The Making of Mrs. Hale
Page 33
“I cannot help it,” he muttered. “I wish there were more I could do, more that the doctors could do.”
“Which is a form of worry, is it not?” Her hand squeezed gently, too gently. “Believe me, I know of your concern. And I am simply thankful that you cared enough to bring me here, and we can spend more time together.”
His throat tightened, and he shook his head, willing the emotion away, willing the tease and banter to return. “You are good to say so, especially when I leave you for hours on end every day just to explore the cliffs and coves.”
“I am so very understanding, aren’t I?” She sighed. “I suspect that if I did not allow such things, then you would pace the house like that caged lion we saw years ago at the Royal Menagerie, and I would be forced to suffer the pain of listening to you espouse for the hundredth time the importance of scientific discovery, all the while pretending interest in something I dare not admit bores me silly.”
A chuckle pushed past his earlier melancholy. “Yes, I’ve seen exactly how bored you are, asking me question after question. You, my dear, might profess to all the world to be a pious young lady, but I know just what a liar and a schemer you can be.”
“Me? Scheme?”
“You. Scheme. No, don’t go widening your eyes at me like I might not actually know you. I know you wrote that letter to Lord Cole and sought his funding for the expedition to France. I can never forgive you, you know.”
“Never?” A smile tilted her lips.
“Never!”
She laughed. “Yes, well I have seen just how much you have hated being here, being beholden to me.”
He drew closer and gave her an affectionate hug, kissing her brow. How good it was to see the return of her spirits.
“Oh! Before I forget: a letter arrived for you.”
“Do you know who it is from?”
“Well, seeing it was addressed to E. Carstairs, I might have just happened to examine the return direction, especially as it had a seal and all.”
Interest flickered. “A seal you say?”
“A seal, I say.” She nodded solemnly. “And naturally, I could not let such a piece of correspondence pass into your hands without first assuring myself it did not belong in my hands—”
“Naturally.”
“—so I felt myself obliged to open it, whence I discovered it most properly did belong in your hands, so here it is.”
He received the letter stretched towards him and flicked it open, scanning through the closely written pages. “It is from Lord Kenmore.”
“Yes.” Something about the way she said that made him look at her closely, but her dark green eyes only stared back benignly. “Well? What does he say?”
He should have known that, despite her teasing words, she would adhere to the code of honor they both had adhered to since they were small. He quickly scanned the contents, releasing a low whistle. “Well.”
“Well what?” She eyed him avidly.
“It appears our Irish friend wants to visit in the spring.”
“Really?”
He narrowed his eyes at her, but her gaze remained composed. “This is not more of your doing, is it?”
“Oh, Gideon. How can you ask such a thing? Surely you cannot think me so underhanded as to invite your closest friend to a short stay in the beautiful Devon coast?”
“I don’t know what could have given me such an idea.”
“And surely you cannot think I have lost all propriety as to write to an unmarried man?”
“You are certainly not the poor innocent you like people to think.”
“Again, you make me sound like I’m a schemer, when I am anything but. Don’t look at me like that! If you must know, I might have mentioned the potential for an invitation in my letter to Lady Cardross, and if she happened to mention it to her brother, well, I cannot be held responsible for that. Nor for any inclination of his to want to see you. Nor for the fact Aidan might find your work here of great interest.”
“Aidan, is it?”
“That is his name. Really, I do think you are most unkind to your poor Emma.”
“Poor Emma indeed,” he said, flicking the letter back and forth.
“Well, if you don’t like the idea, then write and tell him no. It makes no difference to me.”
“Does it not?”
A trace of color filled her cheeks. “It does not, and casting aspersions to the contrary does you no favors.”
“Well then, there is only one thing for it.” Gideon held out his hand and helped her to her feet. “We best return inside before those clouds resume delivering the rain they appear to promise, so I can write my reply.”
Her hand grasped his forearm a little tighter. “And that reply would be?”
“That it would be preferable that he arrive at his earliest convenience.”
The hand clutching his arm relaxed. “Truly?”
“Truly,” he said, escorting her inside just as spits of rain recommenced.
For why shouldn’t he want his fellow scientist and closest friend to assist him as they sought to unravel one of the greatest mysteries in the natural world?