She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. “What happened to your mother?”
“She returned to Paris only long enough to pack our belongings and to flee to England. Her cousin in London was willing to take us in.”
“So that is why you speak English with such fluency.”
“My mother married the youngest son of a baron who was willing to pay my tuition to Eton to keep me from being constantly underfoot.” His tone was matter-of-fact, but Talia sensed that the rejection from his stepfather had only served to deepen his disgust for the aristocracy. “I was a well-polished Englishman until I came of age and was able to return to France.”
“And yet you feel no loyalty at all to England?” she asked, unable to accept that he had made no friends during his years in school.
“I have no loyalty to a country that will allow the oppression of its people by a handful of bloated nobles who remain above the law.”
“But…”
“Enough of this dreary talk of politics,” he abruptly interrupted, pressing a slender finger to her lips. “I have come to request your companionship for dinner.”
Talia rolled her eyes in wry resignation as Jacques retreated behind the practiced charm he used as a shield against the world.
“I should refuse,” she muttered, ruefully aware she was unable to conjure the outrage she should be feeling at being held hostage by a French spy.
With a dramatic motion, Jacques pressed a hand to his heart. “You would not be so cruel.”
“You are my enemy.”
“Never.” Without warning he leaned down to brush his lips over her cheek, then taking her hand he placed it on his arm and firmly led her down the gallery. “Come, ma petite. Allow me to prove just how…friendly I can be.”
One week later
DUSK HAD FALLEN over the French countryside as Gabriel halted near the abandoned conservatory and studied the palace spread before him.
His gaze barely noted the imposing building that loomed over the countryside with rigid grandeur. He concentrated instead on the handful of soldiers lazily patrolling the grounds before shifting to the formal gardens where he could see the shadowy form of a lone woman walking through broken statues.
“Talia,” he breathed, sinking to his knees as a violent sense of relief slammed through him.
The man at his side shifted forward, moving with surprising grace considering his large bulk.
“Are you certain?” Hugo demanded.
Gabriel turned to send his friend a sour glance.
It hadn’t been his choice to have Hugo travel with him to France.
In fact, he had done everything but horsewhip the aggravating man to keep him from following him.
Unfortunately, Hugo was nothing if not tenac
ious and, ignoring Gabriel’s commands, insults and threats of violence, he had stubbornly arrived at Carrick Park mere hours after Gabriel and then had refused to leave his side.
In the end, Gabriel had been too anxious to begin his search for Talia to battle with his friend. While Hugo made himself useful by carefully interviewing the servants to discover if they could offer any useful information, Gabriel had scoured the countryside.
Thank God the local tenants were devoted to the young Countess of Ashcombe. The moment the alarm had been raised at her failure to return for supper, they had spread throughout the neighborhood to find their beloved Talia. Within hours they had found two strangers who were staying at a local posting inn, each of them carrying far too much money for innocent travelers.
They had held the pair captive at the local gaol, where the magistrate had struggled to prevent the more bloodthirsty citizens from taking matters into their own hands.
Gabriel had found himself struggling to suppress his own bloodlust as he had questioned the insolent creatures, and it was Hugo who had prevented him from choking the life from the bastards when they had grudgingly revealed the truth of Jack Gerard and the fact he had taken Talia to his lair in France.
As it was, he’d managed to crack the ribs of one of the traitorous cowards and knocked the teeth from the other before Hugo had managed to pull him off.
By the next morning Gabriel had been on his private yacht, headed toward the coast of France with Hugo grimly at his side.