CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE #2
He laughed and slid his gaze to the brocade settee near the fireplace. “Imagine what Gabe will think of you when he walks into this room and finds us half-undressed and tussling on the sofa, right in the middle of his engagement party.”
“He’ll never believe it.”
“He will when he sees it with his own eyes.” He closed the distance between them and said mockingly, “After all, what a grand lark it would be for you to tup me while your guests sit only a few rooms away. It’s exactly the kind of thing Clarissa loved to play at.
Gabe will realize that, too.” He menacingly lowered his voice.
“Pay me, Helena, or I’ll end your marriage before it ever begins. ”
“I’ve told you! I don’t have—”
Adam lunged. His arms went around her waist, and he pulled her backward.
Off balance, she tumbled down onto the settee, with Adam following down on top of her.
But his hand covered her mouth before she could scream, and his heavy body pinned her down against the cushions.
He grabbed at her skirt with his other hand and yanked it up her legs, not bothered by the punching of her fists against his shoulders.
“Go ahead and struggle,” he encouraged hotly in her ear. “All that movement will make it look more believable.”
She bit his hand, and he yanked it away with a sharp curse. “Get off me!”
“I’m not going to rape you, for God’s sake.
” With a look of distaste, he grabbed both of her hands and pinned her arms over her head.
Then he grinned. “Won’t have to. Just have to wait here just like this for Gabe to arrive.
If you pay me, I’ll say it was all my fault, leave, and never come back, and you can walk down the aisle tomorrow and live happily ever after.
If you don’t, I’ll tell Gabe that you offered yourself to me on your last night of freedom. He’ll never marry you then.”
Hot tears gathered at her lashes, and she swallowed hard to force down the rising bile in her throat. “You couldn’t possibly think you could—”
“But I can.” He paused and cocked his head, listening. Then he quickly rolled her over on top of him, and her skirt slid further up her legs. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
The door opened, and Gabe stepped inside the room. His eyes narrowed on their entangled limbs on the settee, and he froze, not reacting in any other way to the scandalous sight greeting him.
Adam looked past Helena at Gabe, then let out a guilty curse as if they were just about to be intimate, complete with her hips pressed wantonly down on his. He scrambled to slid out from beneath her and stand, but reached down as if in afterthought to pull down her skirt over her legs.
With blinding fury, she slapped his hand away and quickly came to her feet. “Gabe!” She rushed forward and flung herself against him for protection. She shuddered violently as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank God, you’re here. It’s Adam! He—”
Without a word, Gabe slowly unwrapped her arms and set her away.
Oh, God, no… Did he really think her capable of doing something like this—like Clarissa? She reached for him. “This isn’t what you think.”
“What, exactly is it, then?” Gabe demanded in a chilling voice.
She froze, then dropped her hands to her sides as he raked a furious look over her, taking in her mussed hair that was coming free of its pins, her sagging neckline, the wrinkles in her skirt… She looked exactly as Adam wanted.
Gabe’s eyes narrowed murderously as they traveled to his brother.
“Just listen to her, will you?” Adam interjected quickly as he came forward, his hands in front of him as if in surrender.
Or in entreaty not to be beaten to death.
“I’m certain you let Clarissa explain herself when you were married and found her with…
” He shrugged, as if at a loss for words. “Whomever.”
Gabe’s hands tightened into fists.
“No! This isn’t that at all,” Helena desperately tried to explain. But her voice kept cracking with emotion, and tears stung at her eyes even as she rapidly blinked them back. “Adam forced himself on me. He removed his clothes to make it look as if—”
“Enough,” Gabe cut her off. His eyes blazed as they stared at the floor. “Pack your bags and leave tonight. You’re no longer welcome here.”
She grabbed for the back of a nearby chair to keep her knees from buckling beneath her. She whispered, unable to find her voice, “But it isn’t what it—”
“Not you, Helena.” An icy-cold fury pulsed from him as his murderous gaze swung to Adam, and he snarled, “My brother.”
Gabe snatched up the jacket from the floor and threw it in Adam’s face.
“Get dressed, and get out. Now. And do not ever come back.” Gabe took a step forward and promised in a voice so menacing that it shivered down Helena’s spine. “Or I will kill you.”
“She offered herself to me,” Adam protested, his voice filled with desperation. “She followed me in here, said she wanted one last night of fun before she shackled herself to you. When I said you were coming to meet me, she insisted we could be quick, pushed me back on the settee, and crawled—”
Gabe pulled back his arm to heave a punch.
“No!” Helena cried out and grabbed his arm, then stepped in front of him to save Adam’s life. She could feel the fury pulsing through Gabe as her fingers dug hard into his bicep. “Don’t!”
Gabe sucked in a hard, jerking breath, and she could see him battling the urge to step around her and pummel his brother.
“Don’t hurt him,” she urged him. “You had faith in me when you entered the room. Keep that same faith now and know that I’m right that hurting him will solve nothing.” She cast a grimace at Adam and muttered, “No matter how satisfying. Just let him go. Please.”
Gabe slipped his arm around her and pulled her to his side, taking a moment to rest his mouth against her hair. His eyes never leaving his brother, he murmured, “I would never doubt you, Helena.”
The quiet words pierced her with profound relief. For the first time, Helena was certain he no longer searched for his late wife in her. Clarissa’s ghost was finally gone.
But Adam was a living monster who needed to be dealt with. And from the brimstone burning in Gabe’s eyes…God help him.