Page 45 of What a Widow Wants

Struck dumb, Fanny froze, her hand gripping the back of the nearest chair.

“Lady Stephen, did you wish me to take Miss Ella up for her tea now?” Nurse’s question finally penetrated Fanny’s fog-filled mind. Still unable to summon words, she nodded and turned away lest Matthew or Beatrice see her face.

“No, Mama!” Ella cried. “Let me stay here. You said I could have tea with you and Lord . . . Lord . . .”

“Lathbury,” Matthew supplied. “Perhaps I could have my tea in the nursery with you instead, Ella. Would that be all right?”

Not knowing what to say, Fanny looked at Lady Lathbury, whose cool eyes had missed nothing. “I think that a splendid idea, Rowley. Beatrice will go along as well for company.”

“But Mama—”

“Beatrice.” The commanding tone in the countess’s voice brooked no dissent. “Go with Matthew and the child. I believe Lady Stephen is overwrought and needs a moment.”

“Fanny?” Matthew’s concerned voice sent a shiver of dread down her spine.

Gathering her wits, she put on an unconcerned smile and turned to him, Ella still in his arms. “I have done too much preparation for this meeting, I fear, Matthew. That is all. I am fatigued and overcome with an attack of vapors. It will pass.” She tried to smile to reassure him. “Go have tea with Ella. I think you have made yet another conquest.”

The concerned look did not leave his face. Gently, he slid Ella to the ground. “Wait with Nurse, poppet. I must speak a word with your mother.”

As Ella ran to her nurse, Matthew took Fanny’s arm. Out of the corner of her eye Lady Lathbury drew Beatrice to her.

“Fanny, is something wrong? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.” He kissed her hand passionately then squeezed it. “Have you discovered that you are increasing?”

She blew out the breath she’d been holding. “No, my dear. Unfortunately that is not the case.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, glad to be able to tell him some truth. “My courses finished yesterday and always leave me somewhat weak. That is likely the cause of my dizziness just now. So please go, have tea with Ella. That was the plan, was it not? To see how you get along together. I think she’s very taken with you.”

“And I with her.” His gaze strayed back to the doorway where Nurse waited with Ella hopping impatiently from one foot to the other. “Such a lovely child, Fanny. The spitting image of her mother.”

“She has some of her father about her as well.”

“I see nothing of Stephen in her.” Matthew grimaced. “Let us hope she does not take after him in other ways.”

“No, I pray God she does not.”

“I shall return to you shortly, although I fear I must accompany Mother and Beatrice back to Hunter’s Terrace. We are dining tonight with friends of my parents. Perhaps tomorrow you will ride in the park with me. You and Ella.”

“No!” Fanny caught herself and laid her hand on his arm. “I am sorry. I am still overwrought, I fear. Likely I will need a few days in bed to recover completely.”

“I do not understand why you worked yourself into a state about this meeting, my love. Ella is a delightful child. I trust I have put all your fears to rest on that account.”

Gazing at him, her heart aching with love and despair, Fanny simply smiled and took his arm. “You should go before she becomes impatient.”

“As I said, very like her mother.” With a quick kiss on her lips, Matthew joined Ella and took her hand. “Lead the way, Nurse. Our tea awaits.”

“I can show you the way, Lord Laffbury.” Ella tugged at his hand and they, with Beatrice bringing up the rear, moved down the corridor where Ella’s sweet, high voice drifted back. “Why did your mama call you Rowley?”

As soon as they disappeared, Fanny dropped down onto the chaise and buried her face in her hands. Oh, dear God, how had this happened? What was she to do?

“I take it, then, that you did not know that Ella was my son’s child, Lady Stephen?” The countess’s voice brought Fanny’s head up with a jerk. She’d quite forgotten the woman was still in the room.

Could she perhaps deny it? One look at Lady Lathbury told her this was out of the question. “No, I had no idea until a few minutes ago. When did you discover it?”

“Almost from the moment the child walked into the room. She is very like Rowley when he was her age.” The countess sat, hands in her lap. “I spoke to Beatrice. She will not say a word to him.”

“She realized it as well?”

“Of course she did. Anyone with an eye who has met Rowley, would see it. Except, apparently, you.” Suspicion gleamed in the woman’s crystal blue eyes. Matthew’s eyes. Ella’s eyes.

“I swear to you, my lady, I did not know she was Matthew’s daughter.” Fanny grabbed a napkin from the abandoned tea tray and wiped her eyes. “Three years into my marriage my husband was unfaithful to me, in ways that hurt me very much. I sought to get revenge on him by having an affair with Matthew, who had, as you know, offered for me before I accepted Stephen. I believe we were discreet in the extreme. No one has ever even hinted about the affair, which lasted about four months.”