“No, of course not. You’re a powerful, influential business man.” She smiled as she stroked his ego in an attempt to calm the volatile situation. “Lady Monroe would be a fool not to include you in her party invitations.”
Everett’s eyes narrowed to slits. “If I’m so powerful and influential, why didn’t you make the wise decision to accept my proposal of marriage?”
Bianca’s nostrils flared. Though Everett was keeping his tone controlled for the moment, his red face and stormy expression were drawing unwanted attention to them.
“I don’t think this is the appropriate place to discuss the unfortunate problems in our relationship,” she whispered, with a glare for the closest gawkers. “If you’ll excuse me.”
She turned, but he refused to let her. He caught her arm in a grip she couldn’t escape and dragged her to the dance floor. As the strains of the waltz filled the air, he hauled her close and started to move in time with the melody.
Bianca denied her instinct to run and forced her feet to dance the steps. Making an even bigger scene wouldn’t benefit anyone. People would only gossip louder about her out of control lifestyle. More rumors would only serve to drive her father’s plans forward when he heard about the incident later.
Her best course of action was to let Everett have his way for a while and hope he would be finished spilling his vitriol before Hawk discovered them and broke all her former lover’s teeth. For her own sake as much as the troubled man who held her so close.
“Did that bastard Hawkins throw you over already?” he hissed in her ear.
Bianca gasped as his fingers dug into her back and she was surprised that she could feel the sudden hard thrust of his erection graze her thigh. Despite his overwhelming rage, Everett desired her.
“Hawk is speaking to his brother,” she answered as she tried to move away from the troubling brush of his cock. “And I’m sure he’ll be back to look for me soon.”
To accentuate her point, Bianca turned her head and searched the crowd. Not that she believed for a moment that Hawk was anywhere nearby. If he had been, Everett would have been nursing a broken jaw rather than dancing with her. She had no doubt the anger Hawk had smothered when he’d learned Everett attacked her was only just waiting under the surface.
“Don’t look for him,” Everett snapped and this time he didn’t try to temper his tone. “He would only make you his whore. I would make you my wife.”
Hot color flashed to Bianca’s cheeks at his loud, crude comment and the curious stares it brought from the other dancers.
“I will not discuss this with you here,” she answered in a harsh whisper. “You certainly don’t make your case by humiliating me in front of half the ton.”
“Very well,” he answered as he grasped her arm and dragged her toward the terrace. She shuffled to keep up, hoping it would look like she was taking a peaceful walk with him rather than being manhandled in the middle of a crowd that seemed intent on staring rather than coming to her aid.
He pushed the doors open and dragged her outside. A few partygoers had come out for air and most stopped to gape as Everett and Bianca moved past them. She didn’t struggle as he took her down the steps and deeper into the garden. Away from prying ears.
But also away from safety. She pulled back from his grasp and backed what she hoped was a secure distance away from him.
“Now we’re away from society’s disapproval,” Everett snarled as he pulled a cigar from his breast pocket and lit it from one of Lady Monroe’s tacky Far East inspired lights that let visitors see the path at their feet. “I hope you’ll do me the favor of talking to me rather than treating me like so much garbage you’ve thrown away.”
“Everett,” she said as she took another step toward the main house. Backing away gave her little comfort. Everett would certainly catch her if she ran for the ballroom. “The last thing I would ever want is for you to feel like my refuse. If I’ve done something to bring you to that erroneous conclusion, I do apologize.”
“I don’t want your damned apologies.” He puffed the cigar. “I want you. I would still be willing to marry you, even after everything you’ve done to betray me.”
Bianca’s defiant nature made her want to throw that comment back in his face, but her more intellectual side reminded her that making Everett look like a fool would only bring swift and vicious punishment. Something she might not be able to avoid even with the most diplomatic replies to his ugly accusations.
“That’s very big of you.” She watched him pace back and forth on the path. He never took his eyes from her or let her get more than a few short feet away. “But I don’t believe we would be a good match.”
