The Unexpected Marriage of Gabriel Stone (Lords of Disgrace)

by Louise Allen

  ‘Bastard,’ Tamsyn said, with feeling. ‘Men like that need a good flogging themselves.’

  Caroline’s slender shoulders as she sat there on the floor draped in that bath sheet, the pale, soft skin. The delicate bones under his hands on the narrow bed... He could not get the image out of his head. And that swine had struck her. He was going to pay for that.

  ‘But I do not see how we can avoid scandal,’ Tess said. ‘Caroline is of age, of course, and that helps. But you can’t marry her under a false name and even though you can obviously protect her physically, you can’t hide her. This is not a novel with secret wives hidden in some tower in the forest. Knighton and Woodruffe will raise every kind of storm. Lady Caroline will never be received at Court.’

  ‘Or, given your reputation already, Gabe, anywhere else,’ Alex commented.

  ‘Marriage?’ Gabriel stared at them, jolted right out of his normal control. ‘Are you mad? Whatever gave you the idea I want to marry the chit?’ Damnation, this was what came of brooding about feelings, I let my guard down and overreact.

  ‘The fact that you eloped with her?’ Cris said.

  ‘Lord Edenbridge did not elope with me. He helped me escape.’ The voice from the doorway was cool and polite and, Gabriel could tell after days spent in her company, the speaker was furious.

  The other men got to their feet and Gabriel followed, more slowly. Caroline was standing behind him, her hair in ringlets on top of her head, her creased gown restored to order, her expression completely unreadable.

  ‘I have no intention of marrying Lord Edenbridge and he has no desire to marry me, which is an agreeable coincidence, is it not?’

  She passed him, close enough to touch, close enough for him to have reached out and twitched a pin or two out of that provoking coiffure to see her hair tumble free. Gabriel kept his hands by his side and worked on restoring his expression to one of amused calm.

  ‘I am very grateful to you, my lord,’ she said earnestly, stopping just in front of him. ‘But if you call me a chit again I will have you kidnapped and force-fed sherry for a week.’

  ‘You were eavesdropping,’ he drawled, still fighting the tumbling curls fantasy. ‘No one ever hears good of themselves by listening at doors.’

  ‘A fortnight,’ Caroline amended with a sweet smile.

  Cris gave a crack of laughter. ‘Please, take my chair, Lady Caroline.’

  ‘Thank you, Lord Avenmore.’

  She sat with perfect decorum, while Gabriel’s memory provided a series of images of anything but ladylike behaviour—Caroline scrambling up the chimney, Caroline in a tangle of wet towels, Caroline standing on his hearth rug making him an outrageous proposition. Caroline under him in the split second before he got control of himself. He knew which version he preferred. He lowered his lids and sent her the smouldering look that was guaranteed to send innocent young debutantes fleeing to their mamas like a flock of panicking chickens. The one that should send her to safety from a man who was thoroughly unsuited for matrimony.

  She looked down her nose at him, perfectly composed, then turned towards Tess. ‘I do not expect ever to regain the place in society I once had,’ she explained. ‘I am hoping for something respectable, but retired, like a companion’s post. I might pass muster as a nursery governess, I suppose. Or I could keep house, I have done that for my father for years.’

  ‘You would need references,’ Tamsyn pointed out. ‘Although we could supply those.’

  ‘You are ridiculously young to be a housekeeper,’ Gabriel said, sharply enough for the others to turn and look at him.

  ‘It is the most respectable option,’ Tamsyn pointed out with annoying reasonableness. ‘And the safest. Housekeepers have some status in the establishment so they are less at the mercy of predatory males in the household than governesses are and companions are very likely to become general dogsbodies.’

  ‘Even so.’ Gabriel waved a hand to encompass Caroline’s face, hairstyle, figure. ‘She looks far too young.’ And vulnerable. And tempting. And she should be kept away from men like him. Men who had no model of a decent marriage, men whose very blood was tainted. Blood. The picture swirled back from behind the locked door. His father’s broken body, the blood on the marble. His father dead, the death itself the scandal of the area because Gabriel had failed in his duty to those who depended on him.

