Page 112 of Duke of Diamonds
She shut the door softly behind her and stood for a long moment, her reflection staring back at her from the long mirror across the room.
She looked like a duchess.
But tonight, she felt no grander than a girl, small, dismissed, and more uncertain than ever.
CHAPTER 35
She looked at me like I’d broken something I could never mend.
There were moments, Isaac had come to learn, when silence lingered not as peace but as unrest. His study—usually a haven of measured thought—felt close, heavy. He stared at the ledgers before him, though he had not turned a page in some time. His mind had drifted once more to Fiona. To the carriage. To the hurt she’d tried, and failed, to conceal.
She had looked at him as though he had wounded something sacred.
He was still weighing the words he had spoken—and those he had left unsaid—when the door opened without ceremony.
“Are you making it a habit of dropping by unannounced now?” he asked without looking up.
Elaine’s voice answered with a soft chuckle. “I beg your pardon, sir, but I lived here once, as you well recall.”
He lifted his eyes to her with a faint smile. “That does not mean you are invited now that you’ve claimed another roof.”
“Bold words for a man whose household runs on the grace of its female occupants,” she said, sweeping into the room as though it still belonged to her.
Isaac leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a raised brow.
“I sent Fiona a note yesterday to say I would call today,” she continued. “There was no reply. So I thought it best to come and see for myself how matters stand.”
“Ah,” Isaac murmured, sitting forward. “She is... not feeling her best.”
Elaine’s posture stiffened. “Oh dear. Where is she? What happened? Has she seen a physician?”
“One question at a time, Elaine,” Isaac said, lifting a hand. “And no, a physician would not be of use in this case. She will be well again soon. She is stronger than she lets on.”
He did not know precisely why Fiona had drawn a firm line regarding her father. He suspected, but he had not pressed. Part of him wanted to honor her decision. But another part—older,colder—could not countenance leaving the matter as it stood. Not when there were threats in play.
Canterlack was not a man to be ignored.
And Holden, for all his failings, was now kin.
Elaine narrowed her eyes. “What have you done to her this time, Isaac?”
“Why must it always be me?” Isaac protested, lifting his hands with exaggerated incredulity.
Elaine offered a knowing smile. “Well, you did say it is not something a physician could remedy.”
“So naturally, you presume I must be the ailment?” he asked, though the corner of his mouth twitched with reluctant amusement.
“Well, you are a handful, little brother. You have always been,” she replied, her tone light but laced with affection.
Isaac chuckled despite himself, the tension in his shoulders easing for a moment. But it did not last.
“I gave Fiona the key to the room,” he said, his voice quieter now.
Elaine’s brow furrowed for a heartbeat before comprehension dawned.
“You did well, Isaac.”
“She found something,” he continued, opening the drawer at his side and withdrawing the small leather-bound journal.
