Page 33 of Rescuing a Tantalising Heiress
“I doubt I’ll go to sleep myself. My governess always told me not to go to bed on a full stomach. She was right, but I often used to sneak down to the kitchens at night—even when I’d had my fill at dinner. I get so hungry,” Isabella admitted.
“Are you satiated now? I could fetch some cheese, and there might be some of tonight’s Charlotte Russe leftover,” the viscount said.
Isabella did not want to inconvenience him, but he insisted, and hurrying down to the kitchen, he returned with the remnants of the cheese she had just been eating, along with the half-eaten pudding, two bowls, and two spoons.
“Mrs Jacobs isn’t going to like this,” Isabella said as the viscount led her into his study.
“If the head of the household can’t enjoy a midnight feast, who can? I’ll deal with Mrs Jacobs, don’t you worry,” Edward said, closing the door behind them with his foot and inviting her to sit on a chair by the hearth.
Isabella had spent only a few short snatches of time in the viscount’s study. A fire was burning, and as he lit more candles, the room was bathed in a pleasant, flickering light. The shelves were lined with books and all manner of trinkets, and the room felt well lived in.
Edward offered Isabella a bowl of Charlotte Russe, and despite having consumed two large pieces of bread and preserves, along with more cheese than most people saw in a month, Isabella gratefully accepted.
“I’m sorry about today. I hope you won’t think badly of me,” Isabella said as she tucked into the bowl of pudding.
“Not at all. I understand, but I hope you do, too. I was thinking…well, we could walk together in the grounds. There’s no harm in it. And you’re right. You can’t stay hidden forever. It would be…a defeat, wouldn’t it? To avoid a kidnapping by confining oneself to the house for the rest of one’s life. But we need to be careful,” the viscount said, coming to sit opposite her with a large piece of cheese on a plate, along with scones and butter.
Isabella felt at home in the viscount’s study. It reminded her of her father’s, though she rarely entered it. Her father was always busy, and his study was so often forbidden to her.
“I’ll speak to you at dinner, Isabella,” he would say, and when the gong sounded, he would still be working.
Isabella had lived an often-lonely life as she grew up, and she had enjoyed the company of Edward and Augusta immensely.
“I’d like to walk with you, yes. I’d like it very much,” Isabella replied, and the viscount smiled.
“I’m not used to company—not beyond that of Augusta, at least. I hope we’ve made you welcome here. We’ve had our misunderstandings, of course. But…well…that’s all behind us now, isn’t it?” he said, and Isabella nodded.
She had no intention of disobeying him again—not now that he had agreed to her request to walk on the grounds.
“It is, and I really am so grateful to you. I suppose I’m not very good at being a houseguest. I’m not used to it. My father and I never go anywhere. Well, I don’t go anywhere. He does, but I’m never invited. I’ve lived such a sheltered life, and yet…I’ve always dreamed of having adventures,” Isabella said, hoping he did not think her foolish for saying so.
In the pages of the books she read, Isabella had encountered so many far-off worlds and exotic peoples. She wanted to see them for herself, even as she knew the impossibility of such thoughts. But the world was a big place, and Isabella knew there was far more to it than the confines of her father’s estate. She had not intended to be a shy, retiring wallflower, but that was how she was viewed, and there was little she could do to change that.
“Adventures aren’t always what they’re made out to be,” the viscount replied, finishing his cheese and taking up a bowl of Charlotte Russe.
“Have you had adventures?” Isabella asked, and Edward smiled.
“A few, yes, but I didn’t court them. You had one of your own. You’ll never forget your escape from the kidnappers,” he said, but Isabella waved her hand.
“I don’t want to think about it. Let’s talk about something else. I want to know about you,” she said.
It was certainly a very forward thing to say, even as the viscount laughed. A young lady did not ask such questions—not in the normal course of events, at least. It was not for Isabella to ask Edward about himself but for him to show an interest in her, as he was doing.
But the circumstances of their introduction had been so unusual as to create in Isabella a boldness she might not otherwise have possessed. To be introduced at a ball was one thing, but to have one’s introduction given, not with a dance card, but with a faint, was quite another. The viscount smiled.
“Don’t you know it all already?” he asked, but Isabella shook her head.
“No, not the things that really matter, at least,” she replied, curious to discover who he really was.
Chapter 14
Isabella really knew very little about the viscount, save for the things Augusta had told her. They had grown up together at Howdwell Heights. Their father had been something of an authoritarian, whilst their mother had been an invalid, often confined to her bed, though devoted to her two children.
But the viscountess had died when both children were young and, like Isabella herself, Edward and Augusta had been left in the care of their father.
He had been a distant figure and had done little to prepare Edward for the duties he now bore. Nevertheless, Edward had proved himself a fine example of aristocracy and had set about his task with vigour. This was his biography—potted, at least—but Isabella knew nothing of the man himself, of his loves, his friendships, the baron notwithstanding, and of those things driving his ambition.
“Well, I suppose…I don’t really know where to begin,” Edward replied, looking somewhat embarrassed at Isabella’s question.
