Simply Forbidden (18 page)

Gabriel took her into his arms and held her close. “Ah, no, love. It’s not like that at all. The man loves you dearly.”

She turned her face into his chest and let him hold her, aware of his strength and warmth surrounding her. After a while she raised her head to look up at him. “You put rose-scented oil in my bath.”

He looked distinctly uncomfortable. “You always smell like roses.”

“Did you ask my mother to pack my belongings?”

“No, I didn’t ask your mother. Why would you think that?”

“Because I’m almost certain those were my hairbrushes at the inn as well.” She eased out of his arms. “And if they were my things, then someone from my family knew you planned to elope with me all along.”

He sighed. “Lisette …”

She ignored him as she began pacing the small room. “Then if it wasn’t my mother, and my father insists he only helped with the wedding part of it, who helped you?” She stopped moving and stared at him. “You asked
Christian
?”

Gabriel held out his hand. “Not quite, he …” But she was already half out of the door and intent on finding her twin. He was drinking champagne and joking with Emily by the window. His expression cooled when he saw her marching toward him and he moved away from Emily to intercept her head-on.

“What can I do for you, sister mine?”

“Why did you help Gabriel abduct me?”

“Because it seemed like the right thing to do.”

“To meddle in my life?”

“Perhaps, but only because I wanted you to make up your mind and decide what you really wanted.”

“So you concocted this plan with Gabriel and pretended to come and save me.” Lisette was aware that everyone around them was listening to her conversation with her brother, but for once she didn’t care what they thought.

“No, I merely offered my services to your new husband to make sure he truly wanted you.”

Gabriel’s light touch on Lisette’s shoulder made her jump. “I went to the pleasure house to ask for your mother’s help. I met Delornay instead and he agreed to help me. I was determined to marry you, but I also wanted you to make a choice. When you chose to stay with me at the inn rather than return with Christian, I was delighted.”

Lisette ignored Gabriel’s interruption and glared at Christian. “Do you not understand that by allying yourself with Lord Swanfield you betrayed
me
? Do you all believe that I am incapable of making my own decisions?” She let her gaze swing around the assembled guests until she found her parents. “I always
thought we were loyal to each other, but I was obviously wrong.” She looked up at Gabriel. “Will you take me home?”

“Of course. I’ll get your cloak.”

She walked out after him, ignoring her mother’s plea for her to wait and her father’s hasty step toward her. When Gabriel handed her into his coach, she stared out of the small window until the view became obscured by her own tears. She felt manipulated, and although Gabriel had been part of that, she almost expected it from him, had known he’d try anything to keep her. But her family’s connivance? That hurt far more than she could’ve imagined. The sense of always being left out, of not being judged worthy, flooded through her and escaped in her tears.

A large clean handkerchief appeared under her nose and she took it gratefully without saying a thing. She’d survive this, she’d survive anything, and if Gabriel Swanfield thought she’d allied herself with him, he had better beware. She still had a few questions to ask him. At the moment, luckily for him, he was simply the lesser of two evils.

G
abriel glanced uncertainly down at Lisette as he shut the front door of his lodgings behind him.

“This is only temporary, of course. I assumed we’d be spending our wedding night at your father’s house….” He stopped talking as she started to walk around the suite of rooms, her fingers trailing over the worn, comfortable chairs by the fire, the small dining table, and the well-filled bookshelves. “I gave my staff the week off.”

She shrugged and put down the hood of her cloak. He took a step toward her, worried by the absent look in her hazel eyes. “Lisette …”

“Do you have any brandy?” She sat in one of the chairs and drew her cloak around her. He hurried to set light to the kindling in the fireplace, hoping the coal would catch quickly and warm the place up.

“Yes, would you like some?”

She nodded and he went to pour her a small glass of brandy, decided not to indulge himself, and instead went on a search for some blankets. He found a couple in a chest by his bed and
brought them back to the living area, tucked one around Lisette’s shoulders and the other over her lap. She sighed and cuddled into the soft wool.

He took the seat opposite her and stretched out his feet to the small fire. This wasn’t quite how he had anticipated starting married life, but in some ways he preferred it. Just Lisette and him together. No one else to bother about. If only she wasn’t so distressed. A wedge of guilt lodged in his throat.

“I owe you another apology, don’t I?”

She regarded him steadily over the top of the blanket but didn’t reply.

“I thought that by involving your family, I would gain their trust. But in doing so, it appears I have committed a greater sin and lost yours.”

“I’m not sure I trusted you anyway.”

He tried not to flinch at that. He certainly deserved it. “But you did trust your family.”

She nodded and he caught the glint of tears in her eyes. “They were all I had.”

He contemplated the toes of his boots. “I don’t understand families. I’ve never really had one. It didn’t occur to me that you might feel betrayed by them.”

“Why would it?”

He raised his gaze to hers. “I intended to have the opposite effect. I hoped that if you saw your family was willing to help me, you’d like me better.” He cleared his throat. “That was selfish. I wanted to marry you so badly that I was prepared to do anything to get you to that church.”

