Wicked Deception (39 page)

“
Ironic isn’t it?” Dartmouth
said with a chuckle and eyed him with hatred in his eyes. “Lilly’s
real father forged the documents back then. It was little Catherine
who was to have gone to Iverleigh. Lilly found out from Sullivan
and it sealed the girl’s fate.”

“
This explains much in why
Lilly wanted her dead,” Nicholas said softly, reeling again to know
Gabriel and Catherine would have married one day if not for
Thornton wanting to better his own daughter. The irony Dartmouth
spoke of wasn’t lost upon him. It pained him to know how his wife
and Gabriel were promised to one another from the start.

“
She feared it would come
out eventually and the Earl would learn he married the wrong
sister,” Dartmouth said and rolled his eyes. “She was obsessed with
him finding out, knowing the marriage could not be legal. She
feared her sister would have him, as she surely would have when he
began his quest for a divorce. It was only a matter of time before
his man-of-affairs found the documents naming Catherine, and not
her, as his betrothed. The papers were in Sullivan’s satchel the
night Clarice stole Lady Mary’s diary. We assume Clarice took them
to blackmail Lilly with what she knew. The papers were never found
in Clarice’s safe. To this day, we don’t know where they are, or
who took them. The rest you know.”

“
Why do you tell me this,
Dartmouth?” Nicholas demanded coldly, infuriated still to know his
wife and Gabriel’s happiness was denied them so ruthlessly back
then. It gave him little pleasure to know it.

“
To tell you how determined
our Lilly is in this, Van Ryker,” Dartmouth went on spitefully, his
eyes narrowing. “She will never stop. You don’t know her at all.
She has quite convinced herself her little sister, who is no
relation to her at all, is at fault for all of this. Do yourself a
favor and kill her if you find her, Van Ryker.”

Nicholas left the prison with a better
insight on how to stop Lilly now. He found signs she was in his
house recently, but she was gone now. He had his brothers checking
every inn within miles, but knew she was far too smart for that.
She knew how to elude him now, and would. He had no choice but to
force her hand. He needed her to discover where his wife
was.

There was no choice. If he was to catch
her at all, he needed to use his wife as bait. It depressed him to
realize how many risks he took with his wife and children to rid
them of her threat finally. He should have listened to Tieghan but
he was determined to not have blood upon his hands as his wife
implored him.

He foolishly believed money and freedom
was enough incentive for Lilly to leave. Her insane belief
Catherine took her father’s love was at the heart of her murderous
plot. She would not stop until one of them was dead. He joined
Tieghan in the coach and gazed at his friend with a slight frown,
informing him it was time they bring his wife out of
hiding.

~ ~ ~

Lilly wasted little time in hiding out
in the rooms in the building down the street from Iverleigh Manor.
The other rooms were vacant and no one saw her coming and going at
night. She was free to move about.

She learned from scuttlebutt in the
papers Gabriel remarried and was stunned he married Rudd’s sister
when Catherine was a widow now. She smirked when she thought of her
honorable husband who was now a bigamist in the eyes of the law
with her being very much alive. She pulled the pistol from her
cloak pocket and tossed it on the table. She chuckled to herself as
she imagined his expression.

But first, she had to find her sister.
Catherine was no longer at the residence now that he wed. She was
obviously in hiding and she knew Nicholas had his brothers aiding
him in this. She must only wait, for she knew the child would draw
her sister out as nothing else would. She watched the residence as
the nanny took him to the park each day.

She waited to see him transported for
visits to his mother and knew her sister would not leave England
without seeing him at least once. She was patient and content to
wait. Catherine would reveal herself to see her damned brat, if
nothing else.

She hummed as she thought of how easy
it was to elude Nicholas and his brothers these many days. He had
no idea how much she loathed Catherine, and had since the moment of
her birth. Seeing her father’s expression when he held the tiny
girl cut her to the quick.

To learn she wasn’t his daughter after
so many years was a blow she never recovered from. She grew to
loathe them all for keeping it from her. To learn from Thomas that
Catherine was intended to marry Gabriel was the final straw. She
saw her marriage as their father’s way of getting rid of her then,
knowing he was disgusted with the sight of her, knowing of her
mother’s sins.

She never reconciled herself to being
Thornton’s child and it was what kept her from leaving now. She
would have her revenge, and only then would she leave. She would
destroy her father’s real daughter, as she destroyed
her.

~ ~ ~

Catherine was relieved to be home. The
nannies took the children upstairs and she leafed through her
letters Hennessey brought for her. Coming home produced arguments
from Martha and Tulley, but she had packing to do.

All the unnecessary things in the house
needed to be packed and sent on to the warehouse while she closed
up the house for the last time. It was being sold. Catherine knew
from the agent she hadn’t a prayer in selling the house at all.
After all the tragedy here, none would buy it.

She went through the motions of
pretending leaving didn’t bother her. The thought of only seeing
her son half the year hurt, used to seeing him everyday like her
other children. That was what hurt the most, leaving
Giles.

Nicholas was right when he told her
there would always be conditions to her having her son with
Gabriel. After reading his stipulations outlined in the documents
Thomas Hines gave her, she had few rights at all. The agreement was
contingent on Gabriel’s whims, nothing more.

Her anger to know it was a worthless
piece of paper made her sigh. Why should she be surprised to know
he held the strings even from a distance? He could end the visits
anytime he wished and she could do nothing.

She thought of the girl he married and
felt sorry for her. She would learn only too quickly how
high-handed her new husband was. Gabriel would run rough-shod over
his bride. The jealousy and pain she thought to feel on his wedding
day was absent, much to her surprise.

