The Unexpected Marriage of Gabriel Stone (Lords of Disgrace) by Louise Allen Page B

thought of the man laying his sweaty hands on her, let alone anything else, almost made Gabriel shudder.
    ‘Not here, back to your bedchamber.’
    Once they were inside, the door locked, he picked up her robe from the foot of the bed and handed it to her. ‘Put that on.’
    ‘I am not cold. Tell me what you found.’
    ‘Put it on. Please.’ He sat down in one of the armchairs and studied the toe of his boot while he sought for some control.
    ‘Oh, very well.’ She shrugged into it and came to perch on the edge of the stool opposite. ‘What did you find?’
    Gabriel resisted the urge to lean over to tighten the sash and pull the edges of her robe together. ‘Nothing actually illegal.’ He was certainly not going to describe those prints to her. He recrossed his legs and contemplated the other toe. ‘How eager is your father to get his hands on that land of Woodruffe’s? Is it valuable?’
    ‘No, just pasture. Not even good rich water meadow. I don’t think it is worth much.’
    ‘Woodruffe is in debt, by the look of it. You come with a good dowry, I assume? More than that land is worth on the open market?’
    ‘Goodness, yes. Father might regard daughters as an irrelevance in the greater scheme of things, but he would be mortified to have it known my dowry was anything but generous. The value of the land is irrelevant, it is the enlargement of the estate that matters to my father.’
    ‘Damn. I’d hoped that there might be a let-out there. In that case you need to know that the two of them must be quite determined on this match. Woodruffe has a special licence in his possession.’
    ‘A special licence? That means he can marry without delay, wherever he wants, doesn’t it?’
    ‘It does.’
    ‘I can keep saying no.’ A thread of uncertainty ran through the statement.
    Gabriel looked up, then leaned forward and caught her hand, pushed back the sleeve. The bruises had quite gone now. ‘They have a clean slate to begin again. If your father hit you once, he will do it again if you anger him. And Woodruffe...’ How the devil did one explain such tendencies to an innocent? ‘Woodruffe is aroused by violence. Your resistance will only encourage him.’
    Caroline met his eyes and shuddered. ‘I don’t think I want to know what you mean by that or how you discovered it.’ She squared her shoulders and pulled her hand free from his lax grip. ‘I will have to run away then. I’ve been hoping against hope that I wouldn’t have to, but at least Anthony is at school much of the time and old enough to go to friends in the holidays. He is in no danger of anything but neglect from our father.
    ‘I don’t suppose you are any good at safe breaking? Mama’s own jewellery is locked up in the study along with the things my godmother left me. I don’t want to sell it, but I will need to part with some of it to live on until I find work.’
    ‘I can pick a lock. Some locks,’ Gabriel qualified. He hadn’t needed to since his childhood. ‘It all depends on how good it is.’
    ‘You really are unscrupulous, aren’t you?’ Caroline’s expression had turned from anxious but determined to something close to judgemental. ‘Not that I am criticising, you understand.’
    It sounded like that to him and, amazingly, her words hurt. ‘You are not?’ he enquired, unable to prevent the hint of ice in the question. What the devil was the matter with him if one young woman’s opinion had the power to pierce his armour and wound? He was becoming vulnerable and he had never felt so before. Not mentally, at least.
    ‘I know you are only trying to help me and I am very grateful, but subterfuge over who you are in order to become the hermit, searching Woodruffe’s things with a view to blackmail and now lock-picking...’
    She was right, this was over the thin line and into illegality, even if the jewellery was Caroline’s. He should walk away. Now.

Chapter Eight
    W alk away, for her own good. For mine. I have never