“All right.” Isaac chose to ignore it. “I wanted to tell you that I had a meeting with the Earl of Estnell this morning. He has asked me to stay there for a while, as he is away on business. Wants me to look after his daughters.”
“You’re going to stay with Lady Diana?” Thomas’ eyes lit up with delight. “To look after her?”
“I am,” Isaac said, eyeing his brother carefully. “You like that idea, I see.”
“I’m delighted,” Thomas said. “Aren’t you?”
“It is—” Isaac trailed off. He didn’t know what to say. Yes, he was delighted, but for completely different reasons to Thomas, of that he was certain.
“It is a great opportunity to get closer to her,” Thomas said. “You can use this chance to worm yourself further into her thoughts—all the better for when the time comes.”
“When the time comes to what?” Isaac snapped, then closed his eyes, instantly regretting it. He knew what his brother meant—of course he did—he just didn’t want to admit it.
“You know what,” Thomas said. “You do still want to go ahead, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” Isaac said, but with a sense of foreboding that settled in his stomach. He couldn’t wait to be out of Thomas’ company and with Diana again.
“Good. Well, use this time wisely, Brother. This could be of great help to us. And the foolish Earl himself suggested it.”
“Indeed,” Isaac said. As he walked out of the door, he pushed all thoughts of Thomas and the plan out of his mind.
“Can you believe my Isaac has come to stay?” Diana asked that morning.
“It’s terribly exciting,” Celine agreed, nodding over her triangle of toast. “And Father was very generous to arrange it.”
“I was shocked enough that he is going away at all. Can you remember the last time he left the house, other than to take a token walk in the garden to stop our haranguing?”
Celine thought for a moment and then shook her head.
“No,” she said. “I don’t think he’s left since Mother died, has he?”
“It was certainly around that time. The fact that he also asked Isaac to stay with us…I couldn’t be happier, Celine. And he is soon to be my husband, too!”
“I understand how you feel, Diana. If my Percy was coming, I would be just the same.”
“But you don’t,” Diana said, flustered. “I am happy, certainly, but I am nervous too and—”
“I know,” Celine said with chuckle. “Stop fretting, dear Sister. He is here because he loves you, and nothing you can do in the coming days will stop that.”
Diana sipped at her tea, leaning back in her chair and thinking of all the time they would spend together. They could walk through the gardens, read together, take tea.
Kiss.
She blushed at her sudden lustful thoughts. Images of his lips ran through her mind, an imagining of his flesh touching her flesh. She shivered, a tingle running down her spine, and she pushed the thoughts away.
“My Ladies,” Miller said, entering the breakfast room. “His Grace, the Duke of Gallonon.”
“Already?” Diana’s eyes widened at the news and she grabbed at the napkin, brushing away the toast crumbs that gathered at the corners of her mouth.
“Shall I invite him in, My Lady?”
“Oh, no, please, Miller,” she said, glancing over at Celine’s gleeful grin. “Tell him to take a little breakfast and then to meet me in the parlor. I shall go there straight away.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
“Goodness, he already demands attention,” Diana said, flustered now. She got quickly from her seat, brushing down her skirts then fiddling with her curls.
“Take a breath, Diana,” Celine said. “Everything will be all right. You look as beautiful as always. And he demands nothing, he merely wishes to see you. There is nothing wrong with that.”
“Are you quite sure?” Diana asked. “I do not look as though I have merely rolled out of bed?”
“No,” Celine laughed. “You never look as such, and if you did I suspect Mary would need to find new employment! And yes, I am quite sure.”
Diana nodded and then scuttled, as fast as she could while still being ladylike, to the parlor. It was still empty, and she sighed with relief. She wanted to be ready for him, not the other way around.
She settled herself on the sofa in the parlor, then proceeded to try several positions—from standing at the window, to selecting a chair, to sitting at the table with a book in hand. Finally, she returned to the sofa, believing it to be the most relaxed and attractive, and she sat with an air of nonchalance she did not really feel.
When he entered the room, he didn’t knock, the invitation being to live in the house as though it was his own. Instead, he strode in, tall and proud and full of life, and she had to stop herself from audibly gasping at the sight of him. Every time she saw him, she was seized once again by his handsomeness, and by her renewed eagerness to know him.
Control yourself, Diana!
“How delightful to see you, Your Grace,” she said, smirking both at her use of his title and at the fact that he was there, stood in front of her, in her own home.
“I must agree, Diana,” he said, nodding his acquiescence and moving to sit next to her on the sofa. “And it was a delightful surprise when I heard from your Father yesterday.”
“Yes,” Diana said. “It was rather pleasant news when Father told me this morning.”
