Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

R afe sprawled out on the floor of the Lennox library beneath the canopy of blankets and wooden broomsticks that formed Fort Lennox.

Rafe and Isla were fierce Highlanders who had taken over the tent fort. They then successfully defended it from the English general Ashton and forced him to surrender his plate of cherry tarts as well as his glasses of punch.

Now they enjoyed their spoils of war in peace while Ashton had retreated to another part of the house to do whatever English villains did when not causing trouble for adorable Scottish children.

Isla sat with her legs crisscrossed as she ate her cherry tart. Above them, the bedsheets that formed the peaked steeple glowed bright with morning sunlight. It was warm and cozy within the blanket fort, and Rafe was tempted to take a nap, but he had matters to tend to, namely broaching the subject of a new mother to Isla without getting her too excited.

It had been two days since that night in Diana’s bedchamber. The night she’d been shot. The night she’d confessed her love to him without realizing it. He had ridden back early the next morning to see her as Rafe, but her butler had informed him she wasn’t up for visitors, not even him.

Peele had seemed disappointed but assured him that she would send word when she was well enough to receive visitors. Rafe had told Peele that she was welcome to see him at his home any time of the day or night, or to send for him and he would come straightaway. It had been damned hard to get back on his horse and ride home, knowing that Diana was somewhere in her house, hurting, and he could not comfort her the way she needed.

He knew she had to avoid him until her arm was well enough to not pain her. It would be hard to hide that her arm was injured. She would have no way of explaining it to him because he couldn’t know about what had happened to her. He’d almost stormed back into the house to tell her he was Tyburn, but he’d stopped himself. It was already a huge risk that she was robbing coaches under his name. He couldn’t add to that by telling her his other identity.

But now, after just two days, Rafe was restless with the need to see Diana, to make sure she was healing, and that was the very thing he couldn’t do. The robbery that night and the attack from Caddington’s men had made the papers this morning. It was only a matter of time before the noose tightened. He, Will, and Caspian had agreed not to ride again in this part of the country, but how was he to stop Diana from riding? He knew her well enough now, and his fire drake wouldn’t let a bullet stop her from acquiring the money she needed. She was just as motivated as he was to care for what she loved. The second her arm was healed, she’d be right back on her horse and donning a mask. Given that she’d lost the money from the last robbery to his Tyburn persona, she might be even more desperate and take even more risks.

He would have done the same had he been in her position. Which he had. The night Rosalind had shot him when he’d robbed her coach, he’d been badly hurt, but he’d vowed to get back on his horse as soon as he could. Diana had seen his scar from that incident, but she had no idea it was Rosalind who had wounded him.

Rafe frowned as he contemplated the money he’d given Ashton last evening to invest. His cut from that last robbery had been more than nine hundred pounds. A veritable fortune. His brother had raised a brow but didn’t demand to know where he had gotten it. Rafe said he had won it unexpectedly from a risk he had taken, which was veiled enough that it sounded like a streak of luck at gambling. That had earned a frown from Ashton, but then he’d gone on to discuss some interesting investment opportunities in certain bonds that he believed would result in profitable returns. The money box they had claimed had been a bigger prize than any of them expected, but he would have traded it all in an instant for Diana to be unharmed.

“Papa, you’re frowning,” Isla said as she poked his cheek with a cherry-covered finger.

“Sorry, kitten.” He wiped the cherry filling from his cheek with a handkerchief and sat up a little. “Isla... I have been giving some thought to this new mama business.”

His daughter’s face brightened. “Oh?” She sounded a lot like Rosalind, the way she tried to play as if she wasn’t all that interested in something while secretly being very interested. His daughter had been spending too much time around her aunt.

“Yes. I don’t want you to get your hopes up just yet, but I would like to ask Miss Fox to marry me.” He paused to weigh his words. “But she may not be ready just yet. I will ask her when the time is right.” Like when she no longer played a highwayman at night. Until she gave up that dangerous aspect of her life, he could not marry her. Of course, he would have to give up his own illicit activities too. Some men would not admit that, but fair was fair, and he knew Diana would need him to commit to the same, especially when she learned he was Tyburn. He and Diana both needed financial stability, but he was damned if he knew how to go about it any quicker than waiting on the investments Ashton was making for him.

