by Lucy Langton
On this day, however, Isaac was not allowed a great deal of time to admire nature and all of her miraculous details, for he was almost immediately distracted by something even more magnificent – the arrival of Miss Louisa Pelham and her companion, Sophie Flaherty, to their estate in a carriage.
Isaac didn’t believe his eyes at first. He had to rub them a few times to be sure, but when he was, he had to positively dash down the stairs so that his brother would not be tempted by Miss Flaherty to act in the same way he had the other morning.
When Isaac reached the bottom of the stairs and flew around the corner, he could see Gregory exiting the library at a leisurely pace. He obviously had not seen Sophie yet, and so Isaac decided to save him the embarrassment of being overwhelmed by another bout of ‘temporary insanity’, as he said himself. If Sophie really was the woman for him (which Isaac was not currently convinced she was), then he could court her when he was feeling far less ... aroused by her presence.
“Miss Louisa, Miss Flaherty!” Isaac called to them as he saw them having their cloaks taken off by a servant. “How wonderful to see you; might I direct you into our sitting room right this way?”
Louisa looked at Isaac as though he had spoken another language. “Good afternoon, Mr Quince,” she said, sounding so formal that it made Isaac feel uneasy. “Certainly, I shall follow you into the sitting room, but I am afraid that I’ve asked Sophie to attend to some other business while you and I speak.”
Louisa gave Sophie a look, and the young serving woman disappeared in a heartbeat. Isaac thought that they were both acting very strangely, but he didn’t dare ask what had happened, in fear that something more terrible had befallen her father. It was not yet the time to ask those sorts of questions. If they had to be raised, he wanted it to happen when they were somewhat alone together in the sitting room.
Isaac led the way to the room and directed Louisa to the most comfortable chair. He thought that such an act of thoughtfulness might evoke a smile or the tiniest expression of happiness from her, but when it did not arrive, Isaac knew that something bad was imminent.
“So,” Isaac began cheerfully despite Louisa’s dour mood, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Miss Louisa?”
Louisa kept her eyes trained on the window to her right and did not face Isaac once. “I have come to discuss the matter of the sale of our house,” she said seriously.
“Of course!” Isaac said excitedly. “I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the papers to sign, as I know that we both …”
“There are no papers to sign at this time,” Louisa said abruptly. Isaac stopped dead in his tracks.
“That must be my error then,” Isaac responded graciously. “I had thought at the end of our last meeting that we had decided to sign the papers necessary to have the house sold to me, and I would provide you with the funds that I promised to your father. Perhaps I misunderstood you.”
“I believe you did. The offer that you sent to my father was far too low. We can only sell the house at a premium price; otherwise, we will have to stay on the property.” Finally, Louisa looked at Isaac. It was as though she was wearing a mask, and the real Louisa was dying to return. However, something was holding her back, and Isaac hoped that through the course of their conversation, he might be able to coax it out of her.
“Of course, I understand that perfectly,” Isaac replied. He continued trying to understand where Louisa was coming from. She must have been under an enormous amount of pressure from taking care of her father, as well as trying to navigate the household finances in addition to everything else she was already handling. Perhaps everything finally got to her, he thought, and that is why she is so unhappy today. I would be positively miserable if our circumstances were reversed, so I can’t imagine how she manages on a day-to-day basis.
“You ... you do?” Louisa asked. As she said that, Isaac could practically see a small corner of her mask peeling back and the true Louisa coming through.
“How could I not? That price was fair when your father was not going through a health crisis, and as circumstances have now changed, so must the price. I would be happy to draw you and your family up a new estimate for what I feel is fair now, but I would also not mind if you were to simply name the price. I trust you and your family implicitly and know that you would only ask for what is fair.” Isaac considered that he might be laying on the compliments too thick, but when Louisa was obviously having a difficult day, he thought, why not?
Louisa simply blinked at him in disbelief. “You’re that willing to change your price?” she asked.
Isaac nodded. “Yes. Here, I shall write what I believe to be an appropriate amount down on this paper, and you can tell me how you feel about it.” He grabbed a piece of parchment and a writing utensil from nearby, pondered what he thought would be a good price as well as what Louisa would accept in assistance now that her father was not employed for the foreseeable future, and then wrote down a number. He folded the paper in half and placed it in front of Louisa.
“There we have it. Tell me what you think about that number,” Isaac suggested. He was so happy that Louisa was actually asking for financial assistance from him, even if she was doing it through the sale of her house. He wanted to give her as much money as he could but knew that she would accept no charity and so was worried he had given her a number that was too low.
