Because We Belong (Because You Are Mine #3)(46)
Perhaps that extra dash of jealousy added to her already chaotic mix of emotions was what made her careless in her interactions with Gerard, who sat next to her during dinner. She hadn’t realized how distracted she’d been, failing to send up red flags as they talked quietly together. Things finally pierced her distraction when Gerard leaned close to her and spoke near her ear as they waited for the main course to be cleared.
“You have yet to wear the diamond choker I gave you.”
“That’s because I plan to return it. I told you it was too much,” she murmured softly, keeping her face forward because Gerard’s lips were barely an inch from the side of her head.
“Hold on to it for a bit. You might change your mind,” he said silkily, his breath causing her hair to stir and tickle her ear. “Not that I’m complaining about your not wearing jewelry tonight. A wise woman knows that no decoration is necessary to complement absolute perfection.”
She glanced across the table and saw Elise’s wide-eyed, comical stare. Given Elise’s amused look, she guessed Gerard was gazing down at her breasts. She grabbed her water glass, her jabbing elbow forcing Gerard to lean back in his chair. Elise suppressed a laugh and choked on her wine. Her suspicion about where Gerard had been gaping was confirmed when she noticed Ian’s stone-cold stare.
Gerard took her hand as they left the dining room.
“May I have a word in private?” he asked her. “It won’t take but a moment.” Perhaps he noticed her hesitancy. “It’s about Ian.”
She glanced behind them anxiously, but no one immediately followed them out of the dining room. Anne, James. and Lisle had already gone ahead, while the rest of them lingered in the dining room. They were momentarily alone in the Great Hall. She nodded once hesitantly and Gerard pulled her toward a private alcove that was situated behind the massive grand staircase.
“What is it?” she asked in a hushed tone, made uneasy by his secrecy given his earlier flirtation. Especially when he stood so close and leaned down over her. She realized he was striving to keep quiet, and resisted stepping back.
“Have you spoken with Ian yet? About where he’s been? About what he’s been doing? I was speaking to Anne and James, and they’re curious to know,” Gerard whispered.
“No,” she said, not thinking that Ian’s general reply of “France” counted as much of an answer at all. “But he’s given me the impression he’s going back there. He said he has unfinished business . . .” She faded off at the sound of a door opening and conversation echoing in the all. She heard heels tapping and recognized Lucien and Elise’s voices, then Amy Gravish’s laughter.
“The sitting room, correct, Ian?” Lucien asked.
“Yes,” came Ian’s deep, quiet voice.
“Unfinished business? Is he leaving soon?” Gerard asked once the sitting room door closed and the hall was quiet once again.
“I don’t know for sure,” she whispered. “You mean he hasn’t revealed any of this to you or his grandparents?”
Gerard shook his head. “Francesca,” he began uneasily. “Is there a possibility that Ian has been . . . ill? Perhaps hospitalized.”
The blood rushed from her head. “Why do you say that?” she asked, alarmed.
Gerard shrugged. “It’s a pretty good explanation as to why he’d disappeared off the face of the earth for so long.”
“No, he said he wasn’t sick, and I believed him. I thought maybe he told you something about where he’s been when you walked earlier . . .”
“No, that wasn’t what he wanted to talk about with me,” Gerard answered grimly, looking thoughtful. “I get the impression he’d been speaking to Lucien about what he’s been doing, though. The two of them certainly clammed up quickly when I walked in on them in the billiards room earlier today.”
An uneasy feeling went through her. She knew the intimate truth he shared with Lucien. They’d been talking together about their biological father, Trevor Gaines. What had Ian been doing all these months in regard to Gaines? And how in the world did he think it would help him discover who he was? She’d never hated anyone or anything more than she did that criminal. He was dead, but he was continuing to make Ian’s life a misery.
Her own.
She blinked when Gerard wrapped his hand around her upper arm and pulled her closer.
“Have you asked him why he left?” he asked in her in a pressured whisper.
“No,” she said, starting to become offended by his intensity.
“Don’t you think that would be the easiest solution?” Gerard asked.
“Excuse me.”
Francesca jumped at the unexpected hard voice. Ian stood there, his hands behind his back, staring at them coldly. Francesca stepped away from Gerard, realizing too late that her action made her look guilty. She lifted her chin and gave Ian an annoyed glance, feeling her pulse starting to throb at her throat. Gerard let his arms drop to his side and faced Ian rapidly, as if expecting a blow.
“Yes?” Gerard asked coolly.
“Grandfather is looking for you,” Ian said, his stare on Gerard like twin nails made of ice.
Gerard seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then he nodded briskly. “Francesca?” he said, holding out his hand for her. She paused, reluctant, but then reached for it as a last-ditch effort to escape the incipient explosion hinted at in Ian’s eyes. Ian halted her action by taking her hand in his before it ever reached Gerard.