by Shirl Anders
]Chapter Six
In the end Gabriella chose a deep burgundy colored silk gown with a plunging neckline. She tried to assure herself that it had nothing to do with Drummond's bold threats upon herself or her person. That it was simply because the rich colors of the gown set off her complexion and notably, the diamond earrings.
"Oh, you are truly hopeless," she exclaimed to herself after Matilda had finished dressing her hair and left her alone for a few moments before she needed to go downstairs to dinner. "Utterly hopeless," she finished in a whisper as she regarded her reflection in the mirror.
What did she see there, she wondered? Certainly not the same woman whose husband threw her aside for his pregnant mistress saying a bastard heir was better than no heir at all. However, the most horrible thought was that she wondered deeply whether she could really blame Reginald. Being barren was such a disgraceful condition. She understood why no man could possibly want a woman who w-was...
Velvet white skin ... glorious breasts ... a dimple ... my love. "Except perhaps, Drummond," Gabriella murmured, thinking she had never been more surprised and thankful to see Drummond at that hideous "wife's sale" her husband had commissioned. And, to see Reginald thwarted from selling her to that portly banker, as had been his intentions! Drummond had rescued her as completely as any fanciful hero. It was truly disconcerting to have the very man that you have secretly loved your entire life appear in your moment of greatest need and figuratively carry you off to safety. But was it safety? She wanted so much to believe that it was and yet, she had frivolously believed in the marriage vows also, no matter how miserable she had been through the years. The problem being, that if one man could so heedlessly throw her aside, why not the next? What could she ever hope to be to Drummond, but his lady in keeping? Yet what choice did she have, or did she really wish any other choice?
"Do I?" she whispered, remembering Drummond's hands, his magic fingers, his words, and his gaze upon her. Oh gracious he made her feel more like a woman than she had ever felt in her life, although it was all so improper and so immoral. Just then, she could hear knocking on the door with Matilda's voice behind it, reminding her of the time. So Gabriella gladly put her troubled thoughts aside, thinking distractedly that she truly had no wish to deal with them at all!
When she arrived downstairs to stand in front of what she presumed were the double doors to the dining room. It was then that she heard the distinct murmuring of conversation on the other side of the doors, accentuated by the tenor fluctuations of male voices, in some type of amusement. Guests? Men laughing? Startled, Gabriella looked askance of the very proper young butler. "Are there guests?" she whispered anxiously. Then finding herself without a moment to change her course of entering the room, which she would not have done except the attentive butler was already opening the doors.
"The Archangels, my lady," the butler said as he stepped aside and waited her entrance very properly.
Archangels? Gabriella's steps faltered at the entrance.
"Madame, you are all things that are exquisite. Please come forward, Lady St. John, and meet my accomplices," Drummond said looking masculinely resplendent in his black evening attire.
Gabriella gladly placed her gloved hand on the slightly bent arm that Drummond offered her. It was foolish to feel so protected by this gesture, to find strength in Drummond's nearness. She gazed up at him knowing that her uncertainty showed clearly.
He dipped his head slightly, enough so that only she may hear his words. "And you will find that they shall be your loyal champions as well, madame."
With this assurance, he guided her into the formal dining room where five gentlemen resided in varying degrees of posture and noble rank, Gabriella was soon to discover. It was a formidable grouping of noble titles and men. Each man was handsome and distinctive in his own manner. However, simply none were more trim and attractive in their evening wear than Drummond, who stood securely at her side as she curtsied to each man's introduction. Two dukes, two earls, a marquis, a baron, and none of these esteemed gentlemen showed her a moment of lesser regard.
Gabriella nearly sighed in audible relief, during the last introduction to the Earl of Ravenscar, when he proclaimed her enchanting. Both she and Reginald knew the earl personally, although she knew none of the other young aristocrats in the room before this gathering. That it appeared Lord Ravenscar would not directly slight her for her scandalous presence in Drummond's country home. Nor for the deeds of the horrible "sale" this day, gave Gabriella a modicum of her dignity back.
Still, she could not fathom the presence of the five lords here. It was not as if the manor were found in London where all may arrive on a whim. Drummond's estate was over a two-hour ride from London.
"My lady, allow me to seat you for dinner granting these hounds their proper food," Drummond said, as he guided her to a lavishly laid dining table.
There was some hidden meaning in Drummond's words, Gabriella thought, unable to catch its subtlety beneath the varying admiring gazes of the gentlemen around her. She could not remember seeing such appreciation in men's gazes before. It was flattering and only the slightest bit discomforting to be found attractive by such a grouping of distinguished gentlemen.
When Drummond seated her, he stayed bent over her and for the barest moment his lips grazed her earlobe warmly, as he murmured for her ears only. "The earrings are exquisite on you, madame. However, in that gown, with your breasts bared so, I can only envy my passion pearl and where it must be nested at this very moment."
Gabriella barely stifled her gasp as her cheeks grew warm and Drummond moved to sit at the head of the table directly beside her. She dared not look at anything but the gold-rimmed plate in front of her. She was properly shocked at Drummond's bold dealings, but not in outrage, it was more than a bit thrilling to be flirted with so decadently. However, she had a moment of anxiety because the scandalous little pearl Drummond spoke of was laying quite innocently over her linen drawers and not at all where he envisioned it to be. She chewed the insides of her lip suddenly worried over Drummond's reaction, should he discover this.
"Please, gentlemen, find your seats as you will," Drummond said. "I believe my cook has surpassed himself this eve in honor of Lady Gabriella's presence."
Each man took his place, seeming to Gabriella as if the seating of each man were an arrangement of long standing. Lord Ravenscar sat directly across from her to Drummond's immediate right and next to him was the Duke of Sutherlin with his piratical eye patch that only lent a mysterious quality to his already dark handsomeness. Next to him sat the Marquess of Hartley, with a noticeable silver hook in place of his left hand and the longest, most beautiful brown hair that she had ever seen on a man. The gilded-haired, Baron of Hawkenge took the seat at the end of the elegantly set table, obviously to ease what must be an injured leg up onto a stool, which he promptly did. That left the auburn-haired and colorfully dressed, Laird Duneagan directly beside her to her right. He actually winked at her when he caught her looking at his kilt, which left his knees shockingly bared.
"Gentlemen, before they serve the first course, I should like to toast to my good fortune and the lovely, Lady Gabriella," Drummond said, raising his flawlessly fluted, crystal wine glass.
Gabriella was a bit stunned, of all that she had envisioned this evening in her life could entail, never had she thought it would allude to such fairy tale qualities from the horrible beginnings of this morning. She hesitantly raised her glass as was proper, finding her gaze captured by Drummond's peppery-gray eyes, over the rim of her crystal wine glass.