Page 28 of His Unforgettable Bride
“How long until Livy or Tabitha fly back to the sitting room, realizing we’re unchaperoned.”
Since Juliet had entered the room, he had barely thought about the two women. “I hope not for a while.”
Her brow quirked. “Don’t you care for the sisters?”
“Of course I do. It is just that”—he paused to weigh his next words—“I rather enjoy conversing with you…someone closer to my age. And having nobody censure our conversations.” One or both sisters had accompanied him since dawn, and he had peppered them with questions while awake. But there had been no sign of Juliet since he glimpsed his image in the mirror in the forenoon.
“Do you think they’re your relations?”
“Who can say? Until I recall my identity, all I have is an intuition that my name is Gray.”
“What if we call you that for now?”
Everybody had a name, and he needed one, too. “Very well. Though I reserve the right to change it again one day.”
“By all means. There are worse names, like Poindexter.”
“Or Amadeus.” He liked her humor without question. Had he always gravitated toward a woman with wit? “I hope it is not too forward to say so, but I am fond of your name.”
“Thank you. It was also my grandmother’s, as I understand it.” She stood and removed his tray of food from the bed.
Was she leaving?
He hoped not and scrambled to find a way to continue their conversation. “How did you occupy your day?” Apparently, if the dull question was any indication, he was neither suave nor charming.
“Cleaning mostly, though I kept wanting to check on you.” She placed the tray on a nearby table, then resumed her place in the chair at his bedside. “However, I stayed too busy.”
His brow arched. “You did?”
“Have multiple chores, yes.”
“No, want to check on me?”
“Of course. It’s ridiculous, but I feel responsible for your welfare, being the one who found you. I don’t suppose you remember how you ended up in the woods.”
“Not even an inkling.” It was as if his life started when he first awoke in this bed. Was he the sisters’ gold-mining nephew with carpentry skills? Or how else had he earned a wage? No answer surfaced, but had he truly expected one?
“It’ll take time, I suppose. Don’t lose heart. I used to tell myself those same three words.”
Had he ever known anyone as forthright as Juliet? More than a little, he liked that she played no coy games and freely spoke her thoughts and opinions. He held her gaze and admired her symmetrical face, thin and angular. More oval than round. Her faint brows barely registered, perhaps because the stark blueness of her eyes garnered his attention more.
His heart rate accelerated. What was she thinking as she stared intently at him?
“I should go.” She dropped her gaze and fidgeted with the edge of his cover. “At first glance, I’d say the sisters have more doilies than dust, but I’m not done with the polishing. Also, the kitchen floor still needs mopping.”
Chores. She had been thinking about household cleaning. Regardless of her daily tasks, he selfishly wished her to remain with him longer.
The sisters, especially Livy, fawned over him. Tabitha studied him as if he were a medical anomaly. Perhaps he was. Juliet appeared to accept him as he was, a man trapped in a peculiar circumstance. “Surely you can stay with me a little longer. Tell me about your grandfather.”
She pressed her hand against her chest. If not mistaken, love filled her eyes as she recalled the man who raised her. “Once upon a time, I rode everywhere on his shoulders, and we competed to sing the loudest. Shouted, really. He prided himself as a storyteller and often spun tales about princesses. I still recall the scent of leather as I watched him cobble shoes.”
“He sounds like a man I would have enjoyed meeting.”
She nodded. “He was wonderful.”
“Do you remember your grandmother?”
“Gone before my birth. My grandfather cried whenever he talked about her, and the same with my mother. As a child, I hated to see him in pain, so I stopped asking questions about the dead people we loved.” She hugged the pillow again. “Looking back, though, I wish he’d told me more, particularly about those two women.”
