Wasted Effort

Lady Rhea Montgomery was the wife of Lord Lonan Montgomery, the Count of Riverian.

Good and kind, Rhea was everything expected of a Countess. Her heart always with her people and and her every waking moment dedicated to strengthening her husband's name.

Without her Lord-husband, Lonan, who was Rhea?

The grieving woman asked herself that question a thousand as she tossed and turned in bed all night, the divorce papers resting unsigned on her nightstand.

She had been all alone and while she was used to it, Lonan rarely sharing a bed with her, it hurt to know who he was sleeping with and who he had possibly been sleeping with all those times her pleadings for him to stay had failed.

He was with her, a woman with the golden tresses he so adored, unlike Rhea's midnight black curls. A woman with that air of simplicity and humbleness that he romanticised and had always compared to Rhea's strict elegance.

Lonan claimed one of the reasons he married her, a woman below his station as a merchant's daughter, was because he wanted a simple woman for a wife.

But Rhea was never simple enough, no matter how hard she masked it, she would always enjoy the taste of teas flown in from foreign kingdoms and the simple luxury of driving down to their vacation home for two weeks the minute the first rays of summer sun peeked through the clouds.

Lonan was in love with a fantasy and it seemed he had found a woman more capable and keen to live up to that fantasy, than Rhea.

The sound of shouts, just beyond her bedroom, roused Rhea from her restless sleep, and she startled awake.

Forgetting her new station, or lack thereof, she leapt out of bed and threw on a robe, then ran out into the hallway to investigate what the matter was.

There was a crowd of servants, all charged with a nervous air, moving up and down the hallway with cleaning supplies, sheets and all manner of things. The kind of things needed to prepare a room for a guest.

"Excuse me!" Rhea waved a maid down, whose hands were empty.

The younger woman hurried over and greeted her with a small curtsy. "Good morning, Lad... Miss Rhea." She corrected, hurriedly, her cheeks growing red in mortification.

Her new title hurt worse than a bee sting to the tongue but Rhea quickly pulled herself together before she broke down in front of the staff, and slapped a gentle smile on her lips.

"It's fine, Felicia." She assured. "But I have to know, are we expecting a guest?"

"Yes, Miss," the young girl responded, excitedly. "The Duke rang in...."

"The Duke!" Rhea exclaimed with wide eyes, unable to contain. "Our Duke? He called Lord Lonan? When?"

"Just this morning, a few minutes ago," she continued, her excitement growing. "The Duke informed Lord Lonan that his flight just landed and he expects to be here, in the Manor, in an hour or two, depending on traffic."

She hesitated for a second, her eyes flitting nervously to the floor and then back to Rhea as seemed to make up her mind.

"Lord Lonan asked to wake you and have you see everything is in place, but we did not want to disturb you after...."

She trailed off but her silence said enough.

Desperate to move on from the ugly subject, Rhea questioned. "Has the kitchens gotten started on breakfast yet?"

"I'm not sure."

"Off we go then. Time waits for no man." Rhea urged, already hurrying down the busy hallways, leaving the other woman to follow after her.

In all her seven years of being Countess of Riverian, Rhea had not once met the famous Duke, despite Riverian being subject to his Duchy.

Even on her wedding day, he had sent a representative in his place, alongside a plethora of gifts that Rhea had treasured very dearly.

The thought of finally getting to see the famous man and bask in his presence was enough to make her forget the stranger carrying her husband's baby and the divorce papers resting untouched on her nightstand, as she prepared for her Lordship's arrival.

It was late into the morning, three hours after the Duke's call, when their esteemed guest finally arrived.

One of the gardeners, who had been returning from an errand, was the first to spot the inconspicuous lone car driving down the road, and he had immediately called to inform the manor.

Excitement exploded in the house and there was a mad rush to get every thing and person as perfectly ready as could be.

Rhea, who had been working tirelessly with the cooks and staff to prepare his meal and room, had quickly hurried back to her bedroom for a quick shower, and then new clothes.

Her outfit consisted of a white lace blouse with a high collar and elbow-length sleeves tucked into a blue ankle-length dress. Perfect for a lady in the early morning yet not so casual that it would seem she did not consider him worthy of her effort.

"Lord Augustus Holloway," she whispered to her reflection as she wore her pearl earrings and then wrapped her choker necklace around her swan-like neck, the pearl pendant resting on the subtle dip where her collarbones met.

Rhea smiled as she took in her outfit in the floor-to-ceiling mirror, the soft shine of the lights lining the frame of the mirror and the added light of the mid-morning sun, causing her to glow.

She looked radiant, like a flower in bloom, but the one person she wished to see that beauty wanted nothing to do with her.

Blue eyes glanced sadly at the papers on her nightstand and then immediately looked away. She took a deep breath in and out, then turned around and exited the room to join Lonan in greeting the Duke.

Her journey to the entrance hall was a hurried one, the butterflies in Rhea's stomach leaving her unable to walk calmly.

She turned the corner leading to the grand staircase with a slight skip in her step and froze when she saw who was standing there. The colour drained from her face.

There, smiling at each other like two lovebirds were Lonan and his woman, who was dressed in a flamboyant dress that wasn't even fit for the most extravagant of balls let alone a greeting of someone higher ranking, so early in the morning.

It was gold, much like her hair except the gown was of a lighter shade, and so puffy and voluminous that Rhea wondered how she managed to remain upright while in it.

Worst of all was Lonan's casualness about bringing his mistress to greet the man who could strip him of his title and lands if he happened to wake up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.

"Why is she here?" Was what left Rhea's lips as she revealed herself to the couple.

The woman tucked herself into Lonan's side, as if to rub it in Rhea's face and he, in turn, wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I am hoping to introduce Alice to the Duke now and present her as my soon-to-be wife," He revealed with a proud smile directed at his darling, as if he had not just spoken the words of a madman.

"Have you been robbed of your sanity, Lonan?" Rhea asked while staring incredulously at him. "You plan on introducing the woman you impregnated as your future wife with your present wife standing beside you, to a man as powerful as Grand Duke Holloway?"

He chuckled softly, seemingly amused by her words and his partner joined in, her brown eyes glowing with mischief, having abandoned her previous innocent mask now that she knew Rhea was not a threat.

Rhea frowned as a foreboding feeling came over her, and she turned to Lonan with a questioning lift of her brow.

"Who said anything about you being present?" He asked, affirming Rhea's theory that he had indeed been robbed of his sanity.