When he saw the look on Louisa’s face as she opened the folded paper, however, he then feared the opposite. “Mr Quince – Isaac – this is too ...” Louisa began to say, keeping her eyes glued to the number as if when she looked away momentarily, it would disappear.
“I hope that such an offering does not offend you,” Isaac checked. But when Louisa said nothing in return, he was still not sure if she was happy or miserable with the number that he had given her. And so, without thinking very much, he suddenly blurted out, “Perhaps we could discuss this matter over dinner here tomorrow night.”
Louisa’s head jerked up to look at him, and she very nearly dropped the slip of paper. Instantly, however, Isaac realized he had misspoken. You just invited a single young woman to dinner at your house! Isaac screamed inwardly. You cannot reveal your feelings so outwardly like that, you must invite a chaperone. But who ... I cannot think of anyone ... although perhaps ... “With your mother,” Isaac tacked on awkwardly. “Dinner here tomorrow night with ... your mother.”
Isaac was so embarrassed by his behaviour and how he had spoken to Louisa that he wanted to run from the room and never speak of this incident again. However, it seemed that his awkwardness had not driven Louisa away. She simply gave him a polite smile and said, “That would be lovely, Mr Quince. I shall bring her, and we can all discuss ... the cost of the house.”
Isaac nodded gratefully. “Yes! Yes, of course, the cost of the house is indeed what we shall keep the topic of conversation centred upon. Shall we say ... six p.m. for dinner? Does that leave you enough time to ... get ready?”
Stop talking, stop talking, stop TALKING! Isaac ordered himself. She does not need you to think about her getting ready, for you have already made the grave error of inviting a young lady to your home without a chaperone. If you do one more foolish thing tonight, you might ruin your relationship with her entirely!
“Yes, I do believe that should allow me enough time to get ready,” Louisa said with a hint of mockery in her voice. But surprisingly, Isaac didn’t mind her teasing him one bit, because it seemed to make her just the tiniest bit happier.
“I am very glad to hear that, Miss Louisa,” Isaac responded cordially. “Then shall I walk you to your carriage so that you and Miss Flaherty can go home before the storm arrives?”
“Before the ... the storm?” Louisa asked, rising from her chair to look out the window. “Oh my, I had not realized how dark it had become. Yes, that is a most excellent idea, thank you, Mr Quince.”
When Louisa turned back from the window, Isaac didn’t realize how close he had got to her. She took tw
o steps and then practically ran right into him. She did stop just in time, however, and so stood agonizingly closely to Isaac for the briefest instant.
She was so close that Isaac could feel her sharp intake of breath against his neck when she nearly collided with him. He could see the way the light glinted off of her dark hair, which he thought was rather miraculous, considering how black hair typically consumed any light that shone in its direction.
And finally, when she slowly moved her head up to look him in the eyes, he was left speechless by the delicate nature of her face and the way her lips seemed to draw him in towards her. Isaac couldn’t help himself. He raised one hand and gently placed it upon her cheek, and when their skin touched, it was as though he had been struck by lightning.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and goosebumps rose on his arms and then all over his body. Louisa was looking at his lips as well and giving him all the signs that perhaps she wanted him to kiss her ...
Right then, of course, Sophie barged into the room with another servant, and Isaac and Louisa broke apart immediately. “Sorry to interrupt you, sir,” Isaac’s servant, Mr Heath, said, “but I’m afraid there’s a rather urgent matter to attend to in the kitchen. I would explain it, but ... I do not wish to shock the ladies.”
Judging by the nonchalant manner in which Mr Heath had begun talking, he did not see what position Louisa and Isaac had been in when he entered the room ... but Sophie certainly had. She was currently staring at Louisa with a wide-open mouth, unable to move. Isaac’s head was still so foggy from his almost-kiss with Louisa that he couldn’t even form a sentence in response to Mr Heath.
Louisa, on the other hand, jumped right into action. “Then Miss Flaherty and I shall leave you to that important business, Mr Quince,” Louisa said, striding forward and taking the still-stunned Sophie by the hand and leading her out of the room. “Thank you for your time, and I shall see you here tomorrow with my mother,” she called after them.
As Isaac watched the two young women walk away, he could have cursed Mr Heath. I was so close, he thought. And I hope to high heavens that Louisa tells Sophie to keep her mouth shut about what she saw ... otherwise, it would mean a big problem for all three of us.
Chapter 14
“Perhaps we could discuss this matter over dinner here tomorrow night.” Louisa re-played what Isaac had said in the sitting room yesterday in her mind over and over. Of course, in her reimagining of the story, she cut out the part where Isaac had added ‘with your mother’, because that was not an essential detail, in her mind. What mattered was that Isaac had asked her directly to come to dinner at his home, and she could not believe such an invitation was real.
