Wicked Deception (40 page)

He finally found his footing and
followed. He waited until the servants set down her purchases
before he blasted her with his fury.

“
Is it really your intention
to wear a different gown every day of the year, madam?” He queried
in a growl as he saw her look of disdain at his presence in her
newly refurbished room, disgusted by her excesses. “The jewels
alone cost more than I care to say aloud! What are you doing here,
wife? You have spent your allowance for your lifetime in one week!
You will cease to spend any more, is that clear?” he all but
shouted at her. “If I have to curtail your spending by having your
credit denied everywhere you go, I will, Gillian! You’re acting
like a spoiled child!”

“
And you act like it is your
money to dole out, husband!” she stormed back at him, satisfied to
see his flush at her words. “I can spend whatever I wish, and I
will! I don’t think you want it gossiped about that you cut off
your wife from her own money, my lord! That does not go well with
the new image you would paint at all!”

“
I will lock you in your
damned room if I have to, Gillian!” he threatened, furious for her
pointing out that she was spending her own money, and not his. “You
will cease to squander such vast sums from this day forward, or you
will regret it, madam!”

“
What will you do when you
get the bill for the salon’s new furnishings, or the adorable new
fountain I bought for the gardens?” she mused aloud with a
satisfied gleam in her sea green eyes as she saw him stiffen in
rage. “Should I add that I took the liberty to buy myself a lovely
townhouse for my
other
entertainments?”

He stared at her in shocked
silence, seeing her devious expression and wanting to throttle her
for mentioning the
other
entertainments. She eyed him in amusement over her
shoulder as she bent to retrieve a parcel full of items.

“
You’re not the only one who
seeks their own
pleasure
beyond this marriage, husband, so pray do not tell
me what I will or will not do, for you will find I will do exactly
as I wish, and with much
pleasure
!” Saying the word with such
emphasis he cringed at her meaning. She obviously intended to have
her lovers, and had even bought a separate residence to accommodate
her desires.

He was too angry and shocked to do more
but stare at her as if seeing her for the first time. He had
thought her an innocent convent bred girl, but obviously he was
wrong. Gillian made no secret of her intentions, and he was furious
and aware he had brought it all very much upon himself by his
blatant behavior after their marriage.

He hadn’t spent an evening home since
his marriage, and he’d hardly been celibate during his outings. The
thought of his wife taking a lover made him livid and see red
before his gaze. He would be damned if she would make him a cuckold
as Lillianne had, even if their marriage was for mere
appearances.

“
That is where you’re wrong,
Gillian,” he informed her coldly, his dark eyes raked over her
insultingly. “If you seek to push me in this, you will find
yourself packed off to one of my estates. You do anything to bring
embarrassment upon me or my family, and you’re gone from here, is
that understood? You will have no
other
entertainments,
wife!”

“
Is that so?” she queried
coolly, her eyes clashing with his defiantly. “A pity for you won’t
tell me who I will take to my bed, as you see fit to do as you
please. Do not worry. I will be most discreet in my affairs. You
won’t hear a whisper of them, my lord.”

Gabriel glared at her and stalked her,
his eyes flicking over her with contempt as he drew near. “And you
will learn to obey me, Gillian!” he snarled, aware he was fast
losing control at her obvious pushing of him with her insistence
she was taking lovers. “I think it’s time you learned what is
expected of a wife, my dear!” He approached her with a nasty gleam
in his eyes.

She backed away but his hands snaked
out and grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her to his hard
chest. She gasped and struggled, but he smiled cruelly and reached
down and picked her up easily and hefted her to the huge frilly bed
dominating the room.

She gasped as he tossed her onto the
bed, tried to roll away, but he had already come down on top of
her, pinning her to the bed. She cried out and kicked at him. He
just laughed at her puny efforts, and his mouth crashed down over
hers.

She twisted to get away but his mouth
silenced her curses, covering hers in a bruising, insistent kiss.
She pulled at his hair, scratched at him, and he finally held her
arms pinned. She writhed and sobbed under his lips, realizing she
pushed him too far. She gasped as his lips parted hers, feeling
waves of longing she didn’t understand wash over her.

She ceased to struggle and the kiss
deepened. She was shaking as the feel of him flattening her into
the bed made her breathless and ache for more. She bit back a harsh
sob as she felt his hardness against her thigh.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel was lost in sensation as he
felt her curvaceous body wriggling under his, alarmed at the wave
of lust that hurtled him past his control. He was pulling up her
skirts when he heard her crying and it sobered him
immediately.

His mouth lifted from hers and he
stared down into her revulsion-filled gaze. He bit back a curse of
disgust and flung himself from her. He dragged a hand through his
golden locks and glared down at her. He despised himself for nearly
forcing himself upon her in anger.

“
You will cease to shop,
madam!” he declared icily when he got himself under control, his
dark eyes glowing in livid fury as he surveyed the damage he’d
done, flinching as she scurried across the bed to get away from
him, her eyes wide with fear. “Do not try me, Gillian! You will
stay within your allotted allowance, or so help me I will cut you
off, and you will have to ask me for every damned thing you want,
is that clear?”

Gillian glared at the nobleman who now
controlled every facet of her existence with something akin to
loathing in her sea green eyes. Tears glimmered in her gaze as they
met his. “You have made yourself very clear, my lord,” she said as
she wiped her sleeve across her bruised lips. “But I warn you that
I have every intention of having the same freedoms you currently
enjoy and you can’t stop me.”

