Miss Gabriel's Gambit by Rita Boucher

derisively. “Were you wearing your glasses?”
    David glared at Highslip. “Her name is Miss Sylvia Gabriel, the late Sir Miles’ niece.”
    “It is unlike you to speak in such superlatives, David,” Brummel said, intervening once more. “I shall look forward to making her acquaintance during the Season.”
    “It is unlikely that you shall have the opportunity,” David said with a frown. “The girl has no dower to speak of and her aunt means to keep her under wraps.”
    “A shame, if she has half the beauty you say,” Brummel said.
    “Indeed, he does not do her justice,” Lord Highslip said softly, a strange look stealing across his face. “Sylvia is perfection, an Incomparable in every way.”
    “You know the girl, Highslip?” David asked.
    “I do,” Highslip said. “My estates march with her uncle’s land in Northumberland. I was well acquainted with Sylvia. In truth, we had something of an understanding.”
    “Did you?” David queried the very idea somehow disturbing.
    Highslip nodded, his eyes narrowing in anger as he spoke. “Sad thing when mere money comes in the way of true love. I suspect now that Sylvia regrets her choice. She could have come away with me. ”
    “You proposed a runaway match?” Brummel asked, his eyebrows rose in surprise. Lord “High in the Instep” Highslip, as they styled him, was a notable stickler for propriety. It was hard to credit that he would so much as put a toe beyond the pale of proper behavior.
    Highslip nodded. “Not strictly honorable I know, but such was the depth of my feelings. I think that if she had loved me well enough, we could have gone to Gretna. Unfortunately, my regard was not returned.”
    David looked at the popinjay peer with a leery eye. Something about his story did not quite ring true. Still, there was no telling what a woman might do. His own mother was a prime example, marrying his father when his Uncle seemed ready to turn up his toes and then complaining bitterly when the older peer had unexpectedly recovered
    In his experience, fond sentiments were given much lip-service, to be sure, but money and position were all that mattered in the end. Lucre won over love every time. Perhaps Sylvia had thought to entertain Highslip’s suit for his title and, David granted grudgingly, the earl’s looks were above the common.
    Still, David found it difficult to believe that Sylvia Gabriel had heartlessly jilted Highslip. There was a gentle strength about Sylvia that would not countenance such behind-hand behavior. Moreover, David could not help but think that Miss Gabriel had been uncommonly sensible to avoid a lifetime sentence with the elegant earl.
    “I, for one, account avoiding Gretna to the girl’s credit,” Brummel declared, pursing his lips. “A woman of valor, beauty and reason . Damme, ‘tis a crying shame that the most interesting female of the Season seems doomed to remain in the shadows. The chattering chits that it has been my misfortune to meet make me yawn with boredom. Unless ...” he cogitated aloud, a slow, sardonic smile dawning. “Such courage should not go unrewarded.”
    “And what do you have in mind, George?” David asked, uneasily. “Miss Gabriel’s aunt is dead set against presenting her niece. While Caroline is well enough to look upon, Sylvia casts her cousin completely in the shade.”
    “Ah,” said Brummel, “but that is precisely her merit, David. We shall contrive to make Miss Sylvia Gabriel fashionable. So fashionable, in fact, that her dear aunt will find that she cannot do without her.”
    “It will not serve,” Highslip protested. “Sylvia has no dowry.”
    “Beautiful women have been known to wed without the benefit of gilding,” Brummel stated. “What better reward for bravery than a husband, eh? Gentlemen, I hereby declare that Miss Sylvia Gabriel is the most desirable woman in London. Now, I shall go seek Mr. Weston.”
    David was able to hold back until Brummel quit the room, then he