Page 15 of Rescuing a Tantalising Heiress
“Your brother…he’s not married, is he? Or even courting anyone. It seems very strange,” she said, for she could not believe the viscount had not been the object of at least a dozen women’s affections.
Augusta smiled.
“He wasn’t always as…dutiful,” she replied, and Isabella looked at her curiously.
“What do you mean?” she said, and Augusta rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Before our father died, Edward was something of a wayward soul. I don’t mean he was a bad person—far from it. But he involved himself in all manner of exuberances. Gentleman’s clubs, fencing, cards, that sort of thing.
He was acquainted with many women, though none of them was suitable as a match. But when he inherited the title, all that changed. It was as though he realized his responsibilities and took to them immediately. He’s quite the opposite of what he once was. Too much so, I’d say,” Augusta replied.
It amused Isabella to hear this. One heard of such things, of course—the conversion—but in her mind, Edward seemed so straitlaced, so proper and formal. She could not imagine him caught up in such dealings as Augusta described.
“How extraordinary,” she said as she got into bed.
“He’d be embarrassed to know I’d told you such a thing. But there we have it. He’s quite different now and a godsend to me. I married badly, I admit that, though I really had little choice in the matter. My husband was…difficult, and old enough to be my father, if not my grandfather. Still, those things are in the past. We all change, don’t we?” Augusta said, smiling at Isabella, who lay back on the pillows and closed her eyes.
Isabella herself had not changed, or so she believed. She was the same as she had always been, her life well-ordered and regimented. But the events of the previous night had changed that. She had been pulled from her safe, predictable way of life, and thrust into something altogether unpleasant and unsettling. She had saved herself, and been saved, too, but things could never be the same again, not with such a threat lingering over her.
“We do, though I’m not sure it necessarily happens when we want it to,” she said, and Augusta nodded.
“Try to get some more sleep, Isabella. I’ll wake you when it’s time to leave, though I think Edward is right—you should stay the night, at least,” she said, and whilst Isabella was keen to return home, she could not help but feel a sense of relief at the thought of remaining a little longer in the company of Edward and his sister, new friends whom she hoped to come to know better.
Chapter 7
“Won’t you come this way? I’ve some excellent brandy in my study. We can talk there,” Edward said, inviting Isabella’s father to join him.
He knew the duke by association, a distant figure across the chamber of the House of Lords, and a man who appeared regularly in the court circulars and periodicals. He was a man both revered and loathed in equal measure, and it did not surprise Edward to think he had enemies, as disturbing as it was to think it.
Edward had not sought involvement in this affair, but his sense of duty was such as to ensure he could not shy away from doing all he could to help find those responsible for the wickedness of Isabella’s kidnapping.
“I must say it again, I am entirely in your debt. I didn’t like to show weakness in front of the ladies—especially Isabella—but when I discovered she was gone, I wept. What father wouldn’t?” he said, and Edward nodded.
He did not think the duke a lesser man for such an admission. Quite the opposite, in fact. Had it been Augusta in the back of that carriage with a ransom on her head, Edward would surely have wept, too.
“Quite, and we must waste no time in finding those responsible. They’ll be angry at the failure of their plan and keen to enact its repetition as soon as possible,” Edward replied as he led the duke into his study.
It was here Edward had planned to ensconce himself for the day, and the desk was littered with piles of papers, letters and correspondence waiting to be dealt with.
“I really can’t expect you to continue your involvement. You’ve done more than enough already. You helped my daughter in her time of greatest need, at her most vulnerable. It’s not something either of us will forget, I assure you,” he said, but Edward shook his head.
Like it or not, hewasinvolved—very much so—and in Isabella, he had met a woman who intrigued him. She talked of books and a preference for her own company, and yet, here was a woman who had single-handedly fought off a gang of vicious kidnappers, escaping, and being brave enough to flee through wild country and present herself at the home of strangers in the hope of help.
There was far more to Isabella than met the eye, and Edward was keen to know her better, even as he was surprised at the force of his own feelings towards her.
“Nor will I. But I won’t abandon her—or you—in the hour of need. I think it would be folly for Isabella to return home immediately. To go back to Burlington Grange surely puts her in great danger. Won’t the kidnappers be watching the house? It’s fortunate my stable hand found you on the road to deliver the message. He himself may have been accosted, and her whereabouts discovered if he’d travelled all the way to your estate,” Edward said.
He knew how devious such men could be, and that the danger was very real. The threat against Isabella was not yet over—it was only just beginning. The duke looked grave.
“Still…I can’t ask this of you or your sister. What if they come to Howdwell Heights?” the duke said, but Edward shook his head.
He had found no evidence the kidnappers knew Isabella was with him and Augusta. There were other houses in the district, and the path through the woods from the moorland was treacherous—luck had brought Isabella to their door, and for now, she was hidden and safe.
“The more important thing is to discern who did this. Who bears a grudge against you so strong as to elicit such retaliation in revenge?” Edward asked.
This was the key, even as the duke looked somewhat reluctant to answer.
“Well…I really don’t know. It astonishes me to think about it. Perhaps I don’t know them. Though I’m well-known, myself, of course. I’ve got lands and fortune. The would-be kidnapper could simply be an extortioner, someone who wants money and will go to any means to get it,” the duke said, but Edward shook his head.
