Page 13 (1/1)

Deliberately he gave her a lance, the kind that had never failed to drive his siblings uessed, Pandora couldn’t resist the challenge

She grabbed for the card Gabriel ly in midair, before she could touch it As a boy, he’d learned sleight of hand fro his visits to Jenner’s

Pandora’s expression changed, her eyes widening "How did you do that?"

Deftly Gabriel made the card reappear "Learn to ask nicely," he told her, "and I may show you someday"

Her broered "Never mind I’m not interested"

But he kneas a lie The truth was in her eyes

She was interested, no ht it

And God help hihts after the Chaworth ball, Gabriel practiced at the billiards table in the private apartments above Jenner’s The luxurious rooms, which had once been occupied by his parents in the earliest days of their e, were now reserved for the convenience of the Challon faer brothers, usually lived at the club, but at the one to source and purchase a large quantity of dressed pine timber on behalf of a Challon-owned railway construction cohness and elasticity, was used as transoh demand now that native British timber was in scarce supply

The club wasn’t the sa time alone here was better than the well-ordered quietness of his terrace at Queen’s Gate Gabriel relished the comfortably masculine atmosphere, spiced with scents of expensive liquor, pipe sency of green baize cloth The fragrance never failed to remind him of the occasions in his youth when he had accoone alers and look over the account ledgers His wife Evie had inherited it from her father, Ivo Jenner, a former professional boxer The club was an inexhaustible financial engine, its vast profits having enabled the duke to iricultural estates and properties, and accuainst the law, of course, but half of Parliament were members of Jenner’s, which hadJenner’s with his father had been exciting for a sheltered boy There had always been new things to see and learn, and the men Gabriel had encountered were very different from the respectable servants and tenants on the estate The patrons and staff at the club had used coarse language and told bawdy jokes, and taught him card tricks and flourishes Sometimes Gabriel had perched on a tall stool at a circular hazard table to watch high-stakes play, with his father’s arainst the duke’s side, Gabriel had seen ht, all on the turown older, the croupiers had taught him the mathematics of odds and probability They had also shown hi cards Gabriel had beconals of collusion--the wink, the nod, the shrug--and all the other subtle techniques used by sharpers He knew every possible way athose visits to the club, he’d learned a great deal about hu aware of it

It hadn’t occurred to Gabriel until years later that bringing hi hi him for all the future occasions when people would try to take advantage of hiood stead When he had finally left the safe environment of his faston’s heir, he was aup five white balls at the head spot, Gabriel positioned the red cue ball for a straight-in shot to the opposite corner Methodically he dispatched the balls in order, sending each one neatly into the netted pocket He had always loved billiards, the angles and patterns of it, the way it helped to settle his brain when he needed to think clearly

As he made the last shot, Gabriel beca over the table, he glanced up and aze A s it would take for you to find out"

Deceptively nonchalant, Sebastian, the Duke of Kingston, entered the roo that occurred in London, even though he lived in Sussex for months at a time "So far I’ve heard three different versions of the story"

"Pick the worst, and I’ll vouch for that one," Gabriel said dryly, setting aside his cue stick It was a relief to see his father, who’d always been an unfailing source of reassurance and comfort They clasped hands in a firm shake, and used their free arms to pull close for afathers and sons of their rank, but then, they’d never been a conventional family

After a few hearty thulanced over him with the attentive concern that hearkened to Gabriel’s earliestthe traces of weariness on his face, his father lightly tousled his hair the way he had when he was a boy "You haven’t been sleeping"