Page 95 of My Darling Rogue
Gabriel’s brow creased with a small frown. “The opening of the season no doubt requires much of our time. I know you are accepting far too many of the invitations you have received. I won’t have you exhaust yourself by attending these events, Celia. Not for my sake.”
Celia waved a hand in dismissal of his concerns. “I’m always a little weary at the beginning of the Season. It’s just how things are.”
She knew Gabriel was growing suspicious of her behavior over the past four days. Ever since she’d left Bryan in the hayloft with her agreement to do as he demanded, she’d been unwell. Nightmares plagued her, returning with such vengeance that Gabriel swore it was all his fault. If he hadn’t coerced her into being blindfolded while taking a crop to her backside, she would not be suffering these nightly terrors now, he claimed.
Gabriel reached over, taking her hand in his and squeezing it tight. “I cannot bear to see you like this, Celia. If my presence here is causing this turmoil, then I shall remove myself at once. I will find a townhouse to rent, or perhaps stay in a hotel until you are once again comfortable being with me.”
Celia stood up so quickly, the heavy dining room chair tumbled over. “For God’s sake, Gabriel! This melancholy of mine is not your fault, and don’t you dare leave me when every nuance of your future relies on thetonaccepting you as the Marquess of Rosenthorne. You willnotjeopardize this. I won’t allow it.”
Gabriel’s eyes darkened, dangerous glints of gold lighting their depths as he stared at his wife quivering before him. “You will sit down, Celia. You are becoming overwrought, and I won’t have you upsetting yourself in this manner. Sit down. Now.”
He nodded at one of the footmen. The servant stepped forward, quickly righting Celia’s chair so she could sink back into it before retreating to his place along the wall just out of earshot.
“I apologize, my lord. I had no right to shout as I just did,” Celia replied woodenly. The urge to cry was welling up inside her, and at any minute, the dam would break. It would spill everywhere. All the ugliness. The shame. The fear. It would destroy and taint everything.
Gabriel stood up from his own chair and approached Celia where she sat. Then, with a heavy sigh, he knelt before her, taking both of her hands within his. Raising them to his lips, he pressed a gentle kiss upon her knuckles while staring into her eyes.
“Iknowsomething is wrong, Celia. Damned if I can figure it out, however. I will not willingly leave you. I only thought it might help…Fuck,” he cursed, his head lowering in defeat. “I don’t know what to do. Tell me what to do, sugarplum.”
Silence stretched between them as Gabriel remained on his knees before her. His broad shoulders slumped as he rubbed a thumb over her knuckles in a soothing manner.
“Make love to me, Gabriel,” Celia whispered, her demand snapping Gabriel’s head back up. He pinned her with a steely glare as if what she asked was too great a price to pay. He’d not touched her in that way since the morning she’d pleasured him in his study. She thought back to that morning now, clenching her thighs together at the memory of Gabriel’s hands holding her head steady while he thrust up into her mouth. The way he’d thrown his head against the high back of his leather chair, emitting a low roar of satisfaction when he exploded into her mouth. She wanted that assurance now. To know that he loved her and needed her as she loved and needed him.
“I cannot. Not when you’ve suffered some sort of setback at my hands,” he said in a tortured voice. “It isn’t healthy to revisit such methods.”
“It is what I want. It’s what I need. Only you can help me, Gabriel. Please.” Celia was resolute. She was sure Gabriel’s touch could erase the demons chasing her. Her husband could expunge those nightmares as he’d done once before. She needed him to do as she asked because it would give her the strength to face Bryan the next time. “Take me to bed and make love to me. I-I need you inside me.”
She knew the instant she broke down his resistance. His eyes darkened and she knew he would do as she asked because he craved her, too.
Much later, after Gabriel held her down and plunged into her body over and over, his hands squeezing her throat to the point she nearly fainted, his melodic voice crooning in her ear to come for him again and again, Celia lay beside him in the dark and wept against his shoulder.
When he folded her tighter against his body and whispered everything would be all right, Celia realized what she must do to end this nightmare.
Bryan would never leave. Of that, Celia was certain. He would blackmail her over and over, tormenting her until she either wasted away from guilt or Gabriel left her behind in her misery while pursuing his place in society unimpeded. She would become a forgotten, abandoned wife.
As Gabriel’s own mother had once been.
Celia dashed the tears from her cheeks. There was only one thing that could be done.
She must eliminate Bryan Flannigan on her own.
CHAPTER40
Gabriel flipped through the pages of the list he’d ordered of the estate’s new employees.
Most had worked at several different places over the years while others were considerably more stable. The ones bouncing around held his attention, however. Those individuals could prove problematic over time, having moved from employer to employer for one reason or another. Some had been sacked while others quit of their own volition.
For that purpose, he’d sent out his contacts into the underbelly of London, finding out as much as possible about the employees on this list. There were eighteen requiring closer scrutiny, and this was Gabriel’s first chance to look them over.
Rubbing his brow, Gabriel pondered the reason for his own delay in this task. Neither he nor Celia were sleeping very well. Celia’s frequent nightmares, along with her renewed refusals to sleep in the dark, were wearing them both to a frazzle.
It was perplexing, this change in her. Gabriel wondered if the pressure of being a marchioness, of being his wife in particular, contributed to the problem. She was deeply concerned about his acceptance in society, but the fear was unfounded. There were some who turned up their noses at him, but few dared snub him when faced with his considerable power. Even if they called him a bastard behind his back, Gabriel did not really care. He could deal with that.
It was Celia’s nightmares that disturbed him the most.
They occurred over the last few nights without fail. Sometimes, they were full-blown episodes, with Celia shaking and crying out in her sleep. Other times, they were simply a sudden awakening and her sharp, startled gasp of terror.
But whenever Gabriel suggested they return to Rosenthorne Park and the quiet of the countryside, Celia adamantly refused.
