He just shook his head.
I studied his features a moment longer, still trying to understand, and then turned away to drape my apron over an empty easel. When I turned back, he had paced across the room toward the windows, taking in the details of my space. Earl Grey had returned to his pile of blankets.
“My uncle’s rider must have made excellent time in reaching you for you to arrive so soon,” I commented, still a bit stunned to find Gage in my childhood home.
He glanced back over his shoulder. “I thought there was some urgency.”
“Well, yes, of course. I only meant that the fastest I’d hoped for you to arrive, after putting all your things in order in Edinburgh, was tomorrow.”
He picked up a jar of pigment to examine it. “I was preparing to leave for London. So my preparations for travel had already been made.”
“Oh, London,” I remarked in some surprise, a knot forming in my stomach. “Are we keeping you from—”
“No, no,” he replied quickly. “Just a small matter I needed to see to. It can wait.”
I watched as he continued to study my shelves of pigments, feeling sure he wasn’t telling me something. “You’re certain?”
“Yes.” He glanced up then and must have sensed my suspicion, for he offered me a sheepish smile. “It concerns a matter on which my father and I disagree. And my letters don’t seem to be swaying him.”
I nodded, knowing relations between Gage and his father were often tense. “Does he still wish you to return to London?”
“That’s part of it.”
I waited for Gage to say more, but he seemed determined not to, so I didn’t press him. I had never met Captain Lord Gage, so I wasn’t certain exactly what type of personality we were dealing with. But knowing his son, and from the things I’d heard about him, I could only guess that Lord Gage was a formidable man used to getting his own way. Gage seemed tired of living by his dictates and under his shadow.
“Shall I show you to your room, or would you prefer tea first?” I asked, recalling my duties as hostess.
He crossed the room to rejoin me. “I’m afraid I rode on ahead of my carriage carrying my valet and my luggage, and I doubt they’ve arrived yet. So I hope you’ll forgive my bedraggled appearance a little while longer.”
He flashed me one of his charming smiles and I arched my eyebrows in reply. He hardly looked bedraggled, and he knew it. I suspected covered in mud he would still look devastatingly attractive. But I was not about to pay him the compliment he was fishing for.
“Tea, then,” I replied.
“Kiera,” my brother called, emerging from behind the ferns that shielded the door from my view. “Crabtree told me Mr. Gage has arrived.” His gaze locked on the man in question over my shoulder and his posture stiffened slightly.
“Yes,” I said turning so that I could see both men. “Mr. Gage, allow me to introduce my brother, Trevor St. Mawr.”
Gage’s relaxed charm was as evident as ever when he shook hands with Trevor, but I could tell he’d noticed my brother’s slight shift in bearing. It was there in the watchfulness in Gage’s eyes. He had also armored himself, though in subtler manner, one I doubted many others could detect, but it was hovering in the air about them.
I eyed both men with some misgiving, hoping they weren’t about to begin posturing. I should like them to be friends. Perhaps they simply needed to size each other up without my being in the way.
“Trevor, will you escort Mr. Gage to the drawing room while I finish cleaning things here. And have tea brought up.”
I didn’t miss the way Trevor’s gaze darted over the portrait on the easel and the mess I’d made on the table, not seeming to miss a detail.
“Of course,” he replied, leading him away.
I cleaned my brushes and palette, and wiped up the paint as best I could, but as the table was already splattered with odd bits of color here and there it didn’t much matter. Then I dashed into the washroom to scrub at my hands and check my face for any stray splotches of paint. I repinned my hair and studied my appearance in the mirror, wondering if it would seem odd if I ran upstairs to change gowns. I decided against it, as too much time had already passed, and who knew where the discussion would wander if I left Trevor and Gage together alone for too long.
Fortunately, I found both men seated across from each other conversing congenially. I smiled in relief and noticed the tea things were already there, but they had waited for me to pour.