“Why?” He snatched her arm and crushed her closer. “You liked it when I fucked you, didn’t you?”
She turned her face away from the spray of spittle that escaped his mouth and the harsh scent of cigar smoke. How had she so misjudged him? He’d never been physically abusive to her when they were together. Yet now she was terrified as a bird in a cage waiting for the cat to open the latch.
“You were a very good lover,” she admitted. “But marriage is about more than just the bedroom. You deserve more than I can or will ever give. It’s best for us both to move on. Please.”
The last word came out as a plea for her life, one Bianca realized she might need when Everett squeezed her arm even tighter. His eyes darkened with what could only be described as pure rage and he dropped the cigar to catch her waist roughly.
“Move on? How can I? Perhaps if you’re reminded of what you’ve thrown away, you’ll be better persuaded.”
Bianca’s eyes widened as Everett’s hard mouth came down on hers with bruising force. As she squirmed and screamed into the unyielding wall of his lips, he dragged her off the pathway behind a wall of shrubbery and pushed her to the ground where he pinned her with his hard, fully aroused body.
She threw ineffectual punches that he easily deflected as he tore at her gown and ground his pelvis against her own. When she opened her mouth to scream for help, she was greeted by the silencing weight of his hand across her lips.
Tears burned her eyes as panic and reality set in at once. Hawk didn’t know where she was or that she was in danger. And Everett Firth was going to take from her what she had struggled so long to defend and give of her own free will.
Her body. Her soul. And perhaps her very life.
Chapter Ten
Only Landon would have the arrogance to sit in another man’s home, in another man’s office, at another man’s desk and act as if he owned the room and everything in it. Including Hawk.
His brother leaned back in his chair with folded arms. “Even you have never dared bring one of your whores out in public, Lucius.”
Hawk winced at both the slur against Bianca and the use of his real name. Only his mother and brother called him that. His mother used it because she thought nicknames were vulgar. Landon did because he knew Hawk didn’t like it.
“Bianca is no whore.” He flexed his fingers in and out of fists behind his back. Rising to his brother’s bait would be so easy, but he wouldn’t give Landon the satisfaction of seeing him explode.
“Isn’t she?” His brother shook his head in disbelief. “Her love life with your friend Oscar was the topic of gossip for years. When he died, instead of coming home and retaining what little respectability she had left, she dove into a long string of lovers who she has flaunted with no regard for societal standards or morality. Even her own father is at a loss for what to do to tame her. I’ve overheard him talking to her brothers about it at more than one event.”
“What makes you think I would discuss her with you of all people?” Hawk clenched his teeth. “I didn’t ask for your council when it comes to matters of the heart. Sometimes I doubt you even have one or would recognize true emotion if it slapped you in the face.”
For a moment, it seemed his barb had hit home. Landon’s face pinched in reaction and his casual posture gave way to a st
iffening of his spine. “I recognize disgrace when I see it. Will that do?”
Hawk rolled his eyes. “We have the same conversation every time I’m unlucky enough to spend ten minutes with you. I tire of the repetition. Why don’t you let me summarize so we can speed things along to the part where I leave and slam the door.”
His brother rose to his feet. “Hawk…”
Hawk ignored the interruption and continued in a loud, clipped tone. “You are about to tell me how disappointed you are in me. Then you’ll tell me how my behavior disgraces the Hawkins name.”
“And mother,” Landon added quietly.
Hawk winced. His brother knew how to throw a blow without ever raising a fist. He continued with difficulty, “After we nearly exchange punches, I’ll remind you that you aren’t my father simply because you’ve inherited the title of Viscount. I don’t give a damn about your disapproval.”
Landon slammed a hand down on the desk with a growl of anger that resonated in the small room. “I am fully aware you don’t give a damn. And yet I will continue to speak to you about it. I will never stop reminding you of your duty.”
