“There is nothing the matter. Are you well?”
Thomas hovered near the table, and Isaac cleared his throat—a vague attempt at showing his annoyance. It was partly this reason that stopped Isaac from introducing another chair to the room—if he did, Thomas would invite himself in more often, and Isaac would struggle to get him to leave.
“I was well enough,” Isaac said, “until my peace was shattered. Can I help you with anything? Because, if not, I am rather busy and—”
“Are you dismissing me, Isaac?” Thomas asked with his head tilted, a tease or a threat in his tone. “I thought you cared more about your poor little Brother than that.” He stepped back and leaned against the bookcase, his shoulders high and his eyebrows raised in question.
Isaac sighed and closed his eyes.
“I do care for you, Thomas,” he said, wishing more than anything his brother would go away, “but I have things I need to—”
“How was your meeting with the Earl of Estnell? You have been avoiding me for days. It worries me, Isaac.”
“I have not been avoiding you,” Isaac said firmly, but that was untrue.
He had indeed been avoiding Thomas, in some vain hope that the problem would simply disappear if he ignored it. That he loved Diana so completely was unexpected, but it was truer than anything he ever felt before. He didn’t want to hurt her, not for revenge and not for his brother. Not for anything.
Of course, that left the problem of the Earl. A murderer he may be, and Isaac did not want him to simply be free of punishment, but how could he marry his love for Diana with his need to avenge his father’s death?
He couldn’t. He had to choose, and he knew that. At that very moment, he chose Diana, and he had avoided Thomas because Isaac knew so very well how easily his brother could influence him. Thomas barely had to say anything for Isaac to change his mind.
“It certainly seems as though you have been avoiding me,” Thomas said, cocking his head.
Isaac felt a twist of irritation at his arrogance. He looked at Isaac as though he were the younger, as though Thomas held power over him, and that annoyed him more than he could say. In part, most likely, because it was true. Thomas indeed held a certain power over Isaac—a power of persuasion, of family, of motivation.
“Well I haven’t. Are you here merely to harass me? Because, as I have already said, I am—”
“No,” Thomas said. “I am not harassing you. How has your day been?”
He pushed himself off the bookcase and plodded toward Isaac’s desk. His tone changed from one of irritation to a sweet one, one of persuasion and comradeship. Isaac finally placed his quill in the stand and leaned back in his chair, sighing and looking up at his brother.
“My day has been excellent, thank you,” he said. “I have made good on a number of investments and it seems the Dukedom has become increasingly profitable.”
“Well, that is good news,” Thomas said with smirk. “If there is one thing we need in this life, it’s more money.”
“You may mock, Brother, but it is that money which keeps you in shirtsleeves and brandy. What productive thing have you done with your day?”
“I have done nothing,” Thomas said, looking down at the floor. “You know how much I hate to go outside. You may not understand it, but I am afeared.”
“But you are not too afeared to go to the club?” Isaac asked.
“Allow me some small mercies, Brother,” Thomas cried. “The club is one of the few places I do not feel so terrible.”
His eyes were filled with such sadness, his shoulders hunched as he pulled himself in, that Isaac felt the hardness in him fall away. He hated seeing his brother in such a way, even though he often suspected Thomas of affecting the pose for the result.
“I know,” Isaac said softly, “and I am sorry for it. I wish there was something I could do.” With those words, Thomas’ head shot back up with a grin, his sadness suddenly and quickly disappeared. Isaac took a breath.
“So what have you done today?” Isaac asked, this time a fair question rather than an accusation.
“Not a lot,” Thomas admitted with a shrug. “I read a while in the library, took a walk in the gardens. The same as always, I suppose.”
“Do you not get bored?” Isaac asked, genuinely intrigued. He couldn’t imagine such an idle life.
“No,” Thomas said simply. “I do not.”
Thomas took the final step to get to the desk and he leaned his fists on it, ape-like and looming. Isaac caught his breath for a moment, looking up at this lump of a man, suddenly intimidating as he towered over Isaac with his acne and greasy, lank hair. He had to remind himself it was only his brother, nothing more.
“So,” Thomas said, his eyes piercing Isaac’s hard exterior. “You still have not told me how it went at the Earl’s.”
“No, I have not.” Isaac sighed again, closed his eyes. He didn’t want to talk about this with Thomas, not when he knew what Thomas wanted from him.
“What do you not want to say, Isaac?” Thomas asked, still glaring down at him. Isaac opened his eyes again and looked directly at his brother.
“I am having doubts about the plan,” he said finally.
“What doubts?” Thomas asked. He had not moved, had not looked away, but his jaw was clenched and his nostrils flared.
