Bloody hell.
Only one woman had ever shaken him in such a way and Gabe suspected that only one woman ever would. Mary. The chit never listened to him. If only he could make her see that she was wasting her life away with sneak-work…
“Something is weighing in your thoughts, my friend. Feel at your ease to unburden yourself to me.”
Gabe lifted a sardonic eyebrow to his long-time friend, Colin Greene, and took another gulp of ale.
“You are welcome to believe me insincere,” his friend continued, “but I assure you I am in earnest. We have been friends—the best of friends—for many years, and I—”
“Ye sound like a wee lassie, speaking of feelings so,” Gabe grumbled, interrupting. He knew he was being an arse, but he didn’t care.
Colin took a quaff of his brandy and grinned. “That may be so, old chum, but speaking of feelings never fails to win favours from the fairer sex.” He winked at Gabe over the rim of his snifter.
Gabriel shook his head. His friend was nothing if not popular with women. “Quite right.” Gabe’s lips curved upward in a tight grin. “You and Hugh were always very popular with women.”
The light in Colin’s dark eyes dimmed slightly at the reminder of their missing friend.
Gabe, Colin, and Hugh Haddington had been the best of friends since they began their spy education at approximately the same time.
“Have you heard any news from Hydra?” Colin asked.
Gabe shook his head. “I’ve expressed my concerns to Hydra on countless occasions since the night of Hugh’s disappearance. I had even volunteered to be a member of his search team, but Hydra insisted that I remain at my post.”
As much as he adored his position in his life as a spy, Gabe would surrender everything just to find Hugh alive and well again. Gabe certainly hoped that the men sent searching for him would find him soon.
“To Hugh,” Colin muttered, tipping his snifter.
Gabe nodded. He hoped that Hugh had found himself a woman and eloped, rather than what Gabe suspected after the attacks on their fellow men.
He lifted his gaze to observe his friend across the table. Colin was dark where Hugh was light: his hair, eyes, and humour.
Much like Gabe, Colin was recovering from a recent attack. Gabe was uncertain of the details but knew that Colin had taken a dagger wound to his back on his last assignment.
As distressing as his life in the Secret Service, tonight Gabe’s thoughts were on a different troubling subject. Tonight his thoughts were on—
“Miss Mary Wright,” Colin blurted.
Gabe’s gaze shot to his friend. “Pardon?”
Colin shook his head. “You have not heard a word that I’ve said, have you?” He thumped his snifter a little too hard on the tabletop and frowned at Gabe. “You might have successfully—albeit briefly—distracted me, but I will not be pushed aside. I gave you the opportunity to speak freely, but you did not take that chance. Now I have to be blunt with you, to the devil with the consequences.”
Gabe didn’t know what to make of his friend’s abrupt displeasure, but as he was stunned into silence, he waited for Colin to continue.
“It has beensevenyears, man! Yes, she is in a demanding field of work, andyes, she likely beds a different man every night, but what right have you to dictate what she does with her assignments—or with her body for that matter? She chose to accept Hermes’ offer of a certain education; she was not forced into it against her will.” Colin’s frown deepened. “If you had wanted to save her from this life—fromherself,or so you say—then you should have taken her to bed and taken her to wife years ago and been done with this entire mess. But you didn’t, because you’re a coward.”
“Oi!” Gabe bristled.
“No.” Colin pointed a finger at him. “I’m not finished with you yet and it’s about time that you listened to the advice that I’ve been giving you. You have been miserable since she walked through the doors of the Brampton Estate and I’m tired of looking at your dour expressions. I would say this is from only my perspective, but everyone who knows you sees it as I do. You have two choices,” he marked them off on his fingers. “One, you forget about Miss Mary Wright; tup a whore, bed some married or widowed chits, join an orgy, I don’t care. But do whatever it takes, bed as many women as you can to rid her from your thoughts…”
“And choice number two?”
“Take Mary for your own.” Colin tossed the last finger of his brandy down his throat with a slight grimace, and then rose. “Until you make a decision, do me a favour and don’t seek me out.”
With that, Colin straightened his coat and disappeared through the dining room door. Had he just lost a friend? Gabe allowed that quick shot of pain to briefly hit his heart. Colin would come back.
Take Mary for your own. Gabe ran Colin’s words through his mind as he was left alone in the small room. But as alluring as the idea was, Gabe knew that he could not be with Mary. He had ended the friendship that they’d shared many years ago and there was no chance of rekindling it now. Most particularly after the way he’d treated her over the past years. He was beastly, he would admit, but damn it, she would not listen to reason!
He shook his head. Bedding Mary—even if she would accept him—wouldn’t solve anything. He was not consumed with thinking of her because of any desire for her, but for a concern for her safety. Colin did not know of what he spoke. What Gabe needed to do was to find a way to convince her that being a spy was too dangerous.
There had been moments in the past years that he’d thought that perhaps he and Mary could share a professional working relationship and he could accept her presence in the Secret Service, but something always happened to change his mind. Too damned often, men were hurt, killed, or abducted. Hell, Gabe had nearly died on his last mission, Greene had been stabbed in the back, and Hugh was bloody well missing entirely! No. It was far too dangerous for Mary to live this life.
He would think of a way. This evening was the last performance ofLovers’ Vows, so he knew that Mary would not have an assignment for some time. During her hiatus, Gabe would go to the country on his own assignment, taking a much-needed break from being around her. By the time he returned, he would have had the time to think of a way to convince her.
Yes. A solid plan, indeed.
