“You mean they could give him a lighter sentence? Because of whom he is?” Diana asked, stepping forward across the room. As she reached Owen’s side, she sat down beside him, placing a hand across his knee as he fiddled with his injured nose.
“It’s possible. Jessie, in some ways you are right, at least now, the duke will face a punishment for the crimes he has done, but Diana.” He paused, looking towards her with sad eyes. “There is no guarantee you are free of the man.”
“Perhaps not.” She felt a smile creep into her cheeks.
“I was not aware I said something good,” Owen pointed out, gesturing to her smile.
“Owen, he is gone. Perhaps not for good, but at least for now. That gives me hope.”
“Hope?” Jessie asked. “In what?”
“That maybe a new life can be found. All we need is a little time to figure it out, and now, we have that time at last.” Diana slid her hand into Owen’s, feeling his fingers grab hold of hers just as tightly. “Jessie, would you do me a favour and arrange for one of the footmen to send for a physician, please? I think it is time Owen had someone look at his injury.”
“Of course, Your Grace.” Jessie surprised them all by curtsying to Diana before hurrying off below stairs.
“I think she rather likes you now,” Owen said, pointing after Jessie with a small smile.
“I am relieved, for I like her too. At least now, she doesn’t have to be a plaything for Gilbert anymore.”
“Indeed not.” Owen sat back on the stairs, smiling at her. “If my top lip was not covered in dried blood, I would kiss you now, by the way.” She laughed warmly, thrilled that he was able to make a jest, even when he was injured in such a way.
“I will always kiss you.” She leaned up on her knees and placed a soft kiss to his forehead, feeling the way his arms lifted and wrapped around her waist, clinging onto her.
“Any ideas where we go from here, Diana?” he asked, hanging his head a little. She lifted her hands and weaved them into his brown hair, softly playing with the threads as he fussed with his nose and handkerchief another time.
“We shall think on it. Right now, I simply wish to see you safe.” As she sat back down on her knees, releasing Owen, she realized there was much more she wanted.
She longed to see Jessie happy, with a future before her that was not so dependent on her employer’s bed. She wished to help the women Gilbert had charmed in the past too, and those poor children locked up in that tiny house, with barely enough money to see them through. Finally, she wanted a future that was away from here.
She knew she could not be happy in this house, for it would always be Gilbert’s house, and for as long as she was here, she would be beholden to him, even if he was sent to prison for a long time. She needed a new life, with a new home, and a new family.
“You appear to be thinking things,” Owen said, playing with her hand and entwining their fingers together.
“Maybe I am,” she said softly. “I am thinking of what I want, what we all want.”
“If only there was a way to make it all happen,” he said, his voice deeper than usual.
With Owen smiling as she played with their connected hands, a plan began to form in Diana’s mind, one where she might just be able to get everything she wanted, including a new life with Owen, a long way away from this place.
Chapter 29
“Take this for the pain.” The physician pushed a vial into Owen’s hands. He drank the liquid, downing it all before he gagged, clamping his lips shut to try and stop it from escaping him again.
“Ergh, what was that?”
“Best you do not ask, Mr Arnold,” the physician said with a laugh as he placed his vials away again in his medicine bag. “It will help.”
“So, all is well?” a voice called from the doorway.
Owen looked up to see Diana was standing there, expectantly peering around the doorframe with clear hope in her eyes.
“All is well, Your Grace,” the physician said as he stood to his feet. “Rest there, Mr Arnold, no need to see me out.” Owen nodded his thanks and sat back on the chair again. The pain was beginning to dull, and the bleeding had long stopped, yet he still felt rather numb and swollen around his nose.
“It seems, Your Grace, your butler was rather fortunate. No bones broken, though the cartilage is somewhat misplaced. In a day or two he will be as good as new. In the meantime, he will just have a rather nasty purpling bruise.”
“Thank you for your help.” Diana took his arm and escorted him out of the house. Owen stayed exactly where he was, leaning back on the settee as he thought of all that had happened that evening. In truth, it hadn’t been that long ago since he’d been holding Diana in his arms in this room when the duke returned early to find them there together. “Are you lost in thought?” Diana’s reappearance made him look back to the doorway.
In the candlelight, her hair seemed to glow all the more golden as she smiled at him.
