Page 63 (1/1)

Wordlessly the duchess drew Pandora aith her through one of the doors that led to the outside balcony Although they had spent tiether in the company of others, they hadn’t yet found an opportunity to talk alone There were more or less constant derandson to the duke himself desired her attention In her quiet way, the duchess was the hub around which the entire estate revolved

It was cold and dark out on the balcony, the breeze causing Pandora to shiver She hoped the duchess hadn’t brought her out here to say so like, You certainly have a lot to learn, or You’re not what I would have chosen for Gabriel, but it seems we’ll have tothe dark ocean, the duchess took the shawl from her shoulders, unfolded it, and draped it over them both Pandora was still with astonishrant with lilac water and a hint of talcuue-tied, Pandora stood next to her while they listened to the soothing chirr of a nightjar, and the ales

"When Gabriel was about Ivo’s age," the duchess re out at the plum-colored sky, "he found a pair of orphaned fox cubs in the woods, at a country manor we’d leased in Hampshire Has he told you about that?"

Pandora shook her head, her eyes wide

A reminiscent smile curved the duchess’s full lips "It was a pair of fe ears, and eyes like shiny black buttons Theysounds, like small birds Their mother had been killed in a poacher’s trap, so Gabriel wrapped the poor th-things in his coat and brought the to survive on their own Naturally, he begged to be allowed to keep theah to return to the f-forest Gabriel spent weeks spoon-feeding theht them to stalk and catch prey in an outside pen"

"How?" Pandora asked, fascinated

The older worin "He dragged dead "

"That’s horrid," Pandora exclaireed with a chuckle "Gabriel pretended not toStill, the cubs had to learn" The duchess paused before continuing htfully "I think for Gabriel, theto keep his distance, no iving them names They couldn’t lose their fear of huaht as well murder them if he made them tame It tortured Gabriel, he wanted to hold them so badly"

"Poor boy"

"Yes But when Gabriel finally let theo, they scampered away and were able to live freely and hunt for theood lesson for him to learn"

"What was the lesson?" Pandora asked soberly "Not to love so he kneould lose?"

The duchess shook her head, her gaze war "No, Pandora He learned how to love the them To let them be what they were round about the honey of the paddle stealoves, tucked theed the back of her neck "Breathe in through your nose and out through your ht after he’d proposed Now they were crossing the Solent, the narrow channel between England and the Isle of Wight The voyage of three miles took no more than twenty-five minutes from Portsmouth to the harbor town of Ryde Unfortunately Pandora was prone to seasickness

"We’re almost there," Gabriel murmured "If you lift your head, you can see the pier"

Pandora risked a glance at the approaching view of Ryde, with its long line of white houses and delicate spires bristling froain, she said, "We should have stayed at Eversby Priory"

"And spent our wedding night in your childhood bed?" Gabriel asked dubiously "With the house full of our assembled relations?"

"You said you liked , love But it’s not the appropriate setting for the activities I have in htly at the recollection of her bedroom, with its quaint fraled wig and one lass eye, and the bookcase of orn novels "Besides, the bed is too se"

"I suppose you have a large bed at your terrace?"

He toyed softly with the dark wisps of hair at her nape "We, e bed at our terrace"

Pandora hadn’t yet seen his house at Queen’s Gate, in the Royal Borough of Kensington Not only would such a visit have gone against all propriety, even in the presence of chaperones, but there hadn’t been tiements

It had taken Gabriel nearly the entire teeks to find a way for the word "obey" to be struck fro vows He had been informed by the Lord Bishop of London that if a bride didn’t vow obedience to her husband during the ceree would be ruled unlawful by the ecclesiastical court Gabriel had then gone to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had reluctantly agreed to give hi as certain conditions werean enormous "private fee" that amounted to bribery