Wicked Proposition (18 page)

Lilly glared down at the nuisance detective.
Edward had taken too long to deal with the man. He could get rid of
the body for her as punishment. She stepped away from the doorway
and closed the door.

###

Gabriel watched appreciatively as Catherine
floated down the marble stairs. She wore the elegant
burgundy-colored silk gown just delivered from the dressmaker. She
was a vision. His dark eyes caressed her from her elaborately
coiffed hair to the tips of her matching slippers.

Distinct appreciation showed in his face as she
came to stand at his side in the foyer. The taper light from the
chandelier above made her creamy skin glow.

He brought her hand to his lips. “You look
radiant, my sweet. The theatre awaits, shall we go?”

Catherine smiled in response, secretly pleased
all the time she had taken to get ready did not go unnoticed by
him. Every smoldering look from those dark eyes told her he more
than approved.

They arrived at the busy theatre before the
curtain fell. The crowded lobby seemed to part ways as Gabriel led
his stunning companion through the throng. Catherine was conscious
of the attention they received. Fashionably dressed ladies in their
glittering jewels tittered behind fans. Speculative glances from
all the gentlemen followed them as they made their way to his
private box. She lowered her eyes as the gazes grew too cloying,
weighing her down with insecurity.

“Never let them see you lower your eyes,
Catherine,” Gabriel advised under his breath. “Do not give them
that satisfaction.”

Catherine smiled wanly as she forced her chin
up, aware of the intense scrutiny. She was feeling more than a
little self-conscious. All their eyes seemed to devour them. The
ladies fans fluttered as their heads came together. The whispers
intensified as the couple walked through the lobby.

“Why are they all staring? Do I have something
on my face?”

Gabriel smiled at her pert comment. He nodded to
an acquaintance. His dark eyes didn’t fail to see she was quite
correct. They were the object of interest of every pair of eyes in
the room.

“I apologize, but it appears some things never
change,” he remarked casually and didn’t explain as he led her to
his private box in the balcony, grateful for the velvet curtain
that hid them from prying eyes.

Catherine toyed with her theatre glasses,
looking up at him through her lashes. He looked quite handsome in
his elegant evening attire tonight. A lump formed in her throat to
think the fates had kept them apart. She was conscious of the many
eyes upon them from below their seats, much craning of necks, and
fumbling with opera glasses. All wished a glimpse of the elusive
Lord Iverleigh and his new mistress. Some gazes were merely curious
and others were openly scornful as they gazed at the couple.

“You have created quite the stir, Gabriel. It is
obvious they all look at you,” she reflected in amusement as she
flicked open the lace ivory fan.

“Imbeciles, every last one of them,” he replied
moodily and shrugged. “I am not in the habit of making my choices
so public, if you must know.”

“By choices, you refer to me, don’t you?”
Catherine asked.

Gabriel smiled at her fondly, his dark eyes
glowing warmly. “You are the only mistress I have ever gone out in
public with, if you must know. That is why they break their necks
to gawk at us now. All wonder who you are.”

“That explains their interest.”

“You should take it as a compliment, my
sweet.”

“I feel like I have been weighed and measured,”
she admitted and smiled behind the fan.

“Let them all stare and see my standards
firsthand,” he whispered as his hand reached out to slide around
the back of her seat, his hand stroking her shoulder fondly. “I
expect you are the object of much speculation.”

Catherine could see the theatre goers all seemed
to hang upon their present interaction with much intense regard.
“Maybe you should curtail such fondling of me before their eyes. We
might wish to leave some things to their imagination, my lord.”

Gabriel laughed outright at that and one long
finger traced the nape of her neck. “Forgive me if it pleases me to
have every man here envy me, my dear. You are by far the most
stunning woman here. It certainly doesn’t hurt my image being seen
with such a lovely lady.”

Catherine smiled and enjoyed their easy banter.
He didn’t enjoy being the object of such speculation, but endured
it for her. She hesitated to meet the eyes of several rudely
staring matrons in the box next to theirs, sensing their blatant
disapproval of them.

