'Reading is my greatest pleasure. Come, sit and have something to eat.' Placing the tray on a bureau top, Molly lifted off several dishes, a teapot, and cups and arranged them on a small table. 'Guillaume sent up some warm pastries with an omelet. I hope you like marzipan tarts and strawberries.'
'Have you somehow tapped into my mind, Mrs. Crocker?' Isabella queried with a smile. 'Not only are the books superb, along with the room, but marzipan has been my favorite since childhood.'
'Perfect. Along with chantilly cream, I hope.' Sitting, she waved Isabella over and began pouring tea for them. 'Your note is on its way. The lawyer should have it in his hands within the half hour.'
'Thank you again.' Isabella set the two books she held on the table and pulled up a green faux bamboo chair of the latest fashion. 'Since I'm not able to attend the funeral, I hope I may soon visit Grandpapa's burial site. He wished to be placed in a vault he had constructed at our country home.'
'I'm sure your troubles with your relatives will be brief.'
'Particularly if I go through with our arrangement.' Her gaze slid away from Mrs. Crocker.
'Would you like me to try to find you a barrister willing to offer a stronger challenge to your uncle et al? I know how difficult a choice this is.'
Sighing, Isabella traced the pattern on the silver teaspoon with the pad of her finger. 'I'm afraid any warning would only postpone my relatives' dastardly plans. And unless, as you pointed out last night, they are publicly shamed out of the idea of marrying me into their family, they will continue to harass me.'
'You might move to the country.'
'I think I'd be even more afraid. The solitude-' She made a small moue. 'I've probably read too many popular novels, but I can imagine them locking me into the attic and leaving me there once they have my money. Who would even know?'
Who, indeed, Molly thought, when the young lady was without friends. 'I'll be perfectly frank. When I spoke with you last night, I planned, as you know, to make a profit on our bargain. But I find myself increasingly uncomfortable doing so.'
'It was a bargain I well understood, Mrs. Crocker. I'm not a child, nor do I delude myself on the need for this extremity.'
'I understand-and I agree with the need. But I shan't take any money. I was once in a similar predicament- albeit not one that involved wealth such as yours. But I was a young woman without friends, subjected, no, forced into a grossly obscene relationship. It took me many years to rise above the shame. There are those who would say I have not yet done so, but I did what I had to for survival. Which explains my requirement that the ladies who live here do so willingly. Forgive me.' She smiled faintly. 'I didn't intend to digress into circumstances of no concern to you.'
'On the contrary, your story is very pertinent to mine. How old were you when-'
'Sixteen,' Molly quietly replied, the cruel memories never completely suppressed.
'How awful for you.' Isabella took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. 'Certainly at twenty-two I can be as resolute.' She smiled faintly. 'It's not as though my virginity is of any use to me. In fact, it's a liability, is it not? As to my reputation in society, I have never set foot in society. So any reputation is my relatives' concern, not mine.' Her smile broadened at the thought of their discomfort and her voice took on a measure of composure. 'When one considers this in practical terms, the situation becomes much less emotional.'
'One can't disregard emotion completely,' Molly cautioned. 'I speak from experience.'
'Nevertheless, I feel much better now.' Isabella fluttered her hands over the tabletop. 'As though a huge burden of indecision has vanished. I think I shall have a marzipan tart with a large dollop of chantilly cream to start, and consider myself fortunate not to be married to Harold this morning.'
Molly couldn't help but smile at her good cheer. 'Perhaps it's all a matter of perspective after all.'
'Indeed it is. Consider I have escaped a dreadful fate and am now quite comfortable in this pleasant room with lovely books and marzipan tarts. And if Grandpapa were alive instead of dead, I would have the best of all possible worlds.'
Her expression had sobered, as it always did when she spoke of her grandfather. 'You said he had been ill for some time,' Molly kindly noted. 'Perhaps he was ready to leave the world.'
'Except for saying good-bye to me, he was. From the very beginning when his heart began to fail, he'd never feared death. He'd had a good life, he always said, and was long overdue. But I miss him dreadfully.'
'Of course you do. Were you with him long?'
'Since I was four. Mama died at sea, and when Papa and I came home to England, he missed her so dreadfully, Grandpapa said he felt as though Papa was just waiting to die. That first winter, when he fell ill with a fever, he didn't have the will to survive. Grandpapa and I were together ever since. Do you have family?'
Molly shook her head. 'Only my girls here. And Bathurst in a way. He doesn't have much family-a mother who's retreated from the world.' Often literally, she thought, but knew better than to breach Dermott's privacy.
The beautiful man at breakfast had been Bathurst. 'Does he live here with you?'
Molly chuckled. 'On occasion. He's a great favorite with everyone.'
'I can see why. He's astonishingly handsome.'
'The Ramsay good looks. They've been a curse to some generations, although he carries them well. With uncommon modesty actually. I'm not sure he's aware of his beauty.'
'Surely he must be. He fairly takes one's breath away.' Isabella suddenly blushed. 'I can't imagine what you must think of me. I didn't intend to be so forward, but he's quite stunning.'
'He strikes every woman that way. You're not the first,' Molly noted. 'And I don't know if that's consolation or cause for envy. Would you like him?'
Isabella's color heightened, and a fleeting shock crossed her features. 'You mean-'
'Would you like Bathurst to relieve you of your virginity?' Molly spoke bluntly because she didn't want any ambiguity about what was in store.
'When you put it like that, I don't know-I mean… I didn't actually think of choosing someone for-' Isabella broke off, clearly embarrassed.
'He's more than willing. You kept him awake last night, he said.'
'I did?' Her pulse rate spiked, and she wondered what had come over her that mention of his interest could excite her so.
'He saw you on the stairs and was struck by your beauty.'
'Surely not.'
Was she so truly innocent that she didn't realize the dazzling extent of her beauty? Had she been so sheltered from the world? 'Absolutely, in truth. And he's willing to pay handsomely for the privilege of your company.'
'For my virginity, you mean.' Talk of money suddenly chilled her.
'Actually no. He has no truck with virgins.'
Isabella glanced at Mrs. Crocker quizzically. 'Am I missing something?'
Recalling Dermott's uncertainties at breakfast, a half-smile curved Molly's mouth. 'Coincidently, he said as much. He desires you
'What is normally perceived an asset is not an asset at all, it seems.'
'He would agree.'
'Is it a problem?'
'Probably not. If you want him.'
The directness of her reply gave Isabella pause. 'I've never thought of a man… that way, I mean… in terms of actually…' Her voice trailed away, the sheer magnitude of what she was about to do so audacious, she had no measure for such rashness in her life.
Molly's tone was mild, although she was astonished at such chasteness in a woman of twenty-two. 'Had you no contact with other young people?'
Isabella shook her head.
'At your age?' She couldn't quite conceal her surprise. 'What did you do with your time?'
'I mostly helped Grandpapa with his business. He was in merchant shipping. That's how my father originally met my mother. At our transport depot in New Guinea. And then in our leisure time Grandpapa and I were involved in a cartographers' society.' Her even white teeth flashed in a grin. 'Servants to business, some would say. But I enjoyed it immensely.'
'There were no young men in the society or shipping company?'
