“I was not joking. Swear it. Or at least promise.”
Stratton sighed dramatically. “I promise on my word as a gentleman that I will not let her know you revealed her plan.”
My word as a gentleman. The phrase brought forth memories that he had hoped to escape tonight. Irritation spiked immediately. The shepherdess had disappeared into the night again. He had thought she would not this time.
He did not care for being treated like an expendable acquaintance, especially after showing heroic restraint with her.
She had left the locket too. He grudgingly acknowledged that may have shown good character. If she intended no further contact with him, that was. In such a situation, many women would think a gift was a gift and take it.
Still, it also displayed a lack of gratitude, it seemed to him. Or not. He couldn’t decide. He had a difficult time thinking about it clearly due to the way the entire episode had left him . . . dissatisfied in many ways.
An image came to him, of her body naked and pale in the moonlight. Of her astonished ecstasy and her parted dark lips when she cried out her release. Of the way she held nothing back for a brief spell before her fears closed her again.
What caused that shadow? Something real. He worried about her and her safety even though he felt a fool for doing so. She had rejected his help. He should forget about her.
“What are you pondering? That frown is quite deep,” Stratton said, looking over while the dealer pushed winnings his way.
“I am wondering why you keep winning and I keep losing.”
“Perhaps I live right, and you do not.”
“I have no reason to believe that living right brings benefits, so I don’t think that is the reason.”
“Have you tried it recently and been disappointed?”
“Let us say I have stuck one foot into the lake of righteous living and found the water very cold.”
It was Stratton’s turn to ponder. “Give me a few minutes and I will understand.”
“I don’t think so. I have told you nothing.”
“Since it was you doing the telling, you told me a lot.” He waved the dealer away. He propped his elbow on the table and his head in his hand and examined Gabriel.
Gabriel refused to suffer it. He called the dealer back and gestured for another hand. “What nonsense. As if you know me that well, or anyone that well, that you can just look at them and determine what they meant by so cryptic a—”
“It has to do with a woman, of course. It usually does with you.”
Gabriel tried to ignore him and picked up his cards. Just his luck, it was a bad hand. The odds of winning were all but nil.
“If you were trying to live right where a woman was concerned, I assume that means you did not seduce her even if you thought you could.”
Gabriel threw in two cards and received two more.
“Since there has been no gossip about your adventures recently, I assume that means this is a quiet pursuit. Your shepherdess?”
He studied his cards even though he already knew he had more than twenty-one.
“I see I hit my mark on that.”
“You do not see anything, let alone that.”
“I do. When you are caught, your eyes narrow.”
“I was looking at my cards in bad light.”
“So you saw your shepherdess. I do not think you would fall asleep again, so if you—I have it. You met her again. You restrained your impulses. And she was not impressed by your behavior.”
Damn Stratton. “She was very impressed.”
