He sat down on the grass and Althea had settled onto his lap, Peaches cuddled into his daughter’s much smaller one.
Jasper’s words took all the air out of Miss Fortune’s sails. And watching her now, he knew more than ever that he’d made the right choice for his daughters.
She closed her eyes and then nodded. And yet… something still seemed to be bothering her.
“Thea,” Eloise hopped up and down. “The ducks are swimming close. Miss Fortune, may we feed them the bread crumbs now?”
Miss Fortune opened the basket and handed Althea a familiar looking bag. “But I’ll have to hold the leading string for now, darling,” she explained. “Or Peaches will chase all the ducks away.”
Jasper watched his two daughters skip to the water’s edge and begin gently tossing treats to the fowl. “They can be a handful, I’ll admit, but…” He shook his head. How could he explain the love he felt for those two little urchins?
“They’re rather like having a handful of wonder, or rainbows, or laughter.” She laughed.
He turned and met her eyes. “So, you have no additional scolds for me?” A smile danced on his lips. Why did the idea of her scolding him raise his temperature ever so slightly?
She leaned back. The dog settled onto the blanket. Jasper realized her hand was only a scant few inches away from his.
“Is it true you plan on sending the girls back to Warwick Place soon?” A trace of disappointment lingered in her question.
As matter of fact, he had considered sending them back with their new governess…
Initially.
The idea had seemed so rational at the time. And when he’d mentioned it to his mother she’d readily agreed.
“I had considered it.” He admitted. “I had doubts as to how they’d fare in the city. I knew Parliament would demand a good deal of my time and…” He’d planned on finding a lady to marry. But now that he’d arrived, and met Lady Elaine and a few of the other, oh, so very young debutantes, he had no desire to send his daughters away from him.
He had no desire to send Miss Fortune away.
Despite his sleepless nights and frustrated days. The air between them hung thick and heavy. He vibrated inside. He stared down at their hands and edged his one inch closer to hers.
“I,” she began and then cleared her throat. “I believe they would miss you a great deal.” Had her hand moved a fraction of an inch closer to his?
Eloise squealed, distracting him a moment. Several of the ducks fled back into the water and Althea threw a handful of bread at them. Eloise took Althea’s hand and the girls jumped up and down. “Come back, ducks! Come back!”
Miss Fortune’s laughter echoed his own in a moment of pure contentment. He moved his hand closer, so that his pinky finger barely skimmed hers.
She did not attempt to draw it away.
“I would miss them.” I would miss you.
He glanced sideways in time to see her swallow hard and then bite her lip.
“Mrs. Crabtree has stayed away. I haven’t found any new drawings.”
Jasper despised himself for not ridding the nursery of that woman earlier. “I thank you for bringing them to my attention.” The circles beneath Eloise’s eyes had lightened. She’d not awakened him to come to the nursery since that last disastrous morning.
“Perhaps the nightmares will not return.”
They both sat in silence, the touch of their hands hardly more than a whisper. Sitting on the grass with her on a warm spring afternoon, he would not even attempt to deny not only the desire, but the belonging he felt in that moment.
He’d kissed her over a decade ago––and had remembered the night with more than a little fondness. More recently, he’d held her and kissed her in the Duke and Duchess of Marvelle’s garden. Ever since, he’d thought of nothing but making her his in every way. She’d become his mecca, his home.
Jasper blinked at his ridiculous metaphors.
He understood his lust for her all too clearly. His thoughts became muddied and clouded at the other emotions she invoked.
“I will not make any plans regarding the girls without discussing them first with you. You needn’t worry.” He’d reassure her whenever possible. He could not think of her as a woman, and neither could he treat her as an employee.
