Page 100 of One Night with a Prince
“Perhaps,” he said, though he sounded merely placating. “But I couldn’t have succeeded while worrying every moment about you. We were too young, and I couldn’t give you the things you wanted. There’s a very good reason men wait until they’re older and established to marry. Because then they have the time and money they need to devote to a wife and family.”
“Or a mistress?” She lowered her lashes provocatively as she sidled up to him. “It would take very little for me to convince Walter to buy a house in town. Then you and I could meet whenever we pleased.”
She reached up to un-knot his cravat. “You loved me once—”
“That was long ago,” he said firmly, removing her hand from his cravat. “And I don’t want a mistress. IGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlwant a wife.”
Her gaze flew to his. “You mean to marry Lady Haversham?”
“If she’ll have me,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
Christabel couldn’t breathe. He’d meant it? He really did mean to marry her? That didn’t seem to alter Lady Kingsley’s purpose. “There’s nothing to say you can’t have a wifeand a mistress. Most men do. Marry the chit if you crave respectability, but you could still—”
“No, I only want her. You’re right—she’s not my sort, thank God. She’s kind and generous and honest, far too good for the likes of me. But that’s not going to stop me from marrying her, no matter what it takes.”
Christabel’s blood thundered in her ears so loudly, she was sure they would hear it. Lady Kingsley looked decidedly ill. “If it’s a wife you want, I could…try to convince Kingsley—”
“To divorce you?” Gavin gave a harsh laugh. “Don’t be absurd. Even if he would, you’d be a fool to risk it. I wager you don’t like scandal any more now than you did then.” He softened his tone. “And I hate to tell you this, Anna, but if you showed up on my doorstep tomorrow free as a bird, I wouldn’t marry you. Our time has passed, my sweet. Lady Haversham is the woman I want, the woman Ineed . And nothing you say or do will change that.”
“I don’t believe it.” Lady Kingsley threw her arms about his neck. “You still love me—I know that you do. And I can prove it, too.”
As she pressed her lips to Gavin’s, a searing rage roared through Christabel. She rounded the gazebo, threw the door open, and hissed, “Take your hands off my fiancé this minute, you scheming witch.”
Gavin was already setting the woman away from him, but as Lady Kingsley whirled to face her, Christabel jerked out her fan. “You had your chance with him, and you lost him. You don’t get another.”
Flipping the catch to release the knife, she brandished the blade. “And if you don’t leave him alone from now on, I swear I’ll gut you like a fish the next time I see you.”
Lady Kingsley let out a squeak.
“Better take her words to heart, Anna,” Gavin said dryly. “She’s liable to do exactly what she says.”
“Oh, yes,” Christabel said in her fiercest voice. “You see, women who lack ‘finesse’ happen to possess boldness in spades. We don’t sneak behind our rivals’ backs to steal their lovers. We have the courage tofight for the men we love, a character trait that sophisticated women like you have apparently failed to acquire.”
Gavin looked as if he were struggling not to laugh. “You’d better go, Anna. Lady Haversham and I have some matters to discuss in private.”
Lady Kingsley gave a tight nod, then edged warily around Christabel before darting out the door. As soon as she was gone, Gavin dropped his gaze to Christabel’s blade. “You can put it away now,Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmllass. Unless you’re planning to go on a rampage and threaten my former mistresses, too.”
She retracted the blade. “I’m sorely tempted.”
He stepped closer. “You do know, darling, that I wasn’t trying—”
“Yes, I realize that. I heard the pertinent parts.” When he reached for her, she brushed his hands aside.
“But I didn’t mean to…I didn’t come here for that. I came to tell you what I found out about the letters.”
His smile faded. “Right now, I don’t give a bloody damn about those bloody letters. Christabel, I—”
“Lord Stokely knows that we’ve been looking for them.”
That brought him up short. “I’m not surprised. But how can you be sure?”
Swiftly, she related the encounter she’d just had with the baron, leaving out the parts that might send Gavin into a rage.
It sent him into a rage anyway. “He wanted to make you his mistress?” He headed for the door. “It’s time I set that bloody arse straight once and for all.”
“Forget Lord Stokely’s flirtations for a moment,” she said, grabbing him by the arm to stay him. “I came to tell you that he seems to think having me on his side would help him. He mentioned that I could authenticate the letters.”
That gave Gavin pause. “Did he?” He turned toward her, eyes narrowing. “That means he’s beginning to doubt whether he could convince a publisher to print them without other proof.” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Do you know what this means?”
