The sun dimmed as everything swirled about her in a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds. She heard Gabriel’s cry of alarm as though it came from a great distance and felt his heavy muscled arms slide about her waist. He was holding her up even as she fainted.

Celia clutched his arm.

“Gabriel,” came from her lips in a shallow, weak puff of air before the world went black and sucked her down.

CHAPTER 33

Celia awoke in a state of confusion.

She lay upon a huge bed, the curtains of the canopy pulled back in great swaths of gold brocade. Overhead, that same fabric gathered into elegant swoops, meeting in the middle and held in place by a beautifully carved medallion of roses and entwining thorny branches.

“Celia?” Gabriel’s face appeared before her, his eyes wild with concern. “Seven hells, you just took twenty years off my life.”

When she went to prop herself up, Gabriel’s hand restrained her. “No. Do not move. I’ve called for a physician, and he will determine if you are well enough to rise from this bed.”

Celia frowned. How had she ended up in this bed when the last thing she remembered was standing in the gravel driveway?

And then you saw him. Bryan Flannigan. The man who stole your innocence. Who so cruelly forced his way with you. And who laughed at you while you cried in pain.

A sob caught in Celia’s throat. What was the man doing here? At Rosenthorne Hall? Five years had passed since that night, and still, she felt the terror. The darkness of the stall and his hand clamped over her mouth, suffocating her while he hurt her.

He must be one of the new hires. But why had he sought employment in the service of the marquess? Did he know she was the new marchioness?

Thinking on the moment in the courtyard, Celia recalled his smirk of satisfaction. He’d not been surprised to see her, and that made her heart thump faster with fear. He’d known she would be there and had relished her shock.

“The physician should be here shortly, but until then, you will remain just where you are,” Gabriel repeated, his hand going to her shoulder and gently pressing her back against the pillows.

“Don’t be silly, Gabriel.” Her voice sounded so far away, even to her own ears. “I merely fainted. Women do it every day.”

But not her, she admitted to herself. She’d never fainted before in her entire life, although she’d faked it on numerous occasions in the past to escape overeager males. The real thing, however, was an odd experience she certainly did not recommend.

A strange little laugh bubbled in her throat at the irony of the situation.

Gabriel frowned with intense concern. “I’m not married to those other women, Celia.”

“I’m perfectly fine, I swear it.” But was she really? Her fingers felt icy and her head was still swimming with enough terror to make her dizzy.