“Did you get a look at his face?”
“No,” she said. “You saw that he was wearing that mask, so I couldn’t make out anything much about him.”
“I did see that, but I hoped,” he sighed. “You haven’t any idea as to his identity, then?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t have any enemies that I know of.”
“I’m sure that whoever he is, he was here because of me, not because of you,” Arthur said. There was a weight in his voice, as if he had never felt so terribly sad in all his life. “I’m sure he came after you because you’re my wife, not because of anything about you. I’m so sorry that you had to go through this ordeal, Isabella.”
“I wish you didn’t blame yourself,” she said softly. “Does it help you to know that I don’t blame you?”
“No, if anything I think that makes it worse,” he admitted. “I think you should blame me.”
“Are you going to tell me why you think that?”
“I suppose I’ve got to come clean,” he said. “There’s still a great deal you don’t know about me.”
She managed a laugh. “Well,thatI did know.”
“You always manage to keep your spirits up,” he said. “It’s one of the things I admire most about you.”
“Not always,” she countered. “Not when you were gone. I’ve never been more down.”
He sighed. “I hate to hear that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. That’s not what I mean. I want to know when you’re unhappy. I just hate that I was the cause of it. I’m going to do better by you, Isabella, I promise you that. Things are going to be different now. No one will ever harm you again. I’ll make sure of that.”
And he held her close to him, as if she was something precious—something he couldn’t bear to lose, something he didn’t want to see damaged in any way, and it occurred to Isabella that there was no way an embrace like this didn’t mean love.
Maybe he didn’t want her to be his wife in the way she wanted to be. She didn’t know. Maybe he wasn’t in love with her the way she was in love with him. But one thing was certain—Arthur treasured her. He knew that he had almost lost her tonight, and the idea tormented him. It hurt him as much as his departure to his other estate had hurt her, and if he hadn’t felt some sort of love for her, it wouldn’t have been possible for the loss of her to hurt him like that.
She didn’t like that he had been hurt. But she most certainly did like knowing, at last, that she mattered.
She allowed him to hold her close, resting her head on his shoulder, and let her eyes close. There was a great deal to talk about, but for now, it was more than enough to take comfort in his embrace.
CHAPTER 33
“You should eat something,” Arthur said softly, touching Isabella’s shoulder. “You’ve been sitting here watching your sister all day. I don’t think she’s likely to wake up any time soon.”
“I’m so worried about her,” Isabella fretted.
“You remember what the physician said, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Isabella agreed. “It doesn’t seem as though she hit her head very hard, and the fact that she woke up a little bit last night and spoke to us is a very good sign.”
“That’s right,” Arthur agreed. “And that means it’s all right for you to take a break. Felicity would want you to care for yourself, wouldn’t she?”
He had arranged for lunch to be set out on the table, and he’d hoped that Isabella would come and join him—she needed abreak from her worries, and he longed to see her starting to return to the person she had been before all this had started. The fact that she and Felicity had both escaped their ordeal relatively unharmed was such a blessing, and he had never felt more eager to turn away from the path of revenge that he had been on for so long. He wanted to focus on Isabella—nothing more.
But she hadn’t come to eat, and it occurred to him now that perhaps she didn’t feel up to the formality of sitting at a table. He took her hands. “I’ve had some food sent to my room,” he said.
“Can’t we eat here?” Isabella put a hand on Felicity’s arm. “I don’t want to leave her.”
“She’s all right, Isabella. She needs to sleep, that’s all. And you need some rest as well. Please, come with me. Caroline will stay with your sister, and she’ll summon us if anything changes, I promise.”
Isabella nodded. “All right,” she agreed. “I suppose you’re right. I’m not doing her any good sitting here. I might as well go and get something to eat.”
