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‘He’s an idiot,’ Gaby said fiercely, then retrieved her slipping smile. ‘Where are you living now? Forgive me asking, but I know your resources are limited. It isn’t eating into your passage money to get to America is it?’
‘No, don’t worry,’ Henry said, as the gentleman opposite stepped forward and she had to join hands and be whirled down the set.
‘Where are you living, then?’ They both arrived breathless at the end of the set, marking time while everyone else had their turn at promenading down.
‘Drab but decent rooms off Fleet Street.’
‘Give me your address, please. I do not want you disappearing again.’
The music came to a resounding conclusion. Gaby curtsied, Henry bowed and led her off the floor. They were on the far side from Gray, who was making his way round to them.
‘Oh, bother the man, he is determined to be possessive. Quick, scribble it down for me.’
‘May I borrow your pencil?’ Henry dug a card out of his breast pocket, turned it over and scribbled on the back with the little pencil Gaby should have been using to note partners on the ribs of her fan.
‘How did you get an invitation?’ Gaby asked, taking the pencil and slipping it into her reticule.
‘Your aunt, Lady Orford. I bumped into her in the Strand outside Ackermann’s the day before yesterday. She asked if I was still staying with Gray and I told her not. I suspect she realised something was amiss—I pokered up a bit, I’m afraid. Anyway, she said I simply must enjoy a great ball before I vanished to the other side of the world and promised me I would be admitted.’
‘Did she ind
eed?’ Gaby said. So, her wretched aunt suspected that Henry and Gray had fallen out and was now using poor Henry to drive a wedge between Gaby and Gray. ‘Oh, dear, here comes Gray and he looks thunderous. You’d best slip away.’
‘I don’t like to—’
‘And I don’t like to have the pair of you brawling over me in public. Shoo!’ She gave him a little push and, thankfully, he had the sense to do as she asked.
‘What the devil is going on?’ Gray demanded as he reached her side. She cast a harassed look behind her, but Henry’s turban was lost in a sea of exotic headgear.
‘I was apologising to your unfortunate cousin for him being tossed out of your house because you are jealous and unreasonable.’
‘Me? Unreasonable? He’s a guest in my house and he offers to bed my—’
‘Will you be quiet?’ Gaby saw a door standing a ajar, took Gray’s arm and towed him through it. ‘If anyone overheard you, what would they think?’
‘No one would hear, not in that racket.’ Gray’s voice sounded loud in the deserted service corridor as the door swung closed on the ballroom.
‘I am not your anything, Gray. Henry made his offer when I was even less to you and you know it. I told you nothing happened and I do not appreciate you failing to take my word for it.’
‘I apologise.’ He did not look apologetic, not with the frown on his face and the darkness in his eyes and his mouth—oh, that mouth—set in a severe line. ‘I was not at my best the next morning and he guessed what had happened and he was...judgemental and far too protective of you for my liking.’
‘You believe us now?’ Gaby realised that she was feeling too hot, even though the corridor was cool. The lamps set along the wall seemed to flicker strangely. For a ghastly moment she thought she might be about to faint.
‘Yes. Of course.’ Then Gray’s tone changed. ‘Gabrielle? Are you all right, you’ve gone quite pale.’
‘I don’t think I am. Gray, could you take me home? I feel rather strange again.’
‘Of course.’ He stood and held out his hand. ‘I have upset you. I’m sorry.’ He pulled her gently to him and looked closely into her face. ‘Or are you ill?’
‘Just rather tired. Who would have thought that waltzing was so exhausting?’
‘I’m not so sure. And it was a little upsetting, arguing about Henry and then the dance with him was rather energetic.’ Gray tugged off his glove and laid his long fingers against her forehead. ‘I hope you haven’t caught anything—a cold, perhaps. You are not used to English weather and we sat outside for a long time the other evening. Here, let me just check no one is watching.’ He opened the door, steered her out into the noise and heat of the crowded room, sheltered her with his body as they made their way out.
It was good to be cared for like this, Gaby thought as she let herself be handed over to a solicitous maid in the ladies’ retiring room and wrapped in her cloak and seated in a comfortable chair while Gray called the carriage. It was weakening, of course, because she was not used to it and she would have to go back to looking after herself before very long. But the way he protected her was almost as pleasurable as his kisses. Perhaps more so.
He loves me and he is letting me go. Or perhaps he does not guess how very close I am to surrendering, to marrying him, to risking everything on trust.
‘I worry about you,’ he murmured as they settled into the carriage, a rug across her knees. ‘I should have kept my temper with Henry and I should not have spoiled your evening with my suspicions.’
