The Lord and his Lady (Forbidden #2)

Chapter Six

"You're going and that's final, Louise," said the Duchess with her hands on her hips.

"I am supposed to be your lady-in-waiting, yes?" asked Belinha in exasperation. "What lady's companion would I be were I not allowed to do my job?"

"And what kind of lady-in-waiting does not obey the orders of the lady she's meant to be working for?"

Belinha rubbed her arm. "This is my duty, ma'am. I do not think it appropriate to leave you alone when..."

The Duchess stifled, red lips twisted. "Has Richard put you up to this? Asked to keep me company because he's afraid I'm gonna do something to myself? Well, tell him that I won't kill myself when I know my husband will make it through."

"Oh, no, Lord Caldwell has not said anything of the sort! It was my assumption that I said what I did. I apologise, ma'am."

A sigh came from above her. "I'm sorry, too. I guess I'm a little more sensitive to things which is exactly why I can't attend. If I go there all by myself, not only will I get looks of pity but I'd be forced to enjoy myself. Tell me, Louise, if your husband was ill, would you want to go out and party or be beside him?"

Belinha knew the answer to that all too well and she didn't even have to think about it. She knew Nalini knew it, as well, which was why she did not bother waiting for an answer. "Then let me be beside you, ma'am."

"I'd like some personal time with my husband, Louise." The tone was one of finality. "Come to my room after the ball and we'll gossip about all the horrid women in the ton. That I can do."

"Of course, my lady."

"Take my coach and four. Tell Byron that I sent you."

"Alone?" she whispered, hair rising on end. How could she attend a noble party when she didn't know how to navigate her own life? "I do not think I can, my lady. I am new to the area. I..."

Her visible flustering alerted the Duchess to sit up straight. "You have a good point, dang it." Dang it, thought Belinha. Very new words she must try out. "I'll tell Richard to take you with him."

"Would that not be improper?"

"It probably would, but the ton finds fault in everything so it doesn't matter. You're under our employment so there shouldn't be anything wrong with showing up with your employer."

"I see," she mumbled, not realising that the Duchess had already moved out of her room to call for Lord Caldwell.

He came up a few moments later, changed into an outfit with breeches and trousers that were not stained with lemonade. Her cheeks heated as if a furnace and she gazed down at her feet that were covered by the evening dress.

"Please take Louise here with you to the ball. I would like her to give me some private time with my husband."

"That lay ill in bed," came the retort.

"Richard!"

"I jest, mother. I know he will get better. No need to make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Wow, you're really stealing my lines and using them against me."

"What can I say, your foreign tongue has rubbed on me."

Belinha listened to mother and son banter with a ghost of a smile. She wondered if she would have this sort of relationship with her own mother, were she still alive. Though with the cards God dealt her, even if she were to be alive, this sort of conversation would never have happened.

They would be too busy cleaning or separated in different sections of the master's house even to speak. Only speaking to put homemade ointment on Mama's wounds or her own. Belinha did not notice she was glaring so hatefully at a distant point until a clear of a throat made her jump.