Page 10 of Gabriela and His Grace (The Luna Sisters #3)
“Four years.” Her hazel eyes fixed unseeing on a point across the room. “My older sisters and I were sent away the night after Puebla fell to Napoleon’s troops.”
“How frightening,” Mrs.Conner murmured.
“Indeed, it was. But I don’t remember feeling fear at the time.”
“What did you feel?” Sebastian heard himself ask.
Gabriela looked up at him, humor lighting her face. “Anger. I was so angry to be sent away. It felt like a cowardly move to leave and not stay and fight.”
Mr.Conner scoffed. “But you and your sisters were not soldiers.”
Sebastian slid his gaze back to Gabriela to see her reaction. Mr.Conner’s argument was sound as far as Sebastian was concerned, but if he had learned anything during their long acquaintance, it was that Gabriela Luna could find a thread of an argument and pull on it until it became a rope.
“One does not have to wield a weapon to fight a war.” Gabriela tapped her fist on the table.
“We could have transcribed messages or written correspondence between resistance members throughout the country. We could have served as nurses or cooks or seamstresses. I would have gladly mucked out horse stalls and fed livestock if it meant I could have stayed in Mexico and supported the struggle against the French.”
“I can’t imagine you mucking out horse stalls,” Sebastian said.
“And I wouldn’t have imagined you seasick, but it seems we both possess limited imaginations,” she shot back.
Sebastian leaned back in his seat, his glass of wine dangling from his fingers. His brow crinkled when he noticed Gabriela slide her gaze to his hand, her eyelids dropping and hiding her thoughts.
“I beg your pardon,” he said, “but I have a very healthy imagination. It’s how I am able to survive the endless monotony of social events during the season.”
He’d expected her to respond with disgust, but instead Gabriela grinned. “Is that why you have that faraway look in your eye whenever I spy you at a ball or dinner party?”
“Probably.” Sebastian considered her over his glass. “I know you believe you would have aided the war effort in practical ways, but I’m convinced you would’ve been on the back of a giant steed, leading Porfirio Díaz’s troops in a battle charge.”
Her brows rose high on her forehead. “You think I’m capable of being a Mexican Boudicca?”
Sebastian shrugged, mindful that he was once again skirting along the edge of another compliment. “You have always been quite fearsome, Miss Luna. I have no doubt you’d have the French swimming back to Paris if they ever encountered you on a battlefield.”
Gabriela met his gaze, her hazel eyes burning, but Sebastian could not grasp any notion of her thoughts. Whatever she planned to say was lost, though, when Mrs.Conner cleared her throat.
“I wouldn’t dream of calling you fearsome, Miss Luna”—she flashed Sebastian a censorious look—“but you do strike me as a woman not to be taken for granted.”
“Thank you, Mrs.Conner.” A flush colored Gabriela’s cheeks.
“I learned at a young age that if I wanted people to pay attention to me, I had to make myself known. As a girl, I did that by behaving deplorably. But as I’ve grown older, I like to think I’ve channeled that irritability into productive avenues.
” She suddenly jerked her head in Sebastian’s direction.
“Like keeping His Grace’s ego in check.”
Mr.and Mrs.Conner burst out laughing, and Sebastian was content to allow himself to be the brunt of the joke. “She once gave me the cut direct in front of an entire ballroom of people,” he conceded.
“And he deserved it.” Gabriela tipped her chin up, her eyes sharp chips of hazel glass.
Sebastian dared not argue. His regret of how he ruined their promising start festered still.
Eventually, Mr.Conner was successful in returning the conversation to talk of the Franco-Mexican War, and Sebastian ate his meal while Gabriela hypothesized why Maximilian and the French had lost support throughout the country.
“I suspect that once the Civil War ended in the United States”—Gabriela ran a finger over the rim of her teacup—“Napoleon realized Juárez’s greatest ally was now at liberty to provide him support.”
Mr.Conner leaned forward in his seat. “Am I mistaken in my understanding that Emperor Maximilian has angered many of his imperialist supporters?”
“From what I’ve learned, yes.” Gabriela leaned forward in her seat.
“I believe the monarchists expected Maximilian to undo the reforms Presidente Juárez championed, like the curtailing of power and privileges the Catholic Church has wielded within Mexican society, but he didn’t.
Maximilian has been much more moderate than anyone expected, almost as if he wants the support of not just monarchists, but Liberals, as well.
He even offered Juárez the post of prime minister. ”
“Did he really?” Mr.Conner exclaimed.
Gabriela nodded. “Of course the presidente refused, and the United States has only ever recognized him as the rightful leader of Mexico. But the thing I find so humorous about the situation is that in another world at another time, I can imagine that Presidente Juárez and Maximilian could have been friends.”
“Do you think so?” Mrs.Conner asked with a chuckle.
“I really do. From what I’ve learned from family”—she briefly met Sebastian’s gaze—“Juárez has quite enjoyed how Maximilian has eschewed imperialist expectations.”
Isabel Dawson had no doubt shared that nugget of information with Gabriela.
“Do you believe it’s these signs of strain that caused Maximilian’s government to contact the Great Western Railway?” Mr.Conner asked, his food and drink long forgotten. “Perhaps as a means of generating goodwill among the people?”
“I have no doubt.” Gabriela sighed, her shoulders falling. “But I think—I believe —the French will be long departed by the time construction is complete.”
“Is that why you’re returning now?” Mrs.Conner asked. “Because you have hope the French government will topple?”
Her jaw worked for a moment, but eventually Gabriela said, “It’s not a hope. It’s a certainty. The end of the occupation is in sight.”
Despite the forcefulness of her words, Gabriela’s hand shook as she reached for her teacup.
Sebastian had never asked Fox why she was so intent to leave England.
What Gabriela chose to do was not his business.
But her obvious discomfiture gave him pause.
If her reason for returning to Mexico was that the war was ending, why would she be agitated now?
Should she not be elated? Was there another reason why she fled London?
Taking up his own glass of wine, Sebastian took a large sip and forced the questions from his mind.