Chapter 26
“You are a dunce, Gabriel Ashley,” Sir Bramwell Stevens hefted a bale of hay, tossing it to the ground inside the horse’s stall.
“Hush! My name is Anthony Spencer,” Gabe hissed.
“There isn’t anyone left in the stables,Mr. Spencer. The stablemen have gone to the kitchens for an early luncheon andthatlofty crowd would never disgrace themselves by showing their haughty faces in here.” He sat down on the hay bale and crossed his feet at the ankles. “You are safe in here for the moment.”
“Very well,” Gabe grumbled.
He inhaled deeply, breathing in the dull yet somehow acrid scent of horse manure and crisp hay.
Stevens flung his powdered wig down beside himself. “Pull up a bale and unburden yourself, friend. I can see that you need to.”
Gabe shook his head. “I did not approach you to discuss private matters. I—”
“Oh come now, Gabe. You and Mary have been at odds since you both began youreducation, surely you can admit to there being something between you bynow.”
Gabe clenched his jaw, keeping his thoughts to himself. He and Stevens had always been on good terms, but while the man was Gabe’s junior by only one year, they had not developed as fast a friendship as he had with Colin and Hugh.
“Shall I hedge a guess?” Stevens’ lips split in half a smile. “Since Mary nursed you back to health from your injuries, and—”
“Mary visited, I will grant you, but she hardly nursed me back to health.”
Stevens shook his head, then stared, disbelieving, at Gabe. “Who do you suppose alerted Hydra to your absence? Found you in that cellar? And who sat at your bedside while you were unconscious, and administered to your wounds and held your hand?
“Now,” Stevens continued, not waiting for Gabe to reply, “with both of you being on assignment together, you thought the two of you could have a go at it. She, being half in love with you, willingly went along with the venture.”
Gabe moved to disabuse the man of his assumption.
“But,” Stevens continued before Gabe could speak, “there was something vital that you were too stupid to realize.”
“Oi!”
Stevens’ gaze hardened. “Mary is a maiden.”
“B—but,” Gabe stammered, his brow creased in confusion. “How the devil did you know that? Please tell me you haven’t…”
Stevens barked out a humourless laugh. “Good God, no!” He raised his arms to link his fingers behind his head then leaned back against the wall of the stable. “It is painfully obvious, old boy. Have you never seen her interrogate someone?”
Gabe shuffled his feet, discomfited. “No. Have you?”
“Of course! We’ve been on assignment together many times.”
Gabe bit back an oath as something akin to jealousy began to fester in his gut.
Stevens clucked his tongue. “Have you everaskedher how she acquired information from men?”
Gabe shook his head. “No.”
“Youarea dunce.”
“Now see here—”
“No, Gabe,yousee!” Stevens rose from his relaxed position to face Gabe squarely, irritation and sudden fury lining his features and stiffening his spine. “Mary is my friend and I will not stay silent on this matter any longer. As experienced as Mary is in the art of seducing and questioning men, she knows nothing of intimacy…of passion…or of affection. Despite knowing precisely what men want, how they want it, and where and how to move her hands and body, Mary is an innocent. No man has ever returned her attentions and no man has ever given her the honest affection that she damned well deserves.”
Stevens stepped forward and poked Gabe in the chest, his eyes gleaming with anger.
“You were once her friend, surely you know her well enough to understand? Mary is awoman, Gabe. Full of passions and emotions, needs and desires. She deserves to be treated with respect and given precisely what she wants. I’ve seen the way you treat her, as though she is incapable of making her own decisions or of conducting her life in a manner of her choosing—”
