The next morning, the visitors continued, a steady stream of guests inquiring about his health, wishing him well, and honestly talking entirely too much. Every time the door opened, his heart leaped – and every time the visitor proved not to be Isolde, it plummeted again.
Around mid-morning, he became especially excited because Thomas appeared, with Cornelia creeping in shyly behind him. He peered behind Cornelia, hoping to see Isolde, for long enough that Thomas cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Forgive me, Lord Hartington – are we intruding? If you are expecting someone else to visit –”
“Ah, no,” Thaddeus said hastily, feeling himself blush a little from embarrassment. Thomas could likely tell him if Isolde was planning to visit him again, but he realized that asking might make him seem a bit foolish.
After all, Thomas probably assumed he and his fiancée were perfectly capable of communicating without outside help.
He sighed internally and refocused on the brother and sister in front of him.
“It is good to see you. You’re kind to come.” It was the same words he had said to every visitor, but this time he said them with genuine warmth.
“I’m glad to see you looking healthier, Lord Hartington,” Cornelia said. “My sister was ever so distraught when she learned of your accident.”
Was she?Thaddeus eagerly grabbed that snippet of information.Had Isolde said anything to Cornelia that might have revealed her feelings? If she had been distraught, surely that meant she at least cared a little?He wanted to ask Cornelia more about that day, but Thomas began to speak.
“Please let us know if there’s anything we can do for you, Lord Hartington. As we are to be family, I hope you’ll feel you can lean on us for anything you might need.”
Maybe …Thaddeus thought, considering that perhaps he could prevail upon them to ask Isolde to visit him after all. But as heglanced over the pair, he realized that while both were smiling, their bodies were stiff, and their postures nervous.
Cornelia was wringing a handkerchief in her hand, and Thomas kept balling up his hands into fists and then loosening them, as if it were an unconscious anxious habit of his.
“Your well wishes and generous offer are noted, and I thank you for them,” he said softly, “but I wonder if perhaps it isn’t the other way around?”
Cornelia’s eyes grew wide and round, so that she looked much younger, and Thomas gave him a surprised glance.
“What do you mean, My Lord?” he asked.
“I mean that unless I’m very wrong, something is troubling you both. Is it something I can help with?”
Thomas and Cornelia looked at one another, seemingly to silently communicate. Finally, Thomas sighed and sat down in the chair beside Thaddeus’s bed.
“You are very observant, Lord Hartington. I don’t know what my sister has told you of our … situation, but I am very worried for Cornelia’s future.”
“Your sister has said as much to me, as well,” Thaddeus replied, remembering Isolde in the gallery after dinner her first night, begging him to help Cornelia.
“Has she perhaps mentioned Lord Crowley’s role in the matter?” Thomas asked. His voice was tight, as though he were barely controlling his emotions.
“Lord Crowley?” Thaddeus said, frowning. “Lord Crowley had attempted to win Isolde’s hand,” he winced to himself at how accurate that phrasing was, “but that matter is solved.”
“I’m afraid he is not so easily deterred, and unable to marry Isolde, he has set his sights on Cornelia instead. My father has more or less promised Cornelia’s hand to him at this point.”
“What?” Thaddeus said, nearly a gasp. “I knew nothing of this.”
Cornelia had cast her eyes down, and it looked as though her lips were trembling. Thaddeus felt a burst of anger toward Crowley. Did the man have no shame?
After the incident in the garden, Thaddeus had hoped never to see him again, and now he had not only inserted himself in the hunt but was also plotting to marry this sweet young woman.
Thaddeus knew Isolde adored her younger sister. This must have been wearing away at her. Perhaps this was why she had so eagerly agreed that they should speak alone.
Perhaps her actions last night had merely been a precursor to begging for his help, and she had not returned because she had lost her nerve.
Thaddeus pushed himself up straighter on his cushions and looked directly into Thomas’s eyes.
“Not everything is in my power, but I swear to you, Mr. Fairchild, Miss Cornelia, whateverisin my power, I will use it to keep that monster away from you. Away fromallof you.”
He felt his anger roiling in his stomach, and he wished this injury had not made him so weak. All he wanted at the moment was to march out of this room, find Crowley, and throw him out on his ear – proper etiquette be hanged.
