MAIL ORDER BRIDE: ARISTOCRAT: The Duke’s Engagement (Historical Victorian Duke Romance) (New Adult Romance Short Stories) (77 page)

From a very young age Bella had been an incorrigible dreamer, she had lived in a bubble of happiness sheltered from the cruelties and hardships of the world.  She had dreamed of her first season, of beautiful gowns and balls and parties of finding love in the midst of all the handsome men she would meet, she had imagined being swept off her feet by a man who loved her fiercely, one who would be willing to lay his life down for her.

And now on the cusp of her proper debut into society, just months away from her first season, she was being told she was already betrothed. Promised to a man she could only vaguely remember and powerless to stop the chain of events rapidly unfolding before her. Because not only did she discover she was already betrothed but her mother had announced earlier during tea that the Duke of Chambray would be leaving France within the week in order to come to London.

CHAPTER TWO:

              “I think a summer wedding towards the end of the season would be lovely dear, in fact your reception could be the very last ball to close the season, the grandest ball of the summer! What do you think?” her mother had asked her barely able to contain her excitement. Lady Jane Barrington loved throwing parties and she was exceptionally good at them. Her only daughter’s wedding was something she had been looking forward to for a great many years and she was determined it would be one to remember.

              “There will no summer wedding Mama because I will NOT marry him!” Bella’s blue green eyes flashed fiercely and her chin jutted out stubbornly. “And you can’t make me!”

Lady Jane sighed inwardly as she surveyed the selection of tea sandwiches artistically arranged on a silver platter in front of her. Her bubble of happiness was momentarily deflated by the tone of Bella’s voice. She tried not to roll her own eyes. Eyes that were exact replicas of her daughter’s flashing deep blue ones. As much as she adored her daughter’s free spirited personality, there were times when she wished she had raised a more docile child who did as she was told with minimal fuss. But she had learned years ago when Bella was just a little baby toddling around the house that there was nothing docile about her daughter. And she could well understand the conflicting emotions Bella was going through so she tried to be patient.

              “Arabella, I’ve told you this already and we’ve been over this numerous times. It wasn’t my decision, nor was it your father’s. Your grandfather gave his word and you’ll just have to live with it.”

              “Live with it?! It’s MY life Mama, my marriage has been arranged for ages to someone who’s practically a stranger and nobody ever thought to consult me! I am only made aware of this now? NOW? I want love Mama, not an arranged marriage. Just because you and Papa had one doesn’t mean you can do the same thing to me!”

              “If you would just give him a chance Bella, you might really like him. You certainly got along as children.”

              “Are you joking? I was eight years old! I saw him for a summer! And he hardly had anything to recommend him! He was serious, awkward and shy! I will not give him a chance because this is my life, my decision and I just know he’s horrid.” She stamped her foot to punctuate her words. An old childhood habit, which came out every now and then when she was particularly worked up.

But Lady Jane’s patience was running thin.

“Bella!” Her tone of voice was sharper than she had intended and it made Bella cringe, “You make it seem as though you’re the first girl in the world who had her marriage arranged by their families. Being born and bred in privilege also comes with responsibilities and having to make certain sacrifices. Consider this one yours. You will marry the Duke of Chambray and that is final, you can be as involved as you like with the wedding plans but it will go ahead regardless of your feelings in this matter.”

At her mother’s words all the fight seemed to flow out of Bella and she collapsed in a silken heap on the gold and blue brocade armchair across from her mother. At the sight of her daughter’s misery wrought face, Lady Jane got to her feet and sat down next to her daughter. She lovingly tucked a stray curl behind her Bella’s ear marveling once more at how truly beautiful she was. Slender, graceful, with long, silky, dark blond curls tumbling down to her waist, Bella would have broken many hearts during the season. The heart shaped face, the sweet pouty lips and the wide, sparkling deep blue eyes were simply irresistible. Bella was a happy girl and that joy seemed to vibrate from her inner core and Jane hated seeing her so bereft, but her betrothal with the Duke was a matter of family honor and such a great match couldn’t be refused. At least not without a very real reason.

              “You know how much your grandfather loves you Bella…you know that don’t you?” She whispered softly.

Bella didn’t reply and stared ahead in stony silence, she wasn’t in a mood to be petted.

              “Thomas Chambray will be here any day now...at least meet him and have faith that your grandfather would never pick someone for you whom you would loath.”

Again Bella didn’t reply, it didn’t matter to her what logic her mother used, the only thing she could focus on was that the most important decision of her life had been taken out of her hands and come hell or high water there was no way she would ever devote her life to a man she didn’t love simply because her grandfather had given some old Lord his word. She couldn’t care less if the King himself was on his way to meet her, she had no intention of being around for that long.

CHAPTER THREE:

While Bella was knee deep in misery and figuring out how to get herself out of a betrothal arranged by her grandfather eons ago, Thomas, the Duke of Chambray was issuing the final instructions to his valet in regards to his valise. He was impatient to start the journey back to London. He had been sent from home when he was barely sixteen years old to live with Lord Archambault, his mentor. It was the Duke who had taught him everything he needed to learn to one day run his own Dukedom. Soon after his education had been completed he had been enlisted by the King to serve at the French court. And he had complied. But now after ten long years he was ready to go back home. Home to his parents. Home to his responsibilities and home to Bella.

