Chapter 15
“Why can’t I go out?” Arabella demanded, standing in the middle of the library as Philip sat in his favorite chair, a large book in his lap.
“Because I said you can’t,” Philip snapped. He looked agitated that they were having this conversation again. “You’ve caused a scene, and I know you’re just going to keep on meddling, so you’re going to stay here until I can trust you not to do anything stupid.”
“I didn’t cause a scene! I didn’t ask that dog to jump up at me, did I?”
“I’m talking about afterward, when you lay in a man’s arms and didn’t do anything.”
Arabella scoffed at that. How could he still be thinking that she orchestrated that?
“I didn’t plan to hit my head on the ground. If the Duke of Hartwood hadn’t been there to break most of my fall, it could’ve been worse.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Just stop it, Philip!” Arabella smacked her hand down on the table, resulting in a stinging palm. “Anyway, what do you know of what I’ve been doing? You’re too busy wrapped up in your own little world to care about what’s happening around you.”
Philip scowled. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? You’re the one who buries your head, which you’ve been doing since our father was killed.”
That made him groan. “Not this again. You can’t seriously be suggesting that Pa died because someone murdered him.”
“It’s logical, isn’t it?”
“He lost badly at cards and threw himself into the river, hitting his head on the way down. That’s all there is to it.”
Arabella barked out a harsh laugh that made her brother jump. She advanced on him, standing over Philip as he sat in his chair.
“Do you really believe that Pa would go so far as to take his own life? He wasn’t that sort of person; we both know that.”
“Do we? Sometimes, we don’t truly know a person.
” Philip stood up, now towering over Arabella.
His jaw tightened as he stared back at her.
“I’m your guardian now, whether you like it or not, and you’re going to stay here and not leave the house until I know that you’ve gotten those silly ideas out of your head.
And when I feel like you’re not going to humiliate me with your constant meddling. ”
“I’m not…”
“Just go, Arabella. You’re embarrassing yourself. Leave it alone.”
“Why should I?”
He looked like he was going to say something more, but decided against it. Then he pointed toward the door. “Go away. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the day. You’re permitted to have visitors, but you’re not going anywhere.”
“That’s very gracious of you,” Arabella sneered. “I’m allowed to see people, but on your terms. I’m not permitted to do what I want.”
“Not with the way you’ve been behaving, no. Now get out of here.”
There was no point in arguing further with him. He wasn’t going to budge on his decision. Arabella was stuck in the house whether she liked it or not. She couldn’t leave without his permission.
Most of the time, Arabella wouldn’t care about that and would carry on about her business as normal, but she’d already noticed that the servants were watching her more closely. It was like Philip had told them to watch out for her and make sure she behaved herself.
She wasn’t about to feel like a prisoner in her own home.
Storming out of the library, Arabella’s mind turned over what she could do.
She’d been confined to the house for the last four days, mostly in her room, and it was beginning to make her go insane.
She couldn’t look at the same four walls all the time.
At least Philip had allowed her out of her room, as if she were a naughty child, but she couldn’t leave the house itself.
How did he think forbidding her from going anywhere was going to help? It was just going to make her more resentful.
And curious as to why Philip would want her to stop investigating. With the fierce way he was arguing with her, Arabella had to question if he knew something she didn’t. There had to be something he was keeping from her.
A chill washed over her, and she shivered. It didn’t mean that her brother was involved, did it? He wouldn’t have murdered their father. That wasn’t possible.
And yet…
“Lady Arabella?” A footman was approaching her. “Miss Whitby is here. She’s in the morning room.”
Clara? Arabella hadn’t been aware that her friend would be visiting. Had she agreed and then completely forgotten about it? With everything that had been going on, it wouldn’t have been a surprise.
Quickening her pace, she went into the morning room to find Clara pacing around, her skirts wishing about her legs as they brushed against the floor. She turned as Arabella entered, her expression flooding with relief.
“Thank goodness!” She hurried over, clasping Arabella’s hands before hugging her. “I was beginning to worry about you. I haven’t heard from you in nearly a week.”
“My apologies, Clara.” Arabella winced at the realization she’d been neglecting everyone while wallowing in her own annoyances. “Things got on top of me, and I just… forgot about everything else.”
“What on earth’s going on?” Still holding onto her hand, Clara led her over to a settee, and they sat down. “I heard from a few people that you caused a scene at the picnic Lord Vaughn arranged. You ended up getting hysterical?”