Hawk threw his hands up in disgust. “Why Landon? Why bother when you know this conversation will always come to the same bitter conclusion and cause a deeper and deeper rift between us?”
His brother dipped his head with a heavy sigh. When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter and filled with sober emotion. “Because you’re capable of so much more. You owe your family and yourself more than to be a decadent rake who cares for nothing but pleasure and play.”
Hawk drew back. In all the years they had been screaming down drawing rooms and coming close to fisticuffs, he’d never heard his brother take that tone. Or tell Hawk that his anger was about more than simple disapproval.
“I-I don’t want to hear this,” he muttered as he staggered for the door. He could face his brother’s wrath, but not his concern. That was too much to bear.
“Bianca Clairemont is only playing a game with you.” Landon’s sharp voice stopped him. Hawk turned with a glare that would have frightened any other man. “She is using your appetites to attain what she wants from you. And that is the money she’s lost to you in the hells. She would do the same with any man who held her vowels. You have nothing to do with it. If you believe otherwise, you are a fool.”
Hawk’s jaw twitched in rage that he barely kept in check out of respect for what was left of his familial ties. “You know nothing about my relationship with Bianca.”
But in his gut, his stomach rolled. Since she’d made her scandalous bet, Hawk had often wondered about the real reason behind her sudden interest in winning her money back.
“I know more than you think. As I said, I’ve overheard her father talking about her several times. She’s been cornered by his attempts to protect her. And you are her answer to her troubles.”
“Lies!”
Landon shook his head. “By God, you’re blind. Ask her if you don’t believe me. Ask her why she turned to you now when she could have come to you a year ago.”
Hawk frowned. Another point he’d lain awake at night pondering. But he hadn’t wanted to know her reasons.
Landon stalked around the desk to stand mere feet from him. He lowered his voice to just above a whisper and said, “Or better yet, tell her why you couldn’t come to her even though you’ve lusted after her since the first day you laid eyes on her. Explain the true circumstances behind Oscar’s death.”
The blood slowly drained from Hawk’s face. Only a handful of people knew the truth about the night Oscar died. Landon was one. It had been one of the few times Hawk turned to his family for support. Now he wished he’d never trusted his brother. He’d been waiting for Landon to lord that secret over his head for years. Apparently, the time had now come.
“She doesn’t need to know,” he said past dry lips.
“If what you share is real, if it isn’t just a way to purge your more animal desires, why not be honest?” Landon arched an eyebrow. “And demand the same honesty from her.”
Hawk spun away. “Enough.”
He was as desperate as a caged beast. He needed escape, he needed air. He needed to get away from his brother’s pointed questions and reminders of a painful past. He wanted to lash out. To hurt Landon as much as he’d been hurt.
“I pity you. You’ve known nothing of passion in your staid existence. And you have never known lo-” He stopped abruptly, but not before Landon’s eyes widened.
“Love? Are you saying you’re actually in love with her?”
Hawk’s heart leapt and the pounding filled his ears with rushing blood. Love. He wouldn’t consider love. It had been a slip of the tongue, an overstatement he certainly hadn’t meant.
“Here’s the part where I slam the door,” he shouted as he stalked away.
He made his way down the hall and into the ballroom. He ignored the crowd, ignored the calls of his name by friends and business associates. He needed to find Bianca. To erase his brother’s accusations and pour out his turbulent emotions even as he poured his seed into her.
He slammed the terrace doors open and walked into the cool night air. He drew in a few, long breaths to calm himself as he looked around. Aside from himself, there were no other partygoers outside. And no sign of Bianca even though she promised to wait for him.
A part of Hawk’s mind twitched with concern and his brother’s words echoed in his mind. Her desire had nothing to do with him and everything with money. That she was cornered and using him to get what she needed to survive.
He pushed the thoughts aside. That was ridiculous. Straightening his shoulders, he hurried down the stairs into Lady Monroe’s meticulous garden. The gazebo he and Bianca planned to meet in was visible in the dim light ahead. Perhaps she was there.
