Post by Meomi on Aug 13, 2012 18:26:16 GMT -7
A WICKED PROPOSITION
..::Chapter 18::..
When Gabriel awoke later that day, he was informed by a frantic Mrs. Whitley that Catherine was gone. A search of the house produced no result. He was dismayed to find all her things missing. Catherine had left him. He ordered his driver about and hired a dozen men to scour the streets looking for her. He dispatched a message to Nicholas and went to his room.
A chaotic search for clues for her whereabouts finally produced the money and the note she left behind. He cursed as he crumpled the note. Where had she gotten the money? It was a mystery , but he would get an answer when he found her.
Nicholas arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
Nicholas: Where has she gone?
Gabriel sipped his brandy as he tossed the note to him.
Gabriel: She left me. I would like to know where she got the money. She left twenty-five hundred pounds and a farewell note upstairs in my desk.
Nicholas: Did you quarrel with her?
Gabriel: No, we haven't quarreled at all in many weeks. She had me fooled completely that we were happy. I had no idea she planned to leave me.
Nicholas: If you did not quarrel with her, why would she just leave?
Gabriel: I might have angered her in some way.
Nicholas: In what way might you have angered her?
Gabriel: I believe I might have stayed the night with my wife the other evening.
Nicholas: That certainly explains her leaving you, my friend.
Gabriel: I want her back!
Nicholas: You have men scouring the city for her, Gabriel. She will not get far.
Nicholas was determined to find her first. The little tart belonged to him. The thought of her wandering the streets unprotected chilled him to the core. Gabriel felt an ache in his chest to know she believed the worst of him. She no doubt thought him a liar now. He loved her and had not told her.
Gabriel: Please, call in any favors you may to help find her, Nick. I love her. I should have told her that. I need to find her. I don't care how much it costs.
Nicholas saw his friend's look of torment and felt the same. He had failed to impress Catherine with how deeply he felt for her. Now she was gone. In some ways, she had left them both. One way or another, he would find her. Nicholas knew better than to ignore his instincts something was wrong. He would have guess she had already planned to leave and had no idea how her lover had spent that evening. She felt guilt over what had begun between them, too guilty to make the choice she must make.
Gabriel tipped the glass of brandy and stared into the flames in the hearth, unwilling to conceive Catherine had left him. Perhaps when he didn't return home that night, she had been angry with him. He couldn't blame her. What had he offered her to encourage her to stay? His worry grew compounded every day that passed without any trace of her. Gabriel cursed under his breath, missing her every minute she was gone.
Nicholas returned home late from his ship that night, feeling deflated the search for Catherine had proved uneventful. She had been gone many weeks without a trace. Nicholas felt a presence in his room. He didn't have to look. He knew it was Lilly. He had a sense of disappointment. Her arrival produced no sense of exhilaration as it used to, just annoyance now. Catherine had disapeared without a trace, unlikely for a woman who liked look her. His inquiries on the docks proved no woman fitting her description had sailed recently. Nicholas was hurting inside. Catherine had rejected him. Nicholas walked toward the bed where Lilly was draped across his comforter.
Lilly: I thought you would never get home, my love. Your servant doesn't like me, I fear. he refused to let me in. Can you believe that?
Nicholas: Tieghan doesn't like anyone, my dear, don't take it personally. It doesn't appear he deterred you. He will be quite put out to find out you snuck past him again. How did you get in this time?
Lilly: You left a window open in your study. Really, my love, you do not live in the best neighborhood. What if I was a house-breaker? I would have robbed you blind under the man's very nose!
Nicholas: Tieghan isn't a servant, Lilly, he is my first mate. And if you had been a house breaker, it is my guess you would not be waiting for me in my bed right now.
Lilly: True, then it is a very good thing I came here for another purpose. There is something I would like to steal very much, if you must know.
He grinned and lowered himself to the comforter to lie next to her. After they made love, Nicholas was ready to end their relationship.
Nicholas: You may give it up, my dear. One look will tell your husband what you have been doing.
Lilly: Do not be unkind, my love. I have thought of nothing but you these last weeks.
Nicholas: Perhaps you shouldn't return, Lilly. I find I am developing a bit of a conscience these days. Dallying with some man's wife is getting tiresome.
Lilly: You don't mean that. You are just angry because I cannot stay as long tonight. I will return as soon as I can, Nicholas, and we can be together for as long and as often as we like.