Gabriel was infuriated by her continued
defiance and wished he’d seen the signs of this before he married
her. It was clear she wasn’t the mild-mannered chit from a convent
as he’d been led to expect. He raised an eyebrow and eyed her
insultingly, his dark eyes burning as they lingered upon her
heaving bosom, struggling to control his fury and
desire.

“
Let me make myself most
clear, Gillian,” he said in a menacing voice dripping with anger.
“If I find out you’ve taken a lover before you give me an heir, you
will regret it. Once I have my son of you; I don’t care who you
take to your bed!”

“
That’s most generous of
you, my lord,” she said with scathing fury, the hurt in her eyes
evident he cared so little about her feelings. All he wanted was
his legal heir. “It’s a pity you can’t claim your mistress’s
bastard and save us both the effort!”

His harsh intake of breath was
pronounced. She flinched from the anger in his dark eyes at the
slur she cast upon his son. She met his gaze unwaveringly, knowing
she had gone far beyond her efforts to wound him.

“
Don’t you ever speak ill of
my son again, Gillian!” he snarled, his whole body shaking with
anger. “It is a pity you didn’t learn anything in that damned
convent, but I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. It
is obvious you’re more like Francis than not, to malign an innocent
child co cruelly. I shouldn’t have expected any less from a
Wingate. You should realize by now that if it were my choice to
make, it would be his mother here now, and not you! You will give
me my heir, Gillian, and then you can go to hell for all I care!”
He turned upon his heel and stalked away from her, kicking a
mountain of parcels out of his way, slamming the door behind
him.

Gillian covered her mouth and stifled a
sob at his words, tears flowing freely as she realized how badly
she wounded him. She wanted only his attention after weeks of being
ignored by him. She realized now she went about it the wrong way
and incurred nothing but his anger and spite.

She drew a trembling hand to her lips
where he kissed her so harshly. She was mindful of the sensations
she felt before he stopped. She grimaced in despair. This marriage
was for appearances only, a sad fact in light of both their
situations.

He made it clear he preferred his
mistress to her and she shrank from the knowledge, despite her
anger. She had no doubt who he had spent the last weeks with, and
she burned with it, knowing the other woman in his life was more
important to him than his own wife.

She felt something snap in her than; a
frail, thin line of reason that held her from losing control the
minute she arrived in London. With a cry of denial she reached for
something, and threw it, and it crashed against the wall. She made
short work of all she came into contact with, until the room was in
a shambles, the sounds of splintering objects ricocheting within
the manor.

The servants heard the sounds and
grumbled as their mistress’s anger spent itself within her newly
refurbished room, knowing they would have to clean all up later.
The Earl stomped out of the residence at the sound of his wife’s
fury, and they sighed as they saw him leave, knowing he would not
be back anytime soon.

Imogene stepped over the mess as she
entered the room when all went silent, and gazed about the
destroyed room with a sigh, finding her mistress sobbing amid a
pile of broken knick knacks, her red hair streaming around her
face.

“
I hope you got it out of
your system, Lady Gilly,” she said as she whistled at the damage
within the room, cringing to see the broken glass everywhere she
looked. “His Lordship is gone for the evening. Let us see about
cleaning up this mess and getting you a nice hot bath.”

“
No, I want everything
packed up at once!” she cried as she jumped to her feet, her eyes
spewing in rage to learn he was gone, and knew where he went, and
felt her rage spill forth once more. “We move my things to the
townhouse I bought this very night. I will not stay
here.”

Imogene nodded sadly, knowing Gillian
was upset the Earl went to his mistress. She left the room to seek
out the other servants to help pack her lady’s things. She wondered
what the Earl would do to learn his wife moved out. Gilly had much
to learn of men.

Leaving her husband would not help her
cause to win his notice. She saw the looks her husband sent his
wife of late. She shook her head sadly as she met Maggie’s worried
gaze at the bottom of the stairs.

“
We need my lady’s trunks
packed at once,” she told her wearily and Maggie nodded
reluctantly.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel returned three days later,
looking hung over and miserable, only to learn his wife moved out
of the residence. He was angry she took it upon herself to move out
without his permission, but realized it was for the best in light
of her apparent disgust with his son living there.

He refused to go after her. She
obviously learned about his nightly activities, and was angered by
it, but their marriage was hardly more than an arrangement. Why
then did the silence there feel so oppressive to know she was
gone?

His shoulders sagged as he filled a
glass of brandy and drank it, cursing at his luck to find a shrew
for a wife. Gillian wasn’t what he expected. She wasn’t happy to be
pushed to the back burner until he felt like starting his nursery.
She incurred a mountain of bills in her fury to discover he was
unfaithful so soon after the marriage.

It was obvious his wife was far too
innocent to realize he was a man and had needs. He was disturbed by
his lustful feelings for her, and sought out others as a means of
keeping their arrangement purely business.

He knew she hadn’t realized all of this
when they wed. It was obvious his wife felt abused and betrayed by
him. He gave a snort as he looked out the window to see the new
fountain she bought arrived. He closed his eyes and wished for
peace.

~ ~ ~

Gillian was pleased with her new home,
glad Gabriel hadn’t come there to demand she return to the manor.
She was gone a week and heard nothing from him. Ice encased her
heart to know he didn’t care.

He was probably glad she was gone so he
was free to do as he pleased. She stiffened in anger when she
thought of him with his mistress, but pushed those feelings away as
she made herself at home in her new residence.

It was a two story house, with large
airy rooms and decorated in her taste. All of her things were put
away. Imogene took the task of hiring her staff while she brooded.
She was about to go mad when her butler, Collins, brought her a
stack of envelopes that seemed to never cease to arrive.