Claiming His Wife (36 page)

He thought he heard Grace mutter
something as she went out the door, but he couldn't quite make out
what.  If she was worried about her reception from the
servants, she shouldn't be.  Alex had prepared his staff, they
all knew that he'd be bringing her home and that they should treat
her with the respect due the lady of the house.  He'd gotten
the impression that most of them weren't resentful over her
absence, just relieved that it was now being rectified and their
household was finally going to become like any other.
 

Just as soon as they had their
talk.

******

Grace had been tempted to
stay and watch Alex bathe, but she also wasn't quite ready to give
up the dreamy happiness that she'd found and ruin it with the
discussion that she knew was coming.  Once she confronted him
about why he wanted to reconcile with her, things were going to
change irrevocably, one way or another.  She wasn't avoiding
it exactly... but just putting it off, holding onto the illusion
that everything was wonderful, if only for a little while.
 

Doing something as normal and mundane
as seeking out the housekeeper only added to that illusion of a
happy husband and wife. 

"My lady," Mrs. Stewart said, as soon
as she caught sight of Grace heading her way, immediately
interrupting directions she'd been giving to a maid.  Grace
was surprised to see a look of pleasure on the older woman's
face.

Somewhere in her sixties,
the steely-haired, sharp-eyed hawk of a housekeeper wasn't the type
to put up with any nonsense.  Part of the reason Grace had
wanted to seek her out while Alex wasn't around was in case Mrs.
Stewart wasn't very respectful.  She knew very well that Alex
wouldn't let the woman go, and so she'd hoped to have a private
kind of confrontation, but from the welcoming expression on Mrs.
Stewart's face, it appeared there wasn't going to be a
confrontation at all.  Maybe Alex hadn't been sarcastic when
he'd said Mrs. Stewart would be happy to see her.

"Mrs. Stewart," Grace said, trying to
sound confident, although she could hear the slight hesitation in
her voice.  "If you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you
about the menus for this week, now that Lord Brooke and I are
here."

"Very good, my lady," Mrs. Stewart
said, giving a nod of approval as if Grace was a young student who
had just said something clever.  Looking at the maid, Mrs.
Stewart waved her hand.  "Go on girl, just don't let me find a
speck of dust anywhere or you'll regret it."

The maid bobbed a curtsy to both of
the ladies before rushing off, looking both determined and worried.
 Mrs. Stewart's standards were incredibly high.
 

"Would you like to sit in the yellow
room?" Mrs. Stewart asked, although it sounded more like a firm
suggestion than a true question.  Grace couldn't help but
smile, rather astounded that Mrs. Stewart remembered her preference
for that small but cheery room.  She was also aware that she
was being herded into the "proper role" of lady of the house by the
housekeeper.

But she much preferred that over being
met with accusing eyes, recriminations, resentment or
disrespect.

Mrs. Stewart was prepared, not that
Grace expected anything less.  They spent the next hour in the
yellow room, at one of the small tables, going over the purchases
Mrs. Stewart had made in advance of the Brookes' arrival and
devising menus for the week from it.  Something that she had
done quite often on her own, but now she was thinking about Alex
too.  Remembering his preferences, his dislikes.  And
Mrs. Stewart dropped several helpful hints along the way when
Grace's memory failed her.

The housekeeper also filled Grace in
on the state of the house, the number of servants currently
employed, her recommendations about what linens needed to be
replaced and what rooms needed to be looked at.  When Grace
asked about the bedroom usually reserved for the lady of the house,
Mrs. Stewart coughed delicately and said that the lord had decreed
it was not to be opened up for any reason.  She looked
slightly scandalized as she said it, which nearly made Grace
giggle.

Apparently her own scandalous behavior
was going to be forgiven, but the staff was still a bit taken aback
by the sleeping arrangements.  After all, it just wasn't done.
 Of course, neither was deserting one's husband without giving
him an heir.  She was glad that Mrs. Stewart wasn't holding a
grudge, but sometimes she just didn't understand the way the staff
viewed things.