Nicholas: Lilly, don't come back. It is over. I no longer want to see you anymore. Do not sneak into my home or you will find another in my bed.
Lilly stepped back as if she had been struck, her face paling. She looked at him in shock.
Nicholas: I do not want this anymore! Five years of asking nothing of you, and I don't even know your real name. I know nothing about you. The more I know, the less I want this to continue any further. Go home and don't come back. Forget about me, my dear, and I will do the same. We have had our time and it is over.
Lilly: Is there someone else? Is that why you no longer wish to see me?
Nicholas: Yes, there is a woman I have met recently. I am sorry but it is over between us.
Lilly: I have some say in this, Nicky! You cannot just end things like this!
Nicholas: You have no say in what I do, Lilly. I have decided it is over between us. Do not come here again.
Lilly: Who is this woman you have thrown me over for?
Nicholas: You do not know her. I tend to avoid bored wives of the peerage these days.
Lilly turned on her heel. She passed Tieghan in the doorway with a haughty look that made the giant glower at her back as she passed.
He entered the captain's chamber with a look of pure outrage. Nicholas held up his hand to ward off his complaints.
Nicholas: You left a bloody window open in the study! Don't worry she won't be coming back again. It's over, my friend.
Tieghan nodded grimly and thought his captain was better off. The noblewoman put him on edge. There was something about her that unsettled him and made him feel protective of his captain.
Catherine whimpered in the dark cell. She was filthy and sat on the stone floor. She could see nothing in front of her face it was so dark. She heard scurrying in the corner, and cringed at the thought of what four-legged vermin shared her prison. The man who had abducted her untied her and shoved her into the cell weeks before. He had a companion now. The pair returned with food and water and changed out the slop bucket daily. They had yet to tell her why they held her captive. When she tried to question them about their intent, they eyed her menacingly. She wisely held her tongue.
Catherine was nearly hysterical when she heard footsteps approaching. She rose quickly, eyeing the figure that moved forward with a single taper candle with a shocked stare. Lilly set the candleholder down on the floor and looked about disparagingly.
Lilly: You appear well, little sister. How are you finding your new accommodations? They are not as luxurious as my husbands.
Catherine: Let me out of here!
Lilly: Your visit to Thomas's office was unfortunate. His assistant's description of the young woman who came in was enough for me to know you discovered our little secret. I couldn't allow you to tell Gabriel. There is a matter of your present condition as well, my dear. Did you really think I wouldn't find out about the child?
Catherine: What are you talking about?
Lilly: Come now, little Catherine, you always were a deplorable liar. Mrs. Whitley was only too eager to inform on your current condition. She assures me you are at least one month along with my husband's bastard.
Catherine: What do you want, Lilly?
Lilly: The Earl's heir.
Catherine: You won't get away with it!
Lilly: I already have! Gabriel came to my bed the day you tried to escape to the ship. We made love. Do you think he was thinking about you at all? I can assure you when I tell him I am having his child, he will believe me. Servants and doctors can be bought. He will have his heir. He will forget about you, if he hasn't already!
Catherine: You lie! He hates you! I have learned enough about the man these last months to know you didn't get him into your bed willingly. You used trickery on him!
Lilly: Did you not use trickery upon him, little sister? You had every opportunity to tell him the truth, and yet you did not. A pity you had to ruin everything with your meddling and lying.
Catherine: What do you mean to do? Mrs. Silsbee and the other servants at Dunleavy know I am here! You won't get away with killing me as you did Clarice.
Lilly: I can't kill someone who is already dead. You already died, my dear, quite ingloriously on a hillside in Dublin. Your body was so horribly mutilated I am told Brian wept. I'm afraid you never made it to England. As far as anyone knows you died there months ago. Thomas delivered your body to the hall himself and was there for your funeral. It was quite a touching scene. I understand the children were quite overwrought. As for Clarice, let's just say she was dealt with. I can assure you it was not by my hand.
Catherine: You're a monster!
Lilly: I am just doing what I have to do to secure my future. I will not allow you to spoil all my plans! You would have told Gabriel the truth! He would have divorced me and I would have nothing!
Catherine: Gabriel will find me! You won't be able to keep me locked up until the child is born! I will scream my head off until someone comes! He loves me! He will be free of you!
Lilly chuckled in delight at that.
Lilly: You are such a little fool, Catherine. He would keep you as his mistress. When he tired of you, he would have found another. Don't fool yourself it was for love. You were just pretty. He will forget about you soon enough. You must resign yourself to your fate, my dear. Think of the child and don't do anything rash. My men are just looking for an excuse to do what they will with you. One word from me and your stay here could be quite intolerable.
