Page 43 of Bedding the Marquess
“You do not need to do that.”
“I fear it is already done.” He swooped in and left a peck on the tip of her nose while he smoothly scooped her into his arms. “I will even read aloud to you if you would like, so long as it isn’t anything too romantic.”
He knew he’d won the moment the corner of Caroline’s mouth twitched, and she wound her arms around his neck. “But I was so looking forward to reading my new one from Thorpe & Son.”
Gideon sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes to the sky. “I suppose if there really is nothing else that will satisfy you.”
She rested her head on his shoulder, making Gideon marvel once again at how well they fit, how comfortable they were with one another. It tortured him to see her upset, but he took great pride in the knowledge that he could comfort her and provide her with a haven. He had meant what he said earlier; he would do everything to protect Caroline and do whatever she had asked of him. He’d never dared hope to experience this love, this connection, but he knew he would never let her go now that he had it.
Unfortunately, Caroline’s peacewas short-lived.
The papers began trickling in the day after the altercation with Callbeck. At first, Perry had brought them to Gideon’s attention. His response had been a refusal to read whatever drivel was being written and instruct the butler to have the copies removed from the house. Caroline had been subjected to vile slander in the tabloids following the initial scandal. It had never truly died out, thanks to her close friendship with their group of rakehells. Authors hid their subjects behind flimsy nicknames (reading “the Scandalous Miss W” and “the Disgraced Debutante” always made him want to gnash his teeth), but they fooled no one. The salacious gossip was consistent fodder for those looking to sell their papers or discuss the latest tidbits over tea.
Over the years, Caroline had come a long way in overlooking the rumors, even if she couldn’t be completely deaf to them. More than once, he’d heard it commented that she should have changed her behavior if she did not wish to attract so much attention. But Gideon knew the lengths to which Caroline had gone to fit into the tiny box Society allowed for a woman, and it did nothing to quell the wagging tongues. He was the greatestsupporter in encouraging Caroline to live her life as she pleased—those people were going to talk about her one way or the other, so she might as welllive her life. There was no denying she’d been much happier, much freer since she decided to do just that.
It was also quite pleasing to see their nicknames beside one another’s on nearly every occasion they made the tabloids.
Gideon’s attempts at shielding Caroline from the current wildfire of gossip worked for only two days before a paper slipped through the defenses by way of a sealed envelope whose only mark was an address for the new Marchioness of Swanleigh.
Gideon was enjoying a leisurely morning in Caroline’s private sitting room, reclining with his head in her lap as she sifted through her post. He enjoyed resting his cheek against the firm curve of her belly and reveling in the tiny ripples and bumps of their child. When her body went rigid beneath him, Gideon was immediately alerted to something being terribly wrong with the letter she’d just opened. He bolted upright, his heart pounding with the need to address whatever had upset her.
Caroline crumpled the documents in her fists, hung her head, and sobbed. She’d done a remarkable job of piecing herself back together after Callbeck’s intrusion, but that had only been two days prior. She was still fragile, still emotional, and still pregnant, which, Gideon was learning, was making her moods all that much easier to tip one way or the other.
Watching her so tortured made it feel to him like hours since Caroline had begun crying, yet she showed no signs of stopping. Gideon was at a loss. With everything in him, he wanted to take away her pain and ease her mind, but it wasn’t that simple—to believe it was would diminish everything she had been through.
“What is it?” he begged her to respond. “Please, tell me what has upset you so.” She fell against him, seeking his support as she pressed her tear-dampened eyes to his cravat.
“T-The tabloids,” she managed to choke out. Someone had sent her a tabloid. Gideon cursed beneath his breath.
“Caro, darling,” he said, stroking her hair as she shoved her face more deeply into his throat. The front of his shirt was soaked with her tears. “My love, it is just a tabloid. They are saying nothing that they have not already said a thousand times.” She’d been more emotional lately, but nothing quite compared to this. Some things had changed now that she was solidly in her sixth month of pregnancy. While her queasiness had subsided some time earlier, her emotions had been a heart-wrenching swing of highs and lows. He did what he could to cheer her or give her space when these moments happened, depending upon the circumstances.
Unfortunately, everyone was at the mercy of the tabloids. Even royalty could not completely stop the gossip columns from spewing their vitriol.
“This is worse,” she sobbed, clutching his shirt. “Now they are going after our child, and he is not yet born.”
A well of furious rage boiled deep within Gideon’s chest. He wanted to knock down the doors of these damnable publications and beat the editors and writers until they had no more working fingers with which to spread their hate. Attack him for his wild ways—he had never been a saint—but to say reprehensible things about his unborn child…that was unconscionable.
“What did they say?” he ground out.
She released the crumpled and slightly smudged print from her hand. What Gideon could make out, however, made him see red.
Across the top of the page in spidery handwriting were the words, “You should be ashamed.” What was worse, news of Caroline’s pregnancy had, understandably, spread since their return from Bray Castle. But the things they said…the caricatures that accompanied them…choked Gideon with fury.
They described Caro as finally having entrapped a titled man into marriage with pregnancy, hinting that it had been her only choice since she’d failed at capturing a husband during her debut. They said it was bound to happen with the way she and Gideon had carried on over the years. They portrayed her as a scheming harpy, her nipples nearly visible above her indecent gown, as she enticed a line of men toward her skirts, each of them labeled with sashes reading Lord S, Lord B, Lord K, Lord T, and Lord PB. Thetonhad never been able to wrap its simple, antiquated mind around the fact that men could be friends with a woman without sharing her bed. The insinuation that she’d shared her favors with all of them…it turned Gideon’s stomach.
The next panel depicted an infant in a cradle crafted from gold and jewels, thanking his mother for choosing such a wealthy father. Another panel showed a baby shackled to Gideon’s leg like a prisoner’s weight, holding him back from his future as a poorly drawn Caroline rifled through his pockets.
It was easy to assume that Callbeck had had a hand in the slander, but his name was not mentioned, and this afforded just enough doubt to keep Gideon from lopping off the man’s head. He and Caroline had been the subject of many a gossip rag; to unquestioningly lay blame for this drivel at Callbeck’s feet was, regrettably, unfair. This could have been anyone with a vendetta against them, anyone who was righteous enough to throw stones, even a man looking to make a quick penny off an easy target.
He crumpled the parchment in his fist and threw it to the ground, wishing there was a fire in the hearth so he could watch the disgusting lies burn to ash.
“Utter filth,” he growled and held Caroline closer. “You know none of that is true.”
“But I did trap you in a way,” she sniffed and looked up at him. The tears overflowing from her eyes split his heart in two.
“I never want you to hear you say that again. It is most certainly not true, and you know it.” He watched her lips tremble as he tilted her face to his with a crooked finger beneath her chin. “I need to know that you are hearing me. Do not ever think for a second that I did not do anything I did not wish to. I love you. I love this child. I have loved you for a long while, I was just too afraid to admit it for fear of losing you forever.”
Caroline’s face scrunched and new tears overflowed. “And now I am crying for an entirely different reason!” she wailed and buried her face in his chest again.
