Page 6 of The Earl and His Lady

Gilbert nodded, but a troubled look remained in his eyes. “Truthfully, I would let them stay forever, but I fear Lady Heatherton will take her leave of us soon.”

“Why is that a concern?” Lucas asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“It really isn’t my place to say more,” Gilbert said, glancing at Lucas from the corner of his eye. “The last time I confided a matter in you, I wound up engaged to be married.”

Lucas couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped him, though he quickly muffled the sound and looked to ensure he hadn’t startled the horses. The smaller animal flicked its ears at him but remained walking at its plodding pace.

“I cannot see that it ended badly for you,” Lucas said. “But is this issue as serious as the other?”

Gilbert clapped him on the shoulder before slipping through the rails again. “Perhaps worse.” Then he went to the horses where he helped first Edward, then his wife, slide from the saddle. Phillip bravely tried to dismount on his own, and only stumbled a little after sliding to the ground. Lucas watched as the party made their way back to the fence, while a groom appeared in order to take the horses in hand.

“Tomorrow, we will brush them down ourselves,” Mrs. Gilbert was saying as they grew nearer. “It’s important you know how to care for a horse if you’re going to ride one.” She flashed another wide grin at Lucas as she walked past him, an arm around each boy.

“Your wife is positively smitten with those two,” Lucas said when Thomas rejoined him. They followed the woman and boys, a few paces back.

“Christine will love anyone who loves horses.” Gilbert shook his head and gestured to the two dark-haired boys. “It helps that she feels protective of them, too.”

The prick of intrigue returned. What need did Christine Gilbert have to be protective of the children, given their mother’s presence in the home? Though it wasn’t of any consequence to him, he nearly asked about the situation again.

Ahead of them, the boys took off running while Mrs. Gilbert called after them, “Please remember to wash!” She shook her head and turned to cast her husband a crooked smile. “They couldn’t wait for their biscuits. I suggested they go ahead and leave the old people behind.”

“Old people?” her husband protested, as though affronted. “I am not old.”

“If you are, then I must be ancient,” Lucas returned. He was older than Thomas by seven years. “I suppose, in the eyes of a child, anyone old enough to be their parents would be wizened creatures.”

Christine Gilbert, on her husband’s arm, abruptly turned her head to fix him with a severe look. He stopped walking, meeting her eyes with some confusion.

“I was not implying that you are at all old, madam,” he said, wondering if he had given offense in his jesting. Lucas couldn’t think so, given the woman’s playful nature.

“I realize that.” She looked up at her husband then back to Lucas. “But you are certainly old enough to be a parent.”

The comment didn’t hurt as it would have only a few years before, though it struck him as odd. “Indeed. That happy blessing has yet to come my way.” Lucas tried to speak with lightness, her continued stare made him uncomfortable. He could practically see the woman’s thoughts whirling about behind her eyes.

“Christine,” Thomas said, drawing her name out slowly, as if in warning. “You shouldn’t meddle in your cousin’s affairs.”

Lucas looked between them, not understanding the relationship between Christine’s intense stare and the baroness. He did recognize Gilbert’s exasperated expression, having seen it before in their business dealings. But the man’s ire was no match for whatever wild thoughts his wife now had.

“Thomas,” she said, without looking at him. “Virginia needs whatever help we can give her, and since our influence is limited we ought to apply to friends who may be able to do more for her.”

“Please,” her husband said, a note of real pleading in his voice. “It isn’t our story to share.”

Christine sighed and finally turned to her husband, her expression changing from determination to soft persuasion. “Tom,” she said, her voice gentle. “Lord Calvert could help. He knows people, he has influence, and after that letter Virginia received….” She let the phrase fade away into the quiet of the morning.

Lucas took a single step away from them, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “I have no wish to intrude, Gilbert. If you two need to discuss something, I can go ahead and wait for you in your study.” Though he had not been married long before becoming a widower, Lucas could easily recognize a battle of wills between husband and wife, as well as the obvious affection they held for each other. A private moment might be all they needed to come to an accord. And though he was curious, he could live without knowing what troubled the beautiful guest in their home.

“No.” Thomas shook his head and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. “She’s right. I trust you will be discreet with whatever information we give you, Calvert?”

“Of course. If I can assist your family in any way, it would be my pleasure.” Lucas half-bowed to seal the promise, looking between them with mounting interest. “But what could my influence, as you called it, do for your cousin?”

Christine Gilbert kept her husband’s arm but came forward to loop the other through Lucas’s. Together, they continued the walk to the house, though much more slowly than before.

“Virginia lost her husband three months ago. She sought safety by living here, at the suggestion of a barrister in Bath. You see, in his will, her late husband left the guardianship of his sons in her hands.”

Lucas nodded. “That makes perfect sense. But she is worried for her safety?”

“For theirs,” Thomas Gilbert answered. “The boys. The late baron has a younger brother, Mr. Macon. He’s appealed to the Court of Chancery to remove the children from their mother’s care.”

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up, as well as his indignation. “On what grounds?” he asked, his voice flat. Though why he immediately believed the baroness a perfect model of motherhood he couldn’t say. He didn’t even know the woman.