The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,63

seem to appease Celeste. She worried her hands before her. “I just don’t want to hurt your reputation or Lena’s after you’ve worked so hard to build it up.”

Lady Lena stepped up and slipped a hand through her arm. “We want you, so stop arguing.”

The relief that moved through Celeste was palpable. Miss Smith turned toward him. “And the same invitation is true for Mr. Gregory. If you would be interested.”

He inclined his head. “That is very kind, madam. I have always had a great curiosity about the salon and I would be honored to be a part of it, though I am no great intellect.”

Celeste snorted, and he was pleased to see her expression was no longer so filled with concern and anxiety. “Do not believe him, Harriet. He is always thinking, thinking, thinking.”

Miss Smith nodded slowly. “I can see that about him. Go with Lena now, my dear. I will stay and speak with Mr. Gregory a moment.”

Celeste’s smile fell and she glanced at him. “Owen?”

“I’m happy to talk to your friend,” he said, though he glanced back at Miss Smith and held his gaze there. “Go and enjoy your tour.”

Celeste’s uncertainty was clear, but so was her excitement as she was swept into the tidal wave that was Lady Lena and led from the room. Owen could hear them giggling and talking all the way down the hall until Miss Smith crossed to the door and shut it with a pointed click, leaving Owen alone with a woman who clearly had opinions about him.

But he wasn’t certain if they were good or bad.

They stared at each other for a moment. He made no attempt to read her. After all, he had no duty to do so. He didn’t fear what she would do to Celeste either, for it was evident this woman cared deeply for her. But he was no fool. He knew Miss Smith was reading him. Down to the core, to the bone.

It was a somewhat unpleasant sensation and one that made him wonder what the outcome of that judgment would be.

At last Miss Smith stepped closer and spoke words that rocked his very core. “So you are in love with her.”

Chapter 17

That was the last thing Owen had thought Miss Smith would say, and he took a long step back from her as if he could escape those words. Better yet, escape the truth of them. Because they were true. Hearing them out loud made them so obvious that he was surprised he hadn’t come to this revelation on his own.

Or perhaps he had, with every moment he spent with Celeste, but had pushed those feelings aside. Tried to pretend away his growing love for her because it was so dangerous and fraught. Because it was bound to cause him pain, given the circumstances.

When he didn’t answer, Miss Smith tilted her head. “It’s impossible not to love her, one way or another. At least to any intelligent person.” Her lips thinned as though she was thinking of something unpleasant. “Did you meet her parents when you were coming to collect her in Twiddleport?”

“I did.”

She shrugged. “Then you know what she put up with all her life.”

“Yes, down to when they forced a marriage with a bigamist on her rather than doing even the slightest due diligence about the man.” He clenched his hands at his sides.

She seemed to mark that physical action closely, catalogue it with every other thought she was gathering. The woman would make a wonderful investigator. “Yes. I spent my entire tenure as her governess trying to subvert their selfish disregard for her. Trying to convince them that they should consider her and what she needed in even the smallest way. I was ultimately sacked for it.” She shook her head.

“You did very well by her, though, Miss Smith,” Owen said. “She is independent-minded and smarter than any other person I’ve ever known.”

“Harriet,” Miss Smith said softly. “If you love my Celeste and you are bright enough to see her virtues beyond her pretty face, then you have earned the right to call me Harriet just as she does.”

He inclined his head. “Thank you.”

“And I know Celeste is all those things you say she is. She always was, and I see her coming into her own now that she is here in London, out from under their thumbs, from under the oppression of that small place and the small minds who live there.” She smiled slightly, but then it fell. “But