AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gray handed her out, escorted her to her door and kissed her fingertips before he opened it for her. ‘Pleasure postponed can be the greater for it,’ he murmured. The pressure of his fingers on hers pulled her in towards him until his breath was warm on her cheek.
Gaby lifted the hand he held and brushed her own lips over the ungloved back of his. ‘There will be two of us unable to sleep tonight.’
Beside them the door began to open. ‘Is that you, Gabrielle? Ah, yes, it is.’ Jane stood on the threshold, spectacles perched on the end of her nose, notebook in hand. ‘Good afternoon, my lord.’
‘Miss Moseley. I will collect you at nine, if that is convenient, Miss Frost?’
‘Very, thank you.’ And then he was gone and Gaby was inside and trying to think of how to report a most unsettling day to Jane. ‘Have you been out?’ she asked, playing for time while she sorted out her thoughts, got her breathing under control and tried, very hard, not to dwell on the sensation of Gray’s breath on her cheek.
‘British Museum, Lackington’s Circulating Library, three bookshops and the British Institution,’ Jane said briskly. ‘And how was your aunt?’
So much for distraction. ‘I have convinced her that Lord Leybourne and I have an understanding.’
‘Indeed?’ For once she had succeeded in surprising her companion.
‘Simply a ruse, of course. But she was planning on matchmaking for him, too, so I killed two birds with one stone, as it were.’
‘And what does Lord Leybourne have to say about that, pray?’ Jane removed her spectacles, the better to subject Gaby to a beady inspection.
‘He is suitably grateful for being rescued, of course.’ She ignored Jane’s snort and went through to the bedchamber. ‘And Aunt has secured invitations for you and me to a soirée this evening, from which I deduce that she entertains hopes of separating me from Gray. Or did not believe a word of it in the first place.’
‘I doubt that.’ Jane followed her and stood in the doorway while Gaby shed bonnet and gloves.
‘Really?’ Surprised, she turned, one glove half-off. ‘I had not thought her very perceptive.’
‘She can see what is in front of her nose, I suspect.’ Jane came right into the room and perched on the side of the bed. ‘The pair of you clearly have a strong attachment.’
‘We have?’ Surely, surely, they had done nothing that might make Jane suspect? Until that day nothing had been agreed between them, they had behaved with restraint, hadn’t they?
‘I may be a spinster,’ Jane said primly, looking every inch the model of one. ‘But I also know a great deal about the mating habits of mammals.’
‘Mammals?’
‘Humans are mammals.’ The tip of her companion’s nose was pink now.
‘And we are not mating.’ Not yet, anyway. ‘Gray is a very attractive man. I may flatter myself that I am not exactly repulsive to the opposite sex. Obviously there is a mutual...awareness.’ Now her own face was reddening, she could feel it.
‘Yes, dear. As you say. I do not think I will accept your aunt’s kind invitation. Will you require any assistance dressing for this evening?’
‘Are you not going to give me a little lecture on proper behaviour?’ Gaby enquired, halfway between being horrified by Jane’s perception, when she had thought her companion would hardly notice if Gaby was entertaining half the men in the valley, and embarrassed that she was being obvious in her feelings about Gray.
‘I hardly think that this is the time to start behaving like a conventional chaperone, is it?’ Jane stood up and turned to the door. ‘And especially after your Frenchman, poor young man.’
‘You knew about Laurent? You never said anything.’
‘It is none of my business. But I can interpret the memorial stone. If he had been an English officer, I believe you would have said something about him. As it is...’ She put on her spectacles again and drifted out of the door, closing it behind her with a little click.
Chapter Eleven
Gray paced slowly up and down the entrance hall of Grillon’s Hotel. He had arrived at nine, sent up a footman to announce his arrival and, from previous experience of escorting ladies to balls, was expecting to spend a good half hour before Gabrielle appeared.
‘You look like a caged beast in a menagerie,’ Gabrielle remarked from immediately behind him.
‘I was settling down to wait,’ he confessed. It was ridiculous the way his pulse leapt at the sound of her voice. ‘You are admirably punctual, Miss Frost.’
‘I dislike being kept waiting myself.’ She tipped her head to one side and studied him gravely. ‘I thought you most elegant in Portugal, but clearly you had tossed some old rags into your valise for travelling, because now you look magnificent, my lord.’
‘I thank you.’ Her serious, lingering study was both flattering and arousing. ‘It is not the custom for ladies to compliment gentlemen on their attire, I should warn you—just in case you encounter Prinny and are swept away in admiration of his appearance.’
