John Alcroft stepped into the room. Gabriel heard Marietta inhale sharply, and John’s attention turned to their corner before his eyes shifted back, narrowing on Melissande sitting primly in her chair.
“Lady Dentry.”
“John.”
Marietta started to rise and Gabriel tugged her back, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to keep her in place.
“It has been almost a year since you visited, John. I thought you hated it here?”
“I do. This is an unplanned visit. I planned to wait another week, but matters have forced my hand.”
John walked toward them, toward Lady Dentry, stopping suddenly upon seeing the journal on the desk, all buttery leather and malicious intent. His lips crushed together. “Gabriel.”
“Have you decided to call me a pet name, John? How thoughtful, though I question the choice of moniker,” Lady Dentry said.
Gabriel silently swore at the bitch, her mocking not helping the situation.
“Silence,” John hissed, his gaze gleaming and vicious. “Gabriel? Where are you? Under the desk? Down on your knees before her? How upsetting.”
Gabriel squeezed Marietta’s shoulder and rose from behind the fire screen.
“Ah, there you are. A preferable choice of seating, with the option to pitch yourself into the fire to relieve the irritation of her presence, at the very least.”
“John.”
“Gabriel. And Marietta too, I assume?” He looked to the screen, and Gabriel cursed as her head popped over the edge. John looked satisfied. “And here we are.”
“John, we don’t need to—”
“Wrong, Gabriel. I think we do. How did you find out? And when?”
“Earlier. I read Abigail’s journal. The entries concerning someone else, tied to me. The rest happening after I left. And then I remembered you saying you had been to the estate last summer. She”—he motioned sharply toward Lady Dentry—“mentioned losing her letter opener around that time. I remember that letter opener. Hideous, large.” He looked at John’s left hand, at the gilt tip sticking out of his sleeve. “It all made a sick sort of sense.” He lowered his voice. “They got you too. I never knew.”
“I know you didn’t, Gabriel.” John’s chest heaved before he took a deep breath, shoulders straightening.
Gabriel took a step away from Marietta, putting distance between them and willing her to stay put. “Why didn’t you say something? You never even pretended to know about their club before a few weeks ago.”
“What was I to say? Youleftme there. You weren’t the buffer forme.”
Pain sliced through him. “I didn’t know. I never thought they’d touch you. She said they couldn’t—”
“They did,” he said savagely, a growl erupting as Lady Dentry snorted, though her knuckles were white around the chair arms. “A week before you disappeared. I thought it a grand lark at first. I had no idea what was happening. Who wouldn’t want six women panting over them? But they were planning other entertainments. I heard them whispering about it. Saw the looks. Read the journals, later, much later, their planned entertainments for the both of us. As soon as you left, things changed. I didn’t understand why, but suddenly it wasn’t just a weekend’s lark. I was in their clutches. Couldn’t escape. And youleftme there, Gabriel.”
“I’m sorry, John,” he whispered. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t even write to let me know you were safe.”
Gabriel swallowed, unsure how to handle John’s swing. “I was hiding in London. The network protected me until I rose to the head. Until I had more than enough power to deal with the likes of them.”
John stepped forward. A friendly step instead of a threatening one. “It was magnificent of you, of course. I was ever so proud when I discovered your actions.”
John’s eyes were sincere. Lady Dentry chose that moment to show her continued disregard for life. “Gabriel is always magnificent. You never quite measured up.”
The tip of the letter opener became the blade as it slid smoothly into John’s hand, and he took a step toward her. Gabriel could have happily planted it between her ribs himself, but he stepped between them.
“John.”
John stopped, cocked his head, and the blade merely tipped from his sleeve once again. “I should have anticipated you’d be here. I panicked. Bad decision on my end.” There was something in his eyes…
