Page 82 of When a Duke Loves a Woman
“I can’t possibly—”
“Then you will have a ball with no Duke of Thornley in attendance.” He didn’t know why it was suddenly so important for Gillie to be there. Perhaps he wanted to test the waters, to see if she might enjoy swimming in them. But even if she did, she wouldn’t give up her tavern for him, nor should she.
“You are going to make a fool of yourself.”
“I am going to introduce someone incredibly lovely to my friends and acquaintances. A good many would benefit from knowing her. If you give her half a chance, I daresay you would like her.”
“I cannot imagine it, but I will not embarrass this family further by canceling a ball after already canceling a wedding. The invitations you’ve requested will be placed in the post tomorrow.”
“On second thought, give me Miss Trewlove’s and I’ll deliver it personally.”
“I daresay, you will rue the day you brought her into this residence.”
“You will treat her kindly, Mother, and you will show her respect or you will find my patience with you to be at an end.”
She stormed from the room. He walked to the bureau, pulled open a drawer, and removed a tattered shirt. Returning to his chair, he skimmed his fingers over the tidy and delicate stitching, holding together cloth that had once been shorn by a knife blade going into his shoulder. She’d done more than mend his clothes. She had somehow managed to mend him when he hadn’t even realized he was in need of mending.
The moment he walked through the door of the Mermaid, she seriously considered closing up shop. Normally she loved every minute of her time inside the tavern, whether she was serving drinks or talking with customers or ordering people about. But now all she desired was time with Thorne. Perhaps she would invite him to join her in the cellar to select a sherry. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling at that thought.
Instead of going to a table, he came to her. “I see your man is back tonight.”
She knew he was referring to the barman who’d not shown the previous night, but in a giddy part of her mind that she hadn’t even known she possessed, she realized he could have been talking about himself as well. Her man. She had a man. She wanted to stand on the counter and shout it to the crowd, but what they shared, what was between them, what had passed between them, was deliciously secret. Reaching into her pocket, she removed a gift for him that had her joyous with anticipation. “Yes. But you’re welcome to assist if you like. I need someone to keep track of the time.”
Taking his hand, she pressed the cool gold against his palm and closed his fingers over it. Slowly he unfurled them and stared at the timepiece. The awe and wonder on his face caused her chest to tighten and her eyes to sting. Gradually, as though journeying through a maze of memories, he brought his gaze back to hers. “You found it.”
Her smile so big she feared her jaw might come unhinged, she nodded. “Petey stopped by this afternoon and told me he’d been hearing talk of a fancy timepiece. He had an idea where we might find it. So off we went.”
“I thought never to see it again.” He opened the cover, looked at the face where the hands marked the passage of time. The proper time as she’d set it earlier and carefully wound it. Tenderly he cradled her face, stroked his thumb over her cheek. “I don’t know how to repay you or Petey for this.”
“Oh, Thorne, when will you learn that the joy you feel at making someone else happy is payment enough. Although Petey will be getting free meals and beer anytime he wants.”
“I’m fairly certain whatever fence you got this from did not simply hand it over. I’ve no doubt you paid a pretty penny for it.”
“Pittance.” A day’s earnings, but money well spent to see how very touched he was to once again have the timepiece in his possession.
“At the very least, allow me to pay recompense for that.”
“It’s a gift, Thorne. Accept it as that.”
He nodded. “I’m so touched, Gillie. I shall no doubt think of you more often than I do my father when I look at it.”
For a time perhaps, but eventually memories of her would fade, and he would again associate it with his father because those ties were stronger, had lasted longer, encompassed generations. She squeezed the hand that still held the watch. “I’m just so pleased you have it back.”
“I’d kiss you soundly this very minute if it wouldn’t cause scandal,” he said.
“You can do it after we close.”
Something warm and tempting flashed in his eyes. “In the meantime I wouldn’t mind working back there with you where it’s a trifle small and I’d have excuses for touching you whenever we have to edge our way past each other.”
So he did much as he’d done the night before, pouring drinks and talking. She wondered what these good people would think to know they were being waited on by a duke. While Finn had heard his position, it had never been declared for all to hear and she never addressed him as “Your Grace.” Perhaps because she’d never ceased to see him as simply a man, even though she knew deep down he was so much more and could never be hers completely.
In a way, he belonged to England, sat in the House of Lords, tended to the Queen’s business, created and altered laws, saw to the good of the country. Mick had wanted his father’s acknowledgment because he’d yearned for the exaltation that came with being related to nobility, but she had never desired that for herself, other than the fantasy she’d had as a child. The upper echelons were beyond reach for most, for the simple folk, the commoner. It didn’t mean they couldn’t achieve worthy positions—it simply meant they had to work harder for them because nothing was given to them.
Although having gotten to know Thorne, she realized nothing came without a price. For all his social standing, he wasn’t nearly as free as she. He was playing at being a bartender, but it wasn’t something he could do forever, no matter how much he might enjoy it. Just as she was playing at being his lover. She couldn’t be it forever, no matter how much she might enjoy it.
He would marry and she would not. He was responsible for providing an heir. She would not marry a man she did not love, and she suspected that in her lifetime there would be only one. This one. This one she could not have.
Through Finn she had learned they were not for the nobility, not for the long term. But she could make the most of the short term.
