To Have and to Hold (4 page)

As far as she
could tell the only eyes that had seen her had been those of sheep and
cows.
 
She could afford to rest for a
little while.
 
She simply had to!
 
Carefully, she dug into her cloak pocket and
removed one of the two remaining apples she had purloined from an orchard she
had passed through that afternoon.
 
With
a tiny pang of guilt as she bit into its ripe sweetness closing her eyes
briefly to savour the tangy moisture of the juice upon her tongue.
 
She could not remember being so thirsty!
 
As she devoured the apple, she considered how
she would get herself to Coniston.
 

“Up in the
Lakes.”
 
Kitty had said, but how did one
go about finding Anne in the Lake District?
 
Deciding she would face that bridge when she came to it, Isobel eased
herself down onto her back in the long grass out of sight on the edge of the
trees and carefully covered herself up with her cloak as best she could.
 
Immediately, she was encased in meagre warmth
that did little to sooth her aching limbs yet within seconds exhaustion claimed
her and she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Isobel awoke
with a soft cry, tears streaming steadily down her face as the enormity of her
situation swept through her.
 

“Oh
Dominic,
why
?”
 
Her lament was absorbed by the cushion of
grass beneath her as she succumbed to the sobs bubbling within her.
 
She knew there would be no answer because
there never was.
 

She thought she
had come to know him.
  

It had been
horrific enough to learn of her brother being slain during a fierce battle with
the smugglers they had been sent to vanquish, but to learn also of Dominic’s
heartless betrayal mere days after her brother’s death had left her with more
questions than answers.
 
Had his
friendship with her brother meant nothing to him?
 

He had reneged
on every promise he had given her except one.
 
He had remained safe while her brother Peter had not.
 
She had learnt from her aunt Elspeth
that mere days
after his departure with her brother Peter,
on his supposedly secret mission against smugglers, he had returned to his
father’s estate in Berkshire and wed a woman he had apparently been betrothed
to for some considerable time.
 

She waited for
him.
 
She had believed his promises and
had willingly accepted him into her heart and body, blindly believing his
assurances with a heart full of hope.
 
Blithely ignoring the change in his demeanour on the day of his
departure, she had worried for weeks only to learn of his cruel betrayal in the
worst way possible.
 
He had not wanted
her to write to him and had left no direction for her to make contact.
 
He made no promises to write to her or send
any word whatsoever.
 
A circumstance she
had readily, so
foolishly,
accepted without question.
 
At least now
she understood why he had been so vaguely distant.
 

Immediately, her
thoughts turned towards the day her Uncle reappeared in her life.
 
Already distraught with being informed so
brutally of Peter’s demise, she was numb with disbelief when he had poured
scorn upon her tears casting her as a foolish addle-brained girl with no prospects
and no suitors prepared to take her on, cruelly finding humour in the news of
Dominic’s recent marriage to another.
 
Her own wild mannered, eccentric family had rendered her unattractive to
anyone other than the most heartless rogue, who was after everything she could
give except taking her to wife.
 
She,
stupid girl whom she was, would undoubtedly have given him everything, he had
railed at her with such derision in his face Isobel had flinched at the surge
of humiliation that swept through her.
    

Rupert’s tirade
had seemed endless as he had poured equal scorn upon her Aunt for encouraging
such wanton behaviour before sweeping a devastated Isobel from the house.
 
There had barely been time to pack anything
other than a few of her belongings before she had been so cruelly ripped from
her Aunt’s care and
Willowbrook
Hall, her home.
 
In her grief, she did not have the will to
protest and had meekly followed her Uncle’s direction without question.

After several
moments of indulgence, Isobel swiped the dampness from her cheeks as she stood
on the tree line of the wooded glade, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and
contemplated her situation.
 
With the
first stain of sunlight breaking over the horizon, she slowly resumed her
onward journey trying desperately to ignore the growing sense of helpless
isolation that increased with each passing mile.
 

Whatever the
future held for her, she could not go back now.
 
She had the remaining days of summer warmth in which to travel and knew
she needed to make the most of them.
 
Surely, if she kept off the roads and away from the villages, she had
every chance of succeeding in her quest.
 
Life wouldn’t be so cruel as to send her back to Rupert would it?

She had only a
few meagre coins in her pocket.
 
Certainly not enough to get her through winter, but she wasn’t afraid to
work for her keep, she thought hopefully.
 
Indeed, she had thoroughly enjoyed the few times she had been allowed
down into the kitchens to make jam and tarts with Cook.
 
