To Have and to Hold (18 page)

“I wanted to
speak to you before I go, Isobel.”
 
He
had begun quietly.
 
His eyes were serious
as they met and held hers.
 

Isobel frowned
slightly.
 
For a proposal, he was being
disturbingly stern. “I am going away for a while.”
  
Isobel’s stomach lurched sickeningly as his
words sank in.
 

“For
long?”
 
She tried to maintain a politely
conversational tone, careful not to betray the hurt his words caused her.

“Some months I
am afraid.”
 
Dominic’s words fell like
lead between them, his own face solemn.

“Are you
travelling abroad?”
 
Isobel wondered if
he intended to return.
 
He seemed
strangely vague.
 
Not that he had to
answer to her in any way, Isobel sternly reminded herself.
 
Indeed, he was quite a free man.

“No,
my dear.”
 
Dominic knew she was confused and worried,
and hated not being able to reveal everything to her.
 
After all he had every intention of taking
her to wife.
 
He just couldn’t do it
yet.
 
Could he really expect her to wait
for him?
 
“This is strictly between us.”
He waited until he received her nod of acceptance before continuing.
 
“Peter and I have been asked to undertake a
secret mission by the King Regent himself.
 
There are a group of smugglers running rife along the Norfolk
coast.
 
People are dying as the gang are
becoming more and more ruthless.
 
Something needs to be done.”
 
Dominic squeezed her hands and gently tugged her closer, pleased when
she didn’t protest at his familiarity with her.
 

“Unfortunately
it means neither Peter, nor I will be able to contact you while we are away as
we are briefly rejoining our battalion to form a special group to carry out
this mission.”

Isobel was about
to answer when Dominic continued.
 
“Unfortunately we also cannot predict how long we will be gone.
 
It could be a few weeks.
 
It could be a few months.”
 
Dominic watched as her shoulders drooped
slightly.
 
“I can promise you though my
darling, that as soon as I can return to you, I will.”
 
He watched as her eyes brightened at his
choice of words.
 

“Promise me you
shall remain safe.”
 
Isobel murmured
huskily squeezing his hands beseechingly.
 

“I promise you I
shall do my upmost to ensure both Peter and I will return to you hale and whole
and at the earliest possible moment.”
 
Dominic murmured eyeing her glistening lips.
 
“Meantime I am afraid I will not be able to
correspond with you.
 
I can assure you
though that you will be in my thoughts.”
 
His voice dropped to a husky murmur as his head dipped towards
hers.
 
“Allow me a small measure of
solace to warm my nights my darling.”
 
He
pleaded before his lips captured and held hers in a gentle kiss.
 

Isobel’s heart
thumped heavily in her ears at the insistent pressure of his lips upon hers. She
knew she should pull away, but she was in the one place she so very desperately
wanted to be.
 
If she wasn’t going to see
him for some time, surely it wasn’t so wrong to seek at least one kiss, was it?
 
Throwing all caution to one side, she
carefully placed her hands upon the solid muscle of his chest, pleased when he
groaned in his throat before pulling her more firmly into his embrace.
 

How long they
stood entwined in each other’s arms she couldn’t say.
 
They were however rudely interrupted by a
discrete cough coming from the doorway.
 
Reluctantly they drew apart, a rueful smile curving Dominic’s lips.
 
“I should apologise sweetheart.”
 
Dominic murmured placing a gentle kiss upon
her rosebud lips.
 
“But I won’t.
 
I thank you for allowing me such liberties.”
 
Carefully he placed a tender kiss upon her
cheek before stepping backwards, her hand held securely in his grasp.

“Sir?
 
My Lord wishes to meet with you in the
Library.”
  
The footman intoned politely.

Dominic nodded
and turned towards the man. “Please tell him I shall be with him shortly.”
   

“I cannot ask
you to wait for me but I shall be eternally glad if you could find it within
yourself to eschew any offers of marriage whilst I am gone.”
 
Dominic murmured.
 
He still had qualms about Isobel being left
in the questionable care of her aunt Elspeth but trusted Peter’s judgement in
his own relation enough to accept he knew the woman enough to leave the two
women alone at Willowbrook.

“I shall await
your return.”
 
Isobel linked her arm
through his as he escorted them both out of the room.
  
At the doorway to the Library, he took his
leave with a gentle smile and a small bow.
 

“Take care, my
love.” He murmured softly, for her ears alone before escorting her to the
bottom of the stairs.

Isobel’s feet felt
like lead as she slowly ascended to her room.
 
At the top, she glanced backwards to find him gone and felt a tiny pang
of loss.
 

It was some time
later when she heard the thumping of hooves below her window and knew he had
returned to his Uncle’s house for the night.
 
Still, even though he wasn’t in the house sleep wouldn’t come.
 
