The Enigmatic Lady in the Ivory Tower

by Hazel Linwood

  He fought the urge to reach out and brush the wind-whipped curls from her face.

  Removing temptation from his sight, Gabriel leaned back and once again closed his eyes. He could still feel her presence, but at least he would not be drawn into the forbidden by the sight of her sleeping next to him. It was an exquisite torture to have her so near and yet so far beyond his grasp.

  He had not intended to fall asleep, or to even allow her to remain asleep, but he did without ever knowing it was happening. The next thing he knew, he was being shaken violently awake by rough hands and a panicked voice.

  “I am ruined!”

  Chapter 7

  Diana awoke with a start. She had not meant to fall asleep and was quite shocked to find that not only had she done so, but she had slept until nightfall. When she awoke to find the darkening sky looming over her, she felt an intense panic grip her insides.

  “I am ruined!” She reached out and grabbed Gabriel by the arm, shaking him awake. “I am ruined!”

  “What? What has happened?” Gabriel sleepily asked, coming up out of what appeared to be a fairly deep slumber.

  “We fell asleep!” Diana cried out, scrambling to her feet. “Look,” Diana commanded, pointing at the darkening sky. “I will miss dinner and the Dowager Marchioness is going to have my head on a pike for it!”

  “Not if she does not find out,” Gabriel answered, rising from the ground. Taking her arm, he led her over to the waiting horses and helped her up into the saddle. “I will get you home and you can sneak back up to your room before anyone notices that you are missing.”

  “I do not know the house well enough to walk through it and not get caught.”

  “Yes, but I do.”

  Diana looked over at him in surprise. It was not usual for the stable hands to be granted free access to the house, but she supposed with his mother being the cook, he would have been there as a child.

  “You can save me?”

  “I can,” he nodded his head in firm determination. Swinging up into the saddle, he gave her another nod and then they were off, racing back to the manor house as fast as their horses would carry them.

  By the time that they arrived back at the stables it was fully dark. Diana’s heart raced nervously as Gabriel lifted her from the saddle and placed her back on the ground.

  “Where is your room in the manor house?”

  “Just off from the main stair,” Diana answered, following him out of the stable and around to the back of the house.

  Gabriel slipped silently through the back servants’ entrance and down the hallway toward the back stairs, moving past the bustling kitchen. Dinner preparations were coming to their conclusion and Diana breathed a sigh of relief that she had not yet missed it.

  There is yet hope.

  Gabriel led her up the back stairs, then slipped down a small side hallway. They climbed up another narrow flight of stairs, opened the door at the top and Gabriel motioned for her to walk through it. “You should be fine from here.”

  Diana nodded, stepped out into the hallway and found herself but a mere number of steps from her room. “Thank you.”

  “Of course, My Lady. I bid you a good night.” Bowing, Gabriel turned and descended the stairs without a backward glance.

  Diana shut the door and ran silently to her room. She flung open her bedchamber door to find Frances pacing the floor.

  “Where have you been?” Frances rushed forward in relief. “I have been so very worried for you!”

  “I went riding and lost the time.”

  Frances studied her mistress’ face for a moment, a light of doubt in her eyes.

  “There is more to the story, but we do not have time to discuss it. The Dowager Marchioness will be furious if you are late. We will not have time to properly bathe and style your hair, but I will do my best.”

  Diana quickly washed herself from the bowl and pitcher in the corner, then pulled on her evening gown. Frances did the best she could with Diana’s wind-whipped hair. Diana prayed that the Dowager Marchioness would not notice that she was less than perfectly coiffed. Once they had gotten her as ready as she could be under the circumstances, Diana descended the stairs and entered the dining room.

  “And where have you been? I awoke to find you gone,” the Dowager Marchioness’ words banished all hope that Diana’s absence had gone unnoticed.

  “I went riding, per the Marquess’ suggestion,” Diana answered, hoping to find the Marquess to be her ally once more.

  The Marquess smiled. “How was it? Did you enjoy your tour of the estate?”

  “I did, yes. It is beautiful.”

  “That is quite the compliment coming from a lady of Kilgrave. Kilgrave is quite stunning in its vistas.”

  “It is indeed. I miss it already.”

  “Were I you, I never would have wanted to leave.”

  “I did not wish to do so, but I was not given a choice in the matter.” Diana’s forthrightness surprised even her. “My apologies.” She averted her eyes and was gratefully saved by the first course being delivered.

  “No apologies are needed,” the Marquess reassured her. “I understand.”

