Page 55 of A Lady's Wicked Revenge
Then she started in surprise as Priscilla sighed, pushed herself away from the table, and stood to her feet. For an instant, Diana was terrified that their visit had already come to a close; she looked to Colin despairingly, but his face betrayed no clue as to what was happening.
“I’d very much like to speak with you more, to hear of all that’s happened in the last two weeks … really, anything you would care to talk to me about,” said Priscilla with a fond smile on her lips. “In fact, it would please me greatly if, despite all that’s gone on, you and I could call one another friends.”
Diana smiled, though she was still confused by what was going on. “I would be honoured, Missus Leeson.”
This seemed to strike Priscilla as a relief. “I’m happy to know that,” she said, giving her son a significant look. “For now, however, I think I will excuse myself for a moment to give the two of you a chance to speak as candidly as you like.”
With this, she exited the parlour, closing the door behind her. Diana’s heart raced, and she glanced back at the door, then at Colin in wonderment. Though he did not seem to be surprised, his face looked an inscrutable tangle of emotions.
“Well …” Diana began, suddenly unable to think of anything coherent to say.
“Indeed,” Colin answered. Then, their words apparently expended, an oppressive quiet spread over the room like a chill fog.
The sound of the clock ticking on the mantel was almost deafening; the silence in the room was so complete. Diana burned for him to say something to her, anything at all … and at the same time, she found her tongue frozen in her mouth. Any words she might have thought to speak seemed so woefully inadequate that she shied away from them entirely.
Their eyes met, then veered away from one another just as quickly. Nervous laughter echoed from the ceiling—first Colin’s, then Diana’s.
This is ridiculous,Diana thought, her cheeks colouring with embarrassment.For the first time in my life, I know so clearly what I want, and here he is before me … yet after all our clever wordplay and duelling wits, we sit here in silence like a pair of nervous schoolchildren!
“I …” Colin began to say. Then, as Diana looked up at him expectantly, he paused to clear his throat. “I suppose you may have guessed that I told my mother about … well, about you and I.”
Diana smiled, trying to ignore how warm her cheeks grew at the topic he had raised. “I would guess that she was less than surprised.”
Colin laughed, then reached a hand behind his neck and rubbed it in a charmingly awkward gesture. “You would be correct. For all she has gone through in her life, my mother remains a very perceptive woman.”
“And a kind one.”
“That most of all,” Colin said with a nod. Then Diana saw him grow morose once more, and it was as though a small piece of her was crushed beneath a stone. Her mind raced to follow Colin to whatever dark corner he had fled into and immediately seized upon the answer.
“I’m so sorry about your stepfather, Colin.” Under the table, her fingers idly wrung at her skirt, wrinkling it in her distress. “I will not say that he was a good man, but I know how much he meant to you. It must be so painful to have gone through all this.”
Colin winced, then folded his legs and weakly smiled in a feeble attempt at being unbothered. “I confess, it has been extremely difficult. Confronting the person Sir James truly is has been the second-most difficult task I have faced in my life.”
Only second-most?Diana wondered. She held her tongue, allowing him to continue speaking.
He looked closely at her with those glistening emerald eyes. “Despite all, though, some miserably mature part of me is glad that I know the truth. And all of me is relieved that we were able to right this terrible wrong before he could do you further injury.”
“I … I don’t believe … no, I’m certain I wouldn’t have prevailed had it not been for you, Colin,” said Diana, trying not to choke on her incipient tears.
Colin sputtered in disbelief at this, giving Diana a sceptical shake of his head. “You are a resourceful woman, Diana. Even if I had not been there to provide the key for the safe, I have no doubt you would have—”
“No,” Diana interrupted. “That is … that’s not what I mean. Without you, I would not have survived in that house long enough to go looking through that study.”
He looked away, scowling. “That’s kind of you to say. But I can’t help wondering if it would have been an easier task if I had not stood in your way for so long. If I had simply believed what you told me all along instead of rushing to defend that miserable, evil …”
Then he stopped himself with an exaggerated hand motion and looked at Diana directly once more. “Thank you. I’m sorry, and thank you.” He winced. “You know what I mean, I hope.
“I do. And you’re welcome.” She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
He glanced at the window, the floor, the table; Diana could see his mind racing to summon the right words.
At last, he spoke them, looking her right in the eye with a piercing stare. “Have you given any thought to … well, to how you intend to proceed? With living your life, I mean?” Colin stopped and chuckled, abashed at the clumsiness of his words. “That is, have you come to any decisions related to your future, Diana?”
The sound of her name on his lips sent a shiver of excitement through Diana, making it even more difficult to keep her mind on her words. “Not really, to tell you the truth. I’ve had a devil of a time thinking of anything at all, really. I suppose I shall be in the Arnolds’ care until such time as I am married, assuming—”
“Is that something you desire?” Colin asked abruptly. “To marry, have a family, and all that?”
She swallowed, hoping Colin would not see that her heart had skipped a beat. “I … suppose it would depend on the man,” Diana said cautiously. Then she leaned forward ever so slightly, her voice lowering in volume. “And what of you? What does Colin Mullens intend to do with himself in these strange times?”
