She’d been so caught up in kissing Greg, in daydreaming about their future, she hadn’t asked any of the questions she meant to about Elliott. She still had no idea if he had encountered her brother other places the last little while. She had no idea if Greg had somehow learned anything else about Elliott? She had no idea if there was anything else she should be aware of before telling Papa of her concerns.
She heaved a sigh, annoyed with herself for being so easily distracted. Though, she doubted any girl could have kept her mind focused on anything with Greg kissing her as thoroughly as he had done.
Bella shook her head as she started for the staircase and then her heart nearly stopped when…
“Arabella!” Grandfather’s bark from his study caught her completely off-guard and she almost tripped over her own feet.
Blast! She’d been so careful to avoid him this morning, but she’d let her mind wander about her future with Greg and her worries over her brother, and—
“Arabella!” he bellowed again.
Bella gulped as she started for the open door to her grandfather’s study. “Sorry, I was woolgather—”
“Planning something else nefarious, no doubt,” he said from behind his desk, glaring at her as though she was the worst possible fiend in the world.
Nefarious? Before Bella could even reply to that comment, Johann pushed out of a chair facing their grandfather’s desk to look her over with his icy eyes. Goodness, she hadn’t even realized he was in the study until that moment. The two men whose notice she never wanted to capture, and both were looking at her right then.
“You wanted to speak with me?” she said so quietly, she could barely hear herself.
Grandfather shook his head in annoyance. “One would think after all the time spent at that school Aylesford sent you to, you could be somewhat articulate.” He flicked a glance to Johann and said, “Excuse us, my boy.”
“Of course, Grandfather,” her cousin said, his Prussian accent filling the air. Then he started toward the threshold, where Bella stood, staring at her with complete disdain. That feeling was more than mutual. She didn’t even want to contemplate how awful a life with a man like him would be. Even so, it was difficult not to feel uncomfortable with the intensity of his stare.
“You!” Grandfather barked, his eyes narrowed on Bella. “Sit.”
As though she was a dog. She certainly felt like one at the moment. Bella brushed past Johann, glad she wouldn’t have to suffer his presence any longer. Only Grandfather’s, which was bad enough on any given day, but seemed worse for some reason today.
“Shut the door, will you, Johann?” Grandfather asked, and a moment later, the door clicked shut at the back of the study.
Bella swallowed nervously.
The hateful glare her grandfather shot in her direction reminded Bella that he’d ordered her to sit, but she was still standing. So she sat quickly in one of the chairs facing the ducal desk and tried to ignore the trembling of her hands. What in the world did he want with her?
“You wanted to speak with me, Your Grace?” she asked, hoping she sounded more articulate to him this time.
Grandfather narrowed his eyes even further until they were nearly dark slits filled with contempt. “I have never cared for you.”
He had never made that much of a secret, but he’d never come out and said that before, at least not to her face.
“You are too much like your mother in all of the worst possible ways,” he continued.
Bella wasn’t certain how she was supposed to respond to that, but muttered, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a disappointment.”
He snorted as though that was an understatement. “Even so, I never would have guessed you were nothing more than a common thief, however—”
“A thief?” she breathed out in surprise.
“Do not pretend otherwise,” he snapped. “It makes you less palatable than usual.”
He thought she was a thief? Bella’s stomach twisted, and then all the pieces fell into place in her mind… “On my honor—”
“You steal from me and want to talk about honor?” he growled.
She had never stolen one thing in her life. But Elliott had. And somehow, for some reason, Grandfather thought she was the culprit. She wasn’t sure how or why or…
Grandfather opened a drawer and placed Grandmama’s yellow diamond earbobs in the middle of his desk. “Hidden under your mattress.”
That was where she’d hidden them, to keep Elliott from finding them again and selling them once more. The trembling in Bella’s hands intensified and she thought she might faint. She and Prissa wanted to talk to Papa about Elliott, not Grandfather. She would never do that to her brother, not even now. They needed a plan to figure out what to do with Elliott, how to help him; but the duke would never care about any of that.