Page 37 of Rescuing a Tantalising Heiress
“You fool. You utter fool. She’ll either think you totally ridiculous or be besotted with you. But then…she’s not like that. She’s not some silly slip of a girl, a fool in a dress, laughing and giggling behind a fan. So what if we fall in love—would it be such a bad thing? Her father could hardly blame us for doing so,”Edward reasoned with himself, and this conflict of head and heart continued long into the night.
Eventually, he fell asleep, tossing and turning, his dreams filled with vivid images of Isabella, still caught up in the conflict between his head and his heart.
***
“Is that you, Isabella? Where are you? I can’t see you,” Edward said, looking around, even as Isabella’s distinctive voice sounded from some distance away—she sounded in distress.
Edward was standing in the middle of a woodland. It was dusk, and the sun was setting through the trees, casting long shadows all around.
“Help me, Edward, help me, please,” Isabella called out, and now Edward began to run through the trees, searching desperately, as Isabella’s voice echoed all around him.
“I can’t see you, Isabella. Where are you?” Edward called out.
“Help me, please—they’ve got me. The kidnappers—they’ve got me. I can’t get free. I’m trapped,” Isabella called out, and still Edward ran on. Searching desperately for Isabella, who was nowhere to be seen.
At last, Edward came to a clearing, and there was a figure, hunched over, arms tied, a hood pulled over its head. Edward stared in horror—was this Isabella?
“Isabella?” he asked, taking a step forward.
The figure did not move. It was dressed all in black, its head lolled to one side, and Edward reached out to pull the hood away, his hands trembling.
“Help me, please,” Isabella called out, and yet the voice came from all around him, and as he pulled back the hood, Edward recoiled in horror—there, sitting before him, staring back, was Edward himself.
He awoke with a start, sitting straight up in bed, his heart beating fast as he breathed a sigh of relief.
“A dream—a horrible dream. I couldn’t rescue her. Where was she? And the figure—me? But why?”he asked himself, sitting up on the side of the bed and putting his head in his hands.
Dawn was breaking, and a thin shaft of light was coming through a gap in the curtains. Edward rose to his feet, shaking his head and pouring himself a glass of water from a jug on the washstand.
“I can’t bear this. I’ve been such a fool,”he thought to himself, deciding it was high time to put a stop to the matter.
The kiss had been a mistake, and whatever his feelings for Isabella—and these were certainly confused—he had been entrusted with her care by her father.
The duke would be horrified to think Edward had taken advantage of the situation for his own gain, and hastily dressing, Edward hurried from his bedroom, intent on waking Augusta and telling her he was going for a long ride and might not be back until nightfall. Outside her bedroom, he paused, having been careful to pass the door to Isabella’s room as silently as he could—it would not do to wake Caesar.
“Augusta will only be angry with me for waking her,”he thought to himself, and he decided to leave his message with one of the servants, intending to be gone before either his sister or Isabella were awake.
But as he stepped back, standing in the corridor, Edward could not help but allow his gaze to linger on the door to Isabella’s bedroom. He imagined her asleep—her peaceful countenance resting against the pillows, a shaft of morning light illuminating her pretty features. What would it be like to wake up next to her? To slip his arms around her and embrace her? To kiss her again?
“Nonsense, enough of such thoughts. You can’t have such thoughts,”he repeated to himself, hoping a vigorous ride across the estate would do him good.
Reluctantly, Edward tore himself away, making his way downstairs, where he found Hetty laying the fire in his study.
“Oh, I’m sorry, my lord. You’re not usually down this early,” the maid said, scrambling to her feet and looking at Edward apologetically.
“It’s quite all right. I’m far too early. Will you tell Lady Augusta I’ve gone out to ride for the day? I’ll not be back until this evening. Have Marston leave a plate for me in the dining room. I’ll eat alone,” Edward said, and Hetty nodded.
“As you wish, my lord,” she replied.
As he left, Edward could not help but look back at the scene of the previous night’s tryst. There was the chair Isabella had sat on and the rug on which he had knelt. He pictured the look on her face as their lips had parted and recalled the sweetness of her kiss, the memory lingering pleasantly.
“But not permanently,”he told himself, and shaking his head, he hurried out of the house, intending to ride off his thoughts about Isabella and return with an apology for his lack of judgement.
***
“You can come in. It’s all right,” Edward said, looking up at Isabella and smiling.
Isabella was unsure of what to do. She was standing on the threshold of Edward’s study. Sunlight was flooding through the window, illuminating the books. But it was brighter than it should be, and Edward, too, was brighter, somehow.
