The Dowager's Wager (23 page)

Isabella smiled for Avery’s benefit. “Of course, I’d be
honored. I’ll make a quick trip to the retiring room and be
back before the dancing starts” Isabella ascended the staircase in search of the ladies retiring rooms. She didn’t need
to check her dress or shoes but a trip upstairs would help her
gather her thoughts and put on her social face. As she
entered the chamber, Caroline Danvers waved enthusiastically to her.

“Lady Westbrooke, I am so glad you’re here! I have the
most wonderful piece of news to share with you” Caroline
left the small group of girls and crossed the room to her side.
Isabella pasted on a smile she didn’t feel and gave Caroline
all her attention.

“It is still a secret, but not for much longer. I have to tell you since you have been my mentor.” Caroline rushed over
her words in obvious excitement, her voice low and private.

“Whatever is your news, Caroline?” Isabella encouraged
as her head spun trying to keep up with the excited girl.
Caroline glowed tonight, looking young and sophisticated in
the stylish pale blue gown Isabella had recommended for her.

“It’s the Viscount Gresham” She paused and blushed.
“Tristan” She said his name tentatively, as if still trying the
word out on her tongue. “He proposed to me today and I
have accepted. Mama and Papa are thrilled and we have you
to thank,” Caroline gushed, squeezing Isabella’s hands until
they hurt. “He says he wants a wedding before June is over.
He doesn’t want to wait. Isn’t that romantic?”

Isabella looked at Caroline’s expectant blue eyes, filled
with joy over her upcoming nuptials. She managed to
mumble appropriate niceties and disengage herself from
Caroline before desperation completely claimed her. In a
daze, she found some privacy and sat down heavily. Tristan
to marry Caroline! She had been warned, several times in
fact. Alain had told her. Amy had told her of Tristan dancing regular attendance on Caroline. She had heard and done
nothing to fix his attentions back on her. She should be glad.
Caroline loved horses and the country life. They would be
well suited.

Faint strains of the orchestra tuning up downstairs,
reminding her of her promise to meet Avery. She gathered
her skirts and pinched her cheeks, trying to hide her bleeding heart with a smile.

She saw Alain on the steps as she descended. He waved
up at her and came to her side immediately, kissing her
cheek. “Are you well, Bella? I am glad to see you out at last,”
he said quietly.

“I am fine, Alain. And you?”

“Tristan made all the arrangements to exonerate me and
keep it hushed up. There’s nothing to fear.” He reassured her
with a pat on the hand. “He’s here tonight, you know. He said
he called at the house to see you when he returned to Town but you refused to see him.” The expression on his face suggested he hoped for further clarification or confession from
his sister regarding her situation with Tristan. He was to be
dissatisfied.

“I saw Caroline Danvers earlier,” Isabella said, redirecting the conversation.

“Then you’ve heard the news?”

Isabella nodded, a weary look on her face mingled with
the hurt she was clearly trying to hide.

“I am sorry.” Alain’s own expression mirrored his sister’s
hurt. “I don’t pretend to understand all there was between
you and Tristan. But I feel something akin to what you’re
feeling. Tristan is a changed man. He has been a true friend
in every way possible regarding the clearance of my name.
Yet, I know that our friendship is altered and there is dissonance between us, over you”

“I never wanted to come between you and Tristan. I know
how much his friendship means to you, has always meant to
you,” Isabella whispered in consolation.

Alain began to speak but at that moment Avery spotted her
on the stairs and came up to join them, cutting off any further
conversation. “Wickham! So glad you could come” He greeted Alain effusively. By the look of happiness on his face,
Isabella knew he obviously took her brother’s presence as a
sign of her acceptance. The orchestra started and he turned to
Isabella. “Shall we?”

She was happy to accept in order to steer Avery away
from Alain. She had not discussed her situation with Alain
and did not want him taken by surprise or caught off guard
by Avery’s assumptions. The opening dance was a country
reel and Isabella threw herself into the steps in the hopes of
distracting her thoughts from Tristan. Afterwards, Avery
suggested a stroll on the verandah. Once they were alone, he
turned towards her, ready to broach the issue that had been
at the forefront of his mind.

