She bustled away, her arm around the boy, neatly sidestepping the injured footman, who was now up on his feet again.
Jane Atherton’s worried face emerged from the throng. “My dear Lord Farramont! I would not have had this happen for the world. Are you injured?”
“Not in the least. A trifle annoyed at the boy. A little discipline would have saved him, but I imagine he will not receive that at his mother’s hands.”
“No. She is a very dear friend of mine, but… no, she is far too soft-hearted with Edmund. I cannot tell you the havoc he has caused at Westwick Heights in the three days since he arrived, but taking a sword to a footman is beyond anything! Charles, you must send for the surgeon at once. Tell him to send his bill to me.”
“It shall be done,” the earl said. “Happily, Lord Farramont was here to save the day. Very grateful to you, Farramont. Very grateful indeed. Neat piece of work. Even Captain Edgerton could not have done better, eh, Willerton-Forbes? Come and have a brandy, Farramont. I think you have earned it.”
“Thank you, sir, but I believe I shall ensure that child leaves the castle without inflicting any further damage on the inhabitants.”
“Good idea. We shall all go and see them off. I confess, I shall be glad to be rid of Mrs Wightman. She may be an inoffensive woman, but she fussed me beyond all enduring, as if I were an invalid who needed to be persuaded to rest and eat nourishing soups. And that child! It is very good of Jane to look out for a new wife for me, but I am also looking for a mother to my children, and clearly Mrs Wightman is a failure in that regard. Aboy must have some discipline imposed upon him. Are there no sensible women left in the North Riding, I wonder?”
The earl and his family drifted away to the entrance hall, while Ian wiped his sword and carefully sheathed it. When he looked up, only Izzy remained, smiling at him.
“My hero,” she murmured, tucking her arm in his.
“Oh, not really,” he murmured back, kissing her on the forehead. “I only did what anyone would have done.”
“And humble, too,” she said, laughing up at him. “My humble, heroic and rather wonderful husband.”
He smiled back at her, a warm glow filling his heart.
***
For several days, Izzy was quite content at Corland. She spent an hour or two every morning with her grandmother, the Dowager Countess, who dozed the time away, occasionally half-waking to talk to someone called Hermione, and enquire affectionately after Gabriel, and wonder when Malcolm and Alison were coming home.
“Who are these people?” Izzy whispered to Olivia, who was sitting with her, but Olivia merely shrugged.
Later in the morning, Izzy would sit in the drawing room with Aunt Alice, catching up on all the news, or at least all that could be talked about in front of Aunt Alice. Any mention of the murder caused her face to close up like a clam, and even the subject of Tess was contentious. She had disappeared for a while, but now she was at Harfield Priory with her aunt, Lady Tarvin, yet even that was not a subject Aunt Alice wanted to discuss.
Then there were pleasant evenings with the family and whoever had been invited to dine with them, and that too brought her contentment, for Ian was there. To see himacross the room and share an intimate little smile brought her extraordinary happiness. Her steady, reliable and excitingly unpredictable husband — what a discovery that was!
But one morning she woke up wild to be at home again. To sit at her own dining table, to sleep in her own bed, to walk in her own garden — how she yearned for that! And her daughters — she must see her girls again before they entirely forgot her.
Most of all, however, was a sudden fear that assailed her — perhaps this new, passionate husband of hers would vanish again once they were at home. Perhaps it was only the oddity of the circumstances that made him act so differently, and once he was safely back at Stonywell he would sink back into predictability again. She needed to know whether this change in him was permanent or not.
Obligingly, he agreed to leave that day, and by noon, an extraordinarily early hour for her, they were on their way. The advantage of having both carriages with them was that Brandon and Wycliffe could travel in Ian’s carriage with the luggage, while she had Ian to herself in her own carriage. They removed their gloves and sat, hand in hand, watching the scenery roll gently past the windows, every hill and copse and village and field of stubble bringing them closer to home.
They took three days over the journey, and since Ian sent riders ahead, there were always changes of teams waiting for them at each posting house, and the best rooms at their overnight stops. There was no doubt that travelling with Ian was a more efficient process, with every detail attended to. Eventually the sights they passed became familiar ones, and cottage women ran into their gardens to curtsy as they went past, the children waving cheerfully. When they drove by a field of workers scavenging for spilt grain, they all doffed their hats and bowed to the carriage.
The gates stood open for them, Mrs Jackson and her daughters smiling from the lodge door. Up the drive, the lake shimmering in the sunshine to one side. The trees on the avenue were already browning, she noticed. Summer was over, and autumn fast approaching.
As they neared the house, the doors opened and the familiar figures poured out — cousins Henry and Mary, of course, then Eastwood and Mrs Worthing, and John and William, the footmen. Ian descended first and helped Izzy out, as she gazed up at the familiar façade. Home at last!
He stopped, looking down at her with a little smile on his face. “I was wondering if you would like it if we added wings onto the house, as they have at Harringdon. It would improve the appearance, do you not think? We should have more rooms, too.”
“It is a big house already, Ian,” she said, surprised. “I cannot imagine what we should do with even more saloons.”
“Then how about a ballroom?” he said.
“Oh! Aballroom!Oh, Ian, what a wonderful idea! A ballroom in one wing and more bedrooms in the other, so that we can have masses of people to stay.”
He laughed. “Then you would not need to go away so often to be entertained. You could do all your entertaining here.”
“We could invite your political friends, too, and hold serious policy meetings here. Or we could have all my family at once, instead of a few at a time. But… can we afford it?”
“I believe we can. I shall obtain some estimates, and then we shall see.”
