Martin and Lil laughed, but he noticed Antoinette didn’t.
He knew then he must be in a bad way, because even that gave him hope.
Chapter 30
Antoinette announced she had a headache on the journey back to Aphrodite’s Club, and they sat in silence among the crush and noise. After supper she retired to her room, pleading tiredness, knowing she was a coward. But she didn’t want to sit up with Aphrodite and Gabriel, listening to them laughing and joking and making plans for a future without Lord Appleby. She wanted to be alone.
Not that she blamed Aphrodite for sending Gabriel to meet her; she understood well enough that the two of them were close, nearly related, and Aphrodite wanted the best for Gabriel. It probably seemed very silly to the courtesan that the two of them should have mistaken matters so badly, when one well-chosen word would have ended all the misunderstandings. Looking back, she could see that now, of course she could, but at the time the atmosphere of suspicion and doubt and fear had made it impossible to distinguish friend from foe.
So she stayed in her room, brooding.
Besides, Aphrodite had a way of making her do things she hadn’t intended to do, and Antoinette was worried what she might make her do next. She couldn’t take much more of Gabriel Langley. One moment he was teasing her, trying to make her angry, and then he was gazing into her eyes as if she was the only woman in his world.
She felt completely bewildered, a unique state for her.
Of course, Antoinette knew that for all her accomplishments and abilities, she was an innocent when it came to men like him. She didn’t understand what he wanted from her, and why he couldn’t just come out and say it. It might be a little late in the day, but she’d learned honesty was best, and saying what one thought made life a great deal easier. If it wasn’t for Cecilia she’d go home right now and leave Gabriel Langley far behind.
She turned over in her bed and stared into the darkness. The room was plain, with none of the ostentation she’d expected—no mirrors on the ceiling or scarlet draperies or lewd paintings. The building itself was echoingly quiet, and, from things the others had said, clearly very different from its usual glittering, frantic pandemonium.
Was that the sort of life Gabriel lived?
He was an adventurer at heart. His reckless behavior in holding up the coach, sailing down the coast single-handed, and making love to her in the woods in a thunderstorm, made that clear enough. He was wild and unpredictable and…completely, heartbreakingly captivating.
Antoinette found herself smiling into her pillow and straightened her mouth. It wasn’t a laughing matter. When she was with him she acted in a very uncharacteristic way, a way that would deeply shock those who knew her well.
She still didn’t know the answer to the question she’d asked herself at Wexmoor Manor. Had the real Antoinette Dupre, some wicked throwback to her wicked ancestress, been hiding all these years, just waiting to get out? Did Gabriel encourage her naughty side? Well, it couldn’t go on. Cecilia needed stability, a sister who would provide sensible advice, not someone who ran through mazes shedding her clothes, used a pistol to escape in a rowboat, and made love to a masked highwayman.
In time those brief, wild days would be nothing more than a fuzzy memory. What a relief that would be!
Antoinette lay wide-eyed in the darkness, and wondered why, if she was doing the right th
ing, she felt so utterly bereft.
Someone was shaking him. Hard. Reluctantly, Gabriel opened one eye. Jemmy’s battered face was looming over him, worry in his gray eyes.
“Wake up,” he said in a quiet, urgent voice. “Appleby is downstairs with the police. He knows you’re here. You must get up and leave. Now.”
The words brought him instantly to full wakefulness. He sat up, shocked. “How?” he spluttered.
Jemmy sighed. “You’re not that innocent, are you, lad? There are always those who’re looking for a few easy sovereigns. Could have been one of the servants, although Aphrodite won’t believe that, or one of the boys who fetch the cabs and hold the horses, or even a passerby who noticed you and Miss Dupre coming and going. Right now ‘who’ isn’t important. What matters is you have to get away before you’re arrested.”
Of course he was right. But Gabriel wasn’t going anywhere without Antoinette.
“Is Miss Dupre awake?”
Jemmy’s grim mouth twitched. “One of the girls is just doing that now.”
Jemmy left and Gabriel dressed, running his fingers through his hair in lieu of a comb, and went out into the corridor. Jemmy was waiting for him. A moment later Antoinette peeped out of her own door, and seeing the two men, came to join them.
Her eyes were wide and worried, and he wanted to hold her, comfort her, tell her it would be all right.
He contented himself with a gruff “Don’t worry, he can’t stop us now.”
“He must be desperate, to come here like this,” Jemmy added. “A good sign, I reckon. You have him on the run.”
“Let’s hope so,” Antoinette murmured.
They went toward the gallery. Gabriel could see Madame Aphrodite and several of her household huddled in the foyer. Suddenly there was a violent pounding on the front door. Everything seemed to shake; even the glass in the chandelier tinkled.