“Why?”
“Because you are the only one left to pay for the death of my mother through heartbreak and my own impossible position of limbo regarding inheriting the earldom which should have been mine long ago!”
Victory had no knowledge of Evesham’s circumstances, but she could see from Gabriel’s expression that he was none the wiser for this explanation either.
Benedict Winter, who had come quietly to stand in the open doorway of the study, gave Victory a shrug to show that he had no idea what the younger man meant either.
“You really do not know, do you?” Evesham scorned at Gabriel’s puzzled expression. “Twenty years ago, when I was aged five, my previously happy family was thrown into turmoil and broken apart by a member of your own who had seduced my father.”
Gabriel stared blankly at the younger man for several long seconds before the truth took his breath away. “Can you be referring to my sister, Elizabeth?”
Evesham snorted. “She is the whore who took my father from me, yes.”
Gabriel felt his face pale at the realization the Earl of Newnham must be the man his sister had fallen in love with all those years ago. The man whose child she was carrying when she was cast out by their own father.
“Where is Elizabeth now?” Gabriel demanded to know.
“Dead,” Evesham announced triumphantly. “Believe me, if she were not, then I would have taken great pleasure in carrying out that task myself!”
“Gabriel, no,” Victory cried out as he rushed toward the other man.
Winter was the one to step between the two men, preventing Gabriel from reaching Evesham. “Much as it might please you to do so now, it will serve no purpose for you to kill him once you have been arrested and hanged for murder,” he said gently.
“I would have the satisfaction of knowing the bastard is also dead!” Gabriel bit out harshly.
“But then you will never learn what has become of your niece,” Evesham taunted.
Gabriel startled. “My niece?”
The younger man nodded. “All this knowledge came to me six months ago, after my mother died and all her private papers were passed on to me.” He gave Gabriel a pitying sneer. “My half sister, your niece, was born to your own sister before she died in childbirth.”
Gabriel staggered slightly before he managed to grasp the back of a chair. He had always known this might be the outcome of his search for Elizabeth but that did not make the knowledge of her death any less of an emotional blow.
Evesham’s expression became bleak. “My father was so prostrate at the death of his lover, he went insane with grief and was admitted to a French asylum. He resides there still. Out of reach. Neither dead nor alive. The Earl of Newnham in nothing but name,” he added disgustedly.
“That is why you gave yourself the name ‘the earl’?” Winter rasped.
Evesham’s mouth twisted. “An irony on my part, yes.”
Winter looked at him coldly. “You are as insane as your father.”
The younger man appeared unconcerned by the accusation. “Perhaps, but since my mother’s death, I am also the only one with the knowledge of where Blackborne’s newborn niece was placed after her mother died in childbirth and my father’s incarceration in the asylum mere weeks later.”
The statement was so obviously a true one that Gabriel was left speechless at the younger man’s cruelty.
Learning that his beloved sister was dead was a severe blow but it was being softened somewhat by the knowledge his niece still lived. At least, she had been so nineteen years ago…
“What did Rafferty ever do to you?” Winter demanded to know. “Or was Shaftesbury your real target?” he added shrewdly.
Evesham appeared totally relaxed as he leaned against the chaise. “Rafferty owed me money from gambling debts. It seemed too good to be true when I learned he was even more in debt to Shaftesbury. So I offered him a perfectly reasonable deal: kill Shaftesbury, and I would wipe out his debt to me. Bastard refused to do it.”
“So you had him killed,” Winter probed.
The younger man shrugged. “He had become superfluous to me, and I had gauged that his murder might point to Shaftesbury as the culprit, a man I know to be a close friend of Blackborne.”
“And the attack on yourself?”
Evesham shrugged. “Less chance of being suspected as the perpetrator if I had been one of the people attacked.”
Gabriel’s frown was pained. “So all of this, Rafferty’s murder, the attacks outside, and the incidents inside Club Venus, were all a means of punishing me because my sister and your father fell in love?”
“They had no right to do so.” Evesham’s face was flushed with temper.
“I have no idea what your father’s circumstances were—”
“There is nothing more that needs to be known other than he was a married man with a small child!” the younger man accused.
Gabriel could not dispute that. But he knew his sister well enough to know she would not have deliberately broken up a happy marriage. Nor could Gabriel believe Newnham had entered the love affair lightly. He had left his wife and son, given up his place in Society to move to France, in order to be with the woman he loved. Then later been driven insane with grief when Elizabeth died.
Those actions spoke of a deep love on both Elizabeth’s and Newnham’s part.
They were not excuse enough for what had happened, of course, and never would be in Evesham’s eyes. But Gabriel, deeply in love with Victory, saw a wider picture, and he would not hesitate to give up anything and everything to be with her.
“What became of my niece?” he prompted Evesham.
The other man eyed him mockingly. “That is for me to know and for you to find out.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “At least tell me if she still lives.”
“She does, yes.”
Then Gabriel would continue to search for her, and he would not give up until he had found her.
