Taming the Wicked Wulfe (The Rogue Agents) (3 page)

Rebekah lifted the mirror in her hand, adjusting it so that she could see what she wanted.
 
Lines crisscrossed her back.
 
Scars from a childhood filled with rebellion.
 
Scars from a foray into adulthood that left her bloody but unbroken.
 
These scars are why she found herself willing to become the Lady Thorn Wulfe and marry a man she despised.
 
Because as much as she might despise Thorn Wulfe, she could not allow Zachary and Ivy to ever suffer what she and their mother did growing up in that awful house.

***

Two hours later Rebekah sat at the dining table with Teddy, the twins, and the vicar and his wife.
 
They had been allowed to join the adults on what Teddy considered a special occasion.
 
She reached for her glass of wine and paused as the ring on her left finger sparkled in the candlelight.
 
It felt heavy on her hand, reminding her of all that had transpired today.
 
She felt relief that Teddy had had the foresight not to put on her hand the ring that Sarah had worn.
 
If he had done that, she would have been unable to hold back the tears that she currently fought.
 
Instead, her husband’s signet ring encircled her finger.
 
Ignoring it, she took her glass and drank deeply.
 
Her life would never be the same.

“Lady Wulfe, are you all right?” The vicar asked at her elbow.

“Yes, I’m sorry, Vicar.
 
It isn’t every day that a woman finds herself married, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.
 
I just wish your young man could have been here.”

“Yes,” she murmured before taking another deep drink.

“You will be the envy of all the women,” the vicar’s wife, Mrs. Young, said.
 
“Wulfe is such a handsome man, and there is such mystery surrounding him.”

“Mystery,” Rebekah huffed before taking another drink, only to find her glass empty.
 
She caught the eye of a footman who quickly refilled it.
 
She let the conversation flow around her, not contributing overly to it.
 
The wine continued to flow and before she knew it, the vicar and his wife were leaving.

“You are going to have a hell of a headache in the morning, Bekah,” Teddy said as he helped her up the stairs.

“That is Lady Wulfe to you,” she slurred and stumbled up two stairs before standing upright with the help of Wulfecrest and the bannister.
 
“Not even a proper wedding night, but there was that one night.”

“What night?
 
What are you talking about?”

“I don’t kiss and tell, Teddy,” she waggled her finger at him in mock reprimand.

“Perhaps I should break the news of this marriage to my brother in person,” Teddy said.

“He doesn’t know?” Rebekah giggled uncontrollably.
 
“That’s rich!” She continued giggling.
 
“I’m married to a man who doesn’t know he’s married.
 
He’s going to murder us both when he finds out,” she singsonged.
 

“He will not.
 
How many glasses of wine did you have?” Teddy demanded.

“I lost count.
 
Why is the room spinning?” She asked curiously as they entered her bedchamber.

“Just climb up on your bed,” Teddy instructed.

“Wanted a marriage like you and Sarah.
 
So happy.
 
But now I’m stuck with Thorn.
 
Will always have a thorn in my side,” she giggled and flopped back on the bed.
 
Soon she slept the sleep of the truly inebriated.
 

“You, dear sister, are going to have a terrible headache in the morning,” he told the inert form sprawled across the bed.
 
He looked around the room and spied a shawl draped over a chair.
 
He grabbed it and covered her with it rather than fighting with the bedcovers.
 
“Thank you for all you have sacrificed for my children,” he whispered and brushed a kiss across her forehead.

“Thorn, kiss me again,” she mumbled.

“What secrets are you carrying?” he asked the sleeping woman.
 
Knowing he would get no answer, he turned and left her room, closing the door so as not to disturb her sleep.
 
He walked up another set of stairs and paused, catching his breath before he entered the room that the twins currently shared.
 
“Why aren’t the two of you asleep?” he asked teasingly.

“We want a story,” Ivy demanded.

Teddy settled on a chair between the two and preceded to tell them the story of how a charming duke had rescued a beautiful fair maiden.
 
He made his and Sarah’s courtship sound like a fairy tale to the twins.
 
It would be his last gift to them before leaving them in the care of their aunt.
 
Eventually they drifted off to sleep and he spent most of the night watching them, committing every little detail about them to memory.
 
In the early hours of the morning he let himself out of their room and moved to his room to pack a bag.
 
He picked up the bag and carried it downstairs to his study.
 
He sat at his desk and composed three letters, two of which were to be opened years from now.
 
He also left a book with the third letter.
 
The book contained all the important information that Rebekah would need to know about the estate.
 
He turned and placed two of the letters in the safe and left the remaining one and the book on his desk.
 

Teddy gathered up his bag and left the house for the stables.
 
He saddled his favorite horse, mounted, and left Wulfecrest Manor for the last time.

***

A few hours later, Rebekah awoke to a pounding head and nauseated stomach.
 
Now she regretted every last glass of wine she drunk last night.
 
Her head pounded even louder as the sound of wailing reached her ears.
 
Her door flew open and two little bodies launched themselves at her, not having a care for the physical agony she currently found herself in.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.
 
Her mouth felt dry and her eyes were gritty.
 
She tried to bring the twins into focus, but let her head fall back on the bed once more instead.

