Chapter Seven
Before Berry left his home an hour later, she wrote out a detailed list of paint colors for each room in his house. “Have your painter bring samples tomorrow. Just the samples of each.”
“Why not a full supply? Then his crew can start right away.”
“Because the colors must be perfect before I give him the nod. I’d like to see how they look on the walls in daylight and in the evening, especially the ballroom. I need to imagine how the chandeliers will reflect the candlelight.”
Gideon smiled. “All right. You’re in charge.”
“No, it is up to you to decide. This is your house. You need to like what’s being done.” She handed the list to him. “Then we will select the right stain for the oak floors. And I have an idea for the entry hall.”
“Sounds perfect.”
She laughed incredulously. “But you haven’t heard my idea yet.”
“I have no need. I trust you.”
“I think you have reached the limit of your endurance on decorating choices in a day. May we resume tomorrow? What time will the painters arrive with their samples?”
Gideon shrugged. “What time would you like them here?”
“Well, you would need to be here, too. I don’t mind making my recommendations, but you must approve them. This is your house and you will be the one living in it,” she repeated.
But he wanted this to be her house, too.
He shook out of the thought, annoyed with himself that it kept slipping through his barricades.
Berry was not for him. It was that two-worlds problem again.
He could not live like a saint. She could not live like a sinner. She could never be his.
Should never be his.
Since Hawthorne’s carriage was still on the street, Gideon returned Berry to her home by way of the stone wall between their houses.
He waited for her to scamper inside before he scaled the wall and returned to his kitchen, where Bonham was still struggling with the pump.
“Cap it for now and work on something else. I’ll deal with young Henry.
That lad is going to get himself hanged before he reaches his next birthday if he doesn’t mend his ways. ”
“I’ll go with you. I can deal with Henry.”
Gideon shook his head. “No, I need you to stay here. That arse, Hawthorne, is still lurking on Duchess Square. Keep an eye on him, especially if you notice Berry stepping out of her home. I don’t know what he is scheming to do, but I certainly don’t trust him.”
“Is he plotting something mad, do you think? Is he fool enough to abduct her?”
“I did not think he had the bollocks to try, but he might if he’s grown that desperate. Perhaps I ought to have a word with him.”
“I’ll come with you,” Bonham said with a nod. “The cur might think to draw a weapon on you, but he won’t try it if he has two of us to take down.”
“All right.” Gideon did not mind having his trusted companion to back him up. As Bonham had said, Hawthorne might reach for his pistol if facing him alone. That snake was just the sort to shoot a man in the back once he’d turned away.
But to take him and Bonham on? The man was too cowardly to try it.
Hawthorne’s driver eyed them warily as they approached but did nothing more than study them.
Up close, the carriage appeared to have seen better days. There were scratches and gouges on the door. The leather on the driver’s seat was torn.
Gideon threw open the door and caught Hawthorne by surprise. He reached in and dragged the cur out, catching a strong whiff of scotch on the man’s breath as he cried out in alarm. “Hodgkins! Hodgkins! Shoot the man!”
But Bonham already had his pistol out and aimed at the driver, who did not seem inclined to forfeit his life on behalf of his wastrel employer. Instead of reaching for his weapon, he raised his hands in the air. “I ain’t making a move, sirs. No need to point that pistol at me.”
“A wise choice,” Bonham said, “but keep your hands raised.”
“Aye, sir. As ye wish.”
Gideon concentrated on Hawthorne, removing a pistol out of the lip of his boot and another on his person. “Now you and I shall have our little talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you! You are nothing but a low, wretched creature. How dare you think you are better than us? My friends and I shall show you. We’ll have you on your knees and licking our boots.
” Each angry word came out slurred, for Hawthorne was deep in his cups, and it was not even noon yet.
“Are you through? My turn now.” Gideon grabbed Hawthorne by the lapels. “Keep away from Lady Berry.”
Hawthorne cursed at him and then snorted. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”
“I am the man who is going kill you if you dare harm Lady Berry. Forget her, Hawthorne. Neither Lord Berwick nor I will ever let you marry her. If you attempt anything improper with her, I will kill you. If you enlist your friends to help, I will kill them and then I will kill you. Care to deliver that message to your circle of toadies? Or shall I do it next time I see them at my club?”
“You’ll pay for this!”
