Page 24 of The Duchess Debt

Helena’s cheeks heated as she grabbed her neckline and yanked it back into place. Acute disappointment stabbed her as she sank down onto her chair and hurriedly returned the breakfast things to where they belonged. But it wasn’t nearly being caught in that wanton embrace that made her tremble—it was the raw desire on Gabe’s face even now as he stared at her, as if she were a feast he wanted to devour.

“Come,” he called out irritably toward the door.

“Your Grace.” Larkin nodded as he opened the door and stepped inside the room to check on breakfast. “Miss Sinfell.”

If the loyal butler noticed anything odd, his preoccupation with the chafing dishes on the buffet didn’t let it show.

Gabe muttered a curse beneath his breath and raked his fingers through his hair, then turned on his heel and marched toward the door. “Two o’clock at the village church, Miss Sinfell,” he called out, his voice tellingly thick. “Don’t be late.”

Helena picked up the strawberry and placed it to her lips as she struggled to catch back the breath he’d stolen. A slow smile spread against the berry.

Be late?She wouldn’t dream of it!

CHAPTER SEVEN

Gabe snatched a sugared orange slice from the plate of fruit the cook had prepared for their picnic and popped it into his mouth as he stretched out across the blanket, resting lazily on his side.

“Isn’t this lovely?” Helena asked from her corner of the blanket as she removed her bonnet and turned her face toward the warm sun.

Gabe gave a noncommittal grunt. He knew better than to answer. Helena would drag him out every day until the winter snows came if he did, although why she’d been so insistent about such an outing he had no idea.

He narrowed a sideways glance at her. What the devil did she have up her sleeve?

He didn’t believe for one moment that her agreement to spend more time with Alice was so they could all come to know each other better before the wedding, to smooth out Alice’s transition to having a new mother. But he did have to admit that they had to agree on what Alice would call her…mother, stepmother, Mama, Helena. How could one single word create so much tension? But what role Helena would play in her life was still uncertain.

Even with all that, though, Gabe had to agree that Alice was relaxed around Helena, smiling more than he remembered her ever doing and being much more willing to play. Always before, Alice had reminded him of a small adult whenever she came to speak to him in his study or interrupted his work in the library, always straight-spined, eyes downcast, and unnaturally quiet. She certainly wasn’tthataround Helena.

As if to prove him correct, Alice gave a soft giggle from the nearby river’s edge and dropped another leaf into the water. With a long stick, she pushed it into the slow moving current asif she were a goddess launching ships on command. Her little armada of leaf boats had grown now to over two dozen, with no signs of stopping anytime soon based on the large pile of leaves at her feet.

Helena reached to pluck a grape from the fruit plate. Cook had certainly outdone herself with the food, Gabe had to admit. In addition to the fruit, piles of cold chicken and ham sat next to a loaf of bread, a plate of orange biscuits, a jug of wine for them and a bottle of apple juice for Alice. Even more bundles of food sat untouched in the wicker basket. It was enough to feed an army.

Perhaps that was the point, he considered. Knowing Helena, she’d asked for three times as much food as necessary just so they would have leftovers to share with the laborers at the bridge site. Clarissa certainly wouldn’t have given the men a second thought, let alone a second plate. He only wished he knew if Helena had done it because she wanted to give the men a treat, or if she wanted to curry favor withhimbefore their wedding.

That was exactly the kind of thing Clarissa would have done—increase her own selfishness by pretending to be selfless.

“There she is,” Helena called out to Alice with a grand wave of her arm. “The face that launched a thousand leaf ships!”

The little girl burst into happy laughter, and a flushed glow of self-consciousness colored her cheeks. But that didn’t stop her from continuing to add to her burgeoning fleet spilling out across the wide river.

“She’s a beautiful little girl, Gabe,” Helena murmured.

He looked away and squinted into the sun. “I had nothing to do with that, remember?”

“Do you really think beauty is created simply by breeding? Or that true beauty has anything to do with physical appearance at all?” To gain back his attention, she plucked another grapeand brought it to his lips to feed it to him. “You know better. How many society women do you know who are breathtaking on the surface but so cold-hearted beneath as to be barely tolerable? Aretheybeautiful? Just as we both know women who certainly aren’t Helen of Troy on the outside but are so full of joy and life that they light up a room as soon as they enter it.”

“Like you?” He punctuated that by taking the grape from her fingers with his lips. “But youarealso beautiful on the outside.” He chewed and swallowed. “Helena of Troy.”

She gave that bit of nonsense the response it deserved by slapping him gently on the shoulder. But then she tempered her scolding by feeding him another grape.

“You might not have sired her, but youhaveraised her,” she persisted. “She’s turning into a beautiful woman—inside and out—because of you.”

He grimaced. “I had nothing to do with that, either.” He sat up and positioned himself out of her reach so she couldn’t tempt him with another grape. “You should be complimenting Verity for that.” He turned his attention to surveying the spread of food as if he were still hungry, even though he had lost whatever appetite the picnic hadn’t yet taken from him. “God knows I should. I couldn’t have survived the past four years without her. As a spinster auntie, she might not know very much about the act that creates a baby, but there are few people better suited to caring for them once they’re born.”

“And she came to Grangely to help with Alice when Clarissa went into confinement?”

“Four months after that.” He pretended interest in a piece of cold ham. “When Clarissa abandoned Alice for London.”

When he glanced up and saw the shocked expression on Helena’s face, he gave up all pretense of nonchalance and sat back on the blanket.