Page 59 of The Moonstone Governess
Gad, he missed her.
Well, he would see her soon enough tomorrow.
He left instructions for Thaddius to wake him and his friend up at nine o’clock in the morning, which was much later than he was used to rising, but there was no point in getting out of bed sooner. By the time they would each have washed up, dressed, and met for breakfast in the dining room, it would be close to ten o’clock. He knew his mother would not be ready to see them before eleven at the earliest, so he was not in any rush to ride up to Stoningham Manor.
He wanted to see Brenna, of course. But he also wanted to give her time to get the day’s work underway before he interrupted her.
Despite the long ride from Plymouth to Moonstone Landing, Daire found it hard to fall asleep. He drank a glass of port before undressing and washing up. He then fell naked onto his bed and closed his eyes. It took him a while to stop thinking of Brenna and lose himself in dreams. Those dreams were not helpful either, since they were of Brenna.
He cast a wry smile into the dark.
So much for putting a little distance between them. He had not been back five minutes before thoughts of her filled his head.
In truth, they had never left his head even while he was off in Plymouth.
Come morning, he shaved, had his bath, dressed casually on the chance there would be work required of him, and took a seat at one of the dining room tables. He was having his morning coffee when Jax strode in.
He had also cleaned up and put on casual riding attire. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, taking the seat beside Daire’s.
“You’re on time. I got here a little early. I’d like to head over to Stoningham Manor as soon as possible. Duchess Juliana will not be down to meet us yet, but I’m eager to see Matthew and the work that’s been done to the house so far.”
Jax nodded. “Give me a minute to have my coffee and we’ll be on our way.”
The sky was a deep, bright blue and filled with tufts of white clouds, the sort that held no rain and provided occasional shade from the sun as the wind blew them across the sky. Daire’s heartbeat quickened as they rode along the field of poppies, their red petals looking particularly bright against the green of the meadow grass.
Jax drew up his mount to stare back toward the village and the glimmering sea. “Daire, this is spectacular. No wonder you wanted to move them here.” He shook his head and laughed. “Even I want to move here.”
Daire arched an eyebrow. “I don’t think the villagers will welcome a gaming hell.”
“Dear heaven, I wouldn’t bring that business here. No, I’d find something respectable. Perhaps I’ll buy the Kestrel Inn. That young innkeeper has done a good job with it. Do you think he would be willing to sell?”
“I don’t know. He just bought it from the old proprietor, Mr. Egdon.”
Jax pursed his lips in thought. “Probably carrying a hefty debt on it. Even if he did not wish to sell, he might be open to taking on a partner to relieve the debt load that must be crushingly large right now. I would agree to keeping him on at full wages to run the place, since I cannot see myself bowing and scraping or indulging the whims of anyone. I’d destroy that business within a week because I’m such an arse. But I cannot abide demanding people. I routinely toss out anyone I deem insufferable in my gaming hell, no matter how heavily they are losing to the house or how powerful and important they might be. But it doesn’t work quite the same way in a hotel. People actually expect to be served.”
Daire chuckled. “Come on. Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? You haven’t been here more than a few hours and are already planning to buy up half the village.”
Jax grinned. “Can you blame me? Did you not feel this way upon first coming here? It is spectacular, Daire. One feels as though magic happens here.”
Daire fully understood his friend’s sense of awe.
“It is a bit like stumbling into heaven, isn’t it? A man can heal in a place like this,” he said quietly. This was as close as Daire had come to admitting what Moonstone Landing and its occupants meant to him… What Brenna meant to him.
Was she even aware how important she was to him? That he actually considered marrying her? He and Jax were alike in that neither cared much about status or bloodlines. His father had tried to beat this sense of privilege and superiority into him, but all he’d made Daire do was detest everything Society had to offer.
Lady Gemma and Lady Sarah would soon be among the richest ladies in England, with lofty titles to boot. But Brenna was worth immeasurably more than them.
What price could a man put on happiness?
What price on love?
Brenna was nowhere in sight as they rode up to the manor house. Daire swallowed his disappointment as Simon Angel hurried out to greet him.
Daire introduced Jax to Brenna’s uncle and asked him to give them a tour of the work done so far. “My pleasure, Your Grace. Rain’s hampered us a bit, but hasn’t slowed us down at all indoors. Good thing, since we had Her Grace’s rooms mostly done by the time she arrived.”
To Daire’s surprise, quite a lot had been accomplished, albeit mostly the interior work, as Simon had indicated.
“We’re doing our best not to disturb Her Grace,” Simon remarked. “But we’ll be doing quite a bit of banging and hammering in the coming days. We’ll complete the noisy work as fast as possible, but it will take us a few days. I’m glad you have returned, Your Grace. Do we have your permission to keep to our schedule, or should we wait on the noisier work until Her Grace is awake? It will slow us down a little, but nothing that cannot be handled with a little extra planning.”
