UNCOMMON DUKE, AN (7 page)

‘Go to sleep, Livy,’ he mumbled into her hair.

The ice around her heart melted a little bit more. Oh, good heavens! There had to be a way to resist him.

Chapter Nine

‘M
ama, Mama, you won’t believe—’

There was a little voice in his dream. What was a little voice doing in his dream about Olivia? Gabriel shifted his weight and breathed in her honeysuckle scent.

‘Papa, is that you? What are you doing in Mama’s bed?’

The warm softness below him began to shift and then poke him. Gabriel tightened his arm around it to get it to stop.

‘Wake up,’ Olivia whispered sharply.

Why was she telling him to wake up? She should be telling him that she wanted to feel him deep inside her. Gabriel groaned, rubbed his whiskers against the soft linen draped over her enticing breast and cracked one eye open to the faint morning light.

And was met with his son’s curious expression an inch from his nose.

Startled, Gabriel jerked away from Olivia.

‘Hello, Papa. Good morning, Mama,’ said Nicholas from where he was standing beside the bed, playing with Olivia’s sleeve.

She turned and kissed their son. In an attempt to wake up his muddled brain, Gabriel rubbed the back of his head and stretched.

‘Your hair looks silly, Papa, and why aren’t you wearing a shirt?’

Olivia arched her brow at Gabriel, leaving the explanation to him.

‘It was very warm last night,’ he replied, rubbing his eyes.

‘No, it wasn’t. There was a fire in my room all night.’ Nicholas crawled up on the bed and sat cross-legged next to Olivia. His doe-like eyes widened with excitement. ‘Did you hear the rain? There was a mighty storm. Why are you here? Did the thunder scare you?’

She gave a small snort and glanced at Gabriel. At least she believed he was manly enough to withstand a thunderstorm without retreating to the inside of his wardrobe.

‘Your papa came to enquire after me and was too tired to return to his rooms so I let him fall asleep here.’

‘That was nice of you, Mama. What’s that?’ Nicholas asked, poking Gabriel below his ribcage.

With bleary eyes Gabriel looked down to the puckered scar from his old gunshot wound, his constant reminder of his costly mistake. ‘It’s an old fencing injury.’ One more lie in that chain of many he was forced to tell.

‘Uncle Andrew says chits like men with scars.’

‘You have spent entirely too much time with your Uncle Andrew,’ he mumbled.

Olivia traced the outline of his round scar with her delicate finger and caught his eye with a curious expression.

‘Do you like Papa’s scar, Mama?’

She turned to Nicholas. ‘Would you like to see
my
scar?’

‘You have a scar?’ Nicholas asked with eager anticipation.

‘I was thrown from a horse.’ She rolled her sleeve up over her elbow.

Gabriel peered over and saw a jagged white line about two inches across. He had never noticed it before. When was she thrown from a horse? James should have informed him of any injury she had sustained.

Nicholas gave a low whistle. ‘Did it hurt? Did you cry, Mama?’

She ran her fingers through their son’s hair. ‘For just a bit, my love. Now up you go so your father and I can begin our day.’

‘Will you have breakfast with us too, Papa?’ Nicholas asked with a wide smile. ‘You never do and I would like that very much. I am rarely with you and Mama together. I rather like this.’

And lying there in bed with his wife and child, Gabriel realised he liked it too. They were shut away from the problems and whispers of the outside world. It felt like they were a true family and it was awfully intimate. Suddenly going back to sleep in his room and having breakfast alone held no appeal.

Olivia shook her head and began to say something when he interrupted her. ‘Of course we will take breakfast together,’ he replied, noticing his wife’s surprised expression. Was she at all happy about his announcement? ‘Run off and tell Bennett we will dine together in the breakfast room.’

Nicholas’s smile brightened his face. ‘That’s a capital idea,’ he said, before jumping off the bed and running out the door.

‘Is this part of your ritual each morning?’ He rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock on the mantel. ‘My word, it is barely six o’clock!’

She laughed. ‘From what I recall you also rose with the early streaks of dawn. He does not come in every morning, but a fair amount.’

He had forgotten how sinful she looked when she had just woken up. The lids of her eyes were a bit lower and those loose tresses of her dark hair reminded him of how she looked after a rather vigorous bout of lovemaking—like they’d had last night.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, moving her head away from him.