She could sense his body close to hers, a tension in their closeness. If she reached out now, she would be able to brush her hand against his body, his thigh…her mouth wouldn’t form any more words, her mind no thoughts. All she could focus on was how near she was to him, and how close they would every day for the days to come.
Cocoa scampered in through the open door, then, saving her from her own blankness of mind.
“Let me introduce you to one of my best friends,” she said proudly, and Isaac looked at her askance.
“Friend?” he asked. He looked around, searching for another person, and she laughed.
“Come, Cocoa,” she called, and the dog leapt onto her lap. “Your Grace, meet my pampered little tyke, Cocoa.”
“Well, isn’t he just adorable?” Isaac said, scratching behind the dog’s ear. Diana beamed with delight. That he was willing to indulge her dog spoke a thousand words about the man he was.
“So,” he said after another moment of fussing with the dog, “what sort of things are there to do, here at Estnell Estate?”
“Why, there is—” Diana’s mouth worked but no sound came out. Her cheeks flushed a deep red and she looked around her in a mild panic.
“It’s all right,” Isaac laughed. “It is not a test. I am merely making conversation—and wondering how we shall fill our days, if not with our easy conversation.”
Diana laughed then, releasing the tension and nerves that had built up within her. She was flooded with relief and with the calm comfort she always felt in Isaac’s company.
As though we have known each forever.
“In that case, there are the gardens, which I love of course, and the library, and—”
“Stables?” he asked.
“Yes,” she nodded. “There are stables. But I do not ride.”
“What?” He looked at her in such shock that she felt for a second as though she had said something terribly improper.
“I…is that really terrible? Learning to ride never appealed to me, I—”
“It is a tragedy,” Isaac said. “Horse riding is one of life’s greatest pleasures.”
“I don’t know,” Diana said, squirming under his scrutiny. “I’d much rather be reading.”
“There is a time and a place for both,” he said. “Have you really never done it?”
“Once or twice, when I was a child, but it simply wasn’t for me.”
“Well, that settles it,” Isaac said, slapping his thighs with the decision.
“Settles what?” she ask
ed, feeling her heartbeat pulsate through her.
“Tomorrow, we shall ride.”
Chapter 23
Isaac spent the rest of the day in a state of anticipation, thoughts of riding with Diana running through his head. He found it difficult to focus on anything, his concentration awry. He thought only of watching Diana ride, of seeing her body move with the body of the horse.
He pictured her curves as she moved this way and that, the way her breasts would heave with effort. He imagined her in control of a fine, large beast, and his heart raced. To see her, there and proud, he knew she would send him into tremors. He wanted to be with her, behind her, his mouth on her ear, her hair rushing past his face.
To touch her again would renew him; it would send shivers through him, make him feel alive all over again. He wanted to kiss her, and not just her lips. He wanted to kiss her neck, her shoulder, her collar bone. He longed to inhale her scent, to send his tongue flickering over her flesh. He yearned to cup her breast, to feel the shape of her so close to him.
He blinked, pulling himself out of licentious desires and refocusing on the book he was reading. As he was staying at Estnell Estate, Isaac decided to treat it as somewhat of a break from his duties. Reading was something he knew Diana loved, and so he thought he would try one of her novels.
He struggled to concentrate though. It seemed, to him, that he and Diana had a better love story than any novel could ever tell, and so he wondered what the point in reading one was.
“Your Grace?”
Isaac jumped at the sound, the voice coming from the doorway behind his high-backed, winged chair. He twisted in his seat and raised his head above the back of the chair, as though peering warily outward.
“Yes?” he said, and then he noticed it was Diana. His smile broadened and he stood from the chair in quite a hurry, causing the book to fall to the floor with a thump. “My Lady,” he said breathlessly, looking briefly at the fallen book and then back up at her.
She marched into the room, tutting as she went, and she bent down to pick the book up.
“That is no way to treat a book,” she said, chastising him with a creased brow. She straightened out the bent pages then closed it and brushed off the cover, as though it had fallen into dirt.
“No,” he said, his mouth working as he tried to find an excuse. “You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry, I—”
“It’s all right,” she said, looking up at him. “I suppose I rather made you jump.”
“Yes, you did, but—”
“What were you reading, anyhow?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly, wanting to swipe the book from her hand but not daring to be so rude. She turned and read the spine, head tilted to one side.
“Ah…” she said, smiling up at him knowingly, “a love story.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I…it’s not like that. I was reading it merely for educational purposes.” He looked away from her, turning his nose up, but he could not stop himself from smiling.
