Sweet Deception (Hidden Identity) by Colleen French

Author:Colleen French [French, Colleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Evan Marshall Agency
Published: 2018-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Gavin slipped a clean, pressed shirt over his head and reached for his lace cravat. Somewhere in the distance he heard the ringing of church bells. Christmastide had come to London again.

He smiled to himself as he tied his stock. Tonight he and Ellen would celebrate in her apartments. He would have preferred to bring her here to his own place, to his own bedchamber to celebrate in intimate privacy, but Richard was still bedridden with his mending leg. Ellen refused to leave him except to go to the theater and for short shopping trips, so Gavin had little choice. If he wanted to be with Ellen, he would have to share her company with Chambray, for at least part of the evening.

But forced to, Gavin would have to admit that in the last weeks, he had come to enjoy Chambray's company. The two men had much in common besides their love for the redheaded actress, and they got along well as long as both controlled their jealousies. Often, when Ellen went to the theater, Gavin came by to wile away a few hours playing slur and knap with Richard. It was odd to think of, but despite the circumstances, the two men had found friendship in each other.

Gavin sat down on the edge of his tester bed to roll on his stockings, and his heel scraped something sharp on the floor. He lifted the bedskirt to find the culprit. The corner of a picture frame.

The portrait of Thomasina Waxton, of course.

In the activity of the last few weeks, he'd almost forgotten the haunting picture. He dropped down on his knees on the floor and eased it out from under the bed. He told himself that he had placed it there not wanting to offend Ellen by having the portrait of another woman in his bedchamber, but the truth was that he hadn't been ready to share the beauty with anyone. Not with Ellen, not with a servant, and not with one of his gentleman friends.

Gavin carried the heavy framed picture across the room and leaned it up against a paneled chest of drawers. Eyeing the piece of artwork, he went back to the bed to roll on his other silk embroidered stocking. As he dressed, he studied the mysterious woman who had brought disaster to the Waxton family.

It was strange, but the hate Gavin had once felt for this woman had dissipated. Somehow his relationship with Ellen had altered his desire for retribution. Nothing could bring his brother Waldron back, not even the capture and execution of the woman who had murdered him. Ellen had somehow made him see that, perhaps in showing him that life went on and that life was good.

Yes, Gavin was beginning to think that it was time to give up his quest for Thomasina. He could have his brother's assets legally transferred to his own accounts and let the past slip into the shadow of his memory. It was time he put aside

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