Triana knew she was going to regret it, but she asked anyway. “What did you have in mind?”
Aly simply smiled and took another sip of her tea. “Well, for starters, I guess I’d have to know… can you pick a lock?”
***
As Triana looked back over her life, she could only recall two times where she had truly not considered the ramifications of her actions before acting rather impulsively.
This was one of those times.
However, as she would not accept the blame for every error that had taken place from her childhood to the present, she wasn’t about to start now. And honestly, both instances could be construed as her brother’s fault, for if he wasn’t so secretive, then even her past misfortunes might not have been so great.
Disaster had struck when she was six, and Travell had been a headstrong eleven-year-old home from Eton. He’d discovered that the willow tree overlooking the pond on their country estate, Rosewood, bent over the water just enough so that he could balance himself, albeit precariously, and catch several fish quite easily, having found a school of them near this deeper end of the bank. He kept it a closely guarded secret for as long as possible, but it wasn’t until he began to bring home a line of trout every day that Triana had started the inquisition.
At first, he had murmured some noncommittal excuse in reply to her bombarding line of questioning, before eventually finding a way to change the subject. Not until she’d spied on him the next day, did she follow him and learn the truth. She’d stealthily climbed onto the branch after him in an effort to show him how clever she had become. Since he didn’t hear her approach until it was too late, naturally Travell was startled when he turned and found her staring at him. His reaction had been instinctual and one that caused both of them to fall into the water and nearly drown.
Needless to say, no fish had been caught that day and the rest of her summer was ruined, spent under the closely guarded supervision of their governess and a sulking, older brother.
It was this particular memory that Triana brought to mind as she dove behind the divan in Travell’s study — mere seconds before he turned the doorknob and walked in.
She’d been searching his desk until the sound of footsteps in the hall alerted her to his early, and rather unexpected return, thus, she found herself quite annoyed about two things. One, that she hadn’t been able to find anything of import during her hasty perusal, and second, that Alyssa was always so confident with whatever harebrained scheme she’d generally concocted. She’d made it sound so perfectly easy to pick the lock in Travell’s study and search it while he was gone. Of course, it might have been a good plan, if he managed to stay away longer than twenty minutes at any given interval, and if it hadn’t taken her nearly ten of those precious minutes fumbling with her hairpin.
Triana cursed her rotten luck, holding her breath as she heard Travell walking around; the sound of his boots echoing off the wood floor like the approach of war drums. Praying that he wouldn’t cross the room to where she crouched (rather uncomfortably), she yearned to peek around the corner, but the fear of discovery kept her perfectly still — until the sound of a muffled click caused her ears to perk up.
As she strained to listen, she was shocked as a scraping sound followed, as if a door had just been opened. Normally, that wouldn’t have been so odd — if it hadn’t seemed to come from theoppositeside of the room.
Her heartbeat pounding in her ears, she covered a gasp as another set of boots joined the first.Impossible!Resisting the urge to crawl out and confront her brother and the intruder right then, she refrained from doing so, realizing that to stay hidden would allow her the only possible advantage of eavesdropping. While this certainly answered a lot of questions, it also opened the door to many more.
Dear God, what was her brother involved in that constituted such secrecy?
Fearing the worst, that Alyssa might be right in her assumptions about gaming, Triana worried her lower lip; frustrated when Travell and his guest only spoke in deep undertones, making it hard to discern what they were saying or even who this mysterious guest could be.
While the conversation was brief, it was apparently positive, for they seemed to be in some sort of agreement. It wasn’t until the man was getting ready to leave that she finally dared peek around the corner of her hiding place — and felt her blood run hot and cold at the same time.
***
Triana fidgeted with her reticule as the carriage rolled to a stop in front of number 11 Belgrave Square. Having originally been dreading the Westerville’s ball, Triana descended the carriage after her mother with an eager step, ignoring the curious glances from Travell. Then again, she’d been rather cool with him ever since she’d left the study that afternoon.
It still irked whenever she thought of how he’d openly lied to her. That very first, ill-fated night she’d met Gabriel, she’d asked her brother about the duke, and he’d led her to believe they had only been acquaintances from long ago. Ha! It sure hadn’t appeared that way a few hours ago!
All afternoon she’d paced her bedchamber in an effort to ponder what she’d witnessed, but the more she thought about it, the more irritated she became. And it wasn’t even Travell’s betrayal that hurt the most. It was the fact he was keeping his association with the duke such a mystery. What reason could Travell have to barely nod at the duke in public, yet converse with him quite freely in secret?
Something didn’t add up, and she intended to find out what.
She doubted that she would get a straight answer from either her brother orHis Graceif confronted directly, and since spying had managed to get her this far, she had decided to continue her careful observations. Whatever would gain her the answers she wanted, she would do it, because if her brother was involved in something unsavory, she felt she had a right to know.
Triana entered the ballroom and saw Gabriel almost immediately. She narrowed her eyes and tried to see him as a devil incarnate, rather than the handsome, suave aristocrat he portrayed to the world, although that was nearly impossible to do. He was resplendent in his signature black and white attire, the emerald signet ring glinting on his finger. The man looked like society personified as he smiled down at Cordelia, who clung to his arm, her shimmering purple gown making Triana’s cornflower blue dress feel as boring as a miller’s sack.
As though they were a king and queen reigning over their subjects, the fawning crowd (which she likened to a herd of circling vultures) seemed to be watching and waiting for any morsel of attention from the premier couple as they “held court” across the room.
With a roll of her eyes, Triana gravitated toward a secluded corner of the room and prepared to wait, for what she didn’t know, but something would happen tonight. She couldfeelit.
As the evening progressed, however, and nothing occurred but the ticking of the clock and the idolized duke and his lady laughing with their bevy of admirers, Triana wondered how much more she could take. So, it was with some relief when Korina and Rowena joined her upon their arrival.
Triana was grateful to divert her attention, but as they began to recount the activity from the previous night’s opera, Triana saw a minor change in the duke’s expression. While it wasn’t visible to his “subjects,” for he’d been at his leisure most of the evening, there seemed to be a new… alertness to him that wasn’t there before. Triana doubted that anyone even thought twice about it as he smoothly extricated himself at precisely eleven fifty-five and headed for the terrace.
It was now or never.
She hastily excused herself, hoping she hadn’t cut Korina or Rowena off mid-sentence in her rush to catch up to Gabriel. But as she neared the veranda, Triana could feel the exhilaration coursing through her veins. Unfortunately, the balcony was empty, so she scanned the expansive gardens, looking for any sort of movement, for it was one of the few places Gabriel could have disappeared in such a short amount of time.
