If Dashwood was entertaining her, he was certainly not interested in her anymore. Maybe just stealing a kiss from her was all he wanted, and now that he had, he was moving onto someone else.
Or maybe he had been put off by the kiss itself. Had it been bad? To Dorothy, it had been wonderful, but she had never kissed another man. She had no idea what a good kiss was or not. Perhaps Dashwood had figured that out, and he didn’t like the kiss, so he was moving on to someone more experienced.
Dorothy frowned. If that was it, then why did she catch Dashwood looking at her on their outing like he wanted to devour her? He didn’t look happy about her being with Gabriel, either. They had glared at each other all day, and Gabriel wouldn’t tell Dorothy what they had said in their brief verbal altercation, either. He just dismissed it and changed the subject.
In fact, he had pretty much stuck to her side all day. It had got to the point of being annoying, but Dorothy had tried to brush it off. They were friends, and she hadn’t seen Gabriel in a while. This was a good time to reconnect and catch up.
From how things were going, though, Gabriel seemed to behave differently towards her. Like he was more attentive, less like a friend, and more like … a potential suitor? Like he was in love with her? Dorothy wasn’t sure, but it was making her uncomfortable.
She should tell Gabriel to stop, though. It wasn’t something they should pursue, in her opinion. Gabriel was handsome and had all the good qualities a lady would love in a husband. But it wasn’t for Dorothy.
What was wrong with her? She had planned to look for a husband while she was here, and there was an offer right in front of her. Yet Dorothy couldn’t bring herself to embrace it and allow Gabriel to do anything more than be a friend. He was ideal, and her mother would tell her to stop being silly.
And she couldn’t.
It felt like forever before dinner was over, and the dessert plates were being taken away. Gabriel touched Dorothy’s hand, his fingers warm through her gloves.
“Are you alright, Dorothy? You’ve been rather quiet through dinner.”
Dorothy was about to answer when she caught Dashwood’s eye. He was staring at her, his gaze unblinking. Dorothy felt momentarily frozen by his look. What was it about him that sucked her in?
Shaking that away, she gave Gabriel a small smile and pulled her hand away to put it on her lap.
“I’m fine. I’m still tired, I guess. It’s been a busy couple of days.”
Gabriel’s expression said that he didn’t believe her. He also seemed to have realised that someone caught her attention and turned to glare at Dashwood. Dashwood’s response was to raise his glass with a sardonic smile before turning to talk to Mr Cowper. Gabriel faced Dorothy again.
“If he bothers you again, does anything at all, will you let me know?”
“Why on earth would I do that?”
“Because Dashwood is bad news. I don’t want him doing something that puts you in a bad situation.”
Dorothy sighed.
“Gabriel …”
“I just want to be sure that you’re safe, Dorothy. I don’t want you hurt.”
He looked so earnest about it that Dorothy sighed.
“Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“Dorothy …”
“You’re not my guardian, and you don’t need to fuss over me. Whatever happens, I can deal with myself.” Dorothy forced out a small smile. “But thank you for worrying about me. As I said, though, there’s no need.”
Gabriel looked a little downcast. Before she said anything further that could upset him, Dorothy stood up, catching Frederica’s eye across the table. Her friend nodded and stood with her.
“We’ll head into the drawing room now, Aunt,” she said to the marchioness. “Is that alright?”
“Absolutely fine, love. We’re going to be doing some embroidery with that thread we got in Carsington, so could you set up everything?”
“Of course.” Frederica came around the table and took Dorothy’s arm. “Come with me, you.”
They didn’t say anything until they were in the drawing room, where Frederica shut the door and then turned to Dorothy.
“What was that all about?”