Defiant Impostor (44 page)

Murder was no longer necessary, nor must he marry that
slut to save himself. Simple blackmail would suffice. Adam and his London whore
had fallen right into his hands. They would soon know it was folly to attempt
to best Dominick Spencer.

Chapter 25

"Master Thornton, your wife's up from her nap
now," Corliss informed him, popping her head into the game room where Adam
had been playing a solitary round of billiards for the past twenty minutes. He
had occupied himself with any number of things since arriving home from Raven's
Point two hours ago, while Susanna, complaining of a headache, had gone
immediately to their room to lie down. Yet his mind hadn't been on his
diversions, but upon her.

"Did she say how she's feeling?" he asked
with deep concern, hanging up his cue. It had been torture, not allowing
himself to check on her, but he had decided to let her rest since she had
seemed unable to do so in the carriage.

Besides, he had needed time to sort out his thoughts
and emotions. Finally achieving his vengeance had paled against his realization
that he had savagely misjudged Susanna about plotting with Dominick. He didn't
know how he could ever make it up to her, but he was resolved to try.

Corliss opened the door a little wider, and reproach
shone in her dark eyes as she rested her hand on her hip. "Well, she looks
better, not half so pale, but she sure doesn't seem very happy to me. I hope
you don't mind me saying so, but I wish you two would make up from that fight
you had at the Byrds' party. I can't imagine that it could have been anything
so serious to keep you fussing at each other two days later!"

"I'm not angry anymore," Adam said honestly,
thinking the maid's outburst was wholly justified. Things had been strained and
uncomfortable at Briarwood since Saturday night, not only for himself and
Susanna, but obviously for the servants as well, and it was time harmony was
restored.

"I'm very glad to hear that, Master Thornton, but
maybe you might want to go upstairs and tell Mistress Camille, too. She's the
one who needs to hear those words."

"You've read my mind exactly, Corliss. Would you
run out to the kitchen and tell Prue that my wife and I will be taking dinner
in our chamber this afternoon? Supper as well, for that matter."

"I'd be happy to!" the maid said, beaming.
She whirled and fairly flew through the music room to the hall beyond, then he
heard the front door close behind her.

Leaving the game room, Adam's own smile was fleeting as
he turned his thoughts again to Susanna and the fervent apology he had been
mentally rehearsing.

He had been such a bastard to her! If she threw his
apology right back in his face he wouldn't blame her at all, but he planned to
tell her again and again, a thousand times if necessary, until she believed he
was truly sorry for the callous way he had been treating her.

Her biting words to Dominick had sent a shock through
him, convincing him at last that his suspicions had been of his own making. She
had told him she would never plot against him and she hadn't. He had won his
revenge and now it was time to think of the future. Their future.

Susanna might hate him, but he loved her desperately,
and it was time she knew exactly how he felt about her. He couldn't go on
deceiving himself. He needed her as he needed air to breathe, and if he was
very, very patient, maybe her desire, pity, and even her hatred for him might
evolve first into affection, and someday, if he was lucky, into love. But for
now their reconciliation needed to start somewhere, and it would have to start
with him—

"Master Thornton!" came Corliss's breathless
voice behind him just as he reached the stairs.

He turned to find the maid standing inside the doorway,
her expression strained and anxious. She must have burst right in, for the
young footman had barely caught the door before it crashed into the wall.

"Corliss, what's wrong?"

"I was on my way to the kitchen, but there was a
man outside who just rode up the drive, calling out and asking where he could
find you. When I heard he'd come all the way from Raven's Point, I came right
back in to tell you." She glanced over her shoulder. "Here he comes
now!"

"Move out of my way, girl," the sweat-soaked
rider said coarsely, pushing her aside. "I asked you to find your master
and you skittered off on me—"

"Don't touch her!" Adam commanded, his deep
voice ringing in the hall. Recognizing the man as one of Dominick's overseers
he'd seen that morning, he strode angrily to the door, although he softened his
tone as he addressed the wide-eyed maid who had retreated to stand next to the
equally startled footman. "Go on to the kitchen, Corliss."

