Page 75 of The Beastly Duke's Christmas Bride
He was at his desk the next time he saw her. “Oh! You are here.” Isabel closed the door behind her with a tight smile. “How long have you been home?”
Something about her behavior confused him, but he let it slide. “Only an hour or so. I came back for this file.”
“You could have had someone bring it to you,” she noted.
“But then I wouldn’t be able to see you,” he said with what he hoped was a friendly smile. She looked tired, Sebastian noted, even more exhausted than their long day of traveling into London. “Are you well?”
She stood at the door still. “Yes, of course. I’m very well. It’s only the cold.”
“The cold?”
“If I look unwell, it’s because of the cold. I only came to fetch something myself,” she added. She hesitated before leaving the door, and moving forward to her own desk not far from him. “I should be on my way.”
It felt like Sebastian was missing some key information. “Back into the cold?”
“Today is not that cold.”
He frowned. “Are you well? Is something wrong?”
“Of course! I’m just fine. I am… I am having tea with friends. We’re going out to have tea,” she tried to explain, “and I wantedto bring an old letter with me. That is all. See? Here it is. And I should go. Good bye, Sebastian.”
Before he could ask her about her presence at supper, she was gone. Isabel had left in a light storm as a few papers scattered about. Hoping to be helpful, Sebastian went to collect them. It wasn’t his correspondence, so he knew not to read it.
Except for one of them. An obvious invitation on crisp purple and gold leaf paper, someone was hosting a ball. Hope sparked inside his chest as he reviewed it carefully.
A perfect opportunity to make amends with her.
CHAPTER 27
“Never again,” Isabel vowed as she put the bank note in Thomas’s hand.
Her cheeks were flushed as though she had raced through half of England instead of merely hastening from her home. How she had forgotten to bring this to Thomas yesterday, she didn’t know. But why he couldn’t have waited until later, she also didn’t know.
I should have just told Sebastian the truth. I know he doesn’t care for Thomas, but he has nothing to worry about.
“Never?” Thomas furrowed his brow. “Are you two strapped for money as well?”
She shifted uneasily in the front hall. After looking over her shoulder to be certain that no one was there, she nudged him toward the door. “It isn’t about that. It’s about you having manners. I said not today, Thomas, and you came anyway.”
“So you won’t help me again?”
“That isn’t what I mean. I only meant…” Isabel sucked in a deep breath.
Her brother wasn’t married, so he couldn’t really understand. She had just lied to Sebastian in the study about what she was doing. It made her feel sick to her stomach. What had compelled her to be so distrustful?
“Just go. Please?” Isabel added sternly.
“I wouldn’t dream of bothering you,” he said defensively. “Had I known I was such a burden to you, I wouldn’t have come.”
She sighed. “I didn’t say you were a burden. Can we talk later, please? I have other matters to attend to today.”
Rolling his eyes, her brother pouted like he was still a child. “Right, your dress fitting. It isn’t as though you don’t have enough. But very well. Never mind me, you know how upsetting the cold is for me. I thank you very much, Isabel, for your generosity. Am I still invited to accompany you to the ball tomorrow?”
“Yes, so long as you behave yourself.”
He tapped his nose. “You know me.”
That’s what worries me.
