Candlelight sparkled in her lustrous eyes as she sat back in her chair and laid a hand on her stomach.“Not much.Just that she was associated with you, and she’s dead now.”
Damien rubbed his chin, hiding the unusual ache in his heart.“Elyna Browning, his wife, was Hugh de Dreux’s granddaughter.”
She blinked.“You are related to her?”
“Distantly.First cousins far removed or something.”He waved a jeweled hand through the air.“It matters not.The point is Elyna’s mother married a British man, a captain in the royal navy.”He huffed.“It was such an affront to her family, they disowned her.But her father, Hugh de Dreux never stopped loving his daughter, so when she had a daughter of her own, Elyna, he kept track of her with the hope of someday persuading her to come back to France and rejoin the family.”
“Hmm.Might I guess that Hugh was not pleased when she married Cadan?”
“Precisely.Hence, I was sent to seduce her away from him.”
The lady’s quick intake of air was the only indication she found the story shocking.
He smiled, fingering his chin, finally enjoying the lady’s full attention.“Cadan had joined the navy, but on an unexpected leave, he returned home and found us in bed.”
Chapter 23
Gabrielle pushed from the table, disgusted by Damien’s story.“How horrible.Must you ruin everyone’s life?”
“I was only doing my dear cousin’s bidding.You see we French value family, especially nobility, for blood lines are of vital import to us.”
“Family is important to us all,” she retorted, a longing for her own family weighing down her heart.“So, what did Cadan do?”
“He fought me, of course, but I bested him.”Grinning, he touched his right ear.“Sliced part of his earlobe if I remember.”
Gabrielle nodded.So that was why Cadan gripped it whenever he spoke of Damien.Yet she knew that was not the end of the story.“Then what happened?”
“The woman ran off with me, and Cadan vowed revenge.But I couldn’t very well have him chasing me around the world, messing up my plans, so Elyna and I worked up a scheme to trap him and have him branded a traitor.By then, her father was well connected in the royal navy, you see, and he had never approved of Cadan, being lowborn as he was.”Grinning, Damien shrugged.“We planted evidence, paid off witnesses, and he was sent to Barbados as a prisoner.I thought I was rid of him.”Huffing, he flattened his lips.“How he escaped I have no idea.”
Gabrielle stared at him, horrified.“How could you do that to an innocent man?”
“Innocent!”He uttered a foul curse, narrowing his eyes.“He’s a pirate.Why do you defend him?”
“Whatever he is now matters not.He didn’t deserve imprisonment for defending his wife’s honor.”
Damien laughed.“Honor?The woman practically begged me to bed her.”
“As I’m sure you think all women do.”She glanced at the bed, fish souring in her stomach.
A flash of pain…or was it sorrow?crossed Damien’s brandy-glazed eyes.
No matter.Gabrielle could well understand the reason for Cadan’s revenge.This man, this mongrel before her, had not only stolen his wife, but his life and his freedom.No wonder he hated him so.No wonder he had turned to piracy when he finally escaped.Gabrielle well knew the feeling of desperation a person faced when everything they relied upon, everything and everyone they loved, was stripped away.
Damien poured more brandy, a sultry grin lifting his thin mustache.“All except you,ma douce.You were not so easily lured into my bed.”
Panic soured in Gabrielle’s mouth as the mighty crash of the sea swept against the hull.Candlelight shifted over Damien’s face, casting more shadows than light.Why had she not seen what a devil he was?“Hence, you forced me instead.”
He raised a brow and adjusted the lace at his cuffs.“An action I regret.”Yet no remorse tainted his tone.
She sliced him with her gaze.“Regret?You ruined me.I trusted you.I thought you cared for me.”
“But I do…I came to love you.”He rose, stumbled a bit, and for a moment the hard veneer over his eyes lifted like a gauze curtain swept aside, offering a moment’s glimpse.And in that glimpse she saw a whirlwind of pain and loneliness.
“You do not know the meaning of love.”Turning, she stepped away from him.She must change the subject.And quickly.Lest, in his besotted state, he’d drag her back to bed.Yet…that same condition also loosened his tongue, giving her a rare opportunity to discover his plans.
“Your son is still out there, Damien.Do you plan to retrieve him?”Just saying the wordyourmade her blood turn to ice, but she’d do anything to get Matthew back.
“Ah, no need to go after the babe when Cadan will come to us.”
