Page 68 of Her Wicked Highwayman
I must forget Tyburn,she reminded herself. Rafe was her future. She knew it in a way that made her blood sing with the promise of the life they could share. Rafe glanced down at her with that half smile of his that did funny things to her knees. She clung tightly to his arm, glad for his strength.
“Ready?” Rafe asked as he led her toward his family on the lawn and by the table. “I swear they don’t bite. You’ve met Rosalind and Ash, of course. And you remember my mother and Joanna. Jo’s husband, Brock, is a quiet fellow, but a good man, and a Scot.”
“You do love your Scots,” Diana teased.
“Lord help me, but I do,” he agreed with a laugh. He’d told her of all his adventures with Rosalind’s three brothers. It was clear that he cherished those men as friends and brothers. “I hope you don’t mind meeting everyone like this... with me.” His face turned serious, and she understood the implication. For him to introduce her officially to his family would be making a bold statement.
“I don’t think I’d mind anything so long as I was with you.”
Diana was ready. Ready to start living again. She tried not to think about the money that they had lost in the last robbery or the man Tyburn had killed to save her. Those thoughts would come back to haunt her soon enough, but she could escape for a few hours at least, and she welcomed the distraction.
Joanna was the first to see them. “Miss Fox!”
Diana greeted everyone with a smile as they turned to face her with varying degrees of surprise. “Good afternoon.”
Isla pulled her tiny hand free of Regina’s and ran toward Diana. “Miss Fox!” Diana knelt and held her arms out, and Isla leapt into her arms a bit too eagerly.
“Isla, wait!” Rafe called out as the girl wrapped her arms tight around Diana. Pain lanced down her arm, and she bit her lip to hold back a hiss.
“Isla, you must let her go,” Rafe whispered to the child. “You’re hurting her.”
“I’m fine, Rafe,” Diana lied. Despite the pain, she relished the comfort of holding the little girl. She’d come to adore the child with all her heart, just as she had the girl’s father. Love was such a funny thing. One moment she had been determined to be left alone, because she did not desire the weakness that loving someone would create. But she’d forgotten that love could make someone strong too, and Isla’s hug was giving her new strength.
Regina and Joanna joined them. “Miss Fox, I’m glad to see you well.”
Diana let go of Isla and stood to meet Regina’s gaze. The dowager baroness was a beautiful woman who seemed to be made of iron. After all the stories Rafe had shared about his family, Diana believed she understood Regina well. She had shattered when she’d lost her husband but had rebuilt herself on her own terms in order not to break again. It was something Diana was intimately familiar with.
She wished that Regina would find a way to truly forgive Rafe, for Rafe had done nothing wrong the night his father died, and he blamed himself more than anyone else. Someday Diana would convince Rafe to forgive himself, but the person who would set him free of that pain most was this woman. He needed his mother to tell him that he was not to blame before he could ever forgive himself.
Regina’s blue eyes moved between her son, Isla, and Diana. “And how are you faring now that you are out of mourning?”
“Well enough,” Diana said. She had her home, her lands, and she was still fighting to keep them. That was well enough in her mind.
“Good,” Regina replied. “We are here should you ever need us—anyof us.” She and Ashton shared a look of agreement, which Diana didn’t miss.
“Thank you, Lady Lennox.”
“Miss Fox, would you like to see the fort Papa and I made?” Isla asked.
“You made a fort?” Diana asked.
“In the library!” said Isla.
Diana looked toward Rafe, intrigued. The rakish gentleman had the good sense to look bashful about his antics.
“Would you mind if I showed Diana the library?” Rafe asked his mother, as if afraid to interrupt his mother’s interaction with Diana without permission.
“Not at all.” Regina gestured for them to leave and turned toward the table where Brock and Ashton still held her two grandsons.
Rafe gently pulled Diana against his side. “I believe we may now safely make our escape.” The heat of his body warmed her clear down to her toes.
“Come! Come see!” Isla stood in the open doorway leading back to the house while a patient footman held the door open for her.
Something about Isla brought back old memories... ones that made Diana’s heart clench with bittersweet longing. She could see her sister standing there, calling for her to come inside, just as Isla was doing now.
“Are you all right?” Rafe asked as they entered the house. “Perhaps we should find a place to sit down or?—”
Diana gave a little shake as the ghost of memory faded away. “I am tired,” she admitted. “But I will be all right. I don’t want to miss spending time with you today.” She leaned her cheek against his shoulder, and Rafe kissed the top of her head. A feeling of blissful safety swept through her.