“I understand that, and I knew you would try your best to have me. I just didn’t expect my family to join in quite so enthusiastically to get rid of me.”

“Why do you think they are getting rid of you?” he asked gently. “I didn’t sense that at all.”

She frowned at him. “They are not your family. How would you know how it felt?”

Gabriel chose not to answer that. He could only hope that the Delornay-Ross clan would be able to regroup and make sure Lisette understood what she meant to them.

“They took away my choice, Gabriel,” she whispered. “They handed me to you like a neatly wrapped package, and they didn’t need to interfere. I was going to marry you anyway.”

“They didn’t know that, though, did they?”

“But they
should’ve
known. They should’ve trusted me to make the right decision.” She swallowed hard. “I’ve spent almost three years trying to keep them all talking to each other, to stop Christian’s excesses, to help Philip see more of my mother, and what thanks do I get? They band together against me, and, at the first opportunity, they try and get rid of me.”

“You forget that I was the one who instigated and planned the whole affair. I organized the abduction because it was the only way I could think of to make you choose whether to marry me or not.”

“Are you defending my family now?”

“No, I’m just trying to put their minor role in this into perspective.”

She held his gaze. “You gave me a choice, Gabriel. If I’d decided to leave with Christian, you would’ve let me go, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Even though you wanted me to stay?”

“Yes. That was the whole point of the exercise.”

She stood up, the blankets clutched in her hands, and he instinctively came to his feet as well.

“Then you achieved your aim, didn’t you? Are you happy now?”

“I would be a lot happier if I didn’t feel so damn guilty.”

She finally looked at him and he took a hasty step toward her only to pull up short when she turned away.

“Would you mind if I wanted to be alone for a while?”

God, he minded. He minded so much it hurt. “No, of course not.” He gestured at the short hallway. “My bedroom—I mean, our bedroom—is down there. Please make yourself at home.”

She nodded at him and walked away, the blankets catching on the floor behind her. He stayed on his feet until the bedroom door closed with a firm click and then he sat down to contemplate the fire. She said she didn’t blame him and that she blamed her family, but that wasn’t quite true. And he blamed himself for lacking the knowledge to understand her, to realize that the tactics he used to break a military siege were not always appropriate when handling delicate relationships.

“My lord?”

He looked up and saw Keyes in the doorway, his expression one of complete disbelief.

“Good afternoon, Keyes.”

“Is everything all right, sir?”

“Yes, indeed, it is.” Gabriel glanced down the hallway and lowered his voice. “I need you to keep everyone away from my lodgings for the next few days, but I also require sufficient provisions for me and my wife.”

“Her ladyship is here?” Keyes hissed.

“She is and she’ll remain here for as long as she likes. I also want you to go to Knowles House, tell them she is perfectly fine, but not receiving visitors yet, and pick up some clothes for her.”

“Yes, sir, of course, sir.” Keyes bowed. “Will you be requiring supper, sir?”

“That is an excellent idea, some soup perhaps or something light.”

“I’ll sort that out immediately, sir.”

“I’d rather you dealt with the Knowles family first and then came back.”

Keyes backed toward the door. “Whatever you want, sir, and may I be the first to wish you happy, sir?”

“Thank you.” Gabriel smiled and realized that despite all the theatrics he was actually happy. His wife lay in his bed, he was a married man, and his children would be legitimate.

After Keyes left, he reached across and picked up Lisette’s discarded brandy and drank it down in one gulp. The morning paper lay on the table, so he unfolded it and started to read. He’d give her the time she needed to come to terms with everything that had happened to her. She deserved that. Devil take it, she
needed
that. Betrayal, whether presumed or real, was hardly something to sneer at; he of all men understood that perfectly.

But, God help him, he wouldn’t let her wallow in it. And she’d know that. She’d know he’d be after her again, that he would not allow her to hide from him. A reluctant smile curled his lips. They were married now, and, whether she liked it or not, they would face their enemies and vanquish them together.

Lisette woke up from her unhappy doze and found herself stretched out on her stomach in a strange bed again. Although this bed didn’t feel quite so strange, because it smelled of Gabriel and the lemon soap he used. She rolled onto her back and inhaled the starchy scent of freshly laundered linen and twisted her wedding ring around her finger.

She was married. That was a fact she couldn’t ignore. And she wanted Gabriel. That was another. She sighed as she thought of her family and the way they’d looked when she’d made Gabriel take her away from her own wedding breakfast.
She’d tried to pretend that her relationship with her parents was perfect and that she was important to them.

Was Christian right and she’d tried too hard to ignore the scars left by eighteen years of no parental care? It seemed her hurt was even closer to the surface than Christian’s, and at least he allowed himself to be angry about it. Maybe by repressing her feelings, she’d simply created a wound that wouldn’t heal. Perhaps Gabriel was also right and her reaction to their interference in his plans was a little extreme.

