Wicked Deception (51 page)

“
Gabriel’s bark is much more
hurtful than his bite, Gillian. He says things when he is angry.
You must learn to ignore him.”

“
He cares nothing for me at
all,” the young woman whispered with tears in her eyes.

“
He might need some
encouragement on your part,” Catherine noted and rolled her eyes to
see the young woman’s defiant glare. “Come now, do not tell me you
do not care for him or you would not be here right now.”

Gillian sniffed and looked away from
those probing emerald eyes. “He has acted like a beast in all
things!”

“
Yes, he does do that from
time to time. Pay it no heed. The fact you get that much emotion
from him tells me there is more to your marriage than merely an
arrangement.”

“
I hate the man!”

“
You do not,” Catherine
argued and shook her head. “My advice is to quit tormenting said
beast and you will find the man he really is underneath,
Gillian.”

Gillian looked defensive. “I have every
right to feel as I do! He has acted abominably since our
marriage!”

“
You have every right to be
angry. He has acted like an ass, but fighting him will get you
nowhere, trust me on that,” she informed with a sad knowing smile.
“He will have his way in all things. Would it not be better to see
what that way yields?”

Gillian nodded and looked down,
appearing ashamed now. “I had a very different image of you, an
unkind one. For that I’m sorry.”

“
I’m no threat to you,
Gillian. What we had was very much over when you married him. It is
unfortunate he didn’t see fit to tell you this.”

“
I’m sorry for your loss. I
do not mean to intrude upon your grief,” the young woman offered
and looked back down into her cup. “I have very much brought this
on myself. I believed he was still seeing you when we
married.”

Catherine could see the woman had
obviously assumed the worst and Gabriel didn’t bother to correct
her. She was angry he would use her to torment his wife. A gleam of
mischief entered her gaze. “My guess is he said nothing and allowed
you to think that because you hurt his feelings.”

“
We argued that day we
married,” she allowed with a wince. “I said things about you and
your son. I gave him the idea having his son in our home bothered
me.”

Catherine frowned, knowing that was a
sensitive subject of late. Giles could no longer be seen as his
heir. The documents used to convict Lilly revealed she was sold the
child, forever branding him Gabriel’s bastard.

Gabriel fought it for months, but
Thomas Hines informed him of it recently. He had no legal heir, a
fact that devastated him now. She could understand his lashing out
at his new wife and his treatment since. “Is that how you truly
feel?”

Gillian looked startled. “No, I have no
issue with your son living there at all. I merely implied I
disapproved. It was enough, I fear. He has not looked upon me
kindly since. ”

Catherine had some insight now in what
created such a rift with Gabriel and his bride and sighed, seeing
them both as prideful and stubborn. It delighted her that Gillian
fought him every step of the way, making him take notice of her.
The damage they could do to one another came to mind; she held her
tongue.

“
You might wish to tell him
that, Gillian,” she advised and sipped her tea. “He adores Giles.
He raised him alone since his birth. Learning he cannot be his heir
now was a blow he didn’t foresee when my sister went to the
gallows.”

“
I know he dotes on the boy.
It was wrong of me to throw that in his face.”

“
You were angry and used
what you had at the time,” Catherine allowed graciously, taking no
offense.

“
That is no excuse for my
behavior.”

“
No, but what excuse does he
have for his?” Catherine asked archly and smiled. “He wanted a wife
to bow and scrape to him, improve his image, and stay out of his
way. You have quite upset his plans. It is too bad I can’t stay and
watch his set down.”

“
You have been very kind,”
Gillian said warmly and set down her cup. “I do not know how to
thank you, Catherine.”

“
Thank me by never letting
that man walk upon you, Gillian. He must learn to see other
people’s feelings for once, instead of his own. Stand up to him and
never let him shut you out of his life. You must fight with him,
demand he talk to you,” Catherine offered from the heart, knowing
it was what she would have done had she agreed to marry him. “It is
the only way he will ever see you as more than just window dressing
in his life. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind to him in all
things. And I warn you, don’t ever lie to him. It’s one of the
things he despises most and he can be quite
unforgiving.”

Gillian took her leave soon after and
Catherine watched her, feeling melancholy over giving Gabriel’s
bride the priceless advice to win his heart. The hurt she thought
to feel only stung a bit knowing his life no longer included her. A
part of her would always love Gabriel. She accepted it, but it
didn’t rule her life as it once did.

Dinner came and went and she frowned as
she gazed at the mantle clock. Her Uncle had still not arrived. He
was due back from Dunleavy Hall tonight. He sent word ahead to
inform her he had arrived. She waited up and finally retired, a bit
worried.

Her Uncle was gone for a few weeks,
leaving when he saw she had things well in hand. He helped Brian
rout Cyrion’s Pride back to Dunleavy Hall after serving as stud in
the Scottish royal stable for months. The staggering fees the horse
brought in were a reminder of all she had ever dreamed of coming to
fruition.

~ ~ ~

Nicholas glared at Devlin. “You have to
go back and stay with Catherine. You have helped us enough looking
for Lilly. Catherine needs you there.”

Devlin raised an eyebrow. “Ye got every
bleedin’ thug in the city looking in on my niece. I pity the
bastard that tries to get to her now. You need me too, lad. Ye
can’t be everywhere at once. Lilly is as slippery as a
snake.”

Nicholas glared at Catherine’s Uncle.
While he knew what he said was true, he believed his wife more
secure knowing her uncle was home. He had never left for Ireland.
He cursed the man when he followed Tieghan to his ship, discovering
his niece’s husband was very much alive. Only Tieghan kept him from
getting his head ripped off.

