“You’ve neglected that young lady badly. She is far from her home, and she knows no one here save her lady’s maid. The poor dear doesn’t have a friend in the world, and she’s been torn from her family. And for what? To sit about this house all day and do nothing? She deserves better than that from you.”
“Isabelle—” he started, but she frowned and shook her head.
“You are a better man than that, Matthew. You know how to treat guests, and yet you are treating your own wife as less than even an unwanted guest. Leaving her to fend for herself in this house with Miss Jenkins watching her every move.”
“Isabelle—” he tried again, but she wasn’t finished, and he knew it was best to let her get it all out.
“You need to listen to me,” she ordered. “That girl needs someone to care about her. She needsyouto care about her.About her well-being if nothing else. And that means taking an interest in your wife. It means making sure that she is comfortable here because she is going to be here for a very long time. Unless you mean to divorce her.”
His eyes widened with surprise at her boldness.
“Of course not,” he retorted.
Isabelle gave a sharp nod of her head. “I am glad we agree on that.”
She seemed to assume that the entire matter was settled, staring at him for a long time until he sighed and gave a short nod of his own.
“Very well. I will do what I can,” he relented.
That seemed to appease his cousin. “Excellent.”
But then she stood there and stared at him still.
“What is it now, Isabelle?”
“When do you plan to get started?”
“I have work to do,” he told her, but she still didn’t move. He sighed, flipping his ledger shut. “You wish me to go to her now?”
“That’s an excellent idea, Matthew,” she replied.
Matthew couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. He stood up and waited for Isabelle to step out ahead of him, before he left his study. Once in the hall, he glanced around him, trying to determine just where Diana might be at this time of day.
Isabelle was right, of course. Diana was his wife. And even if he ignored that fact, she was a guest in his home, and it fell to him to make her stay here as comfortable as possible. To ensure that she was at least content here.
He was not about to turn her out, and, as Isabelle said, if his intention was for Diana to stay with him, he would need to make some changes.
As he strode down the hall, he was not quite sure what he would do. How he would broach any form of conversation with Diana. After all, he had not done so before. When he found her in the sitting room, he paused for a moment in the doorway before she looked up and saw him.
“Is there something you need, Duke?” she asked, staring up at him with an almost suspicious expression.
He glanced around the room again, and his gaze fell on the artwork there.
“What is this?” he asked, striding toward it.
She paused for a moment and then slowly walked over to him. “It is a watercolor from my sister.” Another pause and then she added, “It is one of Valery’s. A little knoll near the estate where we loved to ride.”
“It is well done,” he acknowledged.
Her eyes darted to his face in surprise. “Thank you.”
“And this one?” He moved toward another painting.
Again, Diana stared at him in confusion, but then she followed him.
“This one is from Arabella. The sunrise, she said. I always loved the colors here. And the way she blended them.”
Again, he gave a short nod and moved around the room.