“Mrs. Crumpet and I will be patient,” Isla said stoically, and sipped her punch.

“Good. Because I?—”

“Rafe? Are you in here?” His little sister’s voice startled him.

“Jo?” he called out.

Joanna’s voice was now just outside the blanket fort’s entrance. “Heavens... is this a castle?”

“It’s Fort Lennox. Isla and I permit you entrance, good lady.”

Isla giggled at his imperious tone.

The sheet that formed the doorway of their fort parted, and Joanna crawled in on her hands and knees. Her pale-gold hair flowed down her shoulders, and the blue-and-gold dress she wore made his sister appear both regal and wild, like some fae queen.

“Is your badger with you?” Rafe asked.

His little sister giggled as she joined him and Isla in the center of the tent. “Of course.” The badger in question was Brock, her Highlander husband, Lord Kincade. But Rafe called him badger because his name meant badger. And it didn’t help that he could sometimes be as moody and grumpy as his namesake.

“And did ye bring yer wee bairn, Jamie?” Rafe teased Joanna in his Scottish brogue.

Joanna sat down beside Isla and picked up a tart. “Yes, Mama met us in London, and we all made the trip here.”

Rafe flinched. “Mother is here?”

Joanna watched him, worry in her blue eyes. “Oh, Rafe, she is trying, you know. And she adores Isla.”

“Everyone adores Isla,” he replied coolly. “It’s impossible not to.” He didn’t want to speak of his mother, certainly not in front of his child. Isla had a good relationship with her new grandmama, and no matter what she thought of him, he didn’t want Isla’s relationship with her to be affected by his baggage.

“Just promise me you’ll try?” Joanna asked. “Besides, Mama heard that you have been courting a woman.”

“How on earth did she— Rosalind ,” he growled the name as it occurred to him.

“She may have dropped a letter about it. Mama said you are courting Diana Fox?”

“Er... yes.” Rafe caught Isla looking and realized this fort was getting quite crowded. “Kitten, it seems Grandmama’s here. Perhaps you ought to go see her?”

Isla lifted Mrs. Crumpet up in her arms and let out a soft sigh. It seemed she knew exactly what her father was up to. Did all little girls possess the innate ability to know when someone was trying to distract them?

“I’ll join you in a moment,” he promised Isla.

The girl rolled her eyes and hugged Joanna before she left.

“My, she’s grown up,” Joanna observed.

“Yes. And far too quickly.”

“Does she know about Miss Fox?”

He nodded. “She adores Di.”

“ Di , is it?” Joanna held back a giggle. “You are serious about her.”

“I am,” Rafe admitted. Joanna was the only one in his family he felt he could be honest with and not fear being judged.

“And I’m glad .” His sister reached out and clasped his hand in hers. “Diana is quite a wonderful lady. Mama and I were heartbroken when her father died. It was such a pity our families never socialized the way we did with the other nearby families. I would’ve deeply cherished her friendship growing up. But if you marry her, I shall not only have her as a friend, but a sister too.”

“Females and your weddings,” Rafe chuckled.

“It’s not the weddings we love—it’s the adding to our families. Besides, you and Ash always outnumbered me. I was so little that I never had a chance against two older brothers, because Thomasina married James when I was only five and his estate is so far away from here. When Ash married Rosalind I gained another sister, and now I shall have you too.” She squeezed his hand and grinned.

“Don’t tell Mother that I’m serious about Diana yet, please. Diana’s only just out of mourning, and I do not wish to rush my proposal to her.”

“You mean you fear Mama would say something to her?”

“Given that I am her least favorite child, I am always afraid of what she will say. Even something kindly meant could send Diana into a panic, and I don’t wish for that. Everything has been moving quickly, even for me.”

“Very well. Mum’s the word.” Joanna mimed twisting a key against her lips and tossing it away, which made Rafe laugh.

