Seduced By A Devil (The Deville Brothers #1) - Wendy Vella Page 0,1

shock it was too.”

“Find her, Gabe. I fear something terrible has happened. She has never failed to write to me, but it is many weeks now since Dimity has replied to any of my letters.” His sister had written those words in a letter that arrived this morning. Abby was in Edinburgh with her husband on business and had implored him to go and find her friend, as she’d woken in the dead of night gripped with dread. Sisters, he’d always noted, could be very dramatic. “She needs us, Gabe. I implore you to find her with haste. If you love me, you will do this.”

She’d added the last sentence because she knew bloody well he would cut off his right arm if she had use for it.

“So no one took her away? This man her brother supposedly promised her to did not arrive?”

“No, she left by herself.”

“Surely she gave a direction to someone?” Gabe’s voice sank to a growl.

Dimity Brown had been Abby’s piano teacher, and a large pointy thorn in his side for as long as she’d been in his employment.

Bloody woman.

“Where is her brother?”

“He left after Miss Brown and has yet to return. His eye was swollen shut.” The boy smiled. “The father was a good man. Worked as a music teacher, among other things. Right sad it was when he passed. We all miss him, and Dimity, as she’s a favorite of mine. Read to me and taught me my letters.”

“Do you have an idea where I should start looking for her?”

“You could ask at the Pig and Pigeon. She sometimes used to work there.”

Gabe knew where the Pig and Pigeon was, having spent his life frequenting such places, talking to informants and searching for those who would threaten the monarchy.

Looking out the window of his carriage minutes later, he wondered why he was doing this. He could tell Abby he’d looked for Dimity and not found her. Yet even as he thought the words, he knew he could not do that. Abby trusted him to look for her friend, and he would not have that trust misplaced.

The Deville brothers were in London for the season, as they always were, which was in full swing. Gabe usually enjoyed society with all its nuances, for some reason he wasn’t this year. He was dissatisfied and not quite sure why. It was like he had an itch between his shoulder blades that he couldn’t reach. He was restless, and something niggled at him. He just wasn’t sure what.

“We’ve arrived, my lord.”

“Thank you, Toddy, and forgive me again for dragging you out in such weather. My hope is I shall not be long.”

“I’m snug, my lord. No need to worry.”

His driver wore a thick coat, scarf, and hat pulled low so Gabe could only see his eyes. He had a blanket over his knees and a flask of something to warm him tucked away somewhere, Gabe was sure.

Getting out, he looked at the Pig and Pigeon. The windows told him that people were inside; was Miss Dimity Brown one of them? Exiting minutes later, frustrated, he now had another address. This one in a location he would not send his worst enemy to.

“Are you sure you want to go to the Salty Sailor, my lord? It’s a right bad place.”

“Yes, thank you, Toddy, I shall not be there long.” His driver didn’t know—nor, in fact, did any other of his household staff—that he often frequented such places with his brothers.

As the carriage rolled toward the docks, he checked his pistol and knife, not that he needed them. Gabe, like his brothers, had been trained to use his fists and feet. The Deville brothers hadn’t always had the purest of reputations and had fought many a brawl defending it. “Those damn Devilles” was not an uncommon statement to spill regularly from the lips of a society member.

Men had been murdered in the Salty Sailor. Drunkards and sailors seeking a good time frequented it. No lady or gentlemen should be there.

“Stop the carriage here, Toddy, and walk the horses. This is where I will meet you again shortly. Simply circle this street and the next until I return.”

“If you’re sure, my lord, but I wish you had some backup.”

“I require no backup, thank you.” Gabe walked away from his carriage.

He heard the hum of noise as he approached. There was a cracked pane of glass in the mullioned front window and rubbish piled around the exterior of the building. Exhaling slowly,