“Gabs?” He almost choked, then shook his head. He pulled the note from an inside pocket of his coat and held it out.
Rebecca lifted her gloved hand and reached toward the missive hesitantly, then snatched it out of his hand and snapped it open.
Seb, I’ve considered our talk and decided I must return to London. You are right, I’ve not many options. Please look after my friend.
G.
“How detailed,” she said under her breath—not without sarcasm—and blatant. Honestly, Gabby was as immature now as she had been at fifteen, still determined to see a match between her and Ryleigh. A hopeless case. This was not unlike the stunt Gabby had pulled when she’d talked Rebecca into a midnight swim. Admittedly, Rebecca had been unable to resist, having been confined all day in reciting Latin and French verbs until her head had nearly imploded. When Ryleigh had been called to Miss Greensley’s, Rebecca stood right there at Gabby’s side, each taking their punishment with their chins lifted. Though Gabby’s had trembled.
What Rebecca had seen that Gabby had not was the fury and blame in her brother’s eyes. Gabby had been lucky her brother had not whisked her away at that very moment.
Rebecca would never be an appropriate duchess as far as the Duke of Ryleigh was concerned. Or her. She had no desire to become a duchess.
“What is it you are withholding, Lady Rebecca?” With his mild tone, Ryleigh managed not to sound demanding, but the iron beneath was unmistakable. Well, she’d slayed worse.
Leaving Gabby to her fate in London was something Rebecca was not willing to do. It was too dangerous. Her reputation and her marriage would end up in tatters that could not be simply sewn back together if left in Gabby’s precarious hold.
Rebecca lifted her gaze to Ryleigh’s, surprised to see the concern in his furrowed brows. “I’ll have you know,” she said softly. “I do not break my friend’s confidence easily, but it appears I’ve no choice if I’m to keep her safe.”
“What on earth—”
She inhaled deeply and plunged. “As you may have already discerned, Your Grace, Gabby and her husband—well, things have not gone so smoothly as one might hope.”
“So, I’ve gathered. But I shall tell you the same thing I told Gabriella. She and Huntley are united. Thereareno options for her.” He spoke through gritted teeth. He rose from the table and strode over to the hearth and leaned his forearm against the mantel.
“Yes, your edicts were quite clear. However, it’s not as simple as you issuing commands. You expect those commands to be followed, and Gab—”
“Is the most stubborn of my four sisters. The least likely to obey.” He turned to her. “Is that what you deign to tell me?”
Rebecca inclined her head. There was no need to pound in the obvious. The duke was an intelligent man.
“The rest, if you please.”
She rose from her own chair and moved closer to the window. The rain still came down in torrents. The yard outside looked like a lake. She pressed her forehead against the cool glass. Others were still clamoring to get inside. There was no hope for a second chamber. She suspected the public rooms would be filled to the brim. It would be rowdy and probably resemble a drunken brawl that would keep her confined to the chamber.
“Lady Rebecca,” he said sharply. “I’m waiting.”
Her jaw clenched and she turned around resting against the window’s sill. “Your sister feels a need to determine the fault of the state of her marriage.”
“What the devil is that supposed to mean?”
“Her marital relations, if you will, were so unsatisfactory, she…” her voice trailed off, lest it choke her.
His silence hovered over the room like an oppressive weight.
Rebecca drew in a deep breath and forced herself to go on. She’d come this far. “She has decided to see if the fault lay with her or Huntley,” she said on a rush. There. She’d said it. And broken her friend’s confidence.
There was no response from across the room and Rebecca gathered her courage to peek at him.
His expression was one of shocked horror. “She cannot be seriously considering—” His face shifted to outrage then grim resignation. He finally spoke. “I suppose she’s too old for me to lock her in her chamber.”
Rebecca snorted. “As if you could keep her there. That girl always did have a knack for picking a lock—” She winced at Ryleigh’s dumbfounded expression.
“You jest. Gabriella cannot pick a lock,” he sputtered.
Rebecca allowed him his laugh. If she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes when they were fifteen, she wouldn’t have believed it either.
“That is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard. I was called to the school on account of missing liquor in a locked cabinet. You were caught trying to break into the cabinet.”
