The Taming of Victoria Colton

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter 31

Special Licenses have, however, become unfashionable. They were obtained chiefly on account of enabling persons to be married at any hour, whereas the canon prescribes the forenoon; after mid-day it is illegal to celebrate a marriage.

~ The Habits of Good Society: A Handbook for Ladies and Gentlemen (The Last London Editor; 1860)

His cheek and jaw were throbbing and his lip bled from a split inflicted to it by one of Étienne’s fists. His ribs felt cracked and bruised and a trickle of blood warmly oozed against his top lip and his breath left his lungs in rapid pants.

All this was largely insignificant and Gabriel paid little heed to his injuries at all.

Indeed, he barely felt their existence.

Standing in a pool of iridescent golden light provided by a lantern hung from a tall post, he watched as the soft fabric draped guilelessly off Victoria’s shoulders and bared her breasts for well over fifty people to ogle over.

At first, the shock of such a gesture startled all present and as one a breath was inhaled with a sharpness only located at the scene of something scandalous. And the silly woman appeared to be frozen with fear or shock, or both, he couldn’t tell, but Vicky did little at first to restore order to her irreparable gown, providing all present with a long, leisurely view of her exquisite breasts.

Thankfully, Étienne seemed to grow some rationale before the rest of them and straightened from where he was crouched over Gabriel, releasing the shirt he had bunched tightly in his fist. “Victoria,” he drawled, his voice dripping with amusement, “I am sure that I speak for everyone when I say thank you for this unprecedented display of your attractive womanly credentials, if that is what you are waiting for.”

She gasped then, a slight mortified sound of horror, and slammed her arms awkwardly over her chest.

God, he tried, but he could not help the smile that twitched the corners of his lips.

“Don’t you dare laugh!” she hissed at him, catching the movement and possibly the humour in his eyes. Gabriel shook his head, afraid that if he opened his mouth he may do just that, and bent down to retrieve his coat, tossing it over her shoulders in the process and standing before her so that his body shielded her from the rest of the onlookers.

He held the ends closed for her while she shakily inserted her arms through the sleeves and Étienne and Adrienne herded Arceneau and his admirers back inside the assembly hall.

“I’ve done it again,” she mumbled miserably, her eyes downcast and studying his fingers as he fastened his coat closed for her. “I’ve made a complete ass of myself.”

He smiled down at the top of her head, tenderly tipping her chin towards his face and gazing into beautiful, dejected sapphire eyes. “Victoria, there was nothing that you showed that no man here did not want to see,” he told her with affectionate comicality.

“I’m such a fool.”

The forlornness in her voice made his heart ache. She was such an emotive little thing, her wonderful haughtiness and abrasiveness juxtaposed against a streak of absurd clumsiness. “A beautiful one,” he acceded with a smile.

“We should take her home,” Étienne remarked as he joined them on the terrace. “I can have a carriage ready-”

“Mine will do,” Gabriel told the other man succinctly, turning to him. “It is already prepared.”

Étienne narrowed his eyes. “You honestly expect me to consent to that?” he demanded. “Leave you two alone in a carriage? And just where will you take her?”