Catherine: Why are you doing this? You have enough wealth you could have paid any woman to have Lord Iverleigh's child. Why are you doing this to me? I am your sister!
Lilly: You are nothing to me! You are just my father's brat with his commoner of a wife! You are unfit to bear the same surname as I. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have smothered you in your crib.
Catherine: You didn't need to do this!
Lilly: Ah, Catherine, if you only knew how I despised you all those years. Father saw to your future, and would have denied me mine, if not for his pathetic wife.
Catherine: You knew of the contract?
Lilly: I found it in his office when you were only a baby. I saw what he intended for you! Yet he did nothing for me! Thanks to Edward, that was all rectified.
Catherine: Let me go, and I swear I will say nothing! Please, Lilly, do not do this!
Lilly: It is too late. You should make the most of what little time you have left, Catherine. You owe me this. Because of you and your mother, I lost our father's love, and for that you must pay.
Catherine: You are insane!
Lilly: I am insanely clever, Catherine. There is a difference. I have succeeded quite admirably at getting what I want. Who is behind the bars, Catherine? You really should consider the child. It isn't good to get yourself so upset.
Catherine: You never cared if he divorced you or not, did you?
Lilly: As I said, you were quite effective in stalling that proceeding for me. You exceeded my expectations there.
Catherine: You did this for the inheritance Giles St. Armand left in his will!
Lilly: You have been busy, I see. Fifty thousand pounds to deliver a brat was too much for me to resist. That is where you became necessary.
Catherine: Let me go, Lilly please. Jaime and Cullen are alone now. Do not do this.
Lilly: It is already done. Our brothers will no doubt wind up in an orphanage before too long. A pity, but they are nothing to me.
Catherine watched as Lilly turned and walked out. She was thought dead by all those at Dunleavy Hall. She had already been mourned months before. Gabriel thought she paid her debt and left him. He would never find out about the boys. Nicholas would think she went home, not knowing where that was. Lilly had thought of everything. She sat upon the pallet and wept bitterly until she had no tears left.
Gabriel eyed the woman propped up in her bed looking radiantly triumphant with a scowl. He waited until Doctor Farnham left the room to address her. Catherine had been gone a month and he despaired of ever finding her. He was in a sore mood. Her summons she had urgent news for him had not prepared him for this.
Gabriel: You may have managed to conceive a child, but it changes nothing between us, do you hear?
Lilly: Oh, it changes everything, Gabriel. You heard what Doctor Farnham said. I am to have your child in several months. You aren't going to divorce me and make the child a bastard, and we both know it. Why can you not be happy? We are to have the child you always wanted so much.
Gabriel: Forgive me if I am not ecstatic, Madam, but after you drugged and raped me, I sincerely loath the sight of you. Enjoy your victory now my dear, because after the child is born you are dead to me! You will have your damned title and everything that goes with it, but you shall not have my child. Inform my staff when you go into labor so I may provide an adequate nurse for him or her. Until then, do not bother to contact me at all.
Lilly: Drugged and raped you? Who would ever believe that, my lord? I just gave you something to allow your inner feelings to resurface. I admit I have missed you even if you choose to deny your feelings. You cannot tell me you didn't enjoy it. Remember those nights we spent together after we married? We can have that again, you and I.
Gabriel thought his wife was insane if she thought he would move back into the manor as though nothing untoward had ever occurred. He was done.
Gabriel: You disgust me, Lillianne. The thought of being near you makes my skin crawl. As I said, inform my staff when your time comes. I never wish to lay eyes on you again. In fact, I have given it much consideration and have decided the country would suit you far better than London.
He clearly meant to banish her when the child came.
Lilly: You would not dare exile me to one of your damned estates!
Gabriel: Oh, I can and I will, my dear. I am your husband, after all your efforts for it to remain that way. You have no choice but to do my bidding. Enjoy your time here. After the child comes and you are fit to travel, you will reside in Amberley. Be lucky I do not send you to my Scottish holding. My mother would not like you as a neighbor. The lady would like nothing better than to set her hounds upon you. For my mother's family's sake I have chosen Amberley.
Gabriel stormed out of his wife's room and made his way down to the foyer where the staff assembled. He fired the entire staff and without another word he left, shooting for his driver as he slammed the door shut.
To be continued...
