Deceive Not My Heart (64 page)

Unable to prevent herself, she shot back, "
You
can assure me? I thought it was
my
fortune."

His eyes narrowing, the facile charm beginning to fray around the edges, he retorted sharply, "It is your fortune, but you need me to get it. I know people in power... I am a close adviser to Napoleon, and once we are in France, it will be a simple matter for him to order the return of the Saint-Andre lands and monies to their rightful owner."

"I see," Leonie murmured. "And of course without me, you can't lay your hands on it, can you?" A mocking smile on her mouth, she added, "I begin to understand why you have suddenly decided it would be advantageous to find your wife after all these years."

All pretense of politeness vanishing, he snapped, "Don't toy with me, my dear! I want that money and you are going to come to France with me to secure it! It is your duty as my wife."

Leonie laughed. Her eyes dancing with derision, she said softly, "My duty? What about yours? You deserted me, remember? I'll concede that we had agreed to make no demands on one another, but that was an agreement I had with
Morgan
Slade, not you! You are a fraud, an impostor of the blackest kind! I won't lift one finger to help you gain anything!"

"I don't think you understand the full situation," he said maliciously. And when Leonie's brow flew up, he went on, "I am not so easily deterred from what I want, my dear. And while I may have defrauded you, that doesn't change the fact that you are my wife, that you are committing flagrant adultery with my cousin." A sneer marring the handsome features, his voice dripping with slyness, he added, "I wonder what the good and proper people of New Orleans would think of that? Morgan is well-connected in the city, I know, because his mother comes from a prominent Creole family here. The gossip such knowledge would cause! Naturally Morgan would be forgiven... the man always is, but you?" He smiled nastily. "You, my dear, would become a pariah, a woman without character."

Ashley's words hit with painful accuracy; Leonie was very aware of the ostracism she would face if the truth became known. But she didn't dare let Ashley see her doubts. Her jaw set in a stubborn line, she gritted out, "Go ahead—spread the gossip, but it won't gain you the Saint-Andre fortune!"

Ashley appeared to consider that aspect for a long moment. "No, that's true... but there is no reason for it to be this way." Putting on his most sincere expression, he said coaxingly, "Come to France with me, regain your fortune, and then I shall divorce you there. No one need ever know. Let me have the monies in France and you can go free."

Leonie looked at him with revulsion. "You're mad!" she breathed. "Mad and a fool, if you think I would believe
anything
you would say!"

Ashley's face suffused with rage and with a snarl he lunged forward to grab her. And at that precise moment, Justin came bounding into the room.

Ashley heard the door opening and pulled himself up instantly. Leonie who had been intent upon avoiding his touch went limp with relief... until she saw that it was her son who was coming into the room.

Completely oblivious to the tension that swirled thickly in the air between the two adults, Justin ran up to Leonie and throwing his arms around her legs, he said happily, "Ah, maman, here you are! I have looked everywhere for you! You must come and see the new saddle that papa has bought me. It is red and very beautiful! Come!"

Her hand shaking slightly, Leonie reached down to caress his tousled curls. "Not now, Justin. In a short while,
mon coeur."

Ashley stood staring thunderstruck at the child. And when Justin turned his head and he saw the same sea-green eyes as Leonie's, he sucked his breath in sharply. He opened his mouth to speak, but Justin spoke first. Smiling at the man who so resembled Morgan, he started toward him, saying excitedly, "Papa! How did you get here ahead of me?"

"Papa?" Ashley burst out. His face harsh and furious, he glared at Leonie and said jeeringly, "I understand now why your grandfather was in such a hurry to marry you off!" A shout of ugly laughter escaped him. "By God, to think I was duped into marrying you for the oldest reason in the world!"

Justin had stopped in confusion, and his small face bewildered, he stared hard at Ashley and then took an uncertain step backward. "You're not my papa!" he said accusingly. "You look like him, but you are not my papa! Who are you?"

