She had sparked a fire within him that he thought was long dead.
“Then speak with your daughter,” Tor said. “If she is agreeable, then I am as well. I will give you twenty minutes with her before I join you to speak to her myself.”
Gilbert nearly tripped in his haste to leave the hall with Fraser on his heels, leaving Tor behind with Blayth, Christian, and Ronan. When the men had cleared the hall, Blayth turned to his nephew.
“An excellent bargain, Tor,” he said. “De Featherstone has nearly unlimited wealth. With it, he could help you expand your empire. Exceptional thinking on your part.”
Tor sighed heavily and perched his bottom on the edge of the feasting table. “Henry is always looking for money for his wars,” he said. “I would prefer that he didn’t know I was married to a gold mine, but I suppose he would find out soon enough.”
“Did you do it because of Steffan?” Ronan wanted to know. “Because of what he did to Bella? Did you do it to appease him?”
Tor could see that Ronan was concerned that perhaps Tor was paying the price for a broken betrothal. But Tor smiled faintly at his cousin.
“I do not do anything I don’t want to do,” he said. “You needn’t worry, Ronan. I am not sacrificing myself for the common good.”
“It is not a bad bargain,” Christian spoke up. He’d been watching the entire situation unfold but, more than that, he’d seen the way Tor looked at Isalyn. There was interest in the man’s heart. “It’s not simply the wealth, but Lady Isalyn is a beautiful woman. She is quite a prize. But are you sure about this?”
Tor remained neutral as talk of Isalyn’s beauty was introduced. “I am,” he said. “But if she is not, then I will not pursue it. The woman lives in London and I have no intention of living there, so she may very well be opposed to a union that will keep her in Northumberland. This may be all for naught.”
Even as he said it, he genuinely hoped not. Surely he couldn’t have imagined the warm smiles and glimmer in Isalyn’s eyes that told him she had interest in him, too. But he was a good deal older than she was – she had seen twenty years and he had seen thirty-eight, so there was quite a spread. Even so, she didn’t seem young and juvenile in manner, but rather a woman of poise and maturity.
Every moment he’d spent with her had been a moment of joy that Tor hadn’t experienced in nearly seventeen years. It didn’t take a man of great intellect to realize the years of his life since Jane’s death had been dull and colorless. He had been existing, not living.
He wanted to live again.
He only hoped Isalyn felt the same way.
“Marriage?”
“That is the fourth time you have asked me, Isalyn. Are you hard of hearing?”
No, she wasn’t hard of hearing, but she was having difficulty believing what her father was telling her. Sitting in the chamber she now shared with Isabella, who had been chased from the room when Gilbert arrived, she was looking at her father as if the man were speaking in tongues.
She could hardly believe it.
“But…” she stammered. “But you cannot mean it.”
“Of course I can.”
“He is a de Wolfe, Father. The males of the family are more in demand than royal princes.”
“And this one has agreed to a betrothal with you,” Gilbert said. “Tor is the second son of the Earl of Warenton, do not forget. Behind his older brother, he is in line to inherit a vast empire and the prestige you would know as his wife is something the finest and most well-placed women in England would kill for. Don’t you realize what this means?”
Isalyn did, in fact. Living in London made her very aware of excellent marriages, politics, lords, and ladies. Aye, she knew it well.
London…
“Father,” she said, trying to find the right words. “I do not like living in the north. I would feel lost and out of place here. My home is in London.”
Gilbert could see that she wasn’t as excited as he had hoped. “You live with your spinster aunt,” he said shortly. “If you are not careful, you will be a spinster, too. Is that what you want? To live alone for the rest of your life and die alone? Isalyn, I have found you the greatest husband you could possibly hope for and he does not even seem to mind that you are rather old for a bride. Do you not understand this, lass?”
Now he was starting to lob insults at her. “I understand,” she said. “I understand very well. But… I must think on this.”
“What is there to think about?”
She eyed him, growing annoyed. “When I came to Featherstone to visit you, it was because I was told that you had been ill and you were asking to see me,” she said. “I did not come north for any other reason than that, and certainly not to marry a provincial knight and spend the rest of my life in the wilds of Northumberland.”
Gilbert frowned. “Is that all you see? A provincial knight? We are speaking about a de Wolfe.”
“I know who he is.”
“Then do not be stupid about this!”
She stood up. “Being stupid would be to agree immediately,” she said. “I… I am simply not prepared for this. It has all happened so fast. I must think on it.”
“Do you not like the man? He is big and handsome and wealthy. God’s bones, what is wrong with you?”
“If you like him so much, then you marry him!”
Gilbert threw up his hands. “Does living in London mean more to you than having a fine husband and a powerful position?” he asked. “Would you really turn down this offer and return to London to live in that smelly house with your smelly aunt? Isalyn, there is nothing to think about. I am accepting this betrothal on your behalf.”
“Don’t you dare!”
A knock on the door interrupted their building argument. With a growl, Gilbert went to the door, throwing it open to reveal Tor standing on the other side.
