Chapter 18
Heathbrook was vastly relieved when Giselle turned up at breakfast, accompanied by her mother, as she had for every morning previously. Her mother wore concern about her like a cloak. God only knew how Giselle had convinced her to unpack and stay.
But Giselle was her usual self, speaking with the boys about the ball the night before, asking them whom they’d danced with and in general making small talk admirably.
He wished he could take her aside and ask if she had made a decision about marrying him, but he knew she wasn’t the sort to be hurried along. He would have to be patient.
Unfortunately, patience was not his virtue.
“You seem to be feeling much better this morning, Giselle,” Evan ventured.
Although Heathbrook tensed, Giselle merely smiled and said, “I am, thank you. I had a good night’s sleep, and I’m looking forward to our jaunt into town today.”
“We’re all going,” Zack piped up. “Do they still have Peter’s Pie Shop near the green?”
“They do,” Heathbrook said. “I stop there when I can.”
“Maman and I always get the pork pies,” Giselle said. “They are quite tasty.”
“That’s my favorite, too,” Kit said. “We should go there.”
“And you have to see the Sydney Gardens Tunnels,” Giselle added. “They’re wonderful. We can drive over the bridges in the carriage, can we not, Heath? And then walk under the bridges through the tunnels?”
Heathbrook chuckled. “If you wish. Not sure why you’d want to do both, but we can indeed.”
By the time they headed off on their “adventure,” as the boys were calling it, the lads could scarcely contain their excitement.
Even Evan, who’d chosen to ride on the coachman’s perch again, was infected, especially since the weather was fine enough that they had put the hoods down on the landau to ride in style into town.
“Another thing you lads may not have seen yet,” Heathbrook said, “since it, along with the tunnels, was built while you were in Broadstairs, is the Cascade. It’s a clockwork village with flowing water. I’m not sure where it is in there, but we can look for it.”
“It is in the Labyrinth,” Giselle’s mother shocked them all by saying, in English, no less.
When they all gaped at her, she said, “That is the word, yes? Lab-y-rinth?”
“Of course it is,” Heathbrook said, and smiled broadly at her.
“What’s a ‘labyrinth’?” Zack asked.
“Did you learn nothing from our tutor?” Kit said. “It’s one of those maze things. You know, like the one on the Uppingtons’ grounds.”
“Oh! Those are fun,” Zack said. “Can we see it, Heath?”
“Certainly. Perhaps Giselle and I will get lost in it.” He winked at her.
“Speak for yourself, sir,” Giselle said, her eyes twinkling. “I am perfectly capable of navigating us through a labyrinth.”
“I’ll just bet you are,” he said. “You can navigate your way through damned near anything, I suspect.”
Suddenly, an image leapt into his mind—him with a couple of small sons and a daughter, going through the Labyrinth with Giselle, his wife.
He swallowed hard at the thought. He had never given children a moment’s thought before.
But on this fine day, with the wind blowing Giselle’s curls around her ears and the boys practically beside themselves with excitement to see the delights of Bath, he could think of naught else but the possibility of having a family with Giselle.
She had to marry him. He wanted her to marry him, even though she suddenly seemed to have infected him with this mad desire to procreate and fill Longmead with people.
The thought unsettled him. Because with marriage came responsibility, and he doubted he could manage that along with managing his brothers’ futures.
Yet he must. No matter what she’d said, it would be unconscionable not to marry her now that he’d taken her innocence.
And God knows he would enjoy having her to talk to in the mornings, to walk with in the afternoons . . . to make love to in the evenings. The image was so intoxicating he could almost taste it.
Damn, the fog of romantic love was already enveloping him. And God help him, but he didn’t mind it nearly as much as he should.
“We’re going to the baths first, right?” Giselle asked.
“Yes, of course. Your mother needs her hot springs.”
“We should get a pork pie for Madame Bernard,” Zack said. “So, she can have one later, since she won’t be with us.”
When Giselle translated for her mother, the woman smiled genially at Zack and patted his knee. He beamed at her.
Heathbrook couldn’t believe it. When had Madame Bernard begun to regard Zack almost as if he were her own child? Hell, when had Zack begun to accept Madame Bernard’s treatment of him as such?
Or had Heathbrook just not been paying attention?
Perhaps. He had been so focused on making sure the lads were taken care of that he had ignored the needs of his guests. Well, that would end today. He had to show Giselle that he could be a good husband if she would only let him.
