Page 16 of Duke of Diamonds
He didn’t press her. He never did. He understood too well the weight she carried—the guilt that never quite left her voice when it turned soft like this.
He reached for a new spring, fingers steady, gaze averted.
“So,” she said after a moment, “who was this mysterious lady who found her way to your doorstep in the dead of night?”
“My, I am astonished your sources failed to uncover her name,” he said, the words delivered with mild amusement.
“She seems to have gone to some trouble to remain unseen,” Elaine mused, arching one delicate brow.
A flicker of relief stirred within him. At least Lady Fiona’s name had not yet become another thread of gossip.
“And what, pray, would bring a gently bred woman to a man’s house unchaperoned?”
He said nothing.
Elaine gasped. “Do not tell me I have finally worked a miracle and you are considering matrimony.”
He snorted. “You give me too much credit.”
“And you give yourself none,” she retorted. “But then again, no proper lady would visit you unannounced. Not unless?—”
“You would be surprised,” he said, his voice quiet, unreadable.
Her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
He only shrugged, watching her simmer with curiosity.
“Oh, do not be cruel,” she groaned. “At least tell me who she was.”
“She was a caller. Her name, however, is not mine to give.”
Elaine’s smile faltered, replaced by something weightier. “Should I be concerned?”
Isaac finally met her gaze. “You need only trust me.”
“I always have,” she said softly. “It is myself I no longer trust.”
He straightened and crossed to her, placing a steady hand on her shoulder. Her breath caught, just slightly.
“We cannot undo what has passed, Elaine. But perhaps, by moving forward, we can begin to mend it.”
She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with the ache of a wound too old for salves and too fresh to forget.
And in that instant, Fiona’s voice echoed through his mind—The Earl of Canterlack is my betrothed.
Not for long.
He drew Elaine into an embrace, holding her tightly as her composure gave way and the tears slipped free. She wept against his coat, and he said nothing. Only held on. Because she needed to be held. Also because he did not know how to stop failing the people he loved.
But perhaps, if he helped Lady Fiona now—if he prevented Canterlack from doing what he had done before—perhaps it would be a start.
CHAPTER 6
“You would not believe how glad I am to see you,” Anna said, ushering Fiona into the light-washed morning room with a smile that was both warm and knowing.
“And I you,” Fiona replied, allowing herself a breath of relief she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “You’ve no idea how much I needed the excuse.”
She had told herself the visit was simply social—Anna was, after all, a dear friend—but in truth, Fiona had needed to escape the hush of Holden House. The silence there had grown thick and oppressive, and her thoughts had begun to crowd her with unwelcome clarity.
