Page 3 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
"Louisa," Ella said when she saw that her sister had no intention of closing the door behind them, clearly leaving the way open for one of them to leave immediately upon things getting hairy. "Is everything well?"
"Why would it not be?" Louisa responded, clearly speaking through gritted teeth.
Ella clenched her jaw for a moment, determined not to speak too harshly towards her sister. The last thing she wanted to do was push her any further away.
Turning her full attention upon her, Ella raised one silken blonde eyebrow slightly and said, "You have been rather quiet of late. I am concerned for you."
Louisa's gaze dropped to the ground, but not before Ella noticed the flushing in her cheeks. "You need not worry about me. I am well."
The gnawing sensation in Ella's stomach left her unconvinced of her sister's insistence, but the way that Louisa continued to look at the floor left her with little opportunity to try and push matters. How could she get her sister to talk to her when she could not even look her in the eye?
"Look, Louisa, about Mr Giles …" Ella started, but her sister's eyes darted upwards. Their gazes met for just a few seconds, the look in Louisa's eyes suggesting she had absolutely no wish to talk on such a subject before they darted back to the floor again.
"We need not talk of it again," Louisa insisted firmly, kicking the hardwood floor with the tip of her shoe. "You made your stance on the matter abundantly clear when last we spoke."
Bile rose in the back of Ella's throat because, in all honesty, that had been the last time she and her sister had truly spoken. And Ella had said some pretty harsh things to her sister, things she had now come to regret.
"Louisa, I …" Ella began, meaning to apologise, but Louisa did not stop to listen. She stepped back towards the door, gripping hold of the handle and gesturing Ella out with her free hand.
"If you wouldn't mind, I am tired."
Ella gritted her teeth. There was so much more she wished to say. And yet, she sensed that her sister was in no mood to listen.
"Perhaps these are things best left discussed in the morning?" Ella suggested, hopefully. She gazed at her sister, looking for any sign that she might be amenable to the idea.
"Perhaps." Louisa shrugged, and it became immediately clear to Ella that her sister had no intention of sharing any such conversation with her.
Feeling more than a little heartbroken, Ella left, turning in the hallway to give her sister one final glance. "Good evening, sister."
"Evening," Louisa responded curtly before closing the door between them.
For a second, Ella was unable to move. She desperately wanted to push open her sister's door once more and demand to know what was going on. But she could still feel the tension practically seething under the door and knew it would do no good.
As she headed to her own room next door, she could not shake the feeling that something more sinister than two sisters’ falling out was at work.
She and Louisa had never fought like this before. It unnerved her greatly, and even when Alice arrived to help her out of her dinner garments, she still could not stop thinking that her sister needed her; she was just too stubborn to admit it.
Chapter 3
Bag packed and ready to leave, only one thing stopped Louisa from slipping out at half past one in the morning. It was the look on her sister's face when she had come to her after dinner to enquire if everything was alright.
She had hated lying to her. Even more so, she hated the anger she felt towards Ella since their falling out. And even more infuriating was the overwhelming love she felt for her sister now when she remembered the concerned look on her face.
And it was that look that caused Louisa's hesitation. It was not enough to stop her from following through with her plan, but it was enough to make her grab a piece of paper from the top drawer of her desk.
Sitting to write, she thought only for a second of the promise she had made to Joshua, the promise in which she had assured him she would tell no one of their plans. But Louisa found herself pouring out the truth with every stroke of her quill. She needed her sister to know; she needed her to see that she loved Joshua; she needed her to understand why she was doing what she was doing. Maybe then, when she finally returned a changed woman, her family might still be able to forgive her.
Pouring every ounce of feeling into the words, she could only hope that was how they would come across when her sister finally came to find the letter. Then, she sat back, pondering whether to throw the paper in the fireplace and be done with it.
No, perhaps this will make up for how our relationship has been these last few days,Louisa thought decidedly, pushing herself to her feet to grab the small bag she had packed full of clothes. Joshua had already promised her a new wardrobe once they got to where they were going. She needed only a little comfort to travel.
Closing her eyes for just a moment to add a prayer to her letter, she grabbed her cloak and shrugged it on, prepared to leave. Again, she was forced to slip quietly through the house, down the hallway, and onto the servants' stairs.
It would not be long before Joshua was at the boulder, the boulder they had named the lovers’ rock. And she was certain he would think the worst if she did not arrive on time. She could not do that to him, no more than he could do such a thing to her. It made her heart ache just to think about it.
She was almost at the servants’ stairs when she saw a flickering of light coming from just around the corner in the hall. Dashing sideways, she slipped into the nearest bedroom door, an empty room reserved for guests, where she could hide until whoever it was had passed.
Hiding with her back pressed against the wall, she did not dare to breathe, watching as the candlelight flickered past the door she had left open only a crack. Through it, she could see the outline of her father, clearly having been up late in his study finishing off his work.
