Page 32 of The Heir's Fortune
“Gideon, you do not have to do all of this yourself,” Cassandra said. “We are all here for you, and our friends are coming because they want to help us.”
Gideon sighed. “I suppose we best wait for everyone to arrive, then, before we go searching for the treasure, should we not?”
“It makes the most sense,” Cassandra said, even as her eyes lit up at the thought of all of them doing this together. “Besides,we would not want to find the treasure only for Madeline’s captors to re-appear and steal it from us. It has been hidden for this long now – why not allow it to remain where it is until the timing is perfect?”
“You have a point,” Gideon said, rubbing his forehead, and Madeline had a strange urge to lean forward and kiss away the wrinkle that marred it.
The footman came in and cleared away their near-untouched first course, replacing it with the second, which was a mystery meat covered in a soupy white sauce. At least the peas and potatoes beside it appeared appetizing enough.
“I’m sorry,” Gideon said, whispering low, before looking from one side to the other to make sure he wasn’t overheard. “I know the food is terrible, but the cook’s family has been with us for generations. She’s still learning, and I keep hoping that she’ll improve but…” he tossed his hands up in the air. Madeline speared the peas and tried them, finding that they were mediocre but certainly edible.
“She has done well with the peas,” she said, to which Cassandra snorted, causing a most unladylike display as she had a mouth full of claret that she had to fight to contain. Madeline started to laugh as well, and soon enough both of them were bent over, tears escaping their eyes.
Gideon and Devon watched them for a minute with incredulous expressions, before Devon was the first to give in with a chuckle, Gideon following soon afterward, until all four of them were laughing so hard that they didn’t notice the footman enter.
When one came to remove the meals, Gideon waved him away.
“We’re still working on this,” he said, to which the footman nodded, and finally their laughter subsided enough that they continued eating what they could of the meal.
Madeline sat back in her chair, looking around at the three of them. She was enjoying this. She had never had much of a family. Her father was family, yes, but he had never been around very often, and when he had been, he did not have a great deal of interest in spending time with a child. As she grew, he treated her more as an inconvenience he had to be rid of.
She had hoped that when she married, she would find someone who she could get along with if nothing else. She wasn’t sure what kind of mother she would be, but she did long to have people in her life who cared for her and whom she cared for in turn.
Was this what it would be like, such as the time she was spending with these people here?
It scared her how much she was enjoying this, as there was a large part of her that knew she might only be showing herself just how much she would miss once it was all gone.
CHAPTER 12
Castleton was his inheritance as well as his responsibility, and yet Gideon still found himself creeping down the staircase as though he was sneaking out without wanting his parents or schoolmaster to be aware.
It was not that he was breaking any rules.
It was that he was starving, and he didn’t want to wake anyone – nor offend them.
The kitchen was, thankfully, empty at this time of night, his only company being Scout, who had followed him carefully down the stairs, toenails clicking, and was currently lying at his feet awaiting any food scraps that might come his way.
Gideon entered the larder, searching within until he found what he was looking for.
Chicken – he thought. Some kind of meat, anyway, that appeared to be cooked but not yet covered in any sauce.
He sank his teeth into it, unable to stop his groan of pleasure. A whine at his feet reminded him of his friend, and he broke off a piece of the meat and tossed it to the dog, who caught it in delight.
“Delicious, isn’t it?” Gideon said, returning to look for anything else that might be edible. He found some cranberrysauce, backing out with it in hand, but when he walked right into something soft behind him, he was so startled that he tossed it in the air.
Hands reached out and grabbed the bowl before it could fall, and he turned around in shock, still tightly clutching the chicken leg.
“Madeline?” he mumbled around the meat, and she smirked as she turned and placed the bowl of cranberry sauce on the table, the hem of her wrapper giving him peeks of her bare feet below.
“Hungry?” she asked, and he nodded woodenly as she reached down to pet Scout before searching through drawers until she found a spoon and started to help herself. “I know you have loyalty, and that is an admirable quality, but you are all going to starve yourselves at this rate.”
“I know,” he said with a sigh.
“You do not have to be rid of the woman,” she said with a shrug. “Perhaps just find a position for which she would be more suited.”
“True,” he said, considering her words, uncertain why he hadn’t figured that out for himself. “I would still have to find – and pay – a cook.”
“Your mother would help with that, would she not?” Madeline asked, turning around and leaning back against the wooden counter as she looked at him. “That is a role for the lady of the house.”
