Authors: Janet Kent
“Because I know his worst
secrets.”
“Papa has no secrets!”
“How do you know, cousin?” Louis
asked in a singsong voice.
“Because there’s nothing to
know!”
“How innocent you are. He has
plenty to hide.”
“Like what?”
“Your mother, for one.”
“He’s not hiding her. She’s
dead.”
“Not her body, you ninny. Her
death.”
Alicia took a quick, hitching
breath. “Her death was an accident. I saw it myself.”
“But who caused the accident,
cousin?”
“Nobody! But if anyone were that
cruel, it would be someone like you.”
“Ah, so you’re not as stupid as
you seem. And on whose orders would someone like me do something like that?”
“I don’t believe you.”
“He saw her with the solicitor,
not that anybody knew that’s what he was at the time. He just appeared – a
handsome stranger in your father’s house. Chadwick thought she seemed a little
too… solicitous.”
Alicia strained against the rope.
“You’re a liar.”
“He saw the man prepare to leave
and took his chance. He asked me to loosen the wheel a bit so the carriage
would be forced to stop a short distance away. He planned to hide down the road
and wait. When the carriage stopped, out of sight from Chadwick House, he
planned to do a little talking with his fists.”
“No.”
“I didn’t know he was broke at
the time. I’d been in a bit of a bind with some unsavory moneylenders myself,
due to some games that hadn’t gone my way. I figured Chadwick would be happy to
erase my debts if I helped, so I was glad to loosen the wheel.”
“You’re despicable.”
“My surprise when your mother
climbed in behind the solicitor was no doubt as great as your father’s –
although he didn’t learn she was inside until the carriage overturned. He ran
to help, but it was too late.”
“Then it was an accident! A
horrible, stupid accident that I cannot forgive your part in, but neither of
you is a killer. And if you turn this carriage around right now, nobody need
know you planned to be an abductor on top of your other sins.”
“And extortionist.”
“Fine,” Alicia agreed with a
patronizing scowl. “Abductor and extortionist.”
“I don’t care if they do know,
cousin. Do you think I’d go to such lengths if I were staying in England? I let my staff go when I came to drop off Beatrix. I’m escaping to the continent
as soon as Morrissey brings me the blunt. I’m in too much trouble with my
unpayable vowels and the games aren’t going well enough to fix it. The next
thing they’ll break will be worse than my legs.”
Alicia gasped. “You mean… your
legs…”
“Yes. That was a warning. A
warning I plan to heed very well. I just need Morrissey to pony up.”
“Why not just ask Papa for the
money like you planned?”
“I did, of course.” Louis tossed
his head. “But in case he swung for the jewel thefts, I didn’t want suspicion
to fall on me as well, due to him dumping large sums of money on me for no
apparent reason. That’s where you came in.”
“Me?”
“He was to give me half the money
I needed in your dowry and the rest as a wedding gift.”
“You owe sixteen thousand
pounds?”
“He told you?”
“No. Never mind. But if you’re
leaving the country, why would you care a button about suspicion?”
“I don’t anymore, of course. But
now he won’t pay me a penny, even though by now I’m sure they’re onto him,”
Louis said with a sniff.
“Who’s onto him? Why?” The ropes
chafed her wrists as Alicia struggled to free herself.
“I suppose a certain anonymous
note may have been sent…”
“You bastard. I’m glad he won’t
help you.”
“I bet you are. That’s your
fault, too.”
“What! How?”
“Now that you’re safely married
and out of the city, he plans to face his accusers head on. He hadn’t wanted to
risk the future of his precious daughter or the safety of your half-wit aunt. I
should’ve loosened her wheels like I did for your mother. And you’re no better.
Now you’re married and Chadwick actually
likes
Morrissey. And since you
and the old stick are both provided for, he’s lost all his good sense.”
“The worst judgment Papa ever
showed was trusting scum like you.”
“Shut up!”
