Chapter Six #2
“No, Berry.” He raked a hand through his hair.
“This was my mistake, and never something planned. You are the last person on earth I would ever purposely insult or demean. Bonham was rude that first day when you stormed over and almost got hit on the head by that falling board. He should have answered the front door when you knocked, but he didn’t, and I did not want you to think we were rude boors. ”
“Which we were,” Bonham interjected.
“I readily admit it,” Gideon affirmed. “I did not know what to say…or what to think. I just blurted the stupidest thing that came to mind. And Bonham is not my butler but my best friend and business partner, which you might have guessed now, too.”
“Then why do you call him Bonham? Isn’t that his family name?”
“Yes, but there were several boys named John at the orphanage. It was just easier to call him Bonham instead of having seven heads turn whenever I called out to him.”
“Oh, perfect. So your butler is not really a butler but your good friend. And since he had no trouble hearing a single word you said, he was never deaf. Really? And you are the man Lord Berwick chose to protect me. The smartest man in London, he said. And you do this?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” His hand shot through his hair again.
“And later you never bothered to correct it, even after I befriended you.”
Bonham stepped forward. “Blame it on me, Lady Berry. I should have said something when you came by that next time. Please believe me when I say that we never meant to be cruel. But you were so lovely and innocent. And, well, Gideon and I have never encountered anyone as sweet as you before.”
Gideon nodded. “Or anyone so trusting. We thought it was harmless fun, at first. A jest shared between me and Bonham. But then we realized how much our idiotic prank would hurt you, and we didn’t know how to undo it.”
“So we remained complete cowards and let you go on believing I was deaf.” Bonham groaned. “I am truly and ardently sorry.”
“Same goes for me,” Gideon said. “You have shown me nothing but acceptance and kindness. I have never spent a more enjoyable time than when I am with you. At your charity affair. At the Denby Arms. Now here, walking through the rooms of my house with you. I’ve never told anyone the things I told you earlier. ”
“You haven’t?” she asked.
“Well, only Bonham knows because he was there with me when we saw the parade. I’m sorry, Berry.
It was never my intention to hurt you. But this is what comes of my arrogance and pride.
I never apologize to anyone, but I am apologizing to you now.
Humbly and sincerely. From the bottom of my heart.
” He waited for her to say something, but she simply stood there struggling to hold back tears. “I am so sorry.”
“I have to go.”
“Please don’t,” Gideon said, reaching out to her.
“I have to think about this.” She turned and fled the kitchen.
Bonham stared at him. “Aren’t you going after her?”
“I don’t dare.”
“Gad, I’ve made a mess of this for you. I’m so sorry, Gideon. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, it’s my fault. That prank was not harmless and I ought to have confessed it right away. But she looked at me with such faith. Such trust. And that beautiful, dimpled smile… I could not break that magical spell.”
“Seriously?”
“She is magical, don’t you think?”
Bonham grinned. “She’s pretty, I will grant you that. Are you falling in love with her?”
“I don’t know,” Gideon said with a groan. “Possible. This assumes I even know what love means.”
“Well, neither of us has had much experience with that.”
Gideon had to acknowledge that the breathless feeling whenever she was near, the yearning to see her and be close to her, had to mean something.
“As we walked from room to room, all I could think about was that…” He paused and took a deep breath.
“That if nothing ever came of us, of our ever being together, I would have this house to remind me of her. Every wall. Every carpet. Every bookshelf. They would have Berry’s touch.
They would be a reflection of her. That I could close my eyes and feel her around me. ”
Bonham’s mouth dropped open. “Hell’s bells. You’ve got it bad.”
“I know. Perhaps this is for the best. How could it ever work out? She’s a lady.
I am…” Gideon gave a mirthless laugh. “I don’t even know what I am or who I am.
Berwick trusts me to protect her finances and keep an eye out for bounders getting too close.
I ought to leave it at that. A professional arrangement.
Let her find love with one of her own. Just not with that cur, Hawthorne. ”
His friend slapped him on the back. “You’ll get over her in time. There are plenty of ladies eager to help you forget her. Even if Jasmine or Chloe find benefactors, they will always—”
“No, that wouldn’t be helpful.” Gideon let out a breath. “Just leave it alone, Bonham. I’ll work through this on my own.”
But he wasn’t sure he could ever forget Berry. Even if he never saw her again.
She was already burned into his heart, wasn’t she?
How did others manage the pain of it? Perhaps if he had a fickle heart. But that was not him.
Apparently, even nameless guttersnipes could fall in love.
Assuming this was the real thing and not some passing infatuation.
He walked out of the kitchen and into the new ballroom that he and his workers had just finished building. Berry was in there, turned away as she struggled to stop her tears.
He strode to her and took her in his arms. “I thought you had gone home,” he said in a ragged whisper, relieved when she did not attempt to push away.
Instead, she rested her head against his chest. “I meant to, but Hawthorne is still out there. I cannot walk out your front door, and I am not tall enough to make it over the garden wall without assistance. I want to get away from you both.”
But she did not appear eager to move out of his arms.
He was not going to point this out to her.
“Don’t leave. I will humbly get down on bended knee and apologize to you as many times as it takes. Seeing how bad I have made you feel just destroys me.”
“You needn’t get down on one knee,” she said with a sniffle. “I think I need to learn how to be tougher.”
“No, you are perfect as you are.”
She laughed. “I doubt that.”
“The world is filled with boors and selfish oafs. Petty, narrow-minded fools. Thieves and cheats. For every thousand of them, there is one treasure…you. You are the ray of sunlight on a grim day. The one who smiles when all others are frowning. Don’t change a thing about yourself, Berry. There is no one finer than you.”
The tension appeared to flow out of her as she peered up at him and cast him the smile that he would give a king’s ransom to see every day for the rest of his life. “My friends insisted on holding our tea society meetings at my home every Thursday this month.”
“I noticed.”
“We could have switched to someone else’s home. I could have insisted on it, but I did not. We were all watching you. We could not wait to see you climbing up the ladder or standing on the roof. That was not very nice of us, the way we ogled you.”
“You didn’t do it in front of me.”
“No, we did it behind your back. And I let them do it. And I did it myself.”
“Berry, is this your way of forgiving me for the prank Bonham and I pulled on you?”
She nodded.
He gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Thank you.”
She stared up at him with her gorgeous, soft eyes. “Will you forgive me?”
He laughed. “I was never angry with you. Those seven faces pasted to your window every Thursday pretty much gave you away. I would have said something if I were peeved.”
“But it was not nice of us. Weren’t you the littlest bit perturbed?”
He held her gently by her shoulders now. “Berry, if I told you more about my life after leaving the orphanage, I would have you crying again. What you did was not proper by ton standards, but harmless to me. I have encountered far worse. Can we leave it at that?”
She gave a reluctant nod.
“Will you help me make my home elegant?”
She nodded again.
Will you marry me?