Page 40 of Gabriela and His Grace

“I am. Now.”

Although Gabby did not emphasize now, he seemed to sense its importance nonetheless.

A manservant placed a glass of lemonade on the table before Whitfield, and she watched from the corner of her eye as he grasped it and took a large gulp. Setting it down with more care than it deserved, the duke scrubbed a napkin across his face.

“And before?”

Gabby fought the urge to nibble her lip. “I was not injured.”

Not physically, although she did her best to leave her mark on the earl. The situation had angered her more than anything else, for the earl had forced her into a position where her reputation could have been harmed. The Luna name had been threatened, as had the small slivers of autonomy she’d grasped in England.

Just thinking about the fleeting minute of helplessness she’d felt in the drawing room at the Wright ball made her jaw ache from grinding her teeth together.

“I see.” Whitfield dragged his thumb back and forth through the condensation on the side of the glass. “I saw him at the club before we departed, and he was sporting a green and yellow bruise near his eye. I assume that was from you.”

“It was,” she declared crisply.

“Good girl.”

Inhaling sharply, Gabby shot her gaze up to his. Even behind his spectacles, Whitfield’s eyes were warm. A little of that warmth nestled in her chest, and Gabby’s hands unfurled from around her napkin.

“Tell me,” the duke said after a pause, his voice barely above a whisper. “Would you feel safe returning to London, if that were your wish?”

Gabby snorted just as softly. “Of course.”

Whitfield nodded. “So you did not return to Mexico because you were made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe?”

Now Gabby hesitated. This was not a yes-or-no question, and she bit the inside of her cheek as she contemplated her response. Everything about the duke’s taut frame told her that he was anxious for her answer.

Angling her head toward him, Gabby said, “There’s a difference between uncomfortable and unsafe. I was the first but not the latter.”

“Yet you should never be either.”

A breath stammered in her lungs, and Gabby turned to look at him, her mouth ajar. Whitfield’s arctic irises stared down at her. “I would never presume to think you require protection from anything. Indeed, I’m certain every creature under the sun trembles at the sound of your name.”

“Now’s not the time for flattery,” she murmured, her lips trembling over a smile.

“But if you are ever in need of…” His eyes searched hers. “Anything, I hope you know that I will help. Without question. Without delay.”

“I know.” Gabby said it without thinking. But it was true. And she wouldn’t take back the words. Lifting her chin, she nodded once. “I know, Your Grace, and I am thankful.”

• • •

“You didn’t tell me it was Carlisle,” Sebastian snarled the second Sirius shut the door of his study.

Gabriela and Isabel had retired after lunch to the latter’s office to pen letters to their sister and friends in England, and Sirius had all but herded Sebastian into his study. No doubt because his friend knew he was holding on to his anger by the thinnest of threads. But now that the women were on the other side of the house, Sebastian was at liberty to set a spark to the tinderbox of emotions inside of him.

“Because I knew it would only upset you.” Sirius grasped a bottle of liquor from the sideboard. Bypassing the snifters, he snatched up two shot glasses. “And I was right. Now take a seat.”

Sebastian did as he was told, but only because he was too enraged to argue with Sirius’s high-handed ways. Thankfully, his friend slid a shot glass filled with tequila to him, and Sebastian downed it in one bitter gulp. The liquid burned down his throat and settled in his gut, where it immediately extinguished some of the rage bubbling inside of him.

Feigning a calmness he didn’t feel, Sebastian unbuttoned his coat and leaned back in his chair. “Tell me what happened.”

Sirius propped his hip against the desk. “I don’t know all of the details, and anyway those are for Gabby to share.”

When Sebastian glared at him, his friend held up his hands in surrender.

“What I do know is that Carlisle accosted her as she was walking to the ladies’ retiring room at the Wright ball, and refused to let her leave. She assumed he was waiting for them to be discovered together.”