Bella shrugged slightly but brushed past Greg to glance down in the jewelry cases. “She doesn’t go out very often, I understand.”
Yes, not since her miscarriage, though Greg didn’t want to say as much. “I hope she will return to her formerly quite social self in time.”
She did glance up at him then. “Lissy…er…Lady Felicity said Cordie stays mostly at home since becoming a mother.”
Was that what people thought? Or had Lady Felicity simply not wanted to share the particular truth behind Cordie’s recent reclusiveness? “Little Lord Bayhurst will not always be tiny, and I have every bit of faith that my sister will return to herself once his need for her wanes.”
“I’m not sure if it ever truly wanes,” Bella said, returning her gaze to the cases below.
And she might very well be right about that. Greg wasn’t certain. Had his daughter lived, she would have been six years old. Had she made it that far, would she still have had need of Greg? Though really his daughter would have thought Clayworth was her father. The man did dote on his son. How would he have treated Greg’s bastard daughter? It certainly wasn’t the first time he’d contemplated that question, though he still had no—
“Oh, that’s pretty,” Bella said, drawing Greg from his maudlin thoughts.
He came up behind her and peered into the case. A dainty bracelet made up of five cameo scenes caught his eye. Each little scene was different, but there was no mistaking the subject of the piece. “Robin Hood and Maid Marion,” he said in surprise.
“Look at how well the carver created Robin’s bow,” Bella said. “So intricately delicate.”
And Greg would not normally pay attention to any sort of detail, but the overall piece was something else… “Growing up in Nottinghamshire, we all played Robin Hood as children. Mother didn’t approve, naturally. But…” Greg couldn’t help but smile. “I do believe it’s the perfect gift, Bella.”
She looked back up at him over her shoulder and the most radiant twinkle reflected in her grey eyes, making Greg’s heart beat a little faster. “You like it?”
“I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
That familiar blush pinkened her cheeks once more, and Greg had the overwhelming desire to caress the side of her cheek with his thumb. What would it be like to never be without her? Part of him desperately wanted to know.
Chapter 15
As soon asBella stepped through the door at Chatham House, her grandmother’s earbobs safely hidden in her reticule, she was brought up short by a most unusual sound. Grandfather was actually laughing in his study. That was more than a rarity. She couldn’t imagine what could possibly put the old man in such a jovial mood. Heaven help them all if he found out Elliott had been stealing the family’s jewelry. His laughter would turn to rage in the blink of an eye.
She winced at the thought. None of their lives would be worth living if he ever found out about that. But at the same time, she didn’t know how he wouldn’t notice eventually that things were missing, especially if Elliott had taken more than just Grandmama’s earbobs, and the odds were that he had.
“Oh, Bella!” Prissa appeared in the corridor from the front parlor. She looked quite unhappy with a furrowed brow and worried eyes. She gestured toward the room behind her. “Come quickly.”
An unease washed over Bella. Goodness, what was it now? Had Elliott done something else while she was gone? She quickly followed her sister back over the threshold and said, “What’s the matter? You look worried.”
“Johann,” Prissa said softly. “He arrived not long ago.”
Johann? But he wasn’t due in London for a sennight. Her unease quickly turned to panic, but Bella took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Everyone thought she was betrothed to Greg. Johann being in Town meant nothing to her freedom at the end of the day. And though she knew that truth in her head, her heart still twisted more than a bit at what her future could so easily have been if Greg hadn’t come to her rescue and agreed to play the role of her fiancé. She never would have been able to bring anyone else up to scratch before her horrid cousin had arrived. “Why is he early?”
“You certainly don’t think he would lower himself to tell me anything, do you?” Prissa heaved out a sigh.
There was something to be said about the fact that even Prissa couldn’t abide Johann, as she found something to like about nearly everyone she encountered. And then the levity Bella had first heard upon entering Chatham House made complete sense. “Grandpapa is laughing because Johann is with him.”
Her sister nodded. “Papa’s gone off to the library and Elliott…well, I’m not sure where he went.”
Elliott. Bella felt like crying all over again. Something had to be done about their brother. “Prissa, I am terribly worried about Elliott.”
“More so than normal?”
So much more. She grasped her sister’s hand and towed her toward the gold brocade settee. “I discovered him selling Grandmama’s yellow diamond earbobs.”
Strangely, her sister didn’t appear at all surprised by that. “Where?”
“Garrard in Town,” Bella replied. Though the where wasn’t nearly the most important part of the story. “And when I tried to talk to him…” She shook her head. “He said the dukedom would be his someday and so it didn’t matter.”
“Oh, Bella. Grandmama meant for you to have them.”
And Greg had made certain she would. Bella tightened her hold on the strings to her reticule. “That aside, I have to believe it wasn’t the first time he’s done such an awful thing. He’s asked us both for our pin money and—”