Page 67 of Her Wicked Highwayman
“You mean you fear Mama would say something to her?”
“Given that I am her least favorite child, I am always afraid of what she will say. Even something kindly meant could send Diana into a panic, and I don’t wish for that. Everything has been moving quickly, even for me.”
“Very well. Mum’s the word.” Joanna mimed twisting a key against her lips and tossing it away, which made Rafe laugh.
“I suppose we need to rescue my little kitten from Mother.”
Joanna crawled out of the fort ahead of him and offered him a hand when he exited, then pulled him to his feet.
“That truly is a spectacular fort,” Joanna said as she eyed the structure.
“I never do anything by half measures,” Rafe said with pride.
“You certainly don’t.”
They went in search of Isla and his mother, and Rafe braced himself for the meeting. Everyone was out on the terrace. Brock held his and Joanna’s son, Jamie. The boy was only a month younger than Ashton and Rosalind’s son, Malcolm, who was sitting on Ashton’s lap. The men were in deep discussion, andthe two babes stared at each other, making sounds as though they were trying desperately to converse just as their fathers were.
Rafe’s mother held Isla’s hand, and they were walking with Rosalind across the grass of the main lawn, their colorful skirts billowing in the gentle breeze. Regina was still a beautiful woman, one who had refused to let her dowager status destroy her sense of style. She wore no mobcap or silly bonnet with some tame and boring dress. Instead, she wore a bright-green spencer over a dark-blue gown that accented her pale-gold hair.
Despite Rafe’s concerns about facing his mother, he was glad she was here for Isla’s sake. When he’d first informed his family of his intention to adopt her, he’d expected protests, especially from her. Ashton had been a tad skeptical at first, but it was his mother who had truly surprised him.
She’d come up to him, held his hands in hers, and asked him why he was taking the girl in. He’d answered honestly. “Because she chose me, Mother. She wants and needs me. I could never turn her away, and I believe I need her too.”
His mother had nodded and asked to be introduced to Isla once the girl arrived from Scotland. When that day came, his mother had knelt down to Isla’s height and opened her arms to the little girl. Isla had hugged her instantly.
She may never forgive me or fully love me after what I’ve done, but she will love Isla.It was enough for him to know that the child of his heart would never be left alone should something happen to him.
Rafe watched his family from a distance, content to be alone for the moment, when a footman approached.
“Sir? Miss Fox has just arrived. Shall I escort her here?” the young man asked.
“Diana is here? I will come to fetch her, thank you.”
He followed the footman to the entryway, where Diana waited. Her hair was unbound except for a ribbon pulling part of it away from her face, and she wore a sensible walking gown of dark purple with pale-pink rosebuds sewn across the patterned sleeves and hem. It had a high neck with a white frilled collar that evoked the fashions of Elizabeth I. The riding boots she wore were black and shiny, but he saw old scuff marks that hadn’t quite been buffed out. Her face lit up, and his heart tried to contain the flood of warmth he felt at simply seeing her smile at him.
“Di.” He came over and pulled her into his arms, knowing that the servants lingered nearby, but he simply didn’t care who saw his forward behavior.
He cupped her face and gently examined her weary eyes. “Are you feeling better?” She still looked far too tired and pale for his liking. He hated that he couldn’t tend to her injury himself.
“Yes, I am sorry I could not see you when you came to call.” The tightness around her eyes was the only thing that betrayed the fact she was still in some pain. “I hope it’s all right that I came to see you unannounced?”
“More than all right,” Rafe assured her. He was careful not to touch her injured shoulder, while also hiding the fact that he knew she was hurt. “We are out on the terrace enjoying the day. My sister Joanna and her husband, Brock, just returned from Scotland, and they brought my mother.”
“Your family is here? Oh, I shouldn’t have come. I...”
“Hush.” He tilted her face up so he could lean down and feather a kiss over her lips. “You are like family to me, Diana. It would do Joanna good to see you, and Isla has been asking about you all day.”
He stole another, deeper kiss, one that teased her as much as it tortured him. He was only satisfied to let her go when he saw how dazed she looked after that second kiss.
Diana laid her palms on his chest. Rafe lifted one of her hands and pressed a kiss to her inner wrist. He felt her pulse leap in response and was rewarded with a splash of color in her pale face.
“Come and spend the day with us.” He tucked her arm in his, and they walked out into the sun to meet his family.
A waveof relief swept through Diana as she and Rafe stepped out onto the terrace. She had been worried that he would press her about her “illness,” but he hadn’t. She’d seen the concern in his eyes, but he hadn’t questioned her. Her arm was healing quite well, but part of her weariness came from the dreams she had suffered the last two nights. Those final moments of bidding goodbye to her mysterious highwayman.
She knew she could not be in love with two men, but somehow she was. She loved Tyburn, his fierce intensity, his passion, his dark allure that softened into such tender seductions. But her heart held Rafe’s name. His sunny smiles, his sweet ardor, his determination to prove he wasenoughto the world, and to himself, filled her with a deep longing to hold him and assure him he was more than enough.
Most of all, she loved the way he looked at her. He did not stare down at her from a noble height, nor did he raise her upon some pedestal to admire. Rafe sawallof her,knewall of her, and when he kissed her, she felt both strangely safe and free. He was her shelter from the storm. As much as she was thrilledby Tyburn’s midnight visits, Rafe wasmoreto her in a way that defied words.
