Chapter 8 #2
The tone was that of a well-trained libertine, and his look too strategic. Eveline was about to answer, but Margot got in first, quickly:
‘Do you by chance mean to seduce the sister of a duke, Mr. Hope?’
Gabriel’s smile vanished, and his eyes fixed entirely on the lady in blue.
‘You know who I am.’ There was no question there.
‘I know it very well.’
‘Interesting.’
‘Not as much as you believe.’
Gabriel took a step towards Margot and leaned in just enough to turn courtesy into a most evident provocation.
‘Then perhaps I should try harder to make you find me as interesting as I find you. Have you come in search of my services in bed, my lady? Have you heard of my extraordinary stamina and the great pleasure my lovers receive, and decided to try your luck in case I would consent to fuck you?’
Eveline opened her eyes wide. She could not help it. What effrontery! Who would have imagined that Alice’s silent brother was so much the rogue?
Margot, by contrast, did not even blink. The dowager countess looked him up and down with a slowness so exquisite that Gabriel Hope, for the first time, seemed to find himself in the position of the merchandise being examined.
‘It takes a great deal more to scandalize me, Mr. Hope. And if you had the good fortune to be accepted into my bed, I guarantee the privilege would be yours, not mine.’
The silence that followed was brief, but delicious. Eveline swallowed a peal of laughter. What a woman, Lady Ashbury! The young woman would have applauded her had she not feared betraying too much enthusiasm.
Gabriel tilted his head, and this time his smile had something genuine in it.
‘My lady, you are beginning to please me.’
‘How imprudent of you.’
‘It happens to me rarely, I assure you.’
‘Then take care to enjoy it in silence.’
Eveline let out a sound between laughter and horror. This could not be happening. The Dowager Countess of Ashbury flirting with Alice’s illegitimate half brother in the middle of a club where fortunes were probably wagered!
Hope looked again at the duke’s sister, and the amusement faded a little from his face.
‘And you, little lady in red, do you intend to remain silent all night?’
Eveline drew herself up.
‘Mr. Hope, I did not think you were so… more… less… In truth I do not know how to describe it. I do not know you very well, but you always struck me as cold, reserved, and rather prudent. Instead, I have just discovered that you run a club and have thoroughly roguish manners. I am impressed. But your coarse vocabulary does not become you.’ Although she did not know what that word meant which he had said after his string of talk about lovers and beds, she suspected it would be something very scandalous.
He watched her closely.
‘Who hides behind the mask?’
‘Eveline,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Statony’s sister.’
The transformation was immediate.
Gabriel Hope brought both hands to his head.
‘No.’
‘I am afraid so,’ she told him.
‘Impossible,’ he insisted.
Margot smiled.
‘What a varied conversation.’
Hope took a step towards Eveline, looked at her closely, looked again at Margot, and then let out a curse so low that only they heard it.
‘Little fool,’ he said, pointing at Eveline, ‘you should be in Mayfair, surrounded by chaperones, brothers, duchesses, and any other barrier good taste could place between you and this spot. And you,’ he added, turning to Margot, ‘ought to know it better than anyone.’
‘Do not turn a little amusement into a tragedy, Mr. Hope,’ proposed Lady Ashbury.
‘It is a tragedy. Do you know what Statony will do if he learns his precious sister is in my domains?’
‘What makes you think he does not know?’ Eveline intervened, emboldened.
He raised an eyebrow, and the young woman could not keep up her bluff. Then Gabriel took them both by the arm, firmly enough to guide them without hurting them, even though he wanted to wring their necks without mercy.
‘To my study. Now!’ he thundered.
‘What a peremptory man,’ Margot remarked. ‘He almost begins to seem respectable, despite being illegitimate.’
‘Do not insult me in my own house, my lady.’
‘I know plenty of bastards who were born on the right side of the bed, Mr. Hope. I did not mean to offend you,’ the dowager countess clarified.
Eveline had no time to protest. Gabriel led them along one side of the room, ignoring several curious looks and a couple of greetings he did not return. He opened a door, ushered them in, and closed it.
Gabriel Hope’s study had nothing to do with those of the gentlemen of Mayfair. There were books, yes, but also a pistol on a ledge. The room was a place of business, not of contemplation.
The moment the door was shut, Gabriel planted himself before them and held out a hand.
‘Masks off.’
‘Mr. Hope…’ Eveline began.
‘The masks,’ he repeated more firmly.
Margot sighed with theatrical resignation.
‘What a lack of mystery.’
