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Something was wrong. Gabriel could see it on Evie’s face. He’d noted it ever since she danced with Bingham. The toad must have upset her. However, it must have been not just him. After all, the men Evie danced with had all been cuckolded by Gabriel at one time or another. It would be very difficult to find a gentleman whose wife Gabriel hadn’t tumbled.
Then he turned his head and saw them. The Montbrooks. Of course, she’d be upset they were there. Why didn’t she tell him? Gabriel cursed under his breath. He spun to face the earl.
“You invited them?”
“Whom?” Winchester frowned.
“The Montbrooks,” Gabriel gritted between his teeth.
Evie craned her neck, searching the crowd.
“Of course I invited them,” his clueless sire answered. “They’re the closest family members of your wife.”
“I am her family now,” Gabriel said sharply. He took Evie’s hand and put it in the crook of his arm. “If you’ll excuse us, we have to be somewhere else,” he said and led Evie away.
“It’s all right, Gabriel,” Evie said after they made several steps. “We should probably greet them, anyway. I mean, your father is right. No matter what transpired between us, they are still my relatives. We cannot cut or avoid them, or the rumors will be unbeatable.”
“Maybe you haven’t realized this by now, wife, but I do not give a fig about rumors.”
Evie smiled up at him. “That’s why you have me. To care about things you don’t give a fig about.”
Gabriel gave a short laugh. “And why is it a good thing?”
“Well, it will make you more respectable in the eyes of theton. Isn’t that one of the reasons you married me?”
Gabriel looked at his wife thoughtfully. He had thought he wanted her inheritance; he’d contemplated that her respectability might help him make his way into theton. Having the most beautiful lady on his arm was enticing on its own, but having a duchess would open a lot more doors.
However, he had to be candid with himself. The moment she’d revealed herself in his bedroom, he’d known she wouldn’t leave his rooms unattached. She’d tied herself to him by brazenly appearing at his doorstep, and he had no intention of ever letting her go.
“Felicitations to you both!” Gabriel felt the touch on his shoulder and turned. Lady Wakefield was clutching the arm of her elderly husband as she tapped Gabriel with her fan. “Oh, what a hasty marriage, wasn’t it? I do wonder the reason for such haste.”
“Isn’t having my lovely wife on my arm as soon as possible not a reason enough?”
Lady Wakefield laughed merrily at the statement, and Evie’s hand tensed on Gabriel’s arm.
“Congratulations again, St. Clare, you’ve finally joined our ranks,” Lord Wakefield said with an unpleasant smirk.
With bows and curtsies, they moved further on their promenade about the room.
“I never liked that man,” Gabriel muttered under his breath.
“I wager he isn’t fond of you either,” Evie said, looking ahead. “You did cuckold him, didn’t you?”
“What do you know about that?” Gabriel frowned.
“Only that Lady Wakefield made a fool of herself over you during her own ball last year. The one that led to the scandal and left you penniless.”
“Right, and Father knows this. Why in the world would he invite this couple to our ball?”
“To show that there’s no bad blood between us, I assume. Your father is doing everything right in order to put the past behind us and move on.”
“He is doing everything to mask my past and pretend that I am this respectable gentleman, which I am not and will never be.”
Evie stopped in her tracks, forcing Gabriel to halt too.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, frowning at him.
“Only that—” Gabriel opened his mouth to reply but stopped as he saw the vulnerable gaze on his wife’s face. He realized how that might have sounded and cursed himself for his thoughtless words. “I mean, I am not respectable. Far from it. I shall never be one of those gentlemen who does everything right, who cares about their reputation. I shall always be the devil St. Clare, the debaucher of the innocent. Even if the innocent is an equally devious wife of mine,” he said with a grin.
