Page 86 of A Winter Scandal

“Of course!” Gabriel strode over to her, grasping her by the arms and looking down at her fiercely. “Believe me, there is nothing I look forward to more than coming back to you. And I promise that when I do, we will find some way to be alone and private.”

“For longer than a half hour?” Thea tossed back saucily.

Something in the smile he returned was wolfish. “For longer than a few days. It will take at least that much time to do all the things I keep imagining doing with you.”

Casting a quick glance past her out into the hallway, Gabriel pulled Thea to him and kissed her thoroughly. Finally his mouth left hers, and he held her tightly against him for a moment before letting her go.

“Hopefully I can live off that for a while.” He smiled faintly.

“Will your friends go out to look, too?”

“Myles offered, but I told him I wanted him to stay here and make sure you and Matthew are all right. We cannot trust that the fellow who took Matthew will not try again. So if you need anything or are frightened or suspicious for any reason, send a note to Myles at the Priory.”

“Very well.” Thea felt warmed by Gabriel’s making sure that she and Matthew would be protected. “But I am certain Peter will be more than enough. Nothing else has happened. You must have frightened him off.”

“Perhaps. Alan, I think, has decided that the lights of London are calling him,” Gabriel went on with a smile.

“Chesley has proved too dull?”

Gabriel’s smile widened. “I think it is more that Lady Wofford has civilized life at the Priory.”

“Oh. I see.”

“But he promised me he will check at the inns in the first few towns on the road to see if Jocelyn is there. Ian will take the northern road for me … provided he can withstand his lady’s determined pleas to return to Fenstone Park for Twelfth Night.”

“Will you be back for Twelfth Night?”

“I am resolved to. I do not intend to miss dancing with you. Or seeing how bewitching you look in a mask.”

“What nonsense.”

“Not nonsense at all.” He kissed her again and released her with a sigh. “Now, I must go.”

He made it to the doorway before turning around and coming back for another kiss … or three. Finally, he set her aside and strode from the room determinedly. Thea heard him in the kitchen, issuing last-minute instructions to Peter. She climbed the stairs and went to the window to watch Gabriel ride off down the street. With a sigh, she turned away, trying not to think about how lonely the next few days would be without him.

Before long, she knew, Gabriel would leave Chesley for good. His true homes were in London and on his estate. The Priory and Chesley—and she—were only diversions for him, ways for a bored aristocrat to amuse himself. To dare dream anything else would be setting herself up for misery.

Thea opened a dresser drawer and drew out the small box Gabriel had given her. She gazed at the set of garnet earrings inside the box, touching the jewels with a tender finger. What had this present meant to Gabriel? She was afraid to put too much hope in such a thing as a gift. After all, even a vicar’s sister from a small village was worldly enough to know that wealthy bachelors often gave jewels to the women they set up as their mistresses. It was entirely possible that the earrings were simply in return for her having given herself to him, a sort of sophisticated thank-you. Or perhaps it was what a man such as Gabriel did to ease the sting of parting.

She slipped the earrings out of the box and into her ears. She was not going to wear them anywhere, but it couldn’t hurt to just try them on. Thea turned her head, admiring the way the light caught the deep-red jewel, the glittering gold. They would look splendid with the dress Damaris was lending her.

Thea shook her head impatiently. She could not let herself think this way. She pulled the earrings from her ears and set them back in the box, closing the lid firmly. They must stay hidden away, just like her relationship with Gabriel. Nothing could have spoken more clearly about any future she might have with him than that fact—she and Lord Morecombe were a cause for gossip, for scandal, because everyone knew that there was no chance of marriage between them. If he dangled after her, he would not be looking for a wife.

She had known that from the beginning. Perhaps Damaris was right, and she was not so plain. But Damaris was wrong in suggesting that Gabriel had any long-lasting interest in Thea. He was a sophisticate; she was a church mouse. This was the most wonderful, exciting period of her life, but to Gabriel it was only a brief interlude, easily forgotten.

Thea sighed and turned away from the dresser. The next few days were, she feared, going to be only a foretaste of what her life would soon be like. A life without Gabriel.

Seventeen

With a great deal of surprise, Thea answered the knock on her front door two days later and found Lady Wofford standing on her doorstep. Belatedly, she realized she was staring, and she stepped back. “Lady Wofford. Please, come in.”

“Thank you, Miss Bainbridge.” Lady Wofford nodded and swept in, taking her hands out of her fur muff and glancing around expectantly.

Thea realized that the woman was looking for a servant to take her outerwear from her. Thea smothered a smile and reached out for the muff. “Here, allow me.”

“Oh. Oh, of course.” Emily handed her the muff, followed by her fur-trimmed pelisse, clearly somewhat uncomfortable at her hostess’s performing such a menial task. She gave Thea a determined smile. “Things are so much more … informal in the country, are they not?”

“Indeed, Lady Wofford, I am afraid I have little to compare it to. I have lived here all my life.”