Amelia frowned. “No?”
“I have no intention of marrying, ever,” he added.
The tone made it sound less like a preference and more like a conclusion the world would be wise not to challenge.
Naturally, Amelia challenged it anyway. “Never?” she pressed.
Gabriel looked at her then as though she had suggested something entirely unreasonable, such as inviting chaos into the house and calling it improvement.
“No,” he said again.
Amelia tilted her head slightly. “That seems rather absolute.”
“It is.”
She exhaled, shaking her head faintly. “Most people leave a little room for possibility.”
“I am not most people.”
On that point, she had no argument. Unfortunately, Amelia had never met anyone quite like him, and she suspected she would not again if she lived to be a hundred.
“The children do not require another mother,” Gabriel said firmly as he turned away and moved towards the window, as though ending the discussion by physical relocation. “They require stability.”
Amelia watched him carefully.
“They require acceptance,” he added. His gaze remained fixed outside, though his words did not feel as detached as his posture suggested. “They must learn to accept that this is their reality.”
The phrasing lingered longer than it should have, as though he were not speaking only about David and Valerie. The words sounded suspiciously personal, as though he were speaking about himself. A strange sadness settled over Amelia.
For a man determined to control everything around him, Gabriel seemed haunted by the one thing he could not control. Loss. She looked at his rigid posture and wondered whether he realized how lonely he sounded.
Perhaps he did. Perhaps that was why he worked so hard to keep everyone at a distance. The thought lingered as silence settled between them.
Amelia suddenly suspected that managing David would be considerably easier than understanding the man standing before her. The hard lines of his face remained unchanged, yet she could no longer dismiss his concern as mere control. For all his sharp commands and impossible expectations, he was genuinely worried about the children. The realization softened some of her irritation. Beneath the stern exterior stood a man desperately trying not to fail the family entrusted to him.
Unfortunately, the Duke appears to believe that glaring at problems will somehow solve them.
“I truly will do my best,” Amelia said quietly, drawing his attention back to her. She clasped her hands before her and offered him a sincere look. “I know I have not made the finest first impression, but I do care about the children already.” Gabriel studied her for a moment as though deciding whether to believe her. Amelia resisted the urge to fidget beneath that intense grey stare. At last, he gave a small nod.
“They deserve stability,” Gabriel said, moving away from the window. His voice carried a rare trace of weariness. “They have already lost enough.”
Amelia hesitated before speaking. “What happened to their parents?” she asked gently.
Gabriel’s expression darkened immediately. “Their mother died several years ago,” he replied, his jaw tightening. “Their father died last year.”
The simple words filled the room with sadness. Amelia understood why David seemed desperate for affection and why Valerie hid behind her careful manners. The poor children had lost both parents before reaching adulthood. Her heart tightened painfully at the thought. Suddenly, Gabriel’s protectiveness made far more sense.
“I am sorry,” Amelia said softly.
Gabriel inclined his head once. “So am I. Now,” Gabriel said, folding his arms with the controlled precision of someone who had already decided the direction of the conversation, “tell me how you came to be traveling alone.”
Amelia felt the urge to groan, though she managed to restrain herself. Of course, it had come to this. The questions were not finished; they had merely been delayed.
“I was trying to get away from my life,” she replied carefully, keeping her tone even.
“What does that mean?” Gabriel asked at once, without the slightest hesitation.
“I have never known a life other than being a lady,” Amelia said, offering a small, composed smile as if that might discourage further inquiry.
