a particular reason you wanted to see me? I cannot imagine it was to discuss Prinny.’
All of this had to do with Prinny.
Gabriel pushed away from the door and walked towards her. ‘I have something I would like to discuss with you.’
‘You said as much.’
He waited politely for Olivia to sit before taking the chair next to her. For the last hour he’d thought about what he would say—now he wished he’d considered how to begin. He spun his ring, searching for the right words.
When Olivia raised an expectant brow, he knew he needed to forge ahead. ‘I believe we have spoken to each other more now than we have in the last five years. We are behaving as a family, in every sense of the word, and I was wondering if it would be possible for this reconciliation between you and I to continue, even after you are with child?’
Her eyes widened momentarily before her forehead wrinkled. He waited for her response. The awkward moment stretched between them and Gabriel began to wonder if she understood what he was asking.
‘Why now?’ She only said two words, but her scepticism spoke volumes.
‘I told you—’
‘No, not really.’ She stood and took a few steps away before spinning on her heels to face him. ‘I know what you’re about. I am not naïve. You believe I was trying to pick the lock to your desk. That carriage and odd box I asked you about, they have significance even though you claim to know nothing about them. You are hiding something and think that by flattering me I’ll run into your arms and brush my questions aside.’
He stood so she was no longer looking down at him. ‘I’m not asking for a true reconciliation to trick you. I’m asking because I have genuine affection for you and I’d like to try to start over again with you if that is possible.’
‘Interesting timing.’
‘Is it? We have just begun this temporary reconciliation. I’ve just started to realise how much I’ve missed you. Is that truly questionable timing? I couldn’t possibly have realised I missed you, a year ago. You weren’t speaking to me. You weren’t giving me the opportunity to remember how much I enjoyed your company.’
Gabriel spun his ring, uncomfortable with admitting he cared for her and missed her when she had yet to tell him she felt anything close to that about him. Early in their marriage he could see she had genuine affection for him. He thought he’d sensed those feels returning. Perhaps he was wrong.
‘Yes,’ he continued, ‘I do believe you were attempting to pick the lock to my desk and, yes, we did discuss that carriage and the box, but my wanting to be with you has nothing to do with that.’
It now appeared it was her turn to search for the right words to express herself. ‘I like you, Gabriel, I do, but I do not trust you.’
The absurdity of her not trusting him when all along he had never trusted her almost made him laugh. If neither of them trusted the other they had no chance of being happy together. Prinny was her dear friend. She would never want to see him harmed. It was time she knew the truth. ‘There is something I need to tell you, Olivia, but before I do, I need you to swear you will not reveal what I am about to say to anyone.’
‘That’s a bit dramatic, wouldn’t you say?’ But when he remained silent, waiting for her agreement, she must have realised his earnestness. Her eyes searched his. ‘Very well, I swear.’
He gestured to the chairs beside them and they both sat down.
‘Do you remember the day my father died? No, wait, it began before that. It started when I was a child.’
Confusion crossed her brow.
‘My father had very strong opinions about the French Revolution. He had a deep-seated fear that what had happened in France would cross the channel and cause a revolt here. He believed strongly that King George needed protection and Prinny as well. Believing if they were safe, there would be little chance of members of the ton facing the same fate as the French aristocracy. You see, he worried for the safety of this family. He created a secret organisation made up of men and women whose sole purpose was to ferret out any threats against the Crown and to protect the royal house with their lives, if necessary. On the day he died, he made me promise him that I would do everything in my power to ensure King George and Prinny remained safe before I assumed his role in overseeing that select group of individuals.’
The look of confusion was still in her eyes, along with some disbelief. ‘Surely you are joking.’
He shook his head. ‘It is all true.’
She pointed to the portrait of his father above the mantel. ‘You expect me to believe that man organised a secret society to protect the Crown? That man?’
‘He did.’
She studied the image of his father through narrow eyes, as if she would find a clue to his father’s secret dealings within the portrait. Then she turned back to him and gave him the same appraisal. ‘I do not know why you find it necessary to tell me such a fantastical tale, but I do not find it amusing and it does not improve my trust in you.’ She looked away and brushed out non-existent wrinkles from her lap.
‘Olivia, what I am telling you is the truth. I am responsible for protecting the Crown.’
‘And I am a Grand Duchess of Russia, simply raised in England as a girl,’ she bit out with sarcasm.
‘You yourself admitted you have suspicions about me. That is why I am telling this to you. Why did you feel it necessary to try to open a locked drawer to my desk? You know deep down what I have told you is possible.’
Her hand stilled from where she had been about to pick an invisible thread from her sleeve and she stared at the hearth. Her eyes were moving as if she was reading a message in the ashes and he could see she was considering what he said.
‘You are too clever to discount what I am telling you, Olivia. You know what I am saying is possible—that it is the truth.’
She looked back at him and he could see she was struggling to believe him. ‘How long have you been involved in this?’
‘I took a vow to give my life for the Crown when I was at Cambridge.’
‘So when we were introduced you were already working for your father?’
He nodded and saw the moment she realised what he told her was possible.
‘You’ve been deceiving me from the moment we met!’
‘We are sworn to tell no one. One of the reasons we have been successful in stopping plots against Prinny and King George is because we operate in secret. My own mother and most of my closest friends do not even know. Lyonsdale doesn’t know.’
‘Lyonsdale is not your wife. I am,’ she spat with fire in her eyes.
‘I swore an oath.’
‘Then why tell me now? What has changed?’
‘Everything has changed,’ he replied forcefully. ‘I misjudged you and did not know you well enough to trust you with
