Regency 03 - Deception (33 page)

He appeared to consider this for a moment. “Not
really. A trifle perturbed, maybe, but mad?” He shook his head.

Aurora had to stop a hysterical giggle from escaping
at this absurdity. She opened her mouth to deliver a scathing
setdown but was forestalled by a quiet yet deadly voice from the
now open door.

“
You will release the ladies,
Forester. I grow weary of this game.”

She noticed Forester was already facing the door,
pointing his gun at the heart of the Duke of Derringer. Just how
did the man know when she was in trouble? Was he clairvoyant?

The duke leaned against the doorpost with apparent
ease. He didn’t appear worried in the least, yet Aurora knew he
must be in severe pain. His injuries, while mostly healed during
his long convalescence, would still be sore enough to cause him
great discomfort. He seemed quite comfortable where he stood. He
was even smiling. It was that smile of his that promised
retribution for daring to interfere in his life. She shivered
involuntarily.

Derringer caught her eye. She relaxed at the look of
confidence and reassurance she saw there. His gaze shifted back to
her nemesis.

Becoming aware of a movement near the window on the
far side of the room, she saw Derringer move to stand between
Forester and herself. She realized he was maneuvering Forester so
his back was to the window.

“
Do you want to kill me, Forester?
How far do you think you can run before someone catches up with you
for murdering a peer? I may not be well liked, but I am still a
duke.” He paused, appearing to consider something that had not
before occurred to him. “Although, if you rid the world of me, you
might be knighted. I’ve been a thorn in the King’s side since the
day I was born.” He grinned and crossed his arms negligently over
his chest.

Forester stared at the duke with a blank expression.
Aurora wondered what was happening behind the still mask. How did a
madman’s mind actually work?

“
The temptation to kill you
outright is strong, Derringer. And I happen to know that the Regent
would indeed be grateful for your permanent removal.”

“
You are a coward, Forester,”
taunted Derringer.

Forester flinched. Aurora’s surreptitious glance
moved to the window where she saw someone easing it open. She
prayed it was her husband but she couldn’t be sure. Something in
Forester’s face warned that he was fast losing patience.

“
I refuse to trade insults with
you, your grace. I will shoot you when your demise is necessary.
Meanwhile, if the three of you would be so kind as to sit down
there, we will wait for the arrival of Lord Greville, my
lady.”

Derringer stubbornly refused to sit. Aurora would
have smiled if she weren’t so suddenly sure that Desmond Forester
was insane enough to murder a peer in cold blood.

“
Desmond, why did you refuse to
marry me?” she asked to distract his attention from the stubborn
duke. “You could have had my wealth and me and none of this would
have been necessary.”

“
Do you truly believe that, my
dear?” He shrugged. “Perhaps you are right. But I did ask your
father. He refused his consent.”

“
He what?” Aurora was astounded.
All this time, she had believed Desmond had not wanted her. “Why
would he do that?”

A smug look crossed Forester’s face. “He felt I was
only after your money. My own father threatened to send me to
America if I came near you again. It took me a few years, but I
finally got the courage to get rid of him.”

The duke snorted. “You murder your father and you
call that courage? You, my bastard friend, are spineless.”

The ominous click of the pistol being cocked seemed
to echo through the room. Aurora silently willed Derringer to hold
his tongue.

“
I advise you to refrain from
insulting me, Derringer. As you can see, I have the
gun.”

The duke shrugged carelessly, smirking as if it were
all talk. Then he spread his arms wide, in what one could only
describe as an invitation to shoot.

Perhaps it was.

As Forester’s finger tightened on the trigger,
Aurora asked, “How could you do such a thing? To your own
father?”

“
I assure you, it was far easier
than the accident that removed your parents from my
path.”

It was as though she’d been punched, stealing her
breath and making her choke. The duke saw and moved to help her but
Aurora firmly waved him back. Within moments, she was back in
control, the only indication of her distress in the tightening
around her mouth.

“
You killed them.”

The window was open and Aurora could see a gun
barrel pointed at Desmond, then Levi’s face as he silently climbed
through.

The contempt that the duke directed at Forester was
almost tangible. “You are demented.”

The sudden blast took everyone by surprise. Aurora
screamed, Mary fainted, Derringer fell to his knees, and the look
of sadistic satisfaction on Forester’s face was frightening to
behold. His look turned to shock when the butt of Levi’s pistol
connected with his head, knocking him out cold.

“
Lord, I wanted to shoot him,”
muttered the earl.

“
Why didn’t you?” Aurora felt
compelled to ask.

Levi stepped over Forester and took her in his arms.
“Do you think me so insensitive as to kill a man when my wife is in
the room?” He kissed her quickly, too quickly, and moved away to
kneel beside his fallen friend.

“
Hart, you stupid clunch!” He
shook him roughly. The duke stirred, his black eyes opened, and he
smiled through what must be an unconscionable amount of
pain.

“
Vi, I should call you out for
that,” he muttered thickly. “Hell and the devil! That bastard
actually shot me.”

Aurora smiled at his disbelief and knelt down,
heedless of the dust and dirt that covered the cottage floor. “What
did you expect when you taunted him so mercilessly?”

Derringer removed his hand from where he clutched
his shoulder. Levi pulled a knife from the duke’s boot and sliced
open the blood-soaked shirt. He checked the wound over carefully.
“Flesh wound. Nothing serious, thank God.”

The duke groaned. “At least you knocked him out
before he could finish me off with the other gun.”

Aurora and her husband shared a look, neither one
having noticed a second pistol. Glancing back at the villain of the
piece, they saw he was still unconscious, the spent weapon lying at
his side. There was no sign of another one.

