Page 44 of Lady Frederica and the Scot Who Would Not
They had. It was the truth, and yet, when he’d gotten that note and read Hawk’s words, Gabe’s heart had stopped and it hadn’t beaten properly again until he’d seen Frederica was safe and touched her himself. He didn’t like his reaction. He didn’t like it one bit. It had been too strong for a woman he barely knew, had only just wed, and had no intention of getting close to. And yet, none of that changed what his reaction had been. He clenched his jaw, unsure how to proceed now that he’d brought her here.
He’d had to, he reminded himself. The house in Mayfair wasn’t safe like his home here was. It had been yet another foolish decision in the long list of reckless ones he’d made where Frederica was concerned. He’d spent four years ensuring his home in Covent Garden was as impenetrable as possible, and he should have accepted that she needed to be here until Hawk was captured. But only until then.
Gabe would not allow himself to get used to her being there. He would not allow himself to come to want her presence in his home, but he didn’t want to hurt her, either. What a damned tightrope. How the hell was he to walk it without falling off? She was his wife. He desired her.
No, hell, he craved her as if she were an addiction. Maybe that was the answer. Little doses of her every day would make him want her less. Maybe coming together in the bed would eventually temper his lust. It had to.
“He wouldn’t believe that,” Gabe said, finally answering her.
“Then we lure him out.”
He didn’t like the wordweshe’d just used. “You’ll stay out of it, Frederica.”
“I’ll not! He’s afterme. He wantsme. It makes the most sense to use me to lure him out.”
Cold fingers curled around his heart and squeezed at the thought of her putting herself at risk. “You will stay out of it, or I will send you under guard so far away from here not even a map could lead you back.”
Her jaw went slack at that. Good, she understood. She didn’t like it, given her sudden pressed lips, narrowed eyes, and flared nostrils, but she understood. Now, whether she would comply or not was another matter.
“I’m going to have my men here watching you at all times,” he said. Flames sparked and danced in her beautiful eyes. “To keep you safe from Hawk and yourself.”
“How very considerate of you,” she replied, her tone as sharp as a well-honed blade.
“I do try,” he teased, hoping to lighten the mood, but she was having none of it.
She pursed her lips and cocked her head. “What is your plan, then, if you don’t like mine?”
“My plan is to hunt him down. I’m going to enlist everyone who owes me a favor to aid me. I will get him. Don’t fret.”
“I’m not fretting,” she replied, sounding too damned calm for his liking.
He didn’t want her to worry, but damn it… “You should be fretting!”
“You’re very contrary, Gabriel,” she replied, a smile tugging at her lips, which had the unwanted effect of making him want to kiss her. He’d never been a contrary man. Ever. Not until her. “What will you do with him after you find him? You aren’t planning to kill him, are you?”
He shook his head. “I vowed to Georgette that I’d not kill him.” Though, if Hawk was about to kill Frederica, Gabriel would break that vow to save her. But he was going to do everything in his power to avoid it.
“Oh, I see.” She sucked in her lower lip. “I understand.” There was an odd note in her voice he couldn’t place, but before he could decide whether to ask about it or not, she said, “That’s good. But what will you do with him?”
“Put him in the Henderson Home for the Mentally Impaired. I’ve funded the place for years to ensure that I would have somewhere to lock Hawk up in the eventuality that he returned to seek his revenge. He hasn’t lived in reality in a long time.”
She nodded. “It sounds like a good plan, except for the part where you do not let me aid you. It would be so much faster if—”
“No. I mean it, Frederica. I was not making an idle threat earlier. I will send you away. Do you understand?”
She scowled. “I’m not a numbskull.”
“And you will comply with what I’ve asked of you?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
“Then I suppose I will do what I must.”
He didn’t think she was going to give more of an agreement than that, so he nodded and started to rise to go to his own bedchamber. She grasped his hand, and her skin upon his made his damned blood heat. He looked down at her as she turned her face up to him, exposing the long, delicate column of her neck. Her pulse ticked in the blue vein just visible beneath her porcelain skin. He could have lost her tonight. The reality had him sitting back down beside her.
That was a mistake. Her thigh pressed against his, and her shoulder grazed his arm. Her sweet, spicy scent filled the air, his nostrils, his head. He wanted to strip her night rail from her and—He squeezed his eyes shut on the thoughts and breathed deeply to gain control of his body and his mind. “I’m exhausted, Frederica,” he said. “What is it you wanted?”
