AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No.” Clydesdale cleared his throat. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this bargain you two made up.”
“What about it?” Gabriel asked, taking a deceptively relaxed pose.
“According to Evie, you are allowed to continue your debauched ways once she moves back to Peacehaven.”
“So?” Gabriel picked at an invisible speck on the sleeve of his coat.
“So, I want you to promise me you won’t make a spectacle of her.”
Gabriel looked at his friend with a stony expression on his face, his anger boiling from the inside.
“I shan’t tell you how to live your life, Gabriel, but I don’t want her to face the embarrassment from thetonwhen they discuss another one of your conquests.”
“Oh, so it is fine for you to have a mistress after marriage, but not for me?” Gabriel said venomously.
“I was an idiot,” Robert said evenly. “Julie didn’t have anybody to look out for her, so she had to do it herself. Evie has me. And I shan’t let you mistreat her.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Gabriel said evenly.
“Truly? Because scandal and you usually go hand in hand.”
“All right, I think that’s enough insults I took from you for one day. Is there anything you want, or can I throw you out of my house yet?”
“Don’t be an arse, Gabriel—”
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” Gabriel cocked a brow at his friend. A tense silence sizzled between them. “Look, Rob,” Gabriel finally said, taking a deep breath. “I know you worry about her, but you don’t have to. She took great care of herself while getting rid of her guardian. She took splendid care of herself during the journey with a notorious rake. And she will be quite fine on her own from here on out.” Gabriel finished his glass of scotch in one gulp to drown the bitter taste in his mouth.
Clydesdale watched him with narrowed eyes. “And you?”
“And I”—Gabriel stood and went to the sideboard for a refill—“shall not stand in her way.”
“You know you are going to be the most notorious couple of theton,” Clydesdale said, lounging in his chair lazily. He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles, looking extremely comfortable. “You will be the envy of every beau who has ever proposed to her, and there were dozens.”
“I can imagine,” Gabriel grumbled under his breath, taking a sip of his scotch.
“Rumors will be following your every step,” Robert continued.
“So what?” Gabriel threw nonchalantly.
“So, Evie will be propositioned from every corner by the same husbands you once cuckolded.”
Gabriel’s hand froze with his glass halfway to his lips.
“Now that she’s married, she is fair game for the mistress seekers.” Clydesdale shrugged as if he didn’t care.
“They can proposition her all they want. She wouldn’t agree to them,” Gabriel said, sounding uncertain to his own ears.
“Oh?” Clydesdale cocked a brow at him.
“She lasted almost two weeks of one-on-one travel with me. She can withstand some other fop.” He drained his glass and went for another refill.
Clydesdale chuckled lightly. “You are not as unaffected as you want to seem, my friend,” he said, humor dusting his tone.
“What are you talking about?” Gabriel turned to him, a glass of scotch in his hand.
“I’m talking about Evie and how you didn’t return unscathed from the trip with her.”
Gabriel suddenly felt tired and weary, or perhaps the scotch had kicked in and relaxed his guard.
