Robin Schone by Gabriel's Woman (10 ebook reader TXT) 📕

And k ill him.

The unspoken words hovered between them.

“Yes.” Gabriel slipped the holster over his right arm and buckled the attached belt around his ribs.

“The ...”—tears pricked Victoria’s eyes; she didn’t want to be afraid, for her, for Gabriel— “the

prostitute said there was another House of Gabriel prior to the opening of this one. She said that it burned

down. Did the man you are looking for burn it down?”

“No.” Gabriel adjusted the leather strap looping his shoulder before sliding the revolver inside the holster,

his motions sure, practiced, as if he had done so thousands of times. He plucked up the pinstriped gray wool

jacket off the couch and faced Victoria. “I burned it down.”

Victoria took a deep breath; the silk knotted at her breasts loosened.

Gabriel’s silver eyes dared her to ask the question that raced through her head: why?

“Your books—you have both English and French editions,” she said instead. “Which do you prefer to

read?”

“I learned to read English.” He did not lie. “Someday I hope to be equally proficient in French.”

Her fingers tightened around soft leather. “Who taught you to read English?”

“Michael.”

“Michael is English.”

“Yes.”

The question came unbidden. “My father has never visited your house, has he?”

The shock Victoria had experienced the night before at seeing reputable men and women—men and

women who were her father’s associates—lingered in her thoughts.

“No, your father has never visited my house.”

Victoria believed Gabriel.

“My father would not hurt me,” she said firmly.

But to convince whom? Herself?

Or Gabriel?

“Not even to protect his reputation?” Gabriel queried gently.

“I think he might find vindication in the fact that I am where I am,” she said matter-of-factly.

For once, truth did not bring pain.

She had known the price of leaving his protection when she had been sixteen. She would never go back,

even if he would accept her.

“And what about your brother?”

Gabriel’s question knocked the breath out of Victoria’s lungs. Her fingers dug into the leather, insensitive

to the damage she might cause. “How do you know I have a brother?”

Stupid, stupid question.

The library registrar. . .

“I know that he is thirty years old.” There was no mistaking the scorn in his eyes. “I know that he’s a

man, mademoiselle, well capable of caring for a sister. But he didn’t.”

Victoria tilted her chin. He had no right to judge her... “My brother is not aware of my circumstances.”

“Why not?”

“He ran away when he was twelve.”

“And he didn’t care enough to ever come back and see how his sister fared?”

Victoria was momentarily taken aback at the anger in Gabriel’s voice.

Her brother had cared ... too much.

“My brother ran away because of me.” Memory clouded her eyes. “I do not blame him.”

But Victoria blamed her father.

She would always blame her father.

“Why did he run away, Mademoiselle Childers?”

Revulsion tightened Victoria’s stomach.

“My father punished Daniel,” she said reluctantly.

The father had often punished Daniel, she did not need to add.

Gabriel would be repulsed, the old Victoria warned.

Gabriel deserved to know the truth, the new Victoria argued.

Gabriel silently waited. Her choice ...

Victoria looked back ...

“I heard Daniel crying later that night, so I went into his bedchamber, and I climbed into his bed, and I

held him. To comfort him,” she said defensively, hating that she still felt defensive after all these years. “He

went to sleep in my arms. I fell asleep, holding him. My father awakened us.”

Victoria could not hold back the pain and the anger.

“He accused us of. . . of lying together in sin.” She audibly swallowed. “My father does not understand

that one can love— and touch—without carnal desire.”

“So you became a governess,” Gabriel said.

“Yes.”

“And you loved other women’s children—”

Victoria’s lips quirked in wry amusement. “Not all children are lovable—”

“—because you did not trust yourself with men.”

Victoria could no longer run from the truth.

“Yes.”

Two faint bongs sliced through the tension, Big Ben announcing the hour.

“Desire is natural, mademoiselle.” Silver lights danced inside his eyes. “The man who used your desire

against you is at fault, not you.”

Victoria imagined a boy who wanted a bed to sleep in ... an adolescent who wanted success so that he

would never be poor again ... a man who wanted to feel the pleasure he created for others.

“The man who used your desire against you was at fault, sir,” Victoria said compassionately, “not you.”

Gabriel’s head jerked back as if Victoria had slapped him.

Victoria waited for Gabriel to accept the truth.

Thrusting his arms into the pinstripe coat, Gabriel turned his back and grabbed up the derby coat, cane

and hat.

She glimpsed the dark-haired guard who waited outside the door.

Gabriel did not acknowledge him.

Victoria stared into dark, curious eyes. And then the door closed behind Gabriel.

Leaving Victoria alone.

She was suddenly ravenous.

Sitting down in Gabriel’s chair, she laid the French book down for easy access and lifted the silver dome

off of the plate.

A blue enameled ring circled the white china.

Victoria ate with pleasure. When she had finished the last bite of ham, the last piece of egg and the last

crust of a flaky croissant, she replaced the silver dome and carried it to the door.

The dark-haired man—younger than Gabriel by at least ten years—turned to her with a drawn gun.

She had surprised him.

He had surprised her.

“Please tell the chef that breakfast was quite delicious,” she said evenly, holding out the tray.

Slowly the man’s dark eyes took in the blue silk spread that bared Victoria’s shoulders.

A spark of mischief flared inside his gaze.

Apparently, prostitution had taken neither the joy nor the desire out of him.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Sliding the pistol underneath his black jacket, he smiled and took the tray. His

voice was soft, cultured, the voice of seduction. “Pierre will be pleased.”

Her heart skipped a beat. He really was quite handsome.

“Thank you.” Victoria hesitated self-consciously. She took a