Page 11 of The Lover's Eye
Finch appeared in the doorway, holding a silver salver laden with a sealed letter.“Lord Pemberton was glad to receive your message, my lord.He thinks the roads might stand for Miss Ridgeway to travel tomorrow.”
“May I?”Miss Ridgeway was looking at him, eyes huge with expectation.
She was half out of her seat before Giles said, “Certainly.”
She snatched the letter, and without a falter in her stride, left the breakfast room.Finch raised his eyebrows in her wake.
Giles leaned back in his chair, spinning his teacup—a bad, nervous habit.He stretched his legs under the table, tapped the toe of his boot.The mantel clock became audible, and the uninterrupted ticking began to annoy him.With a sigh, he kicked back his chair, smoothed his coat, and stepped into the hall.
One more stride would’ve sent him crashing into Miss Ridgeway.She was leaning against the wall, the letter held taut in her hands.The tension in her features made him fear the worst.“Is everything all right?”
“Yes,” Isobel said, lowering the letter.“Or so she tells me.It is difficult to know with her.”
“I see.”All he really saw was her.He should’ve backed away, put distance between them.He couldn’t seem to move.
She swallowed, extending the paper toward him.“Would you like to read it?”
“Oh, I couldn’t—”
“I would like you to.”
He held her gaze for a moment, smiling a little as he took the proffered letter.
Dear sister,
It pains me to know you traveled such distance, and in such a storm as we have had, no less.I am happy to comfort you on my health, however.I fear my dear husband might have given you a shock in writing to you.I assure you I am feeling much better already, and warmly await your company in the coming days.
All my love,
Marriane
“It’s written in her hand, no doubt,” Isobel said, leaning toward him to analyze the fluid, cursive letters.She smelled of lavender soap and June roses, but the delectable feminine scent registered more like danger in Giles’s brain.
“That’s encouraging, then, isn’t it?”He raised his eyes.A little furrow still creased her brow, and he found himself desperate to ease it, wishing he could smooth it with a brush of his thumb.
She gently pried the letter from his hands and shrugged.“Marriane can hide a world of secrets behind her pretty letters.I intend to unearth them all, however, when we meet tomorrow.”
The determined glint in her eye broadened his smile, but in the same breath, he felt disappointment.Leaving tomorrow.And when would he see her then?
Likely never, and that would be just as well.He had grown weak in his willful solitude.Too much time around this sweet, soft-spoken creature was likely to be hazardous to his health.
“I’m not sure how well acquainted you are with my sister, Lord Trevelyan, but she’s quite perfect.Nothing like me, as you surely have noticed, but that’s no matter—she’s different, now that’s she’s wed.”Isobel folded the letter closed, running her fingers over its creases.“She promised to invite me into her home, but never did.She likewise promised to visit Papa …”
“And that hasn’t happened, either?”
“No.So, when that letter arrived, I went quite off my head.I was willing to do anything to reach her.”
“As you have proven, setting out in a storm that’s likely to make history.”
She smiled then, a giggle rising from her, sweet and light.The furrow had eased, and Giles took some private pride in the fact he was the one to have banished it.
“I shouldn’t be laughing,” she said, raising a curved finger to her mouth.“It’s all quite horrible, isn’t it?And here I am, upending your household over my flight of fancy.”
“You haven’t troubled me in the least, Miss Ridgeway,” he said, and the significant intonation in his voice surprised even him.
What the devil had come over him?No trouble at all—try telling that to the version of himself resting in the library not four and twenty hours earlier, thrown half into a fit of rage by the news of her arrival.But that was before he’d met her.Somehow, that made the whole ordeal perfectly sensible in his brain.
Miss Ridgeway took a deep, steadying breath, but her eyes glinted with tears of laughter.“I believe I’m done with hysterics now.My apologies.”
