He gazed up at her and said, “Who are you?”
ChapterFourteen
Gabriel saw the way his words caused the dark-haired beauty to flinch, and he wished he could call them back.
But he so desperately wanted to know who she was.And for that matter, where he was.
The drawing room was spacious and elegantly appointed, with soaring windows and graceful furniture covered in figured silk.He was quite sure he’d never seen it before in his life.
He never seen the woman bending over him before, either.
When he’d first opened his eyes, the sight of her had struck him like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, something utterly unexpected.Life changing.
Her hair was so dark a brown it appeared black until hit by the sunlight flooding through a set of open French doors into the unfamiliar sitting room.The thick waves of it tumbled about her shoulders, framing a delicate, almost elfin face with a rosebud mouth and eyes of the deepest blue he’d ever seen.
Those eyes were currently fixed on him in a look of anxious dismay, her sweet pink lips pressed tightly together as though she was holding in a cry.
It wasn’t only the loveliness of her features that drew him in as if she was the only point of light in the darkness.It was the intensity that moved through the depths of her eyes, a sense of undercurrents and riptides he didn’t understand but was compelled to track.
There was a brightness to her that was at odds with the worried frown that knit her straight, dark brows.A spark he wanted to see fanned into flame.
Wishing to see her smile instead of frown, Gabriel tried to sit up—but the sudden stab of pain in his temples had him subsiding against the cushions instead.His whole body hurt, in fact, but his head was the worst.
His head ached as though he’d been trampled by wild horses.How much had he had to drink the night before…
…and why couldn’t he remember the night before?
Panic, sharp and nauseating, surged up the back of his throat.
“Where am I?”he demanded, voice cracking through the room like a shot.“What’s happening?Whoareyou?”
Her lips parted, but before she could speak a flock of strangers surrounded them, squawking various things like, “You’re awake!”and “Thank goodness!”and “Your Grace, I pray you will not agitate yourself.”
The dark-haired beauty attempted to pull away once more, but Gabriel kept a firm grip on her slender wrist.
She was his only safety in the storm-tossed sea of unknown faces and unfamiliar voices.He couldn’t lose her.
A speccy, round-faced gentleman bustled over.He had an officious look about him, and Gabriel frown and flinched back from the spectacled fellow’s probing touch to his sore head.
“As I said,” the man pronounced with satisfaction, “many patients resume consciousness quite quickly.How are you feeling, Your Grace?”
“Head hurts,” Gabriel grated out, scowling around the group.Who were these people?A man and woman flanked the rotund gentleman who must be a doctor.
The other man was built along the lines of a mountain, tall and broad, with a craggy face to match.The woman was blonde and pretty in a very English way, all cream and rose complexion and honey-blonde hair.She was gently rounded with pregnancy, he noticed.
“Just lie still, Thorne,” the English rose said soothingly.Thorne.He liked that.“There’s no rush to leave here.Gracious, I’m glad to have you back with us!”
Before he could ask again where “here” was, the dark-haired beauty said, “He’s not—that is…Dr.Perry, I’m afraid something is terribly wrong!”
“A headache is to be expected after sustaining such a blow.”The doctor pushed up his glasses, looking as though he disapproved of these dramatics.“His Grace will be right as rain in a day or two.”
“I’m not sure he will,” the younger lady insisted, darting a frantic glance at Gabriel.“When he woke up, he said?—”
Fed up with being spoken about as though he hadn’t the sense to follow the conversation, Gabriel said, “I don’t mean to seem overly inquisitive, but can any of you explain what exactly is going on?”
The mountain frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, straining the seams of his tailored coat.“I believe you owemethe explanation, Thornecliff.What, precisely, were you doing prior to falling from my sister’s window at dawn this morning?”
The barrage of information made Gabriel’s vision blur.They knew who Gabriel was.His heart thudded nervously.Was he supposed to know them?
