“Could you have been your husband’s first? Do you know if he’d been with anyone before?”
“That’s not something a man discusses with his wife! EvenIknow that.” Gabby jumped up and paced the length of the chamber and back. “Perhaps I should find that rogue and have my way with him. See if the fault lies with Huntley or with me.”
“That’s preposterous. You cannot possibly do such a thing,” Rebecca said clinging to her temper. Ryleigh would have her head.
Gabby stopped her pacing right in front of Rebecca and put her finger in Rebecca’s face. “This is all your fault. If you'd let me do it with the stable boy all those years ago, I wouldn't be going through this now.”
Rebecca gasped and a sharp pain shot through the scar on her arm. “That’s unfair and you know it.”
Gabby’s shoulders slumped and she plopped down next to Rebecca. “I know.”
Rebecca put an arm around her. “We’ll figure something out, Gabs. I’m unsure what, but we will. We always have before. Perhaps you should accompany me to Exford for a few days.”
“Perhaps,” Gabby said with such dejection, Rebecca’s heart cried for her friend.
Twelve
Rebecca woke late the next morning, and with good reason. Why, with Gabby’s threats to bed a known hoodlum like Shufflebottom to Owen’s heart-wrenching proposal and Sebastian’s unexpected kiss, it was a wonder Rebecca had managed a single minute of sleep.
She crawled from the coverlets and rang for Serena to help her dress, then made her way down to breakfast. She slipped inside the morning room and almost turned back but the duke looked up and caught sight of her first. “Food is on the sideboard,” he said.
“Thank you,” she murmured, knowing her face was as red as the silk covered walls. “Where is Gabriella?”
“She has yet to appear. I heard you two talking into the wee hours.”
Appalled by this bit of information, Rebecca hurried to the sideboard and grabbed a plate then took her time to fill it keeping her back to him. When she could no longer wait, lest he realize her stalling tactic for what it was, she took a seat as far from him as un-rudely as possible—two chairs down—at a round table.
“Tea, my lady?” a footman asked.
“Coffee, if you have it.”
“Of course, my lady.”
The butler entered the room, holding a silver salver. He approached the duke. “A note from your sister, Your Grace.”
There were two. Ryleigh glanced at both, then speared Rebecca with an unreadable look. “It appears she left one for you as well, my lady.”
The duke dropped Rebecca’s note back on the tray and the butler brought it over. In a matter of seconds, Ryleigh’s face almost matched the walls, only it wasn’t embarrassment coloring his skin, but fury. “Did you know about this?”
What reason had he to be angry at her? “Know about what?” She broke the seal of her own note and glanced through it.
I’m so sorry, Rebecca. I know I brought you to Ryleigh Hall, and I appreciate the invitation to Exford, but I’ve decided to return to London. ’Tis a matter of urgency. You’ll, of course, know the reason. Please don’t tell Sebastian why. This is something I must do.
Yrs, G.
“Dear heavens,” she breathed. “She wouldn’t dare.” But she did, didn’t she?
“Well? I demand an answer, Lady Rebecca.” His voice held a lethal quality she refused to be intimidated by.
In any event, it was obvious, she would have to go after her friend. The issue was how to go about it without letting Ryleigh know she was going after Gabby.
“I’m waiting, Lady Rebecca,” he said through clenched teeth.
She usually doctored her tea to the extreme, which did not explain why she preferred her coffee black. At this moment, however, she considered adding milk and sugar if only to buy herself time. Instead, she took in a deep breath. “I was not privy to her plans ahead of this”—she snapped the missive. “Although,” she said more contemplatively. “I daresay, with Gabby’s,”—his lips tightened at her abbreviated usage of Gabs’ name—“departure, I should return to London for my father.”
He studied her for a long, long uncomfortable moment and she forced herself to hold his gaze. “I see,” he said.
Another silence stretched between them.
