Wicked Proposition (24 page)

The emotionally highly-charged encounter had
been inevitable from the moment he had taken such liberties in the
garden. He forced her to face the reality of her masquerade. She
had to accept her unfortunate place in Gabriel’s life whether she
was his mistress, his ward, or his sister-in-law. Nicholas knew a
side of her Gabriel had never seen. He knew her at her very worst,
and accepted her. Still, he did not know all of it. For that, she
must go.

Tears filled her eyes to think of leaving
Gabriel, but he could never be hers. She had been a fool to think
she could avoid this day.

The sky had darkened during her walk among the
roses. She glanced up at the dark, forbidding clouds. The weather
only added to her dismal mood. She sat within the gazebo at the
rear of the gardens. It began to rain in earnest.

###

Mrs. Whitley found Catherine’s ticket to Dublin
while she was tidying up the sitting room. She knew such
information would insure more money from Lady Iverleigh, and made
sure the Countess learned the girl was planning to leave. She wrote
down the date and time the ship was to sail and sent a message to
Lady Iverleigh.

###

Gabriel left a note for Catherine that morning.
Mrs. Whitley informed him she was lying down for a nap. He did not
see how agitated the woman appeared when he reluctantly decided not
to awaken her.

Gabriel smiled regretfully, deciding kissing her
awake was not an option now. Dinner was a silent tense affair the
night before. She had gone to bed early, claiming illness. He had
not disturbed her when he joined her, wondering what troubled her.
The ring he had been prepared to give her that night remained in
his pocket.

Gabriel was more than sure what he wanted. He no
longer cared about what anyone thought. Gabriel planned to ask her
to be his wife. He knew the divorce would take another year at
least, but knowing she would wait for him made him eager to see
Lillianne and reach a settlement.

Gabriel decided the note would suffice and
handed it to the housekeeper. He watched as the woman went back up
the stairs. He glanced at the mantle clock and swore softly.

He would have to meet Lillianne directly after
his meeting with Hines today. There was no time to wait for
Catherine to rise.

Gabriel left the house and directed the driver
to Thomas Hines office.

###

Catherine pulled her trunk down the backstairs.
She cautiously waited outside the side door of the townhouse for
her driver to arrive. Her ship left in two hours.

The servants were taking their midday meal in
the kitchens, and thought her to be napping upstairs. She ignored
the feelings of regret filling her for leaving this way. She had to
go. Everything she had with Gabriel was based upon a lie, even if
it certainly did not diminish her love for him.

Bitterness filled her to know she could not have
him. The lengths her father and Edward had gone to from the
beginning had seen to that. That painful fact had made it easy to
allow her feelings for him to grow, but she needed to put them
behind her now.

Nicholas offered her much, but he didn’t know
what he involved himself in. He would grow to hate her if he knew
who she was. Even Nicholas had his standards. What she had done was
reprehensible now and she knew it.

Catherine was disturbed at how the thought of
taking a risk and hoping for Nicholas’s understanding made her
consider his offer. She had undeniably confused feelings for both
men, and knew the choice was clear.

She must return to Dunleavy. Her condition made
a choice between either impossible.

The hackney driver suddenly arrived in the
alleyway and took her trunk.

Catherine closed and locked the side door as she
left. She got into the coach and looked forward. She did not want
to feel the horrible sense of loss to know she would never see
either man again.

Catherine was so engrossed in her own woeful
feelings she did not realize the man who now sat upon the perch was
not the same man she hired. The destination had changed as
well.

She didn’t realize something was truly wrong
until they arrived at the docks. Instead of taking her to the
ship’s ramp, the driver had stopped in front of a nearby
warehouse.

She frowned as she looked out.

Just then, the ragged, feral-looking man opened
the door to the coach and jumped inside. A scream lodged in her
throat before the man drew back his fist and hit her in the side of
her head. Blackness descended, the taste of blood permeated within
her mouth, and then she knew no more.

