Page 68 of The Duchess Debt

Now, there was something else he had to do.

He cast a contrite glance down the table. “If I can beg your indulgence for a moment longer before dinner ends and we part ways.” A grin pulled at his lips. Good Lord, he couldn’t stop smiling this evening! “That is,” he corrected, “before the ladies go inside for civil entertainments in the drawing room and we men gather for far less proper behavior at the bonfire.”

More laughs and smiles came from the guests, along with good-natured elbows in the ribs by women to their husbands. Maggie Parker simply shook her head knowingly.

“I have one more important act to do this evening.” He reached into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and removed the long, slender velvet box he’d tucked away there when he’d finished dressing. He’d been waiting hours for this moment. “Helena, my wedding gift to you.”

Appreciative murmurs and dreamy sighs rose from the guests as he circled the table to Helena and held the jeweler’s box out toward her.

Speechless, she took the box, and her gloved hands shook as she opened it. A soft gasp of stunned surprise fell from her lips, and her hand flew to her throat as she stared down at the necklace inside. Then she twined her fingers in the strand of diamonds and sapphires and lifted it into the air for everyone to see. Glistening tears formed in her eyes as she lifted onto tiptoes to kiss him. Their guests applauded their appreciation of the romantic gesture he was sharing with them.

“But I don’t have a wedding gift for you yet,” she whispered to him, her voice hoarse with both pleasure and guilt. “With all the preparations, there hasn’t been time.”

He gently took the necklace from her hand, stepped up behind her to slip it around her neck, and fastened the clasp. He brought his mouth down to her ear to secretly share his whisper. “Darling,youare my gift.” He brushed his lips against her earlobe. “The most wonderful one imaginable. I don’t need anything else.”

With an affectionate squeeze of her shoulders, he dropped his hands away and stepped back. If he didn’t, he might just say to hell with the dinner and all propriety, snatch her into his arms, and carry her away to the nearest bed to ravish her.

“Thank you.” Helena’s face was radiant as she touched the necklace. “You are so thoughtful.”

He winked at Alice and repeated to Helena the same words he’d told the little girl earlier, “I thought you could use a necklace to finish your outfit.”

“Oh, Papa!” Alice giggled.

Gabe hurried down the table to her, lifted her from her chair, and swung her in a circle. Bright laughter poured from her, and she threw her arms around his neck to tightly hug him.

“Say goodnight to our guests, Lady Alice,” he ordered with a kiss to her forehead. “Dinner’s over. It’s time to head up to bed.”

She pouted at that declaration but didn’t complain as he set her down and handed her over to Verity. His aunt placed a kiss to his cheek and wished him a good night, then placed her hand on Helena’s arm as she passed her on the way to the house to take Alice back to Nanny Potts.

“I’ll come your room later tonight, my dear, forthe talk,” she whispered to Helena, but Gabe overheard and bit back a laugh at Helena’s startled expression as she gaped after his aunt.

She slid him a worried look. “She doesn’t mean…”

“Oh, yes.” He couldn’t hold back the laughter any longer. But he leaned over to bring his lips to her ear. “Take the ladies into the house, and meet me in the library in ten minutes.”

She nodded and led the ladies across the dark lawn toward the house, where the main drawing room awaited with a warm fire, decanters of claret and urns of coffee, and the card tables already set up.

After the women left, Gabe lingered outside with the men just long enough to order the grooms to set fire to the piled wood and make certain glasses of port and cognac made their rounds. Then he sauntered off toward the house, a bounce in his step.

Helena was waiting for him when he slipped into the dark library and securely locked the door behind himself. This would be the last moment of privacy they would have until tomorrow evening after all the wedding festivities had ended, and he wanted to make the most of it.

She stood near the window in the soft moonlight and the faint glow of the lamps and torches on the lawn beyond the glass, looking ethereal, beautiful, angelic…stunning. He could hear the quickening of her breath as he slowly approached her through the shadows, could feel the electricity stir on the air between them, and he sent up a silent prayer that this physical attraction for each other would never diminish over the years to come.

“I need to tell you something,” she said quietly as he encircled her in his arms. Her hands rested on his chest, and the muscles beneath her fingertips quivered at her touch. “It’s about Adam.”

He stiffened.Thatwasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Oh?”

She pulled in a jerking breath as if gathering her courage. “He asked me for money. He wanted additional funds for his trip to the Caribbean.”

“Of course he did.” His brother was nothing if not mercenary. And a complete scapegrace. “When?”

“A few days ago.”

He frowned. “Why would he go to you instead of me? You don’t have the kind of funds he would want.”

“Because…” Apprehension tingled the hairs on his arms as he realized how carefully she searched for the words to use. Which meant there were all kinds of other words she wouldn’t. Even now, the goodness in her made her protect his brother, a man who didn’t deserve her kindness. She blew out a long breath and rushed out, “Because he thought you had given me a large marriage settlement and funds for the wedding, that I could give him money from those if I wanted him to leave quietly and not interfere with our wedding.”

His gut tightened. “He threatened our wedding?”