“I have meant to give you time to consider my proposal.
If your answer is favorable, I’d like to have our engagement announced tonight. It would thrill my aunt to no end,” Avery
began. “However, I do not want you to feel pushed. I am sure
the ordeal at Gresham’s haunts you still.”

Tristan was beyond her reach now, but some modicum of
happiness was still within her reach, Isabella thought as she
stared at Avery. Still, she had to tell him what he was up
against. “Avery, it is only fair that you know .. “

“No, Isabella, you don’t need to say anything. I know
there were rumors about something between you and
Gresham at the house party.” When she made to interrupt,
Avery held up a stalling hand. “I must confess that those
rumors are what prompted me to press you for an answer tonight. I want to announce our betrothal as a means of silencing any remnants of that gossip, for I believe that is all it
is-malicious gossip from people who don’t appreciate the
long-standing friendship Gresham has had with your family.
However, I will not condone Gresham’s actions and I feel
compelled to say that no gentleman would ever place a lady
in such questionable circumstances. His actions were unconscionable and he should have known better.”

Isabella averted her glance and looked out over the dark
gardens. Avery had been doing well with his pretty speech
about covering her in his honor until he’d chosen to castigate
Tristan. “It’s hardly fair to upbraid him when he’s not here
to defend himself,” she found herself saying to her surprise.
She’d thought she was done with standing up for Tristan.

Avery looked chastised. “My apologies. He is a particular
friend of your brother’s. You are absolutely correct. I should
address my remarks directly to him.”

Isabella smiled weakly in acceptance of his apology. She
drew a deep breath and in her next response, set her life on
a new course. “You have been kindness itself to me and have
always treated me with the utmost respect. I accept your
proposal.”

Stunned, Avery could say nothing for a few joyous
moments. Isabella watched rapture play across his features.
Fleetingly, she let herself be caught up in his happiness. If he only knew what he was getting, she thought, coming back
to earth. He might not be so jubilant. But she promised herself she’d do her best.

“I think I am the happiest man alive at this moment,”
Avery said at last. “I’ll have our good news announced
before the supper waltz.”

Now that the deed was done, Isabella wanted the supper
waltz to hurry as if making the announcement public would
offer no opportunity to back out of it. She and Avery quietly
spoke with Alain, sharing the news with him in a private
room. Alain was pleasant but obviously surprised by the decision. He smiled and did his duty, saying only, “if you’re sure
this is what you want, Bella.”

She nearly avoided having to see Tristan, but a sharp turn
at the end of the ballroom during the supper waltz brought
she and Avery up on the heels of Tristan and Caroline. For
an instant her eyes locked with Tristan’s questing gaze. She
tore her gaze away. She would have no more of his treachery. How conceited he was to think he could turn his soulful
gaze on her and she’d run to his arms.

She steeled herself. She would have to get used to such
encounters. No doubt she and Avery would encounter Tristan
and Caroline out in society and possibly even in the country
on occasion with Caroline’s family living so close to Avery’s
new horse farm. “I should warn Caroline,” Isabella murmured more to herself than Avery, who looked at her quizzically and cocked his head as if he’d missed something in the
conversation. When he inquired, Isabella only shook her
head. Then the music was over and his Aunt Elizabeth was
calling for attention. Isabella’s hand tightened on Avery’s
arm. These next few minutes would seal her future.

Avery squeezed her hand and then left her to mount the
orchestra dais and stand with his aunt. Isabella would join
them after the pronouncement. It was simply done in
Avery’s honest, straightforward manner and soon he was
gesturing for her to come up and join him as applause broke
out in the ballroom. Avery was well liked by his peers and there was genuine pleasure for him as Isabella stepped onto
the dais and looked out over the assembly. Many had known
of his open affection for her and were pleased that his pursuit had ended successfully after his long campaign.

Of their own accord, Isabella’s eyes scanned the crowd
for Tristan, finding him with Caroline’s family. He was all
polite smiles as he bent to catch Caroline’s words but he did
raise his gaze to the platform once to meet her stare. Then he
gave a slight conceding nod and turned his attention back to
the conversation.