Shifting the slightest bit, Derringer added, “I knew
I should have left. I could be in France right now without a
bullet.”

“
Why did you stay?” the earl
asked, pressing his handkerchief into the duke’s
shoulder.

The wounded man shifted his shoulder a bit as if to
shrug, then scowled at his inability. “My damnable conscience, if
you must know,” he admitted through clenched teeth. “I couldn’t
leave without making sure Forester was taken care of.”

The duke’s expression twisted. A fresh torrent of
blood poured from the wound and Levi pressed his handkerchief
harder into it to stem the flow. Aurora tried to conceal her horror
but she was unable to stop a sharply indrawn breath. She swiftly
tore away a long strip of her undergarment, handing it to the earl.
She then rose to see to her maid, who had remained unconscious
throughout all of the excitement.

It was when she was about to kneel down to lift Mary
that she saw the unmistakable glint of metal out of the corner of
her eye. With no more warning than a strangled scream, she threw
herself between the firearm and her husband.

*

Cornwall

Several months later

“
Rory love, you make it impossible
to rescue you. When I try, you insist on being the hero by rescuing
yourself. Well, heroine, anyway.”

“
I hardly needed rescuing, Levi. I
was tackled by a child of four. I can safely extricate myself from
that, I think.”

“
But such a very large child of
four, my love.”

The shouts of several children and a few adults made
Lord and Lady Greville smile at each other and rejoin the game of
cricket. Aurora helped little Callie Prestwich over to her mother
and father and decided to sit down as well. Her side still pained
her sometimes even though it had been eight months since her
accident.

She smiled to herself. Accident wasn’t quite
accurate considering she had thrown herself in the path of a
bullet, knowing full well what it would do to her. That it hadn’t
killed her had been a miracle no one was willing to question.

Lord Connor Northwicke approached her with a
concerned smile. “Rory, does your injury still pain you?”

“
Only when I so far forget myself
to indulge in games,
doctor
.” She laughed when he just shook
his head. “Truly, it is the very slightest twinge, nothing with
which to concern yourself.”

“
Far be it from me to contradict a
lady,” he murmured politely.

Levi joined them and placed an arm around her waist.
“Everything all right?”

“
Yes, of course. Con was merely
inquiring after me. He is such an attentive doctor, you
know.”

“
Thank God,” said the earl.
“Otherwise we would have lost you and Hart.”

“
Have you seen Derringer lately?”
asked Lord Connor.

Levi shook his head. “The nodcock disappeared as
soon as he was able to walk. Rumor has him in America, of all
places. I don’t know where he went but he certainly didn’t return
to Derringer Crescent.”

An angry cry from the playing field alerted the
little group. They saw Verena rush over to her twins to sort out a
misunderstanding. Adam stood apart, laughing at something his
daughter was doing while Bri tried to make her little ten-month-old
Jessamyn talk to entertain the Duke of Denbigh’s twin
daughters.

Aurora sighed with supreme contentment. For a time,
she had wondered if she would ever again be part of such bucolic
splendor.

A few months after she’d been shot, Levi had
informed Aurora of the involuntary departure of Desmond Forester.
He’d been taken to the docks and loaded aboard a ship bound for
America. Levi himself had seen him off.

Aurora knew her husband had hoped the man would
expire on the journey. They had received word from Derringer,
however, assuring them of the contrary. Aurora was not sure how she
felt about that. All she could do was pray he’d changed.

Then there was the news they’d received of the
Millers.

Mr. Miller had died mysteriously, his body
discovered in the rookeries. No one knew how he got there but
Aurora was aware of her husband’s suspicions. It was not wise to
cross the Duke of Derringer.

Mrs. Miller married an American clergyman, traveled
home with him and, according to the duke, was making quite a life
for herself converting the “savages” to Christianity. Aurora could
only assume the woman was trying to make amends for her actions.
She wished her well.

Her real concern was Lord Derringer. He disappeared
soon after he was shot, never bothering to allow his injuries to
properly heal. Aurora thought she would always worry over the
bothersome man and could only hope the feeling would abate somewhat
with time.

Levi squeezed her gently, looking down at her with a
questioning smile on his face. Connor had moved off to help his
wife, leaving the Grevilles relatively alone for the moment.

Aurora stared at her daughter where she played with
Callie, leaving her husband’s silent question unanswered. Her gaze
shifted to Connor and Verena’s three little ones and then to Bri’s
little Jess. She could not prevent the secret smile that spread
across her features. Placing her hand over her stomach, she closed
her eyes.

“
Vi?”

“
My love?”

“
Would you be averse to a very
great change within the next…oh, seven months or so?”

The earl stared at her in stunned disbelief for all
of five seconds while her smile grew wider. He opened his mouth but
said nothing. Then, with a whoop of delight, Lord Greville lifted
his wife and swung her around.

The End

Visit
http://regencydeception.blogspot.com
to learn about the characters, history, and
inspiration behind
Deception.

*

About the Author

Jaimey Grant, a pseudonym for Laura Miller,
was born in Michigan in 1979. After a fun-filled childhood
interlaced with moments of emotional trauma and an insatiable
curiosity about the reasons people act the way they do, she became
a writer.

Already published works include
Betrayal
(the story of Adam and
Bri),
Spellbound
,
Heartless
(the Duke of Derringer’s
story), and
Redemption
.
Upcoming works include
Honor
(the story of Connor and Verena),
Intrigue
(the Earl of Holt’s story) and two
short stories in a young adult anthology called
Unlocked
.

She currently lives in Michigan with her
husband and two children. There are more Regency romances in the
works as well as some fantasy novels.

To read more about Jaimey and her work, visit
any of the links below.

Website:
http://www.jaimeygrant.com