His fist came flying at her face
so fast she could do nothing more than grimace before his knuckles slammed into
her cheekbone and blackness descended once more.
* * *
The drumming in her head
escalated. Alicia cracked open one eye. Light blinded her and she snapped her
eyelid back shut, grimacing. Even if she discounted half of what Louis said –
and with the incessant throbbing in her forehead, she probably only remembered
half of what he said – her world had tilted once again.
Papa had partnered with Louis in
a jewelry-stealing spree and planned to use her as a cat’s paw to settle
gambling debts? The very thought made the pounding in her skull increase its
frantic beat. However, right or wrong, Papa had wanted to marry her off in
order to shield her from scandal. By allowing her the two weeks’ delay, he’d
put himself in jeopardy for her happiness.
He loved her after all. How could
she be angry with that?
Well, she could be a trifle
miffed that he hadn’t mentioned the situation to her. The men in her life
seemed to be unable or unwilling to part with the truth. First “Rogue”, then
her father. And Louis… to think they’d been cozened by Louis!
She slit open her eyelids for a
second time and waited for the pain of sudden light to abate. When her vision
cleared, her eyes flew open wide and her heart stuttered against her ribs. Carlotta
and Beatrix stared back at her, mouths gagged, arms roped in their laps, and
their legs tied to their chairs.
“What–” Alicia began and winced
when the movement caused her bruised cheek to burn with pain. Her hands flew to
her mouth still bound at the wrists, but she hadn’t been gagged or tied to her
chair. Louis must not have expected her to wake up any time soon. And on that
note, where was he?
Alicia glanced around. They were
in some sort of anteroom turned sitting room, in what appeared to be a cottage.
To her back was a row of windows.
To her left stood a large wooden door, also flanked by windows. Through the
dirty glass, she could just make out Louis, mincing around his carriage and
fiddling with some sort of spyglass. To her right were two open doors. She
couldn’t quite see into the far one, but the doorway closest to her led to some
type of bedchamber. And directly in front of her were Beatrix and Carlotta, the
latter of which hopped up and down until her chair teetered on edge.
Alicia staggered to her feet and
lumbered over. She hooked her pinkies under the handkerchief gagging her aunt
and tugged it down to her neck.
Beatrix heaved a huge sigh of
relief. “Thank you, dear. We’ve been stuck here with the little bastard all
morning.”
Carlotta bounced around in her
seat. Alicia reached over and pushed the handkerchief out of her mouth as well.
“We did it!” Carlotta cried
gaily. “I’ve been compromised!”
“Trust me,” Alicia replied, “you
do not want to be compromised by Louis.”
“Oh,” Carlotta sighed, crushed.
“It seemed like such an adventure.”
“It’s an adventure, all right. My
cousin is crazy. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Every generation has its
scandals, Carlotta,” intoned Beatrix in her quavery voice. “When it’s your
turn, don’t let us down.”
Carlotta nodded and then cast a
critical eye across Alicia. “You’re covered in blood!”
“I am?” Alicia touched her face
and her hands came away red and sticky. She dropped to her knees and laid her
wrists across Carlotta’s lap. “Untie me.”
Exclaiming at the bloodstains
Alicia smeared on her skirt, Carlotta struggled with the rope and managed to
free Alicia’s wrists, exposing the bruised skin beneath.
“Thank you.” Alicia rotated her
wrists to loosen the kinks and set about untying Carlotta’s legs. She had just
loosened the second rope when the door flew open, banging against the inner
wall.
“So!” shrilled Louis, waving his
pistol at them and kicking the door shut behind him. “You plan to take me off
guard, do you? Too late! Too late! Morrissey is en route. He’s no more than
twenty minutes away. Soon, I will have my money. You! Girl! Come stand over
here. I’ll let you know when to open the door.”
Carlotta shook loose the last
loops of rope from her legs and made her way to the door. “It would be easier
if my wrists were unbound… sir.”
