Bride for a Night

Harry had traveled to France?

“Exactly when?” he demanded.

Sophia took a moment to consider her answer. “Two years ago this past April,” she at last revealed. “I cannot give you the precise day.”

It was Gabriel’s turn to hesitate as he shifted through his memories, wanting to be able to prove that Harry had been safely in London when this woman claimed he was here bartering away his soul.

Unfortunately he had a vague recollection of his mother pouting for weeks because her beloved Harry had refused to accompany her to London for the beginning of the season. Gabriel had been equally surprised by his brother’s insistence to remain at Carrick Park, considering his intense dislike for the countryside.

If he’d had any notion the evil that his brother had been plotting…

With a hiss he shoved aside his worthless regrets.

Later he could wallow in guilt and self-recriminations. For now he needed to discover how this nightmare had started and where it was headed.

“He arrived without invitation?”

“He traveled with Madame Martine, who was his current lover,” Sophia said, watching his restless movements with a wary gaze. “I believe she was the one to suggest that Harry could ease his financial difficulties by forming an alliance with Jacques. Your brother is a gentleman with a love for the extravagant.”

Gabriel snorted. “I am painfully aware of my brother’s expensive habits, but I find it difficult to believe that he would ever reach the level of depravity necessary to betray one’s own country. Not unless he was being forced.”

“There was no force necessary, as you must know, my lord,” she said with a hint of sympathy. “There are those men whose souls are barren. They seek to fill the emptiness with ever more exotic pleasures, but nothing can offer them peace.”

His hands clenched as her words sliced through his heart with painful precision.

“You know nothing of my brother,” he argued, even knowing he could no longer deny the truth.

“I would suspect that I know him better than you, my lord.” A sad smile curved her lips. “I, at least, can see him for who he is.”

“I do not doubt you have vast experience in knowing a great number of men,” he snidely retorted.

Her lips thinned at his insult, but she refused to be silenced.

“Have you considered the notion that your brother not only betrayed his country, but his family, as well?”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“How do you believe Jacques acquired his position as vicar upon your estate?”

Gabriel had assumed that there was nothing left to shock him when it came to his brother’s lack of morals. A foolish presumption that left him unprepared for the accusation that Harry would not only abuse his position in Gabriel’s family, but that he would expose his mother and their tenants to the dangers of ruthless spies and immoral traitors on his land.

Sickening pain shifted to lethal fury.

When he got his hands on his brother he intended to…what?

Hand him over to the authorities and submit his mother to watching her child hanged as a traitor and then endure the shame of being shunned by society?

Allow him to once again walk away with no repercussions?

God almighty. What a mess.

“Damnation,” he breathed.

Sophia stepped toward him. “Do you accept that I speak the truth?”

“It would seem I have no choice.” With a motion devoid of his usual grace, Gabriel shoved the ring and note into the pocket of his breeches. “I can, however, ensure that your lover release my brother from the threat of exposure.”

She shrugged. “You can take them if you wish, but it will not protect Harry.”