Page 43 of Lady Frederica and the Scot Who Would Not
“How?”
His lips thinned. “I wed Georgette, and Hawk didn’t like it. He fancied himself in love with her.”
“Did you know that he loved her?”
His brows drew downward in a frown, and his gaze went unfocused, as if lost in the past. “I didn’t betray him, Frederica.”
She wanted to ask more about it, but his shuttered look told her he’d not welcome the questions, and she didn’t want to push too much. “But he thought you did?” she supplied, thinking it appropriately neutral.
“He convinced himself I did,” Gabriel said, his tone bitter. “It’s easier to blame someone when things don’t work out the way you want than to look at yourself and accept what you’ve done.”
“What did he do?” she asked, unable to stop the question before it slipped out.
His mouth went tight and grim. “It doesn’t matter now. The past is the past.”
But it did matter to her that he would not share it, confide in her, but she pressed her lips together on saying so.
“What matters,” Gabriel continued, “is that Hawk tried to kill me one night by blowing up my warehouse.”
It was said so casually that she realized it wasn’t shocking to him. What sort of hardening of himself had he had to do to survive and thrive? No wonder he didn’t want to let her in, and yet, he had let Georgette close. Was it because she was from the same place Gabriel was? Would it be easier for him to let Freddy close if she could show him she could survive here, as he had, that she truly belonged here, as he did?
Freddy swallowed. “And what happened when he blew up your warehouse?”
Pain twisted his features. “Georgette was the one to open the door that triggered the explosion. She was supposed to be home in bed, but she’d come out late at night to the warehouse because—” He halted his explanation suddenly and shoved his hands through his hair. A long pause followed, and he finally said, “Because she’d asked me to do something, and I hadn’t yet, and she was fretting about it.”
He blamed himself for her death. She didn’t need to hear him say it. It was painted in the lines of his drawn mouth. It was apparent with the flare of his nostrils, his rigid posture, his darting gaze. She ached for him, but she didn’t offer comfort because he wouldn’t welcome it. Instead, she sat, clutching at her night rail, and prayed he would continue.
“The explosion didn’t kill her instantly, but soon after.” His eyes had taken on a glassy look, and he was staring down at his hands. “I held her as she was dying.”
Freddy’s insides twisted.
“She made me promise not to kill him.” His skin bunched around his eyes as if he could see her. “Even in death, even after all he’d done, Georgette was the best person I’d ever known. She was pure and kind, and she needed me to protect her, and I failed.” He finally looked up, his gaze spearing her. “I won’t fail to protect you, Frederica. I didn’t want a wife.”
She blanched at his truthful statement and the ensuing regret that flittered across his face, and tears suddenly filled her eyes. He grabbed her hands, just as she was thinking of getting up and asking him to leave. It all seemed too impossible in this moment.
He squeezed her hands. “I didn’t want another wife for many reasons, but I also couldn’t keep my hands off you, so now here we are.”
She grimaced. “Yes, here we are.”
“Hawk disappeared the day after Georgette died or I would have dealt with him before. I’ve tried to find him for four years, but he kept eluding me. He’s been waiting, you see.”
She frowned. “For what?”
Gabe’s gaze locked with hers. “For you.”
Chapter Sixteen
“For me?”
Gabe hadn’t meant to say it like that. Hell, he hadn’t even meant to be this truthful, but he was still reeling from earlier, and Frederica did things to his brain that made it malfunction whenever she was near. He needed to concentrate, to focus.
“Yes,” he finally said. “He’s been hiding in the shadows, waiting to seek the revenge he thinks I deserve.”
She frowned. “Which is what?”
“To take away the woman he thinks I love, just as he thinks I took Georgette from him.”
“Simply get word to him that we wed out of necessity,” she said, her voice suddenly tight.
