“Goodness no! Aaron prefers a solid, boring investment. Flowers would be much too risky for him. Going without an umbrella on a sunny day is an uncomfortable stretch for him.” He chuckled as he spoke, and she heard affection in his voice. “Besides,” he added as he held open the carriage door for her, “I want to keep all the profits for us.”
After her conversation with Lilah, she should have been excited about the pile of money they were about to make. About how flowers were a difficult product, but that they would find a way to see it work. Instead, she was thinking about how the sunlight hit his hair and turned it into a bronze halo about his face. About how he never smelled rank and that she’d noticed an ink stain on his shirtsleeve. Far from dissuading her from him, the dark spot made her smile. All of her dresses sported ink stains, and she thought that made them two of a kind.
Better yet, after Webster climbed into the carriage, Lord Sayres surprised her by joining them inside the well-appointed interior. It made sense. There wasn’t another horse around for him to use. Where else would he sit? It was just that her brother always chose to ride postilion rather than sit in a stuffy carriage all day with the women. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling when he dropped down on the seat across from her.
“You look remarkably happy for a woman about to spend nearly two days in a carriage,” he commented.
She felt her cheeks flush, but didn’t wish to admit that the idea of such close quarters with Lord Sayres was indeed stirring her imagination. She knew that they might hate each other by the end of their travels. But at the moment, the prospect of time with the man set her heart to pumping. Whatever would they discuss? All Mama wanted to talk about was fashion and parties. And Lilah would never force anything on anyone, much less a change of topic. What would his lordship want to discuss?
The carriage started with a jerk and their journey began. Gwen had her sketchbooks handy, as well as a favorite tome on botany that she would read until the motion of the carriage gave her a headache. But for the moment, she was filled with curiosity about how Lord Sayres would spend the intervening hours between London and Lincolnshire.
She didn’t wait in suspense for long. As soon as they were moving, he leaned back against the squabs with a sigh and let his eyes drift shut.
Gwen gasped. “You’re going to sleep?”
“No,” he said, though his eyes remained closed. “Though it has been an enormous strain getting everything set in motion so quickly. I am merely relishing a moment of rest.” He blew out a breath. “You would never guess the difficulties I have had just this morning.”
“Beyond finding Mr. Callatos?”
He arched his brows, though again, without opening his eyes. “Pietro was the easiest of my problems.” He exhaled in a long slow sigh. The kind that usually prefaced a long, snoring nap.
He was going to sleep. Disappointment cut at her, and she grabbed her book with an irritated grumble. She must have made more noise than she intended because when she looked up, he was watching her with an amused expression.
“Did that tome offend you in some way?”
“What? The book?”
“You seemed remarkably displeased with it.”
“It’s a book. How could it bother me? If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have brought it.”
“Very sensible of you.” There was a lightness in his tone that bothered her, and she glared at him. He responded by raising his brows in an unspoken question.
“You’re teasing me,” she said. “And I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like being teased?”
“No, I don’t.” Even she could hear the childish petulance in her voice, and so she changed her words. “What I mean is, I don’t like being teased when I don’t understand it.”
“Ah, well that is different. I don’t suppose anyone would enjoy that.”
“My brother and sisters often laughed at something I said or did. It never made any sense to me.”
“And no one explained?”
“Lilah did eventually. And even then, I thought their reasons remarkably stupid.”
“Truly? What were they?”
“It usually was because I wanted to share an interest of mine with them. Insects, plants, even gardening, anything but fashion. They found my comments funny.”
“Well I shall be happy to listen to all manner of botany discussions…later.”
“You needn’t bother. I know there are few people who share my interests.” She waved at him, prepared to be magnanimous. “You must be terribly fatigued. I won’t mind if you sleep.”
“Thank you,” he said. “But I have things I would like to discuss with you, if you are amenable.”
Finally! Intelligent discussion! She sat up straighter. “Please, I have a passing understanding of a variety of subjects and detailed knowledge of several more. Though I warn you, I have some very specific opinions regarding female education. I do not think our current method serves anyone very well.”