He climbed on top of her and propped himself up by his elbows. ‘Like what?’ he countered, rubbing his nose on the side of hers, needing to touch her in even the smallest of ways.

‘Please move. We must get dressed.’

‘But I like the way you look without your dress.’

‘Gabriel.’

He placed coaxing kisses along her mouth. If he could only get her to kiss him back, he was certain he could easily convince her to let him enter her again. When her lips parted to accept his kisses, he hardened in anticipation. She was heaven and sin wrapped all in one. Mornings such as this came flooding back to him. ‘I love being inside you when we are both half-asleep.’

The loud crash startled them both and they swung their heads to the doorway in unison.

Colette stood frozen, the remains of Olivia’s chocolate and a broken cup at her feet. Gabriel let out a low curse and jerked the sheet up to his waist. This day was not starting out as he planned.

‘I...I...knocked but...I saw his lordship leave and thought you’d be needing my assistance getting dressed.’

‘I will ring for you shortly, Colette,’ Olivia murmured while covering her eyes. ‘You may tend to the mess later.’

The maid dashed from the room and thankfully closed the door behind her.

Gabriel sighed and dropped onto his back. Hopefully the remainder of his day would not hold any more unexpected interruptions.

* * *

When Gabriel entered his breakfast room at the unusually early hour to the smells of chocolate, coffee, eggs, ham, warm bread and strawberry jam, he found it hard not to smile. Olivia had shooed him from her room without one more taste of her tempting lips. If he was not able to make love to her this morning, at least he would eat well. He went directly to the sideboard, filled his plate with his favourite morning fare, then took his seat at the head of the table between his wife and son.

As Bennett poured him coffee, Gabriel could have sworn he heard the man humming. ‘Can I get you anything else, sir?’ he asked with an unusually cheerful lilt to his voice.

‘No, that will be all, Bennett.’ Gabriel scanned the freshly ironed copy of
The
Times
. Thankfully there still was no mention of the assassination attempt. The fewer people who know about it, the safer Prinny would be.

‘This just came for you, madam,’ Bennett said, handing Olivia a missive sealed with red wax.

Who would send his wife a note so early in the day? Was that common as well? How was it that he knew the exact time Prinny rose each morning, but he did not know the most mundane things about his own house? Gabriel surreptitiously looked at the handwriting and tried to identify the imprint on the seal. Without tilting his head to the side, he would not be able to distinguish the mark.

‘You do eat a lot of food in the morning, Papa.’

Olivia placed the note down and pursed her lips. His opportunity was lost.

‘Nicholas, it is not polite to comment on what other people place on their plates,’ she corrected him.

Their son turned to her in amazement. ‘But do you see his plate?’

Olivia picked up her cup of chocolate. ‘I see it. Grown men have rather large appetites.’ Her fine dark eyes met Gabriel’s over the gold rim of her blue Sèvres cup and she took a slow sip.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d think she was being flirtatious. The very idea of it made him smile.

‘Lord Andrew is here to see you, sir,’ Bennett announced from the doorway. His previous cheerful demeanour seemed to have got lost on his way to escorting Andrew to the breakfast room. Apparently, this morning, when he wanted his family all to himself the outside world seemed determined to disrupt their private moments.

It was just after seven o’clock. Gabriel hoped the urgent news that brought his brother to his doorstep would be good.

‘I realise I am calling early, but—’ Andrew froze in the doorway and his wide-eyed gaze travelled from Gabriel to Olivia and finally to Nicholas.

‘Uncle Andrew,’ Nicholas screamed. Jumping out of his chair, he hurled himself at his uncle. Andrew easily caught him and spun Nicholas around so that the boy rested around his neck like a scarf.

There was no indication from Andrew’s demeanour the direction this visit would take. From the playful attention Andrew was paying to Nicholas, it was impossible to tell the urgency of his call.

‘Is everything all right, Andrew?’ Olivia asked with concern.

He stopped trying to drop Nicholas to the floor. ‘Yes. Forgive me for the early hour.’ His gaze darted to Gabriel and back to Olivia. ‘I found I could not sleep and I know that Gabriel is an early riser. I thought a good ride through the park would clear the cobwebs from my head.’

Patience was a virtue. As much as he wanted to ask the reason for Andrew’s visit, Gabriel would bide his time so as not to draw undue attention from Olivia. ‘Would you care for breakfast, or have you eaten already?’

