Wicked Deception (10 page)

“
I was promised the Van
Ryker bitch!”Dartmouth bit out and saw Francis’s amused face and
knew that was no longer an option as well. “So, I don’t get her;
Lilly does not get Iverleigh; but you still get Van Ryker? This is
most unfair, and you know it.”

“
We need to keep Iverleigh
happy. It appears if he gets his lady-love back, he won’t mind his
former friend disappearing. Trust me, it’s for the best,” Francis
told him coldly and shrugged. “Who are we to stand in the way of
true love, Dartmouth? Especially if we manage to get the list
back.”

“
What do I tell Lilly now,
Francis?” Dartmouth said coldly, realizing they were to get no
satisfaction in this at all. Francis was more worried about himself
than any other. “She won’t be happy to know she was saved from
hanging to see her husband gain her sister after all. We promised
her we would kill them both. Now you go back on your
word.”

“
Don’t tell her, Phillip,”
Francis replied quietly. “If she becomes troublesome, console
yourself with her and forget about her sister. Remember, she’s
already dead to the world, my friend. You can pummel her to your
heart’s delight.”

“
Annabel Hart told someone
she was going to my estate the day she disappeared. The authorities
were asking the servants of it. This is all coming back to me,
Francis. I have covered you for years and I’m closer to being
caught than I was before,” Phillip complained with a scowl,
realizing he was being hung out to dry.

“
The Hart woman saw her,
Phillip. Had you let her go, she would have run straight to
Iverleigh to tell him you have his wife living with you. The body
is well hidden. I don’t know why you worry over it. Who would
believe a servant? So what if the damned housekeeper told them she
came there? You told them she didn’t. They went away and that is
all that matters,” Francis raged, his face florid as he eyed his
brother-in-law with malice. “We will never know who the lovely Mrs.
Hart told. My connections looked into it. It was an anonymous
person who left a note.”

“
You better pray that person
doesn’t go looking as well, or we are done. I haven’t your
connections to explain why I took a murderess out of Newgate, or
killed my own mistress to keep from telling of it,” Phillip
snarled, feeling the noose tightening when he saw the other man’s
shrug.

“
If someone comes looking we
will deal with it. Now quit worrying. Iverleigh will get back our
evidence and your secret is safe. I think it prudent to remove the
Countess from the equation if I were you. Her little part is no
longer necessary. If she finds out, we have more to worry about. I
knew putting Yvetta in her place would cost you.”

Phillip was thinking very quickly. He
decided he didn’t like the way Francis was backing out of their
original agreement. He was determined to get his hands on the list
as leverage against the powerful Duke. He’d already torn apart Van
Ryker’s house looking for it with no success.

This matter would be dealt with the way
they planned. Rudd was so full of his ability to outsmart
Iverleigh, he wasn’t seeing the obvious. Iverleigh was outsmarting
him. He fumed. The thought of not having Catherine enraged him.
Rudd thought he was safe once he got the list from Iverleigh. None
of them were safe while their secrets were put to pen and
paper.

Phillip had nothing but blood on his
hands. Now he had to arrange to kill Van Ryker as well. All of
these dead bodies were piling up, just like the ones at his estate.
He was furious when he found Rudd’s dumping ground of broken toys.
The skeletal remains of over thirty children were buried in his
gardens. Now Annabel Hart was there as well. Everything would come
back upon him if it was discovered.

His tastes never ran to children,
despite having watched the man cavorting with them from time to
time. He liked to hurt women, feel them break under his hands. Rudd
had erred though, thinking he felt so trapped he would do what he
said.

His lips flattened as he listened to
the Duke gloating about how they handled the matter and no more had
to die. He wasn’t satisfied. He wanted Catherine and he wanted
Iverleigh dead.

He decided it was time he and the
Countess reassess their options.

Moving into Gabriel’s former residence
was like walking back in time. She was grateful for holding Brionne
against her shoulder. None saw her looking so distraught. She
smiled at the new butler there, remembering Higgins as if it was
just yesterday when Gabriel brought her home with him.

She took her children up to their rooms
and settled them. She was lingering in the hall and walked to the
end where his former chamber was. She opened up the door with
trepidation, relieved the monstrous bed they once slept in was
gone.

The memories of it were not ones she
felt comfortable sleeping upon with her husband. There was no sign
of his things there anymore. She reasoned all was removed to
Iverleigh Manor when he moved back in. She closed the door, slumped
against it in defeat.

Gabriel was everywhere she went here.
She felt trapped with these memories and knew if her husband put
his hands upon her she would break down. It was nearly six weeks
since her son’s birth. Nicholas was looking at her with love and
passion in his eyes. She knew he wanted to make love. The thought
of it made her tense and unnerved her. Not because she didn’t want
her husband, but because she wanted another too.

She was determined Nicholas not see how
being here affected her. It would hurt him to know. She had never
had such qualms about sleeping in his bed, knowing he shared it
with Lilly all those years ago.

He would be hurt, likely read exactly
what was there. She was far from over her love for Gabriel. She
fooled everyone but herself.

~ ~ ~

Lilly read the letter over and over
again, sighed dramatically as she fell back upon the bed. Her
admirer grew bold. He wanted her, he said in his letter. He wanted
her badly. She closed her eyes as she thought of how wondrous it
would be to meet the man. What harm could there be in
it?

Dartmouth hadn’t been there for weeks.
She was tired of being trapped upon the estate while he was in
London helping Lord Rudd see to their plans. She chewed pensively
upon her lip. She needed funds to travel. Dartmouth left her house
money but it wasn’t enough. No, Lady Dartmouth’s jewels would do
nicely. She’d sell some of the costly pieces to finance her trip to
London.

