A Gentleman Never Tells(80)

Brent folded his arms across his chest and eyed her warily. “You aren’t serious.”

“Of course I am.” She smiled. “Don’t you want to know what your future holds?”

“Not particularly,” he said. “I have no interest in such folly.”

“Oh, I do,” she said quickly. “I absolutely adore having my fortune told, and I believe everything they say will come true.”

He studied her and said, “Do you now?”

“Oh, yes. My father believes in what fortune-tellers say, and my sister, too. And we all consult them often.”

Brent smiled. He didn’t believe a word of what she was saying. The second she heard he had no interest in fortune-tellers, she was suddenly very intent about it.

“All right, Gabrielle, let’s go and see what your future holds.”

The cramped booth was painted black with small, shiny red stars. A woman sat behind a counter. She was dressed in all black with a sheer lace netting covering her face.

“Welcome, gentleman and lady,” she said in a heavy Italian accent. “I tell both fortunes for one shilling, no?”

Gabrielle looked at Brent. “You will do it, won’t you?”

“Only for you.”

Brent paid the woman, and she asked Gabrielle to take off her glove and hold out her hand, palm up.

“It’s all right I touch your hand?” the woman asked.

Gabrielle nodded. The fortune-teller lightly traced the lines in Gabrielle’s hand as she hummed. After what seemed like a dreadfully long time to Brent, she looked up and said, “I see that recently in your life there has been a major change, and that has troubled you.”

Gabrielle nodded and glanced at Brent. He shrugged.

“Ah, but I see great happiness in your future. But first”—the woman paused for another long time as she seemed to study Gabrielle’s hand—“first something more will trouble you and cause you pain. You have very strong men in your life, and they all want to choose for you.”

Gabrielle frowned. “Choose what?”

“That I cannot say, but when it comes, you will remember I was the one who told you it would happen.”

“Thank you,” Gabrielle said and pulled her hand back. She turned to Brent and said, “Now it’s your turn.”

Brent took off his glove and, as he extended his hand to the woman, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a man walking by. Something about him seemed very familiar. It took a moment or two for Brent to realize it was the black patch over his eye that jogged his memory. This was the man Brent had seen in the park a month or so ago, who had a rabbit under his coat. Brent turned and looked behind him. The man was carrying a lumpy, dirty canvas sack over his shoulders.

Brent’s senses went on alert, and he jerked back his hand from the fortune-teller. Brent remembered the talk going around Town that not only the remains of horses and cattle were fed to beasts at fairs, but strays, too.

He wanted to follow the man and find out what he had in that sack he carried, but what could Brent do with Gabrielle? He quickly glanced around him. There was no place safe where he could leave her unattended at the fair. There were too many disreputable people milling around. But he had to do something quickly. The man was getting farther away.

He grabbed Gabrielle’s and said, “Come with me.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, almost running to keep up with his long strides. “What about your fortune?”

“Later,” he said, searching the people in front them and trying to catch up with the man before he lost him in the crowd.

“Brent, what is wrong? Where are we going in such a hurry?”

“Look ahead of us to the left. You’ll see a man in a gray coat. He has a sack thrown over his shoulder.”

“Yes, I see him.”

“I want to follow him to see where he is going, and I don’t want him to know we are doing it.”

“Why? What has he done?”

Brent glanced over at her and wondered if he was doing the right thing by bringing her along with him. He could understand her curiosity, but he didn’t have time to explain to her what he was doing. He wished like hell he didn’t have Gabrielle with him. He couldn’t leave her alone, though he wasn’t sure she was any safer with him following this man. Brent had to know what was in that bag.

“I’ll tell you later. Just stay close beside me and do whatever I tell you to do.”