Wicked Deception (37 page)

“
You simply must come to
Lady Osgood’s ball next week, Lord Iverleigh,” Eugenia was saying
as the courses were served. “It should be a grand affair, to be
sure. Gillian has met no one yet, and it would be a good
opportunity to introduce her to everyone.” She glared down the
table at her cousin spitefully, knowing how the ton would receive
Lord Rudd’s sister.

“
I must decline, Lady
Eugenia, I fear I wasn’t invited to the Osgood affair,” Gabriel
said with false brightness.

Lady Eugenia barely acknowledged her
lapse in manners before she was going on about other events he and
his future wife would not be attending as well. It didn’t improve
his mood, and his intended looked like she wanted to crawl under
the table.

He felt the same. He could hardly wait
for dinner to be over. He learned nothing of Lady Gillian accept
her gown was far too small for her and she had nothing to offer in
conversation. He hardly paid her any mind, knowing the marriage was
nothing more than an arrangement to save her from being
ostracized.

~ ~ ~

Gillian heard her stomach growling and
refused to raise her arms from her sides no matter how the next
courses appealed to her. She noticed the Jarl was watching her with
a teasing expression. She grew even angrier as she watched her
untouched plate with obvious moroseness.

“
You’re not hungry, Lady
Gillian?” the Jarl asked, his pale-colored eyes twinkling, for Lady
Eugenia already told him the girl split the sides of her gown out
of meanness. The girl mumbled something and looked positively
mortified.

Tieghan was enchanted with the way her
bosom was heaving in the too-tight dress and waiting for it to
rupture with much anticipation. He was imagining Lady Gillian’s
endowments would no doubt be popping out for all to see before it
was all over.

He knew the evening was set to be far
more interesting than he thought as he watched her under his
lashes, seeing how miserable she appeared. He felt sorry for the
girl. He glanced at Gabriel who albeit ignored her and felt a trace
of irritation.

Had he even noticed how lovely the
young woman was? His weakness for redheads aside, the girl was
being treated terribly by all of them. His lips tightened. Gabriel
barely acknowledged the girl all evening and was sending him looks
to suggest he was ready to leave when dessert finally
arrived.

It was unfortunate the maid was so busy
staring at Tieghan she had knocked over Lady Gillian’s water glass
into her lap at that moment. The icy water made the girl jump up
too quickly as it sloshed into her lap. The final tearing sound
made Tieghan grin as the bodice of the gown at last gave way, and
Lady Gillian’s corset-bound, lovely breasts were finally laid bare
for all to see at last.

She gasped as she looked down in
horror, and turned and ran hearing Eugenia’s shrieks of laughter at
her back. She was blinded by tears as she ran through the house for
some place to hide her shame. She was sobbing now, and wrenched
open the doors that led to the terrace, and the gardens
beyond.

Tieghan looked over to see Gabriel’s
stupefied expression and wanted to laugh at how flawlessly Lady
Gillian got his friend’s attention. He gave Lady Eugenia a quelling
look as the girl still snickered at Lady Gillian’s
humiliation.

Gabriel appeared calm as he rose and
leaned down to suggest Lady Atwell find her cousin clothing that
fit, and they took their leave. Tieghan was grinning in a maddening
way as they left the Atwell residence, seeing the obvious interest
in Gabriel’s eyes as he saw his betrothed’s gown pop open. He felt
sorry for the girl’s embarrassment but it was worth the wait to see
her charms finally win against the too-tight fabric at
last.

“
Do not say a word,
Tieghan,” Gabriel said grimly with his own lips twitching, his dark
eyes met his as they sat in the coach at last, but it was all too
much. Tieghan dissolved into peals of laughter, his sides shaking
so hard he was laying on the seat now. Gabriel glared at him, his
lips curving despite his determination to not give into his
amusement at his bride’s wardrobe malfunction.

“
It appears Lady Gillian’s
assets are more than adequate.” They both roared with laughter
finally.

