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She was led upstairs by the house maid. She opened the door and announced Isadora’s presence. After a footman exited the room to give them some privacy, she walked inside. It was rather dimly lit. Other than a small lamp next to the bed that was about it. The heavy drapes were drawn to keep out the sun. The gloom certainly put her in mind of a sick room, but once she glanced at the older man propped up in bed by several pillows, she had to wonder.

He had a shock of white hair on his head, but his gaze was direct and precise as he looked at her. “I had been given to wonder aboot the other occupant in my house.”

Isadora considered the fact it wasn’t actuallyhishouse, but that he was there because of the charity of his nephew, but of course, she didn’t voice her opinions aloud.

She offered a brief curtsy. “Forgive me, my lord. I hope you don’t think I was being rude. I just didn’t wish to intrude upon family matters.”

“And yet, ye’re here with my great-grandson.”

She clasped her hands before her and lifted a slight brow. She could tell this man was going to be a worthy adversary, but she had faced many men just like him over the years. They believed they could be condescending because she was a woman. She would prove that theory was completely wrong. “Indeed, I am. But only at his behest as a means of a supportive friend.”

“A friend?” Lord Scott snorted. “Is that what ye would call things betwixt ye?”

Isadora pushed aside the fact that she’d been with the marquess quite intimately and returned, “Is it so difficult to believe that a man and woman might be acquaintances and nothing more?”

“Aye,” he returned firmly. “In my experience, there’s no such thing.”

“Then perhaps you haven’t been around enough people.” He glared at her now, but she continued, nonetheless. “I am eight and twenty and decided that I wanted to be an independent woman without the strictures placed upon me by marrying. I daresay I’ve been quite successful thus far, and I don’t say that to boast about my achievements, but to say I’ve worked very hard to be where I am. If I do decide to marry in the future, it will be because of my choice and not because it is expected of me.”

He was silent for a moment and then he shook his head. “I dinna understand ye younger generations. I’m nigh unto my ninety-eighth year on this earth, and each day that passes, I grow weary o’ trying to keep up with all the changes.”

Isadora didn’t want to feel any sort of empathy for this man who suddenly looked so defeated. It certainly sounded as though he wasn’t someone who was deserving of it. But because she wasn’t an unforgiving sort, she reluctantly went to sit in the chair beside his bed. “The world is definitely changing around us, but does it have to be something negative? I have recently been in discussion about the rail system and the ease it will bring to the farmers in the fields. I know Scotland is doing the same and very soon, the marquess and I will be speaking to them about their progress.”

“Bah.” He waved a hand as his brows drew together over his eyes. “They call it progress, but I call it noise and disruption.”

“Even if it might make it possible for family to see each other across the countryside without relying on the mail coach? So many in the lower classes are denied that luxury because they can’t afford travel. But hopefully, in time, this can be corrected as a more cost effective, and quicker, alternative for transport.”

Lord Scott tilted his white head to the side. “Ye’re verra bold for a lady born to the upper classes,” he noted.

Her lips twitched. “As I’ve been told on more than one occasion. And as I’ve done previously, I shall take it as a compliment.”

He grumbled for a moment, and then he regarded her with a look she had grown rather accustomed to—a grudging respect. “I suppose ye’ll do. For an Englishwoman.”

She smiled. “Does that mean I can stay?”

“Aye.” His gaze was sharp. “And maybe that progeny o’ mine will realize what a woman ye are and snap ye up before ye ken what’s happening.”

Isadora thought of Remington’s proposal earlier that day. “Perhaps. I suppose none of us truly know what the future has in store.”

Remington decidedthat he would check in on his great-grandfather and see if he had decided whether or not he might make amends within the family. But as he was striding down the hall to his room, he paused, because the laugh that drifted out of Lord Scott’s chamber seemed remarkably similar to that of Isadora.

As a housemaid was passing by with linens, he stopped her with a query, “Is Lady Isadora visiting my grandfather?”

“Yes, sir,” she said with a broad smile. “She’s been there nearly all afternoon. They’ve been having a grand time o’ it by the way it sounds.”

Rem blinked as she walked away.Interesting.But then, he wasn’t surprised to find that Isadora had charmed yet another gentleman. She had a way about her that made the opposite sex listen to what she had to say.

He continued on, because not only did he wish to check on his grandfather, but he had some news to relay to Isadora as well that would make her very pleased.

He offered a brief knock on the door and then entered the room to find that Isadora and Lord Scott were engaged in a gameof cards. While he looked as sour as he had before, there was a certain sparkle in the older man’s eyes when he turned his head and looked at Rem. “It appears that we’ve been found out, Lady Isadora.”

“Indeed.” She glanced at Rem with a twinkle in her eye that reminded him of earlier that day in the fountain. It was the same spark of mischief that she did her best to hide from the rest of the world, but he could clearly see within her. “Would you care to join us?”

He knew she was asking as a means to bind him closer to his great-grandfather. So, how could he refuse? “If Lord Scott doesn’t mind.” He tried to gauge his reaction, considering he had claimed he needed more time to come to terms with Rem’s presence there, but something had definitely shifted in his demeanor, because he waved a hand to indicate the extra chair in the room.

“Ye might as well. Perhaps I’ll be granted some mercy from my kin, because this lady isna offering any to an old man.”

“You told me not to play unfairly,” she pointed out. “So that’s what I’m doing.”

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