Free One Night With A Prince by Sabrina Jeffries Page A

arm.
    “Shall we go?”
    “Now see here, that belongs to me!”
    “And you’ll get it back upon our return.”
    She sniffed. “So we actuallyare going for a drive then? I thought you might have said that last night just to disguise what we were really doing today.”
    “That was part of it. Iversley and Draker know the true situation between us, but I cautioned them not to tell their wives. So the ladies would naturally assume the worst if they heard about my buying you gowns. You seemed to be enjoying yourself at dinner, and I didn’t want to make things awkward for you.”
    Taking his arm, she let him lead her into the hall, where the servants handed her a horrid black bonnet.
    “Then you shouldn’t have kissed my hand and called me ‘my sweet’ when you took your leave.”
    She had a point. But hearing them tell her about his sordid childhood in the streets had provoked him. He had spent his life amassing a substantial fortune, yet no one could forget where he’d begun. That was Prinny’s fault, and Gavin meant to make the man atone for it, one way or the other.
    “Well, as you say, it hardly matters.” He led her outside and down the steps to his cabriolet. “They don’t move in Stokely’s circle, so you’ll have little occasion to see them.” He cast her a side glance. “Unless you plan to take society by storm after this is over.”
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    “Hardly. I’ll have enough trouble withthis scheme. Once I have my property back, I’ll retreat to the country and never show myself in London again.”
    He helped her up onto the perch, then climbed up beside her. “Do you hate town that much?”
    “Actually, I like town. It’s society that terrifies me.”
    “Yet you’ll throw yourself upon its mercy for the sake of family property.”
    “I have no choice.”
    He set the horses off at a smart pace. “Speaking of your property, do you know where Stokely might keep it? His estate is rather large.” And her answer might give him an idea of what the bloody thing was.
    “I have no idea,” she said coolly.
    “Where did your father keep it?”
    “In a strongbox.”
    So the object was small. Jewelry perhaps? But how would that affect Prinny? “How do you know Stokely isn’t keeping it in a strongbox or even a safe?”
    “I don’t. If he is, I’ll have to find a way into it. Or take the entire thing with me. Surely he won’t have more than one.” She paused. “Doyou know how to break into such things?”
    “I can get into any safe, I promise you.” Though she would undoubtedly disapprove of his methods.
    “And if your property was in a strongbox in the first place, how did your husband get his hands on it? Or even know about it?”
    At her long silence, he glanced over to see her face suffused with shame. “I told him.” She caught him staring and cast him a defiant glance. “Before Papa left for France last time, he gave me the strongbox. He explained what I was to do with the contents if something happened to him. When I brought the box home and wouldn’t tell Philip what was in it, his curiosity was roused. He badgered me about it, asking why I didn’t trust him. It already galled him that Papa didn’t.”
    A defeated sigh left her lips. “I couldn’t stand to see him so hurt. Philip had been distant toward me, and I thought if I could show him how much faith I had in him—” She shook her head. “It probably sounds silly to you.”
    “Not at all.” Haversham had been exactly the sort to play on his wife’s affections to get what he wanted.
    “Well, it sounds silly to me, especially now that I know that while he was begging me to tell him the family secrets he was also trotting off to London to—”
    When she stopped there, he prodded, “To do what?”
    Color filled her pretty cheeks. “Gamble. And…and other things.”
    Other things. Gavin wracked his mind, but could think of no other vice he’d