Hal’s handsome mouth twisted.“I daresay.”
Pursing her lips, Gemma castigated herself for straying from the main point as Hal went back to his lunch.“Hal.I have something to tell you.”
“Mmf.”Hal raised his brows, mouth full of Cotswold cheese and Bess’s homemade chutney.
Gemma wished she could say that the gusto with which Hal attacked that sandwich rendered him less attractive, but instead the way he briefly closed his eyes and grunted a bit in enjoyment just reminded her of the way he’d looked and sounded when she…when they…
She swallowed and stared very hard down at her empty plate.Best not to get sidetracked again.
She set the plate aside and wondered where all the righteous energy that had propelled her over here had gone.It seemed to have floated away on a cloud consisting of Hal’s discussion of modern agricultural advances, and the general fuzzy-headedness she was prone to in his presence.
Deciding to try a different angle, Gemma adopted a brisk, business-like tone.“Look here, Hal.I stopped by to tell you that you needn’t come round the inn for the next few days.The new man needs a bit more experience behind the bar, and, and anyhow I’m not expecting it to be terribly busy this week, so you may as well take a few days to yourself.I presume you can find some way to spend your free time.”
Hal’s chewing slowed, and her gaze involuntarily followed the strong line of his throat as he swallowed.“Much obliged, your ladyship.How kind of you to give me warning of my own replacement coming in to take my job.”
Flushing, Gemma huffed.“Barnaby isn’t taking anyone’s job, he’s merely helping out for a few hours in the evening here and there.To give you a break.You work so hard.”
Amusement lit Hal’s green eyes.“The consideration!The praise.The thoughtfulness.Truly, no one is as blessed in his employer as am I!And I suppose this sudden generosity of spirit on your part would have nothing whatsoever to do with your earl?”
Gemma froze for a bare instant before bursting out, “Well, what would you have me do, Hal?I have asked you time and time again to cease interfering in my affairs, to no avail!Every time I have a prospective suitor in hand, you do something to drive him off!Ever since Sir Gilbert Gracy…”
“Do not tell me you are pining for Sir Gilbert ‘Worst Poet Since Byron’ Gracy,” Hal scoffed.
“No, of course not, but he was only the beginning.”
Hal lay back with a snort, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the sun along with what Gemma was saying.“Yes, only the beginning of the extraordinary number of favors I’ve done you by helping to cull the herd.”
Fury rushed through Gemma’s veins like molten lava.Hal’s insouciant sprawl left her with a too-compelling view of his prone, powerful torso above his lean hips and thick thighs.“Favors!You call it a favor that you fleeced a viscount of all he possessed?Or that you took Lord Phillip Daventree out shooting and somehowlost him?”
“As if you actually wanted to be married to an inveterate, and might I add, very unskilled gambler who was no more a viscount than I am, or to an avid sportsman who talked nonstop about the mating habits of grouse.And I didn’t lose him, he very wisely decided to return to London on his own.After taking an unfortunate and unscheduled swim in the river.”
“What about Sir Duncan Jasper?”she demanded.“A self-made man of industry, who came from nothing and is now so rich that even royalty must take note of him!And he was handsome!”
“If you admire the square-jawed, Caesar-haircut type.I liked Jasper, but alas, the dowager duchess did not—she pegged him as a social climber instantly.”
“So you gave them both drinks, sat them together, and let her proceed to embarrass and humiliate him into leaving before he’d even had supper!”
Hal shrugged, his shoulders making a rasping sound against the thatched roof.“If he couldn’t withstand a little light torture from your mother, he wouldn’t have survived five minutes with you as his wife.”
“Oh, so now your story is that you’re defending these poor, unsuspecting suitors from me!All this time I had it backward.I thought you intended to keep me from an unhappy marriage.”
“Why can’t it be both?”
Gemma made an inarticulate sound that wanted to be rage but which she feared sounded more like a snort of laughter.Springing to her feet, she wobbled precariously as she suddenly remembered she was on top of a roof.“Hal!Please.I came to tell you…we have to end this.”
“Easy there, ladyship.”Hal sat up smoothly and curled a steadying hand round her ankle.Gemma fumed and did her best not to wrench it from his grasp—that would send her tumbling down into the garden for sure.“It wouldn’t do to have you falling off this roof.Poor Mr.Woodhill and Mr.Prince would never recover.”
“Release me,” Gemma replied as evenly as she could manage.“I am perfectly balanced; I have no intention of falling.Hal, did you hear what I said?”
“I heard.”
That quiet, deep voice.The wealth of anger, resignation, understanding in his tone.Another crack opened up in her shattered heart.
Gemma ignored it and struggled on.“I do not deny that these last few weeks with you have been…nice.But we both knew it couldn’t last.We were always going to end up here.And now I must go.I need to get back to my guests.”
Hal was still, his eyes on hers.Below her skirts, his large, warm hand was still gently encircling her ankle, his thumb brushing absent-minded circles against her skin.“Back to one guest, in particular.”
“William Brighton, Earl of Stonehaven,” Gemma said, enunciating every syllable as clearly as she could.“He is the one, Hal.I mean it.”
