Wicked Deception Read Online Free PDF Page A

loved Nicholas.
    He owed it to her to get her husband
restored to her. Nicholas must realize giving up wasn’t the answer.
Why these demons waited to claim him now, years later, didn’t
matter. He was suffering them instead of dealing with
them.
    “ It is not your fault what
happened to you,” Gabriel whispered, his dark eyes bleak as they
looked at his back, seeing the faded scars there, knowing how they
came to be there now. “I know it makes it no easier for you, but
you must learn to deal with it. You must do it for your wife and
for your children at least, Nicholas. They need you.”
    “ My wife would cringe away
from me in horror if she knew!”Nicholas snarled fiercely, his face
ravaged with self-loathing. He sat up and glared at him, his
shaking hand wiping viciously at the signs of his weakness. “It
would sicken her to look upon me, much less touch me again. I can’t
see my lady wife, daughter of a blasted Earl herself, being
remotely pleased to be married to a former child whore,
Gabriel!”
    “ You give your wife much
credit, I see,” Gabriel noted and glared at him. “I think you’re
right then. Just kill yourself. Get it over with, why don’t you? I
shall get you my pistol from my coach. It will be far quicker. Then
you can let her blame herself because you didn’t want to wound her
delicate sensibilities with what happened to you. When you stop
feeling sorry for yourself and no longer have need of a wet nurse,
we will discuss a fitting end to the Duke and the
others.”
    “ What will you do to them,
my fine Lord?”Nicholas asked in a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes
at his words. “You’re a bloody peer like them. They’re untouchable
and we both know it.”
    “ I recommend you tell your
wife the truth before we do anything! I wouldn’t let one of these
scum cause me to lose what is mine as you have!”Gabriel shouted
down at him, so furious he came out of his chair, dark eyes
flashing in rage. “You have won her from me! And this is what you
would do now? You would throw it all away because of what you
couldn’t control happening to you when you were a boy? That’s not
the man I know! That man would not let this destroy
him!”
    “ That man killed one of them
recently,” Nicholas replied in a flat voice as he flopped back
against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling brooding. “I thought
it would make me feel better to end one of their sick, loathsome
lives. I couldn’t tell her the truth. I watched her leave and I
couldn’t stop her.”
    Gabriel understood his feeling of
despair. He felt the same the day he tried to proposition her into
his bed to see their son. He hurt to think Lilly’s lies were true
and Catherine sold his wife their son.
    He watched her leave his house after
their heated argument. She refused to remain in his company or
betray her husband. He watched her trim back as she stalked with
all her dignity from his study, longing to chase her and tell her
the truth. He loved her, no matter what she’d done. His pride kept
him silent.
    Gabriel looked down. His hands were
clenched and he released his hold on the chair arms. Nicholas
refused to look at him now. He was feeling exposed by all he
disclosed. There was an awkward silence now where it had never been
between them.
    They both wanted the same thing now;
her. Neither remembered what it was like before they met Catherine.
The easy friendship they once shared was gone. They became rivals
the minute Nicholas brought her back to London.
    Gabriel used whatever means to bring
her back to him now. The only means at his disposal was their
three-year old son Giles. She refused to come to his bed to see her
son. It was then he knew she loved Nicholas as much as she once
loved him.
    Nicholas rolled to his side, giving him
his back. Gabriel knew telling of these things was difficult for
his secretive friend. He regretted his never confiding in him. When
had they ever really talked about Nicholas’s life? He could