Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“My study, Miss Shirley,” he said, stepping away from the table. “Now.”
The moment the meal ended, Gabriel rose from his chair and fixed his attention upon her.
His expression alone informed her that she was about to receive criticism.
Amelia had known him for less than a day and already recognized that particular look.
It was the same expression a general might wear before discussing a failed military campaign.
Amelia followed him through the sprawling corridors of Anderton Manor, struggling to keep pace with his long stride.
Portraits of stern-looking ancestors lined the walls, each appearing just as cheerful as Gabriel himself.
Rich tapestries hung between enormous windows while polished furniture gleamed beneath crystal lamps.
Every corner whispered wealth. Amelia found herself wondering if her father’s entire estate could fit inside this one house.
Gabriel remained silent as he led her onward.
Amelia was secretly grateful for that because she needed a moment to collect her thoughts.
Her first morning had hardly been flawless.
She had challenged a duke over punctuality, accidentally made his niece laugh, and negotiated with a stubborn six-year-old over porridge.
Looking back upon it, perhaps it had been more eventful than successful.
Still, David had eaten the porridge in the end; surely that deserved some credit.
They entered the study, and Gabriel closed the door behind them.
The room was large, masculine, and intimidating, much like its owner.
Books filled entire walls while maps, ledgers, and correspondence occupied a massive mahogany desk.
Amelia turned to face him just as Gabriel stepped closer. Then closer still.
Her breath caught unexpectedly.
Good heavens.
The man was entirely too tall. Standing this near to him felt rather like standing beside a cliff. Amelia was not entirely certain whether her sudden nervousness stemmed from intimidation or attraction. The uncertainty annoyed her.
“The breakfast was not promising,” Gabriel said bluntly, folding his arms across his chest.
Amelia blinked.
Straight to the execution. No trial whatsoever.
“With respect, Your Grace,” she replied, lifting her chin slightly, “I barely know everyone’s names.”
Gabriel’s expression remained unchanged.
“I have known your family for approximately a couple of hours,” Amelia continued, gesturing lightly with one hand. “I do not yet understand their habits, preferences, fears, or temperaments.”
“You are the governess,” Gabriel said, as though saying it might finally anchor her into place.
“I am aware,” Amelia replied evenly, resisting the urge to point out that she was not suffering from memory loss.
“Then govern,” he said.
Amelia stared at him for a moment, genuinely unsure whether he understood the limits of human capability. “I cannot perform miracles,” she said at last.
Gabriel raised one eyebrow, as though she had offered him a particularly weak excuse. “No?”
“No,” she repeated, folding her arms. “I cannot solve years of family difficulties between breakfast and tea.”
The words left her mouth cleanly, and only a heartbeat later did she realize precisely what she had admitted to a man who looked as though he collected failures and stored them for later use. Amelia watched his expression harden.
Oh, excellent. I’ve done it again. Why can't I keep my words to myself?
“I am not asking for miracles,” Gabriel said quietly.
The calmness of his tone was worse than anger; it carried the weight of something already decided. “I am asking you to take your duties seriously.”
“I do take them seriously,” Amelia replied at once.
“Do you?”
His grey eyes held hers without wavering, and Amelia suddenly felt as though she were no longer speaking but being assessed. Every hesitation, every breath, every unguarded instinct seemed to be placed under scrutiny.
Judged. Measured. Found wanting.
“If I believed otherwise,” Gabriel continued, taking a single step closer, “I would not have offered you the position.”
Amelia swallowed, suddenly aware of how much smaller the room felt than it had moments ago. Or perhaps it was not the room at all. Perhaps it was simply the fact that Gabriel Warring occupied space as though it belonged to him by right.
“My family has already endured enough disappointment,” he said, his voice lower now, stripped of its earlier sharpness. “I refuse to disappoint them again.”
The words altered something in her attention. No disappointment in them. Disappointment from them. The distinction mattered more than she expected.
Amelia studied him more carefully then, the irritation giving way, reluctantly, to something closer to understanding.
There was something genuine beneath the severity, something restrained and tightly held.
