waited. His eyes smiled at her, but he kept his expression carefully blank.
“Abby!”
Looking upward, she saw Gabe was leaning over the railing.
“I have a meeting, but if you wait twenty minutes I shall accompany you.”
His hair was a mess, standing off his head, and necktie crooked. He tended to end up this way when he was reading reports. Abby hardened her heart to the love she always felt when she looked at one of her brothers.
“I have no need of your company, thank you, my lord.”
“Pardon? Who the hell are you talking to?”
“Oh, do you not like to hear your title on my lips? I would have thought it was exactly the right way for me to address you, considering you wish for me to be everything that is perfect in a young lady.”
“Abby!”
“Good day to you, Lord Raine.” She walked out the door, knowing her footman and companion would be following.
She’d deliberately called him by his title to annoy him, and she had to do that, even in a small capacity, or go mad. She sent little barbs their way under the guise of being sweet and proper. There was only so much docility she could manage in a day.
“It is right for you to address your brother formally, and in time he will get used to it,” Mrs. Secomb said.
“No, it’s not,” Hogan said from behind them. “He’s her brother.”
“Be quiet, Mr. Hogan.”
“Just Hogan.”
Abby swallowed her smile as they continued to argue as the carriage halted before them.
“We shall agree to disagree then,” Hogan said, winking at Abby before he climbed up beside the driver.
“He’s a bad one, that Mr. Hogan,” Mrs. Secomb said, settling herself beside Abby.
“No, he’s a very nice man, and I would ask you not to speak of him that way again.”
Mrs. Secomb harrumphed and looked out the window with her lips pursed tight.
A sunny day accompanied them through the London streets. Abby looked in shop windows as they passed and wondered at the lives of those she glimpsed. Were the people walking and riding the streets happy? Or, like her, were they enacting a charade? She was well treated and, yes, loved by her brothers, but now that she knew that there was so much to experience, she wanted to do so.
The longing inside her for the two people she could not have was almost a physical pain. Dimity, with her laugh and forthright ways, and Daniel, who she knew so little about but felt as if she’d known for a lifetime.
She had snuck down into the kitchens once to see Dimity, but the staff had not been comfortable with her there, so she’d left and had not been back.
What man would want a wife with four big brothers watching his every move? And yet she knew if she did not marry, then her life would be spent going from one household to another and being at the mercy of whomever they married. What happened if the women were not to her liking or they wanted no part of her in their lives? No, she must marry.
“I’m not sure why you have to come here every week,” Mrs. Secomb said. “You should let those in your household select the flowers, Lady Abigail.”
“As I am your employer, I’m unsure why that is a concern of yours, Mrs. Secomb. I have always undertaken selecting the flowers, and that will not stop because you wish it.”
Dimity had told her to stop being so cowed by the woman. Actually, what she’d said was “You’re the bleeding employer, not her!”
“Of course, if that is your wish.” Mrs. Secomb’s lips puckered.
“It is.”
They left the carriage, and Hogan once again annoyed Mrs. Secomb with several provoking comments. Abby loved coming here. The colors and scents were wonderful, but it was the people she really enjoyed. The yelling, the conversations that flew back and forth. Most knew her now and what she liked. Unfortunately, today it also reminded her of the last time she’d seen Daniel. That day, she’d been surrounded by flowers also.
In time, I will forget him.
Wandering down the rows of blooms, she stopped to select some from a stall before moving on to another.
“Good day to you, my lady.”
“Mr. Henk, I will have some of the crocuses, snowdrops, and pansies, please.”
“They’re sweet just like you, my lady.” The grizzled man offered her a pansy.
“Why, thank you, kind sir.” Abby swept into a curtsey that had him chuckling and Mrs. Secomb sniffing in disapproval.