by J. Rosemary Moss
Genre: Slash Fan-Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG-13
LINK TO PART ONE
~
When the carriage came to a halt David helped Marty alight from it and escorted her into her flat. He would have left her in her maid’s capable hands, but Marty asked him to remain for a few minutes. So he took a seat in the cramped room that passed for a parlor and waited.
At length she emerged from her bedroom, dressed only in a thin chemise and a silk dressing gown. David narrowed his eyes at her as she took a seat beside him and placed one hand over his.
"Are you still determined not to make love to me?" she inquired sweetly.
David grinned. She was darling—he had to give her that much. He would have liked to tell her the truth, but he couldn’t possibly trust her with such information.
"I’m engaged, Marty," he said at last. "And I’ve no intention of betraying my fiancée by making love to another woman."
"Then why did you claim two waltzes with me tonight and take such good care of me when I fell ill?" she asked, looking directly up into his eyes. "Did Adam ask you to check up on me?"
"Yes," he owned. He paused long enough to take her chin in his hand and give her a mildly reproving look. "I want you to promise me something, Marty," he said softly. "Don’t marry Gregory Miller until you’ve talked this over with Adam."
"What does Adam have against Gregory?" she asked.
He took his time about answering, but he kept her chin in his hand. It was still possible that she was working with Miller, he reminded himself. He didn’t want her running to him and telling him that Adam was suspicious of him.
"I don’t know that Adam has anything against him," David said evenly. "But I do know that if you marry Gregory Miller, you’ll be giving him almost complete power over you. You strike me as a girl who enjoys her freedom, Marty. Are you ready to give that up?"
She sighed. "What do you want me to do, David? Even an artist has to be careful about breaking society’s rules. I don’t want to bear a child out of wedlock."
"I understand that," he answered, releasing her chin. "But Gregory Miller is an ambitious and driven man. He’s proud, too. I doubt that he would sit idly by while you cuckold him with every attractive man you meet. And he doesn’t have a reputation for gentleness, Marty. If you marry him, he’d have the right to beat you—and no court would stop him."
That arrow went straight home. David watched Marty go pale as she considered the implications of his words. She even stood up and began pacing the room.
"I lied to you," she said at last. "Gregory and I are already married—not just engaged. We had a secret wedding a little over a month ago. It was right before Stephen left for Europe. Gregory was afraid to tell Niles—he didn’t think Niles would approve."
David sighed as he shut his eyes for a moment. "Does Gregory know that you’ve been cuckolding him?" he asked at length.
She shook her head. "No—he just thinks I’m a notorious flirt. He knew that he wasn’t my first, but he doesn’t know that there have been others since we married."
"I’m surprised that he hasn’t figured that much out," David said grimly.
Marty shrugged. "Well, we’ve hardly seen each other since the wedding."
David grinned at that despite himself. "And you’re not the sort of girl to be kept waiting at home," he commented. Then he stood up and bowed. "I’m going to take my leave of you. Adam and I will be back tomorrow—we’ll figure out what to do from here."
She grabbed hold of his arm. "There is more to this story, isn’t there?" she asked. "You do have another reason to mistrust Gregory."
David leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Isn’t his short temper enough of a reason to distrust him?"
"I suppose—but I expect that Adam will have more to tell me tomorrow."
"Perhaps," David agreed. Then he bowed once more and made his way out of the apartment.
LINK TO PART SIXTY-FIVE
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