Wicked Deception (24 page)

Catherine knew he was right. The
decision to leave for St. Bart’s had always hinged upon Gabriel’s
reaction to the truth. Had he said it didn’t matter to him and it
changed nothing; she might have changed her plans. He clearly could
not accept what she told him. It hurt so bad she felt physical pain
in her chest, devastated to see his cold expression before he
left.

“
Then I’m better off alone
now, Uncle,” she whispered forlornly and looked away.

Nicholas had always known how Gabriel
would accept the truth. He knew his friend well. He warned her of
this many times when her conscience nipped at her when Brionne was
found. Gabriel would do one of two things now. He would allow her
equal time with their son or he would keep him from her to punish
her.

Either way, she would go back to the
island alone. Staying here where her husband was murdered was too
much for her to bear. Everywhere she looked, she saw Nicholas. His
ghost lay at her side each night. She held herself together by a
thin thread and knew it was ready to snap under the tension of
waiting for Lord Rudd’s next move.

“
My guess is you haven’t
seen the last of Iverleigh, lass.”

~ ~ ~

Gabriel walked back into his home,
unseeing and unhearing, too devastated to think beyond what
Catherine told him. The pain of what she told him hurt worse than
an open bleeding gash in his heart. All along he believed Nicholas
used her lost memory to steal her from him. To know she was stolen
under his nose in her right mind enraged him. He was disgusted when
he thought of how he pined for her all these years.

He snatched a decanter of brandy and
disdained a glass as he popped the crystal cork and drank from the
bottle, eyes black with rage. Just the thought of how the pair had
played him for a fool burned as the fiery liquor warmed him,
fuelling his anger.

After the decanter was empty, he
realized she was right. Had she come to him then he would have
tossed her out of his house, into Nicholas’s lap, and wished them
both good riddance. He would haven’t listened to her or forgiven
her indiscretion.

He’d been married to her bloody sister
at the time! He certainly had no room to talk. It wasn’t like he
had even been free to be with her then. Had he known who she was;
he would have blamed her for all of it. He realized how flawed his
own perceptions were then. Catherine had loved him. She could never
have faked what he felt in her arms.

For just a moment, he put himself in
her place. He didn’t like to agree she was right in not telling
him. She loved him enough to spare him that. His dark eyes glowed
with rage to think Nicholas would take such unfair advantage of her
with what he discovered when he followed her that day. Knowing she
did what she did to keep him from learning the truth and why should
have swayed him now. It didn’t.

Did it even matter anymore? He cursed
them both for not giving him any benefit of a doubt. He was thought
to be judgmental and proud and unforgiving. His actions since had
not opened the door to any honesty from them, to be
sure.

When he thought of how he kept Giles
from her for the last year, he stiffened in discomfort. Imagining
the sorrow she must have felt to have her child ripped away from
her arms by Lilly gave him pause. She returned only to have him do
the same with the law behind him. How unfair he was to her
since.

He held the child over her head, used
his son to get her back, and for what? To prove she loved him more?
To feel better knowing he lost her? No, he had as much to blame in
this as Catherine and Nicholas. He never thought of how devastated
she must have been to reunite with her son and have him wrenched
away whenever he was displeased.

Catherine said whatever she had to then
because of the son she might never know if she angered him. Gabriel
closed his eyes and felt pain to know he asked for all of this by
holding others to unimaginable expectations and rejecting them when
they failed.

It was his fault she had never been
free to speak honestly to him of matters like this. Instead of
telling her none of that mattered and he loved her still; he raged
and left her without another word. He no longer blamed her for
choosing her husband over him. He was unworthy of her from the
start.

He knew no amount of wishing it could
bring his friend back now. He had wronged him too, taking Catherine
to his bed, sneaking about when he knew their marriage was
suffering. He was no bloody better than anyone!

He sat forward and slumped to know
Nicholas was right. Loving Catherine had punched holes in his honor
long ago. Those holes had not ruined him, just made him more
human.

~ ~ ~

Nicholas listened in amusement when he
learned of the rift between Gabriel and Catherine now. Tieghan said
the Earl sent his solicitor over to arrange for documents allowing
her equal time with her son. He smiled to know all was going
according to his plans. Catherine was going back to their island
alone.

The elation within him was dizzying. He
believed with him dead she would run back to Gabriel, forget about
the promise she made to him. She had not. It gave him a rush of
happiness to know his wife had chosen his ghost over a flesh and
blood Gabriel.

“
That is not all,” Tieghan
told him. “Rudd has sent agents to all of Dartmouth’s estates, all
five of them. Your brothers are waiting to move in. Shall I tell
them to wait or do you want them to continue with it?”

“
I wouldn’t want to spoil
their enjoyment. Tell them to be cautious dealing with Lord Rudd.
The Duke will suspect something if they lay it on too thickly,”
Nicholas warned, his blue eyes meeting his friend’s with urgency.
“The sooner he learns his sister is dead, the sooner Dartmouth
leaves this world.”

“
Do you think it wise to
continue to have Catherine believe you dead?” Tieghan asked softly,
his eyes narrowed as he saw his friend debate the issue they both
determined could be disastrous for him in the end.

“
My wife will do as I asked
of her,” Nicholas said stubbornly, his blue eyes shadowed with his
own doubts. “I can assure you that she will be on that ship. I have
held onto that one thought every day since this deception
began.”

“
And if she is not?” Tieghan
predicted sharply, his pessimism in regard to matters of the heart
rather obvious in his present dealings with Elise.

“
If she stays then it’s what
she wanted all along. I won’t ever have cause to question what I’ve
done here. I’ll leave her to her life and she needn’t know I’m
alive,” he said quietly, a resolved look on his face. “I must know
her heart in this.”

