“My lips are sealed.” He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and led her over to a settee upholstered in seafoam green, waiting until she got settled before he joined her.
“It’s quite unlike Mr. Timken to not announce your arrival, even with you being considered a member of the family” was the first thing Camilla said after Gideon sat down.
“I offered to see myself in because your butler needed to rescue the servants from the attic.”
Her forehead puckered. “Why would all the servants be in the attic? They normally wait until we’re ready to close the house for the winter before they venture up there.”
“I believe your questionable musical choices were responsible for Mr. Timken suggesting everyone remove themselves to a less ... raucous floor.”
“I was playing Chopin and Bach. Their music could never be considered raucous.”
“Perhaps I should have said melodramatic choices instead.” He smiled. “You do realize you set every chandelier to shaking, don’t you?”
A sigh was her first response. “I’m afraid I didn’t notice that, but I’ll make sure to apologize to the staff after you leave. I should have realized my selections were a little much for the morning.” She leaned back against the settee. “But enough about my music. Shall I assume you’re here to apologize for neglecting me last night?”
“You know I did nothing of the sort,” Gideon countered. “I distinctly remember greeting you after I made it through the receiving line.”
“True, but you then abandoned me when Sophia Campanini arrived and sent one of her sycophants to fetch you.”
“Surely you don’t believe I’d rather spend time in Sophia’s company instead of yours, do you?”
She gave his hand a pat. “Of course not. Sophia Campanini is a far too demanding woman to appeal to a gentleman like you. And I wasn’t suggesting I felt abandoned because you went off to speak with her. I felt neglected because you never bothered to seek me out afterward to tell me exactly what she wanted.”
“Why would you be interested in what Sophia wanted?”
“Because I imagine it had something to do with the accounting firm. I’ve also been dying to hear how an opera singerlearned you’re involved with that enterprise, especially when you’ve taken extreme measures to keep your involvement with the firm secret.”
Gideon refused a sigh. “How did you come to the conclusion Sophia is aware of my association with the accounting firm?”
“Because she’s not a woman you’d normally spend time with, and I’ve noticed you in her company more than once. Three weeks ago, I saw you speaking with her in Central Park, and before that, you were engaged in conversation with her after one of her performances.” Camilla’s nose wrinkled. “Granted, I suppose I could be wrong and you’re not immune to her charms. If that’s the case, I’ll stop nagging you about why you were speaking with her. However, if you are, heaven forbid, enamored with her, you may prepare yourself to be lectured about the hazards of becoming involved with a woman who is more interested in what expensive gifts a gentleman is willing to lavish on her over the gentleman himself.”
“I’m not enamored with Sophia Campanini.”
“Wonderful, although I didn’t actually imagine you were, which means I’m right and she needs the type of assistance that only the accounting firm can provide. All that remains now is for you to appease my curiosity and tell me exactly what that matter concerned, at which point I’ll no longer be annoyed with you over your neglect last night.”
Gideon shifted on the settee. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to remain annoyed then because we’ve been over this numerous times. Simply because I disclosed my real occupation to you because you’re one of my oldest and dearest friends does not mean I’m going to discuss any of our cases with you. For one, that would be a breach of client confidentiality, and two, as I’ve told you at least a million times, my occupation comes with risks, ones I don’t want you anywhere near.”
A narrowing of a brilliant blue eye was Camilla’s first response to that before she lifted her chin. “You didn’t tell meabout the accounting firm because I’m your oldest friend. You told me because I was completely affronted on your behalf when you didn’t sign up for another tour with the navy after your father died. From what I understood at the time, your brother, instead of bringing you on as his partner in the family business, relegated you to representing the family at social events and managing Abbott philanthropic endeavors. I found that completely unacceptable and was determined to speak my mind about the matter.” She smoothed a hand over her wrinkleless skirt. “You knew full well that James wouldn’t have lasted five minutes with me and would have spilled your secret without a second thought. That right there is why you coughed up details about the accounting firm, even though they were stingy details and only grudgingly disclosed.”
“I’m sure I wasn’t grudging about the matter.”
“We’ll need to agree to disagree about that.”
Gideon fought a sigh because, in all honesty, Camilla was probably right about the manner in which he’d told her about the accounting firm, due no doubt to the fact he’d had no intentions of telling her what he was doing until she’d misunderstood the situation with his brother and had decided to act on his behalf.
Frankly, until his father died, Gideon had been eager to sign up for another tour with the navy because he enjoyed the intelligence work he did for the government. However, mere days after the unexpected death of the patriarch of his family, certain vultures of industry had descended on every Abbott enterprise, intent on hostile takeovers.
James had sent him a telegram apprising him of the concerning situation, adding that he wasn’t certain he’d be able to save the family businesses. Gideon, who’d been trying to find passage home for his father’s funeral from where he’d been stationed in Egypt, had reached out to Roland Kelly, a man who’d been his bodyguard throughout his youth and taught Gideon almosteverything he knew about weapons and self-defense. Roland was also the man who’d pushed Gideon into pursuing a career in service, believing Gideon wasn’t meant to live a life of leisure, but a life filled with purpose instead.
After Gideon left to attend the Naval Academy, Roland continued offering members of society protection against kidnapping attempts and the like, but he’d decided to turn his attention to private inquiry work after foiling a blackmail attempt against Mr. Edmund Sinclair, who’d insisted on paying Roland a hefty bonus for stopping the threats against him.
With his contacts throughout the city, Roland had grown his business at a steady rate and hadn’t hesitated to investigate all the threats being leveled against Abbott business ventures. Gideon hadn’t been surprised when Roland settled matters quickly, but hehadbeen surprised when Roland pitched an unexpected business proposition: Roland wanted Gideon to bring everything he’d learned as an intelligence agent and come work with him as a partner in his company, the accounting firm. That proposition was what finalized Gideon’s decision to leave the navy.
After speaking with his immediate supervisor in the navy and learning that the government would be more than happy to have a man with Gideon’s particular skillset working in the private sector, which would still make him available to take on government jobs where discretion was a must, Gideon had agreed to Roland’s proposal and not extended his tour of duty. He’d then suggested to James that he take over representing the family at society events, something James hadn’t balked at in the least because he loathed society and had been only too willing to turn over what he considered nonsense to his younger brother.
Adopting the role of a philanthropic gentleman of leisure allowed Gideon to use his fashionable upper-drawer status to infiltrate circles Roland didn’t have access to, while also allowing the accounting firm to increase profitability, since industrialespionage was on the rise and men of industry needed those with Gideon’s talents to safeguard their business interests.
“So, returning to Sophia Campanini, may I at least assume you’ve been successfully handling whatever it was she wanted you to handle for her?” Camilla asked.