“I suppose we need to rescue my little kitten from Mother.”

Joanna crawled out of the fort ahead of him and offered him a hand when he exited, then pulled him to his feet.

“That truly is a spectacular fort,” Joanna said as she eyed the structure.

“I never do anything by half measures,” Rafe said with pride.

“You certainly don’t.”

They went in search of Isla and his mother, and Rafe braced himself for the meeting. Everyone was out on the terrace. Brock held his and Joanna’s son, Jamie. The boy was only a month younger than Ashton and Rosalind’s son, Malcolm, who was sitting on Ashton’s lap. The men were in deep discussion, and the two babes stared at each other, making sounds as though they were trying desperately to converse just as their fathers were.

Rafe’s mother held Isla’s hand, and they were walking with Rosalind across the grass of the main lawn, their colorful skirts billowing in the gentle breeze. Regina was still a beautiful woman, one who had refused to let her dowager status destroy her sense of style. She wore no mobcap or silly bonnet with some tame and boring dress. Instead, she wore a bright-green spencer over a dark-blue gown that accented her pale-gold hair.

Despite Rafe’s concerns about facing his mother, he was glad she was here for Isla’s sake. When he’d first informed his family of his intention to adopt her, he’d expected protests, especially from her. Ashton had been a tad skeptical at first, but it was his mother who had truly surprised him.

She’d come up to him, held his hands in hers, and asked him why he was taking the girl in. He’d answered honestly. “Because she chose me, Mother. She wants and needs me. I could never turn her away, and I believe I need her too.”

His mother had nodded and asked to be introduced to Isla once the girl arrived from Scotland. When that day came, his mother had knelt down to Isla’s height and opened her arms to the little girl. Isla had hugged her instantly.

She may never forgive me or fully love me after what I’ve done, but she will love Isla. It was enough for him to know that the child of his heart would never be left alone should something happen to him.

Rafe watched his family from a distance, content to be alone for the moment, when a footman approached.

“Sir? Miss Fox has just arrived. Shall I escort her here?” the young man asked.

“Diana is here? I will come to fetch her, thank you.”

He followed the footman to the entryway, where Diana waited. Her hair was unbound except for a ribbon pulling part of it away from her face, and she wore a sensible walking gown of dark purple with pale-pink rosebuds sewn across the patterned sleeves and hem. It had a high neck with a white frilled collar that evoked the fashions of Elizabeth I. The riding boots she wore were black and shiny, but he saw old scuff marks that hadn’t quite been buffed out. Her face lit up, and his heart tried to contain the flood of warmth he felt at simply seeing her smile at him.

“Di.” He came over and pulled her into his arms, knowing that the servants lingered nearby, but he simply didn’t care who saw his forward behavior.

He cupped her face and gently examined her weary eyes. “Are you feeling better?” She still looked far too tired and pale for his liking. He hated that he couldn’t tend to her injury himself.

“Yes, I am sorry I could not see you when you came to call.” The tightness around her eyes was the only thing that betrayed the fact she was still in some pain. “I hope it’s all right that I came to see you unannounced?”

“More than all right,” Rafe assured her. He was careful not to touch her injured shoulder, while also hiding the fact that he knew she was hurt. “We are out on the terrace enjoying the day. My sister Joanna and her husband, Brock, just returned from Scotland, and they brought my mother.”

“Your family is here? Oh, I shouldn’t have come. I...”

“Hush.” He tilted her face up so he could lean down and feather a kiss over her lips. “You are like family to me, Diana. It would do Joanna good to see you, and Isla has been asking about you all day.”

He stole another, deeper kiss, one that teased her as much as it tortured him. He was only satisfied to let her go when he saw how dazed she looked after that second kiss.

Diana laid her palms on his chest. Rafe lifted one of her hands and pressed a kiss to her inner wrist. He felt her pulse leap in response and was rewarded with a splash of color in her pale face.

“Come and spend the day with us.” He tucked her arm in his, and they walked out into the sun to meet his family.

