Page 90 of The Lover's Eye
The next several days were punctuated by swaths of boredom, awkwardness, and pain.After Isobel’s outburst in the morning room, which had received no verbal response from anyone present, she and Giles had not discussed what happened.
Dr.Dunn was brought in to examine Isobel’s burns, and Betsey had worked tirelessly to collect all the ingredients for his recommended poultice, keeping a hearty supply on hand at all times.Isobel often insisted on medicating the wound herself due to its delicate location, but Giles had wanted to do it for her on several occasions.That was the closest they had come since the ladies luncheon fiasco, since her gutting question.
“It is looking somewhat improved,” Giles said, examining her leg closely.
“I think I’m fully recovered,” Isobel said, diverting her eyes when their gaze met.She was ashamed of herself, yes, but she was also angry.Perhaps if he would just address that day, acknowledge the ladies’ peppered allusions to Aurelia …
But no.Isobel’s insecurities were left to fester, and the promise she had made to him grew heavier with each passing hour.
“Do not be so hasty,” he said, bending her leg toward the window’s light to examine the baby thin skin of healing.“I still think you should stay abed.”
“Dr.Dunn said one week,” she said firmly.“It has been eight days.The swelling has gone down, the blisters are no more, and I am going mad staying in bed.”
Giles eased her leg back down to the mattress.A muscle in his jaw jumped with irritation.“Isobel, I am telling you it is not wise to resume your walks yet.”
“Will you truly argue with me over a leg, but not address what happened here during the luncheon?”
“I will return when you are in a better humor,” Giles said in a low voice, standing from his seat on the bed and heading toward the door.
Without caution, Isobel threw her legs off the bed and stood.She did so too rapidly, placing equal weight on both feet, and felt the fiery throb flare in her thigh.She winced but quickly righted herself.
“Really, Isobel?”Giles turned back and reached her in a few long strides.He put steadying hands on her arms.
“I cannot do it anymore, Giles!”
He sighed.“Fine.I will send for Dr.Dunn, and if he deems you well enough to resume your walks—”
“No.”Her grey eyes locked with his, her bottom lip trembling.“I cannot keep this promise any longer.It is destroying me, and worse than that it is—it is keeping us apart.”
A shadow fell over his features, turning his protective irritation into something stony and unsympathetic.“No, Isobel.You are keeping us apart.Can you not see that?”
“Me?”She gave a wild, unbridled laugh.“That’s a bit rich coming from the man who swore off an entire bloody part of himself!Keeping us apart?Do secrets not count?”
Isobel’s chest heaved.His expression was unreadable, his hold on her steadfast.“You allowed me to make a cake of myself, Giles.You knew—you had to have known—thatherluncheon was the same tea service, same guests, same hall—”
“I tell you truthfully I did not know,” he said firmly, each syllable a bite.“I did not pay attention to what she did here.”
“And all those remarks …” Isobel plopped down on the edge of the bed, the sweltering sting of tears threatening to uproot her fury.“They talked of your pet name for her, of all these intimacies you shared with her—I—what does it all mean, Giles?”
His features suffused with the rising blood of anger.“I do not know what nonsense she might have spoken, or how they might’ve embellished upon it.Truly, nothing would surprise me.”
“Hearing them offer you their condolences made me sick,” she continued bitterly, her hands digging into the linen sheet.“As if I am some Bird of Paradise who stole you from her.And,damn it”—she squeezed her eyes shut, emotion slipping into her voice—“sometimes I feel like it’s all true.I’m your wife, and yet …”
Giles crouched and took Isobel’s hands in his own.“You and I know that is not true.I’ve hardly been seen for months.They felt it must be addressed out of politeness.Perhaps I should have better prepared you for that, but all the rest is common wag.You mustn’t let it bother you.”
Isobel’s heart beat with such fervor it was uncomfortable, radiating out into her limbs and maximizing the discomfort in her leg.Giles bent his head to kiss her hands gently, one by one.
She wanted to leave it here.To settle into the feel of his lips on her skin and be like Marriane and feign the perfect pretender.But she couldn’t.
“I must know,” she said, her mouth dry as cotton.“Was Aurelia expecting your child?Were you truly so in love that you cannot bear to trust me with the truth of it?”
She hated the way the name tasted on her lips, hated herself for speaking it to him.It spent all its time in her head, where it had grown to be a common curiosity.It felt dangerous now that she had spoken it.
All the hot color seemed to bleed out from Giles’s face, his throat convulsing in a swallow.“Isobel,no—whatever gave you such an idea?”
“It would make so much sense,” she said, her hands trembling in his.“All I ever hear is how much you adored her, of how perfect she was.Oh, Giles, would you have even looked at me had she not gone missing?Would you not have dismissed me as some useless country chit like all the rest of them?”
Isobel’s hands fell then.She did not realize how dependently they had been resting in his.