"I think that's it," Mrs. Stewart said
cheerfully, gathering her papers back up.  "Thank you for your
time, my lady.  It's good to have you back where you
belong."

The words were said
perfectly respectfully, but at the same time carried subtext
indicating that Grace had better fulfill her duties as Lady Brooke
or Mrs. Stewart would have something to say about it.  Grace
nodded her head to indicate understanding.  Perhaps she should
call Mrs. Stewart on her implied directive, but she was too
relieved it wasn't worse.  Housekeepers of Mrs. Stewart's
quality were coveted by the
ton
.  Certain positions within
a household were much harder to fill than others, and Mrs. Stewart
was an exemplary member of her kind.  It was the same reason
Grace had ultimately decided to keep Rose on as her lady's maid,
finding and training a new lady's maid would be difficult, and
other than working for Alex, Rose was a wonderful lady's
maid.

"Thank you, Mrs. Stewart," she
murmured, keeping her face composed.  It wouldn't do to show
her amusement or her relief.  The housekeeper probably
wouldn't consider it proper.  

To Grace's surprise,
Peters slipped in the door just after Mrs. Stewart slipped out.
 For a moment they just stared at each other.  The man
she'd trusted to keep her safe, whom she'd occasionally confided
in, the one and only man that had stood by her through all the
years she'd been apart from Alex.  The only man she'd allowed
herself to rely on in any way. 

No wonder it had hurt so much when
he'd let Alex in the door.

"Hello Peters," she said, softly, her
voice heavy with resignation.  The bitterness, the anger was
gone, as she understood that she'd been let down by yet another man
in her life.  But then again, had she really?  Peters
must have known Alex's plan.  Perhaps he even thought he'd
been doing the best thing for her.

"My lady," Peters said,
just as softly.  There was remorse on his usually inexpressive
face, which made her feel a bit better.  The
ton
 might have
referred to Alex as "stone face" because of his usual lack of
expression, but her husband had nothing on a well-trained butler.
 "Would it be possible for me to have a moment of your
time?"

Such a request was unprecedented.
 Some bitter, petty part of Grace wanted to deny him, to lash
back at him for hurting her, but she pushed it down as unworthy.
 Just a month ago, she probably would have ignored the small
voice inside of her head to let him speak.  She hadn't cared
much for anyone's pain or feelings but her own, and only her
closest friends had escaped that indifference.  Although, even
there, she'd had a waspish tongue as well.  It shamed her to
think of how poorly she'd occasionally treated Eleanor, who had
stood by her side anyway.  She wanted to be a better person
now.  In fact, she felt as though she already was.  Even
if it turned out Alex just wanted an heir or needed her for a
business deal, Grace didn't want to be that bitterly unhappy person
that she'd turned into.  

"That's fine, Peters, come on in," she
said, doing her best to keep her voice even.

Standing across the table from her,
hands at his sides, he looked a bit like he was facing a firing
squad.  It was almost enough to make her smile, but the very
serious expression on his face helped her keep her own in
check. 

"I just wanted to
apologize, my lady," he said, bowing his head slightly.  "I
didn't get a chance to before you left.  Although I had no
choice but to follow my lord's orders and keep his involvement in
your staff a secret, I want you to know that I never bore you any
ill will and I would have never done anything to upset you if it
had been in my power."

Studying the earnest expression on his
face, Grace felt another little crack in her heart heal.
 Peters was an amazing butler, and he truly had done
everything he could to keep anyone from upsetting her.  She
never thought that he'd meant to hurt her, it was just an
inevitability that the men she trusted hurt her.  Although,
unlike Alex and her father, Peters had done his best, within his
limitations.  Unfortunately, Alex just happened to be one of
those limitations.

"Lord Brooke is a good man, my family
has been with his for years," Peters continued, after pausing for a
moment to see if she would respond.  "My instructions, when he
first asked me to seek a post with you, were to ensure that you
never came to any harm and to protect you from the
gossipmongers."

