The next morning.

Leo was stumbling back home.

It seemed like he had fallen asleep in his inebriated state. He'd woken up with a splitting headache and he smelt of the stables and whiskey.

Not a pleasant combination.

Why hadn't anyone come to find him?

As he was walking towards the stairway, the events of last night came back to him.

He recalled his conversation with Clara.

Damn.

He made his way to her room to apologise. He knocked on their connecting door.

No one answered.

He opened the door, it wasn't locked.

The room was empty, all the tiny portraits she kept by her bedside were gone. He walked in and opened her closet, only to find it empty.

It was like she was never here.

Except for that elusive scent of lemons.

Leo ran down the stairs, beyond agitated.

"Thomas!" he bellowed.

"What is it, your grace?" he appeared out of nowhere.

"Where is my wife?"

"Wherever you chased her off to."

Leo was speechless.

His butler had the gall to speak to him like that?

"You do know that you're under my employment, do you not?" he asked in a deadly, low voice that usually scared his peers.

But Thomas was unmoved.

"Of course I do. But I have known you long before you were a Duke, I have known you long before you turned into this untrusting beast."

Leo was at a complete loss of words. He didn't know what to say, it was like he was a helpless child again.

"I kept quiet all these years, you were pushing everyone away from you, you never let any woman come close to you. And now that you're married, you had to go and ruin the only good thing that has

ever happened to you."

"You know she loves you, don't you?" he asked.

"She said she did, but I don't really know," Leo replied, not understanding why he was even tolerating this.

"How can you not know? She has stars in her eyes every time she looks at you. And in case you don't know by now, you love her too."

"That's rubbish."

Thomas just walked off without saying anything.

Leo couldn't believe what had just happened.

His butler of all people had just given him a set down- his silent and compliant butler.

But he had other stuff to think about right now. So Clara was gone. She'd left him. Just like that.

Had she taken Isabelle with her too?

No.

He made his way to the nursery to check on Isabelle.

As soon as he entered, Lana, Isabelle's governess gasped in relief.

"Oh heavens! Thank God you're finally here, my lord. Isabelle is out of control. She has refused to eat and she isn't cooperating with me at all."

So she hadn't taken Isabelle with her.

"Don't worry, I'll handle her," he assured Lana.

He felt like he'd received a blow when he saw Isabelle.

She looked so desolate and sad.

"Belle?" he called softly.

She turned slowly.

"Clawa is gone, Leo."

"No, my love. She's just visiting her parents in London. She'll be back."

"Truly?"

He just nodded, unable to speak, uncertain himself.

"I miss her."

"Me too, love." he said, being honest with himself for the first time in weeks.

He went back to Clara's room and lay on her bed, trying to seek comfort in her scent.

He couldn't believe it, his wife had left him.

What if she annulled their marriage? They hadn't even consummated it.

But she was his, damnit. He couldn't just let her go, he wouldn't.

He was scum for what he'd done yesterday. He deserved her wrath and he knew it. That didn't mean he'd just accept all this, he'd get her back.

She'd said she loved him, hadn't she? That had to mean something to her.

Something in him had changed. He could feel it.

The old Leo would have thought that he wanted to bring Clara back only for Isabelle's sake.

The new Leo knew that he needed her as much as Isabelle needed her, if not more.

He was done trying to distance himself from her.

He was nothing without her, he realised that now.

How had he ever doubted her? How could he even think that she'd cuckold him?

She was nothing like his mother.

His mother had never loved him, her own son.

But Clara had accepted Isabelle as of she was her own. She showered her with love and attention.

He had been blind all these days.

And he hated himself for it.

He knew he was going to get her back. But how?

He needed a plan.

Meanwhile in London.

"Are you going to tell me what has happened?" Amy was shouting.

"You've been moping around ever since you arrived. Where is the Duke? You need to tell your parents something. They're worried about you. Hell, even Adonis is worried!"

"It's nothing," Clara said, dismissively.

Amy was right though. She had been moping around. It had been two whole days since she'd arrived. And there was no sign of the Duke.

What had she thought? That he'd come for her?

She was an idiot. A complete dolt.

He'd made it abundantly clear that he didn't want her. He'd questioned her character. And so she'd left. How could she not?

She still loved him even though she desperately wished that she could somehow unfeel it. Unfeel? What was wrong with her, she was a writer for god's sakes.

Most of all, she missed Isabelle. She loved that little hoyden. She missed her inane chatter, she missed the way she'd push her thick spectacles up her nose all the time. Clara missed the way she'd sometimes crawl into her bed at night and hug her tight saying, "I'm scared, Clawa."

"Clara?" Amy snapped her fingers in front of her face.

"I'm sorry, just leave me alone."

"The hell I will."

"You do know that you're not supposed to swear, do you not?"

"The hell I do," she grinned.

Clara laughed, she couldn't help it.

"Ah! Now tell me everything."

And Clara did.

"How dare he?" Amy sputtered as Clara finished her tragic story.

She just shrugged.

"You told him you loved him?"

She nodded.

"So you really love him?"

She nodded again.

Amy sighed.

"Ugh! Why did your life have to be so complicated?!"

"Do you plan on going back?"

"Not really. I can't forgive him for all the vile things he said to me."

"Yes, that was unacceptable," Amy nodded.

"But I can't just leave Isabelle there."

"Of course not!" she covered her face with her hands, exasperated.

Then she stood up and hugged Clara.

"We'll find a way or we'll make one," she said and Clara felt like maybe her life wasn't so bleak anymore.