Page 21 of Gabriela and His Grace

“Are you ready to join us, Your Grace?”

Jerking his eyes from Gabriela, who had just tilted her head back to laugh at something Brodie said, Sebastian turned to meet Miss Moreno’s amused gaze.

“Is Miss Luna done practicing?” He leaned his cane against the railing and moved toward the court. “Is the novice ready to test her newfound skills?”

“I believe I am.” Gabriela spread her arms to encompass the children. “Thanks to my new friends, I may be unstoppable.”

Sebastian held up his hands. “I don’t think the world could handle an unstoppable Gabriela Luna.”

Her eyes twinkled as she moved a step toward him. “I would only use my powers against Napoleon and the French.”

“I’m not sure I believe you.” He edged closer. “Viscount Mathers once said you were ferocious, and I quite agree.”

“Mathers.” Gabriela said the name with a roll of her eyes. “The viscount continued to speak over me and interrupt, even when I kindly pointed out his rudeness. He deserved the setdown he received.”

“Oh, I quite agree.” Sebastian pressed his lips together to keep from smiling when her eyebrows flew up. “Mathers is a rude bore, but that doesn’t negate the fact that your willingness to scold a member of the peerage for his bad behavior makes you ferocious.”

“Or an idiot.” Her expression slipped for a second, but it was enough for Sebastian to glimpse a smidge of regret in her hazel gaze. But Gabriela quickly recovered, and the curve of her mouth turned impish. Sebastian was immediately on guard. “Regardless, I hope to be a ferocious hopscotch competitor, right, children?”

The throng of urchins cheered loudly, and Sebastian shook his head in faux outrage.

Rubbing his hands together, he reached out to take the token from Samuel, and walked toward the court he’d drawn on the deck with chalk. Sebastian pointed the token at Gabriela, infusing a taunting note to his words when he said, “I can be a ruthless competitor, too. You’d underestimate me at your peril.”

Gabriela winged up a brow and then prowled toward him. “Let us have a true competition, then. Would you be willing to make a wager?”

Ignoring how Miss Moreno gasped, Sebastian curled his palm around the token and slipped his hands into his pockets as he considered this overconfident virago. Christ knew it was no hardship to look upon her. It had been her beauty, after all, that had drawn him to her in the first place. With her silken mahogany curls, delicate features, big striking eyes, and graceful figure, Sebastian had been captivated. But he should have known her angelic persona was just a ruse for her fiery disposition.

And he’d been burned one too many times.

“What did you have in mind?” Sebastian finally asked.

Gabriela shrugged, twirling a hat ribbon around her finger. “If I win, you have to promise not to antagonize me when around my father.”

He frowned. “I wouldn’t dream of doing that.”

She mashed her lips together. “Be that as it may, I would prefer not to have my temper sparked in front of him.”

Various thoughts darted about his head, such as why Gabriela would be worried about such a thing. And did Sebastian provoke her temper so easily that she would be concerned he’d do so—

“And what of you?”

Gabriela’s voice wrested his attention, and he flattened his mouth into a line. What did he want? If he were making a wager with any of the degenerates he encountered at the gaming hells he used to frequent, Sebastian wouldn’t think twice about fleecing his opponent…but of course he couldn’t do that to her.

“Dance with me at a time and place of my choosing.”

Sebastian had no notion of where the idea came from, and based on how her eyes widened, Gabriela was as surprised as he was.

“Dance with you?” She wrinkled her nose. “Why would you want to dance with me?”

He shrugged, feigning an indifference his pounding heart did not echo. “We’ve never danced together, and that seems like something I should rectify.”

“We’ve never danced together?” Gabriela pulled her chin back. “How is that possible?”

Snorting, Sebastian said, “Would you have consented to dance with me if I had asked at any point in the last four years?”

Pink crept over her cheeks, but Gabriela met his gaze head-on. “I suppose we’ll never know because you never asked.”

She could play coy, but they both knew that she would have turned down any request Sebastian made with a firm no. Why would he subject himself to the ignominy?