Though it wasn’t exactly a demand, a tension fell on the room. Grace stopped reading the book as she looked between the two of them. After a moment, Faith stood.
“Very well,” she said quietly as she turned to leave. It seemed as though she were offended.
“Faith, wait,” Hope tried, but the hem of her violet skirts disappeared around the doorway. Hope sighed loudly and looked at Grace. “For someone who speaks her mind so freely, she certainly doesn’t like to be challenged.”
“Perhaps she thought you were being too dismissive of her suspicions.”
“She has nothing to be suspicious about,” Hope argued. “She’s only trying to make me anxious. Faith has disliked men ever since that painter friend of hers, Donovan, ran away to Paris.”
Grace shrugged.
“Probably. But you’ve never quieted her before.”
“Well perhaps she should learn to quiet herself,” Hope said stubbornly, gazing down at her plate.
It didn’t help that Faith was adding to Hope’s own doubts. She wanted to believe that she and Graham genuinelygot on, and they did—so there was really no reason to worry, was there?
Suddenly finding herself without an appetite, Hope stood herself and left the dining room, consumed by her thoughts.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Although his uncle had offered to host the wedding at Elk Manor, Graham insisted it take place at Lismore Hall. Usually, a wedding would take months of preparation, but Belle had insisted on providing everything from the gown to stores of food for the festivities, as a wedding gift. And since money was no object, everything was gathered quickly. Hope had been slightly apprehensive at such a rushed wedding, but he would be lying if he hadn’t wanted to marry Hope as quickly as possible. And not because of Lismore. Graham simply wanted her.
He enjoyed being close to her, hearing her speak and discussing things that he had never even brought up with the women he had known his entire life. For example, two weeks after their engagement was announced, he had agreed to a fishing excursion with Logan. Hope had expressed an interest in learning the pastime and soon he was teaching her how to cast a reel. Graham had been surprised to find that merely being in her presence made him happy. He thoroughly enjoyed teaching Hope all he knew.
It seemed every time their paths crossed, he became more and more interested in her and everything she did. But as the wedding day approached, the urge to tell Hope the truth weighed heavily on Graham. He didn’t want to marry her without explaining Belle’s offer, but the more he spent time with Hope, the further away he got from the truth. As much as he wanted to be honest with her, every time he was with her, he got so caught up in the pleasure of her company that the idea of uncomfortable confessions totally slipped from his mind.
For example, there had been the day he had travelled to Lismore Hall to tend to his bees. He had quite forgotten himself in his work when the old wooden door that led into the walled garden creaked out, catching his attention. He looked up and saw Hope, dressed in a cream-colored day gown with evergreenpiping. She wore no hat or hair covering, her dark hair piled elegantly atop her head, and she smiled coyly at him, as though she were sneaking out to see him.
“Hello,” he said, straightening from his hunched over position.
“Hello,” she said, her hands behind her back as she craned her neck. Her smile deepened. “What are you wearing?”
Graham looked down at himself, realizing he was dressed very peculiarly, indeed. A long, white cotton canvas tunic covered his clothes. His hands were covered with thick leather gloves and a wide brim hat draped with a fine netting covered his head. All in all, he was certain she had never seen such a bizarre outfit.
“It’s a bee keepers’ suit. It prevents me from being stung,” he said as he lowered one of the trays that he had taken out of the hive. A footman sprayed a cloudlike smoke over the bees.
“What’s that?”
“A sedative, so they don’t become angry at me for disrupting their peace.” Her chin lifted as her mouth made a small O shape. “This needs all my attention just now, but I’ll be with you in a moment,” he promised.
She nodded cheerfully as he returned to his work. Graham was meticulous as he gathered a dark honeycomb and placed it into a glass jar. Assembling the hive back to its form, he replaced the top and backed away from the white box. He gave the jar to the servant who, removing his own specialized hat, appeared relieved to be finished with the task.
Graham removed the tunic he wore and handed it to the servant who exchanged the jar of honey for the canvas bundle and hurried off through the creaky wooden door. Hope nodded at the man as he disappeared into the garden behind her. Shestepped forward to get a closer look at the hives. She folded her arms across her chest.
“Inspecting my work?” he asked as he reached her.
“Somewhat,” she said, tilting her head back. The sun shone in her eyes and she raised her hand to block it. “I realized yesterday that I don’t actually know anything about what you do. I was curious.”
“Curious about me?”
She nodded and a foolish thrill went through his body. It was human nature to find joy in telling others about oneself, but the fact that this particular woman was interested, well, it made him feel good.
Really good.
“Very well. This way,” he said as he held out his arm. She took it and a sensation very close to pride filled his chest.
They returned through the gardens, but moved toward the northern most part, where a small glass room had been attached to the back of the hall. It was covered in hothouse plants and only had two points of accesses—one leading out into the garden and one back into the house. Graham had set it up to be an office of sorts, where he could do his experiments in peace. No doubt it was wrong to be alone with Hope here, but they were already engaged and it wasn’t as if they were in his private residence—merely his office which happened to be inherplace of residence.