“
I hope you’re right for
your sake, my friend.”

Nicholas took the biggest risk of all
by removing himself from the situation to see what choice Catherine
would make. He prayed she chose well. He sighed as he left the
warehouse to return to his ship. He had two men left to deal with
and it would finally be over at last.

~ ~ ~

Lord Rudd was impatient for his agents
to return with news of Eunice. It could be weeks yet. He was
shocked when the first man arrived within the week. His butler
showed him into his study. He smiled tightly as he rose to collect
the man’s report, his face deliberately bland.

“
I arrived at the Dartmouth
estate in Brighton to question the staff. None can recall meeting
Lady Eunice, Your Grace,” Dane lied smoothly, his eyes flaring as
he eyed the man who hurt his brother and tore his life apart so
long ago. “I was told he brought many others there over the years,
but none of them was his wife. I even went into the village to seek
out the clergy member there. He told me he wasn’t aware Lord
Dartmouth ever married.”

Lord Rudd nodded, paid the man, careful
to hide his rage until the door to his study shut. He needed only
proof Eunice was missing. Dartmouth would pay for his treachery. He
was bristling with anger as he left for his evening engagements,
not seeing the tall, imposing agent hiding behind the door as he
passed on his way out.

Dane snuck back into the study, knowing
it was imperative in his part to find what Nicholas sought. He was
careful to search every inch of the study for Rudd’s safe. He found
it behind a portrait of a young blonde woman he assumed was Rudd’s
half-sister Eunice.

Dane used the tools in his pocket with
efficiency, glad he had a former housebreaker for a crew member. He
had the safe open within moments. He perused what he found there
with interest.

He went to the window and used the oil
lamp to signal in front of it. It wasn’t long before Eric arrived
and took the safe’s contents out of the window with a
grin.

Dane shut the window to wait, glaring
at the mantle clock in the corner, mindful of every noise in the
house as he waited for Chumley to copy the documents. He knew it
could be hours and faced the prospect of getting caught in the
Duke’s study with a curse.

He snuck over and snatched a bottle of
the Duke’s finest brandy, sighed with pleasure as he drank from the
crystal decanter, poised behind the velvet curtains to
wait.

Eric knocked upon the window nearly
three hours later. Dane released a sigh of relief as he slid open
the window, glaring down into his brother’s grinning face. Dane
took the documents from him and went back to the safe.

They both became alarmed when they
heard the front door open in the foyer beyond and heard the butler
greeting His Grace. Eric looked horrified and ducked down in the
bushes. Dane shoved the papers into the safe, twisted the dial
frantically and replaced the painting.

He ran to the window quickly and dove
out when the door opened to the study. He bit his lip as he slid
down the window panel behind him, grateful it didn’t grate against
the inside wooden pane. They watched the Duke sitting behind his
desk for a time shuffling through correspondence. Dane grinned when
he reached for the crystal decanter at his elbow and found it
empty, a look of surprise upon his face. They turned and ran away
from the residence under the cover of darkness.

~ ~ ~

Lord Rudd was to have four more similar
interviews in the coming weeks from agents from Dartmouth’s
estates. He glared at the last agent, wondering again why such a
powerful man wasted his lumbering talents being a runner. He was
better served working for him in other, more lucrative assignments
more suited to his size and brawn. He would have to speak with his
secretary at once. He sat as the frightfully tall blond man took
his leave. His gaze filled with fury.

Eunice never arrived at any of
Dartmouth’s estates after her marriage. It was as he feared.
Dartmouth killed his sister and hid it from him all these years
during their estrangement. He smothered a cry of rage to think of
the man’s gall in thinking he could get away with such a foul deed
and go unpunished.

The Van Ryker’s letter to the state
department was gaining an ear in all the right places. Dartmouth
had much to answer for. There was no time like the present to deal
with ridding himself of what he now considered a
nuisance.

Dartmouth’s land agent at his nearby
estate managed to hold off the excavation of the gardens. With the
Duke’s connections with the magistrate, they stalled the matter
indefinitely for him. He smiled darkly.

He would allow them their petty
digging. What they found there would be levied upon Dartmouth now.
He would be sought for the crimes. He cackled in pleasure at his
own cleverness.

He still worried over the matter of the
Countess. He knew she would rear her treacherous head soon. When
she did, he would eliminate her as well. Then he need not fear
discovery anymore. He would only have to find a new hiding place
for all his broken toys in the future.

~ ~ ~

Lord Dartmouth was sweating profusely
as his coach arrived home. He had spies in Lord Rudd’s home. He
only just learned that the Duke had agents dispatched to all of his
estates looking for Eunice. He knew what they would not find there,
namely his wife, and faced the fact he was as good as dead when he
entered his house.

Phillip grabbed everything he could
find of value in his study and stuffed it into a bag as he went
through the house to pack. He knew he had little time. The last
agent just left after giving his report of his findings to the
Duke.

He cleaned out his cash box, removed
every bit of jewelry he kept of his wife’s. He looked around his
home one last time before he left, aware of how the servants eyed
him with fear and loathing as he hurried past them. He knew they
would take great pleasure in informing on him with Lord
Rudd.

Phillip went on foot, not daring to
take even his driver. His coach was easily recognized. He hailed a
hackney down the street that took him near the docks. He changed
into a servant’s clothing as the coach moved through town. He
knocked on the roof of the coach as they passed a seedy-looking inn
and he paid the driver and moved across the street.

He was careful to keep his head down
now. Rudd’s men would be out looking for him by now. He had only
one chance, to find Lilly. She was his leverage against the Duke,
the only means to save himself. He had little choice. With the
Countess held over Rudd, he would back off.