A Gentleman Never Tells(92)
But his yearning for her was more than just his attraction to her. He loved not knowing what she was going to come up with next to try to get him to free her from the bond of marriage to him. He hoped her father returned soon so all the financial paperwork could be finalized. A few weeks ago, he would never have thought it, let alone admitted it, but now he could say fate chose well for him. He was besotted with Gabrielle. Thoughts of her smiling at him, laughing with him, and even being outraged by him played through his mind.
Oh, yes. He was very happy to be marrying her. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of her not belonging to him.
He heard a conveyance approaching and looked up to see Muggs driving up in a closed carriage. The man always looked wary of Brent, but there was no reason for him to. Brent wasn’t one to hold a grudge. Besides, the man had attacked him only after the duke had ordered him to.
When the carriage rolled to a stop, Brent took off his hat and walked over to open the door. He wanted to take hold of Gabrielle’s waist and swing her around as he helped her down, but since Muggs was already glaring at him, Brent politely took her hand and let her step down on her own. He started to shut the door, but Gabrielle touched his arm.
“I hope you don’t mind, my lord, but I brought Brutus with me.”
Yes, he did mind. He stepped close to her so Muggs wouldn’t hear everything he said. “Gabrie, this is not a good time to have him along.”
She stuck her hands in the black velvet muff she carried. “But, my lord, he looked so forlorn when I started to leave. You know how much he enjoys the park. I couldn’t say no to him.”
“We will be following two girls and a lad pulling a milk cart. What if he barks at a squirrel or another dog and tips the young man to the fact we are following them?”
She looked at him aghast. “You know Brutus doesn’t bark at squirrels,” she admonished. “He is very well behaved and he minds me instantly. I will not let him reveal to anyone what we are doing. So do not worry; he will not hamper our mission.”
He looked at her bright eyes and hopeful expression and knew he couldn’t deny her.
“All right,” he said and settled his hat back on his head. Reaching back into the carriage, he helped Brutus move his hind legs so he could step down. “Come on, boy, we don’t have much time. I don’t want to miss Godfrey.”
The sky was gray and the air chilly but not bitter as they walked to the area Brent had already picked out, where they could hide behind a stand of trees. He had a fairly good idea of which path Godfrey took each day, and it was simply a matter of waiting until he emerged from the park. All they had to do was stay out of his sight as they followed him. And Brent kept thinking it would have been a whole lot easier to do that without Gabrielle and Brutus.
Once they were seated behind the largest tree, Gabrie said, “Explain to me once again why you think Godfrey is the dog thief. I’m afraid I had my mind on other things when we were talking yesterday.”
Brent’s lower body stirred. “Gabrie, let’s not discuss right now what your mind was on yesterday.” He grinned. “But at another time, I’d be most interested in finding out what other things you learned from that book.”
Heightened color rose in her cheeks. “You have heard all you are going to hear from me about that book, Brent. I put it back where I found it, shoved the chest up against it, and I don’t intend to look at it ever again.”
“Pity,” he said and hid a chuckle behind his gloved hand and a cough. “Now, regarding your question about Godfrey, at first I didn’t think there was a connection, and I’m still not certain of my suspicions. Prissy and Tulip went missing in the park and Josephine in Snellingly’s neighborhood. But yesterday it dawned on me that Godfrey travels through both every day of the week. So I went to see Snellingly and Lord Waldo and asked about who had returned their dogs. They both gave the same description of a red-haired, strapping lad of about twelve to thirteen years of age. That fits Godfrey. It just seemed too much of a coincidence to me that he found both dogs. Especially now that Lady Windham’s dog is missing. I thought it might not be a bad idea to know where he lives and then to talk to him.”
“In case more dogs go missing and are mysteriously found and returned by him.”
He smiled. “Exactly.”
“But if he is the dog thief and returned their dogs, why wouldn’t he have returned Prissy first, since she was the first to go missing?”