Of course, he insisted she should have a maid and a cook and a butler but when she protested, he settled for one maid to tidy the house. That was all she wanted. Sarah did her own cooking and her favorite moments were when he could join her for dinner. They would sit at her table in the kitchen before the hearth. She learned he liked his beef rare and his meals simple.
Her days were busy as well. She wanted the first performance to be in September. That didn’t leave much time for casting the play.
Gavin acted as if he enjoyed listening to her share tales of her day. He always encouraged her, something she had never anticipated. All the other men in her life had been discouraging.
“I’m having difficulty finding a lead actress,” Sarah confided over dinner one night. “The actresses who would be completely right are in other plays and the ones who have read for me lack a certain . . .” Her voice drifted off as she tried to choose the right word, which was also one of the problems. “The Widow Peregrine is a bold creature and very self-possessed. If she is played too strongly, the audience will not like her. So she needs to be soft; however, I want a certain intelligence to come through from her.”
“Why don’t you play the part?” Gavin suggested.
“I couldn’t. I’m the manager.”
“But many male managers are also lead actors. Isn’t that what you told me?”
It was true. But could she do it?
“Frankly, Sarah, I can’t imagine anyone else more perfect for that part.”
“The work will be twice what I expected,” she murmured. “She is a very involved character and in almost every scene. I’d have to learn the lines—”
“Lines you already know fairly well. I’ll help you. We shall rehearse here. I’ll read the other parts and it will all fall into place.”
Fear wanted her to say no.
However, his confidence in her was contagious. “I could do it.”
“I know you can. Where is the play?”
They started that very night with the opening scene. Gavin played the maid, a role that both made Sarah laugh and fall in love with him.
Yes, love.
Oh, love had been coming. Perhaps even before she’d discovered what it could be like between a man and a woman in his arms.
At first, she’d been suspicious of this fledgling emotion. After all, she’d believed she’d loved Roland. She wanted to think her feelings were due to the sex. The act was actually boring when one thought about it . . . but not with Gavin.
Each and every time was better than the last. Her passion didn’t wane; it grew, almost in correlation with her respect for him.
He had only to look at her a certain way or touch her and she melted into his arms. He was a demanding, inventive lover and she discovered in herself that same yearning drive. They were well matched.
Granted he wasn’t always with her. He was the Duke of Baynton. He had duties. There were affairs he attended where it would have not been the thing for her to go. However, he always came to her bed, no matter how late the hour, he returned to her.
And now that he was enthusiastically helping her to realize her dream, well, how could a woman not fall in love?
“Miss Charnock was disappointed you were not in attendance at Lord Trammell’s rout last night,” the dowager said to Gavin when he made his appearance one morning. She was already seated at the table. “In fact, I’m rather surprised to see you in the breakfast room this morning. It has been some time.”
Gavin heard the censure in his mother’s tone. He was not one to disappoint her. However, between his duties and obligations and living with Sarah, he had not been home. Nor had he wanted to be. The only time he felt completely alive in his own life was with Sarah.
She fascinated him. Her mind was always busy. He discovered he had grown bored with the endless bickering of politics, arguments that rarely solved any problems. He enjoyed helping Sarah with her lines for the play. He found the challenges she faced in working with the actors interesting. He could even relate the trials she had managing her actors with his own difficulties with members of Lords and the Commons. Some of the solutions he and Sarah devised to assuage an actor’s fragile pride also worked on members of those august bodies.
He discovered having a partner he trusted to hash over the difficulties and vagaries of his day was nice. The weight of his office seemed lighter when he shared with her. He had a sense of peace and contentment.
Therefore, no, he had not been dutiful in his courting of Miss Charnock. He hadn’t thought of her until his mother mentioned her name.
His mother seemed to accurately read his mind. She looked to the footmen serving the room. “Please leave us.”
Gavin knew he would not appreciate this discussion. He thought about leaving with the servants but that would be cowardly. Instead, he helped himself to the breakfast dishes on the sideboard.
Once he sat, his mother said, “You told your aunt and me that you were open to this courtship. The Charnock family has expectations of you.”
