To Have and to Hold (24 page)

“He told me that
he was my guardian now as Peter was dead, and I had better get used to his
house rules.
 
He listed a lot of silly
things that to be honest I wasn’t listening to.
 
He was red-faced and sweating.
 
The sheer hatred in his eyes...” Her voice trailed off to a whisper as
she remembered his beady eyes glaring at her ferociously.
           

“I told him I
didn’t need a guardian but got no further.”
 
She could sense the question hanging behind her.
 
Carefully, she explained fully that fateful
first night fully aware of the rapt attention of the men seated around the
room.

“Good God.”

“The
bastard!”

“How often did
they happen, Isobel?”
 
Dominic’s voice
was low and lethal.
 
Isobel turned towards
him.
 
A small muscle ticked in his jaw,
confirmation that he was coldly furious.
 

“Most
days.
 
Some were
worse than others.”
 
Isobel’s voice was
soft, and she felt the salty tang of tears upon her lips. “There were
times...”
 
She swallowed repeatedly as
the words locked in her throat.
 
She knew
if she was to have any future she needed to tell them everything.
 
“There were times when I didn’t think I
should survive.”
 
She sat down beside
Dominic again, swiping at her cheeks.
 
“There were times when I didn’t want to survive.”

Dominic closed
his eyes careful not to allow her to see the depth of his anger.
 
“Towards the end, the beatings had become
less frequent, but he had begun to make noises about DeLisle coming to visit,
and I needed to smarten myself up.
 
He
told me that he had sold me to DeLisle, and he was coming to inspect his
goods.”
 
Isobel frowned trying to
remember any other details that might assist in the downfall of Rupert.
 
“His manservant also
informed the few servants who
remained, that I was betrothed and was due to leave to be wed to DeLisle.
 
That is what prompted Kitty into action.”

“Kitty helped
you escape.”
 
It wasn’t a question but
Isobel nodded anyway and described the events on the night of her escape.

“Did Rupert ever
threaten or beat Kitty?”
 
Dominic was
curious just how far Rupert had gone.
 

“No he didn’t
touch her.
 
I don’t think she was treated
very nicely, but she didn’t complain of beatings.
 
Certainly, she wasn’t afraid of Rupert.”
 
Isobel replied.
 
“Did Rupert throw her out?”
  

“No he
didn’t.
 
Kitty left of her own accord
during the night and made her way back to Willowbrook.”

“Have you spoken
to her?”
 

“Yes, when we
were looking for you.
 
I went to Aunt
Elspeth’s house to check if you had turned up.
 
Elspeth informed me of Kitty’s arrival leading me to question her.
 
Kitty of course was relieved for my
appearance and gave me the details of what had happened from her point of
view.”
 
Peter replied noting the paling
of Isobel’s previously flushed countenance.

“If it hadn’t
been for Kitty......” Isobel left the statement open, knowing very well both
men understood.
 

“We will ensure
she is rewarded for her bravery my dear,” Dominic murmured, his eyes soft as
they rested upon her.
 

“Kitty has
decided she would like to remain with Aunt Elspeth, and Aunt is delighted with
her.
 
Apparently she has fitted in
extremely well after her ordeal.”
 
Peter
added.
 

“What happened
once you left the rose trellis?
 
We know
you headed off into the night on your own.”
 
The very idea of the risks she took still left Dominic cold.
 
“Where did you go?
 
How did you survive?”
 

“I had a purse
of coins Peter had left me before he went away, and Kitty gave me another pouch
of her savings.
 
I must make sure she
gets those back with a little extra.”
 

“I’ll see she
gets it.”
 
Dominic murmured with a shared
glance with Peter.
 
Kitty would receive
the funds, plus interest along with an estate cottage at Willowbrook, an
increase in salary and a job for as long as she wanted it.
 
Both men had already discussed Kitty’s
involvement in Isobel’s survival and had agreed to ensure Kitty had everything
necessary to make her life a lot more comfortable for her endeavours.

“You were half
starved when I found you.” He added bringing the conversation back to the
matter at hand.

In the first few
days of leaving Willowbrook, she had stolen apples and berries from orchards
and gardens along the way until she had begun to feel ill from all the
fruit.
 
To her utter shame and remorse,
she stole a chunk of bread from a loaf left cooling outside the kitchen door of
a farmhouse. Although she had not been detected, and sheer hunger had driven
her to commit such a crime, guilt had settled like a heavy weight in her
stomach as she had eaten, and it had been a circumstance upon which she had not
wished to repeat.
 
Since then she had
very carefully used the coins in her purse to purchase sparse food along the
way however given the length of time she had been on her own, that had all been
spent early on leaving her at a loss on how to survive.
 