As soon as they had reached the baths, and after he and Giselle had accompanied her mother inside, they went on to the Sydney Gardens.
As it turned out, there was no need to navigate the Labyrinth. In the place where one purchased entry into the Gardens, one could also buy a map showing exactly how to navigate it.
When Heathbrook paid for it, Giselle said, “That is cheating, is it not?”
“You don’t have to use it,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “But I don’t think we want to spend ‘up to six hours’ wandering around a maze in search of the Merlin Swing at the center, do you?”
“Six hours!” Evan exclaimed. “That’s how long it takes?”
“If you don’t have the plan, yes,” Heathbrook said. “Or so the man at the gate told me.”
“Six hours to traverse a Labyrinth that they also said is only half a mile long?” she asked. “I do not believe it.”
“That’s up to you. So, who wants to go with me using the plan, and who wants to navigate the Labyrinth on their own?”
“I’m with you,” Evan drawled. “I have no desire to wander a ridiculous maze for six hours just to get to a swing, Merlin or otherwise.”
“I would rather navigate on my own,” Kit said. “I daresay I will get there before you two do.”
“Do you care to place a wager on that?” Heathbrook asked Kit.
“I do,” Giselle said stoutly. “I’m going with Kit. Whichever group gets there first has to buy everyone pork pies at Peter’s Pie Shop.”
Until that moment, Heathbrook had been sure she would choose to go with him, and that the boys would choose to find their way through on their own, but apparently he didn’t know his fiancée as well as he thought. Or his brothers, for that matter, because Zack then declared he would go with Giselle.
“You will go with us, Zack,” Heathbrook said firmly. “You’ll get too tired out with Giselle and Kit.”
“I will not!” Zack crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m going with Giselle.”
“It is fine if he joins us, Heath,” Giselle said softly. “We may all get tired out by the time six hours is up.”
“I won’t,” Zack said with a frown.
“Of course not,” Giselle responded. “But you will come back if I get tired, will you not?”
Zack tipped up his chin. “Certainly. That’s what a gentleman does, ain’t it?”
“Isn’t it,” Evan snapped, causing Zack to roll his eyes.
Meanwhile, Heath envied the gentle way Giselle was handling Zack. She made it look so easy. “Very well, Zack. Go with Giselle if you wish.” Heathbrook turned to Evan. “Come, let’s head off on our guided tour. But we’ll wait to leave until they do, so they cannot follow us.”
“We do not cheat,” Giselle said with a sniff, then set off in what he knew was the wrong direction.
He had to laugh. The two of them congratulated each other on how clever they were as they walked along the pathway, looking at the mildly interesting views.
They made it to the clockwork village, with its miniature mill-works powered by a real stream of water, without seeing any sign of Giselle and the other two. Clearly, they were winning, so they stood there a moment trying to figure out how the clockwork village worked.
“There aren’t many people here,” Evan said.
“It’s autumn,” Heath pointed out. “I gather that the attractions are more popular in summer, when they have dances and food and such.”
“With no one around, aren’t you worried about that fellow showing up?”
“What fellow?” Heath asked.
“You know. The one who tried to follow us from—”
“Damn it all to hell!” Heath said, and immediately began running back the way they came. “How could I have forgotten about Jones?”
But he knew how he had. He’d been so caught up in the pleasures of the day, the enjoyment of being with her and the boys in such beautiful weather, that he had let down his guard. He hadn’t once even thought of Jones. Some protector he was.
Evan kept up with him admirably. “Is the chap really dangerous?”
“He could be. We just don’t know for sure.” He got to the entrance, then ran the way the others had gone.
“Kit and Zack are with her,” Evan said. “Surely this Jones won’t approach her when she has two lads in her company.”
Two green lads with no weapons? A man whose motives were murky at best? “We’re better off hoping Jones doesn’t have funds for a ticket.”
And that Giselle might actually evade the scoundrel by going the wrong way in the Labyrinth. Because if anything happened to her . . .
Oh, God, he had no idea how he would survive that.
Giselle knew they’d gone the wrong way—she’d done it on purpose to fool Heath.
The truth was she was cheating, too. Because it had never occurred to her dear faux fiancé to ask her if she’d been to the Labyrinth before.
And of course she had, weeks before she’d gone to ask for his help in London.
So, she knew exactly how to get around the many winding paths to where the end was.
All one had to do was slip through the hedge to the path that led one closest to the end. Which they had done, mere moments ago.