”
She whipped around to stare. “School?”
“Hmm, an idea I had. The village hasn’t had a tutor living there for a long time and Mrs. Beck is in need of a way to support herself and her sons. I thought setting up a school in the village would be a better location.”
She gulped, alarmed at how quickly her temper had spiked for no good reason. “What were the other alternatives?”
“We could always hire the private dining room, but the expense and the noise of patrons might prove an issue. I might have offered the morning room at Quigley Hill as an alternative, but it would be a long walk for any students.”
Having Gideon involved with setting up a school would ensure its success—but having him and Mrs. Beck run the place together troubled her.
“Jess, please. Speak your mind to me.”
“It’s nothing.” She had always confided in him, but perhaps it was time to stop because he might not like what she had to say. She smiled quickly. “I should have gone to bed earlier last night. I’m a little tired.”
“Talking with Gillian all night again?” Gideon slid one of his arms around her back. It was comforting, but she resisted the urge to turn into his embrace, as she once might have when she’d been younger.
Before the kiss, she wouldn’t have thought twice.
Even so, when she breathed in his scent—a combination of the outdoors and the herbal soap Jessica had given him last Christmas—the distance between them seemed to lessen.
He turned her toward him, and then cupped her face between his palms. He stared into her eyes. “Perhaps a lie down will do you some good. With luck, you’ll wake refreshed for dinner tonight.”
A little overwhelmed by the way he was holding her face so tenderly, she scrambled for her wits. Never before had she hated to ask him a question, and she took a moment before asking the most pressing one. “Do you have plans for dinner?”
“Yes, I’m joining you all.” His smile grew. “Your father sent a note about it last night, and I have already accepted.”
“Good.” She leaned her face into his hand at last but she still wished she hadn’t seen him kiss that woman today. She moved back, knowing she must. “Dinners are always more enjoyable with your company. No one in London is ever interested in fungus the way you are.”
He laughed heartily at her observation, eyes twinkling with mirth. “I’m glad. Now, about these plants of yours. We’d better get busy saving them, yes?”
“Yes, Giddy.” She drank in his smile. “Thank you for helping me.”
Chapter 6
Gideon sighed. “I see there is no escaping gossip.”
The Duke of Stapleton wagged a finger at him and then sat himself down in his usual chair in the Stapleton library. “You should have told me about this yesterday. I wasn’t pleased to be the last to know. Napier took great pains to shove the hint in my face when I met him outside the church.”
“You did have company yesterday. I could not speak freely,” Gideon protested, glancing about the familiar room for anyone lurking about. “And there is nothing to tell.”
He’d not actually seen the duke alone since his return to the estate. Revealing his new acquaintance with Mrs. Beck wasn’t a pressing issue anyway.
“Tell me more about Mrs. Beck,” the duke pressed. “She’d left the chapel before I heard about her.”
“There’s not much to tell. Mrs. Beck is a widow, and she’s been living with the Napiers since April began.”
“Poor woman,” Stapleton murmured. “And you’ve been seen walking out with her.”
“Our paths have crossed several times in recent weeks,” Gideon corrected. “I’m not courting the woman.”
“And yet everyone thinks that you are. You hosted a dinner the other night. She was there, wasn’t she? You’ve only held three dinners, to my memory.”
“One for every decade of my adult life,” Gideon agreed with a laugh. “I thought it was time to brush off my hosting skills once more. I’m quite rusty; I quickly discovered.”
The duke grinned. “Is she pretty?”
“Who?”