Page 7 of The Hero

His mouth quirked. “None.”

“Then it would seem neither of us enamored with the idea of marriage,” she dismissed.

“I am not against the idea.” To Gideon’s surprise, he realized he was no longer as averse to that possibility as he had been. “It is only that I have not yet met the lady I would wish to make my wife.”

“Or one who might wish to become your wife,” Harry scorned predictably.

Perhaps.

But Henry Church had left out certain vital ingredients earlier when he described Gideon’s character to his daughter. Because Gideon was also stubborn and decisive, and once his mind was set upon a course of action, it would not be altered.

It was currently set on ensuring the beautiful, unpredictable, and highly entertaining Harry Church would one day become his.

CHAPTER THREE

“In lofty company this evening, eh, Monkey?”

Harry closed her eyes briefly before opening them again to glare across at the young man who was now seated opposite her at the dining table. “I trust you are not referring to yourself, Bobby Black? Especially in that hideous shirt!” At the sound of stifled laughter, she turned to look at the man seated beside her. “Did I say something to amuse you, Your Grace?”

He bowed slightly. “Invariably.”

“How unexpected it is to see you here, Oxford.” The drawled words of Robert Granger, the Duke of Plymouth, implied the opposite.

“Monkey?” Oxford repeated the name without making verbal acknowledgment of the younger man’s comment.

“She climbed trees like one when we were children together,” Granger dismissed.

“You were a tomboy,” the man at her side stated dryly.

Harry frowned at his lack of surprise. “There were no girls of my age living near our estate in Gloucestershire where I was brought up. There was only my older brother when he came home for the school holidays. He occasionally invited some of his friends to stay with us.”

Dark brows rose over pale gray eyes. “Which included the young man you still refer to as Bobby Black, despite his recent elevation in social status?”

“It is not so very recent to most,” Plymouth muttered.

“Bobby is short for Robert. Obviously,” Harry explained to the duke beside her. “Black because during one of his visits, he swallowed some ink as a dare and turned his tongue that color for a whole week. He was also exceedingly sick,” she added with relish.

“And who was responsible for making the dare?” Oxford prompted dryly.

“Monkey, of course,” Robert drawled.

“You always were a tattletale,” she accused.

“And you were always impetuous and headstrong. Have a care those traits do not get you into more trouble than you can escape this time around, Monkey,” he advised with a glance in Oxford’s direction.

* * *

Gideon was under no illusion whom Granger was warning Harry against.

He also believed, by Granger’s slightly mocking tone, that he had known it was Gideon’s intention to be at Whiting Manor this weekend.

Implying Granger had come here for the same purpose?

It now seemed more likely than not.

The other man’s warning to Harry was perhaps merited considering Gideon’s plans regarding Harry before he learned exactly who and what she was.

Which did not prevent Gideon from resenting being the reason for the younger man feeling he needed to act so protectively toward the sister of his childhood friend.

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