Isabelle thanked him for his congratulations, but soon moved away. She had seen the smile when he had spoken and it had made her feel uncomfortable, she had never seen a less sincere expression. The Assembly Room ball suddenly became less appealing.
*
As soon as Isabelle entered the room she was approached by Mr Ollerton. He seemed to be determined to go out of his way to be pleasant with her. It was not long before they joined the first set and the dancing began. Isabelle waited for Mr Ollerton to lead the conversation, she thought it might be easier than her starting something that he could take offence at. She did not have to wait long before the subject of her upcoming marriage was raised.
“So the Earl proved to be more persuasive than the rest of us,” he said as they waited at the bottom of the set.
Isabelle smiled slightly, not really sure of how to respond.
“May I ask what it was that finally persuaded you to marry? I seem to recall many conversations when you dismissed the marital state as something that you did not want to ever enter into.”
Isabelle could not answer the first part of the question honestly, so tried for a more broad answer. “I do not know what made me change my mind, I suppose I just met the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It is as simple as that.”
“I hope you will be as receptive as the old Earl’s wife was. She was a delight to society,” Mr Ollerton smiled with what could only be described of as a leer.
Isabelle frowned, “I am sorry I do not understand,” she replied coolly. She might not understand what he was referring to but it was not complimentary.
“Ah so he hasn’t told you about his mother has he? She was quite a one, perhaps he is still shocked by her liberal ways; he certainly looked shocked when I was with her. Perhaps he is marrying you as revenge on me.”
They were fortunately parted by the set, much to Isabelle’s relief. She needed time to try and make sense of the cryptic comments that had been made. He offered no further comment with regards to Tom’s parent. As her dances came to an end she was relieved to be released from his company, but knew she would not be able to settle fully until Tom had returned to Bath and hopefully offer some explanation.
The three days after Isabelle’s encounter with Mr Ollerton seemed to take forever to pass. She was impatient to see Tom in the hope he would explain the story behind what had been said. She also needed to be reassured that he was not marrying her in revenge, although she acknowledged that it was her own uncertainty about his feelings that were causing her to give such an outrageous comment any consideration.
It was with real joy that she welcomed Tom into her home when he arrived mid-morning. He had come straight to Great Pulteney Street, sending his carriage onwards to Laura Place. Isabelle had waited in for him, Sophie and Sidney talking a walk to Weston.
“Isabelle!” Tom greeted, crossing the morning room that Isabelle had been occupying during the morning visits.
Isabelle stood to greet him and was grateful that the butler had closed the door behind him when she was pulled into her betrothed’s arms and kissed without hesitation. “Tom!” she laughed, pulling away slightly from his embrace. “Sophie could return at any moment!”
“It is a sight she will need to become accustomed to if she is to visit us,” came the flippant reply. “I shall not restrain myself in my own home, or yours come to that.” He smiled before bending to kiss her again. “Have you missed me?” He mumbled into her lips.
Isabelle decided that actions spoke louder than words and responded to his kisses with a passion that could match his own. As soon as he had entered, her whole body had tingled in anticipation of being touched by him and although she had chided him, she was grateful that he had given her such a greeting. She was not sure she could have held back from being inappropriate if he had not.
They eventually parted, both breathless and slightly flushed. “Tell me of your progress here. Is everything going along as you would wish it?” Tom asked, moving to sit on a sofa and pulling Isabelle down to sit next to him, far closer than they should have been, but Isabelle did not object. He kept hold of her hand, seeming to want to maintain contact for as long as possible.
“Yes, Sophie has been a great help with regards to wedding plans. There is very little left to do. I’ve started the packing as you will see, I hope you have no objections to the amount I shall be bringing with me, and I hope your home can cope with my belongings.”
“Our home Isabelle,” Tom said with a squeeze of her hand. “If we need more room we will build another wing, bring all that you wish. I hope it has not been all work for you, I would expect you to have been dragged to all Bath’s entertainments. I know with Sophie in your company you would have little option to do otherwise.”
Isabelle smiled, “It has not been all work, but I have been glad of some time here while Sophie has been out with the Miss Arnolds. I have managed to see my friends as much as I wish.”
“Good. I would not wish to be accused of keeping you from everyone.”
Isabelle knew it was the ideal time to raise what Mr Ollerton had hinted at, “Tom, I’ve been told some pieces of probably unfounded gossip but I need to speak to you about them.”
Tom leaned away from Isabelle slightly and looked at her slight frown. “What is troubling you?”
“It’s not troubling me, I just feel that I need to know the truth to enable me to stop any further comments being made,” Isabelle explained, knowing she probably sounded as cryptic as Mr Ollerton had.
“The truth about what?” Tom had become wary.
“The truth about your mother and what connection Mr Ollerton had with her,” Isabelle said simply watching closely.
Tom stiffened and moved, pulling away at Isabelle’s words. “I do not wish to talk about it,” came the closed response.
