Captivated

…Gerard my love

But it was a love not staunch enough or powerful enough to save her from this…

Behind the church, the servants of Wildwood had made a veritable wedding bower in the garden under the direction of the minister's wife.

I don't want this… I don't

People she'd known all her life coming up to her, pleased for her, delighted for her, swelling with the summer- rich sense of the passion to come. Everyone loved a love story, but better than that, they adored an excellent dynastic match.

And of course that was part of Court's thinking when he'd agreed to her father's proposition.

I won't forget that. I'm a commodity, with a value set like a sack of rice or a bale of cotton. I am worth his paying off father's debt and accruing a half share in Oak Bluffs, and he gets a housekeeper, a manager, and an heir into the bargain.

What do I get?

Mauling by a man I despise. Marriage and statusand the loss of the true love…

How can I ever find forgiveness? How could he use my father like that?

Court was watching her; she felt those dark, unfathomable eyes grazing her as she moved amongst the guests accepting their good wishes.

She girded herself. She was neither hungry nor thirsty, and Court had provided enough food to feed the whole parish for a month. But that was the way. Every expectation must be met.

Except mine.

She accepted a cup of cafeau lait.

He had wanted a morning wedding, a breakfast reception. And then they would go to Wildwood where they would spend two weeks alone, with only a skeletal staff to serve them.

He had planned for everything.

She watched him as tightly as he watched her. There was no denying that Courtland Summerville had a commanding presence and an elegance that should have made him very pleasing to her. Certainly the unmarried ladies of the parish were gaping at him like lovesick girls, almost as if they didn't care that he had made his decision, and as if they harbored the unrealistic fantasy that things could change.

Forbidden thoughts.

Oh God… Gerard…

She felt the ache spiraling through her body. Never to have Gerard, gentle, sweet, kind Gerard with his soft kisses and even softer hands. He knew how to coax, when to press, how to wait, when to beg.

He was not a brigand, like Court. He was a gentleman, and self-made.

And maybe that was part of what she loved about Gerard. That he had risen above his circumstances and earned his wealth, his reputation, his fame.

He took nothing for granted, Gerard, not even her. And he had been going to marry her; everything had been planned.

Don't even think about it.

'Drue?' Court, standing beside her, and she hadn't even noticed.

She summoned up a weak smile. 'Court.'

'I trust everything is as you would have wished.'

'It's a lovely reception,' she said, injecting some sincerity into her tone. Itwas; she didn't have to lie about that.

'Now, why don't you pretend that everything else is what you wish as well,' he said harshly. 'You look like you're lost at your own wedding, and that doesn't sit well with me.'

Let the lies begin.

She stiffened her spine. She wasn't going to allow him to ride roughshod over her, even though he scared her to death.

'Surely you didn't expect me to pretend I'm in love with you,' she hissed.

'You will be.'

The arrogant ass. 'I will do my duty, nothing more, nothing less. It's an arranged marriage, and I don't see any reason to give any more than has been contracted for.' She was shaking all over now. She'd never shown him any defiance, any emotion at all to define how ill-used she felt by her father and him.

'How interesting. The fawn has sharp little teeth.'

'I bite, too,' she said viciously.

'I hope so,' he murmured.

'Don't you'

'No!' He grasped her arm. 'Don'tyou. You're mine now, little fawn. And as you say, you'll honor every single clause of that contract.'

A feeling of dread washed over her. The hour was coming closer when they must leave, and she didn't know how to prevent it. 'That's all I am to youa piece of property to furrow and plant your seed.'

'And a convenient way to extend my empiredon't forget that,' he added venomously. 'A half interest in Oak Bluffs your father will never have to lift a finger again. And isn't that the point of the exercise?'

'Paying off his gambling debts was the point. And you knew exactly what you were doing when you loaned him the money and then squeezed him for payment. What else could he do?'

'It was his proposition,' Court said flatly. 'He wanted it.'

'You took advantage of him.'

'We've had this conversation, Drue. I've taken advantage of nothing. I have saved your father's reputation and his life.'

'And filled your coffers, your bed, and your nursery besides.'

'I call that smart business, Mrs. Summerville. You should be proud you have such an astute husband.'

She felt the familiar fury envelop her. There was no arguing with him. He saw himself as their savior even though he was the man to whom her father was indebted. She would never understand such skewed thinking. It could only have been his plan from the first. And that meant he was a conniver and an opportunist.

'I'll never forgive you.'

The light in his eyes flared dangerously.

'I don't care,' he said heartlessly, and, always mindful that people were watching them, he smiled at her as if she had just told him she loved him, he dropped a brutal kiss on her mouth and callously walked away.

'My dear.' Her father, with his palliating tones, his reasoned arguments. He looked as proud as if this wedding were real and Court her choice instead of his. 'You are absolutely doing the right thing.'

'For whom?' she asked bitterly, but she had always known she would do anything for him. And now she had: she had signed away her life to Court so that her father's life could continue on just as it always had, with the sole stipulation that he never gamble again.

What if he did? she wondered. What if her bluff, glad-handing father went to New Orleans and put a dollar down on the outcome of a horse race? And lost. What would happen then?

But she knew. Court had given her father an ultimatum, all of it spelled out in the contract. He would bail him out once out of duty; twice out of honor, and the third time, he would take the remaining half of Oak Bluffs and leave Victor with nothing.

And Victor was not a man who was used tonothing. The threat scared him. And the fact he had two chances to get it right was a speculator's dream. He had been very good, her father, in the past months since he had bartered her and half of Oak Bluffs away. He had stayed at the plantation, tending to business, salivating over the money that Court had deposited in his bank, even knowing that Court would demand an accounting of every penny spent.

That was how partners operated, Court said. Everything in writing. None of this trusting to the honor of the other business. That was how a man got trapped in a lie.

So how did it happen that she was ensnared in the biggest lie of all?

The cost was too great, she thought despairingly as her father dropped a light kiss on her cheek. Her body. Her loyalty. Her life.