Iseabail stood up, her stature taking on a regal quality Caillen had never seen. Yet it had been years since they’d been together. She supposed a woman who was on her second ducal marriage and about to have her second child would be quite different than the young girl of fourteen she’d been when they’d hugged goodbye.
“He is the man of the household and her benefactor?—”
“She doesn’t need a benefactor. I can provide for her.”
Iseabail’s countenance stiffened once more. “Do you forget that he provided your dowery as well?”
Caillen blinked. “I assumed that came from you upon the death of your first husband, since Ross told me he would not provide a dowery if I eloped.”
“He was attempting to stop you from making a mistake.”
“He did a poor job of it,” she grumbled unfairly.
Iseabail eyed her speculatively. “Do you regret your marriage?”
Yes. If they had waited to gain Ross’s approval, they would have never been on the road back from Gretna Green and everything would have been different. And yet, she could never regret Dorian. “I would go through three times as much pain to have Dorian in my arms, so no.”
Iseabail nodded slowly. “You didn’t tell us you had a child. Would you have, if Mr. Forrester hadn’t run across you at your in-laws’ home?”
“In due time.” Iseabail stood next to her bed, and it took all of her resolve not to flinch away from her closeness.
“What happened?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I know Bredlebane was killed, but what happened that would make you reject the love of your own family?”
She hadn’t rejected anyone, had she? She took another sip of tea before she responded. “I could not come to terms with Bredlebane’s death. Surely you of all people can understand how difficult the passing of a spouse can be?”
“Of course, I just?—”
“I don’t wish to discuss it further. Will you allow Robbi to come and stay with me, or not?”
“No.”
Caillen narrowed her eyes. “You lived separately from the rest of your sisters for almost nine years and then out of nowhere, the Dowager Duchess of Ross appeared at our doorstep a little over a year ago and offered to sponsor us in London. It had been exciting and new for five young women who’d dreamed of a having Season, so we poured into her carriages without a second thought. All because she said she had your blessing. We came to London because of you, and now you won’t let Robbi stay with me—the sister who has taken care of her most of her life?” She sounded like a recalcitrant child, but she needed to know Robbi was not only okay, but flourishing. The ton was not what was best for her youngest sister.
“She needs to prepare for her Season.”
“She doesn’t need a Season. The ton gave the rest of us the cut direct or made snide comments about our parentage to our faces. The first ball Máira, Ailsa and I attended, our dances included wandering hands and propositions we hadn’t understood, but knew the other debutants weren’t forced to endure. Ross didn’t witness the worst and we had agreed not to tell him because we didn’t want him to call some lord out.”
“Ross would have defended your honor.”
“At what price?” She asked. “Murder, maiming, or banishment? Which would you have preferred for the man youloved?” It was mean and wrong, and Iseabail paled at the thought. Yet even Caillen’s sore throat couldn’t stop her from continuing.
“Our second ball was a repeat of the first, and by our third, I’d given up on the ladies and gentlemen of the ton. That was the night I met William. He was handsome and gallant, he nearly broke a viscount’s arm when the gentleman had cornered me in an alcove on my way back from the retiring room. The viscount had refused to let me leave without the payment of a kiss.” At the time, the predicament had confused her into silence. She’d never dreamed a Season to be like that. “My husband grabbed him by the arm, twisted it behind his back and shoved him into the wall. Hard.
“He was my hero, not Ross.” Bitterness tinged her words, yet she couldn’t shut it down despite knowing how awful she was being to her pregnant sister she hadn’t seen in years. “As a newly minted baron who existed on the outskirts of the ton due to earning his title on the battlefield, he was as lost as I was. He saved me that night from Viscount Weldon. I don’t want Robbi to experience the same type of assault from agentleman.”
She shook her head, burying the past where it belonged. She hated how hindsight could open one’s eyes to the truth of their circumstances. The Blair sisters should have never come to London. Yet she would never regret Dorian.
“You were not here when we made our debuts in society. You do not understand what the ton is like.”
Iseabail laughed. “Do you think I have not suffered their distain in the same manner as you?”
Caillen looked down at the pleats in the clean shift she didn’t recall putting on. “I know you have been ridiculed and mocked?—”
“And groped and propositioned.”
