Dance with Deception: Scandalous Secrets, Book 1 - Exclusive Edition (Scandalous Secrets - Exclusive Edition) (27 page)

For the first time she questioned her father’s change of heart. Why did he consent after his stubborn refusals to give in? Was it possible that Sebastian had indeed created this elaborate falsehood?

Her mind warred with her heart.

No!
Her heart rebelled against her doubts as she remembered how loving, attentive, and compassionate Sebastian had been. He was everything she dreamed of and more. Could a fraud hold her in his arms with such tenderness or make love to her with such passion?

Her father jarred her from her thoughts. “You forgot my gift.”

She whirled around to face him then shoved away the journal he held out to her. “I don’t want your gift!”

“I am sure you’re mother would have wanted you to have it – from one whore to another.”

Gwen quickened her pace, desperate to escape the monster fast at her heels. Once she reached the beginning of the maze, her father began to read aloud.

        
At last I received a response from the Duke of Davenport. He wants nothing to do with me or our child, as his wife gave him an heir last year. What am I going to do? This precious life we created will be an outcast unless I find some way to mend this
.

“Liar!” Gwen screamed as she lunged for the diary, grabbing it with a violent wrench. She recognized her mother’s script right away and her mind reeled. It was true, she realized, as she swayed. Surely the ground beneath her feet had just shifted?

Was this the reason Colin left?

“When did you tell Colin?” she demanded of her father in a ragged whisper.

“Before he disappeared. The poor sap couldn’t stand the truth.”

Gwen slammed the book shut. “You took a great deal of pleasure from that, didn’t you?”

“Of course,” he spoke with indifference. “He was my wife’s bastard son. Why shouldn’t I have enjoyed every minute of it?”

“Why did you marry Mama in the first place?” She stared at him through narrowed eyes and perceived his jaw clench.

When he answered her at last, each word dripped with contempt. “Your mother kept the truth from me until after we were married. She admitted the truth after discovering that Keir was my illegitimate son. It was her effort to hurt me in turn.”

Gwen squeezed her eyes shut. This could not be happening. Colin was Sebastian’s half-brother? A horrid thought hit her like a bolt of lightning splitting a sturdy oak in half.

“Are Tristan and I yours?”

He exhaled, as if it cost him a great deal to answer. “Yes, you are. Besides the fact that twins run in my family, I made certain your mother remained faithful to me during our marriage. She readily complied, of course. The last thing she wanted was for her children to be disgraced by her scandalous past.”

Gwen stood still, her eyes clouded with her father’s betrayal.

Sebastian lied too
.

The knot in her father’s intricately woven plan was Sebastian’s untruth but her father didn’t yet know the trick played on him. He still believed his daughter to be with child.

Her heart beat at an erratic pace as she turned toward him. He was proud of himself, wearing his smirk like a medal of honor. Gwen wanted to make him suffer. It was her solemn vow as she began to laugh at him, observing as she did so a frown drift across his smug features.

She had struck a nerve.

“What is so damned amusing?” he demanded.

Gwen stifled a giggle, her unwavering gaze fixed upon her father. “You are the fool.”

“You’re delirious.” He scoffed.

He began to walk away but this time she yanked his arm, forcing him to face her. Gwen wanted to see his expression when she confessed the truth.

“You agreed to my marriage to Sebastian because you believed that I was with child. Tainted in your eyes, is that correct?”

“Yes, it is!” Lachlan snapped his arm free.

“Sebastian lied to you. My wedding night was the first time I was intimate with him. You fell right into my husband’s trap.”

His expression hardened, his features ablaze with fury. Such unadulterated rage should have been enough to stop her from further antagonizing him. She refused to heed the obvious warning signs. “After all of your lies and manipulations, you were taken in by a man half your age, the legitimate son of your wife’s lover! That is what makes you pathetic.”

Her father slapped her hard across the face, the force of the blow sending Gwen stumbling backward. She regained her balance, studying him with contempt. A vein pulsated in his temple as she continued to taunt him.

“Make no mistake, Colin is the fortunate child. Once he knew he had no ties to you, he couldn’t get away from you fast enough. Tristan and I would give anything to know we weren’t sired by you.”

“You ungrateful bitch,” Lachlan grabbed his daughter by the shoulders.

Her eyes betrayed no fear and it seemed to anger him more. She retaliated further. “Your plan would have worked except my husband got the better of you.”

“Shut your mouth!” He shook her hard.

“It upset you so much to think that Sebastian seduced me. How does it feel to know that you gave
him permission to do so, on my wedding night?”

“I said stop it!” He wrapped his fingers around her neck.

“How does it feel to know that you were never enough? Not as a husband and not as a father?”

“I will make you shut up!” Lachlan began to squeeze her windpipe, a wild look distorting his features.

“You are dead to me,” she rasped, her fingers clawing at his hands, her nails biting into his flesh. “I hope you burn in hell.”

His grip tightened and Gwen gasped for air, digging her nails deeper into her father’s flesh, certain she would always remember the savage fury flashing from his eyes, emanating from every pore. She clawed at him, fighting against his tight grip but to no avail.

He was choking the very life from her.

“I will kill you!” Although his words sounded distant, Gwen could still distinguish what he said and she believed him.

Lightheadedness washed over her as Gwen gasped for air. She could feel her body going numb, see her vision fading to black, and it occurred to her.

She was dying.

Dear God, please help me
.

Dear God, please forgive my sins
.

Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name
….

By the time Victoria found her brother, she was out of her mind with worry. Sebastian raced across the grounds, fearing that Lachlan was telling Gwen about his lie and expected to see her distraught, crying, in shock.

The last thing he would have ever predicted was that her father would be choking Gwen, the sight chilling him to his core.