“I am sorry,” Tor said, smiling timidly. “I could not stay away. May I have a word with your daughter?”
Gilbert nodded his head with frustration. “Go,” he said, indicating Isalyn standing on the other side of the chamber. “Talk to her. Tell her what an excellent husband you would be and how foolish she would be to turn down the offer. Tell her she will die alone and unloved if she does, and that I will never speak to her again!”
With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving Tor standing by the open door. His eyebrows lifted as he looked to Isalyn.
“Is this true?” he said. “You will die alone and unloved, and ignored by your father?”
His eyes were twinkling at her as he said it and Isalyn broke down into a weak smile. “Apparently,” she said. “I am not happy about being alone and unloved, but it might be worth it if he really did ignore me for the rest of my life.”
Tor grinned and shut the door to give them some privacy, but he remained by the panel. He made no move to enter the chamber any more than he already had. He gazed at her a moment, his smile fading.
“May I make a confession?” he asked.
She nodded. “Of course.”
“I was listening outside of the door. I heard everything.”
Her smile vanished. “I see,” she said, averting her gaze as she went to sit down on the only chair in the chamber. “You must understand that I did not mean to insult you. Never did I mean to insult you. But this has all happened so quickly. It is simply not the way I had ever envisioned my life to be.”
He leaned back against the door. “You want to return to London.”
She looked at him, then. “That was my intention,” she said. “But I have made no secret of that. My life is there. My dramas are there, as are my friends. Everything is there.”
He nodded in understanding. “I cannot say that if I was taken away from my family and friends that I would be so agreeable,” he said. “Then… it is nothing I have said or done to make you question this betrothal?”
She shook her head firmly. “Nay,” she said. “I swear it, my lord. Nothing you have said or done. In fact…”
&nbs
p; “In fact… what?”
“Would you consider moving to London?”
His grin was back because her question gave him hope. “Not all the time,” he said. “But if my wife loved London so much, I might be convinced to build a home there, one we could stay in while we visited her friends.”
Her eyes widened. “Would you really?”
He nodded. “Of course I would,” he said. “My lady, I was married once and one of the things I remember from that relationship was that it was necessary to compromise if I wanted my wife to be happy. I know that most men view marriage as a monarchy – the man is king and everyone does as he commands. But I found that marriage was better when it was more of an alliance and a partnership. Sometimes I had my way, and sometimes Jane had her way. But the main thing was that we were willing to compromise. I believe that keeps everyone happy.”
Isalyn was listening intently. “And you found that it worked well enough?”
“Indeed, it did.”
She thought very hard on that. “And you would be willing to compromise with me?”
His eyes glimmered at her from across the chamber. “For you and you alone,” he said quietly. “Isalyn, I realize we have not known each other for very long but, in that short time, I have come to see that you have some very good qualities. You are brave and you are honest, and I respect that a great deal. You are also cultured and literate. I know of no other woman who writes dramas. Do you know why I invited you and your father for a visit?”
Isalyn had been hanging on his every word. “Nay… I do not think so.”
He stepped away from the door, moving slowly in her directly. “I invited you because I did not like the thought of never seeing you again,” he said. “You were planning on returning to London and I wanted to see you before you went. But the truth is that I did not want you to go at all.”
Her eyes widened. “You didn’t?”
“Nay.”
Isalyn wasn’t sure what to say. Her cheeks flamed an obvious shade of pink and she grinned, putting a hand to her warm face. She was so flattered that she was actually speechless for a moment. Never in her life had a man said to her what Tor just had. But if he was being so honest, perhaps she should be as well.
His candor gave her the confidence to speak her mind.
“Why do you think we came so soon?” she said, lowering her gaze bashfully. “I did not want you to forget about me.”
He smiled broadly. “You?” he said. “Never. Never would I forget the woman who introduced me to the Crown and Sword.”
She laughed softly. “At least my culinary knowledge impressed you.”
“Everything about you impressed me.”
She looked at him, feeling a good deal of disbelief. She could hardly believe the man was as interested in her as she was in him.
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
She looked him over, picturing him as her husband and the very idea made her heart swell with pride. The provincial knight who had changed her mind about provincial men. He was anything but the rural bumpkin she had imagined knights in the north to be. After a moment, she sighed.
“Did you mean what you said about having a home in London?” she asked softly.
He nodded. “There is one thing you should know about me immediately,” he said. “I never say anything I do not mean. And I will never say anything I will not follow through on. My word is my bond. If it would make you happy, then I will buy or build a home in London where we may stay when we visit. But know that I will not live there all year. My home is here, at Blackpool, and this is where I will spend the bulk of my time. But a few months a year spent in London, if it will make you happy, is something I would be willing to do. As long as you would be willing to come back to Blackpool with me.”
He was being truthfully and incredibly sweet. Already, he was speaking to her as if she meant something to him and it was endearing like nothing else.
“I would be willing, of course,” she said. “But you do not have to come to London with me if you do not want to. I would not force you to. I know you have obligations here and that it is your home as much as London is mine.”