  ‘A cap, a pair of spectacles with plain glass and a severe manner,’ suggested Tess, her head on one side, eyes narrowed, as she studied Caroline. ‘Add a sensible wardrobe, a chatelaine... There is nothing like a bunch of keys rattling at the waist to give an impression of gravitas. I made Alex an admirable housekeeper.’

  Her husband snorted. ‘I would be interested to see the slightest evidence of gravitas, my lady.’

  ‘I still do not like it,’ Gabriel said, attempting to ignore their exchange of adoring looks. What the devil was he doing? He had brought Caroline here so his friends could help her and they were. It was not as though he had any brilliant ideas himself. They would help protect her from Woodruffe and her father and they would protect her from him, the man who wanted to taste that innocence at the same time as he wanted to guard it.

  All three women sent him exasperated looks, Alex regarded the ceiling and pursed his lips in a silent whistle and Cris observed, ‘If you do not marry Lady Caroline, her options are very limited.’

  ‘Lord Edenbridge’s wishes in the matter are irrelevant,’ Caroline said, very pink in the face. ‘I have no intention of marrying him. Grateful as I am to him for rescuing me, he is not, I am sure you would agree, suitable husband material.’

  ‘I never suggested that I was,’ Gabriel retorted. But if I was, would I be courting you, Caroline? Would I want that smile and those lips, that loyalty and that passion, for myself? Oh, yes.

  ‘Luncheon is served, my lady.’

  ‘I’m sure we’ll all be in a much better frame of mind for planning when we have eaten,’ Tess said, getting to her feet and leading the way to the dining room.

  * * *

  ‘How did you meet?’ Cris enquired once they were all seated with food in front of them.

  ‘My father lost an estate in Hertfordshire to Lord Edenbridge. It should have gone to my younger brother. I explained the situation and Lord Edenbridge kindly agreed to keep Springbourne in trust for Anthony until he is of age.’

  The words He did what? hung unspoken in the air.

  ‘Remarkably generous of you, Gabriel,’ Cris eventually remarked.

  ‘Remarkably unlike you,’ Alex added.

  ‘I am not in the business of robbing innocent striplings of their inheritance simply because their parent is a fool,’ Gabriel retorted. ‘I would never have accepted the stake if I had known. Lady Caroline saved me from an unwitting blunder.’

  ‘It was brave of you to approach someone with such a wild reputation as Gabriel, Caroline,’ Tamsyn said. ‘That would have been at Lady Ancaster’s soirée, I imagine.’

  ‘No, I went to his house before then,’ Caroline admitted calmly.

  Surely she was not going to tell them about that outrageous offer? His conscience, unused to scrutiny in the harsh light of day, was still tender on that subject.

  ‘I explained the circumstances frankly and Lord Edenbridge was very...accommodating.’

  ‘I am still not clear when Gabriel realised you had a further problem, or quite what he was doing in Hertfordshire,’ Cris said as he buttered a roll. ‘From a fleeting allusion he made when he was down in Devon, I gather you had met some time in June, yet here we are in early August.’

  ‘We had some limited correspondence about the estate,’ Gabriel said, choosing his words with care. ‘I suspected something was wrong and when I discovered that Lord Knighton was looking for a hermit for his park I thought it would be amusing to see if I could fool him an
d check on Lady Caroline’s well-being at the same time.’

  ‘A hermit?’ For once he had the satisfaction of seeing Cris’s jaw drop. He made a quick recovery. ‘Hence the appalling length of your hair, I assume,’ he drawled.

  ‘It went beautifully with the beard,’ Caroline remarked demurely. ‘Lord Edenbridge grewa most impressive one and spoke with a Welsh accent.’

  ‘Yes, and please do not do it again.’ Alex gave an exaggerated shudder. ‘My dear fellow, one must make every effort to assist a lady, but really, there are limits.’

  ‘I doubt you could produce a beard that would cover your features in under a month, Tempest,’ Gabriel retorted.

  ‘I’d advise a severe and fashionable crop as well,’ Cris said. ‘Just in case Knighton comes storming up to town and recognises his missing hermit. I’ll get my valet to cut it for you.’

  ‘The things I do for you, Lady Caroline,’ Gabriel said, trying to recall the last time he had had a haircut that might have been thought severe and fashionable.

