Although I suppose it will beYour Graceto me. I’m dying to meet her.”

---