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“With what?” Gabriel asked. He took her by both shoulders, holding her in place so he could get an answer.

“I never thought that I would feel this way, but…”

Gabriel felt his heart quicken with what the answer might be, and he hoped it would be the same thing he felt.

The silence stretched out between them and became deafening.

“Pardon me, Your Grace,” the butler said from the door.

Gabriel’s jaw tightened at the interruption.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You have a visitor,” the butler said. “The Dowager Viscountess Ashworth has arrived with her son.”

“Nathaniel is here?” Eleanor gasped.

CHAPTER 29

Eleanor was excited.

She walked quickly down the hallway toward the drawing room, where Nathaniel and their mother waited for her and Gabriel.

The duke strode behind Eleanor, not walking any more quickly than his usual fast walk, but Eleanor was so excited to see her brother after his being overseas that she pushed ahead of Gabriel.

“Mother?” Eleanor asked as Margaret walked toward her.

“Good morning, Eleanor,” Margaret sang. “I am going to retrieve some tea. Would you like some?”

“I just had some,” Eleanor said as she stopped before her mother.

“The maid offered to fetch me some, but I have a feeling that Nathaniel wishes to speak to both of you alone to congratulate you on the wedding.”

“Good morning, Lady Ashworth,” Gabriel greeted politely.

“Good morning, Your Grace,” she replied. “I shan’t be long.”

Margaret went one way, while Gabriel and Eleanor went the other.

This time, Eleanor walked behind Gabriel, not rushing ahead. She hadn’t really considered what her brother’s arrival back in the country had meant. Gabriel had tried to contact him to discuss the wedding, but couldn’t get hold of Nathaniel. He would have arrived back in the country and only just heard the news.

Eleanor had no idea how he would react. He had left her in Gabriel’s care, and now, she was married to him. Her stomach churned at what he might think of the outcome. Would he be supportive? Would he believe that they had fallen in love in only a few short weeks? Would he deduce that something else had happened?

Gabriel didn’t seem to be bothered by the return at all. Still, she didn’t know her own husband well enough to know all of his tells yet.

Oh my goodness! What have I done? Nathaniel hasn’t been gone long, and I’m already married.

Eleanor watched her husband slip into the drawing room, hesitated a moment, then walked slowly into the doorway and into the room to find Nathaniel and Gabriel facing each other, neither of them saying a word.

She positioned herself to the right and slightly behind Gabriel.

Nathaniel looked at Eleanor, and his stoic expression softened a little. His lips pushed up at the corners into the hint of a smile, and his eyes widened a little. He looked much the same as the last time she had seen him, except for the moderate tan he now wore.

“Well?” Nathaniel asked, looking directly at Eleanor. “You have nothing to say to your brother?”

Eleanor thought about what to say.

“I have been out of the country for weeks, and you don’t even have a hug for your dear, old brother?” Nathaniel asked