Page 29 of Rescuing a Tantalising Heiress
“You wanted to see me?” Edward replied, for he had been in the middle of composing a letter to the Lord Provost on a matter of some technical proceedings in the House of Lords and needed to have it finished that day.
“I can’t find Isabella. I presumed she was with you,” Augusta said, setting down her teacup and looking at Edward expectantly.
Edward shook his head. He had not seen Isabella since breakfast, the two of them having parted after the argument following Isabella’s request to be allowed outside.
“She’s not with me, no. I haven’t seen her. Is she in the library?” he asked.
“I looked there and in her bedroom. The dog’s gone, too,” Augusta replied.
A sudden panic gripped him, the fear of what he had been dreading since Isabella’s arrival. What if the moment had come, and someone had snatched her from the house itself? A sudden panic rose in the pit of his stomach, and he called out for the butler to come at once.
“My lord?” Marston said, hurrying into the drawing room.
“Find Lady Isabella. Tell all the servants to look for her. She’s gone missing,” Edward exclaimed, hurrying out of the drawing room and calling for Isabella at the top of his voice.
The household was soon in uproar, and the servants were hurrying back in forth in search of their missing guest. There was no sign of her in the library or upstairs, and she was not in the kitchen or in any of the rooms in the east wing of the house, which was used only during house parties. Edward was growing desperate, when a sudden thought occurred to him.
Perhaps she’s not been kidnapped,he thought to himself, returning to the hallway, just as the sound of a dog barking could be heard outside.
Edward rushed to the side door, where steps led down to the garden, pulling it open to reveal Isabella and Caesar coming up the path from the rose garden. She looked at him with an embarrassed expression on her face.
“We were just…” she began as Edward clenched his teeth angrily.
He did not want to be cross with Isabella. He understood her frustrations at being confined to the house. But Edward was all too aware of the dangers lurking all around, and the thought of losing her was too much to bear.
“I told you not to go outside,” he said, trying not to shout and yet revealing his frustrations in the tone of his voice.
“I know, but…we only walked around the gardens,” Isabella replied.
Caesar ran forward, jumping at Edward, who sighed and shook his head. Anger did not come naturally to him, but he felt disappointed in Isabella, knowing his authority had been challenged. Edward had done all he could to keep her safe, and yet she had wilfully put herself in danger—and the rest of the household, too.
“And if you’d been seen.Ifyou’ve been seen.What then? Are we to await an assault on the house itself?” Edward exclaimed, ushering Isabella inside.
At that moment, Augusta emerged from the drawing room into the hallway, and she gave a cry, hurrying to embrace Isabella, who looked thoroughly embarrassed.
“Oh, there you are, my dear. We were so worried about you. You see, Edward—this is what happens when you forbid the poor creature from setting foot outside the house. It’s hardly surprising she’s done so, is it? Will you have some tea, Isabella? I’ve just finished breakfast, but I can send for another pot. Or coffee, perhaps?” she said, taking Isabella by the hand.
But Edward had had enough. He stomped his foot angrily, causing Augusta to look up in surprise.
“I want to talk to Lady Isabella alone,” he said.
“As you wish,” Augusta replied, shrugging and making her way upstairs.
Edward was not entirely certain what he would say when they were alone, but it seemed the matter had come to a head, and an argument was now inevitable. Isabella had lived at Howdwell Heights for over a week now. She had become familiar, and Edward’s fear of losing her had been very real.
He had been terrified at the prospect of her having been snatched, and whilst he was relieved to see her returned to the house, he could not help but feel angry at the thought of what might have happened to her out on the grounds.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Well…no, that’s not true. I’m not sorry. I wanted to go outside. I was feeling quite like a prisoner, trapped in the house,” Isabella said as Edward pointed towards his study door.
“I don’t want the servants to overhear us arguing,” he said, for Edward hated arguments and avoided them whenever he could.
Isabella followed him in silence, but as soon as the study door was closed, she turned on him angrily.
“I can’t just stay inside the whole time. I won’t do it. It’s too awful. I might as well have been kidnapped anyway, for all the freedom you’ve given me!” she exclaimed.
Edward felt hurt by these words. It had not been his intention to confine her, and he himself had barely left the house in the past week, so concerned had he been for her safety. He looked at her in surprise, never having imagined she felt that way.
“But I…I’d never…” he stammered, and Isabella folded her arms and fixed him with a stern expression.
