The fact that they would be within a day’s ride of Little Kissington, where her mother and sister lived, and wouldn’t be seeing them?That gave Lucy a bit more of a wobble.
Everything was just so uncertain at the moment.All Lucy knew was that, given her engagement was entirely false and very unlikely to lead down any actual church aisles, she would vastly prefer for her mother and sister to know nothing at all about it.
To avoid overthinking that decision, Lucy threw herself into preparations for the journey.And she’d gone back to spending several hours each morning and afternoon with Gabriel, who had progressed from his bed to his chair to taking turns around the bedchamber and finally the garden.
The day he was allowed to put on trousers and walk under his own power out the back door and onto the gravel pathway between the roses, he could hardly contain his glee.
Laughing at himself, he tilted his face up to the sun.“I must seem like such a fool, but to feel the sunshine on my skin after so many days indoors—I can’t describe it.”
“You don’t need to,” Lucy told him, squeezing his arm as they strolled.She lifted her face too, closing her eyes.“It’s wonderful.”
“You’re wonderful.”
Her eyes popped open.He’d turned to stare down at her, and the look on his face made her feel hot and out of breath from more than the warmth of the spring sunshine.
“Gabriel,” she’d murmured, half in rebuke, half in…something else.She hardly knew what.Her pulse had thrummed in her ears like the buzzing of the fat bees that bumbled lazily between the blossoms.
“Too much?”His rueful smile made him look boyish.“But you are, Lucy.I wish you would allow me to tell you so.”
“All right,” she’d sighed, as though very put-upon.“You may enumerate my many perfections.I’m listening.”
He laughed, as she’d meant him to, but instead of beginning a litany of praises to her beauty, he’d looked down at their feet moving slowly along the path.
“You hold yourself back from me,” he said quietly.“Maybe that’s to be expected; I certainly don’t blame you for it.But I hate it.Even when you kiss me—I feel it.”
Lucy hadn’t known what to say.He hadn’t pressed her further, and she’d been ridiculously grateful for his forbearance.They’d finished their stroll in contemplative silence.
Shewasholding herself back.Of course she was.She would be a fool not to.
Though not from kissing him.That, she could not seem to stop herself from continuing.
A new intimacy had grown between them since the night she’d comforted him after his nightmare.Stolen kisses and heated embraces were now a daily occurrence, and Lucy had no intention of giving them up.
She knew it was wrong.Gabriel was kissing her, caressing her, telling she was wonderful, all under false pretenses.He thought he was courting his future bride, a woman he cared for enough to propose to.
When, in fact, Lucy had never been anything more than a momentary diversion for the Duke of Thornecliff.
Probably.
The uncertainty, alongside the somewhat cynical supposition that even if Gabriel got his memories back and realized what a liar she was, he’d still more than likely take every opportunity to behave badly with her, gave Lucy all the justification she required to keep kissing him.
Justifications were all well and good, but they hardly mattered when the truth was, Lucy was drawn to Gabriel in a way that frightened and aroused her in equal measure.
As The Gentle Rogue, this man had ruined her for other men before she turned twenty.As Thorne, he had infuriated and enraged her; he had made her like him against her will and her better judgment.
Now, as Gabriel… Well, Lucy was very much afraid that her heart was in more danger than ever before.Because she caught glimpses of The Gentle Rogue and Thorne within Gabriel—the Rogue’s intent listening and focus, and the occasional sly quirk of the lips she associated with Thorne.The sense of something dark shifting in the depths of his eyes that drew Lucy in, her curiosity and need to soothe him warring with her common sense.
Gabriel possessed all the devastating charm of his other personas, alongside a straightforward strength and sweetness Lucy had not expected to find in him.
In defiance of all her expectations and preconceived notions, Gabriel was…good.
As evidence of his goodness, he hadn’t tried to take any of their kisses further.Which was just as well; it was difficult to find moments alone in her brother’s house.
The past week had seen both Nathaniel and Bess spending more time with Gabriel.Bess seemed to have turned a corner in her pregnancy and was suddenly aglow with health and vigor.Her appetite had returned, and with it a surge of energy that frankly startled Lucy.But at least it had released her from feeling guilt at abandoning her sister-in-law in her time of need.
Fitz had also been a frequent visitor during the week of their preparations, which had led to the final development needed to ease Nathaniel’s mind about the propriety of Lucy’s decision to accompany Gabriel to Thornecliff.
Professing a desire to return to the place where he and his darling Caroline had fallen in love at a country house party given by Thorne’s sister, Fitz had invited himself and his wife along on the journey.