“Lady Diana is—”
Isaac searched the room for the right words, but before he could speak again, Thomas picked up his glass paperweight and hurled it at the wall. It smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces, and Isaac stared at it, in shock and aghast. When he turned back, Thomas was sneering at him.
“Why ever did you—”
“You are in love with her. I warned you not to fall in love with her and yet here you are, swooning over her and disrespecting your own family at the same time.”
“No,” Isaac said quickly, shaking his head. “No, I am not in love with her, but I—”
“Need I remind you of what the Earl has done to our family?”
“No, but—”
“He murdered our Father, Isaac. Do not ever forget that. He is a beast of a man who—”
“On the contrary,” Isaac said, a courage rising in him as his anger did. “He seemed a perfectly decent chap.” He was furious with Thomas for breaking the paperweight and found himself intent on hurting him. Professing a bias for the Earl was sure to do that.
“A mask, nothing more,” Thomas said, dismissively, “and you are a fool for falling for it.”
“Yes,” Isaac said. “I did also think that at one point.” He felt a jolt of confusion, uncertain what to believe or what to do. Thomas’ behavior was surely erratic and unnecessary, but his words rang with the truth.
Thomas jumped on that, grabbing at it like a dog and pulling at the threads of Isaac’s doubts.
“You are too easily fooled, Brother,” he sneered. “Do not let someone like Henry Allen trick you into believe he is a good man. Father made that mistake and look how that turned out.”
“But they had been friends for so many years,” Isaac said, his brow creased. He didn’t look up at his brother, nor at the smashed glass on the floor. “Why would—”
“Yes, they had,” Thomas said seriously. “Does that not show the Earl in an even worse light?”
“I have heard rumors that Henry Allen lives like a ghost, wandering the halls at night and rarely leaving the house,” Isaac said, a finger to his lips as he mused. Thomas returned to his spot at the bookcase.
“That is what guilt does to a soul,” Thomas said. “He cannot live with what he has done.”
“Perhaps,” Isaac said.
“There is no perhaps about it,” Thomas snapped. “He is a murderer, Isaac. We cannot let Father’s death pass without being avenged.”
Isaac looked up at Thomas suddenly, an idea forming in his head.
“You are right, of course you are. I am always grateful to you for making me see sense. But what I don’t understand is why we need to punish
Lady Diana? It was not she who—”
“By punishing the Earl’s loved ones, we will be punishing him, too. Besides, no Allen is innocent. They are his progeny after all. Do not be fooled by beauty and a pretty laugh, Brother.”
“But—”
“And even if we did not include Lady Diana in our plan, do you honestly believe she would still want you after we have brought her Father down?”
“No,” Isaac said, defeated. “I don’t suppose she will.” He sagged in his seat, the realization dawning on him.
I have no choice.
Avenging their father’s death was of the utmost importance, it always had been. And Thomas was right. There was no way they could punish Henry Allen for the part he had played and keep Lady Diana on side.
“You are to marry her and then make her suffer,” Thomas said firmly, as though speaking to a child.
“Yes, I understand that,” Isaac said. His voice now was resigned, his eyes trained on the table in front of him. “There is no other way.”
“And once she and the Earl are miserable enough, we can take his life away from him as he took Father’s.”
Chapter 22
Later that afternoon, Isaac found himself wandering through the gardens of Gallonon Hall. The sun radiated over him, giving him a fine sheen of sweat, and he walked unseeing, not caring for the hard work the gardeners had done.
His mind was in turmoil. When he was with Lady Diana, he was certain she was right for him, forgetting the plan he had made with his brother. And yet, when he was with Thomas, everything his brother said made the most sense. He wanted to take revenge on his father’s murderer, and Thomas was so completely convinced this was the right thing to do.
He groaned in frustration. The idea of hurting his darling Diana filled him with such rage and guilt that he could barely breath. But he felt guilty for that, too. He felt as though he had betrayed his brother by falling for Diana—he had certainly not meant to fall for her—but he had, and she as the most wonderful thing in his life.
I do not know if I can continue with his absurd plan.
“Your Grace?”
Isaac jumped and turned to see Hobbes, the butler, standing behind him, his own face shiny with perspiration.
“Yes, Hobbes, what is it?”
“I have had news from Estnell Estate. The Earl wishes for your presence at your earliest convenience.”
“And he could not come here?” Isaac muttered. He didn’t like to be summoned, not even by the father of the woman he loved.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace?” Hobbes asked, and Isaac was thankful he had not heard his bitter mumblings.
“I shall go right away. Please see that my coach is prepared. Thank you, Hobbes.”
Isaac didn’t bother going back into the house. Instead, he wandered the rest of the path until he came back to the driveway where the coachman stood, carriage already hitched and horses snorting their impatience. He climbed in.