“No, you shall be the one to pay. You do not want to hear what I will do to you if you ever lay a finger on her.” Gideon shoved him back into his carriage, tossed a few coins to his driver, and said, “You did not hear this conversation.”
“No, sir. All ye did was bid ’im good day. Amiable as could be, ye were.”
He nodded and told the driver to take Hawthorne home.
“My weapons!”
“Forfeited,” Gideon said with a growl. “Be thankful it was not your life I chose to take.”
He and Bonham stood on Duchess Square watching Hawthorne’s carriage depart.
Lady Miranda and her niece, Gwenys, came running out of their house toward him.
Another neighbor he had met at Berry’s charity affair the other day, Lady Gwendolyn Carstairs, also ran out of her home across the square and stopped beside them.
She had another lady with her that she introduced as her cousin, Suzanna Carstairs, visiting for the summer from Devon.
Berry must have been watching from the entry hall window, for she now tore out of her home and ran to him.
She seemed about to ask what he’d said to Hawthorne when she noticed Lady Gwendolyn’s cousin and forgot him for the moment. “Suzanna! When did you arrive?”
“Late last night,” the pretty brunette replied as they embraced each other. “I’m so sorry I missed your charity tea. How did it go?”
“Very well. Come over for tea and ginger cakes later, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“And will you tell me the rest of what’s been going on?” She turned toward Gideon and Bonham. “Who was it that you gentlemen chased off the square?”
Berry rolled her eyes. “Ugh, that wastrel. Lord Hawthorne.”
“Is he still after you?” Suzanna asked.
“Yes, he simply won’t give up. It isn’t me he wants, of course.
What a horrid man! He sat there for hours this morning watching my house.
He thinks if he clings to me like a barnacle to the keel of a ship that I will eventually agree to marry him.
” She turned to Gideon. “What did you say to him to make him go away?”
He wasn’t about to confess that he had threatened to kill the man. “I explained to him that neither Lord Berwick nor I would ever allow you to marry him, so he ought to look elsewhere for his pot of gold.”
Berry gave a small shudder. “Good, I hope he does.”
“I am sure you were the soul of politeness.” Miranda tossed Gideon a knowing look. “It is a good thing you have moved onto Duchess Square. I think Berry is in need of this added protection. Hawthorne presently is the most persistent, but he isn’t the only one after her.”
“You mean, after my pot of gold,” Berry muttered with a snort. She then properly introduced the ladies to Bonham, since none of them had met him yet.
“You must excuse the mess I am,” Bonham said as he bowed to all of them and then motioned to his clothes. “I have been dealing with a wayward water pump this morning.”
“He thinks pieces are missing,” Gideon explained.
“A Cowpers & Lynton silver model pump?” Suzanna asked.
Bonham turned to her in surprise and nodded. “Yes, the very devil.”
“My father had one installed in our kitchen only two weeks ago. He cursed like a demon. I can show you the trick to putting in this pump, if you do not mind taking instruction from a lady?”
“I do not mind at all,” Bonham said, looking ready to sink to his knees and shout hallelujah in gratitude.
All five ladies walked over with Bonham.
Gideon joined them but only for a few minutes.
He was curious to know whether all the pieces to the pump were there before he had his talk with young Henry.
He was not about to accuse the lad of stealing those pieces if he was innocent.
Although Henry had probably done something else to merit having his ears boxed.
The boy was not quite on the straight and narrow path yet, and needed supervision.
Gideon would alert Pudge and Joss to keep an eye on him.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Suzanna advised them nothing was missing.
“It is that the bolts and screws go in from the underside of the pump and there are only four instead of the usual six. Of course, the company does not include an instruction for this, which would be helpful and save hours of frustration.”
He left Suzanna kneeling beside his friend and pointing out where a bolt should be tightened or a screw slipped in. The other ladies watched in fascination, and he sensed Bonham was enjoying his lovely audience immensely.
“I had better get back to work,” Gideon said quietly to Berry, for he needed to return to the Musket Club before it opened to patrons.
“I’ll see you here tomorrow at nine. Better yet, I’ll come to your door and escort you over.
Do not walk over on your own. In fact, do not go anywhere alone for these next few days, not even to cross the square to visit Lady Miranda or Lady Gwendolyn.
Have Melton or one of your footmen escort you wherever you need to go. ”
“Are you that concerned about Lord Hawthorne?”