Rules for Reforming a Rake(105)
Ian shook his head and let out a genuine laugh. “Imagine, the course of the world completely undone by a pair of soft, blue eyes.”
Gabriel felt the ache in his heart. “Ah, yes. Helen of Troy and Daisy Farthingale. Daisy hasn’t quite changed the world yet, but she’s changed me. I returned home wanting to die and the little nuisance somehow gave me reason to live.”
“You might want to mention that to her upon your return,” Ian said, his voice suddenly sounding tight. Perhaps it hadn’t been quite the right thing to say to Ian, a man who’d gone through life without anyone to care whether he lived or died. Not even Ian seemed to care about his own survival.
Gabriel nodded. “Protect her until then.”
“I will. I promise.” Ian smacked his palms against his thighs and rose. “Since I don’t have that special someone to make my life complete, I’ll have to make up in quantity what I lack in quality. If you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with a buxom redhead called... oh, damn, I turned down the offer, didn’t I?” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Guess I’ll retire alone to my quarters.”
Gabriel grinned. “You could find yourself a snoopy Farthingale of your own.”
Ian gave a mock shudder. “No. And don’t think to do me any favors. I’m perfectly content to remain a bachelor for the rest of my days.”
Gabriel stayed behind to watch the fire die in the hearth before walking upstairs and settling into his sparse but clean room. He collapsed onto the bed, too fatigued to do more than kick off his boots. Breathy female moans, masculine growls, and the sound of wooden bed slats creaking filtered in from next door, no doubt the maid Ian had passed up now with another traveler. He tried to shut out the noise, but his last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of Daisy and how perfectly she would fit in this bed beside him.
CHAPTER 19
A lady must never countenance a rake’s illicit paramours.
“LAUREL, YOU LOOK ASHEN.” Daisy set down her fork and pushed away from the breakfast table. She stared at her sister, then at Graelem. The pair were seated across from her, Graelem shoveling his breakfast into his mouth as though he hadn’t eaten in weeks. No doubt it was a ruse to avoid talking to her. More to the point, to avoid answering her questions about Gabriel and his mission.
She had meant to ask more about it, but Laurel’s condition was of greater concern at the moment. Laurel hadn’t touched her food, an alarming circumstance since until this morning, she had been inhaling portions large enough to feed a regiment.
“Sweetheart?” Graelem set down his fork as well and was about to raise his teacup to his lips, but stopped to study his wife. “Aren’t you hungry? Do you feel ill?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, scowling at both of them. “I wish you two would stop fussing over me. Daisy’s the one who ought to be fussed over.”
“No, I’m not.” Quite the opposite, Daisy wished to remain quietly on her own, but not before she had more answers from Graelem. As she was about to toss him more questions, Laurel suddenly bent over and let out a soft gasp.
Daisy forgot about her own woes and quickly reached over to clasp Laurel’s hand. “It’s time, isn’t it?”
Laurel managed a nod and suddenly gasped again. “I think my water just broke!”
Daisy and Graelem were up at once, Graelem sweeping his wife into his arms and shouting orders to his staff while Daisy hastily wrote a note and had a footman deliver it to her parents at the Farthingale townhouse. At the same time she summoned a second footman to fetch the midwife. Once both servants were on their way, she ran upstairs to help make Laurel comfortable.
It felt like an eternity, but could not have been more than half an hour, before her other sisters scrambled out of the Farthingale carriage and hurried up the steps to the front door. Daisy hurried downstairs and was waiting for them in the entry hall as Billings opened the door. She was thankful that Rose, the eldest, had come along with the twins.
“I happened to be dropping off a book for Lily when the footman arrived,” Rose explained, efficiently removing her gloves, bonnet, and pelisse before turning to hug her.
“The midwife hasn’t arrived yet,” Daisy began to prattle at once, “and I don’t know what I’m doing.” Laurel going into labor wasn’t her only problem. Daisy needed a capable hand to tend to Graelem, who was in a state, ranting as he paced up and down the hall outside of the bedchamber. Rose was just the one to handle him. After all, she now ran a successful pottery operation that rivaled the Wedgwood family establishment, so how hard would it be for her to manage an overset husband?