Lori Brighton - [The Seduction 02] (38 page)

The door opened, and Alex suddenly appeared, looking fit and happy. It had been years since he’d seen the man. His hair was slightly longer, his face tanned. Although his clothes were fine, they were not the silken gaudy outfits Lady Lavender had forced them to wear. But it wasn’t just his physical person that had changed. It was something else…the very air around him. The ease with which he stepped from the coach. The ease with which he smiled.

“Good morning!” he called out merrily.

He was a man in love with life. He didn’t wait for a response but eagerly turned to help his wife from the carriage. Her brown hair sparkled against her blue bonnet, her hazel eyes lighting up when she caught sight of them. But it was the unmistakable squirming bundle in her arms that caught Elizabeth’s attention. Already the woman was talking about having another child, and he knew this would only spur her desire. Not that Gideon would complain about trying to make a new baby, but he hated seeing her in pain.

“Grace,” Elizabeth cried out, forgoing propriety and rushing to the woman’s side. “How well you look. Is this the new little one?”

A smaller version of Grace hopped from the vehicle, her dark hair held back with a pink bow. She shyly glanced at Henry and Cally. There were no polite introductions, but the two women immediately fell into chatter as if they’d known each other forever. Their quick friendship put the rest of them at ease.

“It’s so very wonderful to finally meet you.” Grace handed the baby to Alex, then took Elizabeth’s arm. “Oh, Elizabeth, it’s so wonderful to be here!” She managed to drop into a quick curtsey as her smiling gaze landed on him. “So good to see you again, Gideon.”

“I hadn’t realized you’d met before,” Elizabeth said, her curious gaze going to him.

“Briefly.” Grace flushed, and Gideon was reminded of the time he kissed her in his bedchamber at Lady Lavender’s. “But that is a story for another day, perhaps.”

Gideon bit back his grin, watching the two women stroll arm in arm toward the gardens, as if they’d known each other forever. He’d worried over nothing. He knew without a doubt the women were already fast friends. The younger children chased after them like butterflies after flowers. Mr. Smith stepped from the house, pausing next to Gideon as Alex returned to the carriage for more.

“Please tell me you’re staying,” Gideon muttered.

Mr. Smith lifted a brow as he tugged on fine leather gloves. “I didn’t realize you missed me.”

Hearing Mr. Smith’s voice, Lucy started to squirm. Gideon shifted the girl so she could see the man. His daughter had a ridiculous and unwarranted infatuation with Mr. Smith, which Elizabeth found quite amusing. Gideon, not so much.

“Dear God, no,” Gideon said. “I merely figure the more here, the less conversation I’ll have to make.”

Mr. Smith tickled Lucy’s chin and winked at the child, much to her delight. “I’m touched you think I’m such a fine conversationalist but I was just heading out.”

Their attention was momentarily diverted when Alex helped a young woman from the carriage. Although her coloring was the
complete opposite of Grace’s dark locks, they were obviously sisters. She smiled kindly at Alex, then turned her attention toward them.

Gideon swore he heard the slightest intake of Mr. Smith’s breath. Could it be? He glanced at the man, amused to see him watching the young lass with such keen interest. Aye, he knew a man desperate for a woman when he saw one. He had the same blasted look when he gazed at Elizabeth. What a pair of pathetic sods they were.

With his sister-in-law on one arm and his baby in another, Alex started toward them. “Well, look at you. I’m not sure which is more shocking, the gentle way you hold your child or the smile upon your face. Never would have imagined.”

“Sod off,” Gideon replied quite happily.

Alex merely laughed, and Gideon realized he’d missed their banter. Aye, he’d tolerate the man’s teasing nature because he didn’t bloody well care. He had a family. He had a lovely wife. He had an actual life to look forward to, what did anything else matter? It took an awful lot to get him riled up these days.

The gray clouds were moving to the west, the sky clearing. Elizabeth would be pleased. If she was pleased, so was he.

“As my dear brother-in-law seems more inclined to chat than remember his manners, I fear I’ll have to introduce myself.” The pretty lass gave a quick curtsey. “Patience Brisbane, at your service.”

“Are you both acquainted with Mr. Smith?” Gideon asked, amused by the young woman’s bold tongue. He liked anyone who could teach Alex a lesson and bring Mr. Smith to his knees.

