Page 45 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
He blinked.Gwen was shaking his arm.She smiled up at him crookedly.“Where did you go?”
“Sorry.”He scrubbed a hand over his face.He did his best to grin.“Show me these bees of yours, will you?”
Chapter19
Gwen led Tom across her back garden in silence.She wasn’t sure why his demeanor had changed so suddenly, but he’d gone from being jovial to somber the second they’d stepped outside.
She wondered if it was the reality of her work as a beekeeper settling in.She knew it wasn’t a very ladylike pursuit.
And yet… she really didn’t think Tom cared about that.He hadn’t seemed put off when they’d done the washing up together.And he was the son of a blacksmith, for pity’s sake!The soft-handed men of her class might disdain her for such a laborious pursuit.But she had thought her odd habits were normal by working-class standards.
So, perhaps it was something else, although Gwen could not fathom what.
She gestured to the stone wall that lined the back of the garden.“Here are my bee boles.”Little wooden doors were built into the stone façade, two high.Gwen swung one open and showed him the domed basket inside.“This sort of hive is called a skep.In the spring, I’ll bring them out into the garden.But in the winter, I keep them shut up tight to help the bees stay warm.”
“Say,” Tom said, taking a step back.“Should we be wearing gloves or nets, or anything?”
Gwen smiled.“In the springtime, yes.But believe me, the bees are none too eager to come out in this weather.We’ll be fine.”
She shut the first door and opened another one, sighing as it listed on its hinges.Peering into the dim stone box, she saw that the skep, which was one of her more decrepit ones, had sagged so it was lying on its side.“Oh, dear.What’s happened here?”She tugged up her sleeves, preparing to right the skep.It would be no easy task, as she’d left around forty pounds of honey inside so the bees would have sufficient nutrients to survive the winter.
She grunted as she attempted—unsuccessfully—to restore the skep to its upright position, then felt gentle hands on her shoulders.“Gwen, bun, what are you doing?”Tom eased her out of the way, then leaned forward, righting it with ease.
Tears pricked at her eyes; he really was very kind.“Thank you, Tom.”
“That’s all right.”He gestured to the skep.“It’s hot to the touch!”
“Yes.”Gwen swiped a surreptitious thumb beneath her eyes.“That’s how the bees stay warm during the winter.By constantly fluttering their wings.”
“You sure do know a lot about it,” Tom said, and it might have been her imagination, but she thought he sounded impressed.
He leaned down to look at the little door.“Do you have a hammer and a few nails?I can fix this if you like.Although…” He frowned, swinging the door back and forth experimentally.“The hinges are bent.”
“That one has always been in poor repair,” Gwendolyn confessed.“Aunt Agatha slowed down in her later years.I’ve tried to fix as many things as I could in the last few months, but this is what I meant when I said there was a lot of work to be done.”
She spent the rest of the morning showing him around.Mariah wasn’t supposed to return from visiting her family until tomorrow, so they planned to spend one more night together before Tom returned to London.
When the sun was high overhead, Gwen went inside to prepare some luncheon.She was busy laying out bread and cheese and ham when she heard a pounding coming from the back garden.Peering out the kitchen window, she saw that Tom had found a hammer and some nails and was busy repairing the more decrepit of her bee boles.
She called him in, and they ate a companionable luncheon.They did the washing up as they’d done this morning, with Tom washing and Gwen drying.
“So,” Gwen said, hanging up the dish towel, “what do you want to do this afternoon?”
She glanced up at Tom and noticed heat flaring in his eyes.He took a slow step toward her, then another.“Considering we’ve only got one more night together, I find myself wishing I hadn’t left the bed so early this morning.”
Gwendolyn’s heart gave a heavythump.“We could always go back,” she suggested, trying to make her voice light.
He brushed a kiss across her lips.“What are we waiting for?”
He hurried toward her bedroom.Gwen started to follow, then realized she was still wearing the apron she’d donned to do the washing up.
She went back and hung it on a hook, but before she could join Tom in the bedroom, she heard voices from her front garden.
She froze, wondering if it could be Joseph and his men.
But then, she noticed that the voices were high in pitch and accompanied by a suspicious amount of giggling.
“Do you think she’ll like it?”
