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“Is it not?”
“No,” he acknowledged. “The truth is, I desire you, and whilst it is to be hoped Chloe will eventually come to her senses in this matter, I do not give a damn what decision your other friends choose to make for their own future. My offer of being your tutor, your lover, in exchange for your willingness to open yourself to the pleasure I can show you, is for you alone.”
“But that, in turn, would seem to narrow that pleasure to being only with you rather than a future husband.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “With your permission, I will also teach you ways in which you might secure his interest in you. Hopefully, that, in turn, will secure happiness in your marriage bed.”
“This all seems to be a very huge leap in our acquaintance when I do not believe you were even fully aware of my existence until just over a week ago,” she scoffed.
“That is partly true,” he conceded. “I did not know you personally, but I assure you I knew the names and backgrounds of all of Chloe’s friends.” He hesitated. “I employ the services of a man who provides me with such information on anyone Chloe comes into contact with.”
Lily reared back. “You had someone check into my background? Intome?”
Gabriel sighed. “I have just told you I do the same to everyone my daughter knows or spends time with.”
“Without that person’s knowledge or consent,” she accused.
He winced. “Chloe is far too precious to me to allow any danger to come anywhere near her.”
“You thought I might have been a danger to her?” she challenged.
“I think the same of everyone until proven otherwise.”
Lily drew in a deep breath. “If you had my family investigated, then you must know of my father’s…depleted fortune?” As she had suspected some in Society might.
“Yes.”
“And the…circumstances of my sister’s abrupt departure from our home?”
“Yes.”
Lily winced. “And?”
He eyed her quizzically. “I do not understand…?”
“Do you not consider either or both of those things to be detrimental to my associating with Chloe?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you are not your father, your mother, your sister, nor your brothers,” he snapped. “Your father is incompetent and has been, and still is, derelict in providing for his family. Your brothers have chosen to behave as irresponsibly as he does. Your mother is selfish and greedy. Your sister has chosen her own path, away from that family. But you are not like any of them, and none of those things is a reflection upon you or your suitability as a friend for Chloe. Or my wish to enjoy physical pleasure with you,” he added huskily.
“And is it your intention to offer all of Chloe’s friends within the Spinsters’ Alliance this same pleasure so that they might also be convinced of how wrong they are?” she taunted to hide her dislike of even thinking of such a possibility.
“Absolutely not!” he disclaimed, his expression one of horror.
Lily shook her head. “Why have you singled me out for your attentions?”
“I have already told you it is because I desire you.”
“And is hearing you voice that passing whim really enough for me to discard all sensibility and caution?”
“It is not a passing whim. It is a burning need to possess, to take, to own you,” he grated through clenched teeth. “And I promise I will make it enough for both of us.”
Lily studied his handsome face for several long seconds. Gabriel’s expression was fierce, his eyes gleaming with that same fire. As if compelling, rather than cajoling her, into accepting his offer of intimacy and pleasure.
It was an offersheachedto accept. But no matter how much pleasure or time Gabriel chose to spend with her, she knew it could only ever be a fleeting ecstasy.