Page 20 of The Duke on Her List
“Not now,” she told him, taking her own seat. “Now that she’s in bed, she’s fine. Sleepwalking—it’s sort of like having nightmares. It comes upon you when you’re sleeping very deeply. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is terribly wrong. It’s just the mind playing tricks on you in your sleep. In a nightmare, you see things that aren’t real, and when you’re sleepwalking you get the urge to move about when you really shouldn’t.”
“I see,” he said slowly. Comparing it to a nightmare did make him feel somewhat better. That was something he could understand. “Why did you speak of danger, then?”
“Only because walking around without a good sense of what you’re doing might lead to an accident. I thought of her falling down the stairs or something of that nature.”
Gabriel flinched away from the thought. “If she does this regularly—how can I prevent that? I can’t ask the staff to sit with her every night. That’s far too much to ask of them, and besides, she deserves to be in peace when she sleeps, and not to be watched all the time.”
“Yes,” Lady Agnes agreed. “It’s very troubling to be watched all the time.” She smiled slightly. “I don’t think you need to worry. Put a lock on her door from the outside.”
“She’ll despise that. She’ll say I’m keeping her prisoner.”
“I understand,” Lady Agnes said. “I would react the same way.”
“Then what do I do?” He shook his head. “I make so many mistakes bringing her up. Sometimes I feel as if it’s just one failure after another. Now I have to lock her in her room. I know she’ll hate me for it, and yet, what else can I do?”
“You should talk to her,” Lady Agnes said softly.
He looked up at her. “What?”
“Tell her what happened tonight,” Lady Agnes suggested. “Tell her that you fear for her safety, and that you want to think of a way to prevent it from happening again. Tell her you thought of locking the door front he outside so that she can’t wander, but that you knew she wouldn’t like the idea and you wonder whether she has a better one. Perhaps the two of you can come up with something together—and if you can’t, at least she’ll get to see that you tried. She’ll know that you cared enough for how she would feel about it to make that effort. Once she sees that, I’d be willing to bet she’ll take to you doing what’s necessary a lot more easily.”
Gabriel smiled. “You understand young ladies pretty well.”
“It wasn’t that long ago that I was one myself,” she said with a smile.
“And sleepwalking—what an odd piece of knowledge to have at the ready! But it certainly came in handy tonight,” he said. “I have to admit that I do feel better having spoken to you about this. I agree that we probably don’t need to bring in a physician—we just need to take steps to make sure she doesn’t wander the house at night.”
“I’m glad I read the book that gave me that information,” Lady Agnes said. Then a smile crossed her face. “Perhaps now you can see the value in allowing a lady to read?”
A laugh burst out of him in spite of himself. “I suppose you have a point there,” he said. “So you’re not just interested in reading scandalous literature, then?”
“Oh, no. I have a wide variety of interests.” She smiled. “I just don’t happen to need your help to access books about most of them. Although I must say, Your Grace, your library is divine. I could spend days in here reading to my heart’s content.”
“You’re welcome here anytime,” he said. “Even once we finish your list and end this courtship, I’d be happy to have you come by and read—though we might have to find a better way to do it than to have you sneak in during the night,” he added with a chuckle. “Maybe I could begin hosting dinner parties with my friends and yours, and you could spend some time reading then.”
She laughed. Gabriel felt mirthful too—but he also felt a sense of hesitation about this conversation.
Was he jesting? Or had he meant that, about the dinner parties? The truth was that he wasn’t entirely sure, and neither could he be sure how she had taken it. What he did know was that a tension deep within him had eased at the idea that he would be able to have an ongoing friendship with her when all this came to an end.
I don’t necessarily want her out of my life when this is over.
How strange! He had truly thought of her as a malign influence and someone not to be trusted—but tonight she had helped both him and Helena, and he couldn’t ignore that fact. He had danced with her and talked with her, argued and laughed, and every single minute of it had been enjoyable in a way he had rarely experienced with anyone.
“I ought to let you get back to your book,” he told her, rising to his feet.
She shook her head and stood up too. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one evening,” she said. “Would you mind directing me to my bedroom? I can get a few hours of sleep in before I have to wake up and sneak out at the sunrise.”
He paused a moment. “Don’t concern yourself with that,” he said. “I don’t mind if Helena knows you’re here. You can sleep as late as you would like, and we’ll just make sure that you get out without being noticed. We can manage that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he said. “It’s very late. I want you to get enough sleep, not force yourself to get up at the crack of dawn.”
She smiled. “I’m very grateful, Your Grace,” she said, and her green eyes twinkled. “Truly and genuinely—very grateful for everything you have done for me.”
She paused to pick up the book. Then, flashing one more smile at him, she turned and saw herself out of the library.
CHAPTER 11
