Page 28 of Married to the Icy Duke
“Of course,” he said reassuringly. “Make yourself entirely at home, Your Gr—Thalia.”
She smiled at him gratefully and got carefully to her feet. They all rose, and there was a short commotion as the ladies collected themselves and moved towards the door. Charlotte was obliged to walk around the table, behind Isaac. Abruptly, he caught her by the wrist and whispered briefly in her ear.
“Freedom, my dear. Think of that. You’ll be free from my company too, so don’t worry yourself on that score.”
She shot a quick, unreadable glance up at him, then tugged her wrist free without another word and walked away.
After the ladies were gone, Tristan sat down with a sigh, leaving Isaac standing alone.
“Don’t you dare ever invite me to a dinner that awkward again,” Tristan said darkly. “I shall have nightmares about tonight.”
Isaac gave a wry smile. “We both know, Tristan, that you’ll come to whatever functions I invite you to.”
Isaac had not been able to settle down to port and cigars as usual. Tristan had some gossip about a mutual friend, which generally would have interested Isaac a good deal, but tonight he simply could not concentrate.
At last, he had made his excuses, leaving Tristan to finish a bottle of port by himself in the dining room and set off in search of the woman.
It was easy enough to convince himself that he was going in search of his sister and Tommy, and not searching for Charlotte. After all, she had made it abundantly clear that she did not cravehiscompany.
He found them at last in one of the morning-rooms, standing by a wide picture window which overlooked the gardens. They were dark at this time of night, however, but moonlight and a few strategically placed torches lit up a small terrace and a path winding through the shrubberies.
Mary was standing back from the window, while Charlotte and Sybella stood in front of it. Charlotte had Tommy in her arms, resting on her hip. They were talking in low voices, and Sybella said something which made Charlotte chuckle. Tommy giggled too, a low, tentative sound that Isaac had not heard in far too long. His chest ached. He paused in the doorway, hesitating.
They are happy enough without me. Perhaps it is me who’s poisoning the family after all. Well, was it not always me?
Swallowing hard, he turned to leave. At that moment, however, Mary glanced his way.
“Oh, Your Grace, we didn’t see you there!”
They all turned to look at him. Isaac froze, his escape ruined.
“We were just talking about the garden, brother,” Sybella said, smiling easily. “Tommy seems interested in looking at the flowers. Do you take him outside often?”
“Not often enough,” he responded. “Well, if you would like, we can go out now.”
He could feel Charlotte’s eyes on him like a weight. It wasn’t she who responded, however. It was Sybella.
“Why, how lovely! What do you say, Charlotte? There’s not much of a chill in the air tonight.”
Moments later, they were at the large French doors downstairs. Charlotte and Sybella were pulling on shawls while Mary wrapped a scarf around Tommy’s neck, pushing a large, floppy hat on his head.
“You’ll be cold,” she said reprovingly, when he wriggled a little. He stopped wriggling at once, offering her a sweet smile.
Isaac’s chest tightened once more.
He’s such a sweet boy. Why should he be saddled with a man like me as his guardian? I have failed him so badly already.
There was no time to endure such maudlin thoughts, because at that moment the doors were open and Isaac stepped out onto the cool terrace with the others.
Tommy seemed thrilled, running forward to inspect the shrubberies with Mary in tow. Laughing, Sybella hurried after him, and that left Charlotte and Isaac standing together.
He glanced at his bride-to-be out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling, watching Tommy with real affection.
No doubt my presence will drain the joy from her face, too,Isaac thought, swallowing hard.I’m a blight on those around me, I suppose.
Charlotte glanced up at him, and her expression changed.
“Neither of us was particularly gracious at dinner,” she remarked suddenly. “Your poor friend was quite struggling at times.”
