“And lived to tell the tale?”
“Perhaps you wore a disguise to slip in and rescue an English slave.”
“Perhaps you read too many novels.”
She smiled. “Perhaps I do. But I don’t take them as a textbook for my life.” She twitched her toe under Sillikin. “In a novel,” she said to the dog, “he’d have a mad wife locked away, or a chamber of bloody mementoes.”
Without opening her eyes, Sillikin snuffled.
“Not a great conversationalist, is she?” Braydon remarked. “I can merely offer a deranged dowager and an ice palace. How long have you had her?”
“Eight years. She was a gift. Marcus didn’t mind.”
“A gift from a gentleman?”
“Why ask that?”
“Why else would your husband mind?”
“Having a dog in a small place. The mess when she was a puppy.”
“I see.”
“As it happens, it was a gentleman. Captain Edison.His mother breeds them.” She smiled at the memory. “She was such an adorable bundle of fluff.”
“And made you happy.” He was watching her from beneath lowered lids in a way that unsettled her.
“Yes. Yes, she did. And does.”
“I must set myself to make you even happier.”
He meant it.Lord above, please let him not be plagued by jealousy.
To cover the moment, she sipped a little more coffee, but he said, “Don’t drink too deep. There’ll be a thick layer at the bottom. Would you like more?”
She put down the cup. “Not at the moment, thank you. It seems a little like ratafia or some other sweet alcoholic drink—deceptively treacherous.”
“You won’t become drunk on it.”
“It feels potent enough. I think I heard that the dowager has dogs. Will they be friendly?”
“It shouldn’t matter. They’re rarely outside her rooms.”
“That can’t be healthy.”
“For either of them. A footman walks the creatures twice a day around the gardens. Sometimes Isabella does that.”
“It can’t be good for her to be cooped up here.”
“No, but she resists change.”
She picked up another piece of cake. “What was Isabella’s life like before her father and brother died?”
“She receives some letters from friends, but none have visited since the deaths. She had a governess, but Mrs. Riverton was dismissed when Isabella turned sixteen and decided she no longer needed lessons.”
“Indulged, then.”
“Assuredly.”
