Chapter Twenty-Three #3
Sure Aunt Fanny wasn’t looking, she sucked the end of her finger to stop it bleeding, and resumed her reverie about Gabriel.
If he didn’t call or send a letter soon, she was going to have to gird up her loins and call to see him.
She’d have to take Atkins and pretend she was going to do a little shopping in Bond Street.
Poor Atkins. She was involved in her mistress’s subterfuges whether she liked it or not.
And, as she hadn’t revealed Phoebe’s visit to Bow Street to anyone, Phoebe thought she could be relied upon to remain silent. This sounded like a perfect plan.
It was at this point that the parlor door opened and Bowles announced Gabriel’s arrival, as though Phoebe’s thoughts had conjured him out of the ether.
He was here! Phoebe promptly stabbed herself again in her excitement, but schooled her face to calm with an effort. She must give nothing away.
Mattie stopped playing the piano and fixed her curious gaze on their unexpected caller. Phoebe had confided in her that she rather liked Gabriel, so Mattie had been full of commiserations that he’d not been seen for a week.
Gabriel strode into the room, just for a moment his eyes, restless with disquiet, resting on her before he returned them to Aunt Fanny, who had set down her book and now wore a somewhat reproving expression on her face. No doubt she was thinking of reprimanding him for not having called.
Phoebe’s heart began to pound and her pricked finger bled unnoticed onto her sewing. Without being told, she knew without a doubt why he was here.
Gabriel swept a bow to them all, but kept his attention on her aunt.
“Good morning, Lady Brockwood. I must apologize for calling at such an unearthly hour.” Despite the air of restlessness about him, his voice was calm and measured.
Only someone who knew him would be able to divine his lack of composure.
“I’m afraid I’ve been somewhat indisposed for the last week but am quite recovered now. A feeble excuse, I know, and I owe Lady Phoebe an abject apology for not having called sooner, nor informed her of my indisposition.”
The lie slipped easily off his tongue, and she would have laughed if she hadn’t been so diligently keeping a straight face. Papa might have counseled her to beware of throwing in her lot with someone so good at not telling the truth. For once, she ignored his ghostly warning.
Gabriel smiled that oh so charming smile, and her stomach began to twist in anticipation.
“However, I am most keen to make up for my absence by taking Lady Phoebe out driving again, if she would care to accompany me. The weather is a little improved today, I’m glad to say. I imagine she might enjoy it.”
What polite posturing he was capable of. No one could have guessed at his secret…at their secret. Phoebe, her blood-spotted sewing lying discarded in her lap, couldn’t help the little smile that slipped across her face.
Gabriel’s smile worked on Lady Brockwood like a charm. The reproving expression on her face dissolved and she smiled back at him, a little condescendingly, it had to be admitted, but it was a smile, nevertheless. Phoebe could only hope it was a smile of approval now, for that was what she needed.
“I’m sorry to hear of your indisposition,” Aunt Fanny said, not sounding as though she meant it.
“I must admit I had remarked on your absence at the Rucker’s soiree and the Audley House ball, although your brother was present.
I should tell you that Phoebe was most popular at both, and has had young gentlemen calling on her all this last week.
I think we should be expecting to make an announcement very shortly regarding her engagement. ”
Gabriel, who must be well aware that this could be classed as a warning, cast a glance at Phoebe. As Aunt Fanny had chosen that moment to look at Mattie at the piano, Phoebe took the opportunity to show her feelings for these callers by wrinkling her nose in disgust.
Gabriel gave a snort of laughter adroitly turned into a cough.
“Well,” Lady Brockwood, who had missed the well-disguised laugh, said, “if she would like to go with you, then she may.” She fixed him with a hard stare.
“But I refuse to have my ward’s feelings trifled with, young man, and a week is a long time for you to have ignored her, despite your excuses.
I should tell you that I have high hopes that Lord Evesham will make an offer for her shortly.
I implore you not to dally with her feelings if your intentions are not sincere. ”
Gabriel kept a straight face. “I can assure you, Lady Brockwood, that I have no intention of trifling with Lady Phoebe’s feelings.”
Which wasn’t entirely true, was it? Because he’d done the trifling already and she was well and truly in love with him and determined, whoever his mother turned out to be, to marry him.
Phoebe rose to her feet, her sewing falling unheeded to the floor. “Thank you, Aunt Fanny. I should very much enjoy a ride out to the park in Lord Gabriel’s carriage.” She held out her hand to him and he took it, bowing.
His smile was mischievous, his eyes suddenly sparkling with excitement. “Shall we go?”
Her heart rose. “Why thank you, Lord Gabriel.”