WolfeStrike (De Wolfe Pack Generations #2) - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,70

of. But that was all speculation – hopeful speculation.

Quickly, she returned her attention to Isabella.

“At some point soon,” she said after a moment. “It is my home, after all.”

Isabella leaned forward. “Would it be too much of an imposition to visit you sometime?” she asked. “When I go to see my Uncle Edward, I mean. Would it be too much trouble to visit you so I could mayhap meet your man from Kashmir?”

Isalyn grinned. “I would love to have you visit me,” she said. “In fact, you do not have to wait for a visit to your Uncle Edward’s. You are invited to come and stay with me at my aunt’s home any time you wish. It is on Watling Street, near Bow Street. Do you know where that is?”

Isabella shook her head. “I am sorry to say that I do not.” Her face lit up with a smile. “But I will find it!”

She seemed so enthusiastic that Isalyn giggled. It was comforting to find someone who was as excited about the large city as she was. Isabella giggled in response and soon they were giggling together. Under the most peculiar, and uncomfortable, of circumstances, they had found something to bond over. There only seemed to be genuine interest between them, the lure of a new acquaintance and a new conversation. But that quickly came to an end when Isabella caught sight of a pair of women entering from the servant’s alcove.

Isalyn turned to see what had Isabella’s attention and she recognized Lenore returning to the hall. She was with another woman who looked just like her, perhaps a little older, and both of them were heading for the dais. She turned to say something to Isabella but refrained when she saw the look on the woman’s face. That warmth and friendliness was gone, replaced by something that could only be construed as wariness.

The woman was on her guard.

Isalyn was shortly to find out why.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“I am telling you that she has that same look upon her face that the Violet woman did,” Lenore hissed at her sister. “The only difference is that Tor is looking at her with equal interest.”

“Who?”

“Lady Isalyn!”

Barbara was standing next to a bed in the upper floor of the apartment block at Blackpool. She had come to prepare two chambers when she had been informed that Tor had visitors. Lenore had gone to the hall to prepare refreshments and Barbara had gone with the servants to clean out two dusty chambers, that were now mostly swept and made up in preparation for their guests.

But Lenore’s words had Barbara pausing in her duties.

“She is interested in him?” she repeated, concerned. “It will do her no good. He clearly said that he was too old for her.”

Lenore was shaking her head. “Mayhap that is what he said, but he lied,” she said. “He is looking at her with great interest, Sister. I saw it myself.”

Barbara was the more devious of the pair, the one who made the plans and led by example. Lenore was simply a follower. However, it took Barbara some time to act, like a slow burn. She had to be absolutely clear before she was motivated. As her sister’s words sank in, she set down the pillow in her hands.

“That does not sound like Tor,” she said. “I cannot ever recall him looking at a woman with great interest. At least, not that kind of interest. Mayhap he is only being kind because he killed her brother.”

Lenore shook her head firmly. “Listen to me,” she said. “He is looking at her as if he wants to kiss her. I have seen men look at women in such a way. The soldiers who take after the serving wenches, for example. They have the look of a predator.”

“And Tor is looking at the woman as if he is a predator?”

“He is looking at her in a most interested fashion. You must see it for yourself.”

Barbara thought on that a moment. Lenore wasn’t one to act in haste, so if she said something was true, it usually was. Then Barbara looked around the chamber. This room was on the corner of the apartment block, with windows that faced both west and north. To the west was a yew tree that had sprouted up between the building and the wall, and to the north were the livestock and kitchen yards.

In fact, the pen that kept the goats and pigs butted up against the north side of the building.