A Flirtatious Rendezvous: The Gentlemen Next Door #4 - Historical Regency Romance Novellas by Cecilia Gray Page A

on?”
    His mother shot a bewildered look behind him—to the butler, he realized—and before he could guess her intention, both of them were taking either arm and dragging him to his study. The butler turned the chair at his desk to face outward and he lowered himself into it. He shook his head, hoping to clear it, but it only fogged up more.
    He looked up into his mother’s concerned face as the butler quietly shut the door, leaving them alone.
    “Clearly time away from Hanna is not as beneficial to you as it is to her.” His mother lifted his chin and peered into his eyes. He reared back. “You are in a sorry state. What were you thinking?”
    “I wasn’t,” he admitted.
    She chuckled and folded him into a hug, and he let her, because she was his mother, and even grown sons wanted hugs from their mothers from time to time. She pulled back and studied him again as she lowered herself onto the antique chest where he kept his old books.
    “I don’t know what’s happened to me, Mother. She’s always been there. She’s always been next door, just separated by the tree. I think I believed she always would be. On and on for infinity. Then when she wasn’t…” He shook his head again. “Have I embarrassed her and her guests? I should apologize.”
    “There are no guests,” his mother said. “She isn’t here.”
    “Where is she?” he started to rise but sat quickly again as the blood rushed out of his head. He was not skilled at being drunk, unfortunately.
    “She left yesterday for Leicester to visit her father. With Lady Rivington and Montcreif’s party.”
    He shot up this time and promptly keeled over, chest heaving. He grabbed his desk. “You let her go?”
    “They’re properly chaperoned,” his mother reasoned. “And how would I know you’d finally stop being a blithering idiot?”
    “How did you know?” he asked. The question struck him harder than he thought. “Mother, yes. How did you know? How did you know…." The truth of his feelings struck him and he laughed maniacally. "That I would fall in love with her?”
    His mother sighed and sent her gaze heavenward. “Still an idiot, I see. You didn’t fall in love with Hanna. You were already in love with her. You’ve always been in love with her. I’ve always known it.”
    Hayden furrowed his brow. “No, I haven’t.”
    “Yes, you have, Hayden. Just…think back.”
    He did. He thought back. He remembered how she’d tried to climb that tree when they were twelve. She’d chosen the worst possible route and yet she hadn’t given up. Through will and gumption she’d forced her way to the top. He remembered the time she’d baked those horrible treats and given them to him, and he’d been awed at how she could be so oblivious to failure. How she never seemed afraid to dream, to try. He didn’t think he’d ever met anyone more fearless. He didn’t think he’d ever been in awe of anyone else.
    “How did you know?” he asked. “How did you know when I didn’t? When I’m supposed to be the genius?”
    “Don’t feel too badly, dear. You had to get your intellect from somewhere, but alas, you have your father in you, too.”
     
    * * *
     
    Hanna peeked in from the kitchen as Viscount Montcreif rattled off a list of local fairs to her father. The two had been steadily involved in conversation about the region’s agricultural offerings since Viscount Montcreif had stopped by several minutes ago.
    Her father had only two staff at his country home of twelve rooms, and they were already overtasked now that she was visiting without notice, so she had taken it upon herself to boil water for tea. She opened one cupboard after another until she found the jar of dry tea leaves from India.
    It was strange, feeling out of place in what should be her own home.
    Even when she’d moved into the Landale residence, it hadn’t seemed foreign. She knew the location of every candle, the best hiding spots, the turns around every corner. This