Scandalous Scoundrels

by Aileen Fish

  Did that mean he was involved in Gabriel’s shady business? Was there any shady business going on?

  Gabriel frowned and said something in return to the duke.

  Daisy gripped Lily’s hand again. “I think we had better leave.”

  “Oh, no.” She squirmed out of Daisy’s grasp. “I’ve waited six months for this lecture. I don’t care what scheme you think Gabriel is plotting.”

  “But—”

  A lady with an enormous hat suddenly took a seat at the end of the row, effectively blocking her escape. “Oh, perfect. We’re well and truly stuck here.”

  “Daisy, you’re fluttering like a bird trapped in a cage. This isn’t like you at all. I’m certain there’s a logical explanation for what you think you saw. Just ask Gabriel when the lecture is over. Let’s shift down two spots. At least we’ll be able to see Lord Allenby’s podium.”

  “Don’t you girls know it isn’t polite to stare at a gentleman’s podium?” said a teasing voice from behind them. Gabriel. Cheeseballs! “Certainly not one as large as Lord Allenby’s. Good afternoon, Daisy. Lily. I didn’t expect to find you girls here.”

  “We often come for the lectures,” Daisy replied, hoping she sounded quite casual. In truth, her heart was hopping like a mad rabbit. He stood so close she easily breathed in his divine musk scent. The fragrance, as light as a whisper, wreaked havoc on her senses. She didn’t know what to think. “I hadn’t noticed you were here.”

  Gabriel arched an eyebrow, now looking quite sinister. “Hadn’t you?”

  Oh, he was a clever character, pretending to ask a casual question when he really wanted to know exactly how much she’d seen. He settled his hand on the back of her chair and leaned close enough to raise disapproving eyebrows from a pair of matrons to their right. But in true rakehell form, he flashed them a smile that drew blushes and girlish giggles from the ladies.

  “Well, perhaps I caught a glimpse of you out of the corner of my eye. But you know how it is amid a crush, one can hardly see beyond one’s own nose.” She ended with an inane titter that probably roused his suspicions.

  He hopped over the empty chair beside her and settled into it. “I noticed you, too. I’m glad you’re here.”

  He sounded warm and sincere, not chillingly sinister. “You are?”

  “Very much so,” he said, casting her a devastatingly soft smile that reached his tawny eyes. “By the way, you look charming.”

  “Thank you.” She muffled her surprise and tried not to look quite so confused. There were so many questions racing in her mind, so many pieces of the Gabriel puzzle that would not fit together. And now he was seated beside her, looking alert and sober. How could he be so well put together after the spectacle he’d made of himself at Lord Malinor’s party?

  She cast him several furtive glances. Shouldn’t he look muzzy headed and disheveled? Shouldn’t he still reek of spirits? How long did the stench of whiskey, or brandy, or whatever gentlemen drank, remain in one’s system?

  She cast him another furtive glance. His eyes were clear and gorgeous.

  Lord Allenby banged the gavel one last time, signaling the commencement of the lecture. The last of the members took their seats and all chatter quickly subsided. The room turned silent except for the embarrassingly loud thump, thump, thumping of her heart—not out of fear, but out of... drat, why did she feel so wonderful whenever Gabriel was close by?

  And why did he always look so wonderful?

  And wouldn’t her senses warn her if he were up to something sinister?

  He withdrew a lecture schedule from his breast pocket and casually perused it as Lord Allenby began to speak. Daisy stifled a groan, realizing she’d been an utter dolt. There had been no nefarious exchange, just an odd little man handing a program to Gabriel.

  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the world of Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest minds ever to have graced this earth. Today we shall discuss his masterwork the Principia...”

  “Ah, I promised to help you through Newton’s works, didn’t I?” Gabriel whispered, leaning close once again and causing her insides to melt in a puddle of delight. That little rabbit previously thumping in her heart was now splashing around joyfully in that puddle.

