Wicked Deception (4 page)

“
Get out and leave me
alone!”Nicholas shouted. He fell back against the mattress and his
arm fell across his face. “You’re the last one I want to see right
now, Gabriel.”

“
Well I’m all that you have,
Nicholas. You’ve apparently sent your family packing. If you can’t
tell me what it is; I’ll stay here until you do,” Gabriel raged,
furious at him. “You’re the most selfish bastard I know, Nicholas.
Do you have any idea what this would have done to Catherine? Do you
care at all?”

“
She’s better off without
me!”Nicholas shouted as he sat up, his red-rimmed eyes full of
misery. “That should make you happy, no doubt! You can come to her
rescue at last! You should thank me for getting out of your way and
left me to die!”

“
Is that what you
think?”Gabriel demanded in a furious whisper. “That with you dead;
she would be happy and run into my arms? You’re a fool then. It
would kill her as well. Tell me what’s wrong with you, Nicholas.
For God’s sake, we are friends. You must talk to someone. What’s so
bloody awful you would do this terrible thing?”

Nicholas was past caring anymore.
Feeling despondent; he told him. He shouted and railed at him of
what was done to him, how he suffered such unspeakable things. He
flung the truth. Gabriel flinched as he listened without
speaking.

When it was over, for the first time in
his life, Nicholas began to cry, rolling over and burying his face
into the pillows. He was too ashamed to look at his
friend.

Gabriel sat in the chair at his
bedside, stunned. His face grew pale at his words. Learning the
business he inherited from Clarice Devereaux fostered such
insidious activities sickened him. Seeing the horrible anguish
Nicholas endured made him more than determined to help him now. He
told himself he did it for his friend. He knew he did it for her.
She loved Nicholas.

He owed it to her to get her husband
restored to her. Nicholas must realize giving up wasn’t the answer.
Why these demons waited to claim him now, years later, didn’t
matter. He was suffering them instead of dealing with
them.

“
It is not your fault what
happened to you,” Gabriel whispered, his dark eyes bleak as they
looked at his back, seeing the faded scars there, knowing how they
came to be there now. “I know it makes it no easier for you, but
you must learn to deal with it. You must do it for your wife and
for your children at least, Nicholas. They need you.”

“
My wife would cringe away
from me in horror if she knew!”Nicholas snarled fiercely, his face
ravaged with self-loathing. He sat up and glared at him, his
shaking hand wiping viciously at the signs of his weakness. “It
would sicken her to look upon me, much less touch me again. I can’t
see my lady wife, daughter of a blasted Earl herself, being
remotely pleased to be married to a former child whore,
Gabriel!”

“
You give your wife much
credit, I see,” Gabriel noted and glared at him. “I think you’re
right then. Just kill yourself. Get it over with, why don’t you? I
shall get you my pistol from my coach. It will be far quicker. Then
you can let her blame herself because you didn’t want to wound her
delicate sensibilities with what happened to you. When you stop
feeling sorry for yourself and no longer have need of a wet nurse,
we will discuss a fitting end to the Duke and the
others.”

“
What will you do to them,
my fine Lord?”Nicholas asked in a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes
at his words. “You’re a bloody peer like them. They’re untouchable
and we both know it.”

“
I recommend you tell your
wife the truth before we do anything! I wouldn’t let one of these
scum cause me to lose what is mine as you have!”Gabriel shouted
down at him, so furious he came out of his chair, dark eyes
flashing in rage. “You have won her from me! And this is what you
would do now? You would throw it all away because of what you
couldn’t control happening to you when you were a boy? That’s not
the man I know! That man would not let this destroy
him!”

“
That man killed one of them
recently,” Nicholas replied in a flat voice as he flopped back
against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling brooding. “I thought
it would make me feel better to end one of their sick, loathsome
lives. I couldn’t tell her the truth. I watched her leave and I
couldn’t stop her.”

Gabriel understood his feeling of
despair. He felt the same the day he tried to proposition her into
his bed to see their son. He hurt to think Lilly’s lies were true
and Catherine sold his wife their son.

He watched her leave his house after
their heated argument. She refused to remain in his company or
betray her husband. He watched her trim back as she stalked with
all her dignity from his study, longing to chase her and tell her
the truth. He loved her, no matter what she’d done. His pride kept
him silent.

Gabriel looked down. His hands were
clenched and he released his hold on the chair arms. Nicholas
refused to look at him now. He was feeling exposed by all he
disclosed. There was an awkward silence now where it had never been
between them.

They both wanted the same thing now;
her. Neither remembered what it was like before they met Catherine.
The easy friendship they once shared was gone. They became rivals
the minute Nicholas brought her back to London.

Gabriel used whatever means to bring
her back to him now. The only means at his disposal was their
three-year old son Giles. She refused to come to his bed to see her
son. It was then he knew she loved Nicholas as much as she once
loved him.

Nicholas rolled to his side, giving him
his back. Gabriel knew telling of these things was difficult for
his secretive friend. He regretted his never confiding in him. When
had they ever really talked about Nicholas’s life? He could never
recall his friend volunteering anything of his past. He had to do
something. For her; the woman they both loved. He couldn’t be with
her, but he’d be damned if she would be alone.

“
Get your miserable ass up
out of that bed and pack, Nicholas,” Gabriel snarled and reached
out and ripped the coverlet off of him. “You will get on the
fastest ship you can find in the harbor and you will go to her. Do
you hear me? If I have to kick you all the way to Ireland myself; I
will! With any luck, you can arrive in time to see your child
born.”

