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.’‘Will there be one for me?’‘But of course.‘Sadly that will not be the case.’Isabelle spun round at the sound of Guy’s voice, jumping up nervously and straightening her gown as she did so.‘Oh, Your Grace.I did not hear you there.’He sauntered into the room, a frown marring his brow.‘Why are you not with Nanny Peters, Charles? Should you not be learning your reading?’‘I suggested he stay down here with me this afternoon,’ Isabelle said quickly.‘He was not feeling particularly well this morning and I thought it would do him no harm having some time away from the nursery.He has been helping me to decorate the tree.Do you like it, Your Grace?’Guy’s frown deepened.He was beginning to get mightily fed up with being called Your Grace the whole time, recognising it for what it was … a method of keeping him at arm’s distance.They had been married a full month now and whilst he could not fault Isabelle’s management of the household and her treatment of his son, he was finding her coolness – the very coolness he’d thought such an asset – to be something of an irritation.At her request, he had laid down the ground rules for this marriage before they had entered into it, those rules to include such things as the fact that he sometimes liked his own company of an evening and that as it was a marriage of convenience on both sides, they must both feel free to spend their time as they wished.What he had not expected was that she would stick to those rules quite so rigidly, so that this would result in Isabelle taking herself off every night after dinner to read quietly in the library by herself, or if he chose to join her there, to take her leave and move upstairs to her room.Why it should bother him that she seemed as fond of her own company as he did of his, he had no idea and he could only think that perhaps it was due to the frustration he was beginning to feel at having a beautiful woman in his house, but not in his bed.Being an honourable man he had dispensed with Angelica’s services upon his Engagement and somewhat surprisingly, apart from the fact that his sexual appetites were not being met, he had not missed her at all.In fact, next to Isabelle’s quiet aloof beauty, Angelica had seemed suddenly coarse and vulgar - traits he had tended to overlook during the course of their intimacy.‘What did you mean Sir, about the Christmas presents?’ Isabelle asked him now, referring back to his statement.‘Do you not exchange gifts in this house?’‘There will be presents certainly, but we will be spending Christmas at my mother’s and she will not have a Christmas tree.It was therefore the idea of presents around the tree that I was referring to.’‘Oh but that is such a shame.Especially now that Charles is so looking forward to it.Perhaps we could take just a little tree with us? I’m sure Charles would love that, would you not Charles?’‘Yes, yes, yes,’ the little boy laughed excitedly.‘Can we papa? Can we?’‘I think not.Grand Mama will already have her Christmas celebrations planned.Be still Charles and stop jumping around like a jack in the box.Go and find Nanny Peters.I am sure it must be nearly time for your tea.’The little boy’s face fell but he did as he was told straight away, leaving the room quietly after extracting a promise from Isabelle that she would visit the nursery to say goodnight to him.‘You have worked wonders with the boy,’ Guy said, moving further into the room; but his voice was cool.‘He has clearly become fond of you.’‘He is a lovely boy,’ Isabelle smiled.‘It would be hard not to love him.’Yet something told her that Guy did not find it so easy.He was always so strict with his son, never allowing any softness or emotion into his manner when he spoke with him.‘He is like his mother,’ Guy said carelessly.‘Sociable and fond of attention.There is certainly little of me in him.’‘Oh, Your Grace, I cannot agree.He is so like you.’‘You see what you want to see, Isabelle.Excuse me …’’With a stiff bow, he retreated from the room, leaving her to stare frowning after him.Whatever was the matter with the man? She really was beginning to find his moods quite intolerable.She pulled herself up sharply [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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