Elise by Jackie Ivie Read Free Book Online Page B

he answered. She knew what she was going to do. She was going to take the coward’s way out. She reached down for her little bag and palmed the lavender-scented notecard by feel alone.
    ~ ~ ~
    Night mist chilled her arms and Elise rubbed at them to still the shivers racing through them, before resuming her pacing. Barrigan had installed several Eastern-inspired pagodas throughout his garden. It was a romantic, enchanting sight, if anything could be. She reached the side of the structure, pivoted, and started back across.
    Lilac bushes obliterated the sides of the pagoda, just as Elise had remembered, creating the privacy she needed. Unfortunately, it was also unsettling and unnerving to ladies who should be abed, rather than waiting to unburden secrets they shouldn’t be a party to in the first place. Elise listened to the rustle of leaves and the strange sounds of the woods about her. Barrigan really should fence his property, she decided, and then she wondered how much longer she was going to have to wait. It would be just like that man to make her wait, too. Her note had been most specific: MIDNIGHT. PAGODA CLOSEST TO THE WOODS. ALONE.
    Her lips twisted. It was now ten past, and knowing her luck, he probably still hadn’t opened it!
    She stilled as a man silhouetted himself in the framework.
    “Your Grace?” Elise whispered when he appeared. It was difficult to see him. His presence was only visible due to the lighter shade of darkness about him.
    “Even you could not be so cruel, Elise.”
    Roald’s voice cracked intentionally as he approached. Elise stumbled until her back touched a pole.
    “I...I am meeting the duke on a private matter. You are not to interfere. I have something I have to make him aware of.”
    “What could be of such import that you seek his company here, at night ... alone and unescorted?”
    “It’s none of your concern,” she replied.
    “It’s of every concern to me.”
    “You’re not to follow me, Roald. I won’t have it! Now go!”
    “You expect me to ignore this pursuit of him?” he asked.
    Elise stuck out her jaw, pushing her lower teeth past the upper ones. He couldn’t see it. “You’re mistaken, but I won’t explain. I don’t have to explain my actions to anyone. That’s the way I like it.”
    “How many times have I asked you, Elise? Do you feel nothing for me? Nothing for my... suffering?”
    His voice, as much as his words, would have been wrenching had she not already eavesdropped on just such a speech before. Roald had once hidden her in a cupboard at his apartment when one of his many women came to see him and listen to the same wrenching words.
    “Roald, I’ll have no man. I’ve told you often enough. None.”
    He dropped to one knee before her. Elise could just make out his face and the glint of his eyes in what light slithered through the gazebo’s widely spaced poles. She stiffened.
    “Marry me, Elise.”
    “No.”
    “I’m ... begging you,” he beseeched, making his voice faltering and shy sounding.
    Elise’s features froze. “Don’t. It doesn’t become you.”
    “I’ll die without you.”
    The man should have been on the stage. She’d often thought it. Now, she knew for certain. “Put the thought to paper, and perhaps I’ll read it, Roald,” she said coldly.
    “Do you care nothing for me?”
    “Oh, please. Stop this. I’ve heard this same speech from you too many times and to too many other women. You needn’t start boring me with such stupidity at this date. I’ll not listen. Now, get up.”
    “You think you know me, don’t you, Elise?”
    “Not as well as I thought, obviously.”
    “You think I’ll just leave him the clear field?”
    “You’re mistaken, Roald. I’ll not repeat it again. Is this the way you wish to end our friendship . . . and your loans?”
    “You think I’ll just let you go?”
    “You’ve little choice in the matter. Get off your knees and allow me to retire to my chamber.”
    “I love you,