Tears pooled in
her eyes as she remembered the sense of desolation she had felt each day when
she had awoken to find herself all alone in the world with nothing but the
clothing on her back.
 

“Don’t upset
yourself my dear, ‘tis all over now.”
 
Peter murmured sympathetically when silence fell amongst the room.
 

Isobel shook her
head.
 
“But it isn’t really, is it?
 
Rupert is still out there.”
 
She pulled her shawl more tightly across her
shoulders as if the room temperature had suddenly dropped several degrees.
 

“Why didn’t you
head straight here?
 
Did you not remember
what I told you that last time at the Marchington’s ball?”
 
Dominic’s voice was sharp.

“I remembered,”
Isobel replied softly “But as I said before I needed to keep to country lanes
and away from towns.
 
My journey was on
foot and took me far longer than I had anticipated as the route was quite
winding and took me to places I didn’t really need to go.
 
With needing to earn additional pennies to
eat I was travelling far longer than I had ever anticipated.
 
However, there was no alternative.”
 
It was suddenly very important that Dominic
understand.
 
“I didn’t know if Rupert was
following me or not, but I just couldn’t take the chance.”
 

“Were you
heading here when I found you?”
 
Dominic
leaned forwards, his elbows coming to rest upon his knees as tension rose
within him.

“Yes I was.
 
I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go,
anyone else whom I could trust.”
 
Her
lips twisted into a grimace of a smile.
 
“I was going to throw myself on your mercy and beg your assistance in
getting to London secretly, preferably without your wife knowing”.
 

“His
wife?”
 
Peter’s brow
rose questioningly.

“Rupert told her
I had wed another as soon as we departed for Lincolnshire.”
 

“
What?”
 
Peter stared at Isobel in surprise.
 
Carefully, Isobel explained Rupert’s
satisfaction in telling her of Dominic’s betrayal.
 

“How in the hell
do you think I could have quite casually married anyone else?”
 
Dominic’s voice was chiding as he shook his
head at her.
 

“I had no reason
to doubt him.
 
Given your behaviour the
day you left, I knew something was wrong.
 
I just didn’t know what.”
 
Isobel’s voice turned chiding.
 
“You really should have told me you know.
 
Because you didn’t take me into your
confidence Rupert’s story seemed all that more plausible.”

Dominic shook
his head, his gaze meeting Peter’s steady stare.
 
He knew Isobel had faced her ghosts head-on
in an effort to help them.
 
In reality
she had imparted little that would help them in securing his arrest.
 
It did however give everyone a better
understanding of what she had been through.

“We thought you
were dead.”
 
Peter broke the
silence.
 
At Isobel’s startled jump, he
continued.
 
“We were told you were dead
and shown your grave.”
 

“My
grave?”
Isobel finished weakly turning her horrified gaze
towards Dominic.
 

Dominic reached
into his pocket and revealed the thin gold chain that had been the evidence
used to convince them of her demise.
 
“Why was this on another body by the side of the road in Newisham?”
 

He watched
carefully as Isobel stared in horror at the necklace dangling from his fist.
She knew something, he was sure of it.
 
His eyes met with hers in question and was unsurprised when her gaze
slid away from his guiltily.

“Where did you
find it?”
 
Isobel whispered staring at
her once adored necklace with something akin to appalled horror.

“The Magistrate
gave it to us when we found your grave.
 
It was the only item found on the body of a badly beaten woman found by
the roadside.
 
It was what convinced us
it was you they had buried.
 
It was once
your most treasured possession was it not?”
 
Dominic was fully aware his tone had become brisk but did little to hide
his disquiet.
 
He had never quite managed
to banish the grief of kneeling beside her grave.
 
Suddenly he was so very angry at the
misunderstandings of the past.

“I-I don’t
know.”
 
Isobel murmured breaking her
fascinated stare and looking at the floor.
 
She jumped when Peter sat forward in his seat.

“Please Isobel,
is there anything you can tell us that might help, anything at all?
 
Any snippets of conversation overheard.
 
People you met, anything?”
 

Isobel frowned
as she searched her memory.
 
“I was kept
locked in my room from my first arriving in Grampton.
 
I was only called down to listen to one of
Rupert’s rants before being sent back up to my room.
 
I didn’t even meet DeLisle as he was due to
arrive the day after I escaped.
 
Since
leaving I kept moving and made sure I stayed out of sight.
 
I made certain I didn’t make eye contact with
anyone and I am fairly positive nobody was following me.”
 
Indeed there had been times in the first
couple of weeks of her flight; Isobel could quite believe she was positively
the only person in the whole world still alive.
 
On occasions she went two or three days without seeing anyone other than
sheep or cows.