Page 69 of Isabel and the Rogue

“Indeed, I am,” he replied. Lady Needham raised her brows, as if expecting him to continue, but Sirius held his tongue. He didn’t owe the baroness an explanation.

Lady Needham studied his face for a moment, before looking about them again. She seemed to come to some sort of decision, for her lips tipped up into a hungry smile, and she sidled closer.

“It’s been so long since we’ve spent time together.” She wrapped her arm around his, pressing into his side. “Why have you not come to see me?”

Sirius stepped backward, hoping to create some distance between them, but the baroness clung to him tighter. “I’ve been busy, unfortunately. I’m hoping to sojourn to my estate in Devonshire soon, and have had much to prepare.”

It was not a lie. Sirius had been itching for several months now to return to Dancourt Abbey and the relaxing change of pace it offered. Plus, he wanted to see how Jack O’Brien and his family had adjusted to life at the abbey. His steward had mentioned the Irishman had been praised as a hard worker by the stable manager, but Sirius wanted to follow up personally. Plus, the wheat and orchard harvest would happen soon, and Sirius intended to be present for both.

If not for Isabel, he would have found a way to be there now.

Lady Needham moved closer still, pressing her breasts against his arm. “You know I would love to visit your estate. Does your brother, Harcourt, visit frequently?”

Harcourt? His brother had never deigned to call upon him at Dancourt Abbey, and Sirius doubted he ever would.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sirius opened his mouth to respond, when he spied Isabel come around the corner. Outfitted in a stunning blue-green dress, with a jaunty hat on her black curls, she was bewitching…until her expression shuttered. And she looked at him now as she had all those months before when she thought him nothing but a cad.

A knot lodged in Sirius’s throat that he doubted he’d ever be able to swallow.

Despite that strangling thought, Sirius pried himself free from Lady Needham’s grip and took a step in Isabel’s direction. “Good afternoon, Miss Luna. It’s a pleasure to see you.”

Isabel’s obsidian eyes searched his face before they slid to the baroness, who stood behind him. “Captain Dawson,” she said simply, inclining her head.

“Miss Luna,” Lady Needham crooned, stepping forward to stand beside Sirius, “where are you about on this sunny afternoon?”

“I—I was just…” Isabel stopped, her throat bobbing on a swallow. “I was on my way to visit my sister, Señora Fox.”

It was a believable lie, even if Isabel’s cheeks turned scarlet.

“Ah, an afternoon visit sounds lovely.” The baroness cocked her head as her gaze traveled up and down Isabel. “That color is also lovely on you. It makes your complexion look darker, but that’s all right. It’s quite fetching nevertheless.”

“Thank you, your ladyship,” Isabel murmured. Smoothing a glove-covered hand across the waistband, she raised a shoulder. “My sister said it made my skin look luminous, which I admit made me quite pleased.”

“As it should,” Sirius interjected, moving toward her a half step. “It looks beautiful on you.”

Isabel’s gaze darted to his, her eyes softening a degree.

“I’d be happy to escort you to your sister’s,” he blurted out, desperate to escape the baroness and spend time with the woman he had been thinking about all day. “I haven’t seen Fox in a week or so, and it would be nice to visit with him for a spell.”

“Oh, that’s a very kind offer—”

“Dawson, I thought you were waiting to meet someone.”

Sirius whipped his head about to the baroness, who was staring back at him with narrowed eyes. Why was this woman determined to be so damn troublesome?

Quirking his mouth, he extracted a timepiece from his pocket and considered it. “I was. But the gentleman I was supposed to meet is now twenty minutes late, so it would seem…”

Sirius trailed off when he spotted Daniels, one of his footmen, lingering several paces away, his face blotchy and his chest moving rapidly up and down as if the man had run to meet him. Alarm crept up Sirius’s spine.

He flashed a quick smile at Isabel and the baroness and said, “If you ladies would excuse me for a moment, it appears my appointment has arrived.”

Before either lady could respond, Sirius stepped away, his gaze fixed on Daniels’s. When he came to a stop in front of the man, Daniels shoved a square of parchment into his hands.

“Lieutenant Colonel Green had this delivered. The page indicated it was of great importance, so I came to find you,” the man whispered.

“Fuck,” Sirius growled, ripping the letter open without delay. It was only two sentences long.

They’ve found him. Visit if you want more information.