Page 27 of Lady of Providence
"None of that Mrs. Clarke with you now," she said, softly smiling at him. Gabriel had never been sure of how much she and her husband had been aware of when it came to the breaking off of his relationship with Elizabeth, but they had remained kind to him, treating him like one of their own. He hadn't known his own grandparents and enjoyed the time he spent with the Clarkes, particularly when his mother retreated to the country for such lengths of time.
"I expect you are here for Elizabeth?" she asked, and Gabriel smiled at her charmingly.
"I came to see both lovely ladies who reside here."
Justine smacked him lightly on the arm. "You always have the right words to say, do you not?"
She was right — most of the time he did, except when it came to Elizabeth.
"She is in the study, working away of course, and likely attempting to evade your arrival," Justine said, and Gabriel looked at her with mock astonishment.
"Avoid me?" he asked. "Never."
She laughed and led him through the house, knocking on the door to the study before letting him in, leaving him standing within the door.
"Elizabeth," he greeted her as she looked up from the papers in front of her. She blinked a few times as if realizing where she was and who he was, clearly having been within deep concentration.
"Gabriel," she said with some wonderment. "That's right. I had forgotten you were coming this afternoon."
He clutched at his breast with mock pain. "You cause me a great deal of hurt, my lady, that I would be so easily forgotten."
"I have a lot on my mind," she said with a sigh. "Would you like to sit?”
She gestured to the seat in front of the old scarred oak desk. Clearly, Thomas Clarke hadn’t been as concerned about appearances in his home study as he had been at the bank’s office. He looked around the dark room before returning his gaze to her weary face and shook his head.
"Actually, I was going to ask if you would like to go for a walk," he said. "The day is lovely and you have clearly spent far too much time indoors as of late."
"Do I really look so terrible?" she asked with a wry smile.
In truth, she did not. But she did look as though she needed someone to take care of her, to ease her worries and be there for her, to provide a means of both support and comfort.
"You look perfectly fine," he assured her. "Despite the fact that you are so pale, I can nearly see through you."
That certainly captured her attention as she looked up with a gasp, and he laughed at the shock on her face.
"I am teasing," he said. "Now, find your bonnet, take my arm, and let us be off."
“Go, Elizabeth,” came a voice from the door, and they both looked toward it to see Justine waving her hands toward the front of the house. “You need to take some time to yourself.”
Elizabeth nodded, clearly not wanting to argue with both of them any longer. Once they emerged outside, however, her eyes cleared as she took a swift inhale of the fresh air, and Gabriel knew that it had been the right decision to push her to come.
“Where would you like to go?” he asked.
“To the park,” she said decidedly, and he held out his arm to her. She looked at it for a moment, as though trying to determine whether or not to trust it, before finally lightly placing her own hand upon it.
Her touch sent a strange tingle through him, one which Gabriel did not particularly welcome. She was somewhat stiff beside him as they walked, her gaze forward and her face hidden from him by her bonnet.
“How do you find working within a world of men?” he asked her, and she shrugged.
“I am used to being at the bank, so it is nothing new to me, I suppose.”
“Well, I, for one, do believe that more institutions might be better off if more women were involved.”
That caused her to turn her face toward him.
“Do you really now?”
“Well, yes,” he said. “It can help men be less idiotic sometimes.”