Concern, certainly. And beneath that, something heavier she could not quite name but recognized all the same.
Before she could stop herself, curiosity overtook caution.
“Have you ever considered marrying?” she asked.
Gabriel blinked once, slowly, as though recalibrating the conversation after an unexpected disruption. Amelia sensed she had not followed the approved conversational path. Still, she pressed on before she could reconsider.
“The children have suffered terrible losses,” she said. “Surely they might benefit from having a mother.”
Silence settled over the study at once. Gabriel’s expression shifted, becoming unreadable in a way that was almost immediate, as though he had deliberately closed a door she had not realized was open.
“No,” he said flatly. The word landed with finality.
Amelia frowned. “No?”
“I have no intention of marrying, ever,” he added.
The tone made it sound less like a preference and more like a conclusion the world would be wise not to challenge.
Naturally, Amelia challenged it anyway. “Never?” she pressed.
Gabriel looked at her then as though she had suggested something entirely unreasonable, such as inviting chaos into the house and calling it improvement.
“No,” he said again.
Amelia tilted her head slightly. “That seems rather absolute.”
“It is.”
She exhaled, shaking her head faintly. “Most people leave a little room for possibility.”
“I am not most people.”
On that point, she had no argument. Unfortunately, Amelia had never met anyone quite like him, and she suspected she would not again if she lived to be a hundred.
“The children do not require another mother,” Gabriel said firmly as he turned away and moved towards the window, as though ending the discussion by physical relocation. “They require stability.”
Amelia watched him carefully.
“They require acceptance,” he added. His gaze remained fixed outside, though his words did not feel as detached as his posture suggested. “They must learn to accept that this is their reality.”
The phrasing lingered longer than it should have, as though he were not speaking only about David and Valerie. The words sounded suspiciously personal, as though he were speaking about himself. A strange sadness settled over Amelia.
For a man determined to control everything around him, Gabriel seemed haunted by the one thing he could not control. Loss. She looked at his rigid posture and wondered whether he realized how lonely he sounded.
Perhaps he did. Perhaps that was why he worked so hard to keep everyone at a distance. The thought lingered as silence settled between them.
Amelia suddenly suspected that managing David would be considerably easier than understanding the man standing before her.
The hard lines of his face remained unchanged, yet she could no longer dismiss his concern as mere control.
For all his sharp commands and impossible expectations, he was genuinely worried about the children.
The realization softened some of her irritation.
Beneath the stern exterior stood a man desperately trying not to fail the family entrusted to him.
Unfortunately, the Duke appears to believe that glaring at problems will somehow solve them.
“I truly will do my best,” Amelia said quietly, drawing his attention back to her.
She clasped her hands before her and offered him a sincere look.
“I know I have not made the finest first impression, but I do care about the children already.” Gabriel studied her for a moment as though deciding whether to believe her.
Amelia resisted the urge to fidget beneath that intense grey stare. At last, he gave a small nod.
“They deserve stability,” Gabriel said, moving away from the window. His voice carried a rare trace of weariness. “They have already lost enough.”
Amelia hesitated before speaking. “What happened to their parents?” she asked gently.
Gabriel’s expression darkened immediately. “Their mother died several years ago,” he replied, his jaw tightening. “Their father died last year.”
The simple words filled the room with sadness.
Amelia understood why David seemed desperate for affection and why Valerie hid behind her careful manners.
The poor children had lost both parents before reaching adulthood.
Her heart tightened painfully at the thought.
Suddenly, Gabriel’s protectiveness made far more sense.
“I am sorry,” Amelia said softly.
Gabriel inclined his head once. “So am I. Now,” Gabriel said, folding his arms with the controlled precision of someone who had already decided the direction of the conversation, “tell me how you came to be traveling alone.”
Amelia felt the urge to groan, though she managed to restrain herself. Of course, it had come to this. The questions were not finished; they had merely been delayed.
“I was trying to get away from my life,” she replied carefully, keeping her tone even.
“What does that mean?” Gabriel asked at once, without the slightest hesitation.
“I have never known a life other than being a lady,” Amelia said, offering a small, composed smile as if that might discourage further inquiry.
