Chapter Eighteen
Gideon rose to his 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.”
“Money? He came here asking you for money?”
“He came here trying to extort it,” Caroline said with a shaky exhalation.
Gideon’s rage had begun to cool slightly, but her admission caused it to roar back to life—more so when she went on to explain what Callbeck had planned. “I should call him out,” he bit out through gritted teeth.
“No, Gideon,” Caroline grabbed his biceps, knowing full well he was about to storm from the house, track the man down, and demand satisfaction at dawn. “No,” she repeated.
“You do not believe I would win?”
“I believe you would, but he is not worth risking charges against you for dueling and murder.”
He wanted to reassure her that his title was powerful enough that any charges likely would not go past a perfunctory questioning from a magistrate, but the pleading note in her voice and the desperation in her eyes made him nod his head in agreement.
“It would be too noble a death for the man, anyway,” Gideon groused.
“We must wash him from our lives. For good.”
“I beg your pardon, my lord, my lady.” Perry seemed hesitant to interrupt them, but equally as eager to see if he could be of further assistance. “May I bring you anything? Is there anything else you require?”
Gideon chaffed Caroline’s upper arms and turned back to his butler.
“Thank you, Perry, for your quick thinking and your urgent message.” After helping Caroline to a chair, he approached the older man and clapped him on the shoulder.
“I will forever be grateful for it. I do not care to think what would have happened had I not arrived on time.”
“We would have protected her, sir,” Perry said, standing up straighter, narrow chest puffing out slightly.
“But it was quite satisfying to watch you deliver that blackguard with his comeuppance. Attempting to assault a lady—” He made a disgusted scoff and then seemed to remember himself.
He cleared his throat, inclined his head, and added with a great deal more dignity, “My lord.”
“Yes, thank you, Perry,” Caroline chimed in with sincerity. “Might I request a cold compress? My hands have stopped shaking and I am only now realizing just how badly my knuckles hurt.”
“Right away!” The butler nearly leaped to fulfill her request. In fact, he did so with such swiftness that Gideon had hardly settled beside Caroline before the man returned with a bowl of water and toweling. Perry ducked from the room to afford them some privacy.
“When you instructed me on the proper form for throwing a punch, you neglected to inform me that it hurts,” Caroline groused as Gideon held the compress over her knuckles.
Gideon chuckled. “If I had, then you might not have delivered such a successful strike.” The fine bumps of her knuckles were faintly bruised, and she winced when he palpated the back of her hand, but he did not feel anything broken. “Should I send for a physician to look at your hand?” he offered.
“I would rather you did not. I will watch the swelling and address it then, if need be. I am sure the visit would prompt more interest and inquiries than I am prepared to answer at this time.”
Gideon reached up and cupped the soft curve of her cheek. He expected her to lean into his touch like she usually did, but she surprised him by remaining still, her eyes downturned and shaded beneath the long fringe of her lashes.
“Caro?” he said softly, dipping his head to try to meet her gaze.
“Darling?” She pulled her lower lip between her teeth so tightly that it blanched.
Her demeanor had changed so abruptly from his arrival, from one of elation and indignation to introverted and contemplative.
It wasn’t uncommon after an emotional physical confrontation, but it was disconcerting to witness his pregnant wife experiencing such distress.
“Please speak to me,” he pleaded gently.
“I have…the bloody worst judge of character,” she finally answered shakily. “I don’t know how I can trust my instincts at all anymore.”
Gideon understood. This confrontation had resurrected her ancient insecurities, her self-doubt, the unjust self-persecution he’d worked for years to help her overcome and bury.
“You cannot blame yourself for the man’s duplicitousness. He is a predator disguised behind a gentile facade. Many people have fallen for it in the past, and many will continue to do so until he is revealed for the villain he is.”
“I trusted him,” Caroline ground out as her eyes flew to his face. “I invited this evil into my life, and now it is bleeding over into our future.”
“It is done; he has been told in no uncertain terms that no further threats will be tolerated. Let us forget about him—wash him from our lives, as you said.”
“My poor choices will forever be a stain upon my conscience,” Caroline said, choking slightly on the tears as they spilled one after another down her pink cheeks. “I doubt myself. I doubt everything.”
“Everything? Even us?”
Caroline’s mouth snapped shut, and she met his eyes squarely. “My history is quite deplorable, is it not?
Gideon’s heart skipped. “You do not mean that,” he said in a low tone and she looked away again.
“I do not know what I mean anymore.”
“You are exhausted and overwrought.” Despite the sting of her words, Gideon recognized that she needed some grace in that moment.
She’d had a trying ordeal and, especially in her state, she required appropriate time to process and recuperate.
“The rest of my day has been cancelled. We will spend the rest of the day in bed.”
“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 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 peace was 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.