"Yes, sir, Master Thornton," she murmured,
giving their rude visitor a wide berth as she fled from the house.

"If you ever have cause to visit Briarwood
again," Adam warned, his eyes dangerously narrowed, "remember that I
don't take kindly to abuse of my servants. Do you understand?" When the
overseer nodded silently, Adam demanded, "What's your business here?"

The man reached into his coat pocket and thrust a
wax-sealed letter at Adam. "This is from Mr. Spencer. He told me to wait
for your reply."

Feeling a twinge of apprehension, Adam took it, saying
tersely, "Then do so by the stable. You can get water from the trough . .
. and don't forget what I said about my servants."

Without replying, the overseer stomped from the house
while Adam broke the blood-red seal and ripped open the letter.

Scanning the brief contents, he was suddenly oblivious
to everything around him except the words screaming in triumph from the page,
the first floridly written line in particular . . . Does the name Keefer Dunn
mean anything to you, Mr. Thornton
?

"No. This can't be happening," Adam told
himself.

He read the short letter again, this time more
carefully, his hands shaking from the fury swelling within him and the chilling
sense of betrayal clutching like icy fingers at his heart.

Susanna had done this to him. She must have told that
bastard on Saturday who she really was. How else would Dominick have known that
name? No other explanation was given in the remaining lines:

Since I strongly suspect that you're
familiar with the name, these are my terms. If you wish to continue your
charade as the husband of "Camille Cary," plan on paying well for my
silence. I shall expect a reply this evening with your full agreement not only
to absorb my debts, but also to award me a substantial annual sum, to be
arranged later, which will support me in the grand style deserving of a man of
my social standing. Be assured, Mr. Thornton, that if I don't receive a satisfactory
reply before I retire for the night, I will expose your charade with great
pleasure before the magistrate tomorrow. Then who shall find himself in prison?
D.S.

"Damn you, Susanna Guthrie," Adam whispered,
the gloating tone of the letter fanning his rage. "Damn you!"

How could he have been such a fool? he berated himself,
crushing the paper in his fist. He had thought she hadn't plotted against him .
. . that finally, together, they could begin anew. He should have known that a
clever, quick-witted actress such as she would find a way to thwart him,
despising him as she did.

He had fully anticipated that Dominick might attempt
some treachery before they met in court tomorrow, and he had been prepared to
face it, his loaded pistol accompanying him wherever he went. But he would
never have suspected after what Susanna had said today at Raven's Point that
his revenge would turn to ashes because of her!

Enraged, Adam took the stairs three at a time.

Susanna and Dominick must have staged that outrageous
and convincing performance this morning because of William Booth's presence.
Why else would they have gone to such trouble? Dominick knew he couldn't have
said anything about Keefer Dunn in front of the attorney. He would have foiled
his only chance to save himself, the chance that had been granted to him by
Susanna.

Yet how did she figure into the scheme? Adam seethed
furiously, storming down the hall. Dominick hadn't mentioned her once in that
letter. Was this only a temporary trap until those two could figure out a way
to get rid of him permanently and still make it look like an accident? God in
heaven, that she would do this to him, that she could betray him so mercilessly
. . . the woman he loved!

Adam shoved open the door so violently that it slammed
against the wall, sending several small framed landscapes crashing to the
floor. His gaze flew to where Susanna, seated at her dressing table, spun on
the cushioned stool to face him, her eyes wide and alarmed, their startling hue
a perfect match for her jade-green dressing gown. Her brush slipped from her
slender fingers and thudded to the carpet.

"Adam . . . ?"

Fear clutching at her for the murderous expression
twisting his handsome features as he slowly approached her, Susanna felt as if
her heart was beating in her throat.

"Adam?" she repeated when he didn't answer,
his angry eyes daring her to look away. "What's happened? What's
wrong?"

