Page 119 of Dukes Are Forever
He smiled.
"There is one last little issue to discuss," she said in a warning tone, as she drew away from him. "You've been clucking over Adele ever since we put her in the carriage."
"Of course I have. She was bloody injured—"
Gemma leveled a stern look upon him. "If I were a young woman and my husband was cooing over me the way you have been, I might be forgiven for misreading the situation."
"There is nothing to misread."
"Does Adele know that?"
Malloryn paused.
"I saw the way she looked at you when she hugged you." Gemma's mouth pressed into a thin line. "She has feelings for you."
"She was overcome in the moment. Adele knows the rules. She's hardly about to fall for me."
Gemma shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. "She is also a young woman married to a powerful man who's recently been playing seductive games with her."
"That ended the second she realized the truth."
"Yes, but who ended it?"
He opened his mouth. Then closed it.I did.
Gemma read the answer in his eyes. "Malloryn, I like your wife. And once upon a time, it amused me to see how easily she could get beneath your skin. No woman has ever riled you the way she has. I thought there might have been something there on your behalf—"
"You hoped."
"I hope," she replied boldly, staring him in the eyes. "But if there is not, then you need to make that very clear to Adele. Because I don't want to see you break her heart."
I have no intentions of hurting her.
"Are you finished?"
Gemma tipped her chin up. Only she could get away with speaking to him thusly. "I think I've said what needs to be said."
"Then perhaps we can focus on what hasn't been said: What happened with Mowbray?"
"I was too late. He was dead by the time I got to him. Either Dido or Jelena must have met with him, and Sir George was the distraction."
"So we have nothing."
"Mowbray did manage to confirm it has something to do with the automatons. He said London will burn."
"Damn it."
Gemma watched him with considering eyes. "Your ploy with Devoncourt may yet bear fruit."
"Despite the fact you disapproved of it?"
"I never disapproved of it. I disapprove of the way you handled it without informing me. Here are Adele's pearls," she said, handing over a bloody handkerchief knotted around a bulging lump. Turning with a flounce, she grabbed a fistful of her skirts. "Perhaps you can return them when you remind her there's nothing going on between the two of you."
He clutched the bloody things.
Adele wasn't the only one who needed the reminder.
* * *
