"Bloody hell," Gabriel said wearily. "I knew I should have stayed in bed tonight."
Chapter 3
Gabriel realized at once that the Veiled Lady did not immediately comprehend what was happening. Then she apparently caught the glint of light on the barrel of the pistol in the highwayman's hand.
"What on earth are you about, sir?" the Veiled Lady demanded as if she were dealing with a clumsy servant.
Gabriel hid a quick grin. The lady had more than enough courage to suit a respectable knight-errant. He did not know many females who would have handled a highwayman with such withering scorn. But then, he did not know any females at all who bore the least resemblance to his irritating Veiled Lady.
"Your money or your lives." The highwayman swung the pistol back and forth between Gabriel and his companion. "Be quick about it, now. It'd be just as simple to shoot ye dead and be done with the trouble."
"I only have a few coins with me," the Veiled Lady announced. "And I am not wearing any jewelry."
"I'll take whatever ye got." The highwayman peered at Gabriel over the edge of his mask. "Expect yer carryin' a pistol somewheres on ye. Take yer coat off and throw it on the ground."
"As you wish." Gabriel shrugged and began to unfasten the greatcoat.
The Veiled Lady was instantly alarmed. "No, you must not remove your coat, my lord. You will catch your death of cold." She turned back to the highwayman. "Please, sir, I pray you. Do not make my friend remove the garment. He has a very weak chest. His doctor has told him he must never go about without a coat on."
Gabriel gave the lady an amused look. "How kind of you to think of my health at this rather tense moment, madam."
"His chest will be a great deal weaker if I put a bullet through it," the highwayman snarled. "Hurry it up, now."
"Wait. You must not take off the coat, my lord," the lady said desperately.
But it was too late. Gabriel was already free of his greatcoat. The manuscript box was revealed beneath his arm.
"Here, now, what's that?" The highwayman urged his mount closer to Gabriel's stallion. "That looks interestin'."
"It's just an old box," the lady said repressively. "Nothing of value. Is that not right, my lord?"
"It is definitely an old box," Gabriel agreed.
"I'll take it." The highwayman held out a hand. "Give it to me."
"Do not dare hand it over to him, Wylde," the lady commanded. "Do you hear me?"
"I hear you." Gabriel handed the box over very carefully. He tossed a few coins on top.
Clearly outraged, the Veiled Lady whirled again to confront the highwayman. "Do not touch it. I demand that you give it back at once. That box belongs to me."
"Well, now, I cannot rightly do that," the highwayman said.
"Stop him, Wylde," the Veiled Lady ordered. "I shall never forgive you if you let him get away with this."
"I pity ye, havin' to put up with that mouth of hers," the highwayman said sympathetically to Gabriel.
"One gets used to it," Gabriel said.
"If ye say so. Well, thank ye very much and good evenin' to ye both. Pleasure doin' business."
The masked man swung his horse around, kicked hard, and sent the beast galloping off down the lane.
The Veiled Lady watched as the highwayman disappeared. Then she rounded on Gabriel. He braced himself for the onslaught. It was obvious she was not pleased with his performance as a knight-errant.
"I do not believe this, sir," she said furiously. "How could you give up my manuscript without so much as a single attempt to defend it?"
Gabriel slanted her a meaningful glance as he dismounted to retrieve his greatcoat. "Would you rather I had let him put a hole in my already weak chest?"
"Of course not. But surely you could have dealt with him. You are a gentleman. You must know about pistols and such. He was nothing but an uncouth highwayman."
"Uncouth highwaymen are capable of pulling the trigger of a pistol just as easily as any gentleman who has trained at Manton's." Gabriel vaulted back into the saddle and collected the reins.
The Veiled Lady groaned in frustration. Gabriel thought he heard her swear under her breath.
"How could you let him just take it like that?" she asked. "I brought you along for protection. You were supposed to be my escort tonight."
"It seems to me I did my job. You are quite safe."
"But he took my manuscript."
"Exactly. Your manuscript. Not mine." Gabriel urged his horse forward down the lane. "I learned long ago not to risk my neck fighting for something that does not belong to me. There is no profit in it."
"How dare you, sir? You are certainly not the man I believed you to be."
"Who did you believe me to be?" Gabriel called back over his shoulder.
The lady urged her mare after his stallion. "I thought that the man who wrote The Quest would be at least as noble and as valiant as the hero in his book," she yelled.
"Then you are a fool. Chivalry is for novels. I admit it sells well, but it is useless in the real world."
"I am exceedingly disappointed in you, my lord," she announced in ringing accents as her mare drew alongside his stallion. "Apparently everything I believed about you is nothing more than an illusion. You have ruined everything. Everything."
He glanced at her. "What did you expect of me, my Veiled Lady?"
"I expected you to put up a fight. I expected you to protect that manuscript. 1 did not expect you to give it up so easily. How could you be so cowardly?"
"How badly do you want that manuscript back, madam?"
"Quite badly. I paid a great deal of money for it. But that is the least of my concerns at the moment. What I really need is a genuine knight-errant."
"Very well, I will get the manuscript back for you.
When I bring it to you, I will tell you whether or not I will accept your quest."
"What?" She was plainly dumbfounded. At the same time, Gabriel sensed her renewed hope. "You mean you will think about taking on the task of helping me find the pirate who has my copy of The Lady in the Tower?"
"I will give the matter my closest consideration. But I must warn you, my Veiled Lady, that if I do undertake the quest and if I am successful, there will be a price."
That news appeared to startle her. "A price?"
"Yes."
"As it happens," she said, sounding disgruntled, "I had intended to give you that book you just handed over to the highwayman, as I'd hinted. It was to be a sort of memento of the quest. If we were successful, that is."
"I'm afraid the price will be a great deal higher than that, madam."
"You expect me to pay you to help me bring the villain to justice?" she demanded.
"Why not? When you send a man out on a quest, it is only fair to reward him."
"You should be ashamed of yourself," she shot back. "This is a matter of justice and honor. It is not as though I am asking you to help me find a lost treasure or a cache of jewels."
"Justice and honor are commodities that can be bought and sold just as freely as jewels and gold. I see no reason why I should not be paid for finding them."
She drew a breath. "You are very cynical, my lord."
"I am very practical, madam."
"I see. Very well. If you prefer to do business as a common tradesman rather than as a chivalrous knight, so be it." Her chin came up proudly. "What is the cost of your services?"
"As I do not yet know how much trouble this particular quest will cause me, I cannot set the price in advance. I must wait until the task is completed," Gabriel said.
After weeks of growing fascination with this outrageous female, he was feeling well satisfied with himself at last. He had finally gained the upper hand. A useful advantage, he thought. He would certainly need it, judging by what he had learned of her thus far.