Page 115 of Duke of Diamonds
She reached over and gave his arm a gentle swat.
Isaac chuckled, setting the cup aside. The laughter lingered for a moment, then faded into something softer.
“I gave Elaine the journal.”
Fiona looked over at him, her expression still and attentive.
“Thank you,” he said, the words quieter now.
“I hardly did anything,” she replied, glancing down at her saucer.
“You found the journal. You placed it in my hands.”
He turned to face her more fully. “You gave me courage, Fiona.”
She blinked at him, visibly startled.
“In more ways than one,” he added, and reached out, his hand brushing against her cheek with reverence.
How is it you steady me, when I did not know I needed anchoring?
Against his better judgement, Isaac found himself succumbing to those emotions once more as he kissed her lips, pulling her closer him as though he never wanted to let her go.
He did not want to let her go. Ever.
CHAPTER 36
Fiona could not seem to banish the smile from her lips. It lingered, unbidden and stubborn, as she sat at her writing desk pretending to tally accounts. The columns blurred before her eyes, numbers shifting aimlessly on the page.
He kissed me.
The memory danced through her mind like a sunbeam, soft and warm and entirely inconvenient. Her fingers absently traced the edge of the paper as her thoughts wandered back to the high balcony, to the touch of his hand, the press of his lips.
She barely had time to school her features when a soft knock came at the door and the butler entered.
“Your mother, Your Grace.”
Fiona blinked. “Show her in, please.”
Prudence entered with a measured step, her gloved hands folded before her, her gaze guarded. Fiona rose from her chair, instantly alert.
“Mama. Is everything quite all right?”
There was a gravity about her mother that unsettled her.
Has something happened? Or is this about the debt?Fiona watched closely, noting the faint crease in her mother’s brow, the careful precision of her movements.
“All is well, Fiona,” Prudence said with a smile that did not meet her eyes.
Fiona’s own expression faltered. She sat slowly, the weight of disappointment settling across her shoulders like a too-heavy shawl.You came all this way to lie to me?
But then?—
“Well,” her mother added, settling opposite her. “Not quite as well as you might suppose.”
Fiona lifted a brow. “No?”
Prudence drew in a quiet breath. “I ought not to be here. Certainly not to say what I am about to say. Your father wouldbe furious if he knew. But I believe you have a right to the truth, whatever the cost to me.”
