Page 45 of Lady of Providence
“Elizabeth,” he said, drawing out the syllables of her name in a way that made the hairs on her arms stand on end and a tingle begin in the center of her belly. “I told you I was going to call on you and call on you I have. Yes, I did hear you when you told me you no longer wanted to see me. However, that was not how we left things between one another. If anything has changed between us, last night would only have brought us closer together, would it have not?”
Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and began to pace across the room, unable to bring herself to sit down.
“Gabriel, before… before anything happened, I told you how I felt, what my thoughts were regarding our relationship with one another. You heard them, did you not?”
“I heard them,” he said, his face unreadable. “However, I have never taken you for the type of woman who would be with a man to whom she wasn’t… committed.”
Elizabeth couldn’t meet his eyes. Somehow in the sober light of day, all that had transpired between them seemed almost like a dream, and she could hardly believe it had occurred. Now she had difficulty even speaking of it. Whereas Gabriel… Gabriel didn’t seem to have a problem with anything. It seemed as though everything came easily to him, for there was nothing with which he struggled.
“I am also not the type of woman to say things of importance if I do not mean them,” she said, stopping and turning on her heel to look at him.
Gabriel finally stood and slowly sauntered across the room. He had a nearly predatory look in his eye, and with every step he took, Elizabeth took one away from him in equal measure, until her back came flush against the wall and she jumped, startled. A satisfied grin came over Gabriel’s face as his step never faltered, and when he was but inches from her, he leaned over her, one arm stretched out above her, his hand on the wall, trapping her in front of him.
Elizabeth’s heart pounded, but not with fear — oh, no, it was with anticipation, despite the fact she had vowed this would never happen again.
He lifted his other hand to cup her cheek, and he stroked her skin with his thumb.
“Elizabeth,” he repeated, his face inches from hers, though he made no move to kiss her nor come any closer. “You have reservations, sure. I understand them. I gave you reasons to distrust me in the past. You have responsibilities now. No one is aware of all of this better than I. But,” he slid his finger down to rest under her chin and tilted her face up so that she had no choice but to look into his deep blue eyes, where she was afraid she would become lost. “Can you truly tell me that you have ever felt anything close for another man to what you feel for me? For I can honestly say that never before have I met another person — man or woman — with whom I enjoy conversing with so much, for in you I have met my match. Your sensuality, although hidden, is incomparable to any I have ever encountered before. In short, Elizabeth, you fit my every need, and I cannot imagine a life with anyone else.”
Elizabeth swallowed hard. He was correct in everything he said. She had never felt for another man what she felt for him, and he was as coolly intelligent and as hotly passionate as she could ever ask for in a man. Yet, while he had asked her of her feelings toward him, he had said nothing about what was in his heart, what he actually felt for her. Did he love her?Couldhe love her?
And with his words, he certainly couldn’t mean — but then a hard, determined look flashed in his eyes as his jaw tightened, and she realized that yes, he clearly did.
He pushed back from the wall, took her hand in his, and sank down to his knee in front of her. Elizabeth wanted to pull him up, to put a finger to his lips, to tell him not to say the words, but she found she was stunned into shocked silence. She could only stand there mutely looking down at him, like a deer who had sighted a torch.
“Be my wife, Elizabeth,” he said, his voice more demanding than pleading, for he was a man for whom nothing was ever denied. “Marry me, have my children, be my duchess.”
Elizabeth remained frozen.Saysomething,a voice in the back of her mind urged. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed her eyes, gathered her thoughts, parted her lips and tried again, but still, no words came.
“I believe the appropriate response is, ‘yes,’” Gabriel said, clearly not pleased at having remained bent upon the floor for so long.
Elizabeth tugged at his hands, and a dark look crossed his face as he rose, though he kept a tight grip on her fingers.
“I know that, Gabriel, and I want to say yes, truly I do,” she said, her heart at war with her mind.
“But?” he asked, releasing her hands now, and she felt bereft without his touch upon her. “I simply do not understand what could be holding you back.”
“The reasons I gave you to keep distance between one another — they still stand,” she said, hearing the desperation in her tone, and she vowed to keep such emotion from it for the remainder of the conversation. “If I marry you, I will give up everything that’s important to me —exceptyou. Your life would be nearly unchanged. You could participate in the same activities, attend the same clubs, keep the same hours. All that would be different is that you would not only hold your own fortune but mine as well.”
“I would never—”
She lifted a hand, stilling his words. “I know that you are not asking to marry me for my income nor my partnership — and you should know that my grandfather ensured my inheritance would remain untouched. You are many things, but you are not a fortune hunter and while you enjoy your games, I know you are a man who would far rather earn his own riches than inherit them from his wife. But part of the law is that all that is due to come to me in the future would become yours — and I would no longer have a say over any of it.”
He took a step away from her, a wall having come up between the two of them at her talk of finances and legalities.
“Your grandfather provided you the partnership and all of his fortune not for your husband but for you, and I understand that,” he said. “I would allow you full control over all of your income.”
“And that’s just it!” she exclaimed. “You would allow me. It is not something that I could choose any longer for myself.”
“So you are telling me that you would rather spend your days alone, with only your independence to keep you company, than share a life with me?”
“I implore you not to say it like that, for you well know that is not what I mean. But can you tell me that as a duchess, I would still live the life I am living now?”
“You would have a few more social obligations, of course,” he responded. “But you will have your partnership well established, and the title of Duchess of Clarence would certainly do well to solidify partnerships and clients, would it not? I do not see it as anything but a boon for the business you currently conduct, and it would, perhaps, convince you to share some of your responsibilities with others.”
“I do not wish to share the responsibility,” she said, her jaw set, and he wrenched his gaze away from her, walking over to the window and looking out beyond, his hands upon the windowsill and his shoulders hunched, likely in cold, reserved anger.
“Why did you come to me last night?” he asked, his voice steel now, and Elizabeth’s stomach turned in turmoil.