Arabella snorted.
“I wouldn’t call it that. I just hit my head, and I was a little dazed. But also…” She shuddered. “I had a flash to my pa, and what might’ve actually happened to him. It was quite… I don’t know, but it left me shaken. That dog didn’t help matters much.”
Clara frowned. “That sounds different to what I heard. But I’m glad you’re doing all right. I thought you were recovering from whatever happened to you.”
“No, Philip’s forbidden me from leaving the house.”
“What? Why?”
Arabella glanced toward the door. She was half-expecting to see someone’s shadow on the other side of the door, or have her brother enter suddenly when she wasn’t expecting it.
Getting up, she hurried over to the door and opened it, checking that there was nobody there. Then she closed it and went back to Clara.
“He found out that I was looking into Pa’s death,” she whispered. “To say he’s upset and annoyed at me is an understatement.”
“But why would he be upset about it? Surely, he can understand your suspicions.”
“He doesn’t share them at all. Calls them flights of fancy, and that I’m letting a fantasy drag me down.” Arabella scowled. “I feel like he’s caught up in his own fantasy, believing that nothing happened beyond Pa getting drunk and upset that he lost everything.”
Clara peered at her curiously.
“You make it sound like he might know something about it.”
“Do I?”
“Do you believe he might know more about this than he’s telling us?”
“I… I honestly don’t know.” Arabella rubbed her hands over her face. “I’m so frustrated right now. I know something’s wrong, and the only people who seem to believe me are you and Alastair.”
“What does Alastair say about this? Have you spoken to him since that day?”
“No, not at all.”
“Really?”
Arabella shook her head miserably. That was the part that hurt the most. After Alastair had looked after her at the park, comforting her while she calmed down from the sudden moment that left her head spinning, she thought that things would be all right between them.
They were friends, and he was looking out for her.
She remembered what he said at the river, that he would choose someone close to him should he decide to find a wife.
For a fleeting moment, she’d thought he was talking about her.
It was a foolish thing to think, especially with their current arrangement, but she couldn’t help it.
Perhaps things were meant to be better between them. Arabella had found herself wanting that to be the case.
But that had been dashed when Alastair didn’t reach out to her. There were no letters as far as she knew, and her invitation that she’d managed to sneak out via the boot boy, asking if they could meet, hadn’t been answered. It was as if he’d completely forgotten about her.
Maybe he was embarrassed by what happened. He would have rumors circulating about the woman he was supposedly courting, and he wouldn’t want to be associated with her anymore. Even though she knew the reasons and admired the practicality, part of her felt hollow that he might be ignoring her.
She couldn’t blame him after that, but it still hurt that he seemed to have forgotten about her. She thought he was better than that.
“Oh, Arabella.” Clara put a hand over hers and squeezed Arabella’s fingers. “I know this is hard for you. I’m sure he’s worried about you.”
“How can that be the case when he hasn’t been to see me?”
“Perhaps your brother turned him away? There’s a chance he did that. I know that he’s not happy about the courtship he didn’t approve of.”
That did give Arabella pause. That was a possibility. Philip was more than upset that Arabella had decided to do something without his approval or knowledge, and if Alastair had come over to visit, then he would’ve been turned away at the door, and she wouldn’t know about it.
He was intent on isolating her.
“I need to speak to him,” she said.
“How are you going to do that? Is Philip going to agree to let you leave the house without a guard watching over you?”
Arabella sniffed and shook her head.
“He’s not letting me leave here at all. I don’t know for how long, but I’m practically confined to the house for the foreseeable future.”
Clara arched an eyebrow.
“Since when has that ever stopped you? I seem to remember you sneaking out plenty of times when you were younger, and neither your father nor your brother knew about it.”
“That’s when I was a child, Clara. I can’t do that now.”
“How do you know if you don’t try?”
Arabella could tell that Clara could sense a bit of excitement. Her friend was normally someone who followed the rules and maintained social etiquette, but she did like doing something a little daring. Sneaking out of the house without anyone noticing was something she would condone, however…
Arabella could feel the excitement at doing just that again bubble up inside her. And Clara was right; she wouldn’t have normally let this stop her. She had to do something, even if her brother wouldn’t.
She had to know what was going on.
“Just give me a few minutes,” she said, getting to her feet. “I won’t be long. Then we’ll go and find Alastair.”
She needed more than a few answers by now.