Page 3 of The Heir's Fortune
“Good to hear it,” Devon said with a grin. “Perhaps you will make a proud papa after all.”
Gideon snorted, bending his head so that Devon and Cassandra wouldn’t see his face. Despite being closer to him than any other two people in the world, he didn’t want them to see how much the words affected him.
For it was true – hewouldlike to be a father. He just wasn’t sure when — or if — that day would ever come.
“It is unfortunate that Hope, Faith, Percy, and their husbands have left,” Cassandra said as she stroked the dog, whose fur was rather soft now that it had been properly washed. “They would have loved him.”
“I’d like to see Whitehall with a dog,” Devon said with a laugh, referencing the rather ill-natured Lord Whitehall, who had married Lady Hope.
The five men who had been part of their group that undertook daring adventures had joined Gideon on a quest when he had found a riddle that he assumed would lead to a treasure. His sister had found another copy of the same riddle, leading her and her four closest friends to start their own hunt. Eventually, they merged their efforts after Cassandra and Devonfell in love while solving the first riddle, which had only led to another clue instead of the treasure Gideon had been hoping for.
“Whitehall might be a genius codebreaker, which helped us a great deal when it came to solving the second clue, but an animal man, I cannot see,” Gideon said, leaning back, no longer attempting the pretense of continuing his work.
The code Whitehall had solved with the help of Lady Hope had led to a third clue, one which required retrieving a necklace from Gideon and Cassandra’s aunt in Bath. As Lady Percy was there at the same time as Noah Rowley, they had undertaken the search together, which ended in finding a clue within the necklace – and marriage to one another.
Rowley’s brother, Lord Ferrington, had then traveled to Spain along with a stowaway, Lady Faith, and they had returned with a map as well as a marriage due to their compromising situation. Fortunately, it had led to love in the end.
As for the map? Gideon now had it in his possession and was doing his damnedest to determine where it led.
“What were you doing in the ruins, anyway?” Cassandra asked. “The last time we were there, Devon knocked over a wall and we were both nearly injured.”
“But aren’t you glad we were?” Devon asked, grinning suggestively at his wife, which had Gideon leaning back in his chair and shaking his head.
“I was getting impatient,” he said. “I know we need to take a better look at the map together and solve the path it will be leading us down, but I couldn’t help the urge to begin searching myself.”
“That’s how you will get in trouble, Gideon,” Cassandra said, straightening. “All of us who have gone after a clue have found ourselves in danger at one time or another.”
“Is that why you are still here?” Gideon asked with sinking dread in his stomach. “I wondered why you hadn’t left yet. Ihad assumed that you wanted to stay to see this through, but is it because you do not think I am capable of accomplishing this alone?”
“Of course you are more than capable,” Cassandra said, rising from the floor where the dog had returned to his slumber and taking a chair in front of Gideon’s desk, crossing her arms over her chest. “We are still here for a few reasons. One being that I wanted Mother to be able to spend time with the baby.”
“And we do want to see this thing through, that part is true. We started this and we would like to see it to the finish,” Devon added, exchanging a meaningful look with his wife.
“And also…” Cassandra said, slightly wincing as she did so, “We hate to see you all alone.”
“Mother and Father are both here, and I have been alone for years,” Gideon said, his spine straightening. “I am more than capable of looking after myself.”
“You can look after yourself, but do you want to?” Cassandra asked imploringly. “No onewantsto be alone.”
“Some of us have to be happy doing so,” he said uncomfortably, for his statement was not entirely true.
“Will you not seek out a wife?” she asked, shifting forward in her seat, her blue eyes boring into him.
“In due time,” Gideon said, exasperated with this conversation, but he did feel that he owed an explanation to the two of them. “I cannot offer a woman marriage when we live in such ruins.”
“Castleton is hardly a ruin,” Devon said, leaning back against the doorframe as he studied him. Devon had helped Gideon through some difficult times in his life, and likely knew what he was thinking better than anyone. “Yes, it could use some improvements, but when I tell you that it is comfortable and I enjoy my time here, I mean it.”
“We need servants, we need improvements, we need furniture that wasn’t built for my great-grandfather!” Gideon said, throwing his hands into the air. “I’d like to offer a woman more than this. I have rested my hopes on this treasure for over a year now. However… if this treasure comes to nothing – and I am beginning to think that might be the case – then I might have less choice as to who I marry.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Cassandra asked, her head snapping up, and she had to push back a piece of hair, the same auburn color as his own, away from her face.
“It means,” he said carefully, “that if there is no other option, I will have to marry a woman with a significant dowry.”
Cassandra bit her lip. “Gideon, that is so sad.”
He shrugged. “It’s practical.”
“Yes, but?—”
