“I did not, my lady.”
“You must,” she insisted. “Why else would you have gone out of your way to help me all these years?”
“Kindness,” Gavin assured her.
She shook her head, her lips twisting into a knowing smile. “Or so you say, but I know better.”
He knelt so he could look her in the eye, ready to protect himself if she leaped at him again. “Jane, we have known each other for a long time.”
She nodded. “I’ve admired you for a long time.”
“You are married to another man, one whom I had considered a friend.”
“I thought it excellent the way you held yourself back around me.”
Perhaps she truly was mad? “What have I done to make you believe I was paying you advances?”
Her face broke into a beatific smile. “You listened to me. No one else hears a word I say, especially Rovington. When I came to you worried about our debts, you rescued me by seeing him named to a position with a very handsome stipend. You wanted to take care of me.”
“Out of friendship,” he reiterated.
“For me,” she concluded. “Of course, Rovington has been quite capable of gambling that away just as he did my inheritance. But then, in your wisdom, you understood the only way you could truly protect me is if you shot my husband. Challenging him—”
“Wait.” Gavin shook his head. “He challenged me.”
“Yes, over that woman. The one in the room. I’ve thought hard about your motives. I’ve come to realize that you are keeping her away from Rovington to help me save face. It has been humiliating the way my husband has been carrying on about having seen her years ago and placing all those wagers. He has acted as if he a lovesick cow herder.” She leaned toward him, causing him to lean away from her, but she didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she practically hummed her happiness as she said, “I know the Siren isn’t really your mistress.”
Gavin became cautious. “Why do you believe that?”
“Because I follow you whenever I can.”
This was shocking news, especially since he had not noticed.
“I have been ever since I understood your plan,” she said proudly. “Once I understood how far you would go to help me, I could not stay away. I think about you day and night.”
“Jane, you should not follow me. You should not be here now. What will your husband say?” Perhaps there was more behind Rov’s challenge than Gavin had originally thought.
“He doesn’t care what I do anymore.”
“Of course, he does. You are his wife.”
“Do you think he remembers that when he is fiddling with his actresses? You think I don’t know he has an itch down there? I’d just as soon he not touch me.”
Rov enjoyed complaining about his privates. Gavin thought the information far too personal but had always suspected Rov’s complaints were another way to boast about his sexual conquests. However, Gavin was shocked Jane knew.
“You mustn’t follow me,” he repeated.
She answered with a complacent smile.
“I’m serious, Jane. I will not allow it. There will be no friendship between us if you do,” he added, thinking this last might be a suitable threat and force her to consider her behavior.
“When you left here last night, you did not appear a man satisfied. Which is completely understandable because from what I’ve heard about this Siren creature, she is a tawdry thing. She is far from worthy of you—”
“Jane, I have no feelings for you.”
Gavin wasn’t about to let her carry on against Sarah. The idea she spied on him was uncomfortable but that she would speak against Sarah made him angry.
“You must,” she countered.
