Isabel ignored me. “I’m going to have to come up with something to make Ambrose lose interest in her.” She arched an eyebrow. “Violetta? Any ideas?”
Violetta refused to look up from her page as she spoke. “You should concentrate on standing out yourself. If you do anything underhanded, it might reflect badly on you.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. That was terrible advice.
Isabel rolled her eyes. “That’s terrible advice.”
I blinked at her, then narrowed my eyes. “Perhaps, on this one occasion, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
Isabel stared back at me blankly for a moment before her lips stretched into a villainous grin. “Perhaps. But just to knock Cecelia down a peg or two in the family’s esteem. After that, we go back to competing with one another.”
I leaned in closer. “So, Iamcompetition now?”
“I’ll be generous with the parameters today.”
I held out my hand to her. “Very well. Partner.”
Isabel shook my hand, and we shared a conspiratorial warmth with one another before she broke away.
Violetta, I noticed, had looked up from her book to watch the exchange, a troubled look in her gaze.
“Don’t worry,” I reassured her with a wink. “This isn’t even the worst bargain I’ve made lately.”
Foxglove Abbey was a sprawling estate that bordered a dense forest. The sun was growing low as we arrived, forcing me to squint against the formidable rays at the tents erected across the lawn. Several large tables were assembled and crowded with chairs, servants fussing with lavish centerpieces boasting crystal swans and the same purple wildflowers I’d seen bordering the road on our way up the drive.
“I do love it here,” Isabel said wistfully, a smile touching her lips.
“You come here often?” I asked.
She snorted. “Hardly. Just whenever Emmett fancies a change of scenery.”
“You’re close, you and Emmett?”
“I thought we were.” Isabel hesitated. “I think something has happened and they’re trying to hide it.”
“The family? Why would they do that?” I ventured, watching the circular drive grow closer, the first carriage in our party already disembarking. It was a pity the conversation had made this turn when little time was left to explore it. “What do you suspect?”
Isabel waved a hand. “Oh, it’s likely nothing. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was involved in a scrape. I don’t even know who that girl was.”
“What girl?”
Eyes wide, Isabel covered her mouth, realizing she’d said more than she’d intended. She recovered quickly, however. I noticed Violetta had lowered her book, interest piqued.
Isabel sighed, resigned, before leaning in. “You didn’t hear this from me. I saw him with a girl, in the gardens behind Hemlock Manor. It was strange. He had his head in her lap and she was stroking his hair.”
I frowned. “I thought Emmett only likes boys.”
“He does, so far as I know. But it … wasn’t like that. It was an intimate moment, but … I’m not sure how to describe it. He wasn’t ill, but more like being comforted?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I made a hasty retreat.”
“And you never mentioned this to Emmett?”
“Of course not.” Isabel looked offended. “He would have been mortified. And I’m no gossip. I’ve better things to do with my time.”
“Who was the girl?”
She glanced away as the coach came to a stop, the door opening to a servant’s outstretched hand. As she took it, she shrugged back at me. “I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
So, Emmett had sought comfort from a stranger,I thought as she disembarked, causing the carriage to rock. Perhaps the events of the past few weeks were a consequence of a romantic attachment. Perhaps he did like girls too and was coming to terms with that. Or a mutual acquaintance of a boy was consoling him. Perhaps he’d even been considering something drastic, knowing his father would never approve, something he had to keep from even his close friend Isabel, should word reach his family. It could have been an elopement, perhaps to a boy with little means. Had that been what that note had been about? A clandestine meeting to secure an ally’s aid? If that return letter hadn’t been written by Isabel, could it have been by this mystery woman? But then what of the robed men? How were they involved in that scenario? There had to be something else to this.
