It was one of the most surreal afternoons of Gabrielle's life. She was undressed, given a quick wipe down, and redressed, before being comfortably set up in the morning room, where everyone went out of their way to see to her needs.
Felix didn't leave her side for a moment, while his mother flitted in and out of the room as she thought of more items which might make Gabrielle more comfortable or which she was sure Gabrielle would want for entertainment. Even Felix's father stopped by to check in on her, bringing with him a book that he thought she might like to read.
Gabrielle nearly cried at his quiet but heartfelt concern.
******
His wife was breaking his heart.
It wasn't her injury - although he felt helpless and aggrieved every time her forehead wrinkled and her eyes betrayed her pain. It was her surprise, her confusion, at the attention she was receiving. The wonder on her face when his father stopped by to see her, and the reverent way she held the book he proffered up. She practically hugged the damned thing to her like a child holding a stuffed animal.
She also kept eyeing him warily, as if she expected him to bite off her head any moment.
Felix was losing his temper, but not with her. Definitely not with her. He just couldn't countenance what her reactions said about the kind of treatment she was used to.
Not once did she make a complaint. Not a single demand.
It was completely unexpected, especially after the behavior he'd seen in London and the things Cordelia had told him. As he watched his mother fuss over his injured wife, he frowned, trying to figure out what had changed between London and here.
As he thought about it, it occurred to him that he'd actually never seen Gabrielle be demanding in London. She'd been waspish, bitter, and sharp-tongued, and both Philip and Cordelia had told him about a shopping trip where she'd overspent and snuck in a few more items... but looking at Gabrielle's behavior now, he couldn't help but wonder if that had been more of a call for attention than anything else. From what Cordelia had told him, Gabrielle had always been spoiled materially by her father. It was clear from what he'd learned since then that he definitely hadn't spoiled her in any other way.
Cordelia had always been sympathetic to Gabrielle, and insisted that there was a good heart despite her behavior, but now he wondered... was Cordelia too close to the situation? Had she neglected Gabrielle in a different way? After all, she wasn't Gabrielle's mother. She was barely older than Gabrielle herself. Both she and Philip had mentioned that Gabrielle set herself up as a rival for Cordelia when it came to suitors... could that have influenced Cordelia's behavior with her?
As often as Cordelia had spoken of placating Gabrielle, she'd done so with a kind of martyrish air that had seemed all too understandable at the time. Had Cordelia always seen herself as a martyr when it came to her relationship with Gabrielle? It would be hard to give Gabrielle the kind of acceptance and yet firm guidance that Gabrielle needed if the authority figure saw Gabrielle as a burden that they were resigned to.
Although Cordelia surely had had the best of intentions, Felix was coming to the conclusion that she had not always had the best attitude towards Gabrielle or the best way of handling her stepdaughter.
Just look at the worshipful way that Gabrielle responded to his own mother, who had welcomed her with open arms and immediately assumed her to be wonderful. Perhaps the Baron's attitudes towards his daughter had still been passed on, in slightly altered form, to Cordelia, whereas Felix's mother met Gabrielle with no preconceptions or judgment, despite the hasty wedding.
This was all conjecture, but he swore to himself that when they returned to London, he would keep a closer eye on the relationship between Cordelia and Gabrielle. In London, he'd been rather wishy-washy about whether or not he wanted to court Gabrielle, in large part because her behavior and attitudes were so mercurial, but he'd always been drawn to the side of her that had become fully realized over the past few days. Now that he was certain this was her true self, he didn't want her to fall back into her old, brittle, waspish habits. Part of that would be her own responsibility, of course, but he would protect her from any outside influences that might cause her to revert, even if it came from a friend.
His protective side was irrevocably stirred, and he realized that, even as his heart was breaking for her, he was absolutely in love with his wife. Which would be wonderful if she felt the same for him... he felt as though he'd made some headway in that regard, but it also seemed as though she was just trying to make the best of the situation. Understandable, but he wanted more. He wanted her fiery spirit submitting to him joyfully, he wanted to be the one to bolster her, support her, to shower her with time and attention, love and care, and to protect her and guide her to the happiest life possible. A life with him.
