Page 145 of Courting the Wrong Duke

But a week ago, he had trusted what he saw.

Now he knew better.

His own family had spent years protecting him with carefully chosen truths. Algernon had claimed to leave London and apparently had not. Augusta had given Rosalind information about her father that no one else could substantiate.

And somewhere among all of it was Lord Eastmere.

William swung down from his horse almost before the groom approaching from Gabriel’s house could reach him.

“Is Mr. Frost at home?”

“Yes, my lord. I believe he is in the library.”

William handed over the reins and went inside.

He knew the house well enough that the butler scarcely had time to announce him before William was already crossing toward the library.

He opened the door and then stopped.

Gabriel sat at a table surrounded by books.

That alone would not have been particularly remarkable. Gabriel read widely when the mood struck him, though he generally preferred doing so with considerably less determination than he appeared to possess at present.

It was the collection before him that gave William pause.

Several volumes on painting lay open across the table, accompanied by sketches, loose sheets of notes, and a book William recognized only because Gabriel had copied the title carefully onto the page beside it.

The Book of the City of Ladies.

Gabriel appeared to be taking notes from that as well.

William stared at the collection. “What on earth are you doing?”

Gabriel glanced up. “You look terrible.”

“And you look deranged. Only last night, you were lying upon my lawn lamenting the destruction of your life. Now you are studying painting and Christine de Pizan.”

“Precisely.”

William picked up one of the books on painting and looked at the notes beside it. “Why?”

Gabriel leaned back with the calm satisfaction of a man whose explanation was certain to make everything perfectly reasonable. “I have decided to court Isabella.”

For several seconds, William could only stare at him.

“Does Isabella know you have decided this?”

“Not yet.”

“Considering she denied knowing you before an entire room last night, that seems a rather important detail.”

“A temporary difficulty.”

“She despises you.”

“I intend to correct that.”

“She believes you deliberately exposed her identity.”