Page 91 of Winning Her Duke

“Yes. It’s just my mother now that my sister married last year. I thought it would be easier this year not having to worry about finding a husband for my sister. But alas, my mother has turned her sights on me.”

“She wishes to marry you off next?”

“Yes.” He let out a breath. “I suppose it is time. I’ve held her off long enough.”

“At least your mother did not feign a medical crisis to trick you into coming to London.”

He tilted his head to study her.

“Truly?” He was smiling.

“Unfortunately, yes. Had I not been so concerned for my father’s wellbeing, I might have noticed how atrocious his acting abilities were.”

They shared another laugh and Gia felt a kinship start to form for the man leading her around the dance floor. He was perfectly polite. They had shared interests.

Perhaps this could be enough.

*

After a tiring journey, Hale arrived home in time to change from his traveling clothes, bathe, and leave again for visiting hours. The last hour of his trip, he’d wished he had one of his horses so he could get to Gia faster.

He knew he’d missed her while he’d been away, but as he grew closer to London, his need for her continued to grow.

More than a few times, as he’d been overseeing the design for the expansion of his stables or upgrades for the castle, had Hale thought he should have proposed to Gia before he’d left. But he’d wanted to have his house in order so when he proposed and she said, yes—Dear God, let her say yes—they could marry immediately, and he could take her to her new home.

He knocked on the door at Tomison House, while hoping Lady Tomison would leave them alone so he might kiss Gia and tell her how he’d thought of her. Perhaps she’d sneak into his bed that night. He would need to speak to her father. Should he propose to her first or after speaking to Lord Waverly?

Luther greeted him with a look of surprise.

“Your Grace, it’s been some time. Miss Gia is in the drawing room.”

Hale gave a nod and headed in that direction, surprised that Gia wasn’t painting in the gardens. It was a beautiful June day.

He strode into the room to find the most peculiar thing. Gia and her maid occupied two chairs by the windows and Gia was… embroidering.

When she looked up, she smiled, but not with the excitement he’d hoped for.

“Your Grace, you’ve returned. I hope you had a pleasant trip. I was worried.”

She was more than worried. She was cross with him for leaving without an explanation. Or not sending a note to explain further, and she was justified in her anger. He’d only wanted it to be a surprise.

“I apologize. I should have sent—”

“No. I’m the one to apologize. Of course, you weren’t required to tell me anything. It is surely none of my business.”

He worried he’d somehow stumbled into a trap, but Gia continued to smile as she tugged a bright blue thread through the fabric in her lap.

“Whatever are you doing?” he finally asked when the curiosity became too much to bear.

She held up a jumbled mess of blue thread.

“It’s a flower,” she said with more than a hint of challenge in her eyes. If it was a flower, he was a goat.

“What kind, a forget-me-knot?” He chuckled at his pun as Gia frowned at her creation. Why did she not laugh? “It was a play on the name of the flower.” A jest rather lost its sparkle when one had to explain it.

“Oh, yes, Your Grace.” Gia tittered a laugh. Tittered. Gia never tittered. “It is rather a mess, isn’t it? However, it is much better than my last attempt.”

This was not the first time she’d sat in the drawing room while embroidering?