Isabelle inwardly fought the bubble of anger that threatened to rise to the surface. “As your future wife I would not think it healthy to keep secrets from each other, particularly when it means I am left open to snide comments from a man who believes I am being married as an act of revenge!” Her words were sharp and succeeded in grabbing Tom’s attention.
Tom jumped up from the sofa and started to pace the room. “An act of revenge? The man must be mad!” He exploded.
“I thought so, but unless I hear the truth from you I am inclined to give his words more credit than they probably deserve.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You cannot consider his words with any seriousness!” Tom snapped.
“I don’t as you know full well, but I do consider it serious when my future husband is reluctant to confide in me,” Isabelle replied angrily.
“It’s not as straightforward as just confiding in you,” Tom said turning to Isabelle.
Isabelle could see there was some struggle going on inside him and reached out to him. “Trust me,” she said quietly.
“I promised myself I would never trust any woman after what my mother did to my family,” came the quiet response. Isabelle remained silent waiting for him to decide if he could continue. He seemed to struggle with his inner battle, but then returned to the sofa and sat down, once more taking Isabelle’s hands. “You were lucky that your parents had a happy marriage, mine did not and home was not a home. I love the place, the history, and what it means to the generations of my family, but it is not filled with happy memories of childhood for me. The earliest memories I have are of my parents arguing. There was a large age difference between my mother and father which probably did not help, but they were different personalities. He was steady and serious, she an extrovert. They should never have married.”
Isabelle squeezed the hand that was clinging to hers, she had no idea how to comfort him; his experience was so different from her own. He had gained a pained expression as he had talked and the usual confident, slightly aloof man seemed a million miles away. She waited until he roused himself and continued to speak.
“I was at school most of the time s
o did not see much of what went on at home. Sophie had been the result of an attempt at a reconciliation, although I would never admit it to Sophie. It failed to bring them together and in reality after she was born their marriage was a farce. What I cannot forgive in it all was my mother’s behaviour and the way my father allowed her to make a complete fool of him.”
“What did she do?”
“She encouraged other men, she had affairs. Many times the men would visit her while my father sat downstairs. I found out what she did when I walked in on her one day. It was a rude awakening for me in all respects.”
Tom hung his head as if weary, while Isabelle’s mind raced. She could hardly believe that someone would behave in such a manner, especially in front of their child and husband. “What happened?”
“I was unceremoniously told to leave the room and when I sought help from my father to stop the nightmare, I found him drunk and he explained to me that I should get used to the idea of my wife behaving in exactly the same manner when I married.”
“Oh my goodness!” Isabelle exclaimed, but her tone was quiet, she could see there was more to be told.
“The irony is that when I met Ollerton again I did not even recognise him. My whole focus that day had been on my mother, I only gave her lover the slightest of glances.”
“Mr Ollerton?” Isabelle asked with dawning horror.
“Oh yes, I did not remember when we met at the Theatre, although I did have a feeling that he was familiar. It was after you had left his ball that he chose to reintroduce himself properly so to speak,” Tom finished bitterly.
“It must have been horrific to have him explain who he was,” Isabelle sympathised.
“The night had already been horrific since I had upset you, it just ended in such a way I was unlikely to forget in a hurry,” he replied with a rueful smile.
“I am surprised at his making himself known to you again.” Isabelle was growing more uncomfortable about Mr Ollerton’s actions, they were not the actions of a reasonable man.
“Well he did and now he has mentioned it to you. I cannot allow him to be near Sophie. If he mentions anything to her I will kill him as I should have done when I was fifteen,” he responded through gritted teeth.
Isabelle sat quietly, the explanation had made so much fall into place about Tom’s behaviour and his aversion to marriage. It gave her hope that in time he could come to love her, she knew he wanted her, but over time as he saw that she was not like his mother he may lower his barriers and come to care for her as she did for him. She reached out and gently cupped his cheek.
“I am far from perfect Tom, but I can promise you this, I am not your mother. I shall never take anyone else. I am marrying you and that is enough for me.”
Tom pulled away slightly, “Don’t make promises like that. We neither of us know what the future will bring, I’m sure she thought she would be faithful before she married.”
Isabelle could hardly believe what she was hearing, there were doubts and there were damned insults and her future husband had just delivered the latter.
“I am glad to see you have so much faith in me Tom. I can see our marriage is starting on as firm a footing as if it was built on quicksand!”
“My feelings are not unreasonable!” Tom snapped in response to Isabelle’s sarcastic comment.
“They would be justified if you were marrying a character like your mother, but thankfully you are not!” Isabelle snapped. “I thought only Frank had a low opinion of me, but I see I have been mistaken, you seem to share the same tendency to condemn me before I have had the opportunity to do anything, let alone anything wrong!”
“You are over-reacting! I am just being naturally cautious!”
“No, you are not trusting my word, which is far more hurtful than you can possibly realise. How can we have a secure marriage without trust?”
“I do trust you, but you are being naive about marriage. You have not seen the things that I have, you cannot understand.”