It was obvious they all knew her status in the
Earl of Iverleigh’s life. For once that knowledge didn’t make her
cringe away with embarrassment. Catherine suddenly met those
condemning stares, until the ladies had the grace to look away.

“Bravo, you are learning fast,” he said
approvingly as he glanced over and winked at all three ladies.

“What of your wife, my lord? Do you not worry
they will tell tales of spotting you here with me tonight?”
Catherine couldn’t help but ask it. She needed to know more of what
drove a wedge between Lilly and Gabriel. There was no point to it
but to justify her growing feelings for him.

Gabriel frowned, a shadow falling over his face.
She saw it and wondered at it.

“My wife and I have not lived under the same
roof in over nine years, Catherine,” he explained with a tense
expression. “She has her own life, and I have mine.”

“Was it always that way? Surely you were happy
once?”

“Must we talk of this now?” Gabriel snapped in
sudden annoyance.

“You tell me nothing about you, Gabriel,”
Catherine commented defensively. “I did not realize the subject was
a closed one.”

“I thought us to be happy once, long ago. It was
a clever lie, and nothing more.” he offered without
elaboration.

“Had you ever tried to forgive her?” Catherine
persisted.

Gabriel smiled grimly and rolled his eyes. “If
you knew her at all you would understand. Lillianne has very little
regard for the feelings of others. No, there is no forgiveness in
me where she is concerned. It is too late.”

“But have you tried to reconcile?” Catherine
pressed, determined to get to the bottom of what destroyed his
marriage to her sister.

“I haven’t gone to my wife’s bed in nearly ten
years, Catherine, if that is what you ask,” he replied in disgust.
“It is a little too late for reconciliation. No, there is far too
much damage done. I have never once considered taking her back.
Does that satisfy you? Why do you ask me this?”

“I only wanted to know something more about your
life. We do not talk about you at all, Gabriel,” she explained and
met his troubled gaze sadly. “We avoid talking about much, I
think.”

“Ask me about anything but her, Catherine,” he
said quietly.

Catherine considered his words. She
instinctively knew he told her the truth. His marriage was over,
for him at least.

“I am sorry if talking of it pains you.”

“What pains me is not being free of her.”

“You live apart and have your own life already,
my lord,” she pointed out. “Why go to such trouble to divorce your
wife?”

Gabriel knew she wouldn’t understand. He smiled
grimly and looked away from those wide emerald eyes. Talking about
his wife was making him melancholy, and he would not spoil their
outing.

“I wish for a more permanent solution, my dear,”
he admitted. “I have no heirs and my family name ends with me. I
have a mother who will not rest until she has grandchildren. Does
that satisfy you why I wish to be free of her?”

“You wish to remarry one day?” Somehow the news
pained her, feeling a pang of jealousy.

“I had not planned to, no. If I had my choice in
it I would not,” he said honesty and smiled. “My mother never fails
to point out how my father would roll over in his grave, or what I
miss out upon.”

“You and your wife have no children?” she asked,
waiting to see his response.

“No, that is no longer an option considering our
differences,” he said coolly and she sensed he was quite
effectively ending the conversation. “That is too far in the future
to trouble you, my dear. My next wife will be chosen more carefully
than my first was.”

But trouble her it did. When the lights went
down and the curtain opened, she endured the first act with a bevy
of questions. Intermission arrived and Catherine spied a nobleman
making his way towards their box. She recognized him from Clarice’s
salon.

Gabriel saw Lord Seaton approach and squeezed
her hand reassuringly. The man joined them and cleared his throat
as he greeted Gabriel. He looked at Catherine with a slightly
disrespectful gleam in his gaze.

“Lord Iverleigh, if I might call upon you
tomorrow?” the man asked quietly, with none of his usual arrogance
evident. “I have matters I wish to discuss with you.”

Gabriel nodded at Seaton and wondered what the
man wanted with him. “Of course, Lord Seaton, as you wish. Might I
ask what this is in regard to?”

“We will speak of it tomorrow, Iverleigh.”

Gabriel frowned at the man’s back as he
hurriedly walked away from the balcony. He noticed Lord Dartmouth
watching them intently from the box directly across, in the
opposite balcony.

