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“I am also a man in love, which is why I am wholeheartedly welcoming you into the group of the fallen men!” Melborne announced lightly.
“Elizabeth does not love me,” he reminded.
The other man sobered. “You will not know that until you have found her and asked her why she left you so abruptly while you were out punching and threatening her father-in-law.”
“Really?” the duchess gasped.
Sterling knew the reason she was so shocked was because he was usually the most even-tempered of men. Usually. When Elizabeth was not involved. Then his emotions seemed constantly in disarray.
“I told you why she left,” he snapped at Melborne.
“Because you believe you had taken advantage of her.”
“Yes!” Sterling could not even look at the duchess now.
Melborne shrugged. “The situation, as you described it to me, sounded to be as a result of a mutual attraction.”
Elizabethhadonly seemed to become upset after Sterling had made that comment regarding her feeling obligated to indulge in intimacy with him.
“Gossip in the shops this morning was that a bedraggled Lady Marshall was seen arriving and being helped down from the carriage and into her parents’ home late yesterday evening,” the duchess put in conversationally. “The speculation is rife as to why she looked that way. I did not, of course, see any reason why I should satisfy that curiosity by imparting any of the contents of your letter explaining her father-in-law’s treatment of her and her need to escape from him. I had no idea your…closeness to the lady was part of the reason for her appearing so distressed, Bristol.” She eyed him speculatively.
Again, it was no surprise to Sterling that Melborne had shared the contents of that letter with his wife.
Or that Melborne’s comments had now allowed her to know exactly how badly Sterling had behaved toward Elizabeth.
He rose abruptly to his feet. “When I called upon the Ameses’ home yesterday, they told me their daughter was still in Cornwall.” In the circumstances, he hadn’t liked to disabuse them of that fact, believing that Elizabeth would contact them once she was settled. Wherever that might be. It seemed she had gone to her parents’ home after all.
“No doubt at the time that is what they believed,” the duchess said softly. “They now know differently.”
“Where are you going?” Melborne enquired when Sterling marched toward the doorway.
“To speak to Elizabeth, of course,” he stated decisively.
“Do you not think it would be wiser to leave it a day or so, to give her time to recover from her long journey?” the duchess suggested.
Sterling, knowing Elizabeth was in London and that he might see her again today if he so wished, didn’t welcome the idea of having to wait a minute longer than he needed.
“I do not presume to know Lady Marshall well,” the duchess continued. “But before she went to Cornwall, we had met on several occasions at the orphanage where I also volunteer my services.”
“You had?” Sterling prompted, eager to hear any news about Elizabeth.
The duchess nodded. “She is warm and lovely, also quiet and conscientious. The children all adored her.”
Of course they did, Sterling acknowledged affectionately. How could they not love someone as warm and caring as Elizabeth?
“How shall I put this next part?” the duchess murmured as if to herself. “I had the distinct impression that Lady Marshall is also very aware of the…circumstances of her family, in that the Ameses are not wealthy nor of the top echelon of Society.” Her mouth thinned. “A fact, from what you wrote in your letter, her father-in-law seems to have taken complete advantage of.”
“What are you trying to say, my love?” Melborne prompted gently.
The duchess’s gaze remained fixed on Sterling. “That Lady Marshall is a proud and steadfast woman. Not in an arrogant way, but in a way that, despite having been married to the heir ofthe Earl of Whitlow, and now being the mother of the heir to that earldom, she is fully aware of her own lack of social standing and connections. I do not have all the details of your own…friendship with her, Bristol, but from the little I have understood from your conversation with Melborne just now, having the Duke of Bristol demanding to see her the day after she has arrived at and been taken into the sanctuary of her parents’ home would, I fear, be met with a blunt refusal.”
Sterling flinched at the thought of Elizabeth turning away from seeing him again. “What do you suggest I do?”
“Wait a day or two,” she encouraged. “Give Elizabeth time to recover from the long journey and to once again feel safe and loved within the bosom of her family.”
“You think she will then agree to see me?”
The duchess smiled. “I believe by then, when she is no longer fatigued from traveling so far, Elizabeth will at least have had time to gather her thoughts together and to have examined her feelings.”