She had no fear of hard work.
 
However, how she was to go about getting
anyone to employ her without references; she wasn’t sure.
 
She now understood why Kitty had sent her to
her cousin’s house.
 
They would surely
know how best she should go about trying to maintain her independence, at least
for the immediate future.
   

Briefly, she
wondered how Kitty had fared, and if indeed she was far behind her, or whether
she too found herself locked in the gloomy depths of the house that had become
her prison.
 
She quickly stifled the
wayward thoughts that meandered in the direction of Dominic and his residence
on his country estate in Melton, firmly eschewing all notions of happening by
his marital home.
  
It was one thing to
learn of his betrayal, quite another to see the woman who had claimed his heart
and his protection, in the flesh.

Thoughtfully
pondering the ramifications of her flight, Isobel resolutely trudged onwards
along the daring new path her life had taken.

CHAPTER TWO

TWO MONTHS LATER

Leicestershire

“We will have revenge,”
Dominic murmured softly as he stared sightlessly down at the rectangle of
recently dug earth before them, his heart a leaden weight within his
chest.
  
The earth had been dug only a
few weeks before yet already weeds and grass part covered the soil.
 
“He will pay for what he has done.”
 
He shot his friend a darkly menacing
look.
 

Raw pain lanced
through him as he watched Peter rhythmically tug at the myriad of weeds slowly
twisting their mangled path around the simple wooden cross marking her final
resting place.
 
Isobel.
 
Peter’s younger sister and the woman Dominic
adored so much he wanted her as his wife.

Oblivious to the
increasing winds and driving rain Dominic settled down onto the wet grass
beside the grave and allowed himself to think back to their time together.
 

Peter had
introduced them when Dominic had accepted his friend’s invitation to visit
several months earlier.
 
Having spent far
too long on the horrific battlefields together fighting the French, Dominic
found himself eagerly listening to Peter’s frequent reminiscences of his
sisters exploits in an attempt to briefly escape the death and destruction
surrounding them.
 
The mental image he
had built up of his stalwart friend’s intriguing sibling had tempted and teased
Dominic haunting his dreams to such an extent that despite his battle-hardened
cynicism, he found himself almost eager to make her acquaintance at the
earliest opportunity upon their return to England.

Unfortunately,
his visit to
Willowbrook
, her home had
been delayed by the demise of his Uncle, who had bequeathed Dominic his
somewhat failing estates.
 
Urgent matters
had demanded his immediate attention on his return to English shores and had
taken some considerable time to resolve sufficiently to allow Dominic the time to
take an extended visit to Oxfordshire.
  
In the intervening time since his return from the war, his family had
hinted on more than one occasion, they expected him to find himself a suitable
wife and establish his nursery without delay.
 

When he was eventually
able to accept Peter’s invitation, he was stunned to discover Peter hadn’t done
his sister any justice at all.
 
He didn’t
describe her rosebud lips.
 
The teasing
glint in her periwinkle blue eyes or the delicate curls in the luxurious mass
of jet-black hair she usually tried and failed to keep confined in a bun in the
nape of her slender neck.
 
Taller than
the usual women Dominic was attracted to, her gentle nature and infinitesimal
charm made her without doubt the most captivating woman Dominic had met for
some considerable time.
 
Her slightly
wilful nature had intrigued rather than offended him, until he found it
increasingly difficult to be parted from her for any length of time.
 

Thankfully, her
brother Peter hadn’t been averse to Dominic’s interest in his sister and
although not outwardly encouraging a union, had ensured the couple had been
allowed sufficient time alone together to get to know each other.
  
Dominic had remained at
Willowbrook
with Peter and Isobel for some weeks before the pressing need to return to his
own estate in Melton had driven him to take his leave.
 
It had been somewhat surprising how much of a
wrench it was to depart.
 
It had been
even more of a shock to learn how miserable he was without her sunny smiles and
gentle humour to brighten his day.
  
He
had held out for as long as possible before he had sought an excuse to make a
return journey.
 

Over the course
of several months Dominic had visited
Willowbrook
,
and Isobel
numerous times with an eagerness that had grown rather than diminished.
 
When the occasion didn’t warrant a visit to
Willowbrook
, Dominic had sought excuses to visit his Uncle
who resided a few miles away, which put him in the same locale as Isobel and
meant he could afford her the time she needed to get to know him and become
accustomed to their growing relationship without throwing himself upon his
knees at her feet to beg for her hand.