Please press the thumb up if you enjoyed and thumb down if you didn't. I want to see how many read these. Thank you.
..::Chapter 18::..
When Gabriel awoke later that day, he was informed by a frantic Mrs. Whitley that Catherine was gone. A search of the house produced no result. He was dismayed to find all her things missing. Catherine had left him. He ordered his driver about and hired a dozen men to scour the streets looking for her. He dispatched a message to Nicholas and went to his room.
A chaotic search for clues for her whereabouts finally produced the money and the note she left behind. He cursed as he crumpled the note. Where had she gotten the money? It was a mystery , but he would get an answer when he found her.
Nicholas arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
Nicholas: Where has she gone?
Gabriel sipped his brandy as he tossed the note to him.
Gabriel: She left me. I would like to know where she got the money. She left twenty-five hundred pounds and a farewell note upstairs in my desk.
Nicholas: Did you quarrel with her?
Gabriel: No, we haven't quarreled at all in many weeks. She had me fooled completely that we were happy. I had no idea she planned to leave me.
Nicholas: If you did not quarrel with her, why would she just leave?
Gabriel: I might have angered her in some way.
Nicholas: In what way might you have angered her?
Gabriel: I believe I might have stayed the night with my wife the other evening.
Nicholas: That certainly explains her leaving you, my friend.
Gabriel: I want her back!
Nicholas: You have men scouring the city for her, Gabriel. She will not get far.
Nicholas was determined to find her first. The little tart belonged to him. The thought of her wandering the streets unprotected chilled him to the core. Gabriel felt an ache in his chest to know she believed the worst of him. She no doubt thought him a liar now. He loved her and had not told her.
Gabriel: Please, call in any favors you may to help find her, Nick. I love her. I should have told her that. I need to find her. I don't care how much it costs.
Nicholas saw his friend's look of torment and felt the same. He had failed to impress Catherine with how deeply he felt for her. Now she was gone. In some ways, she had left them both. One way or another, he would find her. Nicholas knew better than to ignore his instincts something was wrong. He would have guess she had already planned to leave and had no idea how her lover had spent that evening. She felt guilt over what had begun between them, too guilty to make the choice she must make.
Gabriel tipped the glass of brandy and stared into the flames in the hearth, unwilling to conceive Catherine had left him. Perhaps when he didn't return home that night, she had been angry with him. He couldn't blame her. What had he offered her to encourage her to stay? His worry grew compounded every day that passed without any trace of her. Gabriel cursed under his breath, missing her every minute she was gone.
Nicholas returned home late from his ship that night, feeling deflated the search for Catherine had proved uneventful. She had been gone many weeks without a trace. Nicholas felt a presence in his room. He didn't have to look. He knew it was Lilly. He had a sense of disappointment. Her arrival produced no sense of exhilaration as it used to, just annoyance now. Catherine had disapeared without a trace, unlikely for a woman who liked look her. His inquiries on the docks proved no woman fitting her description had sailed recently. Nicholas was hurting inside. Catherine had rejected him. Nicholas walked toward the bed where Lilly was draped across his comforter.
Lilly: I thought you would never get home, my love. Your servant doesn't like me, I fear. he refused to let me in. Can you believe that?
Nicholas: Tieghan doesn't like anyone, my dear, don't take it personally. It doesn't appear he deterred you. He will be quite put out to find out you snuck past him again. How did you get in this time?
Lilly: You left a window open in your study. Really, my love, you do not live in the best neighborhood. What if I was a house-breaker? I would have robbed you blind under the man's very nose!
Nicholas: Tieghan isn't a servant, Lilly, he is my first mate. And if you had been a house breaker, it is my guess you would not be waiting for me in my bed right now.
Lilly: True, then it is a very good thing I came here for another purpose. There is something I would like to steal very much, if you must know.
He grinned and lowered himself to the comforter to lie next to her. After they made love, Nicholas was ready to end their relationship.
Nicholas: You may give it up, my dear. One look will tell your husband what you have been doing.
Lilly: Do not be unkind, my love. I have thought of nothing but you these last weeks.
Nicholas: Perhaps you shouldn't return, Lilly. I find I am developing a bit of a conscience these days. Dallying with some man's wife is getting tiresome.
Lilly: You don't mean that. You are just angry because I cannot stay as long tonight. I will return as soon as I can, Nicholas, and we can be together for as long and as often as we like.
Nicholas: Lilly, don't come back. It is over. I no longer want to see you anymore. Do not sneak into my home or you will find another in my bed.