  She ought to be ashamed of herself! He’d melted her resistance without the slightest effort and she had capitulated like a wax candle held over a flame.

  Lily leaned across her and cast Gabriel a grin. “You did promise to teach her all about Newton in exchange for one dance,” she whispered. “Daisy told me all about it. She’s thrilled—”

  “Honestly, Lily. Hush.” Until today, she would have been pleased that he’d remembered the offer made at Lord Hornby’s ball. Most men pretended to be forward thinking, but were really unrepentant fossils when it came to educating women. She had expected the same of Gabriel, but he was nothing like those brash young men who preened and strutted and lacked substance. She wasn’t sure what he was yet, just that he wasn’t like those young men. He was better... the best, or so she had felt in her heart. But could she trust her heart? “Generous of you to offer, but I don’t expect you to—”

  “To keep my word? In truth, I rarely do.”

  She turned to gaze at him, hoping to find something beyond his bored expression. “Then why keep it now? Last night you couldn’t wait to get away from me.”

  “Because Newton is special.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t special, Newton was.

  “The talk may be a little dry for someone unfamiliar with his publications,” he continued in a whisper as though she hadn’t seen him with that unsavory man, or that he hadn’t seen her seeing him, “but listen carefully and absorb whatever you can. I’ll take you and Lily to the bookseller’s after this lecture. We’ll select suitable reading material for you.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t think we should.”

  “Thank you,” Lily interjected. “We’d like that very much.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Gabriel said before she could raise another protest.

  Daisy didn’t know how she’d ever make it through the lecture with Gabriel seated so close and throwing her senses into a jumble, but Lord Allenby’s presentation proved to be most entertaining. After a while, she stopped fretting and sat enthralled through the two-hour program.

  She even sighed in disappointment when he called for a brief recess before answering questions. The gentlemen and ladies in the audience slowly came to their feet and began to mill about the room. Several gentlemen left the room to grab a breath of air and perhaps a smoke.

  Though Gabriel rose, he remained by her side and cast her another of his devastating smiles. Really! How was she to think straight when he insisted on leaving her breathless?

  “Well, Daisy? What do you think of Sir Isaac now?”

  “I’m impressed,” she admitted. “One discovery would have assured him a place among the greatest men in history, but to have given us so much... his writings on gravitation, his theories on optics, and his development of calculus are astounding.”

  “Some credit Leibniz with that advancement in mathematics,” Lily interjected because she somehow knew everything about everything, which worried their mother to no end, but simply made Daisy proud. Though just sixteen, the girl could hold her own against any man in this room.

  “No loyal Englishman would ever acknowledge that foreigner’s work,” Gabriel replied with a chuckle. “Besides, there’s no doubt that Newton derived it independently.”

  Daisy stifled her frustration and joined in with a smile of her own.

  And now Gabriel was smiling back at her in that devastatingly gorgeous way. And his eyes were warm and the most beautiful shade of dark amber.

  When Gabriel was good, he was very, very good. But was he good or very, very bad?

  “I understand he was a shy man,” Daisy said, unable to fend off the urge to ramble, “often needing to be coaxed into publishing his work. I marvel at his humility when compared with t
he breadth of his knowledge.”

  “Makes one feel quite insignificant,” Gabriel said.

  She nodded in agreement. “Indeed, it does.”

  “I’m personally fascinated by his theories of motion and gravitation,” Lily said.

  Gabriel glanced at Daisy and grinned. “Ah, yes. The mysterious force that attracts one planetary body to another.”

  That attracts one heart to another, Daisy thought, finding it easier to comprehend the mysteries of the universe by seeking their parallel on a human level. And the way he had leaned close to her, as though attracted to her planetary body... was it possible he yearned for more, possibly for her heart?

  “It’s quite romantic, really,” Daisy said with a sigh. “Two heavenly bodies traveling in the night, each on its own path until suddenly their paths cross. They’re irresistibly drawn to each other, and try as they might, they can’t pull away. Though still two bodies, they now move as one, bound to each other for eternity.”

