Far Beyond Scandalous (38 page)

"I was angry yesterday.
 
Wounded beyond pain, really.
 
To think that the man I loved would say such
horrible things about me."
 
Amy
crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at him for a moment.

She
had
been hurt.
 
With each word Gibson had spoken, she had
felt demeaned and used, like a doxy a man picked up for a night of fun and
nothing more.
 
She had doubted not only
his love, but hers as well.
 
How could
she care for a man who said such cruel things?
 
What had happened to the man she loved?
 
Where had
her
Gibson Blackwell gone?

It was then that she had realized
that once more, he cloaked himself in lies and masks to protect himself, just
like she did.
 
In this case, however, he
was protecting her, stalling Michaels so that the man didn't either kill her on
the spot or take her from the house before help arrived.
 
Both had been likely outcomes, and she still
shuddered to think of them.

Once she understood that, the rest
didn't matter.
 
The last words he had
spoken to her, however?
 
She had a
feeling he definitely meant those.

"I didn't mean them," he
sighed.
 
"Not all of them
anyway."
 
The confession seemed
torn from him, each word almost painful to speak.
 
However it also more or less confirmed what she already
knew.
 
"I thought you
understood."

"Not at first."
 
And truly, she hadn't.
 
The night before, Gibson had rejected her
words of love.
 
He had sent her away.
 
What else could she believe?
 
It wasn't until later, after Michaels was
dead and Gibson had gone, that she realized he was doing nothing more than
playing the madman's game.
 
Gibson had
been gaining the other man's trust and confidence so that he could get close
enough to be in a position to help her when the time came.
 
"But I do now."

Gibson rose from his chair and
pushed past her, but she dogged his every step.
 
When she had him essentially cornered near his desk, he turned to
face her, still ashamed.
 
"At the
end, I tried to tell you.
 
I would have
died for you yesterday."

"And my heart understood your
message, even if my head immediately did not."
 
She reached into her bodice and pulled out a small packet of
papers.
 
"I still believe that
there is a chance for us.
 
That is why I
begged my father to allow me to bring you these."
 
She handed him the packet and then moved
back a few steps to wait.

Scanning the pages quickly, Gibson
could barely comprehend what he was reading.
 
He read certain passages twice, just to be certain.
 
Then he looked up at her, a sense of hope filling
him where before there had only been despair.
 
"How?
 
This is not
possible."

"You are not the only one with
Coins of Service outstanding," she informed him tartly, a bit of lightness
creeping into her heart as a wave of emotions stole across his handsome
face.
 
"My father, apparently, has
several, not to mention the ear of the prince, especially now after his return
from the north.
 
All it took was a few
words from a man who has dedicated his life to serving the crown and everything
was taken care of."
 
She pointed to
one passage in particular.
 
"Or it
will be once the House of Lords meets again in a few days for this type of
business."

Gibson turned away to read the
papers Amy had handed him one last time.
 
For his service to the crown, including risking his life to save a
member of the royal family - and really, he thought that line was doing it up a
bit much - Gibson's family title would be restored during the next session of
Lords that dealt with such matters.
 
Except that instead of being named a viscount, Gibson would become the
Earl of Ardenton, a much loftier and prestigious title.

Additionally, the money and
property that the crown had stripped away from the Blackwell family, including
the family home, would be returned to Gibson along with a healthy amount of
interest so that he might make any repairs and upgrades that were necessary.

"I thought it all gone
forever.
 
That was what we were
told.
 
I do not understand."
 
Gibson looked at Amy, hoping she had an explanation.
 
For he had no idea where to even begin.

"The property was always meant
to be held in trust for you," she said, leading him back to the couch so
that they might sit.
 
"You and your
mother and sister were never meant to suffer the way that you did.
 
But the king's madness got in the way, and,
well, information was never relayed as it should have been.
 
In general, a mess was made, and you and
your family suffered.
 
That said, the
property was also never actually sold, and your family's fortune was never
officially reverted to the crown.
 
It
simply lay untouched, waiting for an official ruling to return it to you.
 
Though that could not be accomplished until
your father was tried for his crimes.
 
By the time that occurred, King George had descended into utter madness
and had no recollection of the decree."
 

Gibson turned the papers over in
his hands once more, the reality still sinking in.
 
"I had no idea."
 
He was still in shock.
 
Good
things like this did not happen to him.
 
Ever.
 

Amy loosened the laces on her gown
a bit, finally satisfied that he would not throw her out.
 
She had decided to be more confident in her
actions and her words.
 
"As I
understand it, by the time Prinny took control and discovered what had
happened, it was too late to correct, at least immediately.
 
Not to mention that there were other threats
to the country's safety and well-being.
 
So he hired you as a royal physician until he could devise a way to
restore what had been lost.
 
As much as
he was able, anyway."

"He's the Prince Regent.
 
He can do whatever he pleases, and he knows
it."
 
Still, Gibson wasn't
angry.
 
Just confused.
 
"I met with him many times.
 