              A slip of a girl who had intrigued him enough all those years ago to keep her memory alive in his mind. When his grandfather had approached him with the betrothal he had readily agreed thinking of the impish, spirited girl with the wild tangled hair and wide blue eyes. And now he was anxious to head to home and speak to her, to see her and to woe her. When the last of the trunks had been strapped to the carriage he climbed atop his horse and with few final instructions to the valet he was off. At the last minute he had decided to ride part of the way because it would be faster and he would be able to get on an earlier ship crossing the channel. All his belongings would follow suit at a slower pace on a cargo ship. As he rode down the streets, his handsome set in determination, his dark eyes focused on his end goal, he was unaware of the admiring looks from the ladies in their carriages. The gangly, shy youth that Bella remembered had disappeared completely, leaving in its stead a breathtakingly handsome man that ladies swooned over.

              Within a few days Thomas was sailing to London on the Fleurette, Lord Archambault’s personal ship, with every passing hour getting closer to home and Bella unaware his fiancée was busy figuring out how to get away from him.

CHAPTER FOUR:

“I need to disappear for a while Mavis, won’t you please help me?” Bella asked Mavis the question two evenings later when she popped by for a visit.

The word disappear sounded alarming. Mavis tried not to sound too anxious when she asked her friend hesitantly,

              “What exactly do you mean by disappearing Bella? Do you mean you want to be kidnapped by someone?” As ridiculous as the idea was she wouldn’t put it past Bella to stage an elaborate scheme to get her out of this impending marriage.

              “Of course not Mavis!” but even as the words left Bella’s lips her mind was whirling with the possibility of staging her own kidnapping.

Mavis caught the glint in her friend’s eyes and she shook her head,

              “Absolutely not, don’t even think about it Bel!  Imagine the scandal! Think of what it would do your family!”

              “But Mavis I don’t care about scandal, scandal might be exactly what I need to break the engagement. What Duke would want to tarnish his family name by associating himself with someone scandalous?”

              “Be serious Bella, you know you can’t ruin your reputation just to spite your parents.”

Bella knew Mavis was right but she was still hell bent on disappearing for a while.

After a few moments of intense concentration during which Mavis hoped her friend would see to reason, Bella announced,

“I could stay with Edith for a few weeks!”

              “Edith? My older sister Edith?”

              “Why not? Didn’t you say they were going to be spending the summer in the country? She’ll think it’s absolutely brilliant and nobody will think to look there.”

Mavis rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to list out the numerous holes in the plot and pointed out only the most obvious one,

“Everyone will know if she has you staying with her Bella, you know she does quite a fair bit of entertaining even if it’s in the country, she can hardly keep you a secret you know or lock you up in a room every time someone stops by for a visit.”

Mavis’ observation deflated Bella’s bubble and her face fell as she considered this obstacle. Mavis satisfied at putting an end to her friend’s insane plans started to talk about more interesting things like what she should wear to the small dinner party hosted by Lady Ophelia the next evening. It was only a small gathering of fifty or sixty people and would be a fairly informal affair but Mavis was taking it very seriously because gossip had it Lady Ophelia’s oldest son was back in town after spending three years abroad and Mavis had secretly been in love with him for ages. Although he had been home sporadically on visits Mavis had never run into him and she didn’t know if he would be around long enough to participate in the season so the supper was even more important.

              “So,” Mavis asked, “do you think the lavender gown with the silver lace or my new white one with the white beaded work along the bodice?”

CHAPTER FIVE:

Word of Bella’s impending nuptials had spread among the ton almost overnight and on a fine Saturday afternoon the Barrington home was suddenly flooded with guests. Well-wishers and gossips alike who had decided to stop by and hear the news from the horse’s mouth. Lady Jane, always the perfect hostess had graciously invited everyone to stay for dinner and had hastily thrown together an impromptu dinner party and so on that particular evening Bella found herself sitting across from half a dozen ladies forced to answer questions about a wedding she didn’t want, one she was still scheming to get out of.

The atmosphere in the room in parlor was stifling and Bella found herself being unable to breathe properly, she felt unnaturally hot and the lacings on her dress seemed to be tightening by the minute suffocating her. All anyone seemed to want to discuss with her were her wedding plans or gush over how truly lucky she was. Some of the young ladies who had doubts about how much success they would have during their season were secretly relieved that Bella was off the market while others felt jealous that not only would Bella not have to go through the uncertainty of making a match but she had caught the best fish in the pond! If their mothers were disappointed or indignant they hid it well behind innocent smiles and gushing warmth all the while hoping something would go wrong so their daughters would have a chance to win the impressive prize.

Even though Thomas Chambray had been abroad for many years, all the gossips knew he was extremely wealthy, yielded quite a lot of power and mingled with the royals. He was a dream catch for any woman. But Bella couldn’t have cared less about any of that. She didn’t care if he was the King of England himself! And she was tired of being told how lucky she was. Although she understood in material terms that she was indeed very lucky, in her heart and her mind she didn’t feel lucky at all.

Finally, unable to take any more questions, she murmured her apologies and excused herself before hurrying down the main hallway towards the hothouse. Once there, she slipped out into the garden and took in a long, deep breath. As the cool night air filled her body, the cobwebs around her throat loosened and disappeared and she felt in control once more.