A Gentleman Never Tells(50)

When their plates were full and all were seated at the table, Matson asked, “How’s your lip this morning?”

“Hurts like the devil,” Brent said, cutting into his ham. “But I’ll live.”

“What are you going to do about Staunton waylaying you at the party?” Iverson asked.

“Nothing.”

“Why?” Iverson asked as he spread fig preserves on his toast.

“Because the man’s a coward,” Brent muttered. “And I have no use for cowards.”

“I agree with that assessment,” Matson said. “If Staunton had wanted to fight you, he should have called you out like a gentleman for a fair fight, not ambush you like a thief in the night.”

“Right,” Iverson said. “He’s an earl’s son and should act like one.”

“Maybe Brent feels the retaliation from Staunton was justified; after all, he did steal his fiancée away from him.”

“And now that we’ve met both of them, I can understand why you had no qualms about doing it. She’s lovely and charming and surely doesn’t deserve a sniveling coward.”

Brent smiled to himself and kept quiet while he buttered his bread. If they only knew he’d had no choice about that meeting in the park with Lady Gabrielle. She had enraptured him the moment she walked out of the mist. But there was no reason to tell his brothers what happened that morning.

“There is something good that has come from this,” Matson said.

“I’d like to know what it is,” Brent argued and then winced as he tried to open his mouth wide enough to bite into the thick piece of bread.

“Oh, not for you, for us.” Iverson grinned, reached down, and picked up the wadded newsprint from the floor. “You usurped us in Lord Truefitt’s society column.”

“And I feel slighted,” Matson added.

“Like hell you do,” Brent grumbled.

Iverson threw the wadded newsprint over to Matson. “He’s an ungrateful blade, isn’t he?”

Matson and Iverson laughed, and they ate in silence for a while until Matson said, “Lady Gabrielle has much to recommend her. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and not without good humor.”

“Mmm,” Brent said, thankful his mouth was full. If it hadn’t been, he might have been tempted to add that she was also enchanting, seductive, and very, very passionate.

“From all the eligible young ladies I’ve seen at the parties so far, you have picked the loveliest one.”

She picked me.

And Brent still wanted to know why. One of the men who held the earl’s son last night indicated that Staunton had been in more than one fight. Men who couldn’t control their rage turned into beasts and would strike out at anyone. Brent couldn’t help but wonder if the man had ever harmed or threatened to harm Gabrielle. That thought twisted Brent’s stomach, and he pushed his plate away. It would certainly explain why she would risk kissing a stranger and getting caught in order to keep from marrying him.

“Why do you always suddenly get so quiet when one of us mentions Lady Gabrielle?” Iverson asked.

Because a gentleman never tells.

Brent ignored the question and said, “It’s true Lady Gabrielle is the loveliest young lady in London, but keep in mind, Brothers, that many families are not even in Town at this time of year. By far most of them have retired to their country homes and estates to spend the winter and Christmas. They will only come back to Town in time for the Season next year.”

Iverson looked up from his plate. “So there will be more delectable young ladies to choose from come spring?”

“They will be buzzing about like bees after flowers,” Brent said.

“Another reason to hurry spring,” Matson said and then added, “I suppose you would have told us immediately if there had been any good news about Prissy.”

Brent looked up at his brother. “You know I would. There hasn’t even been a response from the newsprint notice.”

“Tell me,” Matson asked, “did you hear about Lord Snellingly’s missing dog and that he actually thinks a ghost might have taken it?”

“Believe me, I heard more than I wanted to from that man,” Brent said and couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he remembered the shocked look on Lady Gabrielle’s face when he left her with the earl. That should keep her from ever pretending again she didn’t know how to dance.