  ‘I am exceedingly grateful, my lord.’ She dimpled prettily at him across the table, looking so much like some air-headed miss, and so unlike the young woman he had come to know, that he almost choked on his ale.

  ‘I have an idea,’ Tess said suddenly. ‘We’ll go down and talk to Mrs Sanders, our housekeeper. She’ll soon transform you into a convincing candidate.’

  ‘She transforms me into a nervous jelly,’ Alex admitted. ‘Fearsome woman.’

  ‘And Tamsyn and I will write you references, and I’ll get in touch with Kate in Northumberland and ask her for one as well, and then you’ll be ready to approach the domestic agencies. Unless we can come up with someone who needs a housekeeper before then.’

  Needs a housekeeper... Really, his brain must have been atrophied by the country air. Why on earth had he not thought of it before? ‘There is no need for references, although the training might be a good thing.’ Gabriel put down his knife and fork and swept a glance around the table. ‘May I present to you the new housekeeper of Springbourne?’

  ‘Oh, how clever of you, Gabriel!’ Caroline beamed at him across the table, all dignity forgotten, and he caught the swift exchange of glances between the other women at her use of his name. ‘Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll be safe there until Anthony comes of age in five years’ time. Father thinks it is yours, so he will have no reason to go anywhere near it. Then, when Anthony can legally control it, I can continue living with him.’

  ‘Are there staff there now?’ Tess asked.

  ‘Just a few, I think, more for security than anything else,’ she said, suddenly serious. ‘They certainly do not know me by sight.’

  ‘I sent my man of business down to report,’ Gabriel said. ‘He found a tenant at the Home Farm who had only been there a year and who seemed competent enough. The house is virtually shut up, as Caroline says, with an elderly housekeeper and a trio of indoor servants. He suggested I pension off the housekeeper, who is anxious to go and live with her sister in Worthing, and keep the other staff. I haven’t had time to reply to him yet.’

  ‘It is the perfect solution.’ Caroline was glowing at him again, which was good for his self-esteem, but fatal for his detachment. Gabriel thought about scratchy beards, porridge and Edgar Parfit and shifted in his seat when all of those failed to stop most of his blood supply heading southwards. It was lust, simply lust, that he felt and the sooner she was away, the better.

  ‘I will be working for my brother, so I can draw a wage and living expenses from the estate with a good conscience and I will make certain it is in perfect order for him when he can finally claim it.’

  ‘What will you tell him?’ Tamsyn asked. ‘Does he know your father has lost the estate?’

  ‘No. I thought it best not to say anything unless Father told Anthony, in case he reacted in a way that betrayed the secret. But I am sure my father has simply put it out of his mind. Water under the bridge.’ She bit her lip. ‘Anthony will be wondering why I haven’t written, I always do every week while he is at school. Normally he’d be home now, but he is staying with a friend in Buckinghamshire. I miss him.’ She smiled bleakly. ‘I wonder when I will see him again.’

  ‘We will discuss the details now if you have finished your luncheon.’ Gabriel stood. ‘I’ll find my notes. There is no need to trouble the rest of you. We can use your breakfast room, I suppose, Tess?’ There was a limit to how long he was prepared to stay the focus of his friends’ fascinated scrutiny, or to endure Caroline looking at him in public as though he was her hero again. The sooner they had this sorted out and she was in safe seclusion in the country, the better.

  ‘I’ll come now, if you will excuse me?’ She stood up, smiling at the others, and he wondered just how well that smile would stay fixed if she knew the lascivious thoughts that would not get themselves out of his head, the urge to seize her and snarl Mine! at every man who looked at her.

  He picked up his portfolio from the luggage in the hall and led the way to the little breakfast room. Caroline sat on the sofa, folded her hands neatly in her lap and appeared ready to give him her full attention, much as if he was addressing a public meeting.

  Nettled, Gabriel sat at his ease in the chair opposite her, fished out the correspondence from his agent and ran a finger down it. ‘I’ll get him to pension off the old housekeeper and tell the staff I will send them a new one.