"Not to keep out my lovers?"
 Grace asked, arching one eyebrow.  It was a question
that had crossed her mind more than once, when she'd allowed her
thoughts to dwell on the past and Alex's sudden attitude
reversal. 

Peters hesitated, and she
was fascinated to see a slight blush creep into his cheeks.
 "Lord Brooke never gave me any instruction about ah... male
visitors," he said, his head tipping back slightly and she had the
impression that he was putting his nose in the air.  "And, if
you'll excuse my frankness, I thought that perhaps such visitors
might jolt him into admitting to the fraudulent nature of his own
affairs.  I didn't realize it would cause further pain on both
your parts when I first made my decision to tell him that your
flirtations were nothing but flirtations."

"Fraudulent nature?" Grace repeated,
trying to understand what Peters was saying.

"Why, yes, I assume his lordship..."
 Peters' voice tapered off as if realizing that perhaps his
assumption about his lordship was just as incorrect this time as it
had been the last.  "I think perhaps I should let you speak to
his lordship first."

"Oh no you don't," Grace glared up at
him, pointing her finger accusingly, as she fell back into the
pattern of speaking easily and frankly with Peters.  They had
been together long enough that she didn't often stand on ceremony
with him when they were alone.  "You owe me.  Exactly
what about Alex's affairs was fraudulent?"

After shifting his weight back and
forth, looking increasingly uncomfortable, Peters blew out a long
breath of air.  Unlike Grace, he seemed to be clinging to the
proper respect between servant and mistress, perhaps to create the
emotional distance he needed to answer her. 

"Although Lord Brooke didn't give me
any specific orders regarding male visitors to your household, he
did initially ask for reports on your guests.  When he became
aware that none of your flirtations were... ah... serious, he
decided to embark upon his own.  Um, I believe with the
intention of making you jealous.  To my knowledge, he did not
obtain a true mistress until after I had to report your first
overnight guest."

Grace's jaw dropped for several
reasons.  The first being that Alex had cared enough to keep
such close tabs on her when she'd initially left him, even as he'd
given her the space she'd demanded.  Although the presence of
his servants in her household had intimated as much, she'd still
struggled with the idea that he hadn't just left her completely
alone.  The second was the knowledge that Alex's first
mistress hadn't been anything more than a prop.

That bitch!

That
bastard!

When Grace had first left him,
heart-broken and crushed, she'd found her self-confidence again in
the admiration from other men.  Perhaps her husband hadn't
cared about her, hadn't valued her as anything but part of a
business transaction, but other men found her beautiful and
appealing.  So she'd flirted.  Part of her had even hoped
that maybe Alex would come to her, maybe he'd realize that she was
worth something for herself.  She hadn't actively thought
about making him jealous, but that was part of it, she was sure...
but the main part had been reassuring herself that she was a
beautiful and desirable woman, one who was worth more to men than
just her father's money.

Then whispers had come to her that
Alex had a mistress, Lady Clarissa Heathmore.  A beautiful,
tall, icy blonde with dark, haunting eyes.  Grace's opposite
in every way.  

Lady Clarissa had cornered Grace in
the retiring room at a ball, mocking her for being unable to keep
her husband's attentions, inferring that he'd abandoned Grace
rather than the other way round.  She'd praised Alex's prowess
in bed and told Grace not to expect to return to it any time
soon.

One woman is as good as
another.

With his choice of Lady Clarissa as
his mistress, Grace thought that he'd proven those words.
 Because if he was content with such a harpy gracing his bed,
then he must truly not care what woman gave him pleasure.
 She'd chosen her very first lover that night, and been lucky
that the rake was eager to please her and fully lived up to his
reputation.  The next morning Grace had had a few regrets, but
they were all emotional, not physical, and all of them had easily
been dismissed when she'd remembered Lady Clarissa's
taunts.