Bella and the Beast Read Online Free Page B

to gossip. Lila, Cyrus, do leave us now. I should like a word with our guest in private.”
    Protests erupted from the twins. “But we haven’t finished our tea,” Cyrus complained.
    â€œI want to hear more about this duke,” Lila added. “To think that Papa never told us he knew someone who was almost royalty!”
    Bella clapped her hands. “That’s enough, both of you. Run along this instant. And kindly close the door on your way out.”
    They continued to grumble, though both reluctantly obeyed. Lila dipped a curtsy to their visitor and then flounced out of the parlor, her nose in the air. Cyrus snagged another slice of cake and followed his sister, shutting the door with a bang.
    The fire crackled into the silence. In the corner, rain dripped in slow plops from the leak in the roof.
    Lady Milford sat serenely sipping her tea, as if unperturbed by the twins’ impolite behavior. Bella wanted to pepper the woman with questions about the Duke of Aylwin. Yet she must proceed carefully. Unlike her siblings, she knew better than to trust the nobility.
    Bella released a slow breath. “I must apologize for their chatter, my lady. It has been difficult to teach them proper conduct while living abroad, among people with different customs.”
    â€œThey are lively children with a keen interest in the world. I find that refreshing.” With an enigmatic smile, Lady Milford regarded Bella. “Sir Cyrus mentioned that your mother died shortly after he and his sister were born, and that you raised them.”
    â€œYes. They never knew Mama at all.”
    â€œYou must have been rather young yourself at the time.”
    â€œFourteen, my lady.” Noting a slight arching of the woman’s black brow, Bella felt compelled to add, “I was not without resources. My father hired a nurse who stayed with us for a good many years.”
    A pang stirred in her breast. It had been difficult to say good-bye to Jaleh. They had all wept copiously, but Bella hadn’t been able to afford to bring the old woman with them to England.
    Lady Milford leaned forward. “And how are your resources now, my dear? I don’t mean to pry, but did Sir Seymour leave you an inheritance? Or is this cottage all that you have left?”
    Bella stiffened. “It’s enough for us. We do not require fancy trappings.”
    â€œForgive me, I’ve offended you. Pray consider my interest only as concern from an old friend of the family.”
    Her expression was so kindly that Bella felt an unexpected urge to blurt out all of her troubles, to unload the burden that had been weighing on her since the death of her father. But this woman was clearly a busybody, and Bella couldn’t shake the odd sense of being maneuvered by her for some unknown purpose. It was time that she herself took control of the conversation.
    â€œI hope you’ll tell me more about my father’s life here in England, my lady. Papa was so involved in studying ancient civilizations that he seldom spoke of his own past.” Bella shaped her lips into a polite smile. “This duke … you said his name was Aylwin? Why did you think I might have heard of him?”
    â€œThe fourth duke was a scholar and an amateur Egyptologist. He engaged your father’s assistance in excavating a tomb in Egypt.” Lady Milford tilted her head to the side. “Do you truly not remember?”
    â€œShould I?”
    â€œYou went to Egypt with your parents, though you could not have been more than five or six years old at the time.”
    Egypt. Bella had a sudden vision of herself digging in the hot sand, trying to widen a hole that kept refilling, and an older boy laughing at her struggles. Then the fragment of memory vanished, leaving her disconcerted. “My family wandered far afield. We traveled to many different places throughout Asia and the Near East.”
    Picking up the teapot, Lady Milford