Gabriel stared at her in silence. Amelia continued to smile politely. The Duke remained entirely unmoved by it.
“And that is a bad thing?” he asked after a pause.
“No, not entirely, but it has meant that I have not had the ability to be useful and live a life with purpose. I only exist to be presented to potential suitors and nothing more,” she answered.
His expression grew noticeably flatter, as though the concept of her explanation had physically exhausted him. Amelia considered that a small but genuine accomplishment. She could not help but notice how his eyes sparkled just a little when a matter piqued his interest.
“And that is all the answer I am to expect,” Gabriel said.
Amelia shifted her stance and folded her arms, mirroring his posture with deliberate defiance. “You are remarkably nosy,” she observed.
Gabriel’s eyebrow rose slightly. “And you are remarkably evasive.”
Amelia felt her breath catch as he lifted that brow. Something about the manner in which he spoke to her made him seem much more attractive than before.
Keep focused, Amelia. Your freedom depends on it. Do not be distracted by those eyes.
This was precisely why she looked away instead of responding.
“What are your plans for the future?” Gabriel asked.
Amelia blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift. “My future?”
“Yes.”
She searched quickly for something that would sound respectable, structured, and entirely unconnected to her actual circumstances. Anything that did not involve fleeing an unwanted marriage or commandeering a carriage through questionable judgment.
“I am considering my options,” she said at last.
Gabriel’s expression suggested he had anticipated exactly that answer and found it entirely unconvincing.
“What options?” he pressed.
“Various options,” Amelia replied.
“Such as?”
She exhaled slowly, feeling the conversation slip further out of her control. “You would make a terrifying magistrate,” she muttered under her breath.
“I shall uncover the truth soon enough,” Gabriel said calmly, as though he were discussing the weather, “so you may as well tell me now.”
Amelia looked at him sharply. The certainty in his tone was infuriating. He spoke as if people’s private histories were simply another matter of estate management, something to be cataloged and resolved between more important duties.
“I am beginning to understand why everyone in this house looks nervous around you,” she said under her breath.
A faint flicker of annoyance crossed Gabriel’s face at that remark. Amelia noticed it immediately and, despite herself, considered it a small victory.
“You are being a rebel without reason,” Gabriel said.
“Like… Valerie, perhaps?” she suggested.
Before Gabriel could continue his relentless interrogation, a knock sounded at the door. A moment later, it opened, and a gentleman entered the study. He appeared several years older than Gabriel and carried himself with easy confidence.
“Ah, there you are,” the newcomer said as he stepped inside. “You sent for me.”
Gabriel nodded. “John.”
The gentleman turned towards Amelia and offered a warm smile. “Dr. John Hunt,” he said, bowing slightly. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Amelia immediately liked him. Anyone capable of smiling in Gabriel’s presence possessed unusual courage.
“Likewise, Doctor,” she replied.
“I see you have recovered,” John said, glancing towards Gabriel. “His Grace has been worrying over it.”
Gabriel frowned. “I have not been worrying.”
John ignored him entirely. “It would ease everyone’s minds if I examined you once more.”
Amelia looked from one man to the other.
The realization puzzled her.
Why did the Duke care?
“Of course,” she said.
“Excellent.” John gestured towards the door. “The parlor has better light.”
Amelia followed him from the study. A moment later, she heard footsteps behind her. Turning slightly, she discovered Gabriel was following.
Her confusion deepened. The man questioned her like a criminal yet worried over a minor head injury.
None of it makes sense.
A short while later, Amelia sat in the parlor while John completed his examination. The doctor checked her pupils, asked several questions, and tested her memory. Throughout the entire process, Gabriel remained nearby like a dark and silent statue.
Finally, John stepped back.
“Well?” Gabriel asked.
John smiled. “She appears perfectly fine.”
Relief visibly crossed Gabriel’s face before he could hide it. A quiet sigh escaped him as tension left his shoulders.
Amelia stared. Now she was even more confused than before. The Duke of Anderton clearly did not trust her.
Yet for some reason, he seems genuinely relieved that I was unharmed.