planning on killing Prinny tonight?’
They were perilously close to a topic he had never wanted to discuss with her. ‘I received intelligence that led me to believe it was what he planned.’
‘So you arrived here to stop him.’
‘No, I had no idea where he lived. The plan was to stop him at the theatre.’
‘You expect me to believe you intended to give up capturing a man who wanted Prinny dead to come after me?’
‘I did come after you. Why you decided to come here is your tale to tell and you will tell me, Olivia.’
‘Janvier was to join us tonight to see Mrs Siddons. Since I would no longer be attending the performance, I came here to give him the tokens to our box.’
Prinny’s assassin would have been sitting with them, mere feet from his intended target. Gabriel pushed his thumb against the bridge of his nose. ‘I was going to impersonate Prinny tonight, but I needed to come after you so someone else has taken my place. There are people throughout the theatre looking for Janvier.’
‘You will notify them the vile beast has been captured?’
‘I will, but I doubt I will use those exact words. I will go myself to inform them once I have Janvier secure.’
Stepping closer to him, she rested her hands on her hips as if her small stature could intimidate him into agreeing to what she wanted. ‘I will go with you.’
How she could try his patience. At least she was speaking to him. As he’d raced through the street of Mayfair to find her, he wasn’t certain he could convince her to see him, let alone speak with him. It was time to tread carefully.
He rubbed his forehead and stared at the unconscious Comte. ‘Why are you not hysterical? I believe most women, if a knife were held to their throats, would be a shaking, sobbing mess. But you appear to be unaffected.’
‘I have had a horrid day! I am too angry at this moment to even consider crying!’
She’d saved herself and Prinny by smashing that piece of porcelain over Janvier’s head. If she wasn’t his wife, he would think of recruiting her. ‘Very well, you will go with me to Richmond. I will take Homer and you will follow in your coach. In light of this evening’s events and your actions you have every right to see this through to the end. However, I need your word that whomever you see me converse with, you will forget their identities by morning. Trusting people is not in my nature. I need to know I can trust you.’
‘You’re speaking of trust? Oh, that is almost too much to bear,’ she sputtered. He waited for her to agree to his condition and she must have realised he would not be taking her anywhere until she gave him her promise. ‘You have my word. Now, how do we get his unconscious form out of here without anyone seeing?’
‘Help me empty one of the trunks in the entrance hall, then go fetch your coachman. We will strap him to the roof of your carriage in the trunk and take him to my safe house in Richmond. He will be held there under guard until his trial. By my estimates, he will swing in less than a week.’
* * *
Once Janvier was secure in Richmond, Gabriel needed to inform those at the theatre the Frenchman had been apprehended. Of course Olivia wasn’t content to return home while he did that and with more coaxing on her part he let her accompany him. Strangely enough, the idea of sharing this with her was no longer terrifying.
They had not spoken one word to each other since they had left Richmond and as her carriage rolled to a stop in front of the theatre Gabriel glanced at his wife, who sat silently across from him staring out the window.
He rubbed the stone of his ring through his leather glove. ‘Remember, you are to tell no one what you see tonight. Trusting you with this is harder for me than you realise, Olivia. I need you to promise that you will not tell even Victoria.’
‘I understand and have already given you my word. Shall we go in now?’
Gabriel opened the carriage door and jumped down onto the pavement. Without pulling down the step he reached into the carriage, grabbed Olivia by the waist and lowered her to the wet ground.
* * *
Olivia discovered it wasn’t easy to keep her cloak closed to hide the disastrous state of her gown when Gabriel took it upon himself to lift her out of her carriage. Thankfully the rain had stopped. However, the puddles that shone in the light from the windows proved a nuisance as they navigated their way along the pavement to the door of the theatre. Heads turned as they made their way inside.
This should have been a triumphant moment. This should have been the beginning of a new life together. Instead, their arrival together was a sham.
‘This changes nothing between us,’ she whispered to Gabriel, lest he need clarification of her feelings for him. ‘I am here with you to see this through, not because I have any intention of resuming an amiable marriage with you.’
‘The world does not need to know that at the moment. Our appearance together should be believable, so I suggest you smile as if you are genuinely happy to be on my arm.’
It would be a cold day in hell before she was ever happy to be with him again. Pulling from her years of experience disguising her feelings for him when they were in public, Olivia flashed him a pleasant smile. It must have been believable, because he gave a slight nod of his head and grinned at her with that annoying heart-melting smile of his.
The confines of the theatre amplified the buzzing around them, as happy voices greeted friends and audible whispers carried their names across the lobby. Aside from their unprecedented arrival together, she was certain people were questioning their lack of formal evening attire fitting such an occasion. That busybody the Duchess of Skeffington even had the gall to raise her quizzing glass at them. Thankfully Olivia’s cloak was long enough that it covered her entire gown.
Olivia raised her chin and glanced over at Gabriel, who was discreetly scanning the crowd.
‘Would I know any of your people? It would expedite our search if we were both looking.’
‘I need to find Lord Hartwick,’ he whispered into her ear.
She tried to school her features at her disbelief. ‘Surely you don’t mean the Earl of Hartwick?’
‘The one and the same.’
‘But he’s—’
‘An immeasurable asset in protecting the Crown.’
‘Truly?’
‘Truly. Now tell me if you see him.’
‘Perhaps we should search the ladies’ retiring room. I have seen him hovering outside of it on a number of occasions.’
‘Not tonight—tonight he has a job to do.’
It was not long before they spotted the earl in his formal black evening attire casually leaning against the banister leading up to the boxes. He should have been the one to garner all the attention in the theatre with his handsome face. And yet for all his looks and charm, Olivia had no desire to wrap herself around him and get
