‘Madam, I have no idea who you are,’ Bella said, sliding off the stool where she was feeling at a decided disadvantage. ‘But—’ Her skirts pulled tight across her stomach for a moment as she got down. Both women’s eyes fixed on her midriff just as Anne came round the corner with her hands full of fine wool.
‘My dear Lady Hadleigh, do look at these charming baby shawls. I think we should both purchase one.’ She stopped at the sight of the group at the counter. ‘Lady Framlingham. Lady Frederica.’ Her expression became perfectly blank for a moment before it was replaced with a charming social smile. ‘You have met my friend Lady Hadleigh, I see. Arabella, have you been introduced to the Countess of Framlingham and Lady Frederica?’
‘No.’ Bella held out her gloved hand. Something was very wrong here; the countess had reacted badly to the news that Elliott was married before she had realised that Bella was with child.
Lady Framlingham looked down her nose and merely touched the tips of Bella’s fingers with her own. ‘You have known Lord Hadleigh for some time,’ she stated.
Bella told herself she was imagining the emphasis on known. ‘Since February,’ she said. She could hardly tell the truth and say she had known him barely two weeks, not with her pregnancy obvious.
‘I see. I felicitate you upon your marriage
,’ Lady Framlingham said.
Bella looked at the slim, elegant young woman at her mother’s side. Suddenly she felt clumsy and ashamed of her own burgeoning body, as though the visibility of her pregnancy was a badge, marking her out as wanton and unchaste.
‘Come, Frederica.’ Lady Framlingham swept out, her daughter at her heels. The young woman looked back at Bella for a moment, her eyes wide and questioning.
‘Anne? What on earth?’
‘Let us finish our shopping,’ Anne said, the fixed smile still on her lips. ‘It is time for luncheon, I think.’
It was not until they were both seated in a private parlour at the Royal Oak, food on the table and the door firmly closed, that Anne’s smile slipped. ‘Elliott was invited to the Framlinghams’ house party. He cried off, of course, when Rafe died.’
‘Well, what is that to cause Lady Framlingham to look so disapproving?’ Bella demanded. ‘She cannot expect him to join a house party under those circumstances.’
‘No, of course not. Not even one where she was expecting him to make an offer for her daughter,’ said Anne bleakly. ‘It never occurred to me. There were all those rumours about him and Lady Freddie, but all the time he and you…’
Bella’s stomach seemed to have become totally hollow. ‘Elliott was committed to her?’ she demanded. He had told her he had no one. He had—
‘No. I am sure he was not. But it was becoming obvious that he was thinking of settling down, making a choice. He attended many of the come-out balls, he was seen at Almack’s and he was on very good terms with Lady Freddie. Perhaps we all had it wrong—we must have—and all it was, was friendship.’
But the pretty blonde had been startled and bemused. Was that the reaction of someone on hearing that a friend had married unexpectedly?
‘Elliott is not the sort of man who would court two women at once,’ Anne said with compete confidence. ‘He is far too honourable for that.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Bella agreed. ‘Elliott has a highly developed sense of honour.’ Why had he chosen to do as he had? Because there truly was no relationship between him and Lady Frederica or because righting Rafe’s actions was the correct thing to do for the family honour in his mind and the feelings of the two women involved were secondary to that?
He could have married Lady Frederica, that charming, well-bred, virginal young woman who was everything a man in his position would want. And now he had her and she had not even given him her untouched body to make his. She rested her hand on her belly, hating how she felt about the evidence of her child now.
‘Would you mind if we go home after this?’ she asked. ‘I feel rather tired.’
‘Of course. I am too,’ Anne Baynton said. The fact that it was obviously a polite lie and Anne was far from weary did nothing to make Bella feel any better. She set herself to making cheerful conversation—just because her emotions were in turmoil and she was facing another unpleasant confrontation with Elliott, there was no reason to spoil her friend’s day.
It seemed she had not deceived Anne one whit. The moment they arrived back at the Hall Anne swept into the study where the two men were talking, kissed Elliott on the cheek and dragged her husband away, explaining that she was so weary that she was ready to drop and that Bella had excused them from staying for dinner.
‘What was that about?’ Elliott demanded. ‘I still had things to discuss with John. Is Anne all right, because she looks absolutely fine to me.’ He shrugged, the charming half-smile that always made her pulse quicken visible for a moment. ‘But what would I know? I am a man.’
‘Quite,’ Bella said, trying to decide whether to sit down or stay on her feet. ‘I met friends of yours in Worcester today, Elliott.’
‘Indeed?’ He was frowning now.
One thing I can say about Elliott, Bella thought, he is sensitive to my mood. I just wish I could read him so easily. ‘Lady Framlingham and her daughter Frederica. They seemed most surprised that you are married. They were also, having noticed my condition, surprised that you had, as Lady Framlingham put it, known me so long. They had not seen the announcement, having been away from home.’
‘Ah.’ Elliott hitched one hip on to the edge of the table and regarded her, his lean face thoughtful. ‘I thought you trusted me, Arabella.’
‘I did.’ She saw her use of the past tense register. ‘You told me that there was no one else. Anne tells me that there were rumours that you were interested in Lady Frederica early in the year.’
‘I was, although I thought I had been careful not to make it obvious. If Rafe’s death had not intervened and I had accepted an invitation to their house party then I would probably have proposed to Freddie,’ Elliott said coolly. ‘She is intelligent, amusing, well-brought up and suitable.’