White Horses
Page 31
I’m so tired, Gabrielle thought. She hadn’t felt this tired since she was carrying Peter.
The bedroom door opened and Leo came into the room. “Thank God Endersby didn’t want to play another game of billiards,” he said. “I was afraid I was never going to get rid of him.”
She smiled. “Most of our guests sat in the shade in shade in the gardens all day. They are rested. You and I worked.”
He came across the room to kiss the top of her head. “Your ride was splendid. The director was very impressed.”
“He really liked Noble and Sandi.”
“What was he talking to you about?”
She gave him a bright-eyed look. “He asked if he could send me a few horses to train.”
He sat down on the bed next to her. “Sweetheart! That’s wonderful!”
“I am very excited,” she confided. “And very flattered. To be asked to train horses for the Spanish Riding School! It’s almost unbelievable.”
“Not to me,” he said.
She smiled up at him. “I wish everyone thought I was as wonderful as you do.”
He laughed.
“The festival went very well,” she went on. “It is so kind of you, Leo, to have such a day for the neighborhood. So many people told me that they looked forward to it all year.”
He shrugged. “Many people have a day for their tenants.”
“For their tenants, perhaps, but not for their servants and for the whole surrounding area. We must have had five hundred people here today!”
“We fed a lot of mouths,” he agreed.
She yawned, showing an expanse of pink mouth and white teeth.
“You’re tired,” he said. He looked toward her dressing room. “Is Francine waiting to help you undress?”
“Yes. I had better go to her before she falls asleep.”
She got up from the bed and went to the door that led into her sumptuous dressing room. When she returned fifteen minutes later, clad in a snow-white nightgown that buttoned down the front, Leo was gone. The murmur of male voices from his dressing room told her that he was with his valet.
She got into bed and pulled the covers up to her waist.
What a wonderful day, she thought. What a wonderful life I have.
Everything had gone so smoothly. Mathieu was working with a team of mathematicians at Oxford, trying to do something with numbers and theories that Gabrielle couldn’t understand. But he was happy. And Albert had more people trying to commission him than he could accomodate. The circus folk she had left behind had all found other work, and she heard from Carlotta occasionally, which helped her to keep in touch with what everyone was doing. And Leo had managed to get Sully a job with Astleys in London.
All this happiness is because of Leo, she thought. Tears stung her eyes.
I must be pregnant, she thought. I’m not usually this weepy.
She thought of Peter, with his big brown eyes and his beautiful golden curls. He wasn’t going to be pleased to be knocked off his solitary pedestal. It will be good for him, she thought. We all spoil him too much. It will be good for him to have some competition.
The dressing room door opened and Leo came back into the room wearing his black silk robe.
“I was talking to Overton today,” he said. “He has just finished an addition to his house and I was asking him about his architect.”
Leo had been talking about building a new wing on Branford to house the family, and also adding to the property an indoor riding arena for Gabrielle, so she could ride all year long. In fact, he had been talking about little else for the last few months. Gabrielle encouraged him; it was nice to see him so enthusiastic, she thought.
“What kind of an addition did Lord Overton build?” she asked now.
She listened to Leo as he spoke, and tried to pay attention, but she was so tired.
Finally he ran out of words. He looked down into her face and frowned. “You look exhausted,” he said. “You should have stopped me from prattling on.”
“I am tired,” she said. “But I like to hear you talk.”
“You had a long day,” he said. “Between the two of us, I think we talked to every single one of our guests— including the children.”
She smiled. “I think we did.”
He said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think—you always seem to have such boundless energy.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Go to sleep,” he said. “And don’t worry about our guests tomorrow morning. I’ll take care of them.”
“You can take care of the men, and I’ll take care of the women,” she said. “Don’t worry about me, Leo, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? You look a little white to me.”
She hesitated, then said, “I think I am with child. Remember how easily I tired when I was carrying Peter?”
His blue-green eyes lit up. “Oh, Gabrielle,” he said huskily. “Oh, Gabrielle.”
“I haven’t seen the doctor yet, but I’m fairly sure. I remember the feeling.”
He put his arm around her and drew her to his side. He felt so big and strong against her. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“You have made me the happiest man in the world, do you know that?”
“I’m pretty happy myself,” she answered.
He bent his head and buried his mouth in the silky hair on the top of her head. “Are you happy? Really?”
“How can you ask such a silly question? Of course I’m happy!”
“Watching you ride today, seeing how perfect you are, I was thinking that perhaps you missed performing.”
“Leo! How can you say I am not performing when you make every guest who darkens our doorway sit and watch me exhibit Noble and Sandi? I perform constantly!”
His arm around her tightened, and she snuggled her cheek into his shoulder. “This life is much better for the horses,” she said. “And we have lent the Arabians to Astleys a few times, so all of their training is not hidden away. Gerard does a good job of exhibiting them.”
“Yes, he does.”
“I am happy, my horses are happy, my brothers are happy. And I am going to have another baby. Life is good, Leo, and it’s all because of you.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said huskily.
“Did I tell you that I got a letter from Carlotta today and Franz is getting married?”
“To a circus performer?”
“Yes. She is a rope-dancer also.”
“That’s nice,” Leo said.
Gabrielle listened to the beat of his heart. “That life seems so long ago,” she said. “It seems like Gabrielle Robichon, circus girl, was a different person from who I am now.”
“You’re the person you are now because you were Gabrielle Robichon,” he said. “And I’m the person I am now because of who I once was. Perhaps I wouldn’t appreciate my family so much if I hadn’t been without one far so long.”
“That’s true,” she murmured. Her eyes were closed and the steady beat of his heart was making her feel very sleepy.
“If you feel up to it, Overton invited us to Lockwood to see his new addition,” Leo said.
“Mmm,” she said.
He was able to quarry the same stone for the addition as was used for the original house. “I hope we can do that, too…”
Leo’s voice went on, but Gabrielle was already fast asleep.