Chapter Fourteen
“Gabriel, please drink some of this brandy,” Victory encouraged him gently.
He looked at her blankly even as he took the glass from her and sipped the fiery liquid. It was not just as if he had forgotten she was there, but as if he did not even know who she was.
Lord Winter had accompanied Victory and Gabriel to the ducal coach so that she might accompany him back to Blackborne House. The doctor had offered to remain behind at Club Venus to wait for the authorities to arrive so that he might see to Lord Evesham being arrested and charged with paying for the men who killed Rafferty, and the attacks on Lord Gordon and Jimmy. They could hardly bring charges for his having had himself attacked in an effort to cover up his other crimes.
Gabriel hadn’t spoken a word on the drive back to Blackborne House, or after they entered the house and retired to the privacy of his study.
Victory was now trying to get him to drink some of the brandy she’d had Ellis bring to them in an effort to alleviate some of the delayed shock Gabriel was now suffering.
It must be heartbreaking for him to have learned of his sister’s death in this way, and Evesham was a bastard for refusing to tell Gabriel what had happened to Elizabeth’s child.
But Victory had no doubt Gabriel, once he recovered from his grief, would resume his search for his niece with fresh vigor now that he knew she still lived.
“I am so sorry about your niece, Gabriel.” Victory lifted her hands to cup her palms about either side of his face. “But you will find her,” she added strongly. “I have no doubt that you will find her and bring her home.”
As he had found Victory when he searched for her in St Giles.
And brought her home?
Victory knew Gabriel was now her home, for as long as he would allow her to remain with him.
He blinked, his gaze no longer unfocused as he looked at her. “Will you accompany me to France?”
She was taken aback by the invitation. “I— Yes, of course, if you t
hink having a—a friend there will be of help.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Having my wife at my side would be of greater help.”
Victory pulled back. “You are to be married?”
He nodded. “If the lady will have me, yes.”
Any woman would be both honored and ecstatic to become Gabriel’s wife. To be cherished by him. Loved. Possibly even adored.
“In that case, I must refuse your invitation to accompany you to France.” Victory kept her gaze fixed on the carpet at her feet as she swallowed before speaking again. “I could not bear… My presence would only be an intrusion upon your new marriage.” And far too painful, despite Victory’s reluctance to be parted from Gabriel, for her to suffer through.
Even the thought of Gabriel happily married to another woman, and so far out of her reach, made Victory’s chest tighten until she could barely breathe.
Her vision became blurry as tears trembled on her lashes before falling hotly down her cheeks.
She couldn’t see.
Couldn’t think beyond the nightmare of Gabriel married to another woman.
She couldn’t move, even though she desperately wanted to run away to hide the pain tearing her apart inside.
I can no longer breathe, she had time to accept as dark spots appeared in front of her eyes, and then everything went black.
* * *
“Victory? My love, come back to me!”
She could hear Gabriel’s words, just as she could feel the firmness of his thighs beneath her bottom and hear the beat of his heart as he held her in his arms, her head resting against his muscular chest.
He had no right to be holding her this close, nor to call her his love, when he was shortly to marry someone else.
But Victory didn’t want to open her eyes yet, to acknowledge that she and Gabriel could never be like this again. Worse, they must soon part.
“I wish to make love to you, and I cannot do so while you remain unconscious,” Gabriel murmured huskily. “And I desperately need to make love to you, my darling Victory.”
Her lids flew open, and she sat up to glare at him. “How can you even think of doing such a thing and calling me by that endearment when you have told me you are shortly to be married?”
His smile was gentle, but his arms remained unyielding about her as they both sat in the chaise in front of the window. “I had hoped you would take pity on me and not mind if we anticipated our wedding vows by a few days.”
Victory stared at him incomprehensively. “I don’t… You said… Our wedding vows?”
Gabriel eyed her quizzically. “Will you marry me, Victory? I realize we have not known each other for very long, but I love you beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
“You love me?” she gasped.
He nodded. “You have become the first person I think of in the morning, the last one I think of at night, and you are rarely from my thoughts in the hours in between,” he acknowledged self-derisively.
“I feel the same way about you,” she admitted huskily.
His eyes glittered. “You love me?”
“So much so that the thought of ever being parted from you is physically painful for me—” She broke off as Gabriel’s lips crashed down onto her own and he kissed her long and deeply.
“Say it again,” Gabriel groaned.
“I love you,” she repeated obediently. “But you cannot marry me.” Much as Victory might wish it were possible, she knew it was not.
But oh dear God, Gabriel loved her.
Gabriel loved her!
“Why not?” he humored her.
“You would be ruined if you married a nobody like me!”
He gave a shake of his head. “I am already ruined in regard to desiring any other woman but yourself.”
Her cheeks flushed. “That is not what I meant, and you know it is not!”
Gabriel eyed her calmly. “Then tell me why it is I cannot marry the woman I love and adore and wish to spend the rest of my life with?”
“Because… You love and adore me?” she repeated breathlessly.