‘I would never refuse to dine at your table.’ Andrew dropped his nephew into the seat Nicholas had vacated and strolled to the sideboard as if the domestic scene was commonplace and he was in no hurry to speak with Gabriel.

While Gabriel watched Andrew sit next to Nicholas with a plate full of food and accept coffee from Bennett, he fought the urge to lean past his son and swat his brother on the head. He had offered food to Andrew to appear polite. The arse wasn’t supposed to accept it.

Andrew was halfway through eating an enormous serving of ham and eggs when he finally noticed Nicholas, watching him with an open-mouthed stare. The acknowledgement pulled Nicholas out of his stupor, and he studied his bowl of porridge.

‘Mama, may I have eggs and ham instead of porridge?’

Olivia shifted a glance between Andrew and their son. ‘If you’d like.’ She signalled for a footman to bring another plate to Nicholas and opened the note that had been taunting Gabriel since it arrived. Her brow wrinkled as she scanned the paper.

‘Have you received distressing news?’ Gabriel asked.

The footman re-entered the room with a plate for Nicholas as she turned to Gabriel. ‘It’s a note from—’

‘Papa never eats breakfast with us, Uncle Andrew, but since he slept in Mama’s bed last night we asked him.’

The plate slipped out of the footman’s hand, landing on the table with a thud as Gabriel choked on his coffee and Olivia turned crimson.

Andrew leaned closer to Nicholas and arched a brow. ‘You don’t say,’ he said through a devilish grin.

Nicholas opened his mouth to continue when Olivia quickly chimed in.

‘Your bruises have not improved. Perhaps now you will agree to take some healing salve home with you.’ Bless his wife’s polite diversionary tactics.

Andrew shot Gabriel a meaningful look and removed his hand from her inspection. ‘It is nothing.’

‘Papa has a scar. Mama and I saw it this morning since he wasn’t wearing a nightshirt.’

Andrew was quite familiar with that scar. It was thanks to his brother’s quick actions that Gabriel’s body hadn’t received another wound—a fatal one. Still, he needed to speak with his son about the importance of keeping certain aspects of their family life a secret. The sooner he learned that lesson, the better.

Meanwhile Andrew seemed to be thoroughly enjoying Nicholas’s loquaciousness and propped his head in his hand. ‘It seemed rather cool last night to be sleeping without a nightshirt.’

‘I said the same thing,’ Nicholas said in astonishment as his stomach rumbled loudly. Excusing himself, he hopped off his chair to fill his plate at the sideboard. It seemed discussing his parents’ private activities was not as interesting as selecting the perfect slice of ham. Thank heavens for small miracles.

Andrew went back to eating his breakfast and Olivia returned to that mysterious note.

‘I hope the news you’ve received is not too distressing,’ Gabriel said. ‘I gather from your expression that you have not received happy tidings.’

She eyed him intently. ‘I suppose it depends on who you ask. Mr West is not well and has asked me to go to the Royal Academy this morning to settle the arrangement of the paintings for the upcoming exhibition in his place. I will have to cancel my sitting for today.’

‘That is unfortunate. Did he say what is troubling him?’ He took a sip of his coffee to hide the smile that was about to spread across his face at the very notion his wife would not be continuing that bloody portrait session.

Shaking her head, Olivia leaned close enough that he could smell her honeysuckle perfume. ‘I am certain this pleases you immensely,’ she said for only his ears.

‘I would not wish ill on Mr West. You should know that.’

Olivia leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes. She took a sip of her chocolate and her soft pink tongue slipped out to lick her lip. It was almost impossible for Gabriel to hold back a sigh of yearning.

Andrew shifted in his seat, taking Gabriel’s attention away from Olivia’s lips. Prinny’s safety was his priority. Why was he having difficulty remembering that? ‘I have appointments today, Andrew. What say you we go for that ride now?’

Andrew gulped down the remainder of his coffee before he tossed his napkin on the table. ‘Excellent. Thank you for breakfast, Olivia.’

Nicholas stuck out his lower lip. ‘You’re leaving already, Uncle Andrew?’

‘I’m afraid so. However, I’d venture to say you will see me again.’ He ruffled Nicholas’s hair as he walked past him.

Gabriel crouched next to his son and Nicholas gave him a tight hug. ‘I rather like having breakfast with you, Papa,’ he said, releasing his hold.