Wicked Deception by Karolyn Cairns Page B

wouldn’t and was furious at
his words. She jerked away from him and went to a mirror over the
bureau to repair her damaged coif. He dressed behind her, his
expression furious.
    “ I won’t come here again,
Gabriel,” she told him when she turned from the mirror, tears in
her gaze. “I can’t have you both. It doesn’t work that way. I won’t
insult us all by continuing with this.”
    “ You love me,” he insisted
and glared at her as he buttoned his shirt. “Deny it! I want to
hear you say you don’t feel it too.”
    Catherine couldn’t force the words from
her tongue. She stared at him in dismay. It was true. She loved
him. Even now her heart fluttered as those dark eyes met hers,
demanding an answer. “We can’t do this!”
    He raised an eyebrow. “It appears we
already have. I love you, Catherine. I would have you back under
any circumstances, even if I must share you with
Nicholas.”
    She gasped in dismay and he smiled
grimly. “You can’t be serious?”
    “ Does that surprise you, my
love?” he asked bitterly as he yanked on his cravat. “What I would
do to have you under any terms? I have no pride left! I love you
too much!”
    “ You have to let me go,
Gabriel,” she begged. “We can’t do this to ourselves. I won’t
betray my husband again.”
    “ Liar!” he taunted harshly,
his handsome face filled with mockery. “You will come to me again,
Catherine. I’ll not throw it in your face when you do. This is what
you have wanted since your return. You want me as I do you. It has
nothing to do with what you have with Nicholas and we both know
it.”
    “ I won’t hurt him like that,
Gabriel.”
    He saw the wounded look in her eyes and
stiffened, knowing she loved them both. “I don’t ask you to choose
between us, Catherine. I ask you not to deny what you feel. Come
back to me.”
    “ It’s wrong to feel as I
do,” she cried and her hands shook as she pulled on her
stockings.
    “ It’s wrong to continue to
want us both with no way out as well,” he replied bitterly. “I
offer you a chance to have us both. I will say nothing of it. He
won’t know.”
    “ I will know!”
    “ I won’t ever stop loving
you, Catherine. What of me? Where does this leave me now?” he
demanded as he gazed at her. “You’re being selfish! I have stood
back and played the part of the wounded lover for your benefit, but
no more. I will have you back. If this is all we are allowed to
have, why not take it?”
    “ He’s not stupid, Gabriel,”
she whispered in anguish, eyes shocked at his words. “He will
know.”
    “ He loves you as I do,”
Gabriel argued and shook his head. “He’d never accuse you of
anything. He would not dare ask if he even suspected.”
    “ What if we are caught? Is
it worth the pain we’d inflict?”
    Gabriel came forward and dropped a kiss
across her lips. “You’re worth any agony I could suffer for this
time with you.”
    “ He means to leave at year’s
end,” she informed him quietly and saw Gabriel’s expression harden.
“We go back to the islands; what then? You and I will not see each
other again.”
    “ Then now is all we have and
we enjoy it,” he responded with a pained look. “All I ask is for
you to stop shutting me out, Catherine. I knew you remembered us.
Why did you deny it?”
    “ I’m married,” she reminded
him and slipped under his arm, walking away to find her slippers.
“We can never be together as you want, Gabriel. I won’t leave him
for you.”
    “ I would have whatever you
would give, Catherine,” he offered with a solemn expression. “I ask
no more. I know you love him too.”
    “ Understand that my place is
with my husband, Gabriel. I can’t promise you more.”
    He nodded and watched her leave, his
heart filled with her, his lips tasting of hers, her smell upon his
hands. Even now his body felt more sated than it had in years. The
encounter was enough to remind him what he missed. Even if he knew
it was wrong, he would take