“Only for a moment. Show her the gallery. She ought to see the paintings.”
He looked to April. “Would you care for a tour?”
She nodded, rising with him. “Very much.”
As they left the drawing room, April cast a glance over her shoulder. Lady Darnell gave her a subtle nod, and Tulip had resumed her snoring.
Theo held the door open for her, his expression unreadable—but his hand lingered a moment longer at the small of her back.
He is not a man easy to know,April thought.But here, with her, I am starting to see who he once was. And perhaps, who he still is.
Sixteen
“My aunt’s taste leans toward the dramatic,” Theo said as he opened the door to the long gallery, the afternoon light glinting off the polished floorboards. “You’ll find no gentle watercolors here. Only grandeur.”
April stepped in beside him, her eyes already rising to the rows of canvases lining the walls. “Dramatic is rather refreshing.”
“I’ll tell her you approve. It will amuse her to no end.”
They began their slow walk beneath oil portraits and gilded frames. He had never brought anyone into this part of the house. Not even friends—not that he had many who would care to see it—but with her …
“This house belonged to me,” he said suddenly. “I gifted it to my aunt several years ago. After her husband—the late Earl ofDarnell—passed, the title went to a distant cousin. She and my uncle never had children.”
April looked up at him, brows drawn gently. “It was kind of you.”
“It was the least I could do. But now, I want her out of London. The air here—soot and smoke—does her no good.”
“Where do you want her to go?”
“There’s a property in Kent. Quiet and remote. She was born there. Lived there until she married. It’s the only place she’s ever truly loved.”
“And you own it?”
“Not yet.” He paused. “My father left it with certain stipulations. I can only access the funds and the property if I marry before thirty. He always was fond of tests, and I find myself with only a few months left to pass this one.”
April’s brow lifted. “A test like marriage? That’s a rather steep price for an inheritance.”
“To him, it was a measure of maturity, andtability. He would’ve preferred obedience, I suspect.”
His gaze drifted momentarily to the window before returning to her, his voice quieter. “But if I can return that house to her, let her breathe fresh air, see familiar trees… it’s worth it.”
April walked beside him in silence, which was neither awkward nor judgmental. Just present, and it made him feel oddly seen.
They stopped in front of a family protrait. His mother sat on a chair, holding his brother Nathaniel. Behind her was his broad shouldered father who looked nearly identical to him, but with green eyes. Then beside his mother were Theo and his sister, Rebecca.
“After my parents died,” Theo continued without telling her who the people in the portrait were. He could not yet bring himself to, and he hoped she would understand. “Aunt Eugenia took me in. I was… not easy. She had recently lost her own husband, and yet she made space for me. She never once made me feel like a burden.”
April’s expression softened. “That sounds like love.”
“It was.”
He paused in front of a portrait of Rebecca with wild hair and a laughing mouth. Theo had to take a breath to collect himself. Telling April about his family was inveitable, but he could not allow his vulnerability to show.
“That’s my sister, Rebecca. She was older by three years. Fierce, curious, never sat still. She once tried to train our cat to fetch her slippers.”
April smiled. “Did it work?”
“Only if the slippers were made of fish.”
