One Rogue Too Many (28 page)

She froze inside the threshold. “What are you doing here?”

He lifted an eyebrow as he snatched her soiled gown from the floor. “Rescuing you, of course.”

When he returned to yank the cloak from her shoulders, she squealed and scooted out of reach.

Sebastian’s jaw dropped. “I only meant to help you dress. There isn’t time to summon a girl.”

She wrapped the cloak tighter around her body. The hurt in his eyes made her stomach turn, but she couldn’t do as he wished. After allowing Anthony to undress her, it felt like a betrayal to bare her body to Sebastian.

Deep lines formed at the corners of his mouth. “Today was our wedding day, Gabrielle. I think any impropriety can be overlooked, given the circumstances.”

He
was her betrothed. Not Anthony, the man she loved. The man she had pledged her fidelity to earlier that morning and promised to love forever. The room swayed.

Sebastian put his arm around her waist and held her up as her knees wobbled. “Are you all right? Did he harm you?”

She shook her head. “What is it you mean to do?”

“We’ll continue to Gretna Green and marry. No one must know anything about this. Once we return to Town, I’ll make certain Ellis knows if he speaks a word of this misadventure, he will pay.”

Her mouth was too dry to speak. How could Sebastian still wish to marry her? For heaven’s sake. He’d just discovered her barely clothed and sharing a room with another man.

He gently urged her farther into the room and reached for the tie at her neck, speaking in soothing tones as if she were a frightened animal.

“Sebastian, wait.”

“Take your bloody hands off her!” Anthony’s command boomed inside the small room.

Sebastian’s eyes expanded before he shoved her behind him and whipped a pistol from inside his jacket. “Stay where you are, Ellis.”

Anthony came up short and raised his hands. “Put away your barking iron. What are you thinking? There’s a lady present.”

Lamplight glinted off the gun barrel and her breathing ceased. Suddenly, their voices sounded muffled and far away, as if she was stuck in a dream.

“I don’t want to distress her,” Sebastian said, “but you’ve left me no choice. If you will allow us to leave peacefully, there’s no need for bloodshed.”

Anthony’s face hardened, and nausea swept over her. “You aren’t leaving with Gabby. You’ll have to shoot me before I let you take her.”

Gabby’s heart seized. “No!”

Sebastian lowered his pistol a fraction in response to her anguished cry. Anthony’s glower frightened her. He wasn’t surrendering and he was going to get himself killed.

“I don’t want to harm you, Ellis. Don’t force my hand.”

Only giving her actions a fleeting thought, she launched at Sebastian and jumped on his back. He fumbled the pistol, and it clattered to the floor. They careened toward the window, but he recovered his footing before they crashed through the glass.

She clung to him, her arms and legs locked around his body, while the room circled and shouts filled her ears. Fingers like steel clamped around her wrists and broke her hold around his neck. Next she was flying through the air over Sebastian’s shoulder. She braced for impact and gasped when she landed on the bed. Her cloak gaped, revealing her nakedness.

His eyes rounded. Her breath caught. Time froze and neither of them could move or look away.

Anthony’s hand clamped on Sebastian’s shoulder and whirled him around. “Stop eye-shagging her, you bastard.” His fist slammed into Sebastian’s cheek with a crack and squish that made her shudder.

Sebastian stumbled but kept his feet. He ducked Anthony’s next swing, then came up with fists flying. Blood exploded from Anthony’s nose.

Gabby scrambled to her knees. “Stop!”

They locked their arms around each other and staggered as if they were engaging in a primitive dance. Baring his teeth, Sebastian shoved Anthony backward. He banged into the tub, sloshing water onto the floor. His boot slipped in a puddle, slowing down his counterattack.

Sebastian leapt at him, and they both flew over the tub, slamming into the floor.

Gabby covered her scream with her hands.

They rolled, each vying for the dominant position and getting closer to the open hearth.

Good
heavens
. They were going to set themselves on fire. “Stop at once!”

Neither man listened as they continued to throw punches. Anthony rammed his elbow into Sebastian’s face. His head jerked back from the impact. His howl made her tremble.

She had to stop this now. Gabby clambered from the bed. Her gaze shot wildly around the floor, her heart hammering in her chest. Where was Sebastian’s pistol?

