A Summer Seduction Read Free

“He is hopeful that my appearance means teatime is at hand.” He bent and nuzzled the baby’s neck, sending him into a paroxysm of giggles.
    “I think, rather, that he is hopeful it means a bout of rolling about the floor with you,” Thea corrected drily, coming forward and reaching out to take the baby. “Come here, you, it’s time for your nap.” She smiled toward the men. “I shall take Matthew to his nurse and give you two an opportunity to visit.”
    The two men stood for a moment watching her sweep up the stairs with the baby. “You must be very happy,” Alec said quietly.
    “I am indeed.” The familiar white grin flashed in Gabriel’s face. “I hope that someday you will know such happiness.”
    Alec smiled wryly, an expression he had perfected for countering such statements. “Alas, I fear I am destined by nature to be a bachelor.” He did not glance at his friend; Gabriel was one of the few who knew how much he had once hoped to deny that fact.
    “I would have said the same myself a year ago,” Gabrielresponded cheerfully. “Before Thea opened my eyes.” He gestured toward the rear of the house. “Come. Let’s wash away the dust of the road, and you must tell me how you are.”
    They strolled down the hall to Gabriel’s study, chatting as they went. Alec was surprised at how easy it was to fall back into their old pattern of conversation. But then, Gabe had always had a gift for putting one at ease, a talent Alec had never had or even understood how to acquire. It was fortunate, he thought, that he had little need for it.
    “I feared I might find you had removed to London or Morecombe Hall,” Alec commented as he settled down in a comfortable wingback chair. The darkly paneled study had a faint, pleasant scent of leather and tobacco.
    Gabriel shrugged one shoulder negligently as he handed his friend a glass of Port, then sat in the chair across from him. “We spent a month at the Hall so Matthew could see his grandmother. And a while in London. Thea loved the plays, and I have never spent so much time inside bookstores and museums in my life.” Gabriel looked faintly amazed at his own actions, and Alec had to chuckle. “But, quite truthfully, we missed the Priory. And Chesley. I have become utterly domesticated.”
    “It seems to suit you.”
    Morecombe nodded. “Thea says Matthew has me wrapped around his little finger. ’Tis absolutely true, I fear. She does not mention the fact that she does as well.”
    Alec was aware again of that feeling in his chest, a peculiar piercing mixture of pain and delight. “I could see Jocelyn inMatthew’s face.” He did not add that he had seen Ian there, too. Best not to think about that.
    Gabriel’s eyes turned sober at his words, and he nodded. An awkward silence fell over them. Matthew’s mother, Jocelyn, was Gabriel’s sister, and when she had broken her engagement to Alec, running away from all of them, Gabriel had blamed Alec. It wasn’t until Matthew had shown up in Chesley, abandoned in the village church and discovered by Thea Bainbridge, the vicar’s sister, that the truth had come out. Pregnant by her married lover, Jocelyn had accepted Alec’s proposal but, in the end, had been unable to go through with the charade. She had fled to the Continent to have her child and had lived there until finally, dying of consumption, she had returned to England to entrust her baby to her brother’s care. She had not lived to bring Matthew all the way home, but everything had worked out finally and, as it turned out, the baby had brought Thea into Gabriel’s life as well. Married not long after Christmas, they were raising the endearing child as their own.
    Alec shifted in his chair. “How does the rest of Chesley fare? The Reverend Bainbridge? The squire and Mrs. Cliffe? Mrs. Howard?” He tossed out the last name casually and turned his eyes down to the drink in his hand.
    Gabriel glanced at him, and a flicker of amusement touched his eyes.