A chill stiffened Lucy’s spine.“You did escape,” she reminded him, running her hands up and down his arms as if to ward off the cold.“You’re here with me.How is your head?”
“Fine.Except for the fact that I’m still missing more than a decade of my life.”
All her worries for his recovery bubbled up inside her.“This isn’t working.You’re not getting better.”
“The headaches are much less frequent,” he pointed out.“I only had one today, and it didn’t last long.And I managed to get out of bed and move around a bit.I’d like to do more of that.”
She could only imagine.This was a man used to galloping his horse across Hampstead Heath in the afternoon, then riding out under cover of darkness to rob carriages at gunpoint all night.
Maybe that dream was simply about him feeling confined to the bedchamber.
“I think we need to make a change,” she decided, sitting up on her knees beside him.“All my reading suggests that once the physical effects of the head injury are healed, there are several things one can do to spur the healing of the brain and aid the memories in returning.”
He raised his brows.“Such as?”
“Such as surrounding the patient with the familiar trappings of his old life.Of course you can’t recuperate well here; you’ve never lived at Ashbourn House.You need to be in your own home.”
“Fitz mentioned a set of bachelor apartments at The Albany when he offered to bring me some of my things,” he said, frowning.“But I must have moved in there at some point fairly recently.It doesn’t sound familiar at all.”
Lucy considered this, nibbling on her lower lip in thought.She wondered if his rooms at The Albany would hold clues about his activities as The Gentle Rogue.And while Lucy was, of course, terrifically curious to find out more about that area of his life, she also wasn’t entirely prepared to explain The Gentle Rogue to Gabriel.
What would she do if he pulled open his wardrobe and found racks of black clothing, black scarves, and black domino masks?He’d seemed so shocked at Thorne’s antics.She couldn’t imagine how he’d react to finding out he was a wanted criminal.
Surely that would count as agitating the patient.
He would recover better in a place that tapped into the deepest of his core memories, Lucy told herself.Like the place where he grew up.
And as an added inducement, it would remove Gabriel from London, putting him farther from the reach of Sir Colin Semple.
During her days avoiding Gabriel, Lucy had begun to fear that her known association with both The Gentle Rogue and the Duke of Thornecliff would lead Sir Colin directly to the correct conclusion—that they were one and the same man.
Leaving London felt like a good strategic move, a way for her to protect Gabriel without having to explain the dangers Sir Colin threatened.
“I don’t know why I don’t live at Wycombe House when I’m in Town,” he was saying.“That’s been the London residence of the de Veres for generations.”
“We could try there,” Lucy said, warming to her idea.“Or, ideally…I think you would do best at Thornecliff.The ducal estate.”
“In the country.”He smiled at her, but his eyes were watchful and shadowed.“Trying to get rid of me?”
“What?”Lucy blinked, surprised.“Oh, no.I’ll be coming with you, of course.No matter where you choose to go.”
His smile grew, taking on some of the sparkle and wickedness Lucy could admit to herself that she’d missed.“Wherever I choose to go.”Reeling her in with one of his long arms, he deftly manhandled her into a laughing swoon leaned back over his other arm.“I like the sound of that.”
When he kissed her once more, Lucy gave herself up to it, knowing he would stop them before they went too far.
It was a strange sensation, she thought dazedly as her eyes slipped closed and desire thrummed warmly through her—trusting him.
She’d never trusted Thornecliff, not really.And she’d always known The Gentle Rogue had an entire life he kept separate from their encounters.But Gabriel… Gabriel was hers, in a way neither of the other incarnations of this man had ever been.
And, God help her, Lucy was beginning to fear very much thatshewashis.
ChapterSeventeen
It took a week to make the necessary arrangements, pack the trunks, and weather the storm of Nathaniel’s displeasure over his sister gallivanting off to the countryside with a man to whom she was not properly wed.
Luckily, Lucy had progressively worn her brother down over the past few years, to the point where he only put up a few strong arguments against the plan before throwing his hands up and telling her it was on her head and he left it to her conscience.
Lucy’s conscience wasn’t exactly crystal clear these days, but for very different reasons.She wouldn’t lose a single wink of sleep over the decision to accompany an unwed gentleman to his childhood home.