As she sat in her room doing her hair for the evening, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to dream about the possibility of Isaac. She knew that they could never truly be together now that she had promised herself to Stephen, but she could always be with him in her dreams, and perhaps that was better, in the end.
When she began thinking of him, she at first tried to think of quaint scenes – the two of them taking a walk together down by the stream, or spending a luxurious evening by the fire, or curling up in bed together. This was how she had begun thinking about him in the woods before her fall as well. But of course, the moment she thought about being in bed with Isaac ... her mind began to wander.
It was totally harmless at first ... she thought about laying on his chest and him wrapping his arms around her, bringing her tightly to him. However, when she began picturing the two of them naked together in bed, there was no going back.
She envisioned him caressing her body with just his hands to start, and then moving on to placing kisses upon her wherever he could. She could practically feel the pressure of his lips against her breast and thought about him moving down her body to place kisses upon her abdomen, and then right above her pubic bone, and then ...
Well, she decided, if he was already heading in that direction ... And so Louisa indulged herself and imagined Isaac taking his lips and kissing her softly between the legs to start. Of course, she wouldn’t be able to keep her noises to herself, and so she’d begin moaning. Once Isaac heard that he’d then take his agile tongue and place it against the place where she wanted to feel him the most.
When he began licking her, she simply wouldn’t be able to control herself. She imagined placing her hands on either side of his head and moaning, “More, more ...” to him. Isaac, being the considerate man that he was, would, of course, obey her.
He might even go as far as to slip one or two fingers within her, so that when he felt her getting close to erupting, he would be able to see her back arch and her legs quiver, but also feel her clamp down on his fingers hard, and then feel her release over and over and over again until she couldn’t take any more. When he had finally had his way with her, he’d crawl on top of her, pull the sheet over the top of them both, guide himself in between her legs, and –
“Louisa, are you ready darling?” came Martha’s voice from the other side of the door. Louisa was rudely tugged from her daydream, and when opening her eyes, was disappointed to remember that she had not yet finished doing her hair ... and that her fantasy had not been a reality.
“Nearly there, Mama!” she called, hurriedly pulling her hair so that it looked half-presentable. Of course, Louisa thought, right when I was getting to the good part, I was foiled once more. Oh, well. That will just leave me with more things to think on the next time ...
When Louisa and her mother were both prepared to go to the Quince Estate, they bid Sophie and Archie farewell (Sophie was staying overnight so that she could be on call in case Archie needed anything before the women returned from dinner) and then they boarded the carriage. The ride was quite uneventful, and they soon reached their destination. It was lightly misting, as it had been all day, and so when they opened the door to exit the carriage, Louisa rushed ahead to stand under the awning, trying to keep her hair as dry as possible.
After being admitted to the house, Louisa had a frightening thought. Will the dowager duchess be joining us for dinner tonight? I hadn’t even considered that! I thought it would only be Isaac, Mama, and I, but if she is there ... I do not know how I will manage trying to control Mama and all her strange ways.
As Louisa fretted over the possible arrival of the dowager duchess, Isaac arrived in the front foyer. For a moment, all of Louisa’s worries disappeared. Isaac looked so handsome in his own way that Louisa wanted to run into his arms and forget about all the troubles in her world. He was wearing a navy suit jacket with a maroon vest and a plain white cravat.
His hair was pulled back from his face, and the faintest line of a beard began on his jawline. When they had first met, she had, of course, thought that he was fairly handsome, but as their time together had progressed, she had only continued to find him more so. His radiant personality shone through his face and made him all the more appealing to her.
Louisa could have laughed at how obvious Isaac was when he admired her, but instead, when he reached her eye line, she winked at him. It was a bold move, of course, but she couldn’t help herself. He certainly noticed and became flustered.
Clearing his throat to re-centre his thoughts, Isaac opened with, “Good evening, Mrs Pelham, Miss Louisa. You both look marvellous this evening. Might I bring you into the dining room? My mother and brother had so wished to join us, but I am afraid that they are otherwise occupied tonight.”
Otherwise occupied, certainly, Louisa thought. I’ll bet they both made up some marvellous excuse to get out of having dinner with Mama and I. But I am glad that I do not have to navigate the waters between Mama and the dowager duchess, for I do not think they would see eye-to-eye on a great many things.
“Oh, thank you, Mr Quince,” Martha replied, giving him a low curtsey. “We are so grateful that you invited us here this evening. You have such a marvellous home.”
Louisa did a double take and stared at her mother. Who is this we
ll-spoken lady, and what has she done with my mother? Isaac bowed his head graciously. “It is I who is grateful that you agreed to join me. Do follow me.”
