Wicked Deception (29 page)

“
She is well beyond my
reach, Constance, lucky for you,” he remarked coolly, irritated the
prostitute had so astutely determined he was thinking of Catherine
and not her. “I do not wish to speak of her. She is in the past
now.”

“
She is not in the past if
she effects your present, my lord. You try too hard to forget her
and it will pester you all the more. I would suggest you try and
find someone new. Surely a man in your position needs a wife? Begin
looking again, Gabriel. Don’t let her keep you from finding
happiness.”

Gabriel stared at Constance, knowing
she was right. He was nearly thirty-four. It was time he married
and started a nursery. His mother probably despaired of it since
Lillianne’s death. He could ignore his responsibilities no
more.

Constance was right. He needed a wife.
He tried to marry for love. What had it garnered him? He almost
laughed at the piquant look upon the prostitute’s face at that
moment.

He reached into his vest and withdrew a
purse of coins, tossed it to her, happy she solved all his
problems. A marriage of convenience and property acquisition need
not be born of love. With his position, he could seek a wife from
every noble house in the land and beyond. His wife would not come
to loath him for his feelings for another. He would fulfill his
obligations and put Catherine out of his life. He determined loving
her caused him nothing but sorrow. He could bear it no
more.

“
I believe you’re right,
Constance,” Gabriel agreed before he left her room. “I thank you
for listening.” He was gone from her room. She was left feeling
pleased she helped him get over his lost love at last.

~ ~ ~

Catherine was alerted by the many
people crowded in front of her residence that something was amiss.
The coach stopped a distance away. She made the boys stay inside as
it drew up to the curb. The place was crawling with runners and
official-looking law agents. She felt alarm growing when she saw
Hennessey being questioned, looking dazed.

The butler stayed with his daughter and
her family the night before. That left only a handful of her
servants behind. She was growing a bit lightheaded when she saw the
bodies being carried out then, bloody sheets tossed over them. A
gasp went over the crowd.

“
What is it, Cat?” Jaime
called as he stuck his head out the coach window, trying to see
past the crowd.

“
Stay inside!” she ordered
with such urgency he complied.

“
Mrs. Van Ryker,” her driver
said in concern. “Do you want me to see what’s
happening?”

“
Yes, please. We will wait,”
she told him and watched as the man pushed his way through the
crowd. She watched him seek out the man who appeared to be in
charge. A sense of unreality hit her to see the scene. Something
very awful happened at her house.

The man approached her with a grim
look. Leland Newell greeted her. “Mrs. Van Ryker, I cannot let you
go in there.”

“
What has happened?” she
asked hoarsely. Her hand fluttered to her throat, eyes widening to
see another body being carried out. The sight of the lifeless hand
that fell from beneath the sheet warned her everyone left behind
was killed.

“
Your butler arrived home to
discover ever member of your staff has been murdered, dear lady,”
he replied cautiously and caught her elbow as her legs gave
out.

Catherine felt tears flowing as the man
assisted her back to her coach, seating her on the step outside,
gazing down at her in concern. “Have you anywhere you can go, Mrs.
Van Ryker. This is no fit sight for a lady and
children.”

“
Go?” she repeated dumbly,
too horrified to do more than stare at him. “Go where?”

Leland Newell knew she was in shock. He
called one of his agents over and whispered to him. He leaned down
and gazed at her with kindness in his gaze. “I have sent for Lord
Iverleigh, my dear. You must wait here until he
arrives.”

Catherine nodded, too shocked to do
more than stare as the crowd grew. His words repeated themselves in
her mind over and over again. She heard the babies fussing and it
broke her out of her trance.

“
Mrs. Gates, you will stay
with the children,” she called as she met the older woman’s
concerned gaze within the coach.

Agatha Gates nodded as she held Brionne
tightly. Jenny looked dismayed as she looked past her mistress, her
eyes filled with unease. “What’s happening?” the maid asked. “Why
are all these people here, Mrs. Van Ryker?”

Catherine knew the maid was seeing one
of the footmen left behind and stared at the girl, seeing her face
stark with fear. Poor Tom and the others were dead. How did she
tell her there would be no wedding come next spring? “Something
terrible has happened, Jenny,” she whispered, mindful of her
children and brothers. “They are all dead.”

Jenny looked stunned, tears filling her
gaze. “No not Tom, my lady. Say it isn’t my Tom!”

“
I’m so sorry, Jenny,” she
replied tonelessly, feeling the girl’s hysteria. “Everyone who
stayed behind has been killed. I know nothing more yet.”

The maid dissolved into sobs and Agatha
comforted her, looking up at Catherine in concern. “Where do we go
now, Lady Catherine?”

“
I don’t know,” Catherine
replied and looked numb to know Tieghan was right. Dartmouth had
indeed been lurking in wait for her. She shivered to think her and
her family could now be those being carted out. She felt dizzy and
the nausea made her put her head down, head spinning.

Catherine was dazed as she sat watching
the authorities crawling over her home from her position outside.
The crowd grew too many. Her neighbors came to her and professed
their condolences. She could see the questions in their eyes. This
latest tragedy came on the heels of her husband’s murder months
before.

She knew what they thought; saw the
fear in their gazes. They were not safe living so close to her,
their looks said. A bubble of hysteria formed to know they were
right. Anyone close to her was now a target, even her beloved
children. Fury grew to know such helplessness now. She walked away
from her neighbors and approached Mr. Newell.

“
Mrs. Van Ryker, I insist
you wait for Lord Iverleigh,” the man argued as she approached the
front door where he stood on the steps. “This is not a fit sight
for a lady.”

“
It is my house!” she cried
and glared at the man. “These were my servants! Do not tell me to
sit and wait for Lord Iverleigh. I demand to be abreast of what
happened here, at once if you please!”