She frowned up at the dark-beamed ceiling. She hated having to admit that anyone else might be right, particularly Christian and Gabriel.

There was a tap on the door and then it opened to reveal Gabriel carrying a large tray. He’d taken off his coat and cravat, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to the elbow. She didn’t bother to sit up, just watched him ease the tray down onto the small writing desk by the window and then close the door. She inhaled the scent of chicken soup and her mouth watered.

“I thought you might be hungry,” Gabriel said.

“I am.”

He nodded at the small desk. “Do you want to sit here and eat, or shall I bring you something over?”

“Over here, please.”

He removed some of the items from the tray and brought the rest to her: a bowl of the soup, a plate of crusty bread, some fruit, and a glass of red wine.

“This looks nice. Did you cook it yourself?”

He regarded the soup critically. “I asked my man Keyes to do it for me. My cooking skills are limited to incinerating anything over a campfire that might possibly be edible.”

She picked up her spoon and then glanced at him. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“If I may.” He settled himself on the chair by the desk, tore
off a chunk of bread, and dipped it into his soup. “I wasn’t sure if you would be awake enough to want company.”

“You mean, you wondered if I was still in the mood to throw the soup at your head.”

His smile flicked out. “There was that.”

“I’m quite composed now.”

“That’s good.” He continued to eat, addressing his food with a thoroughness that Lisette had noticed before, as if he feared to miss something. She started on her soup and soon finished the whole bowl, all the bread, and the fruit. “Keyes collected your bags from Knowles House. I’ll bring them in to you later.”

“My bags?”

He regarded her steadily. “I assumed you would want a change of clothing. The dress you have on is very nice, but rather crumpled.”

“Did you buy this gown for me, too?”

“I told your mother the color I would prefer to see you in, but the end result was all her idea, thank God. I’m not very knowledgeable about lady’s clothing.”

Lisette sighed. “You are being very nice to me.”

He shrugged. “You’ve had a difficult day.”

“So have you.”

He put down his spoon and turned to face her. “And as you mentioned, I’ve achieved exactly what I wanted. You, however, feel manipulated and lied to.”

“I … I’m still glad that we were married.”

He rose to his feet and came over to the bed, took the tray from her knees. “I’m pleased to hear that. Now let me take this back to the kitchen. I’ll bring you some coffee and your bags and leave you to change.”

“As I have no maid, you’ll have to unbutton my dress for me.”

“I’m sure I can manage that.” He filled the tray with both their plates and headed for the door. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

Lisette stared after him, aware that she’d been unconsciously bracing herself for his disapproval and anger. Yet he’d behaved as if she was the wounded party and required understanding and care. He hadn’t even berated her for ruining their wedding day, and she had ruined it. She wasn’t stupid enough to deny that.

Gabriel returned with her bags and she got off the bed to examine what was in them. His fingers brushed her shoulder and she went still as he started to unbutton her bodice. His warm breath feathered the back of her neck as he worked each small pearl button free to reveal her corset, stockings, and shift.

“Shall I leave your corset laced?”

She swallowed as he breathed his question into her ear. It wasn’t fair that he could make her knees tremble just by standing so close to her. “You might as well loosen it. I’m not planning on putting on another gown.”

His fingers returned to their work, each gentle tug and subtle touch making Lisette’s breathing falter. She had the absurd desire to turn around and simply bury her face in his chest and stay there forever.

“I’ll leave you to change.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Good night.”

She heard him shut the door and clutched at her corset and the bodice of her dress to stop them falling down. He’d said good night. Did that mean he planned to stay away from his own bed on his wedding night? She stared at the large four-poster bed with its now rumpled covers. There was nothing left to do except put away her belongings, wash her face, and put on her nightgown.

A long while later, she was ready for bed. She’d even managed to remove all the pins from her hair and brush out the tangles.
Her worry over Gabriel’s whereabouts and his intentions hadn’t receded. In truth, she’d reached a point where she was no longer prepared to be ignored. She grabbed her woolen shawl from the bed and headed back down the hall.

Gabriel sat by the fire, his stockinged feet propped up on the table, a glass of brandy beside him, and a cigarillo in one hand. He looked supremely comfortable and completely at home. When she came more fully into the room his head snapped up and he attempted to get to his feet. She waved him back down.

“What are you doing?”

“Reading the paper.”

“Are you intending to read the paper all night?”

“Probably.”

“And what about me?”

He looked faintly puzzled. “Is there something you need?”

“Have you forgotten that this is supposed to be our wedding night?”

He carefully stubbed out his cigarillo, folded the paper, and rested it on his knee. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“And yet you intend to sit here and read the paper.”

“Yes.”

“Without even inquiring as to whether I might perhaps
want
you to behave like a man who can’t wait to bed his new bride?”

“I wasn’t going to read the paper all night.”

“What else were you planning on doing?”

“Playing cards, drinking brandy …”

She stalked across the room until she was standing right over him. “You wanted me to come out here and have to ask, didn’t you?”