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in her plans. Gabriel turned with her, keeping his right side to the sound. “If we pad the sharp corners with quilts, then you would still be able to negotiate the house without risking an injury. Especially if you learn to count.”
    “I can assure you, Miss Wickersham, that I learned to count in the nursery.”
    It was her turn to sigh. “I meant to count your steps. If you memorize the number of steps it takes to get from room to room, you’ll be able to keep your bearings.”
    “That would be a refreshing change. I’ve certainly lost them since you set foot in my house.”
    “Why do you keep doing that?” she suddenly asked, genuine curiosity softening her voice.
    He frowned, struggling to follow the gentle tap of her footsteps as she circled him. “Doing what?”
    “Turning away from me when I move. If I go left, you turn right. And vice versa.”
    He stiffened. “I’m blind. How can you expect me to know which way I’m turning?” Eager to deflect her questions, he said, “Perhaps you should be the one explaining why someone deliberately defied my orders and opened the windows in here.”
    “I was the one who defied your orders. As your nurse, I thought a little sunshine and fresh air might improve your…your…”—she cleared her throat as if something had gotten hung in it—“your circulation.”
    “My circulation is just fine, thank you very much. And a blind man has little need of sunshine. It’s nothing but a cruel reminder of all the beauties he’ll never see again.”
    “Perhaps that’s true, but it’s hardly fair of you to drag your entire household down into the darkness with you.”
    For a stunned minute, Gabriel couldn’t speak at all. Since he’d returned from Trafalgar, everyone had been tiptoeing and whispering around him. No one, not even his family, had dared to address him so bluntly.
    He turned fully toward the sound of her voice, allowing the ruthless rays of sunshine to sear his face. “Did it never occur to you that I kept the drapes drawn not for my benefit, but for theirs? Why should they have to look upon me in the daylight? At least I have the blessing of blindness to shield me from my hideous disfigurement.”
    Miss Wickersham’s reaction to his words and his face was the last one he expected. She burst out laughing. Her laugh wasn’t what he expected, either. Instead of a dry cackle, it was a bawdy, full-throated song that both mocked and stirred him, proving his circulation was even better than he realized.
    “Is that what they told you?” she asked, merry little ripples of laughter still escaping her as she fought to catch her breath. “That you were ’hideously disfigured’?”
    He scowled. “No one had to tell me. I may be blind, but I’m not deaf or stupid. I could hear the physicians whispering over my bed. When the last of the bandages came off, I heard my mother and sisters gasp in horror. I could feel the cruel stares on my skin when the footmen carried me from the hospital bed to my carriage. Even my own family can hardly bear to look upon me. Why do you think they’ve locked me away here like some sort of animal in a cage?”
    “As far as I can tell, you’re the one who locked the cage doors and barred the windows. Perhaps it’s not your face your family fears, but your temper.”
    Gabriel groped for her hand, capturing it on the third try. He was startled by how small, yet firm, it felt in his grip.
    She let out a startled yelp of protest as he yanked her into motion. Instead of her leading him through the house, he led her, halfway dragging her up the stairs and down the long hallway that housed the family portrait gallery. He had learned every nook and cranny of Fairchild Park as a boy and that knowledge still served him well. He marched her down the gallery, measuring his long strides until they reached the end of the hall. He knew exactly what she would find there—a large portrait, veiled by a linen sheet.
    He was the one who had