“Then I shall look forward to that,” she said. “It shall keep me fortified for what is to come.”
“Meaning?”
She gestured toward the door. “Meaning I am not looking forward to facing what is outside that door,” she said. “I am sureLady Isabel wishes to speak with me about the incident involving Raymond. I can only tell her what I told you, but I know she’ll want to hear it. Speaking of it again is reliving it, and I am not looking forward to that.”
He cupped her face with one hand, kissing her on the cheek before he stood up. “I wish I could make this all go away for you,” he said. “I will be with you when she questions you if you would like.”
“I would, thank you.”
He smiled at her, encouragingly, and she nodded as if to acknowledge that she could face whatever she needed to as long as he was by her side. Strange how a woman, so independent and used to being alone, now found herself swept up in this glorious creature who had declared his intention to court her. To marry her. God, how she could so easily give herself over to Douglas and blend in with him until there were no lines between her and him. Until they were one mass, one mind, one thought, one body.
Oh… to besohappy.
It was finally within her reach.
“I’ll send a servant up to you then,” Douglas said as he moved for the door. “I will wait for you down in the solar. I must speak to Lady Isabel anyway, so come when you are ready.”
Mira nodded. “I will,” she said. “And Douglas?”
He paused at the door, hand on the latch. “What is it?”
“Thank you.”
With a wink, he was gone. Mira sat there a moment, an enormous smile on her face, before tossing off the coverlet and leaping from bed.
Oh… to be so happy!
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Icannot lether do this,” Douglas said strongly. “Let her break the betrothal. I will have my father send two thousand men to Axminster, permanently. An army of that size will keep de Honiton at bay. Eric, are you listening to me?”
After leaving Mira to dress, Douglas had come down to the solar because he wanted to know what had transpired between Jerome and Isabel. Why the woman had been left in a flood of tears. Unfortunately, he found out quickly enough.
It was worse than he could have imagined.
“I am listening to you,” Eric said, no spark of life in his tone. After what Isabel had told him, the man was dead inside. “But Isabel has made the decision she feels best for Axminster. We cannot contest it.”
Douglas’ mouth was hanging open in shock and outrage. He looked at Isabel, still over by the window, though she wasn’t weeping as she had been earlier. She was simply sitting there, still as stone.
All of the life had gone out of her, too.
“Isabel,” Douglas said pleadingly. “You do not have to do this. I realize you are trying to appease Jerome, but this is not the way.”
She sighed heavily before moving her red-eyed gaze to Douglas. “Douglas, I want you to listen to me and listen carefully,” she said. “I am only going to say this one time, and once I say it, you are not allowed to argue with me. You are not allowed to make other suggestions. If you do, I will beat you within an inch of your life and send you and your army home. Do you understand me?”
Douglas was ready to explode but knew she was serious. He knew she was hurting and he honestly wasn’t trying to make it worse, but he didn’t believe this was the end. He couldn’t accept it. Still, he nodded his head in answer to her question and turned away, pacing the floor in an agitated manner as Isabel rose unsteadily to her feet.
“Good,” she said. “I want to be very clear about this, Douglas. As you are accepting blame for Mira’s actions, I am accepting the blame for you. You are protecting the woman who will be your wife, and while that is admirable, I am making it so Jerome will be appeased and no one, including you and Mira, will every have to worry about him again.”
Douglas couldn’t keep his mouth shut at her path to martyrdom. “But—”
She jabbed a finger at him. “Silence,” she hissed. “I am not finished. Now, is this a simple thing for me to do? It is not. It is a business arrangement and it is an arrangement for peace, and if you argue with me, you are diminishing my sacrifice. You are showing a lack of faith in my decision. Would you dare show such a lack of respect for me?”
Douglas, pale and upset, nonetheless remained stoic. He shook his head in surrender. “Nay, Lady Isabel.”
“Do you think I do not know my own mind?
“Nay, Lady Isabel.”