Lilly stepped back as if she had been struck, her face paling. She looked at him in shock.
Nicholas: I do not want this anymore! Five years of asking nothing of you, and I don't even know your real name. I know nothing about you. The more I know, the less I want this to continue any further. Go home and don't come back. Forget about me, my dear, and I will do the same. We have had our time and it is over.
Lilly: Is there someone else? Is that why you no longer wish to see me?
Nicholas: Yes, there is a woman I have met recently. I am sorry but it is over between us.
Lilly: I have some say in this, Nicky! You cannot just end things like this!
Nicholas: You have no say in what I do, Lilly. I have decided it is over between us. Do not come here again.
Lilly: Who is this woman you have thrown me over for?
Nicholas: You do not know her. I tend to avoid bored wives of the peerage these days.
Lilly turned on her heel. She passed Tieghan in the doorway with a haughty look that made the giant glower at her back as she passed.
He entered the captain's chamber with a look of pure outrage. Nicholas held up his hand to ward off his complaints.
Nicholas: You left a bloody window open in the study! Don't worry she won't be coming back again. It's over, my friend.
Tieghan nodded grimly and thought his captain was better off. The noblewoman put him on edge. There was something about her that unsettled him and made him feel protective of his captain.
Catherine whimpered in the dark cell. She was filthy and sat on the stone floor. She could see nothing in front of her face it was so dark. She heard scurrying in the corner, and cringed at the thought of what four-legged vermin shared her prison. The man who had abducted her untied her and shoved her into the cell weeks before. He had a companion now. The pair returned with food and water and changed out the slop bucket daily. They had yet to tell her why they held her captive. When she tried to question them about their intent, they eyed her menacingly. She wisely held her tongue.
Catherine was nearly hysterical when she heard footsteps approaching. She rose quickly, eyeing the figure that moved forward with a single taper candle with a shocked stare. Lilly set the candleholder down on the floor and looked about disparagingly.
Lilly: You appear well, little sister. How are you finding your new accommodations? They are not as luxurious as my husbands.
Catherine: Let me out of here!
Lilly: Your visit to Thomas's office was unfortunate. His assistant's description of the young woman who came in was enough for me to know you discovered our little secret. I couldn't allow you to tell Gabriel. There is a matter of your present condition as well, my dear. Did you really think I wouldn't find out about the child?
Catherine: What are you talking about?
Lilly: Come now, little Catherine, you always were a deplorable liar. Mrs. Whitley was only too eager to inform on your current condition. She assures me you are at least one month along with my husband's bastard.
Catherine: What do you want, Lilly?
Lilly: The Earl's heir.
Catherine: You won't get away with it!
Lilly: I already have! Gabriel came to my bed the day you tried to escape to the ship. We made love. Do you think he was thinking about you at all? I can assure you when I tell him I am having his child, he will believe me. Servants and doctors can be bought. He will have his heir. He will forget about you, if he hasn't already!
Catherine: You lie! He hates you! I have learned enough about the man these last months to know you didn't get him into your bed willingly. You used trickery on him!
Lilly: Did you not use trickery upon him, little sister? You had every opportunity to tell him the truth, and yet you did not. A pity you had to ruin everything with your meddling and lying.
Catherine: What do you mean to do? Mrs. Silsbee and the other servants at Dunleavy know I am here! You won't get away with killing me as you did Clarice.
Lilly: I can't kill someone who is already dead. You already died, my dear, quite ingloriously on a hillside in Dublin. Your body was so horribly mutilated I am told Brian wept. I'm afraid you never made it to England. As far as anyone knows you died there months ago. Thomas delivered your body to the hall himself and was there for your funeral. It was quite a touching scene. I understand the children were quite overwrought. As for Clarice, let's just say she was dealt with. I can assure you it was not by my hand.
Catherine: You're a monster!
Lilly: I am just doing what I have to do to secure my future. I will not allow you to spoil all my plans! You would have told Gabriel the truth! He would have divorced me and I would have nothing!
Catherine: Gabriel will find me! You won't be able to keep me locked up until the child is born! I will scream my head off until someone comes! He loves me! He will be free of you!
Lilly chuckled in delight at that.
Lilly: You are such a little fool, Catherine. He would keep you as his mistress. When he tired of you, he would have found another. Don't fool yourself it was for love. You were just pretty. He will forget about you soon enough. You must resign yourself to your fate, my dear. Think of the child and don't do anything rash. My men are just looking for an excuse to do what they will with you. One word from me and your stay here could be quite intolerable.