###

Gabriel arrived at Iverleigh Manor early that
evening. He glared at Dunstan’s look of surprise as he entered his
own house. He found Lillianne in her salon and eyed her coldly as
he approached.

Lillianne always looked well. She was as
beautiful as he remembered. The periwinkle blue silk gown she wore
brought out the vicious gleam in her eyes as they looked up at him
in pleasure.

Her beautiful face was slightly flushed as she
rose to greet him. He found her civil pleasantries rather misplaced
and raised an eyebrow.

“This is no social call, Lillianne,” he said
caustically. He tossed his coat and hat upon a plush chair and
sprawled out rudely, putting his boots upon her fine table. “You
have decided to meet my terms and I am here to discuss it. Let us
get this matter behind us. Mr. Hines will take care of your lesser
concerns. I believe you wanted to discuss a settlement. There is no
need to drag this out any longer. I want this marriage over. You
will find I will be far more generous if you do not fight this
proceeding.”

Lilly scowled at his rudeness but remained calm,
blood thrumming deliciously in her veins as she eyed him under her
lashes and appreciated his extreme handsomeness. She rose and mimed
a pouting look and wrung her hands. She faced him with a look of
pleading he found very unflattering.

“Can we not dine first?” she asked in a hollow
voice and her elegant bejeweled hand gestured to the dining room
beyond. “I have had Cook make all of your favorites, my lord. We
will dine first, and then we will discuss my terms. Surely you
cannot begrudge me one final meal with my husband before you cast
me aside?”

Gabriel nodded grudgingly and rose and offered
her his elbow mockingly. He escorted her to the dining room,
admiring how she held onto her composure, for surely she was
desperate.

He had been surprised at her sudden change of
heart, but never having understood the fairer sex and what went on
in their heads, he reasoned she wanted more from him than he had
initially offered.

Money was at the heart of all her efforts. That
had to be it. If Lillianne emerged a wealthy woman from her
marriage, she would be more likely to ensnare another unsuspecting
husband.

He showed her to her seat and sat as a throng of
servants entered bearing all of his favorites. He had to admit she
had outdone herself. He was eager to end the meal and join her in
the study to discuss the dissolution of their marriage. He was
actually bristling to return to Catherine and enjoy her lush charms
for the rest of the evening. Thoughts of her passionate nature
warmed him.

The freedom he had longed for was felt every
moment they shared. He no longer cared what people would think of
his choices anymore. Despite the scandal and furor it would cause,
he intended far more from this arrangement.

Lillianne noted how little wine he consumed. She
whispered to the footman, who soon left and returned with Lord
Iverleigh’s brandy. Gabriel accepted a glass of the brandy and
nodded favorably. It reminded him of Nicholas’s coveted stock but
before he flavored a comparison, the meal was over.

He followed her into the study and noted how his
brandy glass had been refilled. He drank it obligingly, wanting
nothing more than to be out of this house and away from this woman
who had made havoc of his life for the last ten years.

She seemed determined to drag out their
interview until he set down his glass. He held up a hand cutting
off her recent musings over some social event.

“I did not come here to hear about Lady
Billingsley’s success as a hostess, Lillianne,” he said coolly. “I
would discuss the terms you spoke of. Come now let us get to the
point. We have lived apart for most of our marriage. Neither of us
is happy. You have to agree this cannot go on.”

“It is just like you to rush right to the heart
of the matter, Gabriel,” she said with a smirk and refilled his
glass and sat before him with an expression of feigned hurt. “One
would think you are eager to be away from me. I have heard through
my sources you have a new mistress installed in your home.
Dartmouth claims you found this new one in a brothel. How utterly
scandalous!” she said contemptuously and suddenly her eyes grew
dark with anger.

“I did not come here to talk of her.”

“Oh yes, you wish to justify your setting me
aside,” she mused bitterly.

“You arrived in England pregnant by another man!
You nearly died trying to rid yourself of the proof! I forgave you
for that, and then you went to Lyndon’s bed. I nearly killed the
man over you! I cannot even begin to accept or forgive you for
that,” Gabriel said harshly, his dark eyes black with remembered
pain.

