A Gentleman Never Tells(41)
“Is it true your wedding to Staunton has been canceled?” Babs asked.
“Gabby, you must tell us what happened,” Fern said. “We feel as if we’ve been sitting on pins and needles, hoping to get to see you so we could find out what happened.”
Fern’s eyes widened. “I overheard Papa tell Mama you had been caught in the park in a state of dishabille with one of the Brentwood twins. And Staunton has challenged him to a duel. It’s so romantic to have two handsome gentlemen fighting over the right to your hand in marriage.”
Gabrielle gasped, looking from one friend to the other. How in heaven’s name did events in the park get so far from the truth?
“Tell us it’s not true,” Fern said.
“No, tell us it is true,” Babs said with a mischievous smile. “Tell us all about your secret lover. It’s so naughty of you to keep something like this from us, Gabby. How could you? We are supposed to be your dearest friends.”
“When did you meet him?” Fern asked. “Was it love at first sight?”
Babs added, “Mama said she would have believed it of me before she would have believed you were meeting a lover in the park.”
“Please, please,” Gabrielle said, taking both their hands and moving them away from listening ears. “Both of you must talk more softly so no one will hear you. People are looking at us. Come. Let’s walk calmly to the punch table, and absolutely no more questions until we are where no one can hear us.”
Gabrielle smiled pleasantly, held her head high, and led the way, weaving her friends through the throng of people crowding the house. She nodded to some, spoke to others, and curtseyed to a countess as she made her way to the back of the drawing room where the punch table had been set up. With every step, she felt questioning eyes and icy stares. From her peripheral vision, she saw hands cover mouths and fans cover faces. The roar of laughing and talking ceased as she approached and started up again as soon as she passed.
She and Auntie Bethie had talked about what might happen tonight, and she knew shunning by some members of Polite Society was a very good possibility, but Gabrielle wasn’t bothered by that. If it happened, so be it. She still didn’t know why she had kissed Lord Brentwood, but she was glad she had, and she wasn’t going to be ashamed of it.
After the three ladies were served a cup of punch, they moved away from the well-attended table to a far corner in the crowded room.
Gabrielle looked at her friends’ eager faces and took a sip of the fruit juice. She wouldn’t wish all the different feelings she’d gone through the past few days on anyone. But how much should she tell them? Not everything that happened, for sure.
“How long do you intend to keep us on the point of this needle?” Babs asked. “Tell us what happened!”
Gabrielle smiled understandingly. She would have no peace if she didn’t tell them a little, and it was quite clear they expected to hear something salacious. She would have to disappoint them on that. There wasn’t much she hadn’t shared with her friends over the past couple of years, but she didn’t want to tell them about how the viscount made her feel. It was personal, intimate, and it was glorious. It wasn’t something she wanted to share with anyone.
She looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear them and then softly said, “First, let me assure you I was not with one of the Brentwood twins.”
“Then who?” Babs asked.
Fern clasped a hand to her chest and said, “Or was it all a horrible lie, and there wasn’t a gentleman with you at all?”
“No, there was a gentleman,” Gabrielle admitted, “but most of what you have heard is not true. I was in Hyde Park with Lord Brentwood, the twins’ older brother, but we didn’t plan to meet there. It was quite by accident.”
“Oh, the viscount,” Fern said in a softly whispered voice.
“I saw him and his brothers at a party last week,” Babs said, “but I haven’t been introduced to any of them. How and when did you meet him? And why did you agree to a secret rendezvous in the park with him? And what did Staunton have to say about all this?”
“It must have been love at first sight,” Fern said.
“I haven’t talked to Staunton,” Gabrielle readily admitted, “and my meeting with Lord Brentwood was not a secret affair.”
“If you didn’t go to meet him or someone else, why were you in the park alone?”