Ashley looked at him with dislike. "None of your business, brat!" And glancing at Leonie, he sneered, "You dare to call me an impostor? What about you, my dear? Presenting one's husband with a bastard isn't the most honorable thing to do! You slut! You and your grandfather must have danced with glee when I stumbled into the trap meant for Morgan!"

Justin had moved nearer his mother with every word Ashley spoke, and his big eyes wide and frightened, he clutched at Leonie's skirts. "Go away!" he said fiercely. "You are a
bad
man!"

Blinded by rage, her breath coming in angry gasps and yet conscious of the child clinging to her gown, Leonie snarled softly, "Ashley, I will ask you only once to leave here. And I will tell you only
once
to leave your filthy tongue off my son!"

"You'll not tell me a damn thing! Not with what I know about you!" Ashley retorted. "I'll keep my mouth shut about the little bastard... provided you come to France with me."

"Never!"
she uttered furiously. "And get out of my house before I do you violence!"

His lips curving in a sneer, Ashley walked up to the pair of them. Defiantly Leonie and Justin faced him. Ashley looked them up and down, an unpleasant expression on his face. "Who is his father?" he demanded suddenly. And when Leonie glared at him contemptuously and remained rebelliously mute, he was enraged. Not only was the bitch being infuriatingly stubborn about falling in with his plans, but she and that damned old grandfather of hers had tricked him! Furious with the entire situation, he vented his spleen the only way he knew how—with all his strength behind it, he slapped Leonie across the cheek.
"Whore!"
he thundered.

His action was a mistake, both Leonie and Justin reacting instantly. Justin's teeth bit deeply into Ashley's thigh, just as Leonie's fingers clawed down the side of Ashley's face. With a howl of rage and pain, Ashley danced away from the pair of them, shaking off Justin as he did so. But Ashley's greatest mistake had been thinking that Morgan had ridden away....

It had been Dominic that Ashley had seen leaving, and Morgan, returning to the house from the stables a few minutes after Justin, had come in search of Leonie. He had just opened the door when Ashley had demanded to know of Justin's parentage, and he was already in motion, already springing across the room when Ashley's hand connected with Leonie's cheek. Ashley didn't even have a second for recovery, because in the next instant, he felt a powerful hand whip him around and had a startling brief look at Morgan's dangerous features, before Morgan's fist smashed into his face.

The force of the blow spun Ashley around, knocking him to the floor. For a moment he lay there groaning, shaking his head trying to clear it. Then he turned over on his back and touched the spot where Morgan's fist had connected so effectively. Wiping away the trickle of blood that oozed from the broken skin, he looked up at Morgan's cool, deadly visage.

Everything had happened so swiftly that Leonie had barely time to comprehend Morgan's presence before he said quietly, "Leonie, you and Justin had better leave. I have a few items to discuss with my cousin."

Leonie wasted not a minute, sweeping Justin with her as she ran out of the room in search of Robert or Dominic.

Morgan's eyes never left Ashley lying supine on the floor, and Leonie and Justin had hardly disappeared before he was across the room, next to Ashley. Kneeling in one lithe movement beside his cousin, he had the knife drawn from its hiding place in his riding boot and held against Ashley's throat before Ashley realized what he was about.

A dangerous glitter in the blue eyes, Morgan drawled softly, "Don't move, Ash. Don't even breathe heavily."

Ashley laid very still, his eyes wary as he stared up into Morgan's face. But Ashley knew Morgan well, and despite everything Ashley was no coward; evenly he said, "You're not going to kill me. At least not in cold blood, cuz. So shall we discuss this like gentlemen?"

Morgan smiled mirthlessly, relaxing back on his haunches. "You tempt me, Ash, you really do," he murmured. Idly he ran the knife down Ashley's throat, leaving a thin, bright line of blood behind the blade. Looking into his cousin's eyes, Morgan said, "Did you know I spent a few years with the Comanches? No? Well, I did, Ash, and they taught me many things to do with a knife. I could skin you whole and still leave you alive, if I wished. But I won't... not because you think you know me so well, but because I would dislike your blood staining the floor in what will be my study."