  “Or until one can escape the other’s orbit,” Gabriel pointed out.

  Daisy rose and frowned at him. Was he warning her to escape his orbit? “Why should one feel the need to escape?”

  “One simply does,” he said with an annoying quirk of his eyebrow.

  “Honestly, Lord Dayne. Moving alone through eternity is a most unappealing proposition.”

  He arched his eyebrow again. “Is it?”

  Really, she found him most vexing. “Yes. Certain bodies are meant to be together.”

  “You mean like the moon and the earth?”

  Like you and me, you dolt! Goodness! Where did that come from? “Earth and moon, yes, that is one example.”

  He ran a hand roughly through his hair as though unsettled. Good! She wanted him to think about more than an unencumbered life filled with tawdry entertainments. He needed to think about his future... about his happiness... about his future happiness with her. Oh, crumpety crumpets. She was doing it again, thinking of him as marriage material when she ought to be thinking of running as far away from him as possible.

  “And what if those bodies are not meant to be together?” he asked.

  Now Daisy wanted to throttle him for his stubbornness. “If they were truly meant to be apart, their paths would not keep crossing, would they?”

  “Um,” Lily said, “would you mind explaining what you two are talking about?”

  ***

  Gabriel stared at Daisy. The little widgeon was right, damn her, even if she had taken the greatest laws of science and pared them to their simplest human terms. Love, much as gravity, attracted one body to another. The male to the female.

  Was he attracted to her? Certainly, for he’d ignored his own instincts and the little remaining sense he possessed to settle beside her during the lecture. But love and attraction were quite different matters.

  Men such as he did not fall in love.

  And after the scene he’d caused at Lord Malinor’s last night, Daisy ought to have known better than to fall in love with him.

  The adorable scowl on her face revealed that she did know better. She liked him, that much was obvious. But she didn’t want to like him, and that was also obvious. She certainly didn’t trust him.

  So what harm could there be in spending one more day in her company?

  Besides, Ian had ordered him to find out exactly what she saw pass between him and General Wolcott’s aide, whose disguise had been excellent. Anyone glancing at him would have thought he was the lowest form of life, never suspecting the cur who had passed on vitally important information was an army major. And that small packet of information was now burning a hole in his breast pocket.

  He needed to slip away to read it carefully. Part contained the bit of false information he was to hand over to the French agents tonight. The other part held further instructions for him.

  Offering to fetch Daisy and Lily refreshments, he left their side. While briefly out of sight behind a large marble column, he withdrew the letters from his pocket and perused them. Then, with his smile fading, he tucked them back into his breast pocket.

  As expected, General Wolcott had included a separate letter meant for his and Ian’s eyes alone. He’d practically been ordered to keep Daisy and Lily by his side all day. Well, not precisely, but he had to make preparations for his mission while pretending to be a man of leisure and what better way to avert suspicion than to keep the girls by his side?

  Ian had already suggested it.

  The letter merely reinforced Ian’s opinion.

  He’d already offered to take the girls to Gresham’s bookshop, where he was to pick up forged identity papers. He hoped anyone watching them would think he and the girls were innocently buying books.

  Then, he needed to get to Blakney’s Confectionery, the pie shop across the street from the bookshop. He’d invite them once they’d finished at the bookshop. He glanced around, sensing Napoleon’s spies were all over this lecture hall, already curious about the timing of his hunting trip. He’d noticed several men hovering close by as he’d settled in the seat beside Daisy.

  Of course, the girl was beautiful and those men might simply have been trying to gain her notice. Most of them probably were, but among them could have been a French spy sent to watch his movements and report back.

  He frowned.

  There was another complication. Spending more time in Daisy’s company was dangerous to her reputation—one that was already mildly tarnished. She couldn’t pass the entire afternoon with him and not have tongues wagging.