It occurred to him, as he watched his mother and wife, that this injury was actually going to be detrimental to those plans. After all, with an immobile wife, trying to find the privacy to be intimate with her and to seduce her was going to be even more difficult than with a mobile one. And he hadn't been doing a very good job with the latter already.
So when Gabrielle's eyes fluttered in tiredness, and she lay down on the daybed - after allowing Felix to prop up her wrapped ankle on a cushion - and fell asleep, Felix went in search of his father. His mother opted to stay and watch over Gabrielle in case she awoke needing anything. Which was exactly what Felix wanted to speak to his father about.
He found his father in his study, which brought back all sorts of memories from childhood. There had been many times that he'd gone in search of his father, needing or wanting something, and ended up in this room with its familiar faint smell of brandy, musk, wood, and cigar smoke. It seemed much smaller now than it had when he was a child, of course.
"What can I do for you, son? Does Gabrielle need something?" Affection flashed in the Viscount's hazel eyes at his daughter-in-law's name. Felix couldn't help but grin, both because of how easily Gabrielle had captured his parents' hearts and at how well his father knew him.
"No, mother has her well in hand, even if she wasn't napping right now." Although he tried to keep his pique out of his voice, his father caught it anyway.
Setting down his fountain pen, the older man leaned back in his chair, his lips quirking with amusement. "I take that to mean that your mother has Gabrielle so well in hand that you've been rendered unnecessary?"
"Yes," Felix said shortly, coming forward to sit down across from his father in one of the comfortable leather chairs. "I appreciate Mother's concern, and it's not that I don't love you both dearly but..." He paused, trying to think of the least offensive way to phrase his issue.
"But your honeymoon would be much easier without your parents around," his father said, chuckling. He'd never been one to mince words for politeness sake, a trait the Viscountess despaired of.
"More so now that Gabrielle will have to stay off of her feet for at least a week, if not more," Felix said, giving his father a lopsided grin.
"Immobility does make escaping your mother more difficult," his father said, returning the grin, making them look very alike despite the age difference. Then his father sighed. "I suppose I could take her to London for a few weeks."
The resignation in his voice made it sound as though he was facing the hangman's noose. Felix's grin widened.
"I appreciate your sacrifice, sir."
"You should," his father grumbled. "You'll be enjoying the countryside and your new wife, while I'll be surrounded by a bunch of blathering twits, when I'm not being harassed by those dragons your mother calls friends."
"You can always escape to Thomas'," Felix suggested. He tilted his head as a thought passed through his mind. "Or you could send Mother there, with her friends. Now that I'm married, I'm sure she'll be feeling rather... motivated when it comes to my brothers."
His father looked a bit cheerier. "That's true. And if she's focused on him then she won't notice if I miss a few events."
Somehow Felix doubted that, but he also know his mother wouldn't put up as much of a fuss about his father's absence if she had something else to focus on. Poor Thomas. Unfortunately for him, Felix was perfectly willing to throw his brother to the wolves - or the young misses in this case - if it meant he would have Gabrielle to himself.
Chapter 9
Sending off her in-laws made Gabrielle's eyes well up with tears. She'd rather enjoyed being fussed over by Mother, and she couldn't imagine how she was going to spend her days now. Last night, for the first time, she'd slept (rather poorly) in her own bed. While Felix had said it was because he didn't want to accidentally hurt her ankle, she'd still felt rather abandoned. Then Mother had appeared first thing in the morning with a breakfast tray, plenty of attention to shower down on Gabrielle, and the unhappy news that she and the Viscount would be going to London as soon as they were packed.
"I'll write to you as soon as we arrive," Mother said kindly, leaning down to air kiss Gabrielle's cheeks.