  ‘Now, money. Wilkins is already managing the staff salaries. I’ll have him add you to the list, but pay you a year in advance, and I’ll authorise you to draw on an account for everything you need for the household and for yourself.’

  ‘Will he not be surprised at the payment in advance?’ She yawned, hastily hiding it behind her hand.

  ‘He’ll assume you are one of my light-skirts that I am paying off,’ Gabriel said with deliberate crudity as he studied the papers again. He had no idea what was motivating him, which was worrying in itself. Perhaps he wanted to prove to himself that he was the same old rakehell he had always, so comfortably, been. Or perhaps he simply wanted to provoke some reaction, even if it was only a delightful blush.

  There was no response. He looked up, anticipating one of Caroline’s frosty stares, which were stimulating in their own way, and found that she was asleep, slumped sideways on to the sofa cushions. The piled curls were already surrendering to the forces of gravity, the pins sliding free from the glossy, newly washed hair, and her mouth was very slightly open, the parted pink lips wreaking havoc with his pulse rate. When he got silently to his feet and bent over her he saw the dark curl of lashes on her cheek, the soft vulnerability of her skin, the shadows of worry and exhaustion beneath her eyes.

  Gabriel thought about lifting her feet on to the sofa, of loosening her bodice, her stays, so she could be more comfortable... No. But he leaned down, touched her cheek with the back of his fingers, watched as she smiled in her sleep at his touch and felt something turn over in his chest. Innocence and trust were enough to touch even the most cynical of hearts, it seemed.

  He went out into the hall, closing the door softly behind him and met Tess. ‘Caroline is asleep.’

  ‘I am not surprised, she must be exhausted. I don’t suppose it occurred to you to allow for a little feminine weakness in planning your adventure?’

  ‘If I had, she’d be back in her father’s hands by now. Or I’d have shot him. She’s tougher than she looks, is Caroline Holm.’

  Tess shook her head at him. ‘Idiot man. She is brave and stoical and she will obviously do anything for her little brother.’ Her penetrating stare had him wanting to shift uncomfortably. He resisted the weakness and smiled back, his lazy wolf smile. Tess’s glare hardened. ‘She is not strong, Gabriel, simply courageous. Do not try her too hard. I was brought up in a nunnery, in cold rooms, on plain food and hard work. Tamsyn has been acting as an estate manager for years,
out in all weathers on that harsh Devon coast. But Caroline is like Kate, a lady—and raised as one.’ She moved as though to leave him, then added, ‘And don’t you dare ruin her.’

  ‘You believe I haven’t already?’ The way she was sniping at him, he would not be surprised if she had not guessed at the temptation that racked him.

  ‘Do you honestly think I would have you in this house if I suspected you would do that? Friend of Alex’s or not, your sorry carcase wouldn’t cross the threshold, believe me.’

  The dangerous silence that followed that remark hung between them for a full half-minute, then Tess laughed. ‘It is such fun to tease you.’

  He laughed, too, as he followed her back to the drawing room, telling himself that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. Caroline would be safely, respectably, hidden and his life could return to normal, mercifully free of female interference. Perfect. He wondered why he did not feel happier about it.

  Cris strolled in. ‘If you’ve nothing better to do, my valet will cut your hair now.’

  Gabriel hauled himself to his feet and went upstairs to his fate.

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘It is a very extravagant carriage for a housekeeper.’ Caroline stood on the front steps of Tess’s house and studied the chaise and four that stood at the kerb while the footmen loaded on her new trunk. ‘Will it not cause gossip if I do not travel on the stage?’

  ‘You are a very superior housekeeper and I am a top-lofty employer who would not dream of his upper servants being seen on the common coach.’ Gabriel said. He seemed distant somehow, with his fashionable cropped hair, and he was more smartly dressed than she had ever seen him. He had a cool detachment that she guessed was the manner he adopted when he was playing cards. It certainly succeeded in hiding his feelings from her.

  Not that they had been very apparent for the past four days in any case. While she had remained secluded in Half Moon Street he had communicated by politely formal notes, recounting his agent’s progress in despatching the elderly Mrs Buckley to her retirement and setting up funds for Caroline to draw on. Yesterday evening the man himself had arrived, fresh from the country, bringing the account books for Caroline to go through with him.