Lilly was clever enough to know it
didn’t bode well for her admirer to come here. She smiled. She’d
meet him in London at the rooms she once had her sister stay in so
long ago. Just the thought of sneaking into town to meet the man
made her itch with longing. The thrill of discovery would make it
all the sweeter. Dartmouth would be none the wiser. She’d go mad
here without some sort of distraction.

Lilly chuckled as she set herself down
to return his letter. She gave him the address of the rooms, sighed
as she tucked it in her drawer. She’d wait until the servants were
done for the day and pay one of them to post her letter.

A dreamy expression crossed her face as
she recalled his words. Surely such a man could ease this ache she
had since going into hiding? It was worth the risk to go and find
out. She hummed as she sealed the letter and went down to give it
to the housekeeper.

~ ~ ~

Nicholas opened the letter and chuckled
as he read it. He found it hard to believe how easy it was to get
to Lilly through writing. He would have thought her more hands on
in her passion. He’d been following Lord Rudd since his return to
England.

The trail led him to Dartmouth and the
others. He followed Dartmouth ever since. He’d never stopped. He
followed him everywhere. When he couldn’t, his brothers had or
Tieghan. Even Maggie followed him once.

It was Dartmouth who arrived at the
prison after Lilly’s arrest. Nicholas paid guards to learn he was
meeting with the Countess up until her death. The guard he paid
reported seeing a cloaked figure brought in and out of the prison
side door the night before the execution.

Yvetta’s sudden disappearance made him
leave his wife napping to attend the hanging. He’d come too late to
save Yvetta, knowing what Dartmouth did to free Lilly. He left the
prison knowing he must content himself to wait to see if she wrote
back. The letters arrived. They went to Tulley’s residence. She
thought him some besotted admirer who sought her out. Lilly was
hiding within the vicinity of where the letters were posted but
he’d been unsuccessful in finding out where.

Annabel Hart came to him then. She was
upset when she came to his home, just a day after Catherine left
him. He was drunk and enticed by the redhead, enough to snatch her
onto his lap and enjoy what she offered. She wanted Gabriel back
and did whatever he asked for his help.

He closed his eyes in disgust to think
of how she pleasured him on her knees that day, hoping to gain his
aid with the Earl. He was distraught after Catherine left him. He
wanted to ease his pain, nothing more. Dartmouth’s mistress told
him all he needed to know. She believed Dartmouth was getting ready
to throw her over and panicked, wanting Gabriel back.

Nicholas spent weeks drowning his
sorrows with Annabel there to enjoy as consolation. Annabel eased
his lust, nothing more. He enjoyed the encounters more than he
cared to admit. The redheaded beauty was no substitute for
Catherine, even if she did things to him that made him wonder what
Gabriel thought to cast her aside.

Nicholas loathed himself for it now.
The pain of his wife leaving him made him susceptible to such
weaknesses. He asked her to spy for him soon, promising to
encourage Gabriel to take her back. She followed Dartmouth to his
country estate and never returned. He alerted authorities with a
note.

The runners learned nothing after a
search of Dartmouth’s estate. The guilt of using the woman and
causing her death brought on the despair. He couldn’t live with
what he’d done to her in his quest for revenge. Gabriel found him
then. It made him realize he’d nearly lost himself in his desire to
bring down the men who destroyed him as a child.

Annabel trusted him and he sent her to
her death. The pain and helplessness he felt made him too sick with
himself to do what he planned. He was determined they destroy
themselves now. His wife’s words in Ireland hadn’t moved him enough
to give up destroying these men, just gave him another means to go
about it. They would turn on each other like ravenous beasts. All
he needed to do was set the stage for their downfall.

The list Clarice held over them was all
they thought they needed to cover their crimes. He followed Herbert
long enough to see where he was taking the barrels from Clarice’s
cellars. The list wasn’t all he had in his arsenal. He detailed a
letter given to Tulley in the event he died; to see them pay for
their crimes.

Nicholas took no pleasure in knowing he
was unfaithful to Catherine. He swore he would spend every last day
of their lives atoning for his weakness. In truth, he didn’t think
he would live to regret his liaison with Mrs. Hart.

He sat down to answer the letter,
giving her a date and time to meet him. He thought it fitting it
was on the precise date Catherine disappeared he chose to capture
Lilly. She would be enraged to know he was the one writing her all
along.

He smiled coldly as he thought of how
he hated the woman, more than he ever thought he loved her. Because
of her, Catherine was trapped between both he and Gabriel now and
unable to choose.

Nicholas saw how his wife appeared
haunted at the residence and it devastated him. She loved him but
he knew she loved Gabriel too. He would always feel this fear
inside him that one day he would lose her, despite her assertions
he was the only one she wanted.

He knew when Lilly went missing all
hell would break loose. He would end it once and for all. Dartmouth
would blame Rudd. The Duke would think Dartmouth betrayed him. The
other nobles involved were far easier to take down. He hadn’t much
effort in getting Dartmouth to turn upon Seaton. The notes alerting
him Seaton confessed to Gabriel were all it took.

The rest of them would panic. The list
they all sought would be just a clever forgery from Chumley. It was
Gabriel’s stroke of genius. The true list would be in the hands of
the magistrate on the day Gabriel gave the fake to Lord Rudd. It
was just a matter of time now.

~ ~ ~

Catherine was miles away as she visited
with her brothers. Finally, she made them return to the schoolroom
where Mrs. Silsbee waited.

“
Do we have to stay here?”
Jaime complained. At twelve, he had become defiant and talked back
often.

“
For now, yes,” she told
him, glaring at her brother. He tried them all sorely of
late.

“
I’m tired of sharing my
room with the beggars!” Jaime snapped and his green eyes
narrowed.

Catherine stared at him in surprise.
“What beggars do you refer to?”

“
The ones His Lordship took
in,” Jaime whined and Cullen joined in.