29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

B arking.

Barking echoing along the stone hallways.

Izzie glanced up from the book she was reading next to the fireplace, her look going to Thomas behind his desk, her brows lifting. “Is that a dog?”

His attention stayed locked on the ledger he’d been pursuing in front of him. There was still much to be righted from the last years when his father was still alive. Thomas had said his father’s mind had clearly grown weary of managing the estate without his main solicitor, and the estate finances and investments reflected it.

Purpose. That was exactly what Thomas needed to be finding.

To convince him to finally set straight the estate, she’d made a deal with him. For every ledger he got through, they would take a break, doing whatever his mind could dream up.

His imagination usually involved her naked body somewhere—splayed out over his desk, up against a wall, or riding him as he sat on the window seat in the study with his bare back against the cold pane of glass. Sometimes she was on her knees between his legs as he leaned back in his chair, sometimes he was on his knees and she was in the chair. Occasionally, the breaks had been walks along the windy cliffs or quiet dinners taken in the library where he would make her recount her many assignments with the Guardians.

Three days of blissful normalcy, like she’d always imagined most people lived. Normalcy which included staying in the study with Thomas in case he needed her to look at numbers from his father that didn’t make sense. Not exactly normal, but she didn’t mind it. She liked that Thomas saw her usefulness and wasn’t afraid to ask her for help.

More barking.

His eyes blinking hard, pulling him from concentration, Thomas looked to her. “What did you say?”

“You don’t hear that?”

Barking—sharp, yipping sounds—drifted into the study.

His brow mirrored hers. “I do hear that.”

They both scrambled to their feet, moving out into the main hallway that ran down the center of Ravenstone.

A large puppy, white with a brown patch over its eyes and ears, and a splotch of black on its back, came barreling down the corridor toward them, yips flying from its mouth, its big ears flopping. It skidded when it got near to Thomas’s feet, tumbling over to land against his boots.

“What on earth?” Izzie laughed as Thomas reached down to right the puppy.

“Thomas. Here you are. We’ve been searching all over the castle for you.” A woman’s voice.

Izzie looked up to see Nemity rounding the corner of the hallway. Rushing past Nemity were her two children she’d taken on as her own when her best friend had died. Izzie had seen them, but not met them when she stayed with Callum and Nemity for a few days before being dispatched to Ravenstone.

The children, Georgette and Jacob, ran along the corridor, straight toward the puppy.

Except no, they ignored the puppy, laughing as they flung themselves onto Thomas. He hadn’t been standing with open arms, yet he managed to catch them both flying through the air, and a smile came to his face as he lifted them up on either side of him. “Georgette, Jacob, what mayhem have you brought into my home? You brought the puppy?”

“We did. We did. We did.” The older girl, singsonged as she squeezed Thomas’s face. “The puppy missed you.”

Thomas laughed, planting a big kiss on the top of the girl’s pretty chestnut hair. “I missed you two as well. It has been far too long.”

He set them down and stood straight, his hands moving awkwardly to the tops of their heads, like he could stop two rambunctious children from tearing apart his castle if he kept a few fingers atop them.

It lasted not even five seconds before the girl scooped up the puppy and both of the children ran off down the hall.

“Stay in the conservatory,” Nemity called out after them, a smile on her face.

Thomas looked to her, giving her a nod. “Nemity.”

Callum turned the corner from the opposite direction Nemity and the children had appeared, and he moved beside his wife, sliding his hand in along the back of her waist as he looked to Thomas. “This is where you are—we split to look for you.”

“Why would no one look for me in my study?” Thomas shook his head.

“Because I haven’t seen you in there once in the last year,” Callum said.

Thomas’s eyes rolled up to the ceiling, then his pointed stare dropped to Callum. “You’ve surprised me, then. Caught me actually taking care of the business of Ravenstone for once.” His look shifted to Nemity, his eyes narrowing as his gaze swept over his cousin. “You are well?”

“Yes. Finally.” She smiled, waving her hand in the air. “I have been able to hold down food for two weeks now, and feeling well has driven me stir-crazy. The children have been begging to come visit Ravenstone again, and the roads were good today, so we seized the opportunity.”

Moving toward them with Callum at her side, Nemity glanced at Izzie, then looked to Thomas with a hesitant smile on her face. “Who is this?”

Slick.

The lie told with beautiful innocence, Nemity knew full well she had to pretend ignorance where it concerned Izzie. For all Callum and Nemity knew, Izzie was still deep into her assignment.

Izzie froze, unsure what to do in the moment. Lie along with Nemity—that they didn’t know each other? It would be wise to not let Callum and Nemity know she’d told Thomas of her job as a Guardian if she was going to remain here at Ravenstone.

Thomas coughed, taking a step forward, then he stopped, folding his arms across his chest, his voice curt. “Please, Nemity, let us dispense of this nonsense. I know exactly who Izzie is—why she is here.”

Charging straight toward the truth, then.

Izzie smiled weakly, her look darting between Callum and Nemity as they came to a stop before her and Thomas.

Nemity had the good sense to look shocked, while the slightest grin cut across Callum’s face.

“What?” Nemity glanced up at Callum, then back to Thomas, still trying for innocence. “You mean?—”

“I know she is a Guardian,” Thomas stated, his words flat.

“You do?” Nemity’s hands flew up at her sides. “How long? Why have you not?—”

“Told you?” Thomas asked.

Nemity nodded. “Yes, for heaven’s sake.”

Izzie stepped forward to Thomas’s side. “Thomas has agreed to let me stay on in my position.”

Nemity’s eyebrows drew together in true confusion. “He has?”

Instantly, Callum’s countenance slipped from amusement to annoyance. He glared at Thomas, who was now the one holding back a grin. “And you are keeping Izzie on as…what, exactly?”

