Gigi had the grace to blush. “Um…”
Xenia drew her brows together. “You are not interested in this fellow, are you?”
“Of course not. How could I be? Like I said, we were only introduced today.”
While Gigi hated not being entirely truthful, she couldn’t bring herself to disclose the encounter at the stream. It felt too private. For months, the Viking had fueled her secret fantasies—fantasies that were too wicked and mortifying to share with anyone, even Xenia.
Although the object of your fantasies is not a Viking, is he? Her inner voice was awfully chatty today. Conrad Godwin is a ruthless businessman who has his sights set on Letty’s property. While the offers his solicitor made seemed generous, he must believe that he can sell it at a profit. Perhaps he means to tear the spa down to build factories or some such thing. For financial gain, he would destroy Chuddums without a second thought.
“He seemed rather taken with you,” Xenia said.
“It was an accident. At the time, he was trying to help…although now he is probably trying to fleece Miss Letty out of her property. Please, please can’t we go back and?—”
“We are almost home. We shall talk to Ethan about the situation, and if he agrees to escort you back?—”
“He will never agree to it,” Gigi said darkly. “He’s more likely to call Mr. Godwin out. Then we’ll have to worry about Ethan getting hurt.”
“Ethan can take care of himself.”
At Xenia’s tart tone, Gigi wanted to kick herself for being thoughtless.
“I didn’t mean to imply that he couldn’t,” she said contritely. “Despite his injury, I know Ethan is capable of managing things.”
Three years ago, during a drunken fit, Owen had injured Ethan’s hand, ending the latter’s career as a piano virtuoso. The rift between the two had nearly torn the family apart, and while Gigi had yearned to help her brothers patch things up, neither took her, their baby sister, very seriously. She’d hated watching the people she loved suffer and being helpless to do anything about it.
Truth be told, the feeling was not new. When Owen had bought his commission and left to fight in Afghanistan, she’d only been twelve years old. After the disastrous retreat from Kabul, he’d been declared missing and likely dead, along with the rest of the English army. Despite their grief and shock, the family hadn’t given up on Owen. Gigi’s parents and brothers had taken turns searching for him in Kabul. Despite begging to be included, Gigi had had to stay home and wait. All she could do was pray every night for Owen’s safe return.
The day Owen returned was one of the happiest in her life.
However, she and the rest of the family soon discovered that the Owen who’d come back to them was not the same one who left. Not that it mattered. Ad Finem Fidelis was the Harrington motto, and she would do anything to help her brother heal. After Owen had injured Ethan, she’d done her best to bring the family back together again. Since Ethan had become a solitary curmudgeon and retreated to Chuddums, she’d concocted a scheme to follow him there.
To her delight, she’d found Ethan improved, thanks to his pretty new housekeeper. Gigi had managed to pull the other family members to Chuddums, and secure in his newfound happiness, Ethan had forgiven Owen for what the latter had done…even if, Gigi suspected, Owen had not forgiven himself. Nonetheless, it was a step in the right direction, and Gigi hoped that, with time, her family’s wounds would be fully healed.
“I know you have faith in Ethan, Gigi.” Xenia’s expression softened. “Which is why you must tell him about this Godwin fellow. As I’ve said, I know next to nothing of the upper crust’s rules, and if your brother judges that the situation will not harm your reputation, then I am certain he will escort you back to the spa himself.”
“Mr. Godwin could be gone by then. With the deed to the spa in his pocket!”
“While I do not know Miss Letty as well as you, she strikes me as a woman who knows her own mind. She will not be pushed in to doing something she does not wish to do.”
Letty did have a spine of steel. Nonetheless…
“What if he offers her gobs of money? From what I’ve read, he’s richer than Croesus.”
“If Miss Letty wants his gobs of money, don’t you wish for her to have it?”
“I suppose.” Gigi expelled a breath. “What sort of friend would I be if I didn’t support her choices? It is just that she and I have worked so hard to restore the spa. Now it’s nearly ready, and I know if given a chance, the place will thrive and bring Chuddums the recognition it deserves.”
“You’ve grown attached to Chuddums, haven’t you?”
“From the start, coming here felt like coming home,” Gigi admitted. “I cannot explain it.”
“You do not have to, dear.” A smile tucked into Xenia’s cheeks, and she reached over to squeeze Gigi’s hand. “For I felt the same way.”
As Brunswick, the butler, ushered them into Ethan and Xenia’s beautifully restored manor, Gigi immediately felt the tension in the air. For years, locals had claimed that Bottoms House was haunted, and even after the sightings of Bloody Thom had proved to be a hoax, Gigi believed that there was a presence in the manor. It was like an invisible, spiritual miasma that heightened one’s awareness of feelings.
Gigi had always been intuitive, but here in the manor she felt everything more keenly. The passionate and nurturing love between Ethan and Xenia. The abiding devotion between her parents and their relief that Ethan had found the woman of his dreams and happiness at long last. Gigi even sensed undercurrents from James, who typically hid his emotions behind stoicism and dry wit. Honestly, it was unsettling to realize that her confident, eldest brother and responsible heir was a bit…lost.
It was Owen, however, who concerned her the most. Before the war, he’d worn his emotions on his sleeve, and now his youthful exuberance had been tempered into something darker and harder, with lethal edges that could hurt anyone who dared to come near…as Ethan had learned at great cost. Most of the time, Owen’s pain was a blade turned inward, and at that moment, in the unnatural stillness, Gigi felt his emotions bleeding through the manor.
