Miles gave a guffaw of laughter. "Gabby's clearly a miracle worker."

"She has some small talent," Nathaniel agreed, refilling their glasses.

It occurred to him that this unexpected visit might well prove fortuitous. At some point, when he could separate the two men, he'd sit down with Simon and go over Gabrielle's qualifications for the service with him again. Now that he was no longer against the idea in principle, he'd be a little more searching in his questions.

Jake was full of curiosity when he tapped on Gabrielle's door just before six. He'd heard the arrival of the visitors, and Miss Primmer and Nurse had been discussing them while he had his supper. His godfather was here, but there was another lady too, something that intrigued Jake mightily.

He entered at Gabrielle's bidding and gazed wide-eyed with frank curiosity at the pretty woman sitting by the fire. She wore a driving dress of soft beige and the blouse beneath had high ruffles that brushed under her chin. She struck him as soft and curvy and smiling, and her hair gleamed gold in the firelight. Gabby wasn't soft and curvy and golden, he realized but with a rush of fierce loyalty he decided that she was much more beautiful than the other lady.

"Jake, come and meet Lady Vanbrugh." Gabby held out her hand to him and he stepped forward, bowing with jerky formality to her guest.

"This is Jake, Georgie," Gabby said, drawing him against her with an encircling arm. "Nathaniel likes to see him in the library before he goes to bed, so we usually go down together."

Georgie smiled at Jake. "I have a little boy too, but he's much smaller than you."

"What's his name?"

"Edward… we call him Ned."

"Oh… are you going to tell me a story tonight, Gabby?" Jake dismissed the unknown Ned in favor of his own pressing concerns.

"Perhaps not tonight," Gabrielle said. "Since Papa has visitors. And your godfather is here too. Let's go down to the library."

Jake hung back, chewing his lip, then said, "Papa doesn't let me go to the library when he has visitors."

"Oh, but this is your godfather," Gabrielle said. "And these visitors are my special friends, so I'm sure he'll want you to be introduced. Are you coming, Georgie? Or would you like to go to your own bed-chamber and dress for dinner?"

"Oh, I'm coming," Georgie said readily, rising to her feet.

Gabrielle chuckled. She hadn't expected anything different.

If Nathaniel was put out by the interruption, he gave no sign. Gabrielle seemed to have taken charge of the situation anyway, he reflected, watching as she presented Jake to Simon and eased the meeting of the shy child with his awkwardly hearty godparent. Miles had had little to do with his godson hitherto, and little experience of children in general, so his attempts to put Jake at his ease tended to create the opposite effect.

Despite Gabrielle's efforts, however, Jake showed little reluctance when Nathaniel sent him back to the nursery after fifteen minutes. He bade a formal good night with his stiff, jerky little bows to all except Gabby.

"Won't you tell me a story?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he approached her.

"Not tonight, love. I have to dress for dinner, but I'll come and kiss you when you're in bed and sing you one of my funny songs. Actually, there's one that Georgie and I used to sing together. Do you remember it, Georgie? The one about the man with the beard that the birds nested in?"

Nathaniel listened to the women's laughter, recognizing the intimacy of shared childhood. Simon shared it too, to a lesser extent, he realized. He certainly had an almost brotherly ease with Gabrielle. The three of them were trying to remember the words of the silly schoolroom songs they'd sung together, and their laughter was so infectious that even the timorous child was smiling, clinging to Gabrielle's skirts, watching the adults' faces with his round brown eyes.

A wash of loneliness surprised Nathaniel as he suddenly saw himself at Jake's age. A lonely little boy living on the periphery of adult lives. He couldn't remember being touched, not in the way Gabrielle was always touching Jake. He'd been touched by nursemaids in the general day-to-day business of caring for a child. His father had laid a hand on him only in punishment. He didn't think his mother had ever touched him.

"I hate to interrupt this merriment, but we should change for dinner," he said, rising ro his feet. "Jake, it's past time you were upstairs. Nurse will be looking for you." He hadn't meant to say anything like that. He'd wanted somehow to join the laughing group, to be acknowledged by them and to have a part in the union Gabrielle so obviously shared with his son. But he heard his voice, sharp and disapproving, speaking narrow, mean words.

The laughter left the child's eyes and he went with instant obedience to the door. Nathaniel felt a sudden ache beneath his breastbone, as if something had been twisted there. It wasn't physical, yet it felt as powerful as if it were. As the boy passed him, he put his hand out and ruffled his hair as he had done the other night. And as it had done then, the gesture startled them both.

******************************************************************

"I don't fully understand." Later hat night Simon paced the library, a perturbed frown disturbing his usually equable expression. "What is it that you suspect Gabrielle of?"

"Nothing at this point," Nathaniel said with more patience than usual. He was leaning against the mantelshelf, comprehension in the brown eyes as he regarded his guest's agitation. It was never comfortable to have one's judgment questioned, particularly when it related to a close friend.

"But I've a suspicious mind, Simon. I have to have in my business."

"Yes, I understand that," Simon said with a brusque gesture that set the amber liquid in his brandy goblet slopping against the crystal. "But I told you what information Gabrielle brought to us. I've explained her history… for God's sake, man, I've known her since she was a scrubby brat with pigtails!"

Nathaniel sighed. "Yes, I know that, Simon. But I have to be cautious. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." He raised an eyebrow. "The Trojan horse was a powerful weapon, my friend."

Simon stared, incredulous. "You think Gabrielle could be planted by the French? Don't be ridiculous!" He drained his glass in one gulp and thumped it on the table, reaching into his pocket for his snuffbox.

Nathaniel said nothing, watching as Simon took a hefty pinch of snuff and succumbed to a fit of sneezing as violent as his distress at Nathaniel's inquisition.

When the spasms had subsided, Nathaniel said evenly, "I don't suspect anything, Simon. I'm just being cautious. Her credentials are almost too perfect, her contacts are a spymaster's dream. I have to satisfy myself that Gabrielle is what she seems. Once I'm satisfied, I'll gladly employ her in the service."

Simon blew his nose vigorously. "You said she was undisciplined."

"So she is," Nathaniel agreed calmly. "But she's also resourceful and courageous, and I can keep my own rein on her if I decide to employ her."

Simon flung himself down in a deep wing chair by the fire. "So what do you want to know?"

"I just want to go through the whole story again from the beginning. Just bear with my questions."

Simon nodded with a sigh. "Verywell. But it does seem to me that living together in such… such close quarters ought to give you ample opportunity to form your own judgments."

Nathaniel's lips thinned. "I don't believe that's any of your business."

"Oh, don't you?" Simon demanded morosely. "According to Georgie, Lord DeVane would expect me to call you out for debauching his honorary daughter."

Nathaniel threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Is that what I've done, indeed? If you ask me, the boot is definitely on the other foot. It was my honor that was suborned by that shameless wild woman… and at your instigation, my friend."