Ashley held his breath, fear entering the blue eyes for the first time. Morgan saw it and smiled. Pressing the knife a little harder, he remarked, "I should slit your throat on principle. If you touch Leonie again, I will, I promise you, Ash."

There was such deadly assurance in the quiet tones that Ashley shivered. Morgan watched him narrowly for a long moment and then rising to his feet with easy grace, he commanded, "Get up!"

Hastily, although he kept an eye on the knife, Ashley did so. Straightening his clothes with short, jerky movements he snapped, "This doesn't change anything—she's still my wife!"

"Yes, that's so." Morgan agreed. "But you're going to allow the annulment to go through without any further problems. You're also going to leave here now and go back to New Orleans." Casually putting the knife back into his boot, he lit a cheroot, and over the blue smoke that drifted from its glowing tip, he regarded his cousin. "You're not a fool, Ash," Morgan said calmly, "and so you're going to arrange passage on the first ship leaving from New Orleans." His voice hardening, he added, "I don't care where it's going, you will be on it. Name any bank in England and I'll arrange for a sizable sum to be deposited there in your name. Have I made myself clear?"

"And if I don't?" Ashley inquired.

"Then I'll kill you."

Ashley blanched, and his fists clenching impotently, he glared at Morgan. He didn't say a word, though. His face contorted by rage, he spun on his heels and stalked out of the room, brushing furiously past Robert and Leonie, who were just opening the door.

Robert's face was full of astonishment as he stared after Ashley's departing figure and he said, "Wasn't that...? What was
he
doing here?" An arrested look springing to his eyes, he muttered under his breath, "So
that's
what happened!"

Resignedly, Morgan said, "Yes, Rob, that's what happened. Now kindly come in and shut the door."

Morgan hadn't wanted Robert to know, but there was no help for it and he didn't fear that Robert would be any more loose-tongued than Dominic. When Dominic returned, the entire incident had been discussed, although Morgan had waited until he was alone with his brothers to explain precisely
what
inducements he had used to make Ashley agree to his demands. And while he felt certain that Dominic, Robert, and himself would provide adequate protection for Leonie and Justin, he wanted something more. He had hesitated about informing the servants of Ashley's presence, but taking no chances and wanting no repeat of today's dangerous intrusion, he called them all together and carefully explained that for the next several days that they should be on their guard against an impostor... an impostor who might attempt to harm Leonie and Justin. He gave as Ashley's motive revenge against himself.

Dealing with Justin was a delicate task. Morgan didn't want to frighten the child, yet Justin needed to be prepared in case he came face to face with Ashley again. Morgan and Leonie had as gently as possible warned Justin to have nothing to do with the "bad man" who had struck maman this morning.

In a way, Morgan was satisfied with the day's work. He had taken precautions to protect his family, and he and Ashley had laid their cards on the table. Hopefully Ashley was wise enough to know when he was beaten. Ashley was greedy, but he disliked risking his precious skin, and the threat of death was a definite incentive to leave New Orleans. Ashley had always beaten a hasty retreat once his perfidies had been discovered, and Morgan hoped he would act no differently this time.

Ashley did book passage back to France the next morning, making arrangements to sail on a ship that was leaving at the end of the week. As Morgan had said, he wasn't a fool, and Morgan's attitude had been daunting to say the least, even to someone like Ashley.

* * *

Ashley brooded most of that day in his room, trying desperately to think of a way to turn the tables on Morgan. The thought of being bested one more time by his cousin and of returning to France empty-handed was distasteful. Even the idea of the money Morgan would give him didn't cheer his black spirits, especially when compared to what could be his if he could have gotten Leonie to come to France with him. Bitch! If he could only get her alone... she was too smart, too quick to be caught by his wiles, he conceded peevishly. But what if he had some way of forcing her?

He suddenly sat up in his chair.
The child!
Of course, why hadn't he considered that sooner? The child would bring her running, assure her complete compliance with whatever he planned. Grinning, he poured himself a generous whiskey. His passage was already arranged.