“Too bad! You’ll find a way. And
you! Stand behind your aunt. Stay where I can see you. See? Even though we’re
not wed, I still control you!”
Alicia grimaced at Louis’ loud
cackle but stumbled behind Beatrix, curving her bruised hands on the back of
the chair. “Control of women and money to waste, that’s all you want, Louis.
Your only passion is for power.”
Louis tossed his head. “Better a
passion for power than being brainless bawd like you and the old slattern. It’s
a good thing her baby didn’t live – can you imagine what kind of crazy child
that one would spawn? I’ve had half a mind to kill her for years.”
“Papa would tear you limb from
limb if you’d ever tried, you Bartholomew baby.”
“Don’t you mock my clothes,
cousin! Fashion is of the least concern when one goes out abducting. I never
could understand why your father was so attached to you or the stupid old bat.”
“Because,” Beatrix interrupted,
“I’m his mother.”
“What?!” all three of them cried
in unison. Carlotta tilted against the door, Louis goggled and reeled
backwards, and Alicia stared down at the top of her aunt’s head in shock.
Beatrix shrugged. “My brother needed an heir. ‘A
legitimate heir,’ he said, ‘not a bastard nephew. Bastards can’t inherit
titles.’ I fought him, but with my own true love dead, what could I do? He’d
married a minor heiress who was so missish as to make the entire lovemaking
process unbearable. The whole scheme was her idea. If there were already an
heir, my brother wouldn’t have to touch her. I would be saved an even worse
scandal than my current disgrace and the succession wouldn’t be in any
jeopardy. It was a bizarre plan, but a sound one. And I got to raise him as if
he were my own – which he was.”
“Did Papa know you were his
mother?”
“Yes. That cold fish my brother
married went into shameless fits of hysterics every time my baby tried to call
her ‘Mama’. She told him the truth before he was old enough to understand. He
resented me for ‘dumping him off on her’, as he saw it, but he couldn’t deny
that he’d been given a better life, a respectable birth, a title.”
“The title wasn’t even
his
?”
screeched Louis. “All this time I’ve hated the unfairness of the happenstance
of birth that gave him the peerage and me nothing, and he was born a
bastard
?”
“You’re the bastard, Louis,”
corrected Beatrix. “Look at yourself. My son doesn’t run around abducting
people.”
“If Louis and Papa’s mothers
weren’t cousins after all…” A grin stretched Alicia’s sore cheeks. “Do you know
what this means? I’m no relation to Louis whatsoever!”
“Well, you’re not one of
Morrissey’s either, except by marriage,” Louis snapped. “Why do you think
you’re not here by yourself? I had to be sure to grab a blood relative in case
you weren’t a big enough draw on your own, since you’re just a wife… and an
unwanted one at that.”
Stung, Alicia shook her head.
“You didn’t want me either. You just wanted my dowry.”
“I didn’t want your dowry,
imbecile. I wanted the whole thing. Why do you think I positioned Chadwick to
take the fall? The barony would be mine!”
“The barony would be my son’s.”
“The money would be mine, and
money’s all that matters.”
“My brother won’t let you get
away,” Carlotta piped up, glaring defiantly.
Louis smirked and brandished his
pistol. “Nobody’s getting away but me, you fool.”
Terrible understanding widened Carlotta’s
eyes and she said nothing else.
“Louis–” Alicia began then forgot
what she meant to say as she caught sight of something through the dingy
windows.
Ian rode up on a gorgeous gray,
leapt to the ground, and tied the horse to a tree.
“Excellent!” crowed Louis,
turning to see what had captured her attention. “You, girl! Open the door when
he knocks and let him in.” Louis pranced to Alicia’s side and grabbed her upper
arm with one hand while the other hand aimed his pistol at Beatrix. For the
first time, Alicia realized that Louis had two more pistols tucked into the
back of his pantaloons. If only he would turn around so she could reach one and
blast a fist-sized hole in his big fat ego!