A Gentleman Never Tells Read Online Free PDF

said, though she feared she did.
    “I will do whatever I must to make this right for you.”
    She blinked rapidly. Merciful heavens! He was too blasted calm about all this. He was making her crazy. “What is right for me? You are the one who was wronged.”
    “That is not up to us to decide,” he said, glancing toward her father.
    “Indeed it is not,” her father chimed in as if on cue. “And I’m glad to hear you are going to be sensible about this debacle. But, of course, the first thing I intend to do is see what can be done to save her engagement to the earl’s son.”
    Lord Brentwood jerked toward her, the fierce glare from his eyes cutting her as if it was a sharp knife. “You’re betrothed?”
    “Don’t tell me you didn’t know of this?” her father barked.
    “I didn’t,” Brent said tightly, keeping his hot gaze on her face. “I’m new to London and hadn’t heard.”
    “I’ve heard of you,” her father said. “Your brothers are the talk of the clubs and scandal sheets.”
    The viscount grimaced but said nothing.
    Gabrielle swallowed past a thick throat. She, along with everyone else in town, knew about his twin brothers’ resemblance to the well-known and well-liked Sir Randolph Gibson. The scandal sheets mentioned them every day.
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “Of course, I should have told you I was to marry the Earl of Austerhill’s youngest son next week,” she admitted, knowing how terribly awful that made her sound after the way she had thrown herself at him.
    Anger seeped into the viscount’s face, and from between tightly clenched teeth, he said, “Next week? And you didn’t see the need to let me in on that important detail about your life a little earlier?”
    Her emotions were frayed. No answer she could give would satisfy him, so she simply said, “It didn’t seem relevant at the time.”
    Lord Brentwood’s mood changed quickly, and he took a menacing step toward her. Brutus growled a warning. The servant’s hands clamped tighter around his arms and held him back as he said, “With you betrothed, tell me, what the devil were you doing kissing me?”
    “That’s what I have been trying to find out for the past ten minutes,” her father added brusquely. “And it’s past time for one of you to tell me!”
    Gabrielle’s gaze shifted from Lord Brentwood to her father and back to the viscount again. They both demanded and deserved answers.
    Heavens above!
    Surely there was something she could do other than tattle on her sister? But what?

Three
    Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared.
    —Eddie Rickenbacker
    Gabrielle paced in front of the window in the drawing room of their Mayfair home. Her faithful companion, Brutus, slept peacefully on his giant pillow in his favorite spot near the softly burning fire.
    She kept reminding herself she was a calm, rational, and sensible person, even though her actions earlier that morning disproved that fact. Most of the shock of everything that had happened had worn off, and Gabrielle was feeling stronger and more capable of dealing with the crisis she’d created with her uncharacteristically impulsive and scandalous behavior in Hyde Park.
    Staring at her father and the viscount, she became so emotional that, for a moment, she was on the verge of spilling all and telling them about Staunton and Rosabelle’s romance and deception when, thankfully, they’d heard someone approaching them in the park. Her father told Lord Brentwood they would talk later. He had then grabbed her arm, quickly whisked her to his waiting carriage and back home where she had been ever since.
    After telling her he’d deal with her when he returned, he had left immediately to see Lord Austerhill. Her father desperately wanted to undo the damage she’d done by being caught in a compromising embrace with Lord Brentwood. In the hours since he’d been gone, Gabrielle didn’t care what kind of agreement her