Page 33 of The Duchess Debt

She nodded stiffly. “Yes.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking to you,” he teased. “I was talking to the horse.” He winked at her and earned himself a nervous little giggle. “Ready, Max?”

Gabe tapped the horse’s shoulder, and the animal bobbed his head, as if agreeing. Alice laughed with glee.

He remained on foot at the horse’s head, his hand firmly on the bridle, as he led them forward. Helena flipped the ribbons, and the pony started forward, pulling the cart alongside Max until Helena drew even with Gabe’s shoulder. Thankfully, Alice was too focused on Max to care about what the two grownups might be saying to each other.

“So,” he called out to Helena over the steady clip-clop of hooves, “you plan to go ahead with your school, then?”

“Yes.” She smiled at him from beneath her bonnet. “Mr. Parker has some wonderful ideas, and there’s an empty building on the end of High Street that I think will be perfect for it.” Her eyes gleamed impishly. “I just have to speak to His Grace the duke and gain his permission.”

“Good luck with that. I hear he’s a real mean one.” He squinted into the sun toward the last cottage. “You’ll need to be on your toes when you approach him. What are your plans?”

“We’ll start by checking the building and making certain it’s sound, that the roof doesn’t leak, the foundation solid… That sort of thing.”

“And then?”

“Then we’ll fix up the interior. New walls and beams, if necessary, a big chalkboard for the teacher, lots of bookshelves and all kinds of books to fill them.”

“That sounds expensive.”

She slid him a knowing look. “I have it on good authority that His Grace can be persuaded to increase funds, if properly motivated.”

He twisted his lips to keep back a grin. “And how, exactly, do you plan on motivating him?”

“I’ll logically explain how every penny is necessary and a good investment for the village’s future. He’s a good businessman, and he’ll be open to a well-reasoned argument.”

“And if he isn’t?”

“Then I’ll have no choice but to hold ransom his best liquor until he agrees.”

He nodded, deadpan. “Sounds like an persuasive plan to me.”

She laughed at their silliness, and he allowed a grin to pull at his lips. Their teasing felt like old times—times he hadn’t realized he had missed so much until she was with him again. Even as he stared down at his boots as they kicked up dust from the road, his chest felt lighter than it had in years.

But after a few paces, his smile faded. “I apologize for yesterday,” he quietly told her, not looking up from his boots. “I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. I should have involved you with the picnic from the beginning.”

“It wasn’t the picnic that upset me, or even the surprise of it. Not really.” She kept her voice low, even though Alice was too engrossed with the horse to pay attention to what they were discussing. “It was that you didn’t trust me not to behave like Clarissa.”

“And for that, I am deeply sorry.”

Her only acceptance of that apology was a small nod, which turned into a shake of her head. He should have known apologizing wouldn’t prove so easy.

“She treated you terribly, Gabe, and you certainly didn’t deserve it,” she murmured. “But not all women are like her.”

“I know.” He did know that, somewhere down deep in his gut. But knowing and accepting were two completely different things, especially when he was surrounded by reminders of the past and the pain he’d suffered. He looked over his shoulder at Alice—no, wasstillsuffering, especially when he was expected to simply accept and move on, as if his life hadn’t been irreparably changed, as if everything was fine.

He wasn’t certain his life would ever be completely fine again.

Helena leveled a sideways look on him. “Did you ever ride out with Clarissa to visit the tenants like this?”

“No.”

“Good.” She faced forward again and slapped the reins gently to prod the pony into quickening its pace. “I’m not Clarissa. I hope you can remember that.”

Gabe stopped and bit down a curse. The well-trained gelding stopped immediately behind him, so close that Gabe could feel the tickle of horse breath on his back.

The pony cart rolled on. Helena didn’t glance back.