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Portia felt as if she was entering a maze with traps and snares at every turn, and that every step she took could be her last. But if anyone was to blame for the situation she was in, it was Arnold, and she felt no compunction in saying so.
“Since you have been generous enough to make me your companion, Ma’am, I have seen how happy you and your dear prince are together, and seeing has made me long to have such happiness for myself. But Arnold preferred I remain a widow because that way he could use me to further his own ambitions. I think he hoped to ingratiate himself with you, my dear Majesty, through me.”
Victoria nodded. “I knew he was a horrid man.”
“When I told him I wished to marry Mr. Worthorne, he threatened to place my mother in an asylum if I went ahead. She is old, forgetful, but he made it seem as if she was violent. I could not bear that, and he knew it.”
Her mouth thinned. “I should think not. You should have told me, Portia.”
“I am sorry, Ma’am. I see now I should have come to you and laid the whole matter before you, but suddenly I could not bear it any longer, and when Marcus offered me and my mother sanctuary here in Norfolk, I said yes.”
It was the truth, more or less. The queen could probably fill in the gaps without her help, Portia thought.
Victoria was staring thoughtfully into the fire. “I cannot pretend it pleases me, Lady Ellerslie, that you wish to remarry. I suppose you know that, and that is the reason you did not come to me. I was particularly fond of Lord Ellerslie.”
“Ma’am, so was I. I loved him dearly, but I was only a young girl when I married him, and now I am a woman. I want to love again, Ma’am. I want to find happiness such as you have. Is that so wrong?”
“No, that is not wrong.” Victoria seemed to be mulling over the question. “There must be a sensible way out of the mess you have made, if only we can find it. I quite like the idea of blaming Mr. Gillingham for everything, but I suspect he would protest.”
“He might, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.”
Victoria smiled for the first time. “I am fond of you, Portia,” she said, a little stiffly. “I would not like to see your life ruined.”
Surprised and touched, Portia didn’t know what to say.
“I will give it some thought,” Victoria went on, as Mercy arrived with the refreshments, curtsying deeply. “I will take something to eat and drink, and then I will rest. We will discuss this later.”
“Of course, Ma’am.” A glance at Mercy confirmed that a room would be made ready, although the housekeeper looked a little wild-eyed.
When Victoria, accompanied by the maid she had brought with her, was safely upstairs, Portia went to find Marcus. She wanted to tell him what she had said to the queen, so their stories did not clash. It wasn’t until she was halfway down the causeway that she remembered Marcus might no longer want to speak to her, let alone marry her.
She stopped, the wind tossing her cloak and her hair, and stinging her pale cheeks pink. It was a mess, and she wasn’t sure how to fix it, or even if she could.
“Mr. Worthorne.”
The cold drawl was familiar, but Marcus didn’t turn immediately from his perusal of the plans he’d spread out on his desk in the library. They showed the land as it used to be, the myriad channels and gates, and he could see how much still needed to be repaired and reclaimed.
“I hope you’re not too disappointed that your little tryst with Portia is at an end,” Arnold went on, as if so pleased with himself he was almost ready to explode with it. “But you have been playing out of your league.”
“At an end? I don’t think so. We’re to be married.” Finally Marcus turned to look at him, a scornful glance. “Did you come all this way just to tell me that?”
Arnold laughed, as if he didn’t believe it, but Marcus saw the way his hand clenched at his side. “Lady Ellerslie is too important to the n
ation to marry someone like you,” he went on. “You have caused me no end of bother, Worthorne. Don’t think I won’t get my revenge on you. A nice long prison sentence, I think, would do the trick.”
Marcus sat down on the edge of the desk and folded his arms. “What is it you want, Gillingham? I can’t believe you came here, and managed to get the queen to come with you, just so you could persuade Portia to return to her life in London. The queen loathes you, and will never rise you up to the heights you seem to think you’re worthy of. Are you secretly in lust with Portia, is that it? I’m sorry to have to tell you that she would sooner bed a slug than you.”
“Of course. She’s slept with you.”
Marcus laughed.
Suddenly Arnold’s eyes were as hard and savage as a wild animal, as if under his well-dressed urbane exterior there lurked something extremely dangerous. “My father taught me to be ambitious,” he said, “and to work hard to obtain my goal. I have worked hard, and you have almost ruined it. But don’t worry, in the end you’ve actually done me a good turn. This is the perfect place.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marcus began.
“No, I know you don’t,” Arnold said, and left him alone in the library.
Marcus shook his head. “Completely insane,” he murmured, but there was something about the other man that was not so easily dismissed. He had a very unpleasant feeling about Arnold Gillingham.