After supper, the evening became a blur of kisses and
congratulations as well-wishers converged on them. The
most horrific point of the evening occurred when Caroline
pressed forward to meet them, gushing her joy. “Lady
Westbrooke, you are full of surprises! I can’t believe you
didn’t say anything to me earlier tonight.” Caroline teased as
she kissed Isabella’s cheek. I hadn’t quite made up my mind
when I saw you, Isabella thought to herself as her ears caught
the sounds of familiar low tones conversing with Avery. Her
fiance was saying, “As an old friend of the family, I hope
you’ll be at the wedding.”

With a conspiratorial look in her direction, Tristan smiled
and said, “I will be on my honeymoon in June. I am planning on taking my bride to my hunting lodge in Scotland.
She’s never been that far north and I want her to see the
highland heather in the summer when it’s at its loveliest.”
Avery nodded his understanding with manly consent but
Isabella studied Tristan carefully. Whoever thought Tristan
was doing well, didn’t know him at all. How could Alain, his
best friend, have thought he was fine?

He lacked his usual vitality, his voice was less animated,
his bearing less alert, if that was the right word for the magnetic power that rolled off of him. When he looked at her,
she knew with a certainty that she was right. His dark eyes
were flat, lifeless orbs and dark circles were smudged
beneath them like careless soot. Of course, the Season could
take its toll with late nights and he’d put in his share of them. But to Isabella, his hurt was obvious, if only because the
facade etched on his face so closely mirrored the one she
crafted for herself this evening. If anyone looked beneath
the layers of cosmetics she’d used tonight to hide her own
pain, they’d see much the same. Her heart lurched in a
moment of weakness, forgetting that not only had she forbidden herself to feel for him, but that she was eternally furious with him for his fickle betrayal. Her mind’s warning was
too late. Instinctively, Isabella reached out a hand and said
softly, “Tristan, are you well?”

Her tone surprised all three of them and she drew her
hand back quickly once she realized what she had done, but
Tristan captured it, taking her gloved hand and kissing it.
Silently she acknowledged to herself why she had refused to
see him. She couldn’t quite bring herself to hate him and
how badly she wanted to hate him!

“I am as well as can be expected, Lady Westbrooke,”
Tristan replied, relinquishing her hand and turning back to
Avery. “Might I steal your betrothed fora dance?”

Avery graciously inclined his head while Isabella fumed.
What gall these two men had to decide whom she would
dance with. How neatly Tristan had maneuvered the request!
Avery could not refuse and she could not contradict Avery’s
wishes in such a public forum. Her eyes narrowed at Tristan,
the dislike for him that she failed to convincingly conjure a
few moments ago, now blazed through her. With a vicious
snap, she flipped open the fan that dangled from her wrist.
“That was an exceedingly low move, Gresham,” she said
coldly as he moved them through the throng to the dance
floor.

Tristan only nodded, his hand pressing on her back as he
guided her on to the floor. “We aren’t really going to dance,
at least not past those doors on the left.” There was a commanding element in his voice and his grip tightened as he
swung her into the pattern. “Then we are going to find a nice
quiet room where we can be alone. There are things I must
say and you must hear.”

“You are an arrogant man to think you can order me about
like this.”

“You left me no choice by refusing to see me in the privacy of your own home,” Tristan retorted hotly.

The doors loomed and Tristan skillfully whirled them
through the dark portals into a dimly lit hallway lined with
doors. At the end of the hall he found a door ajar and the room
empty. He shut the door behind them with an ominous thud
that Isabella was certain the entire household heard. Her
protest was cut off by a swift gesture from Tristan. “No, none
of your wit will save you now, Isabella.” He strode forward
purposefully and grasped her by the shoulders. “I will have
the truth from you, this night. You have barred me from your
home, but I do not think you’ve so easily barred me from your
heart. What game do you play with this betrothal to Driscoll?”

Isabella was outraged. “What game do I play? You are the
one who used me in a misguided attempt to have my brother arrested for treason!”