The Resilient Lady Collins

Chapter 72: Comforting (1)

"Welcome back, Lady Collins. And welcome Princess Alana," Florence greeted the two.

"The princess will be living on the estate from now on. Give her the large guest room in the left wing and see what she needs. Dresses, shoes, or jewels. I shall take care of it. You should take maids and join her to get settled in," Scarlet ordered, deciding to do work while everyone helped Alana.

As Scarlet stepped further into the front door, she noticed a bouquet of white orchids. "Why haven’t you burned that bouquet?"

"I thought that I shouldn’t because of the sender. The card says Ian Kingsley. Should I still burn it?" Florence asked, secretly excited about the decision Scarlet would make.

Scarlet stared at the bouquet, curious as to why Ian sent her flowers when he had noted she was tired of receiving them. Instead of giving an answer, Scarlet walked to where the bouquet was placed and picked out the card.

’Tea?’ It was a simple message.

Scarlet couldn’t believe that he had sent her flowers just to ask if she wanted tea. Had Ian forgotten that phones existed?

"Don’t throw away the flowers. Place them inside my room and give them a little bit of water," Scarlet finally answered.

"Of course," Florence replied, snapping her fingers for a maid to come. "Would you like something prepared for you?"

Scarlet thought about Ian’s offer. Going to have tea or staying home with Alana. She was in the mood for tea now that the card put it in her head, but she couldn’t have him seeing her come to him once more. She had already arranged to see him in two days.

"I would like a bottle of wine sent to my room," Scarlet answered, deciding to stay.

It was best to not meet outside of what she had planned or if there was something important they needed to discuss urgently. It was better this way to not see each other to form more than a contractual relationship. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"You don’t need to stay because I am here, Scarlet. I don’t want to get in the way of your plans," Alana said.

"I had no other plans to leave home. You can unpack and then I will join you later to discuss what else you might need. Florence will take good care of you," Scarlet said, leaving Alana in Florence’s hands.

"I wonder what the note said. She still has it in her hand so it must say something she likes. We must try our best to get her to go out and have fun with this man. We must work together," Alana said, trying to ally with Florence.

"I can hear you and it is not going to work," Scarlet spoke, putting an end to the plan before it could start. "This is from Nolan. Did he visit? I am seeing him less these days."

"It was a short visit to personally deliver the letter you hold," Florence answered.

"Why did such a busy lawyer travel here to give you a letter? Oh!" Alana gasped as the answer came to her. "Does he still like you? I thought that would have passed by now. If all fails with this Ian fellow, you have a good backup."

"I have no interest in Nolan. Don’t you have your problems to worry about? I’ll assign guards to you shortly. Excuse me," Scarlet said, making her exit before Alana could go further into her relationships with men.

Scarlet thought of Nolan as she walked upstairs. It seemed that since the ball he was avoiding her and she could only hope he wasn’t being this way because she had danced with Ian.

It wasn’t his place to tell her who to be with nor should her relationship with anyone have him not wanting to see her. He worked for her.

"It’s time to let him go," Scarlet decided.

Before Nolan could do something stupid, she had to give him a break from working for her. Hopefully, then he would snap out of whatever he was thinking and go back to doing his job.

Two days soon passed in Lockwood and as promised, Scarlet went for her cup of tea. She was surprised by how busy Ian’s business was in the middle of the day and the crowd almost made her leave but she couldn’t break her arrangement. Not when the tea was on her mind from the day Ian sent her flowers.

Scarlet walked to the bar where the man she always saw beside Ian was.

"Lady Collins, he is inside his office. Would you like me to escort you there?" Owen offered. Again, it was a shock to see Scarlet returning here for Ian or did she just want the tea?

Ian was in a foul mood so Owen looked forward to Scarlet putting him in better spirits for his sake. Owen didn’t like grumpy Ian.

"With all the men in here, I probably should walk you there. Follow me," Owen said, handing the bottle of rum he was pouring to another employee. "Since you are close to my boss, that must mean that you and I are close too." freёwebnovel.com

"Are we?" Scarlet replied, glancing at Owen for a moment before looking away.

Owen coughed, suddenly feeling a coldness in the air. He tugged at his collar and coughed. "Silly me. I must have been mistaken. B-Boss," he stuttered, groaning on the inside for being scared of Scarlet. "You have a guest," he announced, knocking on the door soon after. "You can go in."

"Without him giving a response?" Scarlet asked, finding it rude for her to just go in.

’It feels like my mother is scolding me,’ Owen thought.

"Ian wouldn’t mind that it’s you walking in. He has been waiting for you to show," Owen replied.

Owen opened the door for Scarlet so she could go inside and he would be free. Now that he had a brief conversation with her, he concluded that the two deserved each other because they had a way of making him sweat. Or was it bad that they were together because then he had two people to worry about?

Scarlet entered Ian’s office, focused on him sitting behind his desk with a book on his face. If he was so tired, why didn’t he go home? Was he starting to believe that his home was haunted?

Once again, she considered leaving, but her feet were against her mind as she walked to the desk. Now she knew why he didn’t answer and if she were in Ian’s place, she would scold the man from just now for letting someone in. This was the perfect chance for someone to try killing Ian.

Scarlet thought to remove the book from his face as it might be uncomfortable and then leave but was caught off guard by Ian moving his foot to make her trip. Luckily, she fell toward him rather than the floor or desk.

"My, my, my," Ian said after moving the book. "What a lovely surprise. An angry woman in my arms."

Scarlet glared at Ian for tripping her though it was her fault for quietly approaching a sleeping man. It could have been much worse with her landing on the floor than Ian. "You can let go of me now."

"And why would I do that when you’re so comfortable in my arms? This isn’t how I imagined you would end up on top of me."