Page 19 of Her Heartless Duke
After the last drop had been drunk, Daniel put his hat back on and with a grin, tipped it at Isaac. “I look forward to your good news, old friend. Do not forget to invite me to the wedding.”
“Of course,” Isaac responded in equal confidence. “How could I ever forget my most supportive ally in my suit?”
They both laughed as they went their separate ways, both men finding the strength to carry on for the morning in their shared camaraderie.
As Isaac boarded his coach, his thoughts drifted back to Olivia, but this time, he frowned.
Last night, he had come very close to kissing her, and not even the fog of liquor could mask that. She was beautiful, yes, but so was Lady Vivian and heneverfelt inclined to behave so irresponsibly towards her.
It was a good thing that in spite of her obvious innocence in the affairs between men and women, she had the good sense to push him away, as he clearly was not in possession of his wits at that time.
He knew he should stay away from her, keep her at arm’s length as he collected himself.
But I still need her help to win Lady Vivian’s heart and I cannot afford to lose any opportunity to do so.
He needed all the help he could get and as much as Lady Olivia tempted him at every turn, he needed her assistance.
At the back of his mind, he knew that he was playing with fire—one that threatened to consume them both.
And yet, in spite of all that, he was already planning how to go about their next dance lesson…
He rapped sharply at the side of the carriage to get his coachman’s attention. Almost immediately, the vehicle came to a halt.
“Your Grace?” the coachman called out in a curious voice.
“We are not going to the loft tonight, George,” he informed the perplexed man. “We are heading back to the townhouse.”
If George was shocked, he was wise enough to keep his expression from showing it and was even wiser to refrain from speaking about it.
The butler, however, was blatantly shocked to find Isaac striding through the front door at a rather late hour.
“Good evening, Thurman,” he greeted perfunctorily as he made his way up the stairs.
“Y-Your Grace?” the man stammered, hardly able to believe his eyes.
Inside the study he had not used in months, he hastily penned out a short letter and with a smile, added in the name of its recipient with a flourish.
Tomorrow, he would have it sent to Bennet House.
CHAPTERNINE
Olivia peered out of the curtains of the carriage in sheer curiosity. The day before, Isaac had sent her a note to wait for him in the same area he had dropped her off after their last dance lesson. This time, she had heeded Jane’s pleas to use one of her more worn-out dresses and dancing slippers, fearing that Isaac would ignore her suggestion to find a new venue for their lessons.
“Where are we headed, Your Grace?” she asked him.
Tonight, he was dressed in a nondescript camel jacket and a linen shirt without the cravat that wasde rigueurfor the gentlemen of theton.
In fact, no gentleman would be caught dead without a cravat…
But Isaac had dispensed with that necessary article of clothing tonight and although his clothes were of exceedingly fine make, they were much too plain to be worn in a place where they were wont to run into other members of theton. Therefore, she could only deduce that wherever it was they were headed, it was somewhere none of thetonwould dare tread.
“Are you curious?” The corner of his lips tilted up in a slight smile and she hastily averted her gaze from his. He flicked the corner of the curtains close to him and looked out of the carriage. “We are almost there.”
Olivia frowned as she, too, looked out of the carriage window. It was an unfamiliar street and in a far worse state than the one his rented loft had been on. Occasionally, she would see a person in rather filthy garb running and always towards one direction.
What on earth is going on? Where are we?
Just as she felt her anxiety had reached its peak, the carriage came to a stop and Isaac disembarked first. He held his hand out for her and when she wavered, he raised an eyebrow at her.