Page 35 of One Night of Surrender
“I miss you too.”Isabelle’s throat tightened, but she refused to let them see her emotions.“I shall write to you often, and you must write back to me.”
Caroline scowled.“What if Mama won’t let us?”
Had the baroness said that?A wave of anger swept over Isabelle, and she again worked to keep a positive tone and a kind expression.“I’m sure she will.”
“I’ll strongly suggest she does.”
Isabelle jerked her head up and saw Val standing just a few feet away.Where had he come from?
Beatrice gave him a tentative smile.“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“It’s my pleasure.You girls better choose the books you want, or we won’t have an excuse for our outing.”He winked at them, and they looked toward Isabelle.
“Will you help us choose?”Caroline said.
“Of course.You may have two each.”She met Val’s gaze.“On your membership?”
He inclined his head.“If you please.”
Oh, she pleased.She was so overwhelmed by his kindness and thoughtfulness, she could kiss him.
Or maybe she just wanted to kiss him because he was Val.And the Val of today seemed to be every bit the Val she remembered, only better.
She helped the girls select their books, and in all too short a time, they were on their way.Now that they knew she was here, they promised to visit as much as they could.With a final hug, she waved them off, then hurried back to the counter, where she dashed away her tears.
Later that afternoon, she returned to Berkeley Square feeling satisfied after her first day at the library, as well as a lingering sadness over missing the girls.
“Isabelle?”Viola called her by her first name now since she’d asked Isabelle to call her Viola.“Come into the library!”
Isabelle turned right into the library, where Viola was bent over a table.She had a map of the world spread out before her and didn’t look up as Isabelle walked in.
“How was the library?”Viola asked as she picked up a pencil and scratched a note on a piece of parchment set atop the map.
“Wonderful, thank you.I think I may have found my passion.”
Viola straightened and turned her head to Isabelle.“I thought teaching was your passion?”
“It is.It was.”Isabelle loved teaching, but the life of a governess was rather solitary and, as a result, lonely.She’d developed a close relationship with the girls, but now that was gone and she had no one.The thought of starting over with a new family was less than appealing.“I enjoy the bustle of the library.”
“That’s marvelous,” Viola said.“Perhaps it’s a blessing that your last position…ended.”She shook her head.“I had to pause and think of how to describe that.”
Ended seemed as good a description as any.“The girls came to the library today.”Isabelle didn’t mention that Val had brought them.Viola didn’t need any more evidence that their association was more than they’d let on.
Viola leaned her hip against the table and stuck her pencil into her upswept blonde hair.“Was it nice to see them, or is it difficult since their parents are so horrid?”
“It was very nice.I would never blame them for their parents’ failings.Indeed, I wouldn’t want them to know about their parents.They have time enough to learn for themselves, though I suppose I hope they never do, particularly when it comes to their father.”Isabelle shuddered.
Viola’s nostrils flared.“He didn’t…do anything untoward, did he?I mean, physically.”
“If you’re asking whether he attacked me, no.He touched me in a way he hadn’t before, and thankfully, I was able to walk away without provoking him.”She felt grateful when she thought of how much worse it could have been.
Viola snorted.“Men are terrible.Most men, anyway.I do like my brother, but in my mind, he isn’t a man.He’s my brother.”
In Isabelle’s mind, he was most definitely a man and was definitelynotdisgusting.Her husband, on the other hand… “I can’t disagree with you.”
“Of course, women can be just as bad,” Viola mused.“Take Val’s wife.She was awful.”
She shouldn’t ask, but Viola couldn’t help herself.“How was she awful?”