A wave of relief swept through Diana as she and Rafe stepped out onto the terrace. She had been worried that he would press her about her “illness,” but he hadn’t. She’d seen the concern in his eyes, but he hadn’t questioned her. Her arm was healing quite well, but part of her weariness came from the dreams she had suffered the last two nights. Those final moments of bidding goodbye to her mysterious highwayman.

She knew she could not be in love with two men, but somehow she was. She loved Tyburn, his fierce intensity, his passion, his dark allure that softened into such tender seductions. But her heart held Rafe’s name. His sunny smiles, his sweet ardor, his determination to prove he was enough to the world, and to himself, filled her with a deep longing to hold him and assure him he was more than enough.

Most of all, she loved the way he looked at her. He did not stare down at her from a noble height, nor did he raise her upon some pedestal to admire. Rafe saw all of her, knew all of her, and when he kissed her, she felt both strangely safe and free. He was her shelter from the storm. As much as she was thrilled by Tyburn’s midnight visits, Rafe was more to her in a way that defied words.

I must forget Tyburn, she reminded herself. Rafe was her future. She knew it in a way that made her blood sing with the promise of the life they could share. Rafe glanced down at her with that half smile of his that did funny things to her knees. She clung tightly to his arm, glad for his strength.

“Ready?” Rafe asked as he led her toward his family on the lawn and by the table. “I swear they don’t bite. You’ve met Rosalind and Ash, of course. And you remember my mother and Joanna. Jo’s husband, Brock, is a quiet fellow, but a good man, and a Scot.”

“You do love your Scots,” Diana teased.

“Lord help me, but I do,” he agreed with a laugh. He’d told her of all his adventures with Rosalind’s three brothers. It was clear that he cherished those men as friends and brothers. “I hope you don’t mind meeting everyone like this... with me.” His face turned serious, and she understood the implication. For him to introduce her officially to his family would be making a bold statement.

“I don’t think I’d mind anything so long as I was with you.”

Diana was ready. Ready to start living again. She tried not to think about the money that they had lost in the last robbery or the man Tyburn had killed to save her. Those thoughts would come back to haunt her soon enough, but she could escape for a few hours at least, and she welcomed the distraction.

Joanna was the first to see them. “Miss Fox!”

Diana greeted everyone with a smile as they turned to face her with varying degrees of surprise. “Good afternoon.”

Isla pulled her tiny hand free of Regina’s and ran toward Diana. “Miss Fox!” Diana knelt and held her arms out, and Isla leapt into her arms a bit too eagerly.

“Isla, wait!” Rafe called out as the girl wrapped her arms tight around Diana. Pain lanced down her arm, and she bit her lip to hold back a hiss.

“Isla, you must let her go,” Rafe whispered to the child. “You’re hurting her.”

“I’m fine, Rafe,” Diana lied. Despite the pain, she relished the comfort of holding the little girl. She’d come to adore the child with all her heart, just as she had the girl’s father. Love was such a funny thing. One moment she had been determined to be left alone, because she did not desire the weakness that loving someone would create. But she’d forgotten that love could make someone strong too, and Isla’s hug was giving her new strength.

Regina and Joanna joined them. “Miss Fox, I’m glad to see you well.”

Diana let go of Isla and stood to meet Regina’s gaze. The dowager baroness was a beautiful woman who seemed to be made of iron. After all the stories Rafe had shared about his family, Diana believed she understood Regina well. She had shattered when she’d lost her husband but had rebuilt herself on her own terms in order not to break again. It was something Diana was intimately familiar with.

She wished that Regina would find a way to truly forgive Rafe, for Rafe had done nothing wrong the night his father died, and he blamed himself more than anyone else. Someday Diana would convince Rafe to forgive himself, but the person who would set him free of that pain most was this woman. He needed his mother to tell him that he was not to blame before he could ever forgive himself.

Regina’s blue eyes moved between her son, Isla, and Diana. “And how are you faring now that you are out of mourning?”

“Well enough,” Diana said. She had her home, her lands, and she was still fighting to keep them. That was well enough in her mind.