Sebastian grabbed Lachlan from behind and threw him to the ground as Gwen collapsed onto the lawns. Sebastian knelt beside her, his heart all but stopping at the sight of her lifeless form. Checking her pulse, relief washed over him as Sebastian felt the steady rhythm of her heartbeat under his fingertips.

“Gwen, wake up,” he said, stroking her cheek. “Duchess, come on now, you are frightening me.”

Continuing to stroke her cheek, Sebastian noted that her eyelids were beginning to flutter open. Once fully awake, she began to cough and gasp for air.

He helped her sit upright, resting his hand against the small of her back in a gesture of support. Gwen was shaking, still gasping for air as fear gripped Sebastian, a knot tightening in his own throat. He willed his wife’s lungs to inhale.

Dear God please help her
.

“I’m here now.” He rubbed her back in a calming, circular motion. “You’re going to be fine.
Easy now, I’m here.”

Sebastian wasn’t certain how much time had passed before her breathing returned to normal. It felt like hours though it was more than likely a few minutes.

“Talk to me Duchess,” he prompted his wife. When she didn’t respond, he prayed aloud. “Please, dear God, talk to me, Gwen.”

She managed to croak, “I’m fine.”

As if suddenly remembering the events that had transpired, her eyes darted in a frantic search for her father. Sebastian also turned his attention to Lachlan, who was still lying on the grass. The man appeared dazed.

“Stay here,” Sebastian instructed his wife before rising. He stalked toward her father then knelt beside him. “You son of a bitch!”

Sebastian grabbed the man’s cravat then tightened the fabric around his neck. “How would you like having the life choked out of you?” he asked as he pressed his fist onto Lachlan’s windpipe.

The old man began to gasp for air, his heels digging into the ground as his body arched.

“I will ensure you never hurt her again!” Sebastian muttered as he squeezed tighter.

Gwen came up behind him, tugging at his shoulders. He didn’t heed her.

“Sebastian, stop.” Her tone was tinged with desperation. “Stop it!”

He couldn’t stop. He hated the man that much.

Lachlan’s eyes revealed his fear, evidence enough that he thought he was going to die.

“Sebastian, please stop!” Gwen’s voice, low and hoarse, penetrated her husband’s haze of rage.

“Do you want to live?” Sebastian asked Lachlan, his fist still pressed against the man’s windpipe.

Unable to speak, Lachlan nodded his head in the affirmative.

“You must never come near her again. If you do, I will finish what I started here today. Do you understand me?”

Lachlan tried to nod again, his fingers tightening around a handful of grass.

Sebastian loosened his grip. “Say you understand!”

Lachlan gasped for air.

Sebastian pulled him by the cravat closer to his face. “You will never come near Gwen or my sister. You will stay far away from my family. Tell me you understand.”

“I-I un-derstand” Lachlan croaked. For the first time since arriving in England, the man truly looked pale.

Sebastian’s hand stilled, allowing Lachlan to inhale jagged breaths as Winston approached the scene. “Your Grace. Your sister sent me—”

The stoic butler stopped then adjusted his shirt collar.

“Sebastian,” Gwen clutched his shoulders, her whisper still hoarse, “let go of him.”

He shoved his father-in-law back to the ground, pressing him violently against the grass as he added, “I meant what I said. If you ever come near my family again I will kill you.”

Sebastian then released the old man, rising from his kneeling position until he towered over his father-in-law. “Winston, remove him from my property at once.”

“Y-yes sir.” With this, the butler helped Lachlan up. The latter pushed him away.

“I can walk by myself.” Lachlan gave one parting glance to his son-in-law, who glared at him while a muscle in his jaw twitched with rage.

Sebastian then turned toward his wife. Her eyes were filled with contempt as she watched her father walk out of her life.

“Gwen,” he closed the gap between them then reached for her arms, “are you all right?”

She nodded.

Her husband surveyed her, groaning at the sight of what she supposed was a large welt on her cheek and several red marks around her neck before pulling her into a tight embrace. “I am sorry he hurt you.”

Gwen leaned into him and rested her ear against his chest, seeking comfort from the customary
tha-thump
of his strong heartbeat. She longed for him to chase away all of the demons her father conjured up but her mind wouldn’t allow it. It kept replaying her father’s hateful words and disgusting admissions.

One truth saddened her unlike any other. If her father had been honest about the reason he allowed her to wed Sebastian, then her marriage was based on a terrible lie.

As was her entire existence.

For the first time, Gwen felt the full weight of the day’s wretchedness. Was anything she held dear
based on truth?

Sebastian’s grip loosened around her shoulders. He then tipped her head toward him. “What did he say to you?”

“My father knows I wasn’t with child when he agreed for us to wed.” Her voice was no louder than a faint whisper.

The haunted expression in Sebastian’s eyes confirmed that her father’s accusations were factual. Her knees felt like they would give way any second now.

“Is that why he tried to kill you?” he asked, his tone disclosing his guilt.

She remained stiff in his arms. “I was being spiteful and pushed him too far.”

“I was going to tell you the truth.” His voice was ragged with concern as he again placed his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “Gwen, please believe me.”

She pulled away from him. “I can’t discuss this now. This is too much. It’s all just too much right now.”

Gwen turned, walking toward the main house as she glanced up at the thick gray clouds swirling in the ominous sky above her. It started out as such a nice day.

Her vision blurred.

Sebastian studied his wife. When she swayed, the motion ever so slight, he sprinted toward her arriving in time to catch her before she hit the ground for a second time that day. He then carried Gwen’s weightless form to the main house and up to her suite, all the while praying to God that her
spiteful father hadn’t done Gwen permanent harm. Sebastian also cursed himself for not admitting the truth to his wife before Lachlan had the opportunity to do so.