  “Do it,” Ian whispered, coming up beside him. “There are no morals when it comes to winning a war. I know what you’re thinking, that being seen too often in the company of a rakehell such as you isn’t wise for her, but it helps us. Her little tarnish is what makes her so perfect as your cover. It makes your interest in her believable.”

  “I don’t have to like it.”

  “Make sure you pick up your travel papers today. Gresham has them ready.” He shook his head and sighed. “I know you’re worried about Daisy. Graelem and I will fix any damage your attentions toward her have caused.”

  “You had better,” he grumbled.

  Ian, never one for coddling his ill humor, indulged him this time. “I will. I promise.”

  Gabriel nodded. “I’ll also do what I can before I leave.” A few drunken curses muttered at Lord Hastings’ ball tomorrow night about the priggish virgin who had rebuffed his advances would go a long way toward repairing any damage.

  He returned to the girls with a glass of ratafia in each hand.

  Daisy took hers with a hesitant smile.

  Did she suspect something?

  The gavel pounded again, signaling commencement of Lord Allenby’s question and answer period. “I’ll take you to Gresham’s Antiquarian Books as soon as the lecture is over,” Gabriel said.

  “And afterward to Blakney’s Confectionery for some strawberry tarts?” Lily added as they resumed their seats.

  Bless you!

  Gabriel laughed, but he doubted the laughter reached his eyes. “Yes, you impertinent little bluestocking.”

  The lecture ended promptly at three o’clock. Gabriel introduced the girls to Lord Allenby, then excused himself to bid farewell to Ian and make further arrangements to meet him tonight.

  “She’s pretty enough to set any man’s heart on fire,” Ian said, nodding toward Daisy, who was gently laughing at some remark of Lord Allenby’s.

  Gabriel watched the man puff up with pride as Daisy graced him with a dimple-cheeked smile.

  “Not even Allenby is immune to her charm, and he’s one of the few happily married men I know. Take this friendly bit of advice—”

  Gabriel tensed. “I’ve heard it before.”

  “Don’t lose your heart to Daisy Farthingale.”

  He nodded. “Furthest thing from my mind.”

  “Spend your last days in mindless pleasure with Desiree. She’s undemanding, willing to please. Trained to please. T
hat’s why you set her up in your love nest, isn’t it?”

  “I’ll visit her tonight,” he said, more to convince himself to do it than to assure Ian he would.

  “And every night until we leave for our hunt?” he asked, grabbing Gabriel’s arm when he tried to turn away.

  Gabriel shrugged him off. “What’s it to you, anyway? We’ll be gone in another day or two.”

  “It’s enough time for you to get up to your eyeballs in trouble with Daisy. You’re in danger, my friend. I don’t wish to see you break a sacred vow.”

  “No broken hearts, no grieving widows,” Gabriel muttered, repeating the pledge he and his bachelor companions had reaffirmed last night. “I know what I’m doing. Leave me alone, Ian. Tend to your own affairs.”

  “I’m trying to, but part of my business is to keep you alert and attentive to your mission. Do whatever you wish when you return. Damn it, just don’t falter now.”

  “Right,” he said quietly, “when I return.” Ian, of all people, had to know that sheep headed for slaughter never returned.

  ***

  Gabriel escorted the girls to Gresham’s, a musty bookshop run by an even mustier elderly gentleman of the same name who lived alone above the shop. Every corner of the establishment, including his living quarters, was lined with shelves, each shelf crammed with books of higher learning of every size and shape.

  Everyone knew Gresham’s establishment was a gentleman’s realm existing for the fulfillment of scholarly pursuits. Indeed, Gabriel had never seen a woman in the place in all the years he’d been coming here. Well, Daisy wasn’t just any woman.

  Gresham would quickly find that out.

  “No shilling shockers here,” Daisy commented as they entered.

  “Indeed,” Lily said, her eyes wide and brimming with excitement. “Walking through the shop is like walking through a maze. I’ve never seen so many books in my life.”