Happily Bedded Bliss: The Rakes of Cavendish Square Read Online Free PDF Page B

could recall falling asleep bare-arsed and lying in the grass was earlier today after his swim.
    A frisson of memory went through him of seeing an odd, lightning-quick flash of blue there in the greenwoods. He’d also thought he’d heard something in the trees that surrounded Cray’s lake, a dry snapping sound as if someone had stepped on a twig. But then he’d been distracted by the dog and had forgotten all about the noise.
    But now that he thought about it all again, the truth hit him like a brick to the head. By Christ, she must have been there, this Esme Byron. The little sneak had to have been spying on him as he lay asleep in the grass, observing him like some Peeping Thomasina while she drew this sketch.
    Now it was his turn to scowl.
    “Well?” demanded Lawrence, as the others looked on expectantly.
    “Obviously that is me,” Gabriel said. “I cannot dispute that fact. But the drawing was done without my knowledge or consent. I went swimming this afternoon and fell asleep afterward. Lady . . . Esme must have come upon me while I was unaware.”
    “Oh, please, give us some credit,” Cade scoffed.
    “You expect us to believe that load of horse chestnuts? You had ‘no idea.’” Jack jeered, arms crossed over his chest.
    Drake regarded Gabriel with a kind of intense scrutiny that unexpectedly made him want to squirm.
    “Pity we aren’t in London, so I could have access to my equipment,” Drake mused aloud. “I’ve been conducting some promising experiments using electricity. I’d love to see what results they might produce when it comes to truth telling.”
    “Give me a list of what you need,” Adam said. “Surely we could cobble something together.”
    “Yes, I’d be happy to send a rider to Bristol for any necessaries,” Gresham offered.
    Clybourne’s blue eyes twinkled; he was obviously amused by the turn of conversation.
    As for the twins, Leo and Lawrence exchanged another set of speaking looks.
    “Could she have done?” Lawrence said in a low voice.
    “It would be like her—,” Leo agreed softly.
    “And she was out today—”
    “Yes, but surely she must have considered . . . ?”
    Leo shrugged. “You know how she is.”
    “But of all the coincidences. Him here and her—”
    “I know. What deuced bad luck.”
    “Hellfire.”
    “And damnation.”
    Everyone else had gone quiet as they did their best to follow Leo and Lawrence’s disjoined conversation.
    Gabriel glanced at the duke, who wore an expression that was agonized but curiously resigned.
    “Just to clarify,” Edward Byron said, his own gaze shifting to Gabriel, “this lake where you swam. It’s on Cray’s land?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And you believed yourself to be alone?”
    “Yes. I had no notion your sister was there, observing and drawing me. At least not until—”
    “Yes, until?”
    He told them about the odd flash of blue, the sound and the dog.
    “There was a dog? What did this dog look like?”
    He described the animal.
    A collective groan went through the room.
    “Sounds like Burr,” Jack said.
    “Must have been,” Drake agreed.
    “I suppose, then, that we’re to believe him?” Cade said.
    “Yes, I rather think we must,” the duke said, “particularly since Esme denied knowing Northcote. She told me it was not what we were all imagining and that I was overreacting. I must admit I was scarcely in the mood this evening to hear her out, so I sent her off to her room. Now I realize I ought to have stayed and listened to her more closely.”
    The duke fixed Gabriel with a penetrating stare.“You give me your word as a gentleman that you have never in your life met my sister Lady Esme?”
    “Yes. I swear I have never met her,” Gabriel said. “As for my word, you may have it, though my reputation as a gentleman is admittedly suspect.”
    Clybourne sighed and nodded. “Well, at least I can rest easy knowing you did not seduce our little Esme after all. However, this changes