“I am the man who is going kill you if you dare harm Lady Berry. Forget her, Hawthorne. Neither Lord Berwick nor I will ever let you marry her. If you attempt anything improper withher, I will kill you. If you enlist your friends to help, I will killthemand then I will killyou. Care to deliver that message to your circle of toadies? Or shall I do it next time I see them at my club?”
“You’ll pay for this!”
“No, you shall be the one to pay. You do not want to hear what I will do to you if you ever lay a finger on her.” Gideon shoved him back into his carriage, tossed a few coins to his driver, and said, “You did not hear this conversation.”
“No, sir. All ye did was bid ’im good day. Amiable as could be, ye were.”
He nodded and told the driver to take Hawthorne home.
“My weapons!”
“Forfeited,” Gideon said with a growl. “Be thankful it was not your life I chose to take.”
He and Bonham stood on Duchess Square watching Hawthorne’s carriage depart.
Lady Miranda and her niece, Gwenys, came running out of their house toward him. Another neighbor he had met at Berry’s charity affair the other day, Lady Gwendolyn Carstairs, also ran out of her home across the square and stopped beside them. She had another lady with her that she introduced as her cousin, Suzanna Carstairs, visiting for the summer from Devon.
Berry must have been watching from the entry hall window, for she now tore out of her home and ran to him.
She seemed about to ask what he’d said to Hawthorne when she noticed Lady Gwendolyn’s cousin and forgot him for the moment. “Suzanna! When did you arrive?”
“Late last night,” the pretty brunette replied as they embraced each other. “I’m so sorry I missed your charity tea. How did it go?”
“Very well. Come over for tea and ginger cakes later, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“And will you tell me the rest of what’s been going on?” She turned toward Gideon and Bonham. “Who was it that you gentlemen chased off the square?”
Berry rolled her eyes. “Ugh, that wastrel. Lord Hawthorne.”
“Is he still after you?” Suzanna asked.
“Yes, he simply won’t give up. It isn’t me he wants, of course. What a horrid man! He sat there for hours this morning watching my house. He thinks if he clings to me like a barnacle to the keel of a ship that I will eventually agree to marry him.” She turned to Gideon. “What did you say to him to make him go away?”
He wasn’t about to confess that he had threatened to kill the man. “I explained to him that neither Lord Berwick nor I would ever allow you to marry him, so he ought to look elsewhere for his pot of gold.”
Berry gave a small shudder. “Good, I hope he does.”
“I am sure you were the soul of politeness.” Miranda tossed Gideon a knowing look. “It is a good thing you have moved onto Duchess Square. I think Berry is in need of this added protection. Hawthorne presently is the most persistent, but he isn’t the only one after her.”
“You mean, after my pot of gold,” Berry muttered with a snort. She then properly introduced the ladies to Bonham, since none of them had met him yet.
“You must excuse the mess I am,” Bonham said as he bowed to all of them and then motioned to his clothes. “I have been dealing with a wayward water pump this morning.”
“He thinks pieces are missing,” Gideon explained.
“A Cowpers & Lynton silver model pump?” Suzanna asked.
Bonham turned to her in surprise and nodded. “Yes, the very devil.”
“My father had one installed in our kitchen only two weeks ago. He cursed like a demon. I can show you the trick to putting in this pump, if you do not mind taking instruction from a lady?”
“I do not mind at all,” Bonham said, looking ready to sink to his knees and shout hallelujah in gratitude.
All five ladies walked over with Bonham.
Gideon joined them but only for a few minutes. He was curious to know whether all the pieces to the pump were there before he had his talk with young Henry. He was not about to accuse the lad of stealing those pieces if he was innocent. Although Henry had probably done something else to merit having his ears boxed. The boy was not quite on the straight and narrow path yet, and needed supervision. Gideon would alert Pudge and Joss to keep an eye on him.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Suzanna advised them nothing was missing. “It is that the bolts and screws go in from the underside of the pump and there are only four instead of the usual six. Of course, the company does not include an instruction for this, which would be helpful and save hours of frustration.”
