His regard turned tender. “Is that a yes to my proposal?”
She cast him a glowing smile. “That is a fervent yes. I will gladly marry you.”
Chapter Eighteen
The scandal didhit the front pages of the gossip rags, but not quite as Gideon had expected. Jasmine was not going to be pleased with the result, for the story unfolded just as Berry had predicted: Gideon was made to be the hero who rescued her and Lord Berwick, never mind that it was Homer Barrow who was the true hero.
But a jowly Bow Street Runner who was an old, happily married man did not sell papers. Gideon was deemed the hero because the ladies thought him to be a very handsome bachelor and readily believed he was a valiant knight.
They were in raptures upon learning that Berry had fallen in love with him. Since everyone adored her, both the morning editions and the afternoon extra editions sold out when it was reported Gideon had also fallen in love with her and proposed marriage.
Are wedding bells about to chime for one of the ladies on Duchess Square?was the latest story.
No one raised an outcry when the gossip rags printed confirmation the following day that Lord Berwick had given his blessing to their union.
A fairy tale,one paper wrote.
A love story for the ages,said another.
Everyone had been swept away by the romance of it.
The fuss was still going on three weeks later, and Gideon gave silent thanks every one of those twenty-one days that Berry and Lord Berwick had survived the incident and were now recovered.
He climbed down from his carriage as it drew up in front of Berry’s residence on the now-quiet Duchess Square. She was hosting the Ladies Tea Society meeting in her home.
He could understand the need to hold it here in the first week after her abduction. Berry had been in delicate health, and the only trip Dr. Farthingale would allow her to take was the one home after she had spent two days in his bed. Two glorious and yet agonizing days for Gideon, because there she was, clad in nothing but his overly large nightshirt, her golden hair spilling over her shoulders and her smile radiant, but he could do nothing about it.
He shook out of the thought and returned to the present. Gideon strode to her door as the meeting was about to break up. “Good afternoon, Melton.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Knight. Lady Berry is expecting you.”
He had promised to show her friends the results of all the work done on his new home. Of course, Suzanna and Gwendolyn Carstairs, as well as Miranda and Gwenys Lawson, had been popping in throughout the renovations and were familiar with the progress. But the other ladies were keen to see what Berry had designed for him.
They gathered around him when he walked in and followed him out like ducklings all in a row as he led them next door. Berry then led them on a tour of his home.
Upon the tour’s end, Gideon joined them as they stood in his ballroom,oohingandaahingover the chandeliers that had recently been installed.
“How beautiful!” Lady Alice exclaimed, and wished him many years of happiness in his new residence.
Lady Mabel did the same. “Oh, nowImust redecorate! Berry, will you help me? What a beautiful job you have done here.”
Berry cast her friend a heartwarming smile. “Of course. It would be my pleasure.”
Maude Harcourt shook her head in dismay. “You will need to spend a fortune on a staff to properly maintain this house, Mr. Knight.”
“He can well afford it,” Miranda intoned. “Be happy for him.”
Maude frowned. “But there’s no furniture yet.”
Berry laughed. “It will take several months before all of it arrives and is put in its proper place.”
“Well, it shall be winter by then, and I shall probably be abed for most of it with a lung infection,” Maude declared.
“That’s looking on the bright side,” Gwenys teased.
“You lucky dog,” Bonham said, joining Gideon once the ladies had returned to Berry’s home to bid their farewells and arrange for their next meeting.
“I know,” Gideon said, surveying a home that had yet to be furnished, just as sourpuss Maude had indicated. But the rooms were all painted, the chandeliers and sconces were installed, and the dark oak flooring had been laid in every room of the house, save for the kitchen and the entry hall, which were tiled.
