That was perhaps the most truth she’d ever shared with him.
Before Andrew could answer, her brother William dashed into the room flushed and looking for all the world as if he’d been involved in wicked, delicious things.
“My apologies for being late. I was on a case,” he said, mostly to Andrew, who merely gave him a curt nod.
Isobel rolled her eyes. And he’d no doubt found time along the way to dandle his new wife. “Such gammon, Wills. You look as if you’ve had a quick tryst. Perhaps in a carriage.” It would be all too easy for him since his wife was a journalist and worked with him on his Bow Street cases. “Naughty boy.”
Both Andrew and William stared at her with red faces, which prompted a wildly inappropriate laugh from her. They had no clue that some of the literature she’d read was of a more erotic bent than that. To say nothing of the stories she’d heard from some of her married girlfriends or from listening to the maids.
“I don’t know how to respond to that,” William finally said with a tug to his rumpled cravat, but he couldn’t hide the sheepish grin. “Francesca said to give you her regards and that she’d set aside time for you two to talk later.”
“All right.” Though it was dear that her brother called Fanny by her Christian name, jealousy speared through Isobel’s chest at that closeness. Fanny now had more life experience than she did, had been with a man intimately—even if it was Isobel’s brother—and that put up yet another barrier between them.
Though she was opposed to marriage, it didn’t stop her from wanting a man in her life for companionship or a bit of a toss in the hay every now or again. That wasn’t likely to happen any time soon, for once her mother died, a year of mourning would be upon her.
And her life would once again shift into confusion and loneliness.
“Isobel!” The command in her brother’s voice brought her out of the maudlin thoughts.
“Yes?” She glanced between the two men, who were so close in looks they could easily pass as twins, if not brothers instead of cousins.
“I’ve been speaking to you for the past two minutes and you’ve only looked through me, unhearing.” He crossed his arms at his chest. When she raised an eyebrow, he plunged onward. “You need to marry. Settle down, which will go a long way into eliminating the scandal you’re fond of courting.”
Not only did Wills resemble Cousin Andrew in looks, but his thoughts apparently mirrored the same. Before she could answer, Andrew rushed in.
“Yes, exactly. Perhaps between your brother and I, we can find you a nice, titled man who will catch your fancy.”
She groaned. “God save me from that.” That last thing she wanted or needed was a gentleman who held a title. If there was something more than spiders she detested in the world, it was anything having to do with the ton, titled men especially. Though she’d never shared her thoughts on it, she suspected being part of the beau monde and the suffocating responsibilities therein worked to drive the wedge between her father and Andrew’s. To say nothing of the fact that had broken both of those men. “I don’t want marriage, but I wouldn’t say no to a flirtation. The more heated, the better,” she couldn’t help but add.
Both men protested that statement.
“Absolutely not!”
William shook his head. “No more fuel for the gossipmongers, Isobel!”
“What am I supposed to do instead? I feel like a veritable prisoner here.” When they glared at her, she sighed and twisted her mother’s ring around her finger.
Andrew rubbed a hand along the side of his face. After a glance at William, he perched on the edge of a delicate chair that faced her sofa. “Listen to me, Cousin.” He leaned forward and took possession of one of her hands. Though his tone was well-modulated, there was no mistaking the irritation in his eyes. “You’re proving a problem that is rapidly going beyond our means of containing. If you don’t desist in causing scandal, I’ll have no recourse but to send you to the Derbyshire property.”
“Ah, you think to dictate my life like you have Caroline’s?” Isobel yanked her hand from his hold. “I think not. However, there are loads of men in the country, so if you go through with that threat, I shall still have company.”
Oh, it was horrid of her to bait her cousin when he struggled with controlling his temper, but she couldn’t help it.
“For shame, Isobel,” her brother said. Mortification lined his face.
Andrew narrowed his eyes. Again, he took a deep breath and let it ease out. Perhaps it was a calming technique he’d come to rely on to master his temper. “If you don’t want banishment—with a companion—then you need to find a hobby, a purpose here in London. I care not, but stop putting the Storme name front and center.”
“Ha!” Isobel shot from her chair. Restless energy filled her body. She wanted to ride through Hyde Park, or better yet, ride astride in the countryside flying neck or nothing. While wearing breeches. “You tell me to do that when both you and Wills have both caused scandal and rumors to swirl about the family reputation. To say nothing of my other two cousins. How is that fair?”
Sputters emanated from Andrew and William. While they both searched for something to say, Isobel wandered to one of the windows. Outside, the noise from the street wafted to her ears: the clip clop of horse hooves as the animals pulled carriages and carts. The hawking cries of vendors selling their wares. Laughter from children having an outing with their governesses. There was so much life contained within London that she didn’t want to be sent to Derbyshire. But even the atmosphere she adored so much couldn’t lift her ennui or maudlin mood.
The trouble was, boredom had set in as she waited for her mother’s death. Though she was an expert in flirtation, and she enjoyed it heartily, no man had truly caught her fancy since last Christmastide when the whole of the Storme family had come together at Hadleigh Hall. That’s when she first met Cousin Finn’s surgeon, that redhaired Doctor Marsden.
A small grin curved her lips as she ignored the men in the room. Now he would be just the thing to liven up her existence and bring her some cheer as well as a distraction. Handsome and possessing a sense of humor, he’d make a good trysting partner. And those elegant hands with the long fingers! A shiver went down her spine. Did he know how to caress a woman?
But he remained busy with his clinic in the Marylebone neighborhood. Occasionally, she saw him at a society event or family dinner, but that was the depth of their association. With a sigh, Isobel turned, planted her bum against the windowsill and regarded her relatives.
“What would you have me do instead?”