He was so focused on his own thoughts that it took a moment for him to realize there was a soft sound coming from the bushes to his left. With a frown, he stopped to listen. It was the muffled sound of a woman’s sob.
Hawk turned on his heel and headed into the bushes to see what was going on. When he rounded the corner, he staggered to a shocked halt. In the dim lamp light he saw Everett Firth pinning Bianca down, smothering her screams with one hand as he tore at her dress with the other. Hawk’s entire world went blinding red in the blink of an eye.
With a loud, hoarse cry, Hawk covered the remaining distance in one long step and grabbed Everett by the throat. In his rage, he easily lifted the other man off Bianca’s trembling body and threw him across the lawn.
Hawk leapt to where Everett landed on his backside. He drew back his hand and slammed it into the other man’s face. A satisfying crunch of bone met his fist, but it wasn’t enough. Hawk rained punches down on the other man, pummeling him with every ounce of strength in his body.
“You son of a bitch,” he cried out in a voice he hardly recognized. “You want to hurt her? To force her? You’ll wish you were never born by the time I’m done with you!”
Hawk wanted to make Firth pay. He wanted him dead. And he wanted to be the one who stole his last breath.
“Please, Hawk!”
He barely heard Bianca’s quiet sobs from behind him. He was far too focused on making Everett Firth cry out with pain as he raised his hands as an ineffectual shield against the barrage of punches.
Hawk reached back yet again, but before he could land another blow, strong hands gripped his collar to pull him away. Blind to his surroundings, he struggled against his captors, rushing back toward the man who dared to make Bianca weep. But the hands were too powerful and yanked him in place.
“Hawk! Hawk stop!”
He blinked as the fight began to seep out of him. His brother’s voice. He relaxed his shoulders and saw two men detained him. Landon and Bianca’s brother Henry Renfire. The two of them had him firmly by both arms, but each looked at him in surprise.
Hawk’s gaze flitted back to Everett. The slime was on his hands and knees, spitting blood
out of his puffy mouth before he started crawling away. Seeing him sent hot blood back through Hawk’s system and he lunged, but the two men held him steady.
“Stop Hawkins!” Henry ordered in the tone Hawk thought was only taught to first-born sons. “Look, look at Bianca.”
The mention of her name took all the fire and rage out of Hawk in the blink of an eye. He shrugged away from the men and spun to face her. She had risen to a sitting position on the grass. Her black hair tangled around her face and she pushed at her torn dress as she shivered uncontrollably from fear and cold.
“God, Bianca,” he murmured as he dropped to his knees.
“Hawk,” she sobbed as she leaned forward against his chest.
He tore his jacket from his shoulders to wrap it around her shoulders. Even as he held her, she continued to tremble wildly. Her breath came in long, shuddering gasps that wracked him with guilt. If only he had come out sooner. If only he hadn’t left her alone in the first place.
“Take her home, Hawkins,” Henry said softly.
Hawk looked up to see the two men staring at him, but this time they didn’t seem horrified by his animalistic rage. Both seemed surprised by his show of concern for Bianca. Her brother was ashen-faced.
“What about-?” he began
“The two of us will take care of Mr. Firth,” Landon said in a cold, hard tone even Hawk had never heard before. His brother looked over his shoulder. “Damn.”
Hawk peered over to where he’d left the bleeding Firth and found the bastard had managed to creep away.
Henry clenched a fist. “Just take her, Hawkins. Firth couldn’t have gotten far the way you pummeled him. I’m sure we’ll find him.”
Hawk swiped hot tears from Bianca’s face. Suddenly Firth’s location wasn’t important when compared to making her safe again. Making her smile return.
He gathered her into his arms, taking utmost care to be gentle as he tucked her into his embrace. “Landon, go around to the front and have my carriage brought to the alleyway behind Lady Monroe’s garden wall. I’ll take Bianca though the gate on the North side.”
Jess Michaels Page 10
