Page 31 of A Lady's Wicked Revenge
The older man pulled her in for a stiff, avuncular embrace, and Diana felt herself half-collapse into his arms, holding him tightly lest she fall to the floor.
“Even family may present a danger, Diana.”
She blinked, feeling her breath catch in her throat at the quiet words spoken into her ear.
The two stayed frozen there on the carpet, unmoving like dancers petrified in the middle of a reel. Mister Arnold cleared his throat. “I told you about the money only so you can keep up your guard. I do not trust Sir James, and neither should you. Keep your eyes open in this house, I pray you.”
Diana’s eyes fluttered open. Over Mister Arnold’s shoulder, she could just see a glimmer of something at the top of the stairs, just before they receded out of view into the shadow of the first floor. It disappeared as soon as her eye fell upon it, but she was quite certain that it whatever it was, it was a rich green in colour.
She clutched her fingers tightly against Mister Arnold’s back. “I know. I have been listening at Uncle James’ door whenever I can, though I have not yet heard anything of value.”
“Keep listening, Diana. Keep aware, no matter what comes. I’m sorry I cannot take care of you,” said the kindly old accountant, squeezing her insistently. “For your own sake and for your dear mother and father,promiseme you will take care of yourself.”
“I will, Mister Arnold. I promise.”
Chapter 14
A Spark in the Darkness
“And here I thought I had seen every inch of the grounds by now,” said Diana happily as they settled onto a low stone bench.
“Surely by now, you should know that there’s no end of surprises in the Leeson house.” Colin withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat that had beaded on his forehead. “Why, just this morning, I found a second ballroom behind a door I had never noticed before.”
“I suppose it serves us both right for being so unobservant,” Diana returned without hesitation. “Last night, I nearly tripped over a scullery I discovered under my bed.”
Colin chuckled. “I do hope you didn’t trip over any of the staff in the process. They were probably hiding from Sir James under there.”
Their laughter mingled in the warm, moist air that hung over them, and Colin found himself sighing as he looked out in appreciation of the scenery. An old elm tree towered over them, painting blissfully cool shadows over the little corner of the garden. Ringing the small, cobbled clearing were hundreds of vibrant orange daylilies, their trumpet-shaped blossoms reaching up to the heavens as if ready to burst forth in loud, celebratory fanfare for the last gasp of the summer.
From her position next to him, Colin heard Diana draw in a deep breath through her nose, apparently savouring the daylilies’ scent. Suddenly he was acutely aware of how close together they were sitting—the old stone bench provided a scenic view of the garden, to be sure, but it was only a few feet long. He found himself suddenly recalling faint details of a recurring dream he had had over the last few nights, and the memory caused an uncomfortable heat under his collar that he could not seem to push away. His mind became clouded with racing thoughts of the shape of Diana’s body, tracing her womanly curves that rested languidly on the bench just a few inches away from him …
“Have, ah …” Colin coughed, hoping to distract himself from these intrusive thoughts. “Have you had the pleasure of Mister Dull’s company of late? I can only imagine the thrilling insights on the weather he must be aching to share with someone.”
Diana chuckled at the characterization of her undeterred suitor, whose secret nickname she had shared with Colin a few days earlier. After half a breath, though, the laugh was transformed into a groan of frustration. “I tell you, the man is so deathly dull it’s a wonder he does not borehimselfto sleep. As horrid as it is for me to listen to every half-formed thought that passes through his head, imagine how much worse it is for he himself. At least I only see him once every few days.”
“Once every few days is still far more than anyone should have to suffer through.”
“I keep hoping that he will realise that I have neither answered him in conversation nor looked him in the eyes in weeks.” Diana sighed once more, and Colin could hear a lifetime of frustration released with her breath. “Someday, he will make a fine husband to a perfectly lovely deaf woman. It’s a shame for his sake that he is so slow in understanding that I will not marry him.”
“I admire your persistence. Courage, Diana! I’m sure it won’t be much longer—it took twenty earthquakes to topple the Lighthouse at Alexandria, and that was made of stone. Surely Gerard Dunn won’t take much more punishment than that,” Colin said, though he felt a peculiar edge of viciousness creep into the corner of his mood. He looked off into the distance, trying to bury this emotion in a casual tone of voice. “Still, if Sir James decides to end this game before you’ve thoroughly alienated good Mister Dull … I suppose there are worse men you could be forced into marrying.”
Diana gave him a vicious glare, and Colin immediately regretted letting this question slip.You know better than to provoke her on matters of actual importance, fool,he thought, wincing. Indeed, over the past several weeks, the two of them had developed a spontaneous, unspoken yet ironclad code of contact for interacting with one another. Certain important topics would only be alluded to, whether in public or private, and others would not be brought up at all. Chief among these were the subjects of his birth father, the ghastly fate that met her parents, and Sir James’ plans for her marriage.
Diana fell into a sullen silence, and Colin ground his teeth in consternation. He shifted his position uncomfortably on the stone bench, and his mind raced to find something innocuous or even complimentary to fill the quiet. “I don’t know how women stand being ordered about so. I’m sure I could never put up with it,” he said with a sigh.
“Really?” He looked over to see Diana looking at him with a carnivorous smile—too late, he realised the opening he had given her. “In that case, you might want to tell your stepfather that there has been some mistake and that you don’t wish to be ordered about after all. Once you’ve finished shining his boots, that is.”
Colin laughed good-naturedly. “I suppose I deserve that. I mean what I say, though. Were I in your position, I don’t think I would be able to go on fighting my guardian.”
“What you mean is that you would give in to Sir James’ orders right away, thus avoiding the fight altogether.” She adopted a soldier’s posture and gave a hearty salute to an imaginary officer. “Yes, Sir James, at once, sir! Marry Mister Dunn, immediately!”
“In case you’ve forgotten, Iambeing told that I need to marry,” said Colin, a harsh edge creeping into his voice. “My stepfather has been increasingly insistent on the subject, in fact.”
“Yes, it must be terrible for you. Being kept from your family’s fortune and possessions, having the force of the law compelling you to do as you are told, having your maidenhead sold to anyone who will provide a decent price, being given over to be used and forced to breed with …” Diana stopped to adopt a look of mock surprise. “Oh, I’m so terribly sorry, I must have confused our situations! You only have to have your future discussed with you over a glass of wine, being told you had better think about changing your bachelor ways someday when it’s jolly convenient for you. You see, our situations really are so very similar.”
Colin was more than accustomed to mockery by this point in his life. Every gentleman of the London ton was obliged to grow skin that was thick as cast iron, particularly one with as sharp a tongue as Colin Mullens. And certainly, he had earned more than his fair portion of scorn from Diana herself over this last summer. But where he was accustomed to laughing as hard as anyone at jokes at his expense or to returning such an assault with a swift counter-attack of his own … this felt different.
Indeed, the temperature in the lovely summer garden seemed to turn several degrees colder in the moments that followed Diana’s comments. Usually, baleful words would easily slip out Colin’s far ear and be forgotten just as quickly, but Diana’s mocking words echoed inside his mind over and over. Against the lovely pastoral scene before them, Colin felt himself grow hard, cold, dour.
