Page 114 of Dangerous

“Hello, Hill.” Gabriel handed the butler his hat and gloves.

“Welcome home, Master Gabriel.”

“Is my mother here?”

“I believe she is in the nursery. Will you be staying long, sir?”

Gabriel grinned. “That depends on His Lordship.”

“Will Drake be joining you?”

“Yes, he’s coming with the rest of my things later today.”

Gabriel’s dour valet had not been pleased by his employer’s latest stunt, which had resulted in him being sent down. But Gabriel was relieved. At almost twenty-three, he was older than all of his friends at Oxford except Viscount Byer, who at twenty-six would probably never leave school.

He was tired of books, papers, and studies. Now that he’d been banished from school for good, there was no way his mother could insist he return. He could only hope neither Lord Exley nor his grandfather would exert any influence to get the powers that be at Oxford to relent.

“Tell my mother I’ll be in the blue sitting room,” he told Hill. “Come on, Brat.” He grabbed Eva’s arm and pulled her up the stairs.

Gabriel pushed her toward a chair and dropped down across from her. “Where’s Mel?”

“She’s gone to visit Lady Moira. I was invited but didn’t want to go.” Eva twisted a thick strand of glossy black hair around her finger, the action mute testimony to how the rest of her hair had come loose. She looked like she’d been beaten by high winds.

Gabriel sighed. “Now tell me, why don’t you want a Season?”

Her pink dress had a tear at the hem and one of her shoes was stained with something that looked like horseshit, and probably was. Gabriel’s younger stepsister always made his heart ache. Even though they shared no blood, he felt very close to her. Growing up in Babba Hassan’s palace had meant he was raised with dozens of half siblings. Thanks to Assad, those half brothers and sisters were now lost to him.

It had been a relief to come to England and find three sisters waiting for him. Catherine had been a little older than he and too eager for her Season to have much time for a younger, foreign stepbrother. Melissa had been little more than a child, but Eva had been only two years younger and had behaved more like a boy than a girl. She’d also thought her new stepbrother was magnificent. Of course, she was unaware of how badly he’d botched everything in Oran, almost getting his mother and stepfather killed, while managing to lose control of his father’s empire in the process. No, Eva thought he was wonderful.

“I hate it.” Her quiet words yanked him from his reverie.

“Hate what?”

“All of it. The clothes, the dancing, the pointless chatter.”

He smiled. “You won’t once the young men start flocking.”

She scowled.

“What?”

“They won’t come flocking.” She held out her arms. “Look at me, Gabe.”

He frowned. “So you’re a bit . . .”

“Not a bit, a lot. I’m a bloody mess.”

Gabe wasn’t shocked by her swearing. In fact, he’d been the one to teach her how to swear in two other languages.

“Just a small mess,” he joked.

But she didn’t smile. Instead she dropped her head against the chair back.

“Mama is so kind, but there is only so much she can do. She can help me choose attractive garments, but she can’t wear my clothes for me.” She looked at him. “And then there is Father.”

“He probably can’t wear your clothes, either.”

She threw a cushion at him, clearly annoyed by his attempts to cheer her out of her unhappy state. “I am a constant source of disappointment to him, and it will only get worse if I am forced to make a spectacle of myself in front of the entire ton.”