Page 130 of Notorious

“A message from my mother.” He unfolded the note: it was brief. He read it once, and then read it again. And then he read it a third time when the words continued to make no sense.

“Good God!” He yanked open the door to find Parker hovering in the hall. “Tell the messenger I shall head over to Exley House directly.”

Gabriel shut the door and strode through the bedroom to his dressing room. He snatched up the buckskins he’d been planning to wear today and turned.

Drusilla was kneeling up on the bed and holding on to one of the posts. “What is it? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It is Eva.”

“Oh no, what? Is she—”

He cursed in every language he knew, allowing himself full rein.

“Gabriel!” she said, her eyes round with shock. “Tell me what has happened?”

“My sister is headed for Scotland with Earl Visel.”

Drusilla’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh no. That is why he didn’t return the night of the ball—he wasn’t going to take me—he was planning to abduct her all along.” She frowned. “But Eva wasn’t at the ball—she was with Melissa in the country. I don’t understand.”

Gabriel laughed. “No, that was where Eva was supposed to be. Now she is with Visel.”

She flung aside her sheet and hopped down off the bed, momentarily distracting him with her fetching body. She planted her fists on both hips and glared. “He is a brute and a liar. You must go after him, Gabriel—but if they’ve been gone—”

“If Eva’s groom is to be believed, they left the night of the Richland ball.” Gabriel laughed, and the sound was more than a little hysterical. “This is—well, this is absolutely bloody unbelievable! Even for Eva this is beyond everything.”

“It’s hardly fair to blame Eva for her own abduction, Gabriel. It is Visel who should be caught and strung up and—”

“It was Eva.”

She cocked her head, her brow wrinkled with confusion. “What?”

“It was Eva, Drusilla. Visel didn’t abduct Eva; Eva abducted him.”