Page 16 of A Devious Secret

Her aunt interjected, “In your letters, you mentioned that Lord Hawkinge has taken good care of you since Baldwin’s death.”

“Henry has been very generous to me,” Gemma agreed.

“If you have no objections, we shall invite him to dinner so we may properly thank him for caring for you,” her aunt said.

Gemma bit her lower lip before saying, “I have no objections.” But she did have objections, lots of them. She just didn’t want to tell her family that. They would think she was being silly.

“Wonderful,” her aunt said.

The footmen brought in the next course and set it onto the table. Gemma reached for her glass and took a long sip. Why was it so hard for her to adequately express what she was thinking? She was one to avoid conflict, at all costs, but sometimes it put her in the most peculiar situations.

Marielle spoke up from across the table and asked, “Where do you hail from?”

Gemma placed her glass back down. “I am from Sussex, but I am residing in Hawkinge at the Dowager House.”

“Is the Dowager House sufficient for your needs?” Marielle asked.

“It is,” Gemma said. “I thought I would miss the grandeur of the big house, but the Dowager House fits my needs perfectly. I have even taken up gardening.”

Her aunt lifted her brow. “But you hate getting your hands dirty.”

“It is far more preferable than needlework,” Gemma remarked. “It got rather tiresome sitting in the drawing room and embroidering for hours on end. Frankly, it reminded me of how lonely I truly was.”

“Then I am even more pleased that you accepted our invitation to reside with us for the remainder of the Season,” her aunt said.

Gemma smiled. “I am most grateful for your generosity.”

As Nathaniel dished some meat onto her plate, he asked, “Would you care to go riding with us tomorrow?”

“I would enjoy that immensely,” Gemma said.

“Very good,” Nathaniel remarked. “We ride in the early morning to avoid the crowds at Hyde Park.”

“I find I prefer that. I do hate crowds.”

“I believe everyone at this table shares your sentiments,” Nathaniel said as he returned to his seat.

Gemma picked up her fork and moved the meat around on her plate. She wasn’t particularly hungry at the moment. The thought that Henry was in Town did not settle well with her.

“Gemma,” Dinah started, “I’m afraid I do not know much about you, but Nathaniel speaks so highly of you that I know we will be fast friends.”

Bringing her gaze up, Gemma said, “I should warn you that Nathaniel is prone to exaggeration.”

Nathaniel gave her an amused look. “Nothing I told Dinah was untrue,” he stated. “I may have mentioned how you used to tattle on us when we were climbing in trees.”

“That is because you and Hugh would climb far too high and I do recall that you got stuck one time,” Gemma said.

Hugh interrupted, “One time?” He chuckled. “We would get stuck all the time, but we always found our way down.”

“Climbing trees is a good way to break one’s neck,” Gemma remarked. “That is what my mother always told me.”

“It was a good thing that never happened,” Hugh teased.

Marielle motioned towards her brother and shared, “Stephen loved climbing trees on our estate, and I thought my mother would grow mad with worry.”

“It sounds like you had a good mother,” Dinah said.

A reflective look came into Mr. Wycomb’s eyes. “We did,” he responded. “She was the best of women. She even supported my decision to join the Royal Navy.”