“Papa’s gone!” Ivy cried.

“What are you talking about?”

“Aunt Bekah,” Zachary said, his little hands fisted on his hips, “Ivy told you.
 
Papa’s gone.
 
He took Mama’s picture.”

Rebekah knew at that moment that sometime during the night, her brother-in-law had taken the coward’s way out and left for London.
 
Looking at her niece and nephew, she could not blame him in the least.
 
Instead of raging at him, she gathered the twins close and let them cry out their sorrow, allowing them to think he had just been called away for a few days and had not gotten to say good-bye before he left.
 
She, too, took the coward’s way out.

Chapter 2

June 1811

Wulfecrest looked around him at the sights he passed.
 
London had changed over the years, but in some ways it had not.
 
New buildings were being built, and a foggy haze seemed to perpetually live over the city, but the smells remained the same.
 
You could smell the perfumes and colognes of the upper class masking the unwashed bodies of all levels of society.
 
The Thames had its own smell of fish, sea, and waste.
 
A wracking cough overtook Teddy at that moment and he quickly brought a handkerchief up to his mouth.
 
He was getting worse, and the journey to London had not helped.

He had left Wulfecrest Manor two months ago, not wanting to force his children to watch his decline.
 
He had traveled to an old hunting lodge that belonged to the family and had stayed the last two months there, with only an old family retainer knowing where he was and seeing to his needs.
 
Only when he began worsening did he decide it was time to come to London and see his brother.

Once he reached his London townhouse, he asked his butler there for directions to the
Lady Luck
.
 
The older man looked appalled that he would want to know the whereabouts of such an establishment.
 

“Why, Your Grace, I wouldn’t know where to begin to look for such an establishment.”

“Never mind, Grigsby, I will seek out the establishment myself.”
 
Teddy found himself standing in front of the War Office.
 
He walked up the sidewalk when he saw a man coming out who looked familiar.
 
“Mack,” he yelled twice before the man in question turned, a perplexed look on his face.

“Wulfecrest, it’s good to see you.
 
I didn’t know you were in London,” the man’s Scottish accent sounded thick and heavy.

“Just arrived.
 
I need to speak to my brother, and I don’t know where the
Lady Luck
is.”
 
He saw the look of consternation that crossed his friend’s face.
 
They had gone to school together, both outcasts.
 
Teddy had always been sick and unable to be rough and tough like the other boys.
 
Mack had been the illegitimate son of an English duke raised by a Highland laird, who had sent him off to school and out of his sight as soon as possible.
 
Somehow the two had found a friendship in each other.
 

“I don’t know that you should go there.
 
Thorn is deep in intrigue and it would not be good for a well-respected duke to be seen there.”

“I’ve little choice, Mack.
 
I’m dying,” there, he laid out the truth.

“No,” Mack shook his head.

“Yes.
 
I’ve come to terms with it, but there are things, new developments, that I must tell Thorn about.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Extremely.”

“I’ll go with you.”
 

They strolled down the sidewalk, getting caught up with one another when Theodore saw something that did not look right.
 
He almost wasted precious seconds wondering why someone would have a hunting rifle on the streets of London when he realized Mack was the intended target.
 
“Mack! Look out!” He grabbed his friend and spun him so that he stood between Mack and the shooter.
 
A blast filled the air, and people screamed and scattered.
 
Teddy fell against his friend causing the man to have to quickly grab at him to keep him from falling.

“What the hell?” Mack asked and saw a look on his friend’s face that he had seen too many times in his life.
 
He felt Teddy’s weight pull on him as he went slack.
 
Blood bloomed on his friend’s chest.
 
Mack lowered him to the sidewalk, looking around but seeing no one.
 
Whoever had taken the shot had long since disappeared.
 
“Teddy, you’ve got to hang on,” Mack said, cradling the man’s head in his lap.

“Too late,” Teddy coughed, bloody spittle running out of his mouth.
 
“Better this way,” he said.
 
“Tell my children I died a hero.”

“Of course.
 
Your brother, what were you going to tell Thorn?”

“Proxy married.
 
Bekah.
 
Raise twins…together.”

“I think it might be a good thing that you met that bullet,” Mack mused.

“I know,” Teddy laughed before it quickly turned into a cough.
 
“I see Sarah.”

“Go, my friend,” Mack said as he watched the life drain out of one of the best men he had ever known.
 
A group had gathered around after the people realized that a threat no longer remained.

“Director! Director!” Mack could hear a voice calling and the sound of thudding boots coming.
 
Someone slid to a halt, and Mack looked up to see one of his agents standing there, sides heaving.
 
He registered some surprise that they were only a few blocks away from the Horseguards.
 
“The shooter got away.
 
Do we need to send for a physician?”

“No, send for an undertaker,” he said solemnly and remained where he sat, cradling his friend’s head, unwilling to leave him alone until the undertaker arrived.

***

“Good afternoon, Director,” Thorn Wulfe greeted Mack in the obscure coffee house.
 
He had made sure no one followed him.
 
Very rarely did he get summoned to meet the Director, and he wondered what could cause the man to risk their connection being made public.

“Wulfe, have a seat,” Mack nodded at the waiter, and the man brought over two cups.
 
“I have some news to share with you.”