“Good,” Regina replied. “We are here should you ever need us— any of us.” She and Ashton shared a look of agreement, which Diana didn’t miss.

“Thank you, Lady Lennox.”

“Miss Fox, would you like to see the fort Papa and I made?” Isla asked.

“You made a fort?” Diana asked.

“In the library!” said Isla.

Diana looked toward Rafe, intrigued. The rakish gentleman had the good sense to look bashful about his antics.

“Would you mind if I showed Diana the library?” Rafe asked his mother, as if afraid to interrupt his mother’s interaction with Diana without permission.

“Not at all.” Regina gestured for them to leave and turned toward the table where Brock and Ashton still held her two grandsons.

Rafe gently pulled Diana against his side. “I believe we may now safely make our escape.” The heat of his body warmed her clear down to her toes.

“Come! Come see!” Isla stood in the open doorway leading back to the house while a patient footman held the door open for her.

Something about Isla brought back old memories... ones that made Diana’s heart clench with bittersweet longing. She could see her sister standing there, calling for her to come inside, just as Isla was doing now.

“Are you all right?” Rafe asked as they entered the house. “Perhaps we should find a place to sit down or?—”

Diana gave a little shake as the ghost of memory faded away. “I am tired,” she admitted. “But I will be all right. I don’t want to miss spending time with you today.” She leaned her cheek against his shoulder, and Rafe kissed the top of her head. A feeling of blissful safety swept through her.

“How do you do that?” she asked.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he looked down at her. “Do what?”

“Make me feel safe.”

“I do?” Rafe paused in the doorway of the library.

“Yes, you do.”

“Good. I always want you to feel safe with me.” He leaned down to kiss her again for a long, delicious moment. The pain in her arm vanished, and all her dark thoughts faded away.

“Marry me,” Rafe whispered as their lips parted. “Marry me... Diana.” His blue eyes burned bright, and she lost herself in the color of the summer sky they held. “Marry me when you choose. When you feel ready. I’ll take you as my wife the moment you wish to have me as your husband.”

Diana’s throat tightened. “I...” She so badly wished to say yes. “Rafe, you know my estate is struggling. Surely you must take that into account before you ask me to marry...”

He smiled and brushed a lock of her hair from her cheek.

“I would take all the struggles in the world as long as I could call you mine.”

She saw and heard only truth in his response.

He stroked a fingertip over her lips. “Take your time.”

“Miss Fox!” Isla’s excited shout reminded Diana of why she was here. “You must see the fort!” The girl rushed over to take Diana’s hand and pull her away. Diana glanced back at Rafe as she knelt at the fort’s entrance. The look of love and longing in his eyes healed her very soul. How could she refuse him? She held out a hand. Rafe came to her and got down on his knees next to her, one arm sliding around her waist. She tilted her chin up and drew in a soft breath.

“Yes.” She whispered the word, and sweet lightning shot through her limbs.

His lips kicked up in a full smile that held the warmth of the very sun in it. “Yes?”

“ Yes .” She tried to still the wild beating of her heart. She would have to say goodbye to her mask and the midnight rides, but after the last one, she was more than ready. She and Rafe would find a way to save her home without resorting to theft. Perhaps the investments from the deposits she’d given Rosalind would start to bear fruit.

Rafe pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her deeply. After a long, tender moment, they were reminded by a polite cough that they weren’t alone.

“Does this mean you’ll be my new mama?” Isla asked, clutching her doll to her chest.

“Yes . . . would you like that?”

Isla’s eyes filled with tears and she threw herself at Diana, who held the crying girl in her arms and hushed her.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have to be your mama,” Diana said.

“But I want you to be!” Isla said between sobs. “I want a mama... I want you .”

“Well then, I think we shall both be happy with the decision,” Diana said. She lifted her face to Rafe’s as he pulled them both inside the blanket fort to sit.

“It shall be the three of us from now on.” Rafe’s gaze held Diana’s.

“The three of us,” Diana agreed. She was ready to open her heart fully and completely to Rafe and to everything that would come from loving him.