Page 102 of The Lover's Eye
Giles collapsed backward onto his bottom, joining Isobel in a hearty laugh.“I don’t know that I trust this wretched old thing,” he said, catching his breath.“And I’d rather not be responsible for a sparrow massacre.”
“Can we start a fire outside?”Isobel asked, coming up behind him.
It wasn’t a good idea.They needed to follow his plan and get her to Shoremoss, where she could rest behind four walls that didn’t reek of damp and mold.But she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, sharing the blankets that had begun to grow warm from the heat of her body.
“Very well,” he said, turning his head to kiss her softly on the mouth.They lingered there for a perfect moment, both reluctant to break the connection.
Isobel was able to find a few more quilts in the time it took Giles to start a fire next to the cottage.They spread them out, tumbling down with a unified sigh as the flames matured into warmth.The first thread of tension pulled, a reminder that much had yet to be said.
“I went to see the old woman.”
“I thought as much.”
“Giles … I need to know everything.And not just the facts.I need to understand your role in this.”
He could read her features plainly.She knew.And she was hoping with all her might he wasn’t a thorough scoundrel.He took a deep breath and lay back on the quilts, finding the expanse of sky made it easier to talk.
“I never knew Aurelia very well.Only in passing.And I never really thought to marry.It was something I wanted, something of interest to me, but every opportunity to even court someone felt … I don’t know, false.Like we were both playactors, or men of business, fussing over the terms of an agreement.I had all but given up.”
Isobel lowered herself to the ground beside him, and the quiet warmth of her body eased his mind.She no longer shivered.
“I would go months without seeing anyone, save neighbors like Pemberton and your sister.And then, this—this fright would grip me, this dread of forever being alone and without, and I would go to Town and play the role.Come back a few weeks later, feeling more wretchedly dead inside than before.”
Her fingers crept to his and squeezed.
“One day last summer, Pemberton called.I wasn’t expecting him.He—he looked awful.Frantic and red in the face, talking so fast I could scarce make sense of him.He told me he had gotten his mistress with child.”
“Did you know, before then?”
“I hadn’t a clue.He told me it was Aurelia.They’d had an arrangement of long standing, and he claimed he’d been cautious, but alas …”
“He wanted you to marry her?”Isobel asked, craning her head to look at him.Giles nodded.“Why?”
“He told me about your sister’s difficulty conceiving.He had the fool notion that Aurelia might be carrying his only heir, illegitimate or otherwise.He was wild with plans, wanting his son to grow up with a respectable name.I believe Aurelia’s maid was suspect of their arrangement, too.Pemberton figured if she didn’t marry at once, word would spread.”
Isobel had grown very still beside him.Giles’s heart pulsed a quick beat, but it was steady, unafraid.It was easier to tell her all than to keep secrets from her.He only wished he had realized that sooner.
“Why would either of you agree to Pemberton’s arrangement, if you did not care for one another?”
“To be truthful, I did not think Aurelia would agree to it.She was a very free sort of person; I couldn’t imagine her wanting to be shackled to someone of my habits.But Pemberton only asked that I agree to offer for her.To give her and the child a chance to avoid being ostracized by society.”Giles paused to rub his eyes.“He reminded me of all I owed him, years of his protection throughout our time at university.And so I agreed, not sure anything would come of it, under two conditions.”
Isobel lifted to her elbows, all alertness.
“I told him he must leave it up to Aurelia to decide what the child believed about their parentage, and that their relations cease immediately.I told him if I discovered him keeping a mistress again, I would not be keeping it to myself.It might have been the singular decent thing I did in the whole business.
“After that, things spun out of control for me.I … I was surprised, really, when Aurelia agreed to the whole of it.I suspect Pemberton exercised his influence over her, too.When she called at Cambo House, she’d decided we must be seen together, make people believe us very in love so that the sudden betrothal and child would seem natural.”Giles gave a low, humorless laugh.“Clearly, as you have discovered, people did believe.”
“I believed, too.I’m sorry, Giles.It wasn’t fair of me to fixate so on the past.”
He turned toward her, brushing her cheek with his palm.“It wasn’t fair of me to give you such doubt.By God, Isobel, I pushed you to a point where you risked your life to hear some answers.I—”
“That isn’t why I went.”She smiled faintly, her eyes reflecting moonlight.“I went to free you.To free us.”
Understanding gripped him.She had been willing to sacrifice everything forhim.For love.He remembered her note and blinked, his chest swelling with emotion.When he reached for her, Isobel slipped into his arms and spoke quietly.“But now I must free Marriane, too.You understand that, don’t you?”
“I do.”Hiding his knowledge of Pemberton’s infidelity was just another layer of Giles’s grief.
“Why did you not trust me?”Isobel’s voice was small and quavery, the largest of her hurts distilled down to a few words.
