Chapter 13
“She is awake, Evelina! Welcome back to us, Maria!”
It was Anna’s voice. Maria stirred in sleepiness.
She felt warm and surrounded by comfortable softness.
Then, she remembered the tripwire and the pit into which she had tumbled.
Her eyes opened. She lay on her bed, propped by pillows and nestled in blankets.
Her friends sat around her, faces shining with excitement and happiness.
“Oh my, this must be another dream,” Maria said, “I have had so many of them. I dreamed…I dreamed that Damien…”
She faltered, realizing that her dream must have been reality.
“Damien rescued me!” Maria exclaimed, scarcely able to believe it.
“And he wrote to us, entreating us to come and see you,” Evelina said.
“He made a very emotive case. I was surprised to read such language from a man like that,” Theodora said.
“He showed much compassion and concern,” Anna put in, “and welcomed us to this house…personally!”
Maria sat bolt upright in surprise.
“You saw him!” she asked.
They all nodded.
“Despite the mask, he is as handsome a man as I have ever come across,” Evelina said with a wink.
Anna gave her a disparaging look.
“He forced Maria to marry him, and who knows what he has perpetrated against her in this ghastly house.”
“He has perpetrated nothing,” Maria said. “In fact, I have hardly seen him since I arrived.”
She glanced towards the open window and remembered their encounter on their wedding night. She wondered if he was in his room now. Or beneath the oak tree below the window. Could he hear them?
“So, what on earth happened to you?” Anna demanded. “Your dress looks like it has been through a hedge backward!”
Maria had not realized that she was wearing only her chemise. Her gown was draped over the back of a chair and bore all the scars of her misadventure. It was stained with dirt, bark and leaves. She could see several tears that she did not remember happening.
“I must say I think your housekeeper is very shoddy to leave it in such a condition all this time,” Theodora sniffed.
“Mrs. Whitby is an excellent housekeeper. She would not have left it like that for one minute. I can only assume she does not know about it,” Maria said.
“But I am certain your maid would have taken it for laundering?” Theodora asked.
Maria frowned, trying to recall the name of the maid. They had spoken only briefly. With a flash of embarrassment, she remembered it. “Sally would, so she too must be unaware. Damien must have banned them from disturbing me and…oh!”
Evelina’s eyes widened at the same time as Maria’s. Both had come to the same conclusion. Theodora looked confused. Anna frowned, and then a moment later, her mouth opened in a circle of surprise.
“Oh, indeed!” Evelina said.
“You are married after all, but I would not want my missing husband doing the same if he’d ever returned,” Anna said.
“Whatever is the matter with you all? We were talking of inefficient servants, not husbands and their depredations,” Theodora said in innocent confusion.
“Theodora, please!” Evelina chided. “If the maid and the housekeeper do not know about the gown, then they did not help Maria out of it. Who did?”
Theodora’s mouth opened as wide as Anna’s.
“That is just…simply…I mean to say!” she spluttered. “It might have been another woman!”
Given how small the staff was, Maria found that quite unlikely. She supposed that the physician Hale might have undressed her whilst searching for injuries, but Maria also suspected that Damien might be peculiarly protective in that regard.
The others laughed. Maria joined in. Their company was a balm that soothed her pains and her anxieties. She thought of being undressed by Damien. He had shown how gentle he could be. He would have taken great care when stripping the gown from her and then making her comfortable in the bed.
The idea of being looked upon nearly naked made her bite her lip. Her cheeks flamed. Evelina seemed to notice, but beyond a secretive smile shared with Maria, she said nothing.
“So, it seems an overture has been made,” Anna said, after the exclamations had died down.
“Do you think so?” Theodora asked.
“I should definitely say so. The duke did not have to summon us to be by Maria’s side,” Evelina pointed out.
“I agree,” Maria said. “It is the first time he has shown me any sign of… well, the kind of care one expects from a husband.”
“I do not recall any care from my late husband. But he bestowed a great deal of care on the bottle,” Evelina declared.
“I do not know what my husband bestows his care upon,” Anna said. “As I never see him. I assume he is real, and I did not dream our wedding. I am living in his house after all.”
“I honestly do not know that I will ever want a husband, hearing all the terrible stories the two of you tell. And now you as well, Maria. First, the Marquess of Landsdowne and now the… the duke!” Theodora exclaimed, obviously stopping herself from saying the Phantom.
