“Yes. You did,” Celia replied calmly, her voice somehow remaining steady, although she trembled with dread. “However, this incident is simply a misunderstanding. I’ve not the slightest bit of interest in Lord Harvey. If I did, I would have accepted his marriage proposal instead of yours. I would have accepted his offer to run away with him. But I did not. And I was in the middle of explaining matters to him when you broke down the door. Please release him as I asked you.”

“Run away with him?” Gabriel’s eyes flared with renewed fury. “Over my dead body. And his.”

Robert sputtered; his face was turning a peculiar shade of red now.

“Let him go, Gabriel. Now.” Celia put every bit of strength she possessed into that command, and surprisingly, Gabriel obeyed.

The stranglehold he had on Robert was finally released, but still, he shoved the man away in a brutal show of disdain.

Robert stumbled, hitting the wall with a thud that left him both coughing and groaning.

“Thank you,” Celia said in a soft voice, willing Gabriel to look at her. Her hand remained on his arm, and she felt the muscles bunching beneath the fabric of his coat. Heat rolled off him, his anger slow to dissipate. But the depths of his gilded whiskey-colored eyes revealed something entirely different. And her own reaction frightened Celia the most.

There was a spark of fear there. Of desperation. Celia knew instinctively that Gabriel believed she could reject him. As a man and as a husband. She might abandon him. She may even declare him unworthy of being married to someone like herself.

And there was the glimmer of vulnerability in a man who’d gone through life alone and unwanted. A little boy who’d lost everything and who now grasped hold of the first person who was truly his, refusing to let go.

Celia’s heart softened. She could not ignore the tenderness that seeped into her own gaze as she stared up at him. For swirling along with the fear he could not conceal was concern for Celia herself. That protective glint reminded Celia of her own promise. She’d given her word to this man, promised herself to him. He’d vowed to protect her, and in his gaze, she saw that he believed he’d already failed in the undertaking of that duty.

“I’m perfectly fine, Gabriel. I’m unharmed, truly,” Celia whispered, moving closer so he understood she sought and welcomed his protection. Emotions careened and crashed through her. The aching need to hold and assure him was almost overwhelming.

“What the Devil is going on here?” Sebastian’s voice, quivering with outrage, echoed from the shattered doorway. “And, Lord Harvey, why is that you are in one of my guest rooms when you are no longer a guest here at Beaumont?”

Gabriel never broke eye contact with Celia while jerking his chin in Robert’s direction. “He came with the intention of abducting Celia.”

“And why did you take your anger out on the helpless door?” Sebastian barked. “Damnit, Rose. That hellish temper of yours will be your undoing.”