Chapter 26
It was astonishing, really.I can’t say what I enjoyed more, that moving picture or the look on Fiona’s face as she watched.
~From the journal of the Marquis of Aylesbury—May 1895
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Home of the Marquis of Aylesbury
44 Belgrave Square
Belgravia, London, England
Several days later
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Incredible!She wasutterly, foolishly, incredible.
Aylesbury blinked hoping the vision in a violet day dress standing—alone—in the middle of his marbled foyer was nothing more than a mirage.As much pleasure as the sight brought him, he wished he was wrong.Unfortunately, when he opened his eyes, she was still there.Swinging an extravagant parasol by her side as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
Pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, he said a prayer for patience.“Please tell me you did not come here alone.”
“That’s about as fine a greeting as being left standing in the hall like a beggar,” Fiona retorted as she turned to face him, her militant expression perfectly complimented by the severe tailoring of her deep plum silk suit with black braiding marching in rows down the front of her waist length jacket and uniformly banding three times near the hem of her skirt and at her cuffs.She was dressed to do battle.“Besides, I never took you as a stickler for propriety.If you are, I have to wonder at all the times we’ve been alone together.”
The front door stood open behind her, giving him a clear view of the street beyond as he took the rest of the stairs.The very empty street.“Did you walk?Have you gone quite mad?I cannot believe that your brothers allowed it.”
“They are brothers, not wardens, my lord.They do not own me.”
The truth of it hit him.“They don’t know, do they?My God, Fiona, have you even bothered to tell them that there is a criminal out there stalking you?”
She scoffed.“It’s been nearly a week, my lord.Besides, he’d be a fool to try again.”
“Who says he’s not?”
“Fool or not, I refuse to live in fear.”
“Bugger it, you are as obstinate as the day is long,” he ground out.“And perhaps twice as foolish as your assailant might be.It doesn’t take a Cambridge education to know it.You could have been snatched right off the street!”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“It’s very much my concern.”
Her brother’s words whispered through her mind once more.Yes, he was as stubborn as she.A perfect match for her...if she was courageous enough to accept him.
If she was being honest, it had taken all her daring to walk out the door on her own.Though she hadn’t said a word about it to anyone, the incident with the fortuneteller the previous week had shaken Fiona badly.She’d spent an entire week skulking in the shadows of one brother after another.Begging them to accompany her.Hanging on their arms at balls and garden parties.Or riding at her side as they had a few days before.
Oh, she had put on a confident face, especially when she had seen Aylesbury here and there, but it wasn’t the same, and she was tired of it all.Coming out today wasn’t so much a defiance of her would-be kidnapper’s attempts as a defiance of her own faintheartedness.Thumbing her nose at it, as it were.“I can’t live my life peeking from behind curtains, afraid to go outside because of what might be, Harry.I can’t be so cowed to become a virtual prisoner in my home just because a male wasn’t handy.I needed to get out.I need to be out.”
His anger lessened a tad as Fiona had her rant.He understood.He truly did.She was a creature of the outdoors.She lived and breathed physical activity, required it daily whether it be walking, riding, cycling, or golfing.Penning her up indoors was comparable to caging a tiger.