“Educational?” she asked, eyebrow raised. “Or perhaps you have turned rather more of a romantic, of late.”
She laughed but he turned back to look at her, a softness in his eyes and his heart swelling with love for her.
“If I have,” he said, “it is thanks to you, My Lady.”
She smiled coyly and with her lips pressed together, looking up at him through her lashes so tantalizing. How he wanted to step forward and take her in his arms, to feel her body against his, the curves of it, the softness against his hardness.
“Would you care to take a stroll around the garden?” she asked. “I can show you my favorite reading spot, in case the desire to be educated in romance novels takes your fancy again.”
“All right,” he said, smiling at her. “Let’s do that.”
They walked in silence at first, but it was a comfortable, companionable silence. Isaac found his gaze being pulled sideways, catching the odd glimpse of her, a smile on her face as she paced over the gravel. She, too, glanced at him often, and when their eyes caught each other, they both looked to the ground and giggled.
He felt brand new.
“There is quite an impressive library here at Estnell Estate,” he said eventually, knowing they could not spend their entire walk merely laughing and looking.
“Yes,” she said. “My mother was as avid a reader as I am. I suppose that is where I get it from. Father reads little these days. Often, not even the newspaper.”
“Your Father,” Isaac began, awkward and uncertain. The mention of the Earl had set him on edge, bringing all he tried to forget tumbling back to him. “The Earl seems…I don’t quite know how to put it. He seems a little sad, I suppose. As though something weighs upon him. He doesn’t go out much?”
“No,” Diana said, and he could hear the worry and the sadness in her voice. He doubted she knew anything of what he had done, but he was curious enough to question her. “He hates to leave the house—even to go into the gardens. He would rather stay in his study by day and his rooms by night. Sometimes he wanders the halls. He rarely pulls back the drapes. He has been much that way since Mother died—a little before, perhaps.”
“Heavens,” Isaac said. “It must be awful to live in such darkness all the time.” Isaac knew that, because before he met his beautiful Diana, he also lived in darkness.
Although not, perhaps as much as Henry Allen.
Isaac couldn’t help but see the parallel between Henry and his brother, both filled with what seemed to be self-pity, both not wanting to face the outside world. That, Isaac could only conclude, was thanks to a life lived in the shadow of his father’s death.
“It really is as awful as you would think,” Diana said. “I worry about him terribly, but no matter what I say, he will not listen. He says I harangue him. Can you believe that?” She turned and looked at Isaac incredulously. “Me? Haranguing?”
Isaac chuckled at that. In actual fact, he could imagine Lady Diana berating her loved ones, but only because she cared so much. She meant well, no matter how others perceived it.
“I cannot say I’ve witnessed it myself, My Lady,” he said diplomatically, his lips twisted into a laugh.
“You do, don’t you?” she said, looking at him wide eyed but laughing. “You think I harangue him!”
“I think, Diana,” he said, his eyes soft and his smile loving, “that you do only what you believe to be best and sometimes, that requires a little…push in the right direction.”
“Exactly my point,” she said, nodding her head definitively. “I am glad you understand.”
They were at the far end of the garden now, the trees thickening in front of them. They turned left, continuing along the path, admiring the summer flowers dancing in the breeze. Isaac wanted to know more about the Earl, but he wasn’t sure how to ask. As they walked a little further, his brow creased as he considered the best way to bring the topic up. He did not want to upset Diana, and he didn’t want this to spoil such a lovely day, but he could not deny the urge to ask was overwhelming.
“I have a question,” he said finally, and then anxiously waited for her to reply.
“All right,” she said, and he could feel the tension in her building.
“I…please, forgive me if I am prying too much, but do you know why your Father is like that? I mean, it’s unusual to say the least, and I wonder if something has happened to him in his lifetime that has made him want to…withdraw.”
“I don’t know,” Diana said with a shrug. She looked down to the ground as she spoke, as they walked, and her shoulders sagged a little. “I have always suspected him of punishing himself for something but for what, I cannot say.”
Punishing himself—
Isaac took a deep breath, his thoughts racing. Could it really be that the Earl was, for all this time, suffering under his own guilt?
“Did you know,” he said after a time. “Your Father and mine were quite good friends, before my Father was killed of cour
se. They did a lot together.”
“Really?” Diana asked. She sounded surprised and he was, in turn, surprised that her father had never mentioned it to her. They had been such dear friends that it seemed unlikely the Earl would merely omit him from the story of his life.
Unless he is too guilty to remember.
“Yes,” Isaac said, his heart pounding. “I remember it well. They would sit in the drawing room and drink brandy until they slurred their words. Those days were always full of laughter and happiness.”
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