Page 59 of Fit for a Duke
‘I suppose I did,’ Clio replied in a reasoned tone. ‘I appreciate that we did not meet by accident. Indeed, you made that evident. My maid tells me that everyone below stairs is adding two and two and coming up with seventeen and I assumed that…well, that you had also, and would have objections to make.’
The duchess smiled. It was the first occasion upon which Clio had seen her do so and it made her seem almost approachable, the very opposite to the impression of an aloof, self-obsessed duchess that had formed in Clio’s mind. ‘My son came to this party with the intention of selecting a bride. He has left it for too long.’
‘My understanding is that he hasn’t been the duke for much more than a year, and had been in mourning for his father and then his brother,’ Clio replied on a mild note of censure. She steeled herself for the reprimand that she probably deserved and was astonished when instead of voicing it, the duchess chuckled.
‘My, but you are outspoken for one so young. What are you, no more than seventeen?’ She grasped Clio’s chin and peered into her face. ‘And pretty but not too pretty. That’s perfect.’
‘I am not a horse,’ Clio responded tartly, shaking her chin free of the duchess’s fingers, ‘so please don’t ask to see my teeth since you can be sure that I shall very likely bite.’
This time the duchess laughed aloud. ‘I can see why he is attracted to you,’ she said. ‘One tires of the flummery so easily.’
‘And yet you enjoy the company of the worst offender.’
‘Silas? Oh, he’s harmless enough. He looks out for my interests, even though I am well aware why he does so. No one else ever has. Don’t look so shocked. If you are to become part of this family you might as well learn some of our grubby secrets.’ Clio wanted to protest, but the conversation was so interesting that she held her tongue. ‘Ezra’s father married me for my fortune, it was as simple as that. I knew it, of course, but I wasn’t much older than you are now and was convinced that I would persuade him to fall in love with me in short order.’ She flapped a hand. ‘Romantic claptrap, of course. The old duke didn’t possess the capacity to love anyone other than himself. I don’t think he even liked me very much, so love was never going to happen.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Clio said, meaning it. ‘Everyone deserves to be loved for themselves.’
‘Don’t feel too sorry for me. We ladies are not often at liberty to please ourselves, and I wouldn’t have been able to refuse him even if I had seen him for what he was before the event. My family was keen to forge the connection, as are the families of every young woman in attendance at this party.’ She shook her head, clearly lost in past recollections. ‘Oh no, refusing him was not an option. And so I involved myself with my children…’
Clio opened her mouth, convinced from what little Ezra had told her that it wasn’t the case.
‘You have heard, I suppose, that I am cold and unfeeling. Well, Miss Benton, if you had borne two daughters and a son, none of whom survived their infancies, you would have learned by that point to keep your feelings under closer guard, would you not?’
Clio nodded. ‘I am so very sorry. I had no idea.’
‘When the first of my three surviving sons developed recurring illnesses, he was still so very young. I couldn’t allow myself to become attached to him or to the two who followed for fear that my heart would again be broken, and I honestly thought that it wouldn’t survive another bereavement. My husband was no help whatsoever and told me to pull myself together. A lot of babies died, he insisted. It was the way of the world and it was to be expected.’
‘That was most unkind of him.’
The duchess gave a sad little shake of her head. ‘Believe me, you do not know the half of it. No one does. Not even Ezra.’ She paused. ‘Especially not him. Their father would not have permitted me to mollycoddle my sons anyway. He was a harsh man. They went off to school at the age of seven and I seldom saw them in the holidays. It was safer that way. I had been ill myself, weakened by grief I often thought. The doctors were baffled by the nature of my ailments, insisting that there was nothing physically wrong with me. They didn’t seem to consider that ailments can afflict the mind and I didn’t dare to make the suggestion. My husband would have had me shut away in a heartbeat.’
‘Goodness,’ Clio gasped.
‘Anyway, I knew that my heart couldn’t withstand another tragedy. By the time I realised that Richard and Ezra had grown into healthy, strapping young men we had become distant and it was too late for me to show them affection. Indeed, I had no idea how to. My husband had knocked all the spontaneity out of me.’
‘I can well imagine,’ Clio said, realising some sort of response was required from her. She was astonished that the haughty duchess was opening up to her in such a candid fashion when they were barely acquainted.
‘And then Richard died, so perhaps my instincts were right. I grieved in my own way, dignified and aloof, I have heard it said, and Ezra and I have never formed a bond. When he insisted upon fighting against that annoying little Frenchman, naturally I assumed the worst would happen and shut my emotions down. But he came back.He came back, I care very much about him, and about whomever he chooses as his duchess. I do not want to see the mistakes of past generations repeating themselves, but if my instincts are correct there is little chance of that happening.’ She stopped walking and fixed Clio with a probing look. ‘You are very young, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. I think you will do very well. It’s odd, but my eye was drawn to you even before I noticed Ezra’s interest, which perhaps implies a premonition of sorts.’
‘I am not the duke’s choice, your grace. Please don’t read more into one simple dance than perhaps you should.’
The duchess flashed a knowing smile. ‘We shall see, my dear.’ She laid a hand on Clio’s forearm. ‘Anyway, I had best return to the house. I have letters to write before we embark upon our excursion. I do hope the weather holds fair for us. It would be such a pity if it does not. I look forward to seeing you later. It has been a pleasure getting to know you and I hope we can talk again.’
‘The pleasure is all mine, your grace,’ Clio replied, bobbing a curtsey and watching the duchess walk away.
‘Do let me take you and your cousin in my carriage for the ride into Midhurst,’ she said, briefly turning back before resuming her walk. Naturally, she assumed that Clio would oblige her, which she would have to do, thereby adding to the speculation.
She continued wandering aimlessly, mulling the incident over. She had avoided the duchess’s company wherever possible up to that point, thinking her distant and unfeeling. Clearly it was unwise to make assumptions based on nothing more than an impression. Clio had just glimpsed an unhappy woman who had made a bad marriage and suffered terrible tragedies. She had wanted to ask why she had not conducted a similar conversation with Ezra after her husband’s death, but that would have been presumptuous.
And then it occurred to Clio that she had wanted to but didn’t know how to bridge the divide that had grown between her and her only remaining child—a chasm of her own making. She stopped walking and shook her head, a reluctant smile gracing her lips.
‘She wants me to break the ice between them, but that’s impossible,’ she said aloud, blushing at the mere prospect of instigating such an embarrassing conversation.
Hearing the stable yard clock strike the hour, Clio realised that she had been outside for longer than had been her intention. She scampered back in the direction of the house, aware that she must look a fright, having been out of doors in a fresh breeze without a bonnet. Daisy would have her work cut out to make her look presentable in the short amount of time that remained before they were due to leave on their excursion.
Ezra had correspondence to attend to that he had neglected for too long. He sat at the desk beside one of the windows in his suite of rooms and tried to concentrate on writing instructions for his steward. After several false starts he cursed, threw his pen aside, leaned back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling.
Clio had a lot to answer for.