She dropped to her knees to search under the bed. It had slid to the far side against the wall. Lowering to her belly, she wiggled underneath, her bare skin sticking to the floor. Her fingertips grazed metal. Her first grab missed, so she stretched farther to close her fingers around the barrel.

With the pistol in her grip, she shimmied her way out. A nail head scraped her thigh, and she banged her head on the wooden frame.

She growled, frustrated and in pain. Holding her head, she struggled to her feet and paused to study the pistol.

Drat!
Why hadn’t she learned how to use one of these things? Well, she knew how to hold it, but that was the extent of her knowledge of firearms. She shouted once more for them to stop, but they continued to roll around on the floor.

“You blasted dimwits!” She shook the firearm at the men. “This is your last warning.”

They didn’t listen.

She moved a few steps closer. “I say, I have a pistol and I’ve no idea how to use it. I could shoot either of you by accident.”

Her words penetrated their thick skulls this time. Their fighting ceased as they whipped their heads toward her. They sat up, both of them battered messes. Anthony’s nose was bleeding profusely, and Sebastian’s eye was swollen and red.

“Just look at yourselves. You should be ashamed. Heathens, the both of you.”

Anthony slowly drew his sleeve across his nose to staunch the flow of blood. “Lower the gun, sweetheart. You’re going to hurt someone.”

“
I
am going to hurt someone?” She looked down her nose at them. “Why, I’ve never seen such a ridiculous display in my life. Two grown men acting like animals.”

“Gabby, lower the firearm now.”

She did as Anthony demanded for two reasons: the gun was heavy and her arm was so shaky she feared she might actually discharge the pistol by accident.

The men released their breath at the same time when she placed it in Anthony’s hand. With their eyes on her, she recalled her nudity beneath her cloak and jerked it tighter around her.

Sebastian pushed to his feet with a soft groan and kept his distance. “You’re correct, Gabrielle. This is undignified. Please accept my apologies.”

“Apology accepted, Lord Thorne. But nothing like this should ever happen again, do you understand?”

He nodded, but Anthony still had murder in his nearly black eyes. She raised her brows at him, but he didn’t bat a lash.
Stubborn
man.
“I mean it, Anthony. My heart can’t handle this type of brutality.”

The hard lines around his mouth softened. “I promise to control my behavior in your presence.”

That would have to do, she supposed.

He tucked the pistol into his waistband. “You didn’t have it cocked. You wouldn’t have shot anyone.”

Sebastian glowered in Anthony’s direction. “It hardly matters. Had you not abducted her, she never would have been faced with this situation.”

“You’re the one who brought a firearm into our room.”

“
Your
room? You would have had the lady sleeping in a tavern if I hadn’t given up my room.”

Gabby threw her hand up, palm out. “Stop bickering. You two are worse than children.”

Anthony narrowed his eyes but held his tongue.

“You were the kind gentleman from the tavern?” Gabby asked.

Sebastian nodded sharply. “I did it for you. I would do anything to see you comfortable and safe.”

“Like waving around a loaded pistol,” Anthony scoffed.

“To protect her from you.”

They were impossible. Gabby pressed her fingers against a spot above her eyebrow where a slight throb had begun. “No more arguing. You both gave your promise.”

The men lapsed into sullen silence. No doubt, if she gave the word, they would return to tearing each other to pieces. What a mess!

Shouts and loud footsteps sounded in the corridor. The door flew open and the innkeeper and the two young men who had carried water for her bath charged inside, one holding a shovel. They skidded to a halt, the innkeeper’s mouth gaping.

Anthony stepped in front of her to block her from view. She peeked around him, not wanting to miss anything.

“My lord, I thought you had left,” the innkeeper said to Sebastian.

He employed one of his charming smiles, although it lost some of its appeal with his battered face. “I’m afraid there has been a misunderstanding. I left something behind and surprised the young woman when I came to retrieve it. We have cleared up the matter now.”

She admired his quick thinking.

The innkeeper looked to Anthony to confirm the baron’s story. “Yes, everything is settled. Lord Thorne was mistaken. There’s nothing of his in the room.”

Sebastian’s dark eyes flared.

“I will pay for any damages,” Anthony added.

The innkeeper’s toothless grin returned. He shooed the young men out the door. “Very good, sir. Is there anything I can bring you?”

