“Do you not keep a valet?” The question escaped before she thought to ask him to sit or say ‘hello’ even.
He grinned. “If I did, I imagine he’d be in disgrace.” He, too, eschewed proper etiquette and after a quick bow in her direction, approached and lowered himself into a chair conveniently placed facing her desk.
“Why don’t you?” She closed the cap on the ink and set her pen aside. Three days had passed since he’d returned her home, in a wrinkled and damp gown with her hair tumbling about her shoulders.
After seeing her return in such dishabille, it was a wonder Mary allowed him in the house at all.
Crossing one foot over the other, Gabriel laughed. “I imagine I’ll have to once I settle down.”
“When do you intend to settle down?” He was the same age as Stanton, she believed. “It’s not as though you’re such a very young man.”
He laughed. “I imagine after I’ve married. I’ll have to hire a valet then, wouldn’t want to embarrass my wife after all.” He toggled his eyebrows teasingly. “And it’s not as though I’m as ancient as all that.”
Olivia caught his gaze but then quickly averted it again. The last time she’d seen him she’d kissed him… and more. She’d opened herself up to him as no lady ever would.
And then he leaned back and studied her through narrowed eyes. “You’ve been spending time at the Smith household again, I hear.”
He was relentless!
“I’ve made it a point to leave early in the afternoons, before he returns.” Not because Gabriel had encouraged her to avoid Mr. Smith but because she was growing less and less certain that her marrying the newly widowed fellow was a good idea. “Is that why you’ve come today?” As happy as she was to see him, she was also a little annoyed. “Because I don’t require a keeper.”
“Did we not establish that the two of us were friends? And do not friends visit and inquire as to one another’s wellbeing on occasion?” He tilted his head with a coaxing grin. “I’m doing well, Miss Redfield. Thank you for asking.”
Absurd! This man was absurd.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.
“Very well, My Lord. I’m fine as well. How fares work up at the mine?” The minute she asked the question, the teasing light left his eyes and his smile faded into a shadow.
Despite herself, she stiffened. She’d been reassured over and over by Louella, Eliza, and even Eliza’s brother that the notion of a curse was nothing more than foolishness, and yet, a shiver ran down her spine at the look on Gabriel’s face.
“Why doesn’t Crawford halt production? It will do no good for him if something goes wrong.” Olivia was no stranger to the mine’s history. At times, as much as she hated the thought, she felt intimately connected to it.
He ran a hand through his hair. “We’ve managed to channel most of the water out the back, but Mr. Compton located another leak today, and I’d like to wait for the ground to dry before proceeding again.” His jaw ticked a few times. “Crawford…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to burden you with any of this.”
And she’d rather not know of it but… “Is that not what friends do? Share one another other’s burdens?”
He slid a sideways glance at her. “Why would any lady wish to know of such manly pursuits?”
Why indeed? “You do me a disservice. You do all of womankind a disservice. If the mine fails, then it is the women who remain to pick up the pieces. The women who will raise fatherless sons and daughters.”
“And if women are raising fatherless sons and daughters, it will be on my conscience.”
“I did not intend to shame you.”
“I know.” He shook his head and then forced a smile. “I came because…” He blinked a few times. “I suppose because I missed your face.”
Nothing he could have said would have surprised her more. Because she had missed his face, too, and other parts as well. And she’d only been annoyed with him for waiting to show up in her life again for all of three long days.
And all of this ought to bother her a great deal.
But he’d said he missed her.
* * *
Gabriel had not meantto tell her that he missed her. But he’d craved her essence in hopes that it would drown out the turmoil he faced daily now at that blasted mine.
He’d stayed away intentionally, expecting his attraction to her would fade from his memory. He’d been utterly wrong.
