Page 80 of Notorious

Drusilla had heard him return home last night—terrifyingly soon after Theo had left. Just thinking of the idiot’s ill-conceived visit made her stomach churn with nausea.

What would have happened if Gabriel had seen him on his way back? Good God! What if Gabriel had been here?

She knew the answer to that: Theo would be standing in Hyde Park at dawn with a pistol in his hand a few days hence.

She’d shivered at the thought.

Where had Gabriel gone for such a short time? He’d not been away above a few hours. He could have visited his mistress—mistresses—she corrected, gritting her teeth. But she somehow doubted that.

Yet he’d not visited her, either. She’d waited and waited for him to come to her last night, although she could hardly blame him for staying away after her shrewish behavior. She’d waited even after the light between their dressing rooms was extinguished—for over an hour. Even after she’d gone to sleep, she’d done nothing more than thrash and twist and turn until the bedding formed a tight spiral around her body.

So she’d given up on sleeping and gotten out of bed at dawn, waiting impatiently until it was a civil hour to summon Fletcher. She was dressed in her nicest morning gown and in the breakfast room before eight.

Only Parker was inside when she arrived. “Good morning, Mrs. Marlington.”

“Good morning, Parker.” She hesitated. “Has Mr. Marlington already eaten?”

“No, ma’am, he has not returned from his morning ride. Can I bring you some tea and toast?”

She smiled at the fact that her preferences were already well known. “Yes, thank you.”

A freshly ironed paper sat at the head of the table, giving her hope he might join her. She was just finishing her toast when she heard the distinctive sound of boots in the hall. She closed the paper and set it aside.

He stopped in the doorway when he saw her. “Ah, Mrs. Marlington. I didn’t expect you would be up or I would have bathed and changed first. I smell of the stables.”

He was ruffled and sweaty, his dark brown top boots dusty: he looked delicious.

“Please, do not delay your breakfast on my account,” she said, and immediately cringed at her cold tone and hastened to add, “Indeed, I would like it if you joined me.”

His eyebrows shot up, but he entered the room. “Very well. A pot of coffee, Thomas,” he told the footman hovering beside the door.

The servant left, and Gabriel went to the buffet. When he turned back to the table, she saw he had a full plate.

He spread a napkin over his lap, his expression distant, reserved. Gone was the affectionate, teasing, and amorous man of yesterday. He must have noticed her eyes on his mountain of food. “Riding always works up an appetite.”

“Do you ride every morning?” she asked, latching on to the innocuous topic.

He cut into a slab of ham. “Most mornings.”

The breakfast room was silent but for the sound of cutlery on crockery.

He met her eyes, his own unreadable, while he commenced to methodically consume the contents of his plate.

Drusilla’s face was hot, and she knew she must be red and splotchy. She took a sip of tea, cleared her throat, and tried again. “I hope you don’t mind, but I accepted an invitation to dine at Exley House.”

He swallowed, took a drink of coffee, and wiped his mouth with his linen before saying, “Very well,” and resuming his meal.

She could tolerate it no longer. “I wanted—”

Parker entered with his pot of coffee and cast a look at Drusilla’s empty plate. “May I bring you anything else, ma’am? Perhaps another pot of tea?”

“Thank you, no. I shall float away if I drink a second pot.”

Parker looked ready to hover, but Gabriel said, “You may leave us, Parker. Thomas, we shan’t need anything else.”

Drusilla looked from Parker’s receding back to Gabriel. What was going on?

He laid down his silverware and pushed away his unfinished plate. “I was going to wait until later today to speak to you, but I would rather do so now if you have a few minutes to spare?”