"This is what's wrong!" he spat, tossing the
crumpled letter onto her dressing table. "Read it!"

Forcing her numbed body to respond, Susanna picked up
the balled paper with shaking fingers, and began to smooth it out.

"Who . . . who is it from?"

"Just read it!"

Spreading the crinkled letter in front of her, she
could scarcely focus her eyes upon it. The first thing she noticed was the
initials at the bottom, and her heart sank, cold dread seizing her. Then she
saw the name Keefer Dunn in the first line. She turned her head away, unable to
read further.

Dear God, the worst had come to pass. Her selfish
prayer had gone unheeded.

"Adam, I was going to tell you," she began,
looking up at him imploringly. "I—I just didn't know how to do it. I knew
how much your revenge meant to you, and I couldn't bear the thought that you
might not obtain it because of me. I still can't believe it was him—"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Adam
cut her off so angrily that she jumped, gasping in fright. "Did you read
the letter or not?"

"I . . . I can't," she said, shaking her
head. "I saw the name Keefer Dunn . . . and I couldn't go on."

"Then I'll read it for you," Adam said,
snatching up the paper, "and listen well, my love, for you are the cause
of this!"

As he rushed through the letter, his hate-filled tone
cut into Susanna's heart like a razor-sharp knife.

The situation was as bad as she had imagined. No,
worse. Keefer Dunn must have identified her to Dominick and then told
everything about her, probably in an attempt to save his own miserable life.
Now Adam would never complete his revenge, and he was blaming her, but it
wasn't her fault. Fate had worked against them, thrusting in their path a man
she had hoped never to see again.

"Adam, I'm truly sorry this has happened,"
she said, rising from the stool to face him, "but you can't say it's my
fault. If you hadn't made me go with you this morning, you'd still have your
revenge. How could I have known that Keefer Dunn was a convict at Raven's
Point?"

His eyes widening, Adam suddenly threw back his head
and laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. Startled by his unexpected reaction, she
went on nervously.

"It was a horrible trick of fate that Keefer tried
to escape today . . . that he was one of the men dragged to the house to be
whipped. He recognized me the moment he saw me, and I recognized him" —she
shuddered, remembering— "those dark-yellow eyes, like a snake's, and his
ugly pocked face behind that scraggly beard. I tried to tell myself it wasn't
possible, but it was him, Adam, and I should have told you sooner—"

"Good God, woman, do you expect me to believe this
tale?" Adam shouted, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her hard.
"A trick of fate? I knew you would come up with some fantastic story, but
this . . . this is incredible!"

Susanna gasped at him in astonishment, tears smarting
her eyes.

"And don't dare start crying either, because it
won't work," he railed at her, his hands tightening their painful grip.
"What a consummate actress you are to summon tears so effortlessly. I have
to grant it to you, Susanna Guthrie, you're as clever and devious as they
come."

Stunned even more that he would call her by her real
name, she pleaded, "Adam, you're hurting me . . . I don't
understand—"

"There is no Keefer Dunn at Raven's Point, and you
damn well know it!" he thundered, releasing her so abruptly that she fell
against the dressing table, upsetting perfume bottles and other toiletries.
"You told Dominick that name at the Byrds' party, and everything else
about yourself, didn't you?"

"No, that's not true!" Susanna cried,
anguished that he would make such a preposterous accusation. Why, why did he
never believe her?

"You told him I was going to seek vengeance
against him, probably soon, and then you came up with the perfect way to save
him, didn't you? A way to keep me mum until you and your precious Dominick could
silence me permanently."

"Adam, this is madness!" she insisted,
backing up as he advanced upon her, his expression so black that she feared he
might strike her.

"Those words you said to him this morning were all
part of your act, weren't they? You two make an ingenious pair, maybe you
deserve each other. But I don't plan on giving either of you the
satisfaction."

She bumped into the wall, hitting her head hard. Still
he stalked her, until suddenly he stopped within arm's reach of her. His voice
was bitterly quiet.