Page 72 of The Duchess Debt

“A desperate one.” All amusement vanished from his face as he stopped in front of her. “I need that money to start a new life for myself, far from England.”

Far from whoever was chasing him, he meant. “I thought that’s what India was supposed to have done.”

He bit out a laughing curse. “India was a living hell. Between the heat and the rains, Englishmen who used me for their own gain within the company, and everyone else who cheated me and stole from me—is it any wonder I was forced to do the things I did simply to survive?”

Dread prickled the small hairs on her arms, and she asked in a whisper, “What did you do?”

“Apparently, not enough.” He gestured his arm to indicate the house around him. “Meanwhile, my brother has all this, and not one bit of it earned.”

“Just like you didn’t earn Clarissa?”

“I never loved Clarissa. How could anyone love that woman? I used her, and she used me. That’s all.” He sneered. “But Gabe, always the fairytale prince riding to the rescue…” He lowered his head until his eyes were level with hers. “Tell me, Helena. Doesn’t it bother you to know that he so quickly threw you over on your wedding day when he didn’t even know if Clarissa’s baby was truly mine?”

“He knew,” she countered. Adam would never make her doubt Gabe. Not again.

“He didn’t. And don’t think for one moment that Clarissa would have missed her chance to marry a duke. Most likely, that was why she let me bed her in the first place. She already knew I was leaving for India, just as she knew Gabe would do the honorable thing for the family by marrying her and pretending the brat was his.”

Her hand flew to her belly. She was going to be sick!

“Gabe jilted you and left your reputation in tatters, and all without any hard proof. He was so easily manipulated.” He reached out and plucked at an invisible piece of lint on her sleeve. “He did it once. He’ll be willing to do it again.”

She slapped his hand away as her anger rose to replace her fear. “Gabe knew exactly what kind of cad you were, that you were more than willing to seduce an innocent miss and then run away to leave him to clean up your mess.” She crossed her arms before she lost control and scratched his eyes out. “What are you doing now, Adam—blackmailing us into cleaning up yet another one of your messes?”

A cold smile stretched across his face, and he stepped back. “I want that money, Helena. Now. Or I promise you that Gabe willneverwalk down the aisle with you.”

She knew better. Gabe had made up his mind tonight that he would go through with their wedding, no matter what, or he wouldn’t have spilled his seed inside her. She put her faith in that. Shehadto.

“You can’t stop our wedding.” Caleb Parker and Gabe had certainly already made arrangements with the innkeeper to keep Adam away from the ceremony. “And Gabe knows you asked me for money. I told him.”

“You shouldn’t have done that.” His eyes gleamed black. “Now you’ve forced me to play rough.”

Fear chilled her. “What do you mean?”

“One last warning, Helena.” He raked his fingers through his hair and mussed it. “Sign over your money, or I’ll stop your wedding before you even reach the church.”

Her heart lurched at the threat. “When Gabe hears of this—”

“Oh, I’m certain he will.” He yanked at his cravat and tore loose the knots. “Within a few moments, in fact.”

She stared at his mussed clothing. “What are you doing?”

He ignored her question, slipped his cravat from around his neck, and tossed it over a nearby chair. “You see, I asked him to meet me here, said I had some last-minute arrangements to discuss with him to settle up my allowance before I left. I daresay, he’s more eager to be rid of me than you are.” He tsked his tongue and shrugged out of his jacket. “You thought you could avoid me by always having Aunt Verity or Maggie Parker at your side and Gabe in your bed at night. But not tonight.” He discarded his jacket haphazardly onto the floor. “Tonight’s the one night when your fairytale prince can’t come to your rescue.” He grinned coldly. “That is, until it’s too late.”

She gasped. “You can’t mean—”

“Heavens no. I would never force myself on you.” He laughed at the idea, yet he began to unbutton his waistcoat. “I don’t have to. I only have to insinuate intimacy.” He pulled open his waistcoat and slipped it off his shoulders to the floor. “Gabe already has doubts about your fidelity. That’s what marriage to Clarissa did to him. Can’t bring himself to trust any woman now. Not even you.”

“You’re wrong.” Yet she backed away from him as pins and needles of fear pricked at the back of her knees.

“I’m not, and you know it. I’ve seen the way you look at him, as if you’re not certain what he feels about you, if all his compliments and gifts are simply an act.” As he yanked at hisshirt to untuck it, he nodded at her necklace. “After all, even that bauble was given to you in front of everyone instead of when the two of you were alone. Was the gesture meant for you—or simply to impress the guests?”

“Stop it! Whatever it is you’re scheming at, stop it right now.”

“Then pay me.”

She threw up her hands in frustration. “I have no money!”

“Suit yourself, then.” He shrugged and slipped his arms free of his braces, and her eyes widened at how brazen he was being, her mouth hanging open, speechless. “But it won’t take all that much to convince him that those rumors about you are true, that you really are a woman of loose morals who’s eager to lift her skirt for any man capable of giving her a good plowing. Including his own brother.”