It was as the carriage trundled over the cobbled road outside Gallonon Hall that Isaac realized he had no idea why he was being asked to attend, and he had not thought to ask, either. He had been too caught up in his annoyance at being summoned to consider the reasons behind it.
Perhaps there has been a change of plan.
Isaac’s heart began to thump in his chest. He didn’t know what he hoped for—that they called off the wedding and Isaac no longer had to hurt the love of his life? Or that they weren’t calling it off, that he got to marry her, to make her his, only to be forced to make her suffer by his angry, bitter brother?
Isaac wanted to scream. He felt as though he was being pulled in two different directions at once, and that he had no control over either. He wanted to stamp and stand his ground, refuse to be pulled one way or another, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew, ultimately, he had to decide.
He didn’t have to wait long to find out why he had been summoned. As soon as he arrived at Estnell Estate, he was whisked through the house by the butler and to the Earl’s study, where only days before they had come to an agreement for Diana’s hand.
“Good afternoon, My Boy,” Henry beamed as Isaac was announced. “You are looking well. That’s what love does to one, I suppose.”
“Lord Estnell,” Isaac said. He bowed, wanting to keep the meeting formal.
“Do come in and take a seat,” Henry said. “I have something of a favor to ask of you.”
Isaac was surprised. A favor? This, he had not been expecting. He sat down opposite Henry, a little anxiety snaking through him.
“I have some business I need to attend to in the north of England,” Henry said, and Isaac looked at him curiously.
“I see,” he said. What does this have to do with me?
“I am sure you have heard the rumors about me. I am something of a recluse, I admit. Having to go away for business…well, it doesn’t sit well and if I could have avoided it, I most definitely would have. Unfortunately, I have no choice.”
“All right,” Isaac said, his brow creased. He didn’t understand why this man—who in truth he barely knew—was baring his soul to him.
“You must understand, Isaac, I am not used to leaving my daughters alone. It’s bad enough having to leave the house, but to be forced into leaving my Darling Girls with no one but the servants, well…it upsets me.”
“No, I don’t suppose you are used it,” Isaac replied, the question evident in his voice. He shifted in his seat and folded his hands into each other, uncomfortable and unsure what the Earl could possibly want.
“I know this is unorthodox,” Henry continued. “But you are soon to be the husband of my eldest daughter, and I trust you completely.”
Isaac jolted.
He trusts me?
He couldn’t help but feel Henry a little foolish for even thinking of trusting him, not when he was so bent on destroying his and Diana’s lives. Henry may not be privy to his inner thoughts, but he surely must have known Isaac and his brother would hold some sort of grudge against him after what he did to their father.
Perhaps he thinks we do not know.
“Trust me to do what?” Isaac asked, intrigued but with a flutter of something like concern in his throat.
“I’d like you to move in here while I am gone,” Henry said. His words came out of his mouth quickly, as though he had rehearsed them many times.
He looked into Isaac’s eyes and Isaac could see the pleading and the hope in them. They were the eyes of someone who had had a hard time in life, who was tired of seeing and being. They were eyes that begged for forgiveness and for comfort, and Isaac almost gave it.
Except, those eyes held a sparkle of guilt, too, Isaac saw, and he could only guess at what caused it.
Father.
“That is unorthodox,” Isaac said, his lips tight with tension. “And I will be alone with the ladies?”
“Goodness, no,” Henry said, and Isaac breathed a sigh of relief—he did not want to be seen to cross too many boundaries. “They will both be chaperoned by their ladies’ maids and of course, there will be plenty of other servants around, as is normal. But I must admit I’d rather have a gentleman about the house, too. Someone noble, and with dignity and honor.”
Dignity and honor?
Isaac was flattered by the compliment, but he felt uncomfortable, too. This man he was plotting against had so much faith in him, and it felt rather like he was stabbing someone in the back, rather than fighting a man face-to-face as one would in a duel.
“Well, I can understand that. It is a little unusual, but yes, I agree to do it. You are right to say you can trust me. When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow,” Henry said. “First thing. Perhaps it would be better if you could stay tonight, also?”
“All right,” Isaac said. He tried his best to remain formal, to keep his quickening breaths under control. But all he could think was of the time he would get to spend with Diana, alone and so close. “I shall collect a few things this afternoon and return as soo
n as possible.”
“You’re going away?” Thomas said. “You didn’t say.”
Isaac was in the entrance hall, a small trunk at his feet, making arrangements with the coachman. He turned when he heard Thomas enter.
“Yes,” he said. “I would have told you but I couldn’t find you anywhere. Where have you been, anyhow?”
“Nowhere,” Thomas said.
The brothel, then.
Isaac rolled his eyes at the thought. If his brother was not thinking of revenge, he was thinking of earthly pleasures with impious women.
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