Page 73 of A Winter Scandal

“Ian’s right,” Alan agreed. “It’s all a hum. You should send the boy to a foundling home.”

“He can hardly do that if there’s any chance Matthew is Jocelyn’s child,” Myles retorted. “What you ought to do is bring the baby to the Priory. Plenty of protection here. I don’t think you’d have some chap breaking in and grabbing him, not with all of us around, not to mention the servants.”

“Quite right,” Ian agreed, making a toasting gesture with his glass. “Bring the little fellow over here. After all, we are perfectly respectable now that we have a woman in the household. I am sure Emily would love to have a baby about, wouldn’t you, my dear?”

Gabriel had to press his lips together tightly to keep from laughing. Emily looked as if she had swallowed a fly. But she smiled gamely and said, “Yes, of course, that sounds like just the thing. It would be delightful, no doubt, to have a little one in the house. Of course, I do not know how much longer we shall be here. We have already imposed on your hospitality a great deal.”

“Nonsense, you are always welcome here,” Gabriel responded with automatic courtesy.

His statement had always been true in the past—at least as far as Ian was concerned. (Emily’s presence tended to make any gathering rather tame.) However, he realized as he spoke the words that the open invitation was now a polite fiction. The truth was, the presence of his guests added an unwelcome complication to his life. It would be far easier to see Thea if he was alone at the Priory. He would not have to worry about keeping his friends entertained; he would not have to spend time here playing cards or chatting when he could be down at the vicarage talking to Thea. Right now, for instance, he could not simply ride over to call on Thea as he wanted to do. He was expected to celebrate with his guests, and if he managed to see Thea, he would have to maneuver it so that it fit in with the celebration.

He was far too well-bred to reveal such thoughts, so he uttered the smooth social fiction, then turned to Myles to address his friend’s suggestion to move Matthew to the Priory. “Of course, I will bring Matthew to live with me at some point, but I think for the present it is better if he remains with Miss Bainbridge. He is familiar with her and happy there. And there is really no reason to move him just yet. I have set up a guard at the vicarage to make sure nothing happens.”

Gabriel did not add what was uppermost in his thoughts, which was that he would not think of distressing Thea by taking Matthew away from her. Besides, if the baby resided here, Gabriel would no longer have a handy excuse for calling at the vicarage.

“It would not be fair to the baby, in any case, to keep him here, as I will be gone much of the time. I want to get my hands on the man who abducted the baby. I can’t help but think that he might lead me to whoever left Matthew at the church. I must know whether it was Jocelyn. And if it was not my sister, perhaps whoever did leave him has some knowledge of her.”

“But surely that person has already left the village,” Emily pointed out.

“Unfortunately, I imagine that you are right. But I have to keep trying, nevertheless. I cannot ignore any possibility that it will lead me to Jocelyn.”

“No, of course,” Emily agreed, nodding, though Gabriel could tell from the look of pity in her eyes that she suspected he was doomed to disappointment. “You must do whatever you can.”

Everyone at the table fell silent for a time after that. Unsurprisingly, it was Myles who started a new conversation.

“What Christmas activities do you have planned for us, Gabriel?” he asked, grinning. “Charades, perhaps? Games?”

“You clearly spend too much time with your sisters’ children,” Ian told him dampeningly.

“Well …” Gabriel cast a glance around the table. “I understand there is morris dancing in the village.”

“Morris dancing?” Emily asked, her nose wrinkling. “Truly? You want to watch men dance with sticks?”

Myles laughed and slapped a hand to the table. “Sounds like just the thing.”

“Only if we have a glass of brandy before we go,” Alan said.

“Or perhaps two,” Ian added.

It took some time to get everyone clad for the outdoors and ready to go, especially given the round of brandy before they left. But finally they got into Emily’s elegant carriage—the only vehicle in the stables large enough to house them all—and started out. Myles began singing Christmas carols as they rode, and Alan had consumed enough brandy by then to join him. Even Emily unbent enough to sing along with everyone else.

The village had an empty look when they arrived, but they followed the stragglers down the road toward the vicarage, and soon the crowd and the dancers came into view. The carriage stopped short of the crowd, and they disembarked. Gabriel was the last to emerge, and he paused before he stepped down, casting a quick glance over the crowd.

He spotted Thea immediately. The hood of her cloak had fallen back, and she wore no hat, so the sun gleamed on her thick hair, picking out the red highlights. Curls clustered around her face, and more curls fell from the crown of her head. She turned to look at the carriage, and her eyes met Gabriel’s across the distance. Something warm and eager swelled in his chest, and Gabriel grinned. He stepped down from the carriage, and as he did so, his gaze fell on the man standing behind Thea.

Rawdon. Jealousy stabbed through him, as swift and sharp as a knife. Scowling, Gabriel strode toward them.

Fifteen

As Gabriel walked toward Thea, Rawdon stepped up beside her, and the intimation of protection in the other man’s stance infuriated Gabriel.

“What the devil are you doing here?” Gabriel stopped in front of Rawdon, his hands doubling into fists at his sides.

Rawdon raised his brows in his coolly annoying way. “Watching the village festivities. Much like you, I imagine.”

“I invited Lord Rawdon to join us for Christmas,” Thea put in.

“You invited him? When you know that I don’t—” Gabriel stopped abruptly, realizing that his words were exactly the wrong tack to take with Thea.