Patience turned her nose up at Mr. Smith and walked away without so much as a hello. Gideon watched her go with amused indifference. Aye, he liked her very well indeed.

He liked her even more when Mr. Smith flushed. Lord, he’d never seen the man blush. “Are you all right?” Gideon couldn’t help but ask. “You look quite ill at ease.”

“If you’ll excuse me.” Mr. Smith started down the drive toward the stables, without responding.

“I’m sure I’ll regret asking,” Gideon said, laughing, “but what the bloody hell was that about?”

“Long story.” They started around the house, following the women. “But the gist is that your Mr. Smith mistook her for a servant when he visited our cottage those couple years back.”

“I see.” Gideon didn’t really see and wondered why a woman would put up such a fuss, not that he had any desire to defend Mr. Smith. “Is your sister-in-law such a snob then?”

The babe started to whimper. “There, there, Julian.” Alex hefted the child to his shoulder, giving the boy a view of Lucy, who watched him curiously, as if attempting to understand what, exactly, he was.

They made it to the rose garden and found the women seated on wicker settees, laughing amicably as they chatted. “No, it might not have been such a calamity, but he mistook her for a
male
servant.”

Gideon’s startled gaze found Patience, who was sitting demurely next to Grace. “How?”

“It doesn’t help that she sometimes dresses in men’s clothing.”

Gideon shook his head. “And we thought we were the odd ones.”

They dropped their line of conversation as they took the chairs across from the women. Tea had already been produced, and Elizabeth diligently poured for everyone. The three young ones were racing around the lawn, appearing only now and again to grab a biscuit. The sun shone warmly, butterflies flittering from rose to rose. To an outsider it would have looked like a peaceful setting, a lovely country estate. To Gideon, it was heaven. Perhaps he did have friends. He had a wife, he had children, hell, why not friends as well?

“Oh, they tried to keep him out,” Elizabeth said with delight. The warm breeze was stirring the curls that framed her lovely face. “But he wouldn’t be waylaid. The man was a raging ox.”

“Do tell,” Alex said with a grin, leaning back in his chair, Julian on his knee.

Gideon didn’t bother to get angry. He merely gave his wife a wink and shifted Lucy to his knee. The day was much, much too lovely to be annoyed. And he was much, much too content to be angry.

“The first murmur from me and the man burst through the door,” Elizabeth added, her green eyes sparkling as she gazed fondly at him.

Grace hid her smile behind her teacup. Alex burst out laughing, startling Julian, who began to whimper.

“Don’t start, Alex,” Grace said, setting her teacup down and taking the baby. “Or shall I tell them the truth about what you did when I gave birth to little Julian?”

He flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “What truth? That I was quite stoic and manly?”

She gave an unladylike snort. “The man nearly fainted.”

Gideon laughed this time.

“Bloody barbaric, is what it is,” Alex muttered. “Should be outlawed.”

Although the women didn’t notice, too busy chatting, Gideon had heard, and for once, he agreed with the man. An orange tabby cat slunk out from underneath the seat, calling to Lucy, who leaned over his knee to get a better look.

“Well,” Alex said softly, glancing at him with a smirk. “I suppose this is when I should say I told you so.”

Gideon reached out, grabbing Lucy as she started to fall. He hated to ask, but knew he must. “What the hell do you mean?”

Alex leaned closer to Gideon. “I told you…we could have it all. That we didn’t have to live in the shadow of our pasts.”

“You’re a right arse know-it-all.”

Alex grinned, turning toward Hope, who had rushed up to show him a caterpillar, Cally waiting excitedly behind her.

As the sun shone down brightly upon the garden, making the flowers sparkle, and as his gaze found Elizabeth, and she found his, he realized Alex was right. Miracle of miracles, Gideon actually agreed with the man twice in one day, not that he’d ever let him know.

He bloody well did have it all.

One Six Studios, Oct. 2009

As a child, Lori Brighton relished the thought of a life filled with adventure in far-off places. Determined to become an archaeologist, she earned a degree in anthropology—only to discover that digging in the dirt beneath the punishing sun wasn’t much fun. She packed up her love of history and took a job in an air-conditioned museum, yet still her thirst for adventure wasn’t satisfied. And so she began to write, bringing the people in her imagination to life on the printed page. With her debut novel
Wild Heart
, she finally married her loves of history and adventure. Today she is the author of more than a half dozen historical romance, paranormal romance, and young adult novels.