Page 18 of The Gentleman Was Right
“I cannot get up. You should go on without me.” Isabelle shifted with a pitiful whimper. “Perhaps when you return, I’ll be able to stand.”
“Don’t be silly,” Edward said. “I can carry you inside.”
“You can?” Isabelle brightened and batted her lashes. “I’d be much obliged.”
* * *
Edward swept Isabelle into his arms and covered the distance back to the cottage without any signs of strain.
Instead of scrambling after them, Violet watched as his long stride ate up the distance to the doorway. Heavens, he was strong and virile. He didn’t even appear to be exerting himself.
When he cleared the first stair, she realized she was gawking.
Clutching her damp skirts in her hands, she finally had the wherewithal to dash after them. By the time she caught up, Isabelle was seated on the settee closest to the fire, and Edward was stacking pillows under her ankle.
“I’ll summon a doctor,” Violet said.
“No,” Isabelle practically shouted. “Let me rest a bit and see how I feel.”
“If it hurts so much you can’t?—”
“—it’s already feeling a little better. With luck, I’ll be right as rain come evening.”
Violet clung to her patience as she took her sister’s hand. “Isabelle.”
“Please,” Isabelle interrupted before Violet could say more. “Let me sit here with my foot propped up for an hour or two before you make a fuss.”
“I’m not making a fuss. If you’re injured?—”
“—I’m fine. You should still take your walk. You love wandering, and Edward doesn’t know how beautiful it is here. You can show him your favorite spots.”
Isabelle couldnotbe serious.
Violet would never abandon her sister when she was hurt, and Isabelle was well aware of it. “I’m not leaving you alone with an injury.”
“I’m notthathurt,” Isabelle responded, directly conflicting every word she’d spoken since she twisted her ankle and solidifying what Violet had suspected from the beginning.
Her sister wasnotinjured.
Edward snorted. They’d obviously come to the same conclusion—Isabelle was a dirty rotten faker.
The urge to crawl behind the settee and hide until Edward was gone was hard to ignore. If she were able to disappear without anyone noticing, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, life was not kind enough to offer that option, so she had no choice but to pretend she was unbothered by her sister’s misguided attempt at matchmaking.
“I should watch over you,” she said. “Make sure you’re resting.”
Isabelle laid her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes. “I do not require an audience to rest. In fact, I believe I require a bit of quiet.”
“You require?—”
Isabelle cracked one eye open. “Please. Let me convalesce in peace.”
Violet hesitated for another minute and then relented. Isabelle asked so little of her. And she’d hardly complained when Violet had dragged her out of London in the middle of the night. Violet could be sociable with Edward for a single morning if it would make her sister happy. It wasn’t as if she were foolish enough to allow herself to become infatuated with him, and while Isabelle would probably be disappointed if herfakeinjury didn’t yield an engagement, she would hardly be surprised.
“You better be in this same spot when I return,” she told Isabelle before she turned her attention to Edward. “Shall we try again?”
“Absolutely.” He gestured toward the hall. “After you.”
They traipsed back out of the house in silence, but Violet knew if she didn’t acknowledge what had just happened, she would never be able to relax. They hadn’t even reached the spot where Isabelle collapsed when she spoke. “I’m quite sorry about my sister. She can be needlessly dramatic and…I suspect she invented an injury so we would be alone.”