Gabriel did not wait for them to obey. First he removed Eveline’s mask. He untied the ribbon carefully and drew it away from her face. Then he did the same with Margot’s, though in her case he took a fraction longer than necessary. The dowager countess noticed, of course, and smiled.
‘I have had enough mystery for a decade merely from seeing the two of you here. Do you know, Lady Ashbury? One look was enough for me to know that you are more dangerous than any dragon dressed in black. I told Alice she would do well not to leave the girl under her wing, because although she was a great help to my sister, Statony’s sister is not so sensible and is, from what I have heard, prone to getting into trouble.
Which of the two of you dragged the other to my club?
’ He raised a hand. ‘Do not answer, for I know it was you, my lady. Lady Eveline would not have the audacity to come to the East End on her own. ’
‘Satisfied at having stripped us of our anonymity entirely?’ inquired the countess, now with her face uncovered.
‘I am very far from it, my lady. Alice is going to kill me.’
‘Alice will not kill you,’ replied Eveline.
‘It is true; should she fail to, Statony will,’ rejoined Margot.
‘Now that we know the two of you wish me dead, what the devil are you doing here?’
‘My brother has improved a great deal since he married. Less bloodthirsty and all that. So do not heed Lady Ashbury—she will not kill you.’
‘Touching. Not enough for me to be glad to have the two of you here.’
Eveline raised her chin.
‘We have not come to cause trouble.’
Gabriel let out a dry laugh.
‘That sentence, pronounced by a lady in a red mask in a gaming club, is the kind of lie that ought to be charged for at the door.’
Margot sat down without asking his leave, because some women needed no invitation to occupy the best armchair in a room.
‘We have come on account of Lord Tentwall. Now there is a bastard, and a legitimate one. Do you see how I did not lie to you, Mr. Hope?’ asked Margot, satisfied.
Gabriel stopped laughing. Unfortunately, he knew that title well.
‘Ah.’
‘That ‘ah’ has proved most interesting—incriminating, rather,’ Margot observed.
‘Lord Tentwall? I do not know him,’ Gabriel tried to mend his error.
‘Too late, Mr. Hope. You know perfectly well who he is. Do not make me doubt my dear Alice’s intelligence by denying that you know who he is. I also know he owes you a fair amount of money.’
Gabriel looked at her closely. Then he sighed.
‘How do you know that last part?’
‘Alice told me some time ago that she asked you whether Tentwall was still a member of this club. She also told me she asked you to let his account swell,’ Margot continued, ‘because, when the time came, Statony would pay the price in exchange for holding his promissory notes.’
Eveline turned her head towards the dowager countess.
‘Alice did that?’
‘Alice is very practical when she wishes to protect those she loves. Do not be so surprised. I warned her we should have a contingency plan in case you got up to foolishness again, though it is true that in this case it has been he who committed the recklessness of approaching you. The future belongs to those who foresee it—never forget that, Eveline.’
‘And why did you say nothing to me? Why have I never known that Mr. Hope ran a place as exciting as this?’
‘My dear, if we women told all our plans ahead of time, the men would have the chance to spoil them and impatient young women could keep us from carrying them out. Besides, with your record, it was better that you not know the kind of business Mr. Hope had. ’
‘I am not as foolish as you think, Margot. ’
‘And yet it cost me nothing at all to convince you to come to this club tonight. ’
‘I told you I did not find it acceptable.’
‘Indeed,’ the dowager countess challenged.
Gabriel did not seem surprised by the conversation, which proved still more revealing.
‘So Alice kept a rope in case Tentwall had to be tied up and kept away from me,’ the young woman murmured.
‘An apt description. Tentwall is at this moment a rather desperate man, and in the past, my dear, you gave him proof of your own desperation over him. The viscount will turn your weakness to account by whatever means to obtain your dowry, and that is why you must hold a winning card,’ said Margot.
Eveline felt several pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together. Everyone had been placing protections around her without her noticing. One part of her pride was wounded; another, gentler part was grateful.
‘Tentwall, Lady Eveline? When Alice told me the reason I had to keep opening the door of my house to that fop… Do they not teach girls to choose their suitors better?’ Gabriel accused her, looking at her more seriously.
‘He was not a suitor,’ Eveline answered. ‘He is a mistake.’
‘Mistakes with a title tend to be expensive, as you are discovering at this very moment,’ Gabriel warned.
‘That is why we are here,’ Margot intervened. ‘The viscount insists on approaching Eveline. He is not for her. Or she is not for him, whichever you prefer. We need some means of pressure to drive him off. ’
Gabriel rested his hands on the edge of the desk.