Notorious (Rebels of the Ton #1) - Minerva Spencer Page 0,90

the main street, which was rapidly devolving into chaos. It would take a little longer and he would come out a few streets behind the square where Rowland kept lodgings, but, to be honest, Gabriel was in no hurry.

He was in a devil of a mood and didn’t trust himself with the other man. Not only did he not wish to kill anyone, but he’d look a terrible fool getting into another duel less than a week after his last one.

Another image of his wife’s stricken face flickered through his head.

“Dammit to hell,” he muttered, ignoring the startled look of a pair of young men who just happened to be passing.

Perhaps she’d not been doing anything improper with Rowland. In the garden. At two o’clock in the morning.

Gabriel gave a brief, scathing laugh and stopped at a busy street to wait for a coach to pass.

What if the only thing she’d felt guilty about was being caught? a caustic inner voice demanded. What if she had an explanation but you wouldn’t stop long enough to hear it?

Gabriel handed a penny to a young street sweeper, who scampered off, and gestured for an older woman dressed in the clothing of a governess to precede him. She nodded primly and followed the urchin.

Once across, he took a right and then an immediate left into a mews that led to the square. He was stopped at an unexpected split in the narrow alley, wondering which way to turn, when a voice he recognized came from up ahead.

“Dammit, Theo, what the devil could you have been thinking?”

Gabriel experienced a distinct déjà vu: Hadn’t the same thing happened to him less than twelve hours ago?

Not exactly the same: this time two men stepped out of a doorway onto the cobbles. Once again Gabriel sidestepped back into the other alley, peering around the corner.

Visel had stopped and was looking down at his boot, which he was cleaning on a metal scraper embedded between cobblestones for that very purpose.

Gabriel couldn’t see the other man’s face as he appeared to be locking the door.

“I’ve told you to put an end to whatever it was you’ve been scheming with the woman,” Visel said, his tone that of a man who was delivering a familiar lecture. “You were just to go there, be seen by him, and leave. Trust me, I will pay you enough to make it worth your while.”

The second man turned to the first, and Gabriel wasn’t surprised to see it was Theodore Rowland.

“But I merely need two more signatures, Godric.” Rowland was speaking in a whiny, snively voice that made Gabriel’s foot twitch to kick him.

Visel gave his boot one last scrape and frowned down at it before turning back to the other man. “I don’t give a damn what you need. Just do what I bloody tell you.” He set off down the alley without waiting for an answer. “Don’t get in the middle of this, Theo. This is about more than just money.”

“I know, I know,” Rowland said in a placatory tone, his voice becoming fainter. “There is Marlington. I understand. But I don’t understand why—”

Gabriel couldn’t hear the rest of what he said and there was no chance of following the two men without being seen. He watched until they turned onto the square and disappeared from sight. No doubt they were headed to Rowland’s rooms. Gabriel went to the door Rowland had locked and saw through the cutout that it led to some stalls and a small covered courtyard; a shared mews.

He turned to stare at the empty alleyway, as if that might give him some answers to the questions whirling around in his head.

Just what the devil was Visel up to now and how did it involve Gabriel?

He took a deep breath and released it slowly while staring down the empty alley. He knew one thing: he could not go to the man and tell him to stay away from Drusilla—at least not until he knew what it was Rowland and Visel were up to.

He couldn’t confront him, but he’d damned well keep an eye on both of them.

Gabriel’s head had begun to ache. Just what was going on?

Nothing came to mind—nothing at all.

The only thing he knew for certain was that Visel and Rowland were up to something and, whatever it was, it involved Gabriel’s wife.

Chapter 17

Drusilla paced the three rooms that comprised her domain, back and forth. Back and forth. She’d had Fletcher dress her for dinner and then