Maria was glad of her restraint. She found herself disliking the silly moniker more and more. After her friends had left, Maria summoned Sally with the bellpull beside her bed. Maria’s ankle was swollen and painful, making movement difficult, and she cursed her own desire to prove herself.
Damien did warn me that the woods were dangerous. And he has made concessions in welcoming my friends into his house for my sake. I do not want to reject that overture. I just hope I have not done irreparable damage by needing to be rescued once again.
Sally arrived quickly, her pale face flushed and a few strands of her blonde hair curling from beneath her black cap. The young woman looked as though she had literally run to Maria’s room.
“Your Grace!” Sally exclaimed, dipping into a curtsey. “I am pleased to see that you are well.”
Maria arched an eyebrow. “Did you have reason to believe that I was not?”
“Yes. His Grace said that you were injured in the forest, and you asked not to be disturbed,” Sally said. “We were all terribly worried.”
“That is kind of you,” Maria said. “But you need not worry about me. I am resilient.”
Sally’s lips twitched into a small smile. “So it seems, Your Grace! Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Actually, yes,” Maria said. “Would you carry a message for me to the duke? I assume he is still in residence?”
“I believe so, Your Grace. I have not seen him all day, but then he often spends time alone where I am not permitted…”
She stopped, cheeks flaming, mouth clapping shut. Maria thought she knew what the maid had avoided saying.
Where she is not permitted to go. The forbidden wing, for example.
Maria put aside her curiosity for a moment.
“He spent some time in your room, while you were injured,” Sally added hastily. “I do not want you to feel as though you have been neglected, Your Grace.”
“Did he?” Maria asked, a little surprised.
She imagined Damien seated beside her in place of Evelina, Anna, and Theodora. Maria shivered, thinking of his dark eyes fixed upon her motionless body. What had he thought, as he looked at her? Guilt? Anger?
“He spent at least two days and nights at your side,” Sally said. “Perhaps, longer.”
A lump lodged itself in Maria’s throat. What was she to think of that? It could not be that he was growing fond of her. Maybe it was merely a penance, Damien trying to make amends for treating her so coldly. “Will you tell His Grace that I would very much like to dine with him this evening?”
“Of course, Your Grace,” Sally replied, happily oblivious to the turmoil brewing inside Maria. “I’ll go at once. After I speak with him, I shall return and help you dress.”
Mrs. Whitby excelled herself that evening.
Maria found herself banished from her own sitting room and forced to listen in intrigue to the movement of furniture from the other side of a closed door.
Then, the door had been opened, and Maria stepped through into a glittering, candlelit supper.
Lamps and strategically placed mirrors made the room glow.
Glasses and cutlery caught the light and made it sparkle.
Maria walked into the room, supporting herself on a walking stick, and as she entered, the door to the hallway opened. Damien came in. He looked resplendent, all in black, but the elegance of his clothes offset his primal looks, taming them and making him appear more civilized.
“Thank you for the invitation,” he said, walking around the table to pull out a chair for her.
“Thank you for accepting,” Maria said, sitting, “and for saving me, once again.”
Damien’s lips twitched as he took the seat opposite her.
“Mrs. Whitby clearly believes some…thing was needed between us,” he said, looking around the transformed room.
“Some romance perhaps?” Maria asked.
Damien grimaced. “Do not use that word. I have no use for it.”
“I think Mrs. Whitby is something of a romantic,” Maria said. “She has told me how glad she is that Winterleigh has a duchess once more.”
“Is she?” Damien said. “Did you tell her how close Winterleigh came to not having a duchess at all?”
“No. I did not care to draw too much attention to my own foolishness,” Maria countered smoothly.
Sally entered with water, which she poured for Maria and Damien. Maria jumped as Damien smiled wickedly.
“I am glad you recognize it. I did warn you.”
“And avoided saying I told you so, too,” Maria replied with a smile.
“I did not use those words.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“The woods are full of traps against those who seek to invade my privacy,” Damien said defensively.
Maria sighed, feeling like she was picking roses, trying to reach the flowers while avoiding the thorns. This was not how she had wanted the dinner to go. Damien glowered for a moment, then slapped his hand upon the table.
“You might have explained that,” Maria said. “When you said that I might have access to the grounds with my friends, I naively assumed that would include the woods.”