Her Secret Lover (Aphrodite's Club 2)

She wore spectacles. Small, round, with metal frames, they made her brown eyes seem larger than ever. The fact that she hadn’t been wearing them when he came upon her inside the coach made Gabriel even more confident he would remain unrecognized.

“I did not realize you once held a position in London,” Antoinette said, meeting Mrs. Wonicot’s displeasure head-on, “although I can tell an expert hand has been at work about Wexmoor Manor.”

There was a silence. Gabriel watched Sally curiously, seeing the struggle going on inside her not to start liking someone she was determined to dislike. “I do my best,” she said at last, grudgingly accepting the compliment.

“Then I hope Lord Appleby appreciates you.”

Wrong thing to say, Gabriel thought, hiding his grin behind his hand.

Sally puffed herself up. “I’d prefer not to discuss Lord Appleby with you, miss. Mr. Wonicot?”

Her husband didn’t like being pushed to the forefront, but he took a breath and did his duty. “Oh aye, Lord Appleby is a very busy man,” he muttered. “Very busy.”

Sally gave him a narrow look; clearly this wasn’t what she’d wanted from him.

“I’m sure he is,” Antoinette said, “but then so are you. I don’t need to stay here if you feel the work is too much for you.”

“You are a guest in his house,” Mrs. Wonicot retorted, “and you will stay here as long as he wishes it.”

“I thought I might travel to the nearest large town,” Antoinette countered airily. “I need some bits and pieces.”

Sally smiled as she declined the request. “Oh, I don’t think so, miss. We haven’t time to take you, and I’m sure His Lordship wouldn’t want his ‘guest’ gallivanting all about the countryside.”

Antoinette didn’t reply, but she must have understood by now, if she hadn’t already, that these were no friends of hers. She was Lord Appleby’s mistress, sent out of the way when a scandal threatened to upset His Lordship’s business dealings and incur the disapproval of the queen. She had the letter, and they were unlikely to let her out of their sight until they parted her from it.

“At home I am quite used to riding about on my own.” Her voice was cool and confident, but the impression was spoiled by her spectacles slipping down her straight little nose. Gabriel had never expected to find those round glasses so appealing.

“But you’re not home now, are you, Miss Dupre?”

“What of the garden? I will walk about that.”

Mrs. Wonicot was ready for her. “You can if you wish, but I’d stay away from the maze.”

“The maze?”

“Aye,” Wonicot piped up, “’tis the oldest maze in the county.”

Mrs. Wonicot gave him a look. “What Wonicot means to say is that the maze is not safe. If you were to go inside it, then it’s quite possible no one would ever find you again.”

They all waited, hoping she’d argue some more so that they could continue to squash flat her pretensions. Instead she shrugged and looked away, her straight and unflinching gaze settling on Gabriel. Still hunched over his plate, he picked up a whole sausage with his fingers and crammed it into his mouth. Her own mouth, lush and soft and the color of peach flesh, hardened in distaste.

“This is Coombe,” Sally explained. “He’s a groom and a gardener, and anything else needs doing outside. We usually feed him in here, out of the way. He doesn’t like people much. Do you, Coombe?”

Gabriel grunted, and crammed more sausage into his mouth, wiping his greasy hands on his shirt.

Antoinette’s face was a picture of revulsion. He almost laughed. “Perhaps it would be better if I went to the breakfast room after all, Mrs. Wonicot,” she said, heading for the door. “I can see I am in the way here.”

It closed behind her.

Just in time.

Sally burst into snorts of laughter, joined by her husband and Mary. “Did you see her face?” Mary gasped. “I thought she were going to faint! That’s the last time she’ll come in here.”

Gabriel swallowed his mouthful and washed it down with a swig of ale from the mug in front of him. Unlike Mary, he wasn’t so sure Antoinette Dupre would be put off so easily. As Sally Wonicot had already discovered, she was a clever little minx.

She would need careful watching.

Gabriel smiled, silently volunteering for the task.