Bride for a Night(45)

She should have been cowed by his censure. Instead she met him glare for glare.

“Just as you had a care for my reputation when you publicly shunned me?”

“Dammit,” he snapped. “You should have returned to Carrick Park and sent a servant to investigate.”

“I only intended to see if they meant harm before I decided whether or not to go in search of the magistrate.”

“Instead you were captured.”

She waved a hand, indicating the palatial room. “Obviously.”

Gabriel’s frustrated fury shifted toward the man who had dared to kidnap his wife. Although he had a vague memory of a new vicar being chosen for the local church, his visits to Devonshire had been consumed by his efforts to teach his reluctant tenants the latest farming techniques as well as restoring the manor house that had fallen into disrepair after his father’s death. He had little time or interest in the spiritual welfare of his people.

Now he could only regret his failure to personally investigate Jack Gerard.

“I will kill him,” Gabriel swore. “Were you injured?”

She rolled her eyes, appearing utterly unimpressed by his concern.

“Should that not have been your first question rather than accusing me of adultery?”

He growled in annoyance at her continued defiance. He was unaccustomed to anyone daring to lecture him, let alone his own wife.

“Bloody hell, when did my mouse become a shrew?”

“When I accepted my husband intended to treat me with the same disregard as my father.”

He stiffened, deeply offended by the accusation. He had nothing in common with Silas Dobson.

He squashed the memory of standing at the window of his London townhouse, watching as Talia had entered the waiting carriage with an air of wounded defeat. At the time, he had done what he had thought was for the best.

That did not make him an uncouth, ill-bred bully, did it?

Of course it did not.

“If I intended to treat you with disregard then I would not be risking my life to rescue you,” he pointed out in a harsh voice.

She shrugged aside his heroic deed, unconcerned that the Earl of Ashcombe would personally face hardship and peril when he could so easily have waited in London for the diplomats to attempt to gain her release.

“I am not sure why you bothered,” she muttered.

“At the moment, neither am I,” he barked before making yet another effort to regain control of his temper. Christ, this female would not be satisfied until he was fully unhinged. “Did the bastard attempt to take advantage of you?”

“No.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “Jacques has been a perfect gentleman.”

He growled deep in his throat. “Perfect gentlemen do not betray their countrymen and kidnap vulnerable females,” he ground out.

She sniffed. “How did you find me?”

Gabriel had endured enough. He was not certain what had happened to his shy, properly modest bride, but now was not the time for a marital spat.

Not when they were surrounded by the enemy.

“We can discuss my methods later.” He crossed toward the door. “We must leave.”

“Wait.”

He halted to regard her with a flare of impatience. “Talia.”

Turning her back on him, Talia stalked to the satinwood armoire and began pulling out muslin gowns, petticoats and delicate stockings.

“I am not being hauled back to England without a toothbrush and a change of clothing,” she said, her tone daring him to argue.