Page 79 of The Duke on Her List
“I apologize,” the young man said, color rising in his cheeks.
“You are not to blame for the actions of my niece,” Gabriel assured him. “I trust you’ve behaved as a gentleman?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“My wife was with them all the time,” Mr. Buford assured him. “And we’ll see to it that Benjamin understands that he isn’t to have contact with Lady Helena moving forward.”
Benjamin’s head darted up, but he didn’t dare to say anything. It was Helena who spoke. “That isn’t fair,” she said, looking from Mr. Buford to Gabriel. “You can’t stop us from ever seeing one another again. Neither of us has done anything wrong.”
“We’ll discuss this at home,” Gabriel said.
“I don’t see why I need to discuss it with you at all!” Helena burst out. “You don’t care about love, Uncle Gabriel. You said so yourself. You’re looking for a wife, but only out of a desire to provide me with an aunt, even though I’ve told you that’s not what I want or need.”
Agnes’ heart clenched. Gabriel was looking for a wife?
So he does want to marry?
He wanted to marry—but he just hadn’t wanted to marry her?
What had it all been for? She had thought the whole reason for their imaginary courtship had been to warn people off. To stop people from pursuing him. And now…Her head spun. Now he wanted a marriage? How could that be?
“Get your horse, Helena,” Gabriel said. “We’ll speak about it when we get home.”
Agnes worried that Gabriel might take her back to her own home right away, but he didn’t. He rode to his own estate with her in tow. She supposed he was just that eager to get Helena home quickly.
Helena dismounted from her horse and stalked into the house. Gabriel hesitated. “Will you come in with me and speak to her? Ireally think she might listen to you, and she doesn’t seem to have any patience with me at the moment.”
Agnes nodded. “If you think it will help,” she said, her heart heavy. All she could think about was what Helena had said back in town about Gabriel looking for a wife. She was desperate to know whether it was true or not, but she also knew she couldn’t ask. She had no business demanding the answer to a question like that. It had nothing to do with her. Not anymore.
She followed Gabriel into the house. Helena was nowhere to be seen.
Frowning, Gabriel led her into the sitting room. “I doubt she would have just run off to her room,” he murmured. “She knows I want to speak to her. Surely she would come to hear what I have to say. And besides, she wants to talk to me too, to ensure that I’m going to allow her to see that boy again. She won’t just…”
But he never finished what he was saying. The two of them were interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut.
Agnes turned, momentarily convinced that it had been the wind—before she realized that didn’t make sense. They were indoors. There were no windows open. What could have caused the door to slam?
Then there was the sound of a key in the lock.
Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Helena?”
Helena’s voice came through the door. “You’re being an utter fool, Uncle Gabriel,” she said. “Well, now you have the chance to put it right. You and Lady Agnes can stay locked in there—together—until you can figure out how to put right whatever is wrong between you. When you’ve solved it, you tell me, and then I’ll let you out.”
CHAPTER 37
“Helena, this isn’t a joke!” Gabriel fumed, pounding on the door. “You open this door at once!”
“No,” Helena said calmly. “I’m not going to, Uncle Gabriel. You talk to her, since we have her here. The way things currently stand between the two of you is utterly ridiculous, and the fact that you imagine for a moment that I would sit back and not do anything about them when you know how much I care for Lady Agnes is equally ridiculous. You came to Benjamin’s house and dragged me out. I know you did that because you love me, even though I disagree with your brutish tactics.”
“My tactics werenotbrutish, Helena. Nobody dragged you anywhere.”
“Not the point,” Helena said coolly, and Gabriel understood. She was young, she was bridling at the fact that he had made an attempt to control her, and now she was giving the same back to him.
And she wasn’t going to let him out of this room. Not until she was satisfied that he had spoken with Agnes.
He turned back toward her.
She was standing several feet away from him, but her eyes were on him. “She knows what she wants,” Agnes murmured.
