Page 79 of Tempted By the English Marquis
“I was ready for a long afternoon nap before that cup ofcaffè,” said Gideon, hoping he had pronounced it correctly.
Being with her made him want to become fluent in Italian. If he was going to ask Serafina to give up her country, it was only right that as her future husband, he made some sacrifices of his own.
Speaking another language would be a wonderful skill to have.
Gideon was still musing over a future where little versions of himself and Serafina were running around Mowbray House and all speaking Italian when Serafina suddenly set her half-finished cup of coffee aside.
She pulled a handful of coins out of her reticule and left them on the table. Gideon had no idea as to how much the meal had cost—they hadn’t been presented with a menu when they arrived nor a bill now that Serafina was making ready to leave. It was another of the interesting facets of life in Rome. People seemed to know and understand a great deal without having to put it into words.
Rising quickly from her seat, she grabbed her cloak and headed for the front door, barely acknowledging the restaurant owner as she passed him by. Gideon hurriedly downed his coffee and snatched up his coat. Serafina was already out into the street and dashing away from the restaurant by the time he reached the door.
He caught up with her at the end of the block. Something was clearly wrong. Her lack of eye contact with him only added to his concerns. Something or someone had spooked Serafina.
They turned left into another street, and she came to a sudden halt. Gideon kept going, stopping a few feet away in front of a shop window. With his back to the street, he gave the appearance of simply being another person walking through the city with no connection to the young woman who stood close by.
He waited for her signal.
A few minutes elapsed and finally Serafina came to stand alongside him outside the shop. “I saw a friend of Signore Magri sitting at one of the other tables. He was at the supper last night. I’m not sure how long he had been there but when I caught sight of him, he was pointing you out to another gentleman.”
“Blast,” muttered Gideon.
“We need to go our separate ways and now.” She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a card. “This is the address of the tailors we visited on Monday. If you walk straight ahead for six blocks, you will run directly into Via del Corso. Turn right, and the tailor’s shop is situated a little way down on your left.”
Gideon nodded. If he arrived home with new clothes, he could pretend he had been out in the city on his own. “I have the address of Palazzo Lazio in my notebook. I can get a carriage to take me home afterwards. But what will you do?”
She screwed up her face, and his heart went out to her. This was not how their lovely day should’ve ended. They had knowingly taken the risk, but it had been with the secret hope that they wouldn’t be discovered.
“I shall go the long way around and come back up through the path which leads to the gardens. As soon as I get home, I will go and sit in the grotto. If anyone finds me there, I shall simply say I was getting some sun to help me feel a little better.”
He wasn’t the least bit comfortable at this thin attempt at a ruse—there were still too many things which could go wrong. Gideon searched for another option, then sighed. “Alright. I can’t see any other way we can do this, but just promise me that if you do get caught, you won’t fall on your sword.”
“I don’t understand what that means.”
Gideon slipped a hand about Serafina’s waist and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “It means if you do get into trouble over us spending time together, don’t take all the blame.”
They were in this together; they were one. Now and forever. If he had to suffer the wrath of Enzo de Luca, then so be it. But as far as Gideon was concerned the days of Serafina being the one bearing the load for her father’s grasping ambitions were well and truly over.
She had the right to decide the course of her own life, and Gideon was adamant that when it came down to it, the woman he loved would be free to choose.
And if she decided on a life with him, he would be a happy man.
ChapterForty-Three
Gideon wasn’t surprised that his new clothes were not ready at the tailor’s when he called in. The head tailor promised to deliver the entire wardrobe to Palazzo Lazio by Friday at the latest. Gideon wasn’t all that bothered. He had visited the shop purely to make Serafina happy.
With Gideon flipping through his guide book and the shop staff trying to speak to him in Italian all at once, it took some time for the messages to be exchanged. Under other circumstances, it might have been fun. His halting attempts atper favoreandgraziewere met with many smiles and applause.
But his heart just wasn’t in it. One day, hopefully soon, he would return to the shop and be able to conduct some semblance of a real conversation with the tailor and his talented staff.
But not today.
He left the shop and walked slowly back down Via del Corso. Much as he wished to get in a carriage and race back to the palace to make certain that Serafina had indeed managed to sneak inside without being seen, he sensed it would only draw more attention to them if he did.
It was an easy twenty-minute stroll to Palazzo Lazio, and Gideon used the time to think how best he should approach the next few days. If Serafina’s betrothal ceremony was meant to be on Monday next week, he had to start working on Enzo de Luca today.
It’s not as if I am a penniless pauper who has come knocking on the door demanding the hand of his daughter. I have much to offer Serafina besides my love.
He was a marquis—a future duke. And despite the weeks when his father had been derelict with matters of business while in grief over the demise of his marriage, the Mowbray estate was one of the most financially sound of all noble titles in the country. If she married him, Serafina would have the sort of life she had been raised to expect. She would be going from nobleman’s daughter to nobleman’s wife.
