Something Scandalous

“I would say another week or two.” Perhaps by then she would be so immune to him that she would not feel this strange pull of attraction.

Will shook his head. “No, too long. Is there something we could do together with Ellie and Lucy before they take their bow? We’re all going mad in this house.”

“The opera would be an acceptable outing,” she replied in a hesitant tone. “But I’m not certain you and the girls will be ready.”

“We will all be ready,” he said in a confident tone.

“I shall make the arrangements.”

“Now, back to our lessons.” He leaned back and questioned her about the condition of the king.

She answered him quickly but continued to stare at his face. The valet she had hired for him had trimmed his hair, but it was still unfashionably long. Perhaps she should ask William about it. After all, if Mr. Stevenson wasn’t doing his job properly then it was her duty to remove him.

A part of her hoped it was William’s idea to keep his hair longer. It rather suited him. He would never be a conventional duke. The sun chose that moment to peek out from a cloud and brighten his hair such that strands of red could be seen.

As the late afternoon sun hit his face, she noticed the faint shadows of a beard. She wondered what it would feel like to touch his jaw. Or kiss his jaw. Was the hair bristly or soft? She had such a yearning to find out.

“Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth blinked and saw the confusion on his face. “Yes?”

A deep laugh escaped him. “What were you daydreaming about?”

“Nothing important.” Well, she wasn’t about to tell him! She had a problem. Some people drank too much or used opium. Not her—she was obsessed with a man she barely knew.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes! Now where were we with our lessons?”

“I believe you were telling me about Princess Charlotte,” he replied with a slight grin.

“Yes, Princess Charlotte,” she said with a nod. “She is enceinte, and a late fall delivery is expected. Hopefully all will go well with this one…”

She continued to regale him with stories of the princess, but her mind wandered again. This time, she realized her major mistake of only moments ago. He’d wanted to know of things to do with the children and she’d only come up with the opera. There were still five rooms to recheck, and with all of them roaming the house at all hours of the day, she’d had no time to search those areas again.

“I believe we should be done for the day,” she finally said, placing the book on the table.

William looked up at the clock and frowned. “It is only two in the afternoon.”

“And a perfect time and day to take the children to Hyde Park for a ride. They must be dreadfully tired of staying in the house all day.”

He tilted his head and nodded slightly. “I believe you are right about that. I thought those boys were about to kill each other yesterday.”

“Perfect, then. I will tell them all to get ready.” She stood ready to take her leave.

“You will be joining us, then?”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out. She needed a very good excuse. “I must decline. I need to call on a friend who is with child and cannot get o

ut much.”

“Of course.”

Before he could say another word, she left the room. After telling the children to make themselves ready, she went to her room and stared out the window. Once they had departed, she would return to the boys’ room and examine it again. Hopefully, she would find the diary and be done with this mess.

Of course, finding the journal might just lead to even more troubles. While she wanted and needed to discover the truth of her parentage, a part of her dreaded it. She would finally learn all about who she really was, and which man among the ton had had an affair with her mother.

Elizabeth hoped her mother’s reasons for the affair would be justified in the diary. Many women had liaisons and dalliances, but perhaps her mother had fallen in love with the man. Elizabeth closed her eyes and shut out the pain. She wondered if her lustful thoughts about William had to do with her mother’s influence. Was she just like her mother? Until she discovered the diary, Elizabeth would never know.