  Diana gave him a smile of gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “Your presence is our pleasure.”

  The Dowager Marchioness snorted indelicately at her son’s words. “It is a favor to your family, nothing more.”

  Diana refrained from sighing and instead began to eat. She thought that perhaps if her mouth was too full to speak, that she might manage to refrain from getting herself into further trouble with the Dowager Marchioness. Her hopes were soon to be dashed.

  “Did you take Gabriel as I suggested?”

  “I did,” Diana nodded. “He was a most amenable guide.”

  The Dowager Marchioness slammed her fork down upon the table at Diana’s words. “I will not have you cavorting with stable hands!”

  “I was not cavorting,” Diana argued indignantly.

  “I will not have it,” the Marchioness repeated herself. “Do I make myself clear? You will have nothing more to do with the boy.”

  “You cannot…” Diana began to argue with her but realized too late her mistake.

  “I can and I will! You are forbidden to see him ever again! Your parents would never forgive me if I allowed you to fall prey to the machinations of wily men.”

  Diana looked at the Dowager as if she had lost her mind, but before she could argue anything to defend herself, the Marquess intervened.

  “Mother.”

  It was only one word, but it was said with a warning that made the Dowager Marchioness shut her mouth and sit fuming in sullen silence for the remainder of the meal. Once dinner was finished, the Dowager stormed from the room.

  And this is the woman who is to teach me how to better improve my sense of social decorum?

  Diana shook her head.

  “My apologies, Lady Diana,” the Marquess bowed, offering her his arm. “I believe that she means to honor your grandmother but is going about it in a rather abrasive manner. I have confidence that her heart will soften towards you in time.”

  “I sincerely hope so. It has been made rather clear to me that she believes I have dishonored my grandmother’s revered legacy. How, I am not certain, but she has clearly heard about my refusal to wed the Earl of Appley and considers it to be an offense to my family’s noble name.”

  The Marquess nodded. “Her marriage to my father was arranged in just such a fashion, as these things so often are among our kind. She believes it to be a lady’s duty to wed who her parents decide and to refuse such a nobleman’s proposal is akin to committing a sacrilege. As you know, I do not share her beliefs in this, but I do believe that she means well where you are concerned.”

  Diana sighed. “I sincerely hope that you are correct in your appraisal of the situation. I honestly do not wish to continue on here as things have begun, but I do not have a choice in the matter.”

  “I will speak with her on
your behalf,” the Marquess promised as he led her into the library and over to a settee in front of the fireplace. He walked over to a side table and poured them both a brandy before coming back to hand her a snifter and sit down in the chair across from her.

  “I do not wish to cause strife between you and your mother.”

  “You cannot cause any more strife than already exists between us.”

  Diana nodded in understanding. “Thank you.”

  “It is my duty as your host.”

  They sat sipping their brandy for a moment, allowing the conversation to lull. Diana’s thoughts turned once more to the stable hand, Gabriel. How he had managed to sneak them into the house unseen, she still did not know. There was no way that she could have done so in her own house at Kilgrave, let alone in a strange unfamiliar house such as Westwallow. Servants were everywhere and yet they had not been seen once.

  Diana turned her eyes back to the Marquess.

  “Tell me more about Gabriel Rowan? I found him to be an interesting person.”

  “He is,” the Marquess nodded. “An intelligent young man, skilled with the horses. I could not ask for better.”

  “Why did the Dowager Marchioness forbid me to ride out with him?”

  The Marquess shook his head. “She is merely being protective. She does not wish to see your reputation compromised.”

  “How can it be? He is merely a stable hand, is he not? You would not have recommended that I seek him out if he was the type of man to compromise my reputation.”

  The Marquess smiled. “I would not.”

  “Well then…”

  “Next time that you ride out with Gabriel, perhaps it would be best if you took along your lady’s maid.”

  Diana nodded.

  “Perhaps that would be best.”

  The marquess nodded and turned to stare into the glowing embers glistening upon the hearth. Diana studied his face silently and her heart went out to him for the pain she saw reflected in his eyes.

  “Gabriel asked if I was here to wed you,” she informed him, thinking that he might find it amusing.

  The Marquess turned his eyes back to Diana and he smiled.

  “I can think of worse fates, but no,” he shook his head, “you are not here for that.”

  “That is what I told him.” Diana smiled back at him.

  “You are meant for another,” the Marquess gently reminded.

  “I honestly feel as if I were a suckling pig being fattened for the slaughter.”