Anthony assured him there was nothing, and they were left alone again. He faced Sebastian with his arms crossed. “I should have had the man clear out the vermin.”

Sebastian didn’t rise to the bait. He held his hand out to her. “Let’s go, Gabrielle. I’ve hired a coach to take us to the border.”

She didn’t move. Her gaze shot from Anthony to Sebastian.

Anthony’s arms dropped by his sides, his golden brows arching as if surprised she hadn’t already declined. She licked her dry lips. The prospect of hurting Sebastian created an icy knot in her belly. Her fingers shook as she gripped the rough edges of the cloak.

A dark shadow passed over Sebastian’s face when she didn’t take his outstretched hand. “I’m offering a chance to save your reputation. Your
heart
. Don’t be foolish.”

She lowered her head, unable to look him in the eye as she delivered her answer. “Your offer is more than generous, Lord Thorne, but I’m staying with Anthony.”

“I don’t believe for one moment you came with him freely. Not after what you learned about him. Why would you choose to stay?”

“What did you learn about me? What does he mean?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. He’s mistaken.”

The air was thick and hard to take into her lungs. She chanced a quick glance at Sebastian. His teeth were clenched and his face, scarlet. “You would choose a liar over an honorable gentleman?”

“I have never lied to her.” Anthony put an arm around her, trying to shield her from this unpleasantness of her own making.

She eased from his embrace, because as comforting as she found him, this was something she had to face alone.

Sebastian jabbed the air with his finger. “He’s lying even now.” His feral gaze landed on Anthony. “You told Gabrielle that Miss Teague is your daughter’s nanny, and yet she is your mistress, is she not?”

“No! Never.” Anthony swung an incredulous look on her. “Is that what you believed?”

“No… I—I don’t know.”

His eyes flared.

She reached for his arm. “She and Annabelle are duplicates of each other. Perhaps I thought it for a time until you told me different. Tell us what relation she is to Annabelle, so Lord Thorne’s mind is put at ease.”

Anthony flinched. Barely, but she’d seen his reaction. “I care nothing about his state of mind.”

He was hiding something. She didn’t know what, or the reason, but he had a secret he was unwilling to share. Her stomach pitched as doubt began to creep up behind her. Was she playing the fool for him again?

Sebastian gently took her hand. “Listen to me, Gabrielle. Miss Teague is the girl’s mother.
That
is her relationship to his daughter.”

“That’s untrue,” Anthony said quietly and slipped his hand into the pocket where he kept her rock. His blue eyes bored into her, pleading with her to believe him.

Her heart filled with compassion for the young boy who had suffered from loneliness, and admiration for the strong man he was. She had accepted him as family long ago and pledged her heart to him today. Whatever he was hiding, she had to trust he had his reasons. She eased from Sebastian’s hold and placed her hand in Anthony’s. His warm fingers curled around hers.

“I’m sorry, but this is where I belong. Anthony holds a piece of my heart and always will. I can’t walk away.”

The baron’s eyes blazed, scorching her with the heat of his anger.

“Sebastian, please understand.” She tentatively laid her hand on his arm.

“Don’t.” He jerked away and stalked toward the door. At the threshold, he swung around. His cool smile seemed controlled and yet brittle. “Allow me to be the first to wish you luck, Lady Gabrielle. You’re likely to need it.”

When the door closed behind him, Gabby released a tremulous breath.

Anthony wrapped her in his embrace, grounding her. “God, I love you.”

She held on tight, the shock of the encounter making her shake. “I love you, too, Anthony Keaton. And I want you to tell me what you’re hiding.”

He pulled back; lines crisscrossed his forehead. Blood was smeared over his upper lip and cheek. “I’ll tell you whatever you wish to know.”

“You’ll tell me
everything
. But first, I’m doctoring your nose. Sit down.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Perhaps you should get dressed.” He pointed to a wrinkled nightrail lying on the floor. “The baker’s wife was willing to part with one for a price.”

Twenty-eight

Anthony angled away when Gabby touched the wet handkerchief to his busted nose. Not because her ministrations hurt, but because he wasn’t accustomed to this type of tenderness. If he got knocked down, he was expected to drag his sorry arse up again, without assistance or compassion.