“I do.” Gabriel’s fingers made short work of the buttons fastening the back of her gown before allowing the material to slide down her arms and fall to her waist. “Not only are you fiery and defiant, but you are exquisitely beautiful.” The heat of his lips nuzzled her bared throat and the tops of her breasts.
“Is fiery and defiant a good thing…?”
Gabriel chuckled, his breath warm against her flesh. “It is for me. I would be bored in a week with a milksop of a woman. You will never bore me, Victory, only enchant and beguile me,” he assured gruffly.
Heated desire suffused Victory’s body. “And when I am naughty?”
He laughed softly. “Then you will be spanked and made love to until we are both exhausted.” He sobered. “Marry me, Victory.”
“Society would never allow—”
“To hell with Society.” Gabriel slipped down the ribbon straps of her chemise before baring her breasts completely. “Marry me, Victory.” He slowly licked and then suckled one turgid nipple into his mouth.
Victory’s back arched involuntarily, pushing her nipple deeper into that moist heat. “No.”
Gabriel threw up the skirts of her gown before unfastening and removing her drawers. “Marry me, Victory,” he murmured distractedly, his gaze and attention all centered on her bared mound and pussy.
“You know we cannot,” she gasped as one of his long fingers stroked and then parted her pussy lips.
“Marry me?” he pressed, that finger still stroking against and breaching her channel as he laid her back on the chaise to lift and place her parted legs on his shoulders. “Marry me, Victory?” he breathed hotly before his lips fastened about and suckled on the swollen nubbin amongst her curls.
“No…” she groaned weakly.
Gabriel’s fingers stroked her nubbin as he pushed his tongue inside her weeping channel, licking and thrusting until Victory was groaning with need, her hips arching up to meet those thrusts.
One more thrust of his tongue accompanied by the flick of his finger against her nubbin, and Victory came, her body quaking and then rippling in the aftershocks.
“Marry me,” Gabriel demanded.
“I cannot…”
“I shall keep making love to you until you say yes, bringing you to climax after climax,” he warned. “Unless you do not love me enough?” he added uncertainly.
“I love you so much, my heart threatens to burst with it!” she reassured. “But I do not wish to be the cause of your being shunned by Society and your friends. You say it does not matter now,” she continued as he would have spoken. “But once you are become bored with our marriage, of being ostracized by Society, you will realize you have made a mistake by choosing me over all that is familiar to you.”
Gabriel chuckled softly. “You do not think owning and running Club Venus is enough reason for the ton to have shunned me these past five years?”
A frown creased her brow. “I had not thought of it that way…”
“Then do so.” He nodded. “And while you are about it, consider my friend Shaftesbury not a week ago marrying the daughter of a seamstress and a stepfather who was murdered because of his gambling debts. A woman Bastian fell in love with, moreover, while she was residing at Club Venus.”
Her eyes were wide. “He really did that?”
“Yes, he did, and Winter and I, and our other close friend Julius Soames, are still and will always remain his friends. As they will remain my friends when we are married. The people who matter to us do not give a fuck whom we marry, only that we are happy.”
Victory could feel her objections crumbling. In truth, she wanted nothing more than to be with Gabriel forever, hated even thinking of living a life without him in it.
“Marry me,” Gabriel’s heated gaze remained fixed on her as he rose to his feet and began to remove his clothes.
“Oh God…” Victory groaned weakly once
Gabriel was completely naked. Each muscle of his shoulders and chest were defined, his waist slender, legs powerful, and between his thighs, his cock rose thick and engorged, the bulbous top resting against his navel.
“I am going to make love with you now,” he stated once he had settled his naked and aroused body between her thighs, the weight of his muscular torso supported on his elbows so that he did not crush her slender frame. “After which, we shall make the necessary arrangements for our wedding to take place as soon as possible. Are you in agreement with that plan?”
Victory could barely think let alone decide anything when Gabriel was naked above her, the thickness of his cock nestled against the entrance to her pussy.
Even so… “You do not have to marry me for us to be together like this.”
Gabriel’s eyes now glittered with anger rather than warmth. “If you think I will settle for anything less than marriage, then you are mistaken.” His palms settled either side of her face as he gazed deeply into her eyes. “I love you, Victory. I have never loved any woman before you. I will love no other woman after you. You say you love me. If that is true, would you truly condemn me to a life of loneliness without you at my side as my wife?”
Would she condemn them both to that life, for the sake of a Society Gabriel said meant nothing to him?
She touched his cheek with gentle fingertips. “I love and adore you, and I would be honored to become your wife,” she told him emotionally.
“At last!” Gabriel kissed her deeply, reverently. “I love you, Victory,” he murmured as he slowly but determinedly began to push his cock past and then through her pussy lips. He swallowed her pained gasp in another kiss as he breached the barrier of her virginity before sliding home completely.
Home.
Because that’s what Victory was to him now.
His home.
His love.
His forever.
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Gabriel's Torment (Regency Club Venus 2) Page 12