Lillianne flinched as if struck from his words
and her face grew mottled with anger.

“You loved me once!” she cried scornfully,
seeing the cold emotionless expression on his face. “You could love
me again, Gabriel!”

“I didn’t know what love was then, Lillianne,”
he said coolly as his dark eyes flicked over her dismissively. “I
believed all your clever lies. Now I just want to put this all
behind me. You might wish to as well.”

“So you wish to be free of me so you can enjoy
the favors of your little whore, do you?”

“Call her a whore one more time, and this
interview is over!” he stated coldly and his dark eyes flared. “You
could give her instructions on that, madam.”

“How dare you speak to me that way? I am your
wife, while she is nothing but some harlot you bought!”

“Lillianne, I have personal knowledge of dozens
of men who claim to have gone to your bed these last ten years,” he
replied scathingly. “You have hardly been discreet. It is a pity
you didn’t charge for your favors then, and I wouldn’t have to pay
you off now!”

Lilly stared at her hands and resisted the urge
to toss the brandy in his smug face, but the drugs were not working
yet. She needed him to drink more of the brandy.

“Insults from you, my love?” she trilled in
amusement as she sat forward. “Is this what we are reduced too? I
am prepared to offer you terms you will find most fair. You will
have what you want at last. I do not ask for your forgiveness! You
dare to judge me for what I did to spare you the truth, even at the
cost of my own life? You may divorce me, but you will be ruined as
well!”

“I never gave a damn about society, Lillianne,”
he said and found himself starting to slur his words. “I am not the
one with the most to lose here, it is you.”

Gabriel sat back in the chair. He felt a sudden
wave of dizziness and his head felt light.

His vision blurred and he felt himself growing
hot. He loosened his cravat and shook his head once more to clear
it. His heart was beating so fast he felt as though the sound was
roaring in his ears.

Lillianne’s image appeared blurred with a myriad
of colors swirling before his eyes. Her words sounded like they
came from far away. His head began to throb.

Gabriel was more than a little aware of another
throbbing and it was growing increasingly obvious he was growing
aroused. His cock throbbed so painfully he clenched his teeth. He
muttered a curse and sweat formed upon his brow as he tried to
focus upon his wife. She rose from the corner of the desk and rang
for the footman.

Gabriel groaned as a wave of heat made him
double over in his chair. He didn’t hear what she said, but soon
two burly footmen arrived. He tried vainly to push them away as
they tried to carry him, but he soon gave up. He hadn’t the
strength to fight them off.

Gabriel soon found himself lying upon his wife’s
bed and his blurred gaze saw that she was now nude as she
approached him. She undid his clothing expertly and he stared up at
her through a cloudy haze as she managed to divest him of his
clothing while he lay helpless upon her bed.

He gritted his teeth as she took him in her hand
and rubbed him hard. He helplessly arched into her hand. She
laughed in a low, sultry manner and touched him. He responded
against his will as her mouth lowered and took him.

She laughed as her head lifted from him and soon
she was joining him in the bed. He wanted to throw her off of him
but his body demanded release. He could do nothing but lie still as
she fondled and touched him to madness.

Soon he was hot and twitching with need. When
she mounted him and rode his staff, he growled and arched under
her, his breathing coming out in thunderous gasps as she had her
way with him.

She rolled to his side and pulled him atop of
her. He was like an animal as he thrust inside her lustfully. The
fire in his loins made him cry out as each precipice he reached
became higher and higher still.

Lilly rather enjoyed raping her husband. She
stared down at him with a victorious look upon her beautiful face,
her long platinum hair falling across his chest as she moved on him
until she reached her own crisis.

She left him there as he slept, smiling as she
slipped from the room. She donned a cloak and left the house. She
had a little matter to attend to.

###

Gabriel felt like he was in hell when he came to
consciousness. Lillianne was gone or he would have cheerfully
strangled her. He rose unsteadily and staggered about her room
searching for his clothes. It was before dawn.