She tossed and turned.
 
Even tried to read a while before with a sigh
gave up, throwing her book on the small table with a thud.
 
She could go downstairs and read in the Library
for a while, probably even indulge in a small glass of sherry.
 
Inside though she knew the only thing she
really wanted was Dominic.

For the next
hour she pondered and paced, worried and stressed.
 
Still she couldn’t deny the only thing she
wanted was Dominic.
 
Unfortunately he was
now at his Uncle’s house, some two miles away.
 
Still a short journey through the woods and she would be there.
 
Surely she
couldn’t be so bold, could she?
 
She had
no idea of the layout of his Uncle’s house and didn’t know which room he would
be residing in.
 
Still she felt driven to
make the journey and attempt to find him.
 
As long as she was discrete of course and nobody saw her, what harm
could there be?
 
She wasn’t afraid of
making the journey alone, in the dark.
 
Indeed, she was an excellent horsewoman and trusted Betsy, her
mount.
 
Still it was terribly audacious
of her to make such a bold move.
 
A move
that could, if it went wrong, bring about her fall from grace, and no doubt
incur Dominic’s wrath.

She was still
pondering her actions while she saddled her horse and set out through the trees
in the direction of Lord Sedgwick’s residence on the far side of the
village.
 
Wrapped securely in the many
folds of her riding cloak, Isobel tugged the hood high over her face and knew
anyone seeing her would not be able to recognise her.
 

Warily, she
arrived at the bottom end of the gardens of Sedgwick House.
 
She could ride up to the house, but that
would be too bold.
 
Instead she tied
Betsy securely to a fallen branch and walked on foot in the direction of the
stable block.
 
Pausing briefly in the
shadows Isobel scanned the area for any signs of movement, relieved when
everything was quiet and still.
 
It was
well past midnight, and all the staff had taken to their beds.
 
Quietly she made her way through the stable
courtyard towards the path that would lead to the main house.

It happened in a
flurry of movement that caught her completely by surprise.
 
One minute she was alone, the next a flurry
of a dark shadow appeared by her side.
 
A
large hand clamped securely over her mouth at the same time a solid band of
steel encircled her waist lifting her clear off the ground.
 
Before she could blink she was dragged into
the barn and thrust roughly against the rough wall in the shadows.
 
The hand remained over her mouth as her hood
was swiftly pulled off her head.
 
She was
about to kick out at her assailant and scream when the familiar tones of the
soft curse that rent the air shattered her fear.

“What the
hell
are you doing here?”
 
Dominic whispered harshly in the night and
lost none of its menace.
 

“I need to see
you.”
 
Isobel murmured, uncertainty
beginning to creep in.
 
He certainly
wasn’t pleased to see her.

“What?
 
You risked your neck to come here –“He
glanced outside the door before his hardened gaze snapped back towards her
accusingly.
 
“Unchaperoned – to tell me
what, pray tell?”
 

Isobel was
suddenly at a loss for words.
 
“Where
have you been?
 
You left our house at
least two hours ago, yet you have only just returned.”
 
It was a stab in the dark but she knew she
was right when he didn’t argue.
 

“I had to meet
with someone about the arrangements for tomorrow.”
 
Dominic replied automatically before frowning
down at her.
 
Why was he explaining
himself to her?
 
She was the one who should
be at home tucked up in bed.

“Why are you
here Isobel?
 
Did you want to speak to my
Uncle?”
 
Dominic knew the answer to that
one and took a few moments of pleasure in watching her squirm uncomfortably as
she tried to come up with an answer.
 
Instinct warned him he already knew why she had followed him and wished
he was in a position to give her exactly what she was seeking.

“You must go
home.”
 
His tone brooked no argument as
it broke the growing silence between them.
 

“I need.”
 
Isobel murmured, glaring at him through the
darkness.
 
Why was he making this so
hard?
 
Did she have to spell it out to
him?
 
She heaved a sigh as he remained
tall and unmoving before her.
 
Words
failed her, but she remembered an old adage her mother once told her.
 
Actions, after all, did speak louder than
words.
 
Without further ado, she placed a
hand on either side of his head and tugged his face towards her.
 
A tiny thrill of delight swept through her as
she glimpsed the look of shock on his face before her lips met his.
 
Luckily, after a brief moment of hesitation,
he didn’t shove her away as she expected.
 
Unfortunately, neither did he pull her closer as he did earlier in the
study.
  

Determined not
to be put off by his reluctance, Isobel persisted wanting this one night to be
with him.
 
Inwardly, she knew he wasn’t
likely to return.
 
Whatever the reason he
was going away, his obvious reluctance towards her now told her more than she
wanted to know.
 
Inside a small part of
her broke apart.
 
Still it went some way
to bolster her bravado and give her the courage; she needed to seek her own
reward.