He took a few more steps and ended up sitting on the bed, closer to her. “Would you really want to spend so much time away from your husband?”
She shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “But I would not force you to go with me if you did not want to.”
“You are that determined to spend time in London?”
She shrugged. “As you said, it is my home.”
“Would you be happy with just a few months a year?”
She thought on that a moment. “I would,” she said. “Summers are miserable in London, but the spring and autumn are lovely months. But would you be happy there, happy away from Blackpool?”
“I think I could be happy wherever you were.”
More sweet words. She could hardly dare to hope that they were true. “If you are certain, then we have a bargain.”
His smile was back. “If you are certain, then we do.”
“I am.”
“No lamenting a marriage to a provincial knight?”
She winced. “You are not going to let me forget that, are you?”
He laughed softly. “Not for a while, anyway,” he said. Then, he sobered. “And about what happened with Barbara and Lenore… if I seemed inactive in any way against punishing them, you have my deepest apologies. I have spent so long simply trying to ignore them that I fear it has become habit. Nay, that is not entirely true. Because they are Jane’s sisters, I felt guilty even thinking of punishing them and they know it. But no longer – you are to be my wife and their reign of terror is at an end.”
Isalyn averted her gaze. “I will be truthful with you,” she said. “To have them continuing living here with you… with us… is concerning. I do not mean to speak against them or disparage them, for my experiences with them are my own and they are limited, but I will not go the rest of my life looking over my shoulder and wondering what they are going to do to me next. I realize they are your dead wife’s sisters, but do you think she would have approved of their behavior?”
Tor immediately shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I know she would not have. And I will not have you fearful in your own home, so we will have to come to a pleasing solution to the problem of Barbara and Lenore.”
“Have you thought of finding them husbands?”
He grunted. “They do not wish to marry.”
“That is because they have you. Why should they?”
He looked at her, sharply. “I am not their husband, nor am I bound romantically to either one of them.”
She shook her head. “Forgive me,” she said. “I did not mean that the way it sounded. I simply meant that they tend your home, they fulfill the roles that a wife would normally fill, so mayhap they view you as a husband-figure in a sense.”
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, that made sense. But after a moment, he simply shook his head. “That is my fault,” he said. “I should have had them married off long ago. But they are my last link to Jane and I suppose I was in no hurry to do it.”
“And now?”
“Now, I can see that I failed them in that respect. And I cannot have them around any longer if you and I are to enjoy a happy marriage.”
“I am not trying to force you to rid yourself of your last links to Jane if that means something to you. I would never ask that of you.”
He nodded, reaching over to boldly take her hand. His hand was easily twice the size of hers, maybe more, but that giant appendage held her with a good deal of tenderness.
“You are not,” he said quietly. “But I know that what I have done… it was not healthy. It is time for Barbara and Lenore and I to go our separate ways, because they cannot come where I am going. And I am going with you.”
Isalyn’s heart was racing at his touch. “As you wish,” she said. “But I will defend myself against them should the need arise.
”
He smirked. “After what I witnessed today, you are more than capable of doing so,” he said. “You have my permission.”
“Thank you.”
The conversation lagged, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. They simply sat there, together, lingering on what the future might bring. Tor was studying her face closely, acquainting himself with the woman he was to marry.
He was still in awe of it.
“What are you thinking?” he asked softly.
She cocked her head, amused. “I was thinking that it did not occur to me when I came home to visit my father that I would find something much more interesting here in Northumberland.”
He laughed softly. “And it did not occur to me when I visited Featherstone with your brother slung over my horse that I would come away with the greatest prize Featherstone had to offer. But I think I will be a better man for it.”
Isalyn squeezed his hand at the hopeful and chivalrous declaration. “Will you tell my father, or shall I?”
Tor’s gaze took on a mischievous twinkle. “Let him worry about it,” he said. “I am in no hurry to leave you. Let us speak more on what activities you enjoy while you are in London because, coincidentally, I will be doing the same activities. I should like to get to know what it is I am going to be doing.”
Isalyn thought that sounded like a marvelous idea. There were so many things to tell him, so much she wanted him to know. It was a moment she never thought she would face and the joy of it was difficult to describe. All she knew was that she never wanted the moment to end. It was surreal to realize that if she married him, it never would.
But that tender moment was interrupted when a knock on the door summoned Tor.
A situation was afoot.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
She was hiding.
Well, not exactly hiding, but Isabella was trying to stay to an inconspicuous spot so she wouldn’t be noticed. Once Gilbert had chased her from her own chamber because he wanted to speak to his daughter, Isabella came out to the bailey but she didn’t go any further.
Something was in the air.
Gilbert had been angry, or agitated, or… something. It was difficult to tell with him because ever since he had arrived at Blackpool, the man seemed to be in a perpetual state of distress. Isabella was certain that it had something to do with what had happened with Barbara and Lenore, and he was probably concerned for his daughter’s safety. At least, that’s what Isabella thought.
WolfeStrike (de Wolfe Pack Generations Book 2) Page 21
