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“What did you feed him?” Eleanor asked.

“Some of the other students collected grass and weeds from by the pond; bugs and small fish when we could get our hands on them.”

“We gave him baths,” Sebastian added.

“I…” Eleanor began. She shook her head, her hand still covering her mouth. “Sorry, I can hardly imagine you kidnapping a swan and housing it in your dorm room.”

“It wasn’t kidnapping,” Gabriel warned sternly. He waited a beat. “It was swan napping.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened, and then she burst into such a fit of laughter that she doubled over and almost lost her balance. Gabriel quickly took hold of her shoulders before Sebastian could react. He let out a booming laugh along with her, enjoying the reaction he had elicited after hearing her laugh multiple times at things Sebastian had said.

Gabriel hadn’t thought of the story for a long time, and he was glad that Sebastian had brought it up. He was a far different man back then. Younger and stupider, perhaps, but a little more carefree.

Eleanor finally straightened up, and the laughing tapered off. She held Gabriel’s gaze as he held her shoulders. He knew that wasn’t a good look for any potential suitor watching her, but he didn’t let go. He only let go when the look in her eyes changed to the same look he’d seen before leaving the room after the kiss.

When he let her go, he did so slowly, knowing that Sebastian was hating every moment.

Gabriel held Eleanor’s gaze, neither saying anything for a long time.

“I have people to visit,” Sebastian told them. “Lady Eleanor, it was a pleasure to converse and then dance with you. I shall return to hear more of your thoughts on the things that other men tell you not to think.”

The spell was broken. “I look forward to that,” Eleanor replied politely.

Sebastian took his leave, receding from them, and the air became tense. Gabriel watched Eleanor, waiting for her to say something. If she had demanded an explanation for his abrupt departure previously, he owed it to her to give her one.

Instead, she said, “I must find Charlotte again.”

“Of course,” Gabriel told her. “I am here should you need me.”

“Yes,” Eleanor said, without a hint of emotion.

She stood before him for the count of five before walking away.

Gabriel didn’t plan to stand there staring after her, but he did it all the same. He watched as she moved through the crowd, knowing that he should have accompanied her, until she found Charlotte. Only then did he look away, knowing that he wasn’t fully completing his duty in any regard.

“There’s something going on,” Richard pointed out. “Either between you and Lady Eleanor or you and Lord Fairfax. Perhaps you have done something to both of them.”

“I’ve done nothing.”

“Then why are they both so afraid of you?”

“Lady Eleanor isn’t afraid of me,” Gabriel stated.

Is she?

“Ah, so it’s between you and Lady Eleanor, then,” Richard assumed.

“I am here to oversee her Season and nothing else, Uncle,” Gabriel warned.

Richard still didn’t back down from the conversation. “You seem to be remarkably interested in a young lady you claim to have no interest in other than overseeing. Especially when Lord Fairfax is around.”

Gabriel shook his head. He had once been young and stupid. Had he now become old and stupid?

“Sebastian is competitive. We always competed against each other at Eton, and I suppose that he continues to bring that out in me. I admit that I have no reason to be competitive with him now, but old habits die hard.”

“Mmmhmm,” Richard mused. “Perhaps the greater danger is that Lady Eleanor may eventually allow herself to be won.”

Gabriel turned to his uncle, forming a retort, but his uncle was already walking away toward the buffet table.