Page 36 of In Search of a Husband
He drummed his fingers over the tabletop. “That might change with time.”
“My parents won’t either.”
He settled the weight of his arms on the table. “It’s growing late,” he said, attempting to change the topic.
“And now that you’ve returned to rescue what you can to help your family, you see an opportunity to create a brighter future for them as well.”
“Dinna miss my meaning. I’m a wealthy man because I take risks, and this is a verra big risk. My drive is purely selfish.”
Even as he admitted as much, it didn’t feel right any longer. He wasn’t sure if he was trying to prove something to his dead brother or more to himself now. Or to the echoes of his father, long past gone.
She set her empty teacup on the table and stretched. “They love you, Gabriel. I think they miss their uncle, and now you’ve to step in and act as their father.”
That was the problem, wasn’t it? His brother loved his family, but never himself, and in the end, he destroyed both.
“I’ll walk ye upstairs,” he said instead. Gabriel stood and cleared the table, placing the dirty dishes in the sink for the morning, and watched as Miss Bancroft unfolded her long legs and stretched, sleep washing over her features. She wrapped her shawl around her and waited in the middle of the kitchen for him.
Waiting.
Instead of walking up and taking her in his arms as he wished, he turned and headed for the door, knowing she would follow.
For now.
CHAPTER 8
It’d beenthree days since Kate spent a late evening in the kitchen alone with Gabriel. And she thought they had settled upon a truce of sorts. But she hadn’t seen him since.
And she had wished to see him. Whether it was a good idea or bad, she couldn’t decide.
“Marcel is thirsty,” Lorna said.
Kate poked her head over the girl, who watched the bumblebee climb over the heather and leaves of the small wooden box she had made up. “Best fetch some water for him.”
“I want a bumblebee,” Lorna cried. She smashed her hands against the piano keys into a cacophony of sound.
“I don’t believe that’s how you play Greensleeves,” Kate said, raising and circling around the piano in the music room. She stopped, then quickly reached for the clock on the mantel above the marble fireplace. Kate opened her timepiece and adjusted the clock with a satisfied nod before returning to Lorna at the piano.
“Why do I have to practice piano?”
Kate leaned her elbows against the top and watched the girl. “What would you do with your mother?” she asked quietly.
“She died when I was a wee bairn. I dinna remember.”
Kate had feared that. “Very well. What do you remember?”
“Toffee pudding!”
“And hand pies. Mama made the best hand pies,” Maisie added. “Da always said so.”
“And I miss her hugs and how she danced.”
“And the sound of her laugh.”
Kate’s heart broke all over. Very well. The MacInnes had been stuck long enough, and so had she, for that matter.
“Girls, we are going for a walk.”
Lorna jumped up from the piano and cheered.