Gabriel was still stunned by the girl’s
loveliness and surprised he’d not noticed her at once. In those few
seconds before he tore his eyes from her lovely bosom, he saw her
face, pleased to realize his bride was beautiful as well. He wanted
to run after her, but knew it would be unseemly for him to do so.
He wasn’t dreading the marriage as much as he had before. That
night when Tieghan left him, images of the beauteous redhead made
him smile despite himself.

~ ~ ~

Gillian was bored as she sat in the
dressmaker’s shop while her order was made. Lady Atwell did the
choosing. She was resentful of being reminded she was quite under
the woman’s thumb, and ignored the friendly Frenchwoman who ran the
shop.

Madame Chevalier was beaming to learn
Lord Iverleigh was to be married, and delighted to earn the
business of making Gillian’s trousseau. She gulped as she watched
the mountain of fabric selected for this or that.

Lady Atwell reasoned the Earl could
well afford to gown his intended wife and no expense was spared.
Her wedding gown was another matter. Another’s was to be altered,
though Gillian wasn’t aware of this as she stood in the lovely
white satin ensemble while the assistants pinned and snipped until
it fit Gillian’s much shorter, rounder shape. She didn’t ask whose
wedding gown she was wearing, assuming one of Madame’s customers
cried off.

The day proved to get no better when
Lady Atwell took over selecting even her most intimate apparel. Sea
green eyes were blazing as the three ladies left the shop. Gillian
was grateful Lady Atwell could not seem to wait to drop her at her
brother’s home, wanting to be as far away from the pair as she
could get.

She was so embarrassed of what had
happened at the dinner, she sent back the gowns she was lent, not
daring to wear another. She was mortified of how the Earl had
looked at her before she ran from the dining room.

His dark eyes haunted her every since.
She would be his wife in four days. The small, private ceremony
would be conducted at his residence on Saturday. The Earl procured
a special license, and all was made ready for the new Countess of
Iverleigh.

She knew she could not hope for a
better offer, but it still galled her Lady Atwell was shoving her
off onto the troubled nobleman. It was obvious Madame Chevalier was
no stranger to the Earl’s many women.

She colored in embarrassment to learn
the dressmaker had gowned them all over the years. Eugenia seemed
to enjoy regaling her with Gabriel’s many women. She was glad to be
dropped at home later.

“
Lord Iverleigh has been
most generous,” Imogene was saying when she acknowledged the Earl
sent over one of his own coaches and footmen for their express use.
Gillian shrugged as she heard this, and grimaced knowing they would
hardly be going out.

She dare not show her face in this town
after what her brother had done. The papers were enough to make her
a virtual recluse as she read of both his and Lord Dartmouth’s
crimes.

Lord Dartmouth was now on
trial and refusing to speak in his own defense. He neither
acknowledged nor denied any of the charges. The verdict was swift
in coming. He would hang on February 7
^th
, 1812, at dawn. She shivered
as she read this.

Her thoughts were of Eunice then, how
her young life was cut off so tragically. She was a victim of both
men. Gillian wept alone in her room over the matter, knowing the
public refused to see her as a victim as well. The papers were
glorifying the appearance of Rudd’s sister and her impending
marriage to Lord Iverleigh was greeted with scorn.

They likened her character to the
former Countess, Lillianne St. Armand, who was put to death early
that year. It repelled and sickened her how she was vilified merely
for being Francis’s sister, but she had no control over
it.

She sighed as she sat in her room
looking down on the street. She had no control over much in her
life now. She had a fortune that would now be in Lord Iverleigh’s
control and she would be his chattel until she gave him an
heir.

Gillian gave a snort of derision at
that, for he seemed more willing to have children outside of
marriage, than in. She knew she was being unfair, but it angered
her to have a stranger now in control of her destiny.

She was disturbed as she thought of the
way he looked at her when she fled the dining room, coloring rosily
at the unmistakable look of lust in his gaze. She was quailing at
the thought of their wedding night. It was too soon, she hardly
knew him.

