Page 156 of Harpy of the Ton
“I want to know, Mrs. Trelawney, if you’d oblige me.”
“She was different from within,” she said. “Someone like Whitcombe would recognize her. He’s a man, and men are incapable of looking beyond the surface. When he sees a woman, he’ll note her outward appearance—the color of her eyes, her hair, the shape of her mouth, the shape of her body. Because that’s all a man cares about.”
“What didyousee when you saw Bella, Mrs. Trelawney?” Lawrence asked.
“A kind and clever soul,” she said. “A woman determined to do her best for her loved ones, unafraid to express her opinion, and eager to make use of her talent and intellect. In short, I saw a rare creature—a woman whom I wished to have as a friend. Andyou, Mr. Baxter, took her away from me.”
“Alice, had I known you were so angry with Mr. Baxter,” Trelawney said, “I’d never have—”
“Never have what? Brought me to Midchester today?” She shook her head. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t have. Instead, you’d have laughed at your wife’s whims before reassuring Mr. Baxter here that he’s better off without the harpy of thetonin his life. As for Bella, Dunton will destroy her.”
“She willingly went with him,” Lawrence said. “There was nothing I could do to stop her—she ignored even the children’s pleas.”
“You see, Alice?” Trelawney said. “It was her choice.”
“Have you never known a woman to be mistaken?” she asked. “To be coerced into making the wrong choice because Society, or her upbringing, dictates it?”
Trelawney blanched, and his forehead creased in distress. “Alice, my love, you cannot liken that woman to the suffering you endured.”
What the devil did he mean?
“Forgive me,” Lawrence said. “I’m intruding. I should go.”
“No, Mr. Baxter, stay,” Mrs. Trelawney said. “I’m merely referring to my first husband.”
“Y-your first…?”
“I was a duchess, once,” she said. “Blinded by the expectations of my father, and of Society, I chose a duke over the man I loved. And it almost destroyed me.”
“Alice, my love, don’t distress yourself.”
“No, Ross.” She set her mouth into a firm line. “What better purpose can I put my past mistakes to than to teach others the folly of ignoring their hearts?”
She turned to Lawrence. “My first husband was a cruel man, Mr. Baxter. But the world revered him for his title. And even after surviving marriage to him, I found myself on the brink of marrying another just like him, just as cruel, to satisfy propriety. But I found salvation in another—in the man I loved, the man I hadalwaysloved.”
Her voice wavered, and Trelawney drew her into an embrace.
“Alice, don’t distress yourself.”
“A moment’s distress is a small price to pay when the liberty and happiness of another is at stake. Mr. Baxter, do you love her?”
“Lady Arabella?” Lawrence asked.
“No,” she said. “Bella.Do you love Bella?”
“Yes.”
“Did you lie with her?”
“Alice!” Trelawney said. “That’s not a question a woman should ask.”
“And yet I do ask. Mr. Baxter, answer the question. Did you lie with her?”
Fighting the urge to deny it, Lawrence nodded.
Trelawney shook his head. “Bloody hell.”
“You unimaginable bastard…” she whispered, curling her hand into a fist.
