“What’s Lord Eaglestone doing here?”
“Shush. I can’t hear.”
Her mother grabbed her arm. “Come away before the servants see you.”
Bella reluctantly obeyed, refraining from mentioning Gerald had seen her before he disappeared down the servants’ stairs to the kitchen. The whole house would be abuzz.
As she and Mama sat in the parlor, Gran entered with a determined expression. “What is happening?”
“Lord Eaglestone is in with Papa,” Bella said.
“Why is he here? Is it something to do with your orphanage?”
“She loves Lord Eaglestone, Moira,” Gran said, sitting down. “You and my son have been deaf to Bella’s dreams. You’ve put your comfort above Bella’s happiness. I am ashamed of you both.”
“I want Bella to have the best life can offer. The wife of a wealthy earl would ensure it,” Mama said. “Do you love this man?”
“Very much, Mama.”
She sighed. “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would you have listened?” Gran straightened her shoulders. “I’m guilty too, it seems. If this young man is here for Bella, I, for one, will make sure that she marries him.”
The door opened, and Father strode in, with Derrick behind him. Bella’s anxious gaze flicked from her father’s to Derrick’s.
Her father wasn’t smiling, but neither did he glower at her.
A black band decorated Derrick’s sleeve. He was his elegant self in a grey suit, but somehow stripped bare, his face somber. She saw the depth of his emotion in his eyes when he looked at her. Her heart went out to him, and she wanted to rush into his arms.
Derrick greeted her mother and Gran and then turned to her father. “May I have a moment alone with your daughter, sir?”
When the door closed behind them, Bella rose and ran to him. She could hardly believe he was here alone with her. That her father had agreed. Her heart pounded. She gazed up into his face. There were shadows beneath his eyes. He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders.
“Your father has generously given me permission to request your hand in marriage.”
She released a long sigh. How desperately she’d wanted this. But not if he was merely intent on rescuing her. “Are you sure you want this, Derrick? It’s not just because you feel I need—”
His hands firmed on her shoulders. “I need you in my life, Belle.”
“Do you?” Her voice trembled. She still did not quite believe him. Why hadn’t he come sooner? He’d left her to worry for two days! “Father would have been very much against it. How did you get him to agree?”
“I explained about Hector and addressed the rumors that have been spread about me over the years—the ones that are untrue, at least.” She looked up at him as his lips quirked in a smile.
She couldn’t help smiling back. She did love him so. But she remained uneasy. Maudling arrived tomorrow, and the power the man had over her father worried her. “I still can’t believe you got Father to agree, or even listen to you.”
Golden lights lit his tawny eyes. His arms encircled her, a hand on the small of her back. “He was set against the idea,” he said against her hair. “Until I mentioned the merger and my plans for the expansion of my steel foundry up in Lincolnshire.”
“Oh!” Bella leaned back to touch his cheek, wanting to kiss him. “How very clever of you!”
“I consider myself very clever in my choice of bride, Miss Lacey,” he said huskily, kissing her ear. “But you’ve yet to give me your answer.”
“I love you, Derrick. Of course I will marry you.”
“Thank you, my love. It must be a small, quiet wedding. Do you mind, Bella?”
“No, darling.” The question of whether he loved her pushed its way into her blissful thoughts, like a cold wind on a sunny day. Might he be doing this out of some misplaced feelings of responsibility? Her love for him filled her with such joy she pushed the thought away.
“I’ll arrange for a special license, and we can be married in a day or two. I think it best we leave town afterward, honeymoon away from…”
Aware of the reason he wished to leave London, she coiled her arms around him and drew him down for a kiss.
They walked arm in arm to the sofa. “Where are we to go?”
“To my country seat, Eaglestone Park in Lincolnshire.”
The next day, Lord Maudling arrived. Bella stopped in her packing to watch uneasily from the upper landing as he burst from the study, snatched his hat and cane from the footman, and stalked out.
At dinner on the last night she would be here as a single woman, her father apologized. “I wore blinkers where Maudling was concerned,” he said. “I wanted to see only the good in the man. I’m glad you’re not marrying him, Bella.”
Bella rose and walked to where he sat at the end of the table and coiled her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek, as she used to do when she was a child. “I understand, Papa.”