  That did make the Marquess laugh, temporarily banishing the sorrow from his eyes. “I suppose that it is a bit like that, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is,” Diana nodded. “One does not like to think of one’s self as a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.”

  “Surely your parents have taken more care than that.”

  Diana felt a momentary pang of guilt at the Marquess’ gentle chastisement.

  “They did. I apologize for my uncharitable attitude.”

  “You are feeling displaced. It is understandable. I will do everything in my power to see that your time here is fulfilling, but remember—in the end, it will be you that determines your fate.”

  The word fate hung like a death toll between them. A thought sprang to mind, a line from John Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions: Meditation XVII. She voiced as much to the Marquess.

  “Have you read it? I believe that it was written in 1623 or ‘24.” She shook her head. “I cannot remember the exact year.”

  “I have. I read it after my father died, in fact.” The Marquess nodded and closed his eyes in thought.

  “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

  “Yes, I feel a bit like the ending phrase. To wed without love feels as if some bell of doom tolls for me.”

  “Perhaps so, as I find that I am inclined to agree with you, but there is something even more crucial to the thought that I believe you are missing in the message.”

  “What is that?”

  “That we were not meant to be alone, and that even if we were to succeed in creating a life outside of the accepted norm, we are still a part of the greater whole and our actions not only affect us, but those around us. Even in my sorrow, I acknowledge that one day I must wed again, not for my sake, but for the sake of the title. It is my duty, because I am a part of something greater than myself, as are you.”

  “My father’s legacy,” Diana murmured.

  “Indeed.”

  “Can I not have both?”

  “Few ever do, but yes, it is my fervent hope that you, like I, will know the bliss of love. However, do not allow it to leave you alone for the remainder of your days. Such would not do you or your family any good at all. Love, like what I had with my wife, is a rare and beautiful thing that not everyone is blessed to find. I do not wish for my previous words pertaining to love to lead you down a path of loneliness. Please do not judge the Earl of Appley, or any suitor, without having first met them. You do not know from whence love might present itself.”

  Diana could not ignore the sincerity of his words and the look of genuine concern in his eyes.

  “I will give everything that you have said some thought. I thank you for your honesty.”

  “My dear Lady Diana, from me you will never have anything less.”

  Chapter 8

  The next morning, Diana was surprised to find the Dowager Marchioness to be in a much better mood. She did not greet Diana with her usual icy glare and thinly-veiled insults. Instead, she attempted something that was not quite a smile, but it was not a grimace either. Had Diana not been in a state of shock, she would have smiled in greeting at the Dowager herself. As it was, she could barely keep her jaw from falling open in surprise.

  “Good morning, Diana,” the Dowager Marchioness actually greeted her as she entered the drawing room and moved to sit down in the chair across from her.

  “Good morning, My Lady,” Diana murmured, dropping a curtsy before she took her seat.

  “How did you sleep?”

  “Well, My Lady,” Diana lied. She had tossed and turned all night, but she was not about to tell the Dowager that. “And you?”

  “Quite well, thank you. Did you break the fast?”

  “I did,” Diana nodded, still stunned by the Dowager’s sudden lack of animosity towards her.

  It must have been quite the discussion that the Marquess had with the Dowager Marchioness. I have never seen her so amiable. I wonder what he said to her to make her behave with such seeming docility.

  As if the Dowager Marchioness could read Diana’s thoughts, she spoke about her son.

  “Ernest tells me that you have agreed to think more upon the Earl of Appley’s suit.”

  Diana’s brows arched in surprise. “I agreed to think upon meeting him.”

  “Excellent, then it is settled. We will have the Earl of Appley here to Westwallow for a visit.”

  “We will?” Diana’s mouth went dry in trepidation.

  “Yes, we will. Ernest will invite him here for the shooting, and sport, and it will give the two of you the perfect opportunity to get to know one another.” The Dowager Marchioness almost seemed excited by the prospect.

  “There is no need to go to so much trouble on my behalf,” Diana protested, not caring for the plan. She had no desire to meet the Earl of Appley, as uncharitable as it might be. In spite of her words of the night before, she had not changed her inclination toward completely avoiding the situation altogether. She knew she had no choice but to eventually meet the Earl, but she was not at all convinced that she was ready to do so. It did not help that any time someone in authority over her dictated what she was to do, he
r natural inclination was to fight against it.

  “It is no trouble at all. We would be delighted to have the Earl come to stay. He is an acquaintance of my son, so it is perfectly natural that he should be invited to Westwallow.”