Tieghan regaled Tulley with it when the
two sat on his porch to smoke. Catherine eavesdropped and learned
how Gabriel botched things an hour after the ceremony with his new
wife. She winced to hear how he informed Lady Gillian their
marriage was but a business arrangement. She wanted to find him and
horsewhip the man.

The girl just learned her sister was
dead, her half-brother was a monster, and she was married to a
stranger within the week of her arrival from a convent. Gabriel
really did know how to make a first impression.

Tieghan said the girl was feisty, not
the weak-kneed, biddable bride he was promised. She almost laughed
aloud to hear that, thinking he deserved it for his treatment of
Lady Gillian thus far. She no longer felt responsible for Gabriel’s
happiness or lack of it to learn he left for a brothel on his
wedding night and every night since, inciting cruel gossip within
society already.

Like it or not, he brought his own
unhappiness upon himself. Catherine felt a pang of guilt to think
he did it because he was angry with her for refusing to marry him.
She wouldn’t feel responsible for Gabriel lousing up his new life a
week into it. He had much to learn about women. She hoped Lady
Gillian was up for the lessons.

~ ~ ~

Gillian saw little of Gabriel in the
days that followed their marriage and was relieved, but all too
aware he came and went as he pleased at all hours. He made little
secret he was carousing and she ignored it, loathing him even more
for his reminding her of how little she meant in his
life.

She should have been relieved he didn’t
seek to consummate their marriage, but the prickly feeling of being
scorned dogged her every waking moment. She was hardly pleased when
her new wardrobe arrived and glared as she was shown by Imogene
each gown that was made for her.

Madame Chevalier had no control over
Lady Atwell’s insistence in these matters, and she found them all
very not to her taste, but much what Eugenia might wear. They were
covered in froth and frippery, and gaudy in her opinion. She
refused to wear them. Lady Atwell had no control over her now. She
penned a note to Madame Chevalier and invited her to the manor. She
had a very different wardrobe in mind.

If her husband was leading a different
life, than so too would she, and it would be on her terms, not
anyone else’s. She smirked when she looked at the ridiculous gowns.
The Earl would be appalled at the wastefulness, but she ordered
Imogene to throw them out. Her sea green eyes filled with spite.
She was going shopping. Imogene saw the look and groaned
inwardly.

She hefted the new gowns out of her
rooms and sighed. Marriage had hardly softened Gillian’s feelings
for her husband and he was about to learn much about his wife. She
despised being ignored.

Madame Chevalier and her assistants
arrived. A very different wardrobe was achieved for the new
Countess. The dressmaker approved heartily all her choices and
confided her disgust to have made such hideous gowns for her, but
assured her that would not be the case now.

Gillian spared no expense. She had day
gowns, walking costumes, riding outfits, ball gowns, and anything
else she felt like. All in such daring designs the Madame had to
agree the girl had taste, and the sketches were made. She ordered
hats, cloaks trimmed in fur, shoes, slippers, boots of the most
expensive leather to be found, dyed to match every individual
costume.

The under things were ordered made of
the finest silks and satins, and left very little too imagine.
Madame Chevalier tallied the cost and whistled appreciatively as
she made her leave of the manor, knowing a scorned woman when she
saw one. Lord Iverleigh would be all too aware of his wife’s
displeasure when he received the bill.

Not to be outdone, Gillian made several
trips to the jeweler and spent as much as ten thousand pounds in
one store. The shopkeeper was delighted as he designed her jewels,
saying she would rival the queen with what she purchased. Imogene
nearly wept when the bill was drawn up. Gillian stalked from store
to store, buying whatever caught her eye. The bills kept piling
up.

She had to have another coach sent for
to deliver her purchases to the residence. Imogene knew she was
doing it to get back at her husband’s ignoring her since the
marriage and said nothing. She prayed Lord Iverleigh didn’t get
angry when he received his wife’s bills.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel went white in the face when the
bills arrived, a stack so high he had to make two piles. He cursed
the woman as he figured what she spent in one week and was agog in
horror. Ninety three thousand pounds! Good Lord, the woman had a
sickness. Instead of killing people like his first wife; this one
killed money!

The daft woman spent a fortune in one
week! He was incredulous as he perused each bill, growing angrier
by the minute. She obviously exceeded her allowance for her
lifetime. He glared at the bills. At the rate she was going, she
would beggar them within the year.

The damned woman had to be set limits
on her spending; it was obvious. He sent a servant to look for her.
He was annoyed when the servant returned and informed him the
Countess was out shopping.

He gritted his teeth and cursed
viciously at her excesses. She made Lillianne look tight-fisted
with her blatant spending. He was gnashing his teeth when the
purchases began arriving later that day.

She spared little expense as she
completely refurbished her room as well. He watched in stupefied
horror as all the furniture from his wife’s room was removed, and
the new moved in, glaring as he saw the richness of it
all.

He was close to strangling her when her
new carriage was delivered, stunned at the color of it. Gillian’s
bright red carriage screamed obscenely from the curb and he could
take it no more. He ordered his footmen to take it to the stable in
the back and eagerly wanted to strangle his wife upon her
return.

~ ~ ~

Gillian arrived back before dinner,
dressed so lavishly he could only stare in shock. She was wearing a
gown of peacock blue that made her hair stand out vividly,
encrusted with crystals of the same hue.

The cut of it drew attention to her
ample bosom and the matching hat perched upon her elegantly coiffed
head at a jaunty angle. The jewels at her throat made him stiffen,
knowing without a doubt they were very real and glittered at him
menacingly.

Her sea-green eyes narrowed upon him.
The smile was stiff as she saw him. She sailed by without a word as
her parcels were brought in. He swallowed hard as he watched the
fleet of boxes, bags, and paper wrapped items move up the stairs
after her.