He hired me."

"And you are a proud man,
Gibbs," Amy countered softly.
 
Honestly, for an intelligent man, he could be incredibly dense.
 
Her father was right on that account.
 
"Would you have accepted his offer had
it been made the first time you met the man?"

"Probably not."
 
Gibson hated to admit that she was right,
but she was.
 
"I would most likely
have rebuffed him, thinking it charity.
 
Or worse, a bribe of some kind."

Amy's hopes soared.
 
Finally.
 
She was making progress.
 
"He knew that.
 
Or suspected
it, anyway.
 
For all of the masks you
wear, Gibbs, you can be horribly easy to read on certain occasions."

"Only to some," he
countered, feeling lighter and happier than he had in a very long time.
 
"It is true then that Wintercrest still
stands?"
 
He hadn't seen his
boyhood home in years.
 
The thought that
he could soon return to it nearly brought tears to his eyes.
 
"I long to see it again."
 
More than that, he longed to show it to Amy,
if she would allow it.

Nodding, she shifted closer to
him.
 
One issue resolved and one more to
go.
 
"It does, though it is in need
of repair.
 
Extensive ones, if my father
is to be believed."
 
She fluttered
her eyelashes at him, brazenly attempting to be her most coquettish self.
 
"Repairs would of course, begin much
quicker if one did not have to wait until his fortune is restored to have
access to the appropriate amount of funds."
 
When Gibson didn't reply, Amy pressed closer, brushing her thigh
against his, using all of the feminine wiles at her disposal.
 
"Funds that could become available
within a day or two if one were, oh, say to marry an heiress."

It was then that Gibson noticed
that Amy had loosened the laces on her gown, revealing far too much cleavage and
allowing him a tantalizing view of her luscious breasts.
 
In fact, he could tell that she wasn't
wearing a corset or any undergarments at all.
 
It was, indeed, the very same gown that made him wild with the need to
see her out of it.
 
Naked.
 
In his bed.
 
Writhing beneath him as he drove himself into her.

It had all been part of her plan,
he realized.
 
However, it changed
nothing.
 
He might have had his title
restored, or would soon, but he had still hurt her.
 
He had rebuffed her words of love.
 
No lady could or should suffer such an affront and still want a
man like him.
 
He was a cad.
 
He needed to correct that.
 
Now.

"I never told you that I love
you, and I should have.
 
That night we
shared together, at the very least, I should have said the words, for they were
in my heart all along.
 
I hurt you,
Amy.
 
Deeply.
 
And for that I am sorry."
 
Gibson wanted to be the one to remind her, not that he thought she had
forgotten for even a moment.
 
Still, the
words would be easier coming from him.

"You did."
 
She shrugged and moved a little closer.
 
"But I understand why.
 
Now, anyway, even if I did not
then."
 
By now, he was almost pressed
back up against the edge of the couch.
 
And her gown was almost falling off her shoulders to completely bare her
breasts to his gaze.
 
"You were
worried about your lack of a title, and what I would have to give up to be with
you."

Gibson refused to meet her eyes,
but found there were few other places to rest his gaze that would not offend
her in some way.
 
"I wanted you,
Amy.
 
I still do.
 
More than you know.
 
But I had nothing to offer you and in my
cowardice, I hurt you.
 
What I did was
unforgivable."

"Pish."
 
In that moment, she sounded so much like her
father that he had to smile.
 
"I am
a grown woman, Gibbs.
 
One who, you might
have noticed, does not like to be told what to do or to follow the rules."

"Perhaps I had noticed.
 
Just a bit."
 
Or more than a bit, which was just another thing he loved about
her.

Amy smiled and settled herself on
his lap, her gown now pooling at her waist and her breasts completely bare,
glad when he did not push her away.
 
His
resolve was weakening, just as she had anticipated.
 
Few men could resist a mostly naked woman.
 
"You had your reasons for your
actions.
 
Good ones, might I add.
 
You were trying to protect me, even though I
didn't see it at the time."
 
Then
she sobered for a moment.
 
"If
Prinny had not given you back your title, would you have given up on me?"

Gibson took his time in replying,
for he wanted to be certain that this time, he got the words just right.
 
"No."
 
He settled her more completely against him, allowing her to feel
the full force of his erection through his pants.
 
He had been hard with longing for her from the moment she walked
in the door and revealed herself.
 
He
needed her to know that.
 
"In the
short term, perhaps.
 
I desperately
wanted to do the right thing and not be like my father.
 
Even though I followed in his footsteps
somewhat by taking the cowardly way out yesterday when I did not speak with
you.
 
However, in time, I think the pain
of living without you would have become too great to bear.
 
I would have been unable to stay
away."
 

He kissed the top of her head.
 
"At some point, I would have come
crawling back and begged you to forgive me."
 
Another kiss, this one coupled with a caress of her breasts.
 
"And then I would have asked you to
give it all up and marry me, despite the fact that I lack, or rather lacked, a
title, wealth and social position."