Catherine: Why are you doing this? You have enough wealth you could have paid any woman to have Lord Iverleigh's child. Why are you doing this to me? I am your sister!
Lilly: You are nothing to me! You are just my father's brat with his commoner of a wife! You are unfit to bear the same surname as I. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have smothered you in your crib.
Catherine: You didn't need to do this!
Lilly: Ah, Catherine, if you only knew how I despised you all those years. Father saw to your future, and would have denied me mine, if not for his pathetic wife.
Catherine: You knew of the contract?
Lilly: I found it in his office when you were only a baby. I saw what he intended for you! Yet he did nothing for me! Thanks to Edward, that was all rectified.
Catherine: Let me go, and I swear I will say nothing! Please, Lilly, do not do this!
Lilly: It is too late. You should make the most of what little time you have left, Catherine. You owe me this. Because of you and your mother, I lost our father's love, and for that you must pay.
Catherine: You are insane!
Lilly: I am insanely clever, Catherine. There is a difference. I have succeeded quite admirably at getting what I want. Who is behind the bars, Catherine? You really should consider the child. It isn't good to get yourself so upset.
Catherine: You never cared if he divorced you or not, did you?
Lilly: As I said, you were quite effective in stalling that proceeding for me. You exceeded my expectations there.
Catherine: You did this for the inheritance Giles St. Armand left in his will!
Lilly: You have been busy, I see. Fifty thousand pounds to deliver a brat was too much for me to resist. That is where you became necessary.
Catherine: Let me go, Lilly please. Jaime and Cullen are alone now. Do not do this.
Lilly: It is already done. Our brothers will no doubt wind up in an orphanage before too long. A pity, but they are nothing to me.
Catherine watched as Lilly turned and walked out. She was thought dead by all those at Dunleavy Hall. She had already been mourned months before. Gabriel thought she paid her debt and left him. He would never find out about the boys. Nicholas would think she went home, not knowing where that was. Lilly had thought of everything. She sat upon the pallet and wept bitterly until she had no tears left.
Gabriel eyed the woman propped up in her bed looking radiantly triumphant with a scowl. He waited until Doctor Farnham left the room to address her. Catherine had been gone a month and he despaired of ever finding her. He was in a sore mood. Her summons she had urgent news for him had not prepared him for this.
Gabriel: You may have managed to conceive a child, but it changes nothing between us, do you hear?
Lilly: Oh, it changes everything, Gabriel. You heard what Doctor Farnham said. I am to have your child in several months. You aren't going to divorce me and make the child a bastard, and we both know it. Why can you not be happy? We are to have the child you always wanted so much.
Gabriel: Forgive me if I am not ecstatic, Madam, but after you drugged and raped me, I sincerely loath the sight of you. Enjoy your victory now my dear, because after the child is born you are dead to me! You will have your damned title and everything that goes with it, but you shall not have my child. Inform my staff when you go into labor so I may provide an adequate nurse for him or her. Until then, do not bother to contact me at all.
Lilly: Drugged and raped you? Who would ever believe that, my lord? I just gave you something to allow your inner feelings to resurface. I admit I have missed you even if you choose to deny your feelings. You cannot tell me you didn't enjoy it. Remember those nights we spent together after we married? We can have that again, you and I.
Gabriel thought his wife was insane if she thought he would move back into the manor as though nothing untoward had ever occurred. He was done.
Gabriel: You disgust me, Lillianne. The thought of being near you makes my skin crawl. As I said, inform my staff when your time comes. I never wish to lay eyes on you again. In fact, I have given it much consideration and have decided the country would suit you far better than London.
He clearly meant to banish her when the child came.
Lilly: You would not dare exile me to one of your damned estates!
Gabriel: Oh, I can and I will, my dear. I am your husband, after all your efforts for it to remain that way. You have no choice but to do my bidding. Enjoy your time here. After the child comes and you are fit to travel, you will reside in Amberley. Be lucky I do not send you to my Scottish holding. My mother would not like you as a neighbor. The lady would like nothing better than to set her hounds upon you. For my mother's family's sake I have chosen Amberley.
Gabriel stormed out of his wife's room and made his way down to the foyer where the staff assembled. He fired the entire staff and without another word he left, shooting for his driver as he slammed the door shut.
To be continued...
Please press the thumb up if you enjoyed and thumb down if you didn't. I want to see how many read these. Thank you.