Page 9 of One Night of Surrender
Cole snorted.“And because you never envisioned it, how could it be true?”
Val sat back with a scowl.“Perhaps I shouldn’t have brought this up.”
“My apologies.Whydidyou bring it up?”
“Because it’s notable?”While Val had mostly put Isabelle from his mind after he’d wed Louisa, he still thought of her from time to time.Their one night together had been a singular occasion, a night he never thought to duplicate.“We shared something special.”
“It was,” Cole said slowly.“Is it still?Even after Louisa?”
Cole, of course, knew the damage Louisa had done.One could endure only so much from a profligate wife before one’s general opinion of women and, more precisely, of marriage, plummeted.
“It will always be.”Val realized he’d thought of Isabelle more after Louisa had died, perhaps not consciously, but he’d dreamed of her many times, of a life that maybe could have been.
“And now she’s sleeping under your roof,” Cole said.“How long will temptation be at your door?”
“A fortnight.”No, less than that now.“Thirteen days.Or thereabouts.”
“Are you hoping to repeat what you did at Oxford?”Cole leaned back against his chair with his tankard in his hand.
“We can’t.”But if Val were being honest with himself, yes, he hoped to.
“You don’t sound terribly convinced.”
No, he didn’t, and suddenly Val knew why he’d wanted to talk to his friend.“I need you to convince me, dammit.”
“You said she wanted nothing to do with you.That tells you everything you need to know.Keep your distance as you suffer through the next thirteen days and then carry on with your life.”Cole drank from his mug and set it on the table.
“That’s easy for you to say as you’re about to marry the woman you love and who loves you in return.”
Cole gaped at him in surprise.“Do you love Isabelle?”
“No.”Val would never risk that again, not after Louisa.“I only meant that it’s easy for you to dish out advice because you’re so bloody happy.”
“I’m not sure that makes any sense whatsoever, but if there’s one thing I do recall, it’s that when it comes to Isabelle Highmore—Cortland, whatever—you never made much sense.”
That was probably true.He’d been consumed by her wit and intellect and enthralled with her beauty and charm.
“So I must stay away from her.”It wasn’t a question but a warning to himself.Cole was right.
Cole gave a single nod and an apologetic stare.“It sounds as if that’s best.If she were interested in you, however, that might be a different story.”
“You mean if she wanted to return to where we left off ten years ago?”Hell, what would he do then?Seduce her in the tiny bedroom nestled under the eaves of his town house?Invite her to share his bedchamber?
“It’s a moot question.”Cole looked down at his tankard.“Forget I said that.”
Val was certain he wouldn’t.Even if it was just a hazy notion in the back of his mind, he might forever dream about what he would do if Isabelle showed him the slightest inclination that she wanted him again.What would he do—take her as his mistress, or surrender to just one night as they’d done ten years ago?
“Unless you wanted to marry her,” Cole said, snapping Val from his reverie.
“What?”Val narrowed his eyes briefly.
“You could marry her, if you wanted.”
Val shook his head at Cole.“You seem to forget to whom you’re speaking.”
“You just told me that Isabelle was special.”
“No, I said wesharedsomething special.”