Newell looked harassed and gazed at her
with a pained expression. “Someone came in and killed your whole
staff. None were left alive. We have seven accounted
for.”

Catherine felt nauseated and nodded,
refusing to quail under the knowledge. “I would go inside now and
you can tell me the rest.”

Newell wanted to argue but the look in
her green eyes made him sigh. “Fine, but it isn’t a pretty sight,
Mrs. Van Ryker. The man has left you a message.”

“
A message?” she asked in
alarm.

“
Yes, written in your maid’s
blood on your bedroom wall,” he told her; sure she would faint at
his words and let him return to his job. She surprised him by going
past him and entering the house.

Catherine covered her mouth to see the
trail of blood everywhere she looked on the marble tile in the
entry way. She felt nauseated by the smell of blood thick in the
air, propelled upstairs, past the blood stains on the runners and
walls.

She paused at her door, passed by
several agents who regarded her in disapproval. She ignored them
and entered her bedroom, her hand flying to her throat.

The bed was soaked in blood. Spatters
of it were everywhere there and around. She saw stars before her
gaze and swayed on her feet, regretting having insisted seeing
this.

There, written in her maid’s
blood on the wall of her bedroom were three words that sent chills
down her spine.
You are mine
was written in blood above the
fireplace.

Dartmouth was letting her know he was
here. Catherine fought blackness as she stumbled back, her hand
covering her mouth to stem the scream building in her throat. She
backed to the door, eyes wide with horror.

~ ~ ~

Nicholas was enraged to hear of
Dartmouth leaving his calling card at his residence. Thoughts of
Catherine’s distress filled him with fury he could not be with her
now. Tieghan and Gabriel took the children and Catherine to the
Earl’s residence when they arrived.

Tieghan said Catherine went inside to
see the carnage and was in shock when he arrived. None of his
servants who stayed behind were left alive. All seven was butchered
horribly. He was thankful the bodies were removed before she went
in.

His brother’s all sat within the cabin
and argued over the matter. He had to find Dartmouth, and fast. He
had no choice but to use Lilly as bait to lure Dartmouth to him
before more died. His brothers all agreed that he couldn’t trust
Lilly. If he trusted her, she would run away with Dartmouth and
they wouldn’t find them.

Rudd would be desperate to keep his
crimes quiet. He would pay them both handsomely to remain silent
and hidden. It was obvious to them the Countess was playing another
of her games with their brother.

“
She tells you enough to
keep us all guessing!” Dane thundered over the others, his handsome
face filled with disgust. “You can’t trust that bitch, Nicholas.
She sits back and waits for Dartmouth to find her. She has no
intention of going away. Why would she, when she is thought dead?
With Dartmouth collecting from Rudd to keep quiet, she has no need
to leave England. She plays you here, brother.”

“
She learned they wished her
dead, Dane. I think Lilly knows Dartmouth needs her to extort Rudd.
I haven’t figured out her game. She agreed to leave when the pair
of them are finally destroyed. I think we have no choice but to
trust her in this. Her information saved my wife. She was right
about the fence. He is selling everything he has of value to buy
time. The next time he approaches the man, we will have him. Do not
forget that he still seeks my wife.”

“
What of your wife?” Eric
asked with a scowl, earning warning glares from his brothers for
bringing it up. “You do all this thinking she will sail away with
you to your island. It may very well surprise you when she winds up
back with Iverleigh. I have learned not to trust a woman’s heart,
brother, for they say one thing and often do another.”

“
Do not question my wife’s
loyalty again, Eric,” Nicholas snarled, glaring at him irately.
“You have no right to assume her intentions toward Gabriel. I have
been dead for months. We see no sign she seeks to renew their
relationship. Tieghan said she was furious to be forced to stay
there, preferring anywhere but there. No, my wife will do as I
asked of her and return to our home in St. Bart’s out of her love
for me. It is the only way we can be together. I can never return
here.”

“
I hope you’re right,
Nicholas,” Thor said sadly, despairing if his wife didn’t
sail.

The thought of all Nicholas had done to
ensure her and the children’s future safety made all their faces
grim. The power of the Duke of Rudd and his bought associates would
hound her to no end if they knew Nicholas lived. They would never
have a moment’s peace.

Nicholas worried of nothing else. His
sacrifice of having everyone but them thinking him dead would give
them a new start. He prayed he knew Catherine’s heart in this. The
thought of never seeing his wife and children again made him loose
sleep at night.

Nicholas knew when Lilly left for
America he could not resurface. He hoped to reclaim his wife now.
He went behind the scenes to destroy his past demons. He must trust
his wife’s heart. He nearly lost her once because he lacked faith
in her love.

“
We go ahead with our plan
to get Dartmouth’s attention. I think his having a sighting of the
Countess is in order. If he is out there, he will no doubt see
her,” Nicholas reiterated hotly, adamant as he faced all five of
his brothers.

“
The actress wants more
money,” Gareth complained and rolled his eyes. “She says this takes
her away from the stage and she risks her future career helping us
now. Lord, I do hate actresses. Why am I in charge of this? Eric is
more the one to see to this woman. He is unmarried now.”

Eric chortled at his younger brother’s
words and punched his shoulder, smiling widely. “Just do not make
my same mistakes, brother. I fear Gwynn would cut it off if you
surrendered to the fair Angeline.”

“
I have no fear of that. The
woman complains of her new wardrobe we paid for. I have told her
all she has to do is go up and down the streets in a coach. She
doesn’t need all these bloody damned clothes but she insists she
has to get into her character,” Gareth whined resentfully, and
glowered at them all. “Me lying with the woman is the least of
anyone’s concerns. She seems to prefer Tieghan to me.”