She was panicked at the thought of his
pushing for his rights. She barely got over her sister’s death at
the hands of her own husband and she was thrust into a marriage of
convenience to hide her family’s loss of honor. She wept when she
thought of her choices, for she had none.

~ ~ ~

Catherine was going out of her mind in
boredom, but was grateful she left Gabriel’s residence when she
learned of his upcoming marriage. She expected to feel pain at it,
but her relief was obvious when she heard of it from Martha that
day.

She knew it was for his own good he did
this. His reputation had taken a fair beating in the last few
years, and only marriage would repair it now.

“
I can see Lord Iverleigh’s
upcoming marriage is not distressing to you, my dear, may I ask
why?” Martha asked as she cleaned up the kitchen while Catherine
held Aidan at the table there, looking slightly surprised by the
news, but not upset.

“
He asked me to marry him
again and I said no. He claimed he would marry her if I refused
him,” she said and smiled sadly, looking down at her son, who slept
blissfully in her arms. “I refused,” she admitted reluctantly, and
sighed. “And to be honest, I no longer feel the same as I once did.
I know that now.”

“
You no longer love the
Earl?” Martha asked, her eyes softening with
understanding.

“
I shall always love him but
I have seen enough of his ways to know we don’t belong together as
I once thought,” she said with a laugh and shook her head. “Perhaps
I’ve changed, Martha. I learned too late that what I held onto with
Gabriel was very much in my own mind. What we had was based on
Lilly’s trickery. Without it, we wouldn’t have had it at all.
That’s not love. Gabriel refuses to see this. He was angry at my
refusal. We barely spoke when I left. I think he feels I’m somewhat
fickle in my affections now.”

“
Had you not lost your
memory, I have little doubt you would have come to this conclusion
sooner. Your husband knew, my dear. He said you would realize it
eventually. We talked of it often,” Martha said with a smile of
relief, intending to tell Nicholas at the soonest opportunity to
put him out of his misery. “Tell me, when did you come to this
epiphany, my dear?”

“
It was at Nicholas’s
funeral, sadly enough,” she admitted with a sigh, her green eyes
vaguely troubled. “He took over and assumed much. He didn’t even
think I would refuse him.”

“
Lord Iverleigh just decided
to marry you without even asking properly?” Martha asked in
disbelief.

“
He never really loved me as
much as he thought he did, Martha,” Catherine told her angrily, and
a bit defensively, even to herself. “He loved who he made me to be.
When I told him the truth about Brionne, he couldn’t look me in the
face and accept it. I knew then it was over.”

“
So he marries another out
of spite?” She chuckled and shook her head. “It is not your fault.
The Earl brings much upon himself.”

“
Yes, rather obviously,”
Catherine muttered. “I fear I hurt him by refusing to marry him.
That is why he rushes to marry Lord Rudd’s sister now and it’s my
fault.”

“
Bah! The Earl is a grown
man. He is using the woman to get back at you and it blows up in
his face. The fault was his for even assuming, as usual. He has
held onto you for years thinking if Nicholas were not in the
picture, you would be his. It must pain him to know he has lost you
to a ghost now,” Martha remarked. “He has lost you on his own, my
pet, and he can’t blame any other for it. You needn’t blame
yourself. He needs to get over the past.”

“
Gabriel is a good man,
Martha. I fear you’re biased by having known Nicholas first,”
Catherine said with a smile, for she knew her former teacher had no
love for the Earl. “He is just not the man for me. I see that
now.”

“
Catherine, it was always my
belief you would learn this eventually,” Martha admitted and smiled
guiltily. “I knew you would come to your senses.”

“
I wish I had seen all of
this before Nicholas died,” she said and looked down, biting her
lip as a wave of misery assailed her. “He went to his death
believing I loved another more than him. I live with that
now.”

“
He knew the truth, my
dear,” Martha said quietly and shook her head. “He knew in your
heart of hearts you didn’t love Gabriel as you loved him. I think
he rather believed you clung to it to soothe your guilt over the
child you share.”