The morning had been spent with the household in an uproar as they hastily packed the Viscount and Vicountess' trunks, but even through that, Mother had taken the time to check in on Gabrielle and entertain her.
Gabrielle pouted, feeling some of her old sulkiness creeping back into her heart. "I don't understand why you have to go."
"A wife belongs with her husband," Mother said, her voice comforting, although her gaze slid to her son instead, where he was hovering in the doorway of the morning room. Just past him in the hall, Papa was coming down the stairs, shouting for his valet to attend him. "And I have things to do in London as well."
"I thought you were staying here this Season, though." Gabrielle knew she sounded petulant. Her father had often given in to her when she'd used this tone of voice, that or sent her away. Cordelia had always attempted to placate her, and the Marquess had just given her a stern look that meant she should be quiet.
Mother kissed her forehead, which just caused more tears to spark in the back of Gabrielle's eyes, her nose feeling as though it was swelling as she tried to sniff away her roiling emotions.
"Lizzie! We need to go."
"We'll see each other again before you know it," she said, instead of answering the question in Gabrielle's voice. As she stood, Gabrielle saw the Viscountess shoot a dark look at Felix.
The Viscount came in to say goodbye to Gabrielle, while she pondered the look that Mother had given Felix. The older man admonished Gabrielle to take care of herself, before repeating that order to Felix. A little smile worked its way onto her lips as she realized that neither parent had told her to look after Felix, only the other way around.
Was it her imagination, or did Mother seem irritated with Felix? Her farewell to her son was not as warm as Gabrielle would have imagined.
"I'll return in a moment," Felix said to her, before following his parents from the room.
She could hear them leaving out the front door, and the clatter as the carriage and baggage train moved away from the house. Frowning, she carefully considered everything she'd seen this morning. Every gesture of the Viscountess', everything she'd said - and everything she hadn't. There was only one conclusion Gabrielle could come to.
So when her handsome husband returned to the room, looking sinfully attractive in his breeches and muslin shirt, with just a vest over it rather than a full jacket, Gabrielle ignored the reaction of her body to being totally alone with him and narrowed her eyes. Unfortunately she couldn't stand up - her ankle was still quite swollen and painful - but she could glare with the best of them no matter her position.
"Did you tell your parents to go to London?"
He stopped immediately, standing in the center of the room, an expression of guilt on his face. It only lasted a moment, but that was all Gabrielle needed.
"How could you?!"
"It's our honeymoon, Gabrielle, we weren't supposed to be spending it with them anyway." His voice was soothing, placating, and he held out his hands in supplication as he started moving towards her again. "You can't possibly have wanted to spend our honeymoon with my parents."
Gabrielle snatched up one of the many cushions on the day bed - not the one holding up her ankle of course - and launched it at him.
He caught it, his dark eyes blazing as his forward momentum ground to a halt. The look in his eyes did not bode well for her, but she was too upset with him to care.
******
She'd thrown a cushion at him! Felix couldn't believe it. He started towards her again, intent on putting her over his knee. "Gabrielle!"
"Don't come near me!" she shouted at him, her voice rising until it was near to hysteria at the end. Immediately he stopped moving forward. Not because she was going to get her way necessarily, but because he was legitimately confused by the deepness of her distress. "How could you just send your parents away? Just when I was beginning to know them?! You never asked me what I wanted, you just decided and sent them away. So now who is to keep me company when you're busy? Am I just going to be trapped in this room, alone and without anyone to speak with?"
"You'll speak with me, of course, I'm not going to leave you alone on our honeymoon!" Felix protested. He decided to forgive her the thrown cushion. Although she was behaving a bit hysterically, and over-dramatically - making him sound like some villain from a Gothic novel, keeping her trapped in a high tower - she did also make a good point. He had not spoken with her about removing his parents from the household. While he'd realized his mother would be upset, it had not occurred to him that their leaving might have such an effect on Gabrielle.