“And that will be your answer every time won’t it?” Isabelle sighed. “I cannot compete with the statement that I have not as much experience as you, but that does not mean that you will always be correct because of that. Do you know, when you first told me of Mr Ollerton and your mother I was filled with hope. At last I could see why you were so distant, why you didn’t want to marry and I truly believed it would get better, but your words have just proved that you don’t want to try, you are too wrapped up in your own world of self-pity.”
“I am distant?” Tom asked in disbelief. “Was the greeting I gave you distant?”
“That was physical Tom, it wasn’t from here,” Isabelle placed her hand over his frock coat, near his heart. “Without taking a risk with this, we are always going to fail.”
Tom shook her hand off his coat. “You have gone too far Madam. I do not know if it is the struggle with leaving your home that has made you say such things today, but I suggest you spend some time reflecting the reality of our marriage. I shall leave you in peace until I hear from you.”
*
Tom walked out of the room and out onto Great Pulteney Street. He turned left and headed into Sydney Gardens instead of going to Laura Place. He needed some air before anyone saw him. The argument with Isabelle had come from nowhere, or so he initially thought, but as he walked he knew the moment that the interchange deteriorated, it was when once again he had rejected Isabelle. He cursed himself over and over again, she did nothing but offer up herself to him and he consistently mistrusted everything she said or did.
He wondered if she would call off the engagement and the familiar panic set in when he thought she might disappear from his life. Not usually one to disrespect the dead, he cursed his mother to hell as he walked. As he calmed down, he realised he would need to give Isabelle time. If he returned at the moment, she would likely throw him out of the house and deservedly so. If he gave her some peace, she would understand that he did not mean what he had said. After all she had forgiven worse.
Tom had judged Isabelle correctly in that she needed to calm down. She had felt like screaming like a fish-wife when he had left the room and stormed out of her house. He was insufferable! Every time she felt that he was opening up a little and she was beginning to understand the troubled man, he did something like this and it was worse than before. If only he could believe what she said and trusted her even a little, it would make life so much easier.
One of her first reactions had been to call off the wedding, but it had only taken seconds for her to dismiss that thought. She was going to marry him and get through to the inner man that she knew existed if it killed her. The problem was at that moment, she thought that killing him was the more preferable option.
Isabelle did come to one conclusion though and that was to let him calm down and give him time to think for a few days. She could not force him to trust her, it had to come from within himself and she knew he would dwell on what had happened. Hopefully he would come to realise that trusting her was not such an unreasonable request. James and Mary were arriving the day after, so she would have plenty to occupy her in the week up to the wedding. Perhaps if she was not fussing around Tom, he would come to miss her and want to be with her, so she determined that she would not contact him, until he contacted her.
Chapter 19
Mary and James arrived as planned, Isabelle was relieved to have her family around her again. Once she had gone into Kent, they would meet far less than they had done before. As mistress to a large house her time would be spent running the household and all that came with it. She was looking forward to the prospect, but she would miss her family.
The newly married couple glowed with happiness and spent the first few hours after their arrival telling Isabelle of their trip and all the gossip they had discovered.
“Quite a few people commented on your engagement announcement to the dreaded Earl of Standish,” James teased.
“I’ll bet a few husbands have breathed a sigh
of relief, if half his reputation is to be believed,” Isabelle responded in jest, but there was a little touch of asperity in her words.
“Isabelle! That is your future husband you are referring to!” Mary exclaimed, shocked.
Isabelle smiled ruefully at her sister-in-law, “Sorry Mary, but you can’t expect me to pretend he is an angel, I shall need all my wits about me in my marriage.”
“Second thoughts Izzy?” James asked lightly enough, but it made Isabelle smile to see the panic flitting across his face.
“Not at all James, not at all. I am always up for a challenge!”
Isabelle had no problem avoiding Tom over the following two days. Mary was keen to go over everything for the wedding and visit her friends while she was in Bath. They attended the Pump Room both days and although Mary commented on the Tom’s absence, Isabelle was able to offer a plausible excuse. Sophie and Sydney had moved into Laura Place before James’s arrival and it was natural that the parties should not seek each other out. They would face each other at the wedding, but neither was keen to bring the meeting early.
Four days before Isabelle was to commit her life to the Earl of Standish, she decided that she needed to visit the milliners one last time. Mary was busy with Mrs Sugden, so Isabelle took her maid and faced the crowds in Milsom Street. She spent a worthwhile hour with the differing patrons of the Milsom Street businesses and finally emerged from a haberdashery intent on returning home.
She was surprised and dismayed to see Mr Ollerton waiting outside the shop and moving towards her when she emerged. As well as avoiding Tom, she had managed to avoid Mr Ollerton. It was unusual to see him, or most gentlemen in fact, around such establishments, but she smiled in welcome as he approached.
“Ah, Miss Crawford,” he said hurriedly.
“Mr Ollerton, how do you do?” Isabelle replied pleasantly.
“I am very well, but I am afraid I am here on an urgent errand.” He took hold of Isabelle’s arm as he spoke.
The Complicated Earl Page 23