Nicholas clawed at the coverlet with a
scowl. Gabriel flung it away and tossed it on the floor, his dark
eyes meeting his with a distinct gentleness in them, despite his
angry words. Nicholas was shaking in anger. He gave him a murderous
look as he kicked off the sheets and flung himself out of bed. He
wrenched open the armoire and started shrugging into
clothes.

“
We’ll discuss a fitting end
to Lord Rudd upon your return. I don’t want to discuss it again
until you’ve told Catherine everything, do you hear?”Gabriel asked
as he stood in the middle of the room, making sure he did as he
asked. “I’ve had to listen to her fretting over you for months and
you can imagine how that bored me,” he went on quietly from the
door. “I suggest you hurry back. I’m not feeling as hesitant as you
when you went out looking for them.”

Gabriel turned on his heel and stalked
from the room. Nicholas stared after him and finished washing up
and dressing. He stuffed whatever he needed into a valise. His
hands shook as he splashed more cold water onto his face, staring
at his gaunt reflection in the wash stand mirror before he turned
to leave.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel watched Nicholas board the
frigate bound for Dublin with a look of relief later that day. He
tapped the roof of his coach with his walking stick. His dark eyes
narrowed in fury. He shouted out directions to his driver; his
expression thunderous as the coach moved away from the
docks.

He arrived at the brothel before three
in the afternoon, knowing the inhabitants slept. He used his key to
let himself in. The place was quiet. He saw few servants on his way
to the kitchens. His hands shook as he tried every key on the ring
until he found one that fit the cellar door.

Gabriel opened it with trepidation,
squinting down the stairs. He fetched a lamp and went down. He held
it aloft and stared at the dozen cages against the wall; saw the
piteous faces of the children within. A low growl of rage escaped
him. He turned and ran up the stairs, shouting until the servants
arrived in the kitchens.

They looked shocked to see His Lordship
standing in their midst looking like he would kill someone. He
ordered every child taken out of the cellars immediately. The local
doctor was sent for. He waited until the doctor examined every
child.

The doctor beamed as he ruffled a
child’s hair. He listened in relish to the Earl upbraid the
servants for doing nothing to help the children. He promptly
dismissed them all. After they were all examined, the doctor took
him aside.

“
They are merely hungry, my
lord,” the doctor confided as he met his troubled look.

Gabriel heard this with relief. He paid
the doctor a hefty sum for his time. He looked for the woman he
left in charge of the brothel after Yvetta ran off. He went
upstairs, throwing open doors. He finally found Constance. She was
asleep between two men in the legendary blue room.

One look at his angry countenance and
the lovely brunette slid away from the bed. She donned a robe,
eyeing him worriedly as she tiptoed out of the room, careful to not
wake the two customers who snored loudly within. She met him at the
end of the hall near the stairs.

“
Unless you want to find
yourself tossed out of here on your pretty ass, I suggest you take
in no more children, Constance,” Gabriel warned, seeing her flinch
from his condemning stare. “I want you to provide me with a list of
our clientele who request these perversions. You’ll give it to me
before I leave here and you will tell no one of this. Is that
clear?”

“
Yes, right away, my lord,”
she whispered. Constance rushed away quickly to do as he asked.
Constance arrived with the list as the six children were fed in the
kitchens under Gabriel’s watchful stare. They eyed the nobleman in
fear as he sat with them, not trusting him. Soon he had them all
talking and laughing.

He folded the list she gave him and put
it in his vest pocket. He smiled at the children and encouraged
them to eat as much as they liked. He rose and looked at Constance
sharply.

“
I want every one of these
children found clean clothes and taken to their homes. If they have
no home; you may have them brought here.” He dug his card out of
his vest, glaring down at her. “I meant what I said. I’ll burn this
goddamn house to the ground if I find any more children in those
cellars. Are we clear on that, my dear?”

Constance nodded quickly and bit her
lip as he stalked angrily from the house. She smiled brightly down
at the children. She was overwhelmed with running the house now
that Yvetta was gone. It was obvious the Earl had standards far
higher than Clarice now that he owned the business.

She knew he would make good his threat
to throw her out if she didn’t make sure his rules were followed.
Her eyes grew fearful when she thought of Lord Rudd and his cronies
and the ugly scene when they were denied their forbidden pleasures
in the cellars.

Constance shivered as she retrieved a
pitcher of milk and a platter of biscuits for the starving
children. Her eyes softened when she saw how small they were. She
chose not to think of the things that would have been done to them
had the Earl not arrived. She breathed a silent prayer of thanks.
Lord Rudd was due to arrive that night.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel was furious when he took out
the list, scanned the names. His expression darkened with rage. He
closed his eyes and his hand shook with the effort not to go find
every man on the list and thrash them this very day.

He shoved it back into his breast
pocket, ordered his driver to take him home. Once there, he was
like a man possessed as he sat at his desk to write his first piece
of legislature since taking his father’s seat in The House of
Lords. It was twenty pages long, outlining and detailing the plight
of the weakest of them all; the children of the city.

His housekeeper Maggie arrived at the
study and informed him three children were out on the porch with a
servant. He ordered her to have rooms found and suitable clothing
for them. He didn’t know why he did what he did that day. Something
in him was outraged by what he’d seen from Nicholas’s present
sorrows. It motivated him to do something more, rather than look
away as so many did.

~ ~ ~

The crossing gave him time to think of
all that went wrong. He lay in his bunk, now grateful to be alive.
He thought about his wife, how he dreaded to tell her of his past.
He thought of how Gabriel saved his life, yet again, and frowned.
The man had the oddest habit of being there when he needed him the
most, despite what was between them.

Why had he bothered to save him?
Gabriel loved Catherine. He never stopped. Nicholas questioned what
he would have done had their roles been reversed, loving her so
much he lost his own reason at times. He would never
understand.