"I don't want to talk to you, I want to talk to Mother!"
And that was the telling sentence. She hadn't said "your" mother, she'd just said Mother. Felix sighed, remorse filling him. Dammit. He hadn't thought about that aspect of the situation. He'd been so eager to have Gabrielle all to himself that, even knowing how she felt about his parents and his mother in particular, he’d been rather thoughtless. It was not well done of him.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart," he said, holding the cushion she'd thrown at him in front of him like a shield against the tears that were glimmering in her emerald eyes. "You're right, I shouldn't have asked them to leave without asking your feelings on the subject."
The expression on Gabrielle's face was almost amusing. At least, it would have been if he hadn't been feeling both guilty and like a bit of a reprobate - not to mention what it revealed about her life. She was completely taken aback by his apology, almost as if she didn't understand that she was receiving one. There was a kind of shock in her eyes and she was barely breathing. The tears had dissipated as she blinked in confusion. All in all, she looked as though she was struggling to comprehend exactly what he was saying. The suspicion that filled her expression after a few moments only made him feel worse.
"I meant it," he said, keeping his voice soft and imbuing as much sincerity into as he could. "I was only thinking about what I wanted, and I did not mean to, but regardless, that is what happened and it was not well done of me."
"No it wasn't." She said the words tartly, but without the same kind of hysterical passion that she'd used before. In fact, she said them almost defiantly, as if testing him.
Felix raised an eyebrow at her. "That does not, however, excuse your reaction." He held up the cushion. "There will be no more tantrums and certainly no more throwing things if you're unhappy with me. I am always willing to talk, but not if you're behaving like a child."
"Then perhaps you shouldn't treat me like one, and you should talk to me, before making assumptions about what I would and wouldn't like!" The hysterical edge to her voice was rising again, the defiant tilt of her chin becoming even more pronounced. "You can't dictate to me how you expect me to feel!"
She threw another cushion at him.
Felix caught it with his other hand and immediately tossed both on the floor, advancing on her with implacable sternness. It was obvious to him that Gabrielle was no longer truly feeling put out, she
was throwing the tantrum for the sake of throwing a tantrum. Testing her boundaries. The way a child might, but also the way a submissive woman might when faced with a new situation. They were all alone here now, she was immobile, and she might have seen his apology as weakness. Truthfully, he should have expected this.
"Stop! Stop!" Gabrielle's shrieks went ignored as Felix gently but firmly took her wrists in hand and maneuvered her over his knee, careful to keep her injured ankle on its cushion. "You can't do this! I'm injured!"
"And if you injure yourself more by thrashing around, you will only add to the tally of spanks I'm going to give you," he said, pressing down on her back to hold her in place over his lap. Both her upper and lower body were supported by the day bed, which meant that her rump wasn't as high in the air as he might have liked, but it would do.
"You can't spank me until I feel the way you want me to feel!"
"I said nothing about dictating your feelings, that was your interpretation. I will respect your feelings, and you will respect mine, but I will not tolerate you behaving like a child and throwing tantrums because of those feelings," he lectured as he pulled her skirts up and pushed open the center of her drawers. The white silk framed her bottom nicely, showing off quite a bit of her thighs as well, making his cock stir. Staying away from her last night had been torturous, and he was regretting it a bit now. He bet if she'd been given a good tumble last night, she wouldn't be half so feisty with him today.
******
What was wrong with her?
There must be something, because she was feeling something strangely like relief as Felix pressed her down over his thighs. Why would she be relieved? Why did some part of her relax as he pulled her skirts up?
She still squirmed, trying to get away, half in shock that he would spank her while her ankle was still injured when he wouldn't even go to bed with her last night, and yet she couldn't get away from the sense of satisfaction that crowded in next to her other emotions... the inexplicable alleviation of her anxiety and unhappiness now that she was over his lap with her bottom bared.
Gabrielle's Discipline (Bridal Discipline Book 3) Page 12