Page 37 of An Affair at Stonecliffe

“He has been upstairs in the schoolroom.” Adeline clasped her hands tightly in her lap.

Like Noelle, Adeline must fear what harmful thing Lady Lockwood might say to Gilbert. However, Noelle knew that Lady Lockwood was right. She must meet him. And there was no reason antagonizing the woman over the matter, so Noelle said, “I sent word to Miss Abernathy to bring Gilbert down to meet you after tea. They should be here soon.”

Adeline’s mother gave Noelle another assessing look, then nodded and rapped her cane against the floor. “Quite proper.”

At that moment there was a stir as Carlisle pointed out that Petunia was sniffing around the leg of Lady Lockwood’s chair in a suspicious manner, causing both Adeline and Lady Lockwood to exclaim and Annabeth to leap up and whisk the dog out of the room. A short but acrimonious exchange followed between Adeline and her mother over the danger Petunia presented to the home’s prized Persian rugs. By the time peace was restored and Petunia was back, taking a nap after her exertions, the governess appeared in the doorway, Gil by her side.

“Gil, darling.” Adeline smiled and held out her arms, and Gil trotted over to hug her.

“Mother, I want to introduce your great-grandson, Gilbert. Gil, this is Lady Lockwood, my mother.”

Gil turned and gazed at the older woman in awe, taking in her cane and towering hair. Noelle tensed, ready to intervene, but Lady Lockwood, after studying Gil as intently as he did her, nodded and smiled for the first time Noelle had seen. “Gilbert. You look just as your father did.”

Gil, recovering his manners, executed a perfect bow. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“Come here, boy, and let me look at you.”

Gil went forward without hesitation. She took his chin between her fingers and searched his face as if looking for secrets. Gil blinked in surprise, but his attention was too riveted on Lady Lockwood’s hair to care about the inspection. He pointed to the glittering diamond ornament stuck in her curls. “You have a bird in your hair.” He smiled. “I like it.”

“Thank you.” Were those tears in Lady Lockwood’s eyes? If so, they were gone too quickly to tell. “You are very like Adam.”

Petunia came awake with a start and jumped up, letting out one of her peculiar versions of a bark. Gil spun around at the noise. “A dog! You have a dog!” He turned back to Lady Lockwood, his esteem for her obviously rising even higher. “Can I pat him?”

Adeline let out a squeak of alarm and reached out, and Noelle took a step forward, but Petunia recognized a playmate when she saw one, and she made no attempt to bite Gil, but began to twirl and wag her little piglet tail so hard her whole back end shook. Gil burst into laughter and pounced on her, rubbing Petunia enthusiastically as she wriggled and licked his face.

Noelle looked over at Adeline, and the two women smiled. Gilbert had clearly won over the formidable Lady Lockwood.

LADY LOCKWOOD’S APPARENT approval of her great-grandson did nothing to sweeten the dowager’s temper. Noelle suspected that the woman purposely tossed the household into a turmoil because she was bored. The maids scurried to do her bidding. Annabeth helped her in and out of her chair and up and down the stairs, carrying Lady Lockwood’s shawl in case she grew cold, a pouch containing handkerchiefs, digestive pastilles for her stomach complaints, lozenges for her throat, lavender for a headache, and a bottle of hartshorn for emergencies—though as best Noelle could tell, Lady Lockwood was in amazingly good health, ate like a trencherman, and never exhibited the slightest indication she might faint.

The dog was the greatest interruption to peace. She barked at the maids and nipped the ankles of every man she saw; with the exception of Gil, Petunia seemed to have a particular dislike of males. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief in the afternoons when Lady Lockwood went upstairs for her daily nap, taking Petunia with her.

Nathan faithfully kept to his promise to visit the following day, though Noelle noticed that he and Carlisle quickly took shelter in Carlisle’s office with a decanter of whiskey. Carlisle apparently found a great many matters that needed to be tended to outside the house, and his rides with Gil became longer. Noelle also slipped away at the first opportunity to work in the library, though she felt a trifle guilty at leaving Lady Drewsbury and Annabeth to deal with Lady Lockwood on their own.

Unfortunately, the time alone gave Noelle too much chance to think, and being in the library made her recall all too clearly that moment when Carlisle had reached out to touch her hair, his stern face softening, his eyes going to her mouth. She remembered the heat that arose in her, the quickening of her breath, the hunger to feel his lips on hers. It was foolish to think about that moment. Nothing would come of it. She didn’t want anything to come of it. Did she?

There was no denying that she was attracted to the man. There was a strength to Carlisle that was compelling even when she defied it. And when he smiled...ah, when he smiled, a different man shone through—the man who was so good with Gil, the one who loved the countess. And the few times when that warmth was turned on her, she went a little weak at the knees.

But she knew that though he might desire her, he was too controlled, too logical, to give in to whatever impulse he might feel. He didn’t act on what he wanted; he acted on what he thought. And an affair between them was, above all else, foolish.

Distracted from her work by her thoughts, Noelle often found herself simply staring out the window. On the upper floor of the library, she had a sweeping view of not only the gardens below, but the countryside beyond, as well.

Today, as she gazed aimlessly out the window, her attention was caught by a movement in the distance, and she moved closer to the glass. A man was riding at full gallop toward the house. The horse soared over a low hedge and thundered on.

Noelle’s stomach clenched. She knew that horse. She knew that man. Carlisle was bent over the horse’s neck, his arm curved around a bundle on the saddle before him. Everything inside her turned to ice as Noelle realized that the bundle he carried was Gil.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

NOELLE WHIRLED AND ran down the spiral staircase and started down the long corridor to the central portion of the house. Oh, God, why was this house so huge?

“Noelle?” She heard Adeline’s puzzled voice as she ran past the sitting room. “Noelle? What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

“It’s Gil!” Noelle shouted, though she didn’t pause. She tore through the conservatory and burst out the door into the garden. She rushed down the steps, turning left along the path leading to the stable yard. When she reached the edge of the garden, she could once again see Carlisle on his mount, now hurtling across the wide green expanse of the park. He had one arm hooked around Gil’s waist, holding the boy tightly against him. Gil clutched Carlisle’s protective arm with both hands, his eyes wide, hair flying. Beyond them, she could see the groom trotting along, leading Gil’s pony.

She arrived at the stables just as Carlisle pulled the horse to a stop. Tossing the reins to a groom, he swung off, Gil in his arms.

“What happened?” Noelle cried out. “Is he all right? Did he fall?”

“He’s fine,” Carlisle said.