AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The entire room boomed with laughter, and Isabel found herself chuckling too. But as Vane continued his story, Isabel frowned. It sounded familiar. Hadn’t something similar happened to her in the past?
“I landed right at her feet,” Vane continued. “But instead of cursing me or screaming, the girl helped me up and tended to my wounds. And that’s the moment my love for her strengthened. Because not only was her visage beautiful, but her soul was also just as mesmerizing.”
“Oh, what a beautiful story.” A woman next to Isabel wept into her handkerchief.
“It is,” Isabel breathed, lost in the fictional tale of their love.
“That was the day I fell in love with the beautiful Miss Isabel Lewis. And I vowed to make her my wife someday.” A pause. “Of course, she did not reciprocate.”
More laughter followed from the men and a few gasps from the women.
“I was a gangly youth. I was thin and uncoordinated. My arms were long and disproportionate to my body, adding to that the fact that the first time she saw me, I was covered in dirt and couldn’t utter an intelligent word… I never had a chance with her.”
Isabel doubted this perfect specimen of a man, tall, wide-shouldered, and yes—she had to be honest with herself—handsome was ever the uncoordinated, awkward youth he described.
But she did know a boy like that, she suddenly recalled. And if she remembered correctly, they’d met similarly to the way Vane described. He’d fallen at her feet and spent the entire summer following Isabel around. The only difference in the story was that she had not been walking alongside the stream; she had been bathing in a single chemise. And they were not extremely young either, or at least Isabel wasn’t. She had been nineteen at the time, and the boy fifteen.
What was his name, again?
She frowned in thought. It was on the tip of her tongue.
Ah, right! Thomas.She wondered what had happened to him.
“Soon, she made her come out,” Vane continued. “I went to university, and our paths diverged. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. Until I ran into her—quite literally—at the Duchess of Somerset’s ball.”
“And accosted her right in the corridor?” The dowager marchioness of Somerville raised a brow.
“I decided not to let go of my chance for the second time,” he said, and everyone laughed again.
Isabel huffed a laugh and shook her head. He could be quite charming, her husband, when he wished to be. She supposed she should be thankful that he’d expertly weaved them out of scandal.
When Vane concluded his speech, he walked toward Isabel and swept her away.
As they said their goodbyes and rode along the London streets in the carriage, Isabel looked at her husband. He was staring out the window, a familiar frown on his face.
“It was a lovely story you told,” Isabel said. “How did you come up with it so quickly?”
Vane didn’t turn to look at her. “I didn’t.”
“How interesting,” Isabel said, watching Vane’s face carefully. “Because I met a boy once in a similar fashion.”
He didn’t react. “Many young people meet at the stream, I imagine,” he said in bored tones. “I met a girl when I was young, just the same way.”
Isabel furrowed her brows.A coincidence?But she had no time to ask any more questions as at that moment, the carriage stopped, and the groom opened the door.
They’d arrived home.
* * *
Isabel entered the Vane townhouse and looked around. The place was empty and quiet. That fact alone gave her unpleasant shivers. The last time Isabel had been there, the place was in chaos. Now it seemed like a tomb of the dead. Or perhaps it was just her gloomy mood finding reflection inside her new home.
“Monroe,” Vane addressed the butler. “Please, tell Mrs. Ainsworth to collect the servants. We are ready to depart.”
Isabel turned to Vane sharply. “Depart?”
“Yes, we are leaving straight for my country home.”
“We are? But—”
