Page 41 of Bedding the Marquess
“I think it’s rather a fair amount. Everyone knows Swanleigh’s annual income is at least double that. Eightthousand would be preferable, but I would rather not be greedy. I’ve some debts that need repaying and I’ve found it unbearable to live off the paltry monthly sum I’m afforded.”
“You are a monster.”
“I prefer to think of myself as enterprising.”
Caroline did not think. She did not breathe. She did not pause to consider the ramifications of what she was about to do.
She merely hauled back her fist like Gideon had taught her and sent it hurtling toward Callbeck’s obnoxiously perfect nose.
The man stumbled backward with a howl the precise moment Caroline yelped and shook out her smarting hand.
“You struck me!” Callbeck’s words were muffled by his hands as he held his face.
Caroline hissed through her teeth. “Serves you right!”
“My lady!” Perry burst into the room, eyes so wide that Caroline was concerned the man might expire from shock.
“I am fine,” she told the butler. Her hand throbbed fiercely, but she didn’t think anything was broken. She looked back at Callbeck. “After what you said, you are lucky that is all I do to you. I owe you a great deal more than that.” A trickle of blood seeped from between his fingers, and he shot her a vicious glare from his watering eyes. “I strongly suggest you reconsider your threats against my family. If I hear so much as a whisper of insinuation that my child’s parentage is questioned, then I shall seek you out to pay in your pound of flesh. As a matter of fact, it is likely in your best interest todiscouragesuch chatter. We will not be meeting your demands, and you are unworthy of a second thought.” She turned back to her pale-faced butler. “See that Lord Callbeck is escorted from the house posthaste. He will not be returning, and, if he so much as sets foot on the front step of any of the Swanleigh estates, then he will have greater concerns than a broken nose.” She met Callbeck’s narrowed eyes. Everyone of her nerves sang with adrenaline and elation. She felt triumphant.
Until Callbeck broke free from Perry’s arm on his shoulder and charged toward Caroline.
“You bitch!” he snarled.
Caroline stumbled back several steps, but he was moving too quickly, and her body was too cumbersome. Just before he grabbed her, however, Callbeck was stopped dead in his approach and thrown to the ground with an impressive thud.
Caroline’s shocked mind took a handful of seconds to register that her Gideon had blown into the room like a furious storm and now held her assailant pinned to the ground.
“I thought I already dealt with you,” Gideon growled, jaw like granite and eyes like silver hellfire. Callbeck swung out wildly but did not once connect with more than the solid block of Gideon’s shoulder. “I loathed you before, but, in coming into my house and in threatening my wife, you have made yourself an enemy.”
“Go to hell,” Callbeck gritted out through teeth stained pink with blood.
“I will meet you there, Callbeck. The devil has your name for all your cruelties and misdeeds, and he will drag you there screaming one day; I…I will gladly go to hell for her if it means protecting her. That is where we differ.” One swift punch from Gideon’s trained fist, and Callbeck fell silent and slack.
Chapter Eighteen
Gideon rose tohis feet and straightened his coat. The haze of red still clouded the edge of his vision, but it felt decidedly better to have that bastard silenced. “See that he is tossed out in the alley, Perry. Throwing a few extra scraps on him wouldn’t be remiss.”
“Right away, my lord.” The butler gestured to two of the footmen who had gathered following the ruckus. They grabbed Callbeck’s limbs and rather unceremoniously carted him from the room. Immediately, Gideon went to Caroline and pulled her into his arms. He likely held her too tightly, but he could not help it.
He’d fled his meeting at his solicitor’s office as soon as he’d received Perry’s note. His entire body had numbed with terror, and then his senses had come alive. He knew it would take him at least half an hour to reach Mayfair, but he was determined to cut that time in half. Knowing Callbeck was in his home seeking out his wife shoved Gideon into a haze of rage.
He didn’t recall the ride back through London or ripping open the front door to his home. As soon as he saw Perry’s aghast expression, the alarmed footmen standing beside him, and witnessed Callbeck lunge for Caroline, Gideon acted only on instinct. He needed to protect her. He needed to protect their child. She was his, and he would shed any amount of blood required to keep her safe.
“You are trembling,” he murmured into her sweet-smelling hair.
“I am relieved,” she said tremulously.
“Relieved?” he leaned back to look down into her face. She clung to him so tightly, yet he did not ever want it to end.
Caroline nodded. “Relieved. Triumphant. I haven’t faced him since—”
He shushed her and pressed his lips to her forehead.
But she wouldn’t be still. “I need to say this. I haven’t faced Callbeck since the assault. It has been years of him haunting my past, and I feel as if he has finally been eradicated.”
“You were so brave, darling,” Gideon said earnestly. “I wish he hadn’t been admitted in the first place, and I am none too pleased with the danger you were in, but I am happy you feel freed by it.” He could not resist tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “What did he want?”
Caroline’s eyes began to glitter, and Gideon wished he hadn’t asked. “Money.”