He sat with a nondescript blonde woman who was
clearly not his wife. Gabriel could see the man had only eyes for
Catherine, and felt protective of her as those obsidian eyes raked
over her boldly. Dartmouth smiled and saluted Gabriel
condescendingly.

Gabriel was grateful when the last act arrived.
He watched Catherine’s face during the climax of the play and
smiled. She was getting rather pulled into the story. She had tears
misted in her eyes when the curtain finally came down. He was
grateful the horrid play was at an end, wanting nothing but to get
his comely mistress alone.

Catherine was conscious of the same open
scrutiny as they took their leave. She raised her chin a notch as
she saw the whispering behind the fans in the lobby as they
passed.

Gabriel he handed her up into the coach. He
joined her and smiled. “You did very well tonight, my dear. That
wasn’t too terribly awful for you, was it?”

“It was not too terrible if you like fishbowls.
I liked the play very much,” she admitted with a happy smile. “I
noticed you did not even watch it.”

“I was far too busy watching you, my sweet.”

Catherine stilled from the look in his dark
eyes. He reached out and his large hand grasped her small one in
his. It was a simple gesture, yet Catherine felt another flutter in
her middle.

“By tomorrow, we will be the talk of the town,”
he told her softly, bringing her hand to his lips. “I do not care.
I no longer wish to hide from them.”

“Is that what you have done all these years,
Gabriel? Hide from those people back at the theatre?”

“I prefer to call it being more selective in my
choice of companions,” he drawled with a teasing smile. “That is
probably why I prefer Nicholas’s company to any others, if you must
know.”

“He seems…well…not one who I would have thought
to be your choice of friends at all,” she began and he laughed and
shook his head.

“Do not be such a snob, Catherine. You could
never have more of a loyal friend than Nicholas. He is very much at
my back, and I am very much at his.”

Catherine said nothing, wondering if Nicholas’s
behavior in the gardens would be construed the act of a loyal
friend. She would never be the one to tell him.

“I am not a snob, Gabriel,” she argued
defensively, her emerald eyes narrowing. “Even you have to admit
your friendship is quite unlikely. An English lord and a smuggler
seem rather unlikely fellows.”

“There is more to Nicholas than meets the eye,
Catherine,” he said with a smile.

“You quite idolize Captain Van Ryker, don’t
you?”

“Yes, I believe I do. Nicholas has the freedom I
have always envied and never had,” Gabriel replied honestly and
kissed her hand softly.

Catherine felt her breath catch as his lips
lingered at the back of her hand. He turned her hand over and his
firm lips grazed her wrist.

“What would you do if you had such freedom as
his?” she asked and hung on his words, mesmerized by the look in
his eyes.

Gabriel thought of what she asked and looked
saddened.

“I would wish to make my choices based on what I
want, not what is expected, or necessary,” he said simply, his dark
eyes meeting hers, regret filling them.

“This matters so much to you?”

“Nothing matters as much when I am with you, my
sweet,” he said playfully and nipped her fingers gently, but his
dark eyes met hers with an earnest expression in them.

Catherine leaned her head upon his shoulder
during the ride home, content in the silence between them. She felt
she had at last peeled back another important layer in
understanding Gabriel. She felt incredibly in tuned to what drove
him now.

###

Gabriel held her against his chest as she slept,
feeling her heart beating against his own. His hand trembled as it
stroked her silky black hair. His dark eyes were solemn as he
realized the freedom he longed for was felt with her at that
moment.

He frowned when he thought of the letter he
received from his mother recently. Lady Wythe was horrified with
his future plans. She had in no uncertain terms withheld her
blessing in the matter. He held Catherine in his arms, vowing to
never let her go.

###

Catherine awoke slowly. She opened her eyes
drowsily and stretched languidly, feeling deliciously content. She
didn’t wish to move. She smiled when she looked at the place next
to her. There on the pillow next to her, was a single red rose.
Gabriel was gone, but she still felt him there. His scent on the
pillows made her close her eyes and sigh deeply.