The grin found its way to appear on Thomas’s lips as he threw an arm around Izzie, pulling her tight to his body in an obvious show of intimacy. “Guardian of sanity? Can we call it that?”

The tips of Izzie’s ears started to burn. Thomas was out and out admitting to their affair. And he was enjoying the show of it all, the bugger.

Guilt swallowed Nemity’s face, her hands agitated. “Oh, Thomas, no. You cannot ask that of Izzie, if what you’re really asking her to stay here for is?—”

“You wish Izzie to leave me to my own sad existence?” He looked to Nemity, crooking an eyebrow. “With my fragile state of mind?”

“I…no…I guess…” Nemity stuttered, then looked to Izzie, worry clear in her eyes. “No, not if Izzie is fine with the…situation.”

“I am.” Izzie nodded.

Nemity glanced at Callum. He shrugged his shoulders.

Nemity’s stare shifted back to Izzie. “We never meant to put you in this position. You do not need to stay here as his…” Her words trailing off, she glanced at Thomas, her nose wrinkling. “Pet?”

Izzie’s forehead wrinkled. That was rude. Though she wasn’t sure if it was rude to her or rude to Thomas. Either way, Nemity clearly had a low opinion of her cousin, even if it had been her that requested this whole charade of the Guardians to keep him safe in the first place.

Izzie took a step forward, grabbing Nemity’s flailing hands. “Nemity, I am not his pet, and I am not here because it is my job, I’m here because it is my choice. Thomas made sure of that.”

“He did?” Nemity’s head cocked to the side in disbelief, and she looked to Thomas, her stare curious as she stepped over to him. Her face fell into a slight cringe. “Forgive us—forgive me, Thomas. I was worried on you and your state of mind. I asked Callum to send in a Guardian. I take responsibility for all the machinations.”

Thomas stared down at Nemity, his jaw twitching for several seconds. “I do not know if I should thank you or throttle you for your interference, but I cannot fault the honest intention and worry that prodded you to do so.”

Nemity’s head jerked back, her eyes opening wide. She’d clearly been bracing herself for an onslaught of anger from him. “That is…” She stopped, shook her head, and a smile came to her face. “That is an unusually polite reaction from you.”

“When have I ever been anything but polite to you?”

Nemity scoffed a snort, her hand covering her mouth as she outright laughed. Callum chuckled at his wife’s reaction.

Nemity looked to Izzie. “I do not know what sorcery you possess, but whatever you have done to my cousin, please continue to do so. I won’t ask. I won’t judge. Just keep him as this.” Her hand motioned in a circle toward him. “Please, please, please.”

Izzie laughed, suddenly at ease in Nemity’s presence.

When Izzie had first met Nemity at Springfell Manor before her assignment with Thomas had started, Nemity had been constantly ill and excusing herself, so Izzie hadn’t been able to read the woman. But in that moment, she could see exactly why Callum had fallen so irrevocably in love with her.

Nemity looked to Callum. “We came here to check in on how the brilliant plan was working, but it seems our presence here is not needed after all.”

“Strike that. I think your presence here is a very welcome event.” Izzie tucked her hand along Nemity’s elbow, tugging her away from Thomas. “Come with me—we’ll stop by the kitchens to warn Mrs. Havergrove you have arrived, as I imagine the children will be hungry soon. Then you can properly introduce me to the children and that adorable puppy that I understand was the worst-best gift from that brooding soul.” She nodded her head back toward Thomas.

“Gladly.” A brilliant smile filled Nemity’s face and for a moment, Izzie was struck with a sliver of jealously over Nemity’s ability to create sunshine where there was none. Izzie would never be that person, but she was smart enough to know that she could bask in the glow.

A day later, after the children had run the full of the castle and the cliffs several times over, Callum and Nemity declared it was time to leave, mostly because Mrs. Havergrove had been overly soused, complaining on the extra work, and the food coming from the kitchens was mysterious at best. Not that either Callum or Nemity would dare speak a detrimental word of it.

Once their carriage had disappeared down the main drive and into the forest surrounding Ravenstone, Izzie and Thomas stayed outside and veered to the edge of the cliffs so she could retrieve the blanket she had left by the edge of the forest. She’d been out there with the children, because they wanted to throw stones off the cliff and into the wind to see if the wind would blow them back onto land before falling to the water below.

The wind tossing things about, it took some time to locate the blanket, and they finally found it a distance from the castle, wrapped up against the thick trunk of one of the weathered tress. Izzie bent over, picking it up, and she shook the leaves and twigs off of it.

Thomas had wandered away from her, standing in the open expanse between the barrier of trees and the cliff’s edge, staring out at the sea.

She stepped next to his right side, folding the blanket. “Your cousin and her family are wonderful. All of them. I knew Callum before, and had always liked him. But I did not know I would have so much fun with the children—I rarely get to be around little people like that. The thoughts and ideas they have are so wild and unencumbered, it is refreshing.”

Thomas didn’t answer her and she looked up at his profile.

His stare remained set forward, the hard lines of his face reminiscent of how he looked when she’d first met him—when the anger and frustration spent every second devouring him from the inside out.

Her smile starting to waver, she stepped closer to his side. “What is wrong?”

He didn’t answer right away, the muscles along his jawline setting even harder. “You need to leave.”

She froze, the smile dropping from her face. “What? Leave?”

“We cannot be together.”

“What are you talking about?” She grabbed his forearm, trying to force him to look at her. He refused to do so.

“This.” His left hand waved in a big circle above her head toward the castle and where Nemity and Callum had just left. “This was just a reminder of how we cannot be together. You need to leave Ravenstone. Now.”