Page 101 of The Lyon Returns
He painted an all too clear picture that had Gwen’s stomach clenching in a knot. Gideon had nearly died. What if he had, and she’d never met him? What if—she looked over Brice’s shoulder to see Gideon’s unhurried approach.
Her heart kicked up several paces at the sight of him, tall and vital and graceful as a cat. For some reason, she found herself fighting an almost overwhelming urge to cry.
“Ladies,” he said, by way of greeting. He clapped Brice on the shoulder. “Tyrell. Don’t tell me, let me guess. You’re boring these two with that tired old story about pulling me from the water?”
Brice snorted. “Your gratitude overwhelms me, sir.”
Gideon laughed his robust laugh, his white teeth flashing, and Gwen’s stomach unclenched to do a neat somersault.
As he sobered, he caught Gwen’s eye. “Madam, may I escort you on a short stroll before we head back?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice mortifyingly breathless.
Oh dear. Georgina.They’d come out here to talk and had yet to finish their conversation. “Oh, my apologies, sir, Lady Georgina and I were in the middle of something and we had not quite concluded—”
“No, no, dear, everything seems quite clear to me after all. You go on, and I’ll see you back at the abbey. Mr. Tyrell, would you mind escorting me to the cart? It looks as if one is loading the first passengersto return them to the manse.”
“A pleasure, Lady Georgina,” he said. “I don’t mind heading back myself.” He patted Gideon on the shoulder and took Georgina’s arm.
A moment later, Gwen and Gideon stood alone on the escarpment.
“You look very fresh and lovely. One would never guess you suffered sleep deprivation last night,” Gideon said. A devilish light gleamed in his green-gold gaze.
“I have no idea what you mean. I slept soundly.”For all of three hours.“I was somewhat surprised to find you absent upon waking.”
He tucked her hand into his elbow and turned with her so they faced the dwindling crowd. “I could not sleep. I did not want my restlessness to awaken you.”
“Do you often suffer with insomnia, sir?”
He shook his head. “No. I had something on my mind. A matter to which I must attend requiring some degree of delicacy.” He started toward the pick-up point at a leisurely pace.
Delicacy. Like ending their arrangement?
She wasn’t sure why she jumped to that subject, except that Georgina’s unsettling words echoed in her mind. “Oh? By any chance, did it have anything to do with our arrangement?”
“Yes. Wait. How do you mean?”
She focused on her boot tips, and on keeping her breathing normal. “The manner of concluding it, sir.” She braced herself for his response, telling herself that facing reality was the only hope she had for avoiding doing something stupid, like allowing herself to believe their pretense would go on indefinitely.
He halted so abruptly, she would have stumbled if not for his steadying arm.
“I hardly think this is the appropriate venue to discuss the matter, Gwen. I have every intention of dealing with the situation once we have returned home. Is that soon enough, madam, or has acting as mywife become so abhorrent to you that you feel you must continually broach the subject of ending this affair?” His voice, so deliciously warm only moments ago, had taken on a decided chill.
His blast of irritation and thinly veiled accusation could not be borne. She turned to face him, to give him a thorough set-down for his boorish tone, only to find his green-gold gaze blazing with…she couldn’t say. Hurt? Longing? Or was wishful thinking causing her to read something that was not there in his eyes?
Whatever the case, her pique vanished as quickly as it had come. She pressed her palm to his chest in a soothing manner and felt a small shudder go through him, which she did not trust herself to interpret and so did not even try. “Calm yourself, sir,” she said, gently.
He slanted her a sullen, yet mollified look which, for some reason, caused her to smile. “Kindly do not mistake my desire to protect both of our precarious interests with a desire to unburden myself of you. I assure you, that is not the case.”
He flicked a glance beyond her toward, she assumed, the remaining guests.
“Very well. May I kiss you, madam?”
“May you…” At the swift change of subject, words escaped her.
Evidently, not requiring an answer, he ducked his head and pressed his mouth to hers in a breathtakingly tender kiss that had her knees wobbling under her skirts.
When he straightened several seconds later, he smiled down at her and traced the back of his knuckles over her cheek.
