This time, Bert hurried to do as he had been ordered and hitch the tilbury. The stable reminded Mia of the destruction of Gideon’s gear, and they waited in a tense silence while Gideon fought to rein in his anger. They tooled out of the stable minutes later.
“I apologize for my temper the other day, Mia. I don’t often lose control,” Gideon said.
“I know that. I’m guessing the saddle was constructed to accommodate your back. Can it be replaced?” she asked.
“Not easily, but yes, it can be replaced. Pritchard would have—” He took a shivering breath. “It was Pritchard who created the first one, who gave me the confidence to ride even short distances.”
She reached over and put her hand on his thigh, sorrow for his losses filling her. “I can’t see what anyone gains from doing such a thing. Was it pure malice?”
“Perhaps, but why now? I might have expected it when I first came here—drive the monster out.”
“What has changed?” Mia mused. She could think of nothing. Only one thing was clear to her. She was to marry this man. His sorrows were now her sorrows, his mysteries hers as well.
*
Gideon kept hishands on the reins, though the warmth of her dainty hand on his thigh sent into his heated imagination a rush of other ideas of ways he could use his hands. It helped that his future wife brought a brilliant mind with her tempting body. He kept his eyes on the road as well, considering her question, her clever, very excellent question.
What has changed?
“We’re betrothed,” he said. “That’s one change.”
“Do they want to keep you from arranging the wedding? That doesn’t make sense. Lady Tavernash’s arrival?” she suggested.
“She’s spiteful. I’ll give you that. If they meant to harm me, though, they would have sabotaged it rather than destroying it,” he said. Grim thought. His little bride-to-be didn’t shrink from painful possibilities, though. “Perhaps I’m closing in on something in the finances.”
“Or your family papers,” she murmured.
“Only Marshall knows I’m investigating those.”
“Still, why destroy something? That’s an act of pure malice,” she said.
He had no answers for her. He took the reins in his left hand and covered hers with his. “We’ll just have to take care and watch.”
She turned her hand over, entwined their fingers, and gave a squeeze. “‘We.’ I like that,” she said.
God help him, so did he.What have I gotten her into?
Chapter Twenty-One
Mia insisted onspending mornings with her cousin the entire week, although Gideon knew it had to be tedious for her. He was left to puzzle on his own over the strange handwriting he’d discovered and some discrepancies that had appeared soon after. He looked forward to the day Mia’s blasted cousin went home and he could take Mia up on her promise to help. Another set of eyes might help him make sense of it.
Lack of focus certainly made it difficult to work, his mind being on the wedding—more specifically the wedding night. Bedding a virgin would require care, but the more thought he gave it, the more his growing arousal made him worry he would be less careful than he should be. He had been without a woman for too long.
To his joy, Mia joined him for a walk every afternoon while her cousin napped. No more vandalism had occurred, and the darkness it had caused dissipated. At her insistence, he had sent for his children, though he warned her they couldn’t possibly arrive on time for the wedding. Their conversation focused on the wedding or Mia’s flood of questions about her future home. His comfort with this unanticipated decision to marry grew daily.
Evenings, they continued to take dinner in the formal dining room in spite of the repetitious diatribes from the Tavernash pair. A few harsh words from Gideon put a stop to Lady Tavernash’s verbal darts aimed at Mia the night they announced their betrothal. To her credit and his pride, she kept her backbone straight and her chin up in the face of it.
When Selina, dressed and coifed, announced she was ready to join them two days before the wedding, he escorted both Selwyn ladies down. The Tavernash woman pointedly ignored both of them. Felton Tavernash, as was his habit, gave his food more attention than he gave anyone.
Climbing the stairs, leaning heavily on Gideon’s arm, after dinner, Selina appeared both exhausted and disappointed. “He’s old and fat,” she whined. Mia’s lips twitched, and he suspected she bit back a smugI told you so.
“I’ll help you into bed, dear heart,” Mia said to her cousin, taking her arm and letting Selina sag against her shoulder. She glanced at him, a gleam of promise in her eyes. He nodded. He would wait as he had every night when she bid the spoiled chit sleep well, eager for a good-night kiss. The intimacy of those kisses had grown daily, becoming longer, deeper, and more passionate every evening.
She took less time than he expected, coming to him breathless, with heat in her eyes that matched the warmth flooding him in anticipation. He took her hand, kissed her knuckles, and led her toward the room he had insisted she keep, the one she didn’t have to share with her cousin.
“How was she?” he asked.
“Asleep as soon as I got her into bed.”
