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In that awful place. Or one very like it.
Gabe heaved a sigh. “He’s in the worst sort of Hell you can imagine.”
His friend sighed as well. “Then moving him to Northendmightbe the best option, Gabe.”
“We’ve just been over that.” Damn it all, if his friend wasn’t the most stubborn man alive.
Christian shook his head. “Hire one of those doctors you think could watch after him. Peat, or whatever you said his name was. Take himwithyou to Northend.”
If Gabe had access to the coffers of the Weybourne dukedom as Christian did, money would not be a concern. But the Northwold earldom was not the Weybourne dukedom. Not in any way. And should he have ever been confused about that before, the visit to their solicitor’s office that morning would have disillusioned him of that fact. “Should I stumble upon Clayton’s lost treasure, perhaps I can finance such a thing.”
“Come on.” Christian pushed back to his feet. “I’m to find a gift for Colonel Throssell this afternoon. Why don’t you come with me? Take your mind off all this if only for a little while.”
“You think I’m horrid!” Cassie accused, touching a hand to her heart as their coach turned left onto Piccadilly.
“I don’t think you’re horrid,” Sophie replied calmly. “I think you don’t consider how your words may sound to others and that you should think before you speak.”
Her youngest sister glared quite pointedly at her. “No one but you ever takes offense at anything I say. You’re the only one who thinks I’m horrid.”
“I donotthink you’re horrid,” Sophie repeated. Goodness, her sister could try the patience of a saint. “But you must have missed the expression on Prissa’s face, Cassie, if you think I’m the only one who ever takes offense. Her father and her brotherjustdied. It’s their loss we’re mourning, or have you forgotten?”
“We barely even knew them,” her sister muttered.
That was true, but… “That’s hardly the point. They were family and we shall mourn them as is proper. Complaining about that in front of poor Prissa who loved them and lost them was callous and cruel on your part.”
“I am not cruel.” Cassie heaved an irritated sigh. “And I didnotcomplain.”
“It certainly sounded like you did.”
Her sister’s back straightened as though she was affronted. “You are certainly high and mighty for someone who donned boy’s clothes and snuck into a bachelor’s residence last night. If you would like to discuss proper behavior, Sophie, why don’t we begin there?”
Sophie narrowed her eyes on Cassie, surprised she knew that detail at all. There was a reason she and Charlotte had planned the excursion to Albany without Cassie’s help. Their youngest sister was the worst secret keeper alive. “How in the world do you know that?”
Looking quite pleased with herself, Cassie shrugged. “How I know anything is beside the point.Youdid something untoward last night, and people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.”
“I had to speak with Chase,” Sophie said. “And there was no other way to do so.”
“You don’t have to look so concerned,” Cassie added. “I’m not going to tell anyone. What was it like? Did you see anything scandalous while you were there?”
Blast it all. The last person in the world she wanted to confide anything to wasCassie. “I didn’t see anything except for Chase’s set of rooms.” And Matthew Greywood. And Gabriel Prideaux. But she would rather die than admit that to her youngest sister. “Besides, we weren’t talking about my excursion to the Albany, but you and your tendency to say things you shouldn’t.”
Cassie huffed as she sank back against the squabs. “You may be the oldest, Sophia, but you are not Mama. So in the future, if someone needs to correct me in any manner, it should be her, and not you.”
Sophie shook her head, relieved they were no longer discussing her misadventure from the night before. “I completely agree, Cassie, but Mama wasn’t there this morning with Mr. Greywood nor with Prissa this afternoon. However, I was.”
Her sister narrowed her sea-colored eyes on Sophie, a storm brewing in them to be sure. “You have been in a mood all day, and it’s hardly fair for you to take it out on me.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. Sophie wasn’t taking anything out on Cassie. And she wasn’t in a mood. How did her sister go through life being so overly dramatic in all things?
“I do hope Mr. Greywood makes an offer for you soon,” Cassie continued. “Living with you is nearly unbearable these days.”
“Hopefully he will,” Sophie countered. “Then I won’t have to watch you make a cake of yourself all the time and wish the floor would open up and swallow me whole to avoid the embarrassment. Such a relief that will be, let me assure you.”
Neither of them said another word as the coach turned left onto St. James and then right onto Pall Mall. They just glared silently at each other the rest of the way to Harding, Howell & Co.
As the carriage rambled to a stop in front of the store, Cassie hopped from the conveyance as though she couldn’t wait a second longer to be away from her sister. Then she glanced back over her shoulder at Sophie. “I shall find you when I’m ready to leave.”
So they would not be shopping together. Sophie could not bring herself to mind that one bit. Perusing the fans and gloves would be vastly more enjoyable all by herself than with Cassie and her silent glares.
