“I recognize that in you, as someone who also doesn’t want to be noticed.” A somber glint lit Chloe’s expressive eyes. “Do you know what else I’ve realized?”
Jane shook her head once more.
“The best way to escape notice is to blend.” With a quick flick of her hand she motioned to Jane’s skirts and spectacles. “And you, with your dragon skirts and spectacles do not blend.”
Understanding dawned. The young woman’s almost desperate efforts to appropriately attire her. Chloe saw in Jane part of herself—a part she’d protect. Emotion swelled in her throat as the guilt grew. “Thank you,” she whispered. Thank you, when I do not deserve your kindness. Thank you, when I’d steal my safety from your family.
As they made their way down the row and toward the front of the shop, Jane resolved to repay Gabriel and his sister. When she acquired those precious funds from the duke, she would pay for every last expense.
“Come along, Jane. Now, to the milliner.”
She suppressed a groan. With Chloe’s lavish spending, Jane doubted there would be funds enough left for her school come the end of this two months with the Edgerton family. Such a thing would not have mattered only a handful of days ago. But now she knew them as people. Guilt spiraled through her and settled like a stone in her belly. She would repay them what she could.
Then, she’d learned long ago that trust, devotion, and loyalty meant a good deal more than a fat purse. Her father had showed her that.
As Jane entered the milliner to meet the smiling Chloe, the stone became the size of a boulder.
Chapter 11
That evening, instead of seeing to his brotherly responsibilities and obligations, Gabriel gave his sister a reprieve. Nay, he’d given himself a reprieve and proven himself to be the coward he always was. However, this time it was not the towering, hulking frame of his now thankfully dead father he avoided, but a thin slip of a bespectacled woman.
Gabriel sat at his table at White’s, with his back presented to the crowded club. He stared at the bottle of brandy upon the smooth, mahogany surface and, with a quiet curse, grabbed it. The sound of crystal touching crystal was lost in the din of the dandies and lords who also avoided polite ton gatherings in favor of the betting books and fine brandy. He took a sip of his drink. For after accompanying Jane to milliners and mantua makers, he’d rushed out of his townhouse and sought out his clubs where he now sat nursing the same half-bottle of brandy he had for the past five hours. He shifted in his seat, his lower back numb from the position he’d set up on the mahogany seat.
“Waverly, what are you doing here, now?” He stiffened at the familiar drawl but remained seated as his only friend, the Earl of Waterson, pulled the chair out and availed himself to a seat. “I believe you have a sister still to wed o—by God what happened to your face, man?”
Yes, he’d earned quite a few curious stares for Jane’s handy work. “A go in the ring with Gentleman Jackson.” The lie came easily.
“Ah,” the earl said, disappointment laced that one word utterance, as though he’d hoped for something more interesting from his friend.
Gabriel motioned to a servant who rushed over. The liveried footman set down a snifter and Waterson took the bottle. He proceeded to pour himself a glass of brandy. “Visiting your clubs? Trips to Gentleman Jackson’s? However will you see your sister wed with such inattentiveness?” His friend chuckled.
Gabriel frowned and then opened his mouth, prepared to tell Waterson just what he thought of his jesting…but then stopped. He drummed his fingertips along the table. Chloe must marry—to a good, honorable gentleman. Hmm. He eyed Waterson a moment with renewed interest.
His friend choked on his drink. “Do not look at me in that manner. I’ve already said your sister and I would not suit.”
With a frustrated sigh, Gabriel sat back in his seat. “Yes, you have said as much.” Six times now. Had the rejection come from any other gentleman, he’d have been deuced insulted. Alas, Waterson and he had been friends long enough that the other man was well aware of Chloe and her madcap schemes. He rolled his shoulders. “Even if you would do me a tremendous favor in wedding her.”