Once he calmed down, Devlin insisted on
helping him, regarding him with more than a little respect when he
learned why he did it.

“
Catherine will start asking
questions if you don’t go back,” he argued and held up a hand as
the man gave him a belligerent glare. “I need you there now,
Devlin. Stay with her and do not let her out of your sight for a
second. Lilly is at large and she has nothing to lose.”

“
Ye bloody well better kill
the bitch this time,” he grumbled and shook his head. “I can’t
believe ye actually thought she’d change her ways and go to America
quietly. I could have told ye she’s a wee bit touched, lad. She
always has been.”

“
Tell me something I don’t
know,” he admitted with a scowl. “What I do not understand is why
she is dead set on killing Catherine still. She has all the money
she could ever want waiting for her in America. It makes no
sense.”

Devlin frowned. “Ye don’t know how my
brother treated her before he married Cat’s mother. He adored
Lilly, took her with him everywhere, he did. I told him he spoiled
the girl, but he gave her everything. Findin’ out Lady Mary and
Thornton deceived him, changed everything.”

Nicholas turned away from the railing
of his ship and stared at Devlin. “You knew of all
that?”

“
Both me and Aidan did,”
Devlin admitted. “James told us Lady Mary was forced to hide her
marriage to Thornton. Her Da wanted an Earl for his daughter. Broke
my brother’s heart to know Lilly wasn’t his. He went along with it
for her sake, trust me. I know my brother. He was too damned proud
to admit he was tricked.”

“
Why did he keep Thornton in
his employ after he learned the truth?”

Devlin rolled his eyes. “Ye didn’t know
what a bleedin’ sap Thornton was. He made James feel sorry for him,
havin’ to play along and be denied his wife and daughter all those
years. James bought it and let him remain. I told him he’d regret
it one day and he did.”

“
How did he treat Lilly’s
mother after that?”

Devlin frowned and looked away. “He
never spoke to her again, left her at the estate with Lilly. She
died of a broken heart, they say.”

“
Did Lilly know of any of
this then?”

Devlin scratched his chin and shook his
head. “James never wanted her to know. He would have never said
anything to her. He accepted her as his, even if she
wasn’t.”

“
Is it possible Lady Mary
told her daughter the truth to try to explain her father’s
absence?”

Devlin’s eyes widened. “Ye might have
an idea there. All of a sudden Lady Mary took to her room when
James left and wouldn’t come out. Come to think of it, her daughter
changed right about then too. Lilly started actin’ strange. Even
when Mary died, she never reacted like a child who just lost their
ma. We all thought it was grief.”

Nicholas knew whatever happened was
what drove Lilly now, not Catherine, the diary and what secrets it
spilled. The summer her mother died did something to Lilly. He knew
without a doubt it was the key to what she did now.

“
I think she killed her
mother, Devlin. I cannot prove it, but I find it unlikely a woman
as young as Lady Mary died of a broken heart. My guess is, Lilly
hurried it along.”

Devlin looked out over the docks sadly.
“Ye might be right. I wondered how she could be so healthy one day
and die the next. The doctor said it was her heart.”

“
Or poison?” Nicholas asked
and his eyes narrowed. “That’s got to be it. She killed her mother
after she told her the truth. Years later, Catherine found the
diary and gave it to your brother. She has blamed her ever
since.”

“
Now hold on, I think ye
read too much into it.”

“
I read the diary,” Nicholas
informed him with a shake of his head. “Now I know who she feared
to know the truth for what they would do to her. It wasn’t her
husband, but her daughter!”

“
Come again? I don’t quite
follow ye lad.”

“
Lady Mary claimed to be
terrified of someone in the diary. She said she was scared after
she told this person the truth. I assumed it was Catherine’s
father, but it was Lilly.”

“
She didn’t know James knew
the truth already. Ye might be right. She thought she would cover
it all up and he would never know. Then Cat found the diary years
later. All this time, Lilly thought Cat told her father the truth.
He already knew from Lady Mary and Thornton.”

“
Why did they tell him at
all?”

Devlin grimaced. “They wanted to be
together. They didn’t want the lies anymore. James said she was
leaving with Thornton after that and taking her daughter with
her.”

Nicholas whistled under his breath,
knowing now what must have happened. Lilly had no desire to leave
Dunleavy at all and be Thornton’s daughter. Learning the truth very
much unhinged her, enough to silence her own mother. With
Sullivan’s help years later, she was able to silence Thornton
too.

Everything was fine until she realized
her father knew the truth. She waited for her opportunity and it
came when she married Gabriel. She used her power and influence and
her hold over Sullivan to secure an heir for her husband, and
destroy her family in one fell stroke.

The evil of the woman he once thought
he loved made him shudder slightly and grip the railing. To know
she was out there hunting his wife still gave him many sleepless
nights. They watched and waited for her to make her first move,
wondering where she would strike first. Between him, his brothers,
Tieghan and Devlin, they covered Gabriel’s residence and hers,
aware Roth’s men were there too in the shadows. It wasn’t enough
for Nicholas.

“
We have to catch
her.”

“
We will, lad,” the man
promised and clapped him on the back, hearing the worry in his
tone. “I’ll go back, but ye better hurry up. I want my niece happy
again.”

“
It’s all I ever wanted,”
Nicholas confessed, thinking of his wife and growing miserable
without her. “She will be on that ship, Devlin. None will ever have
cause to suspect I’m alive.”

“
Ye best be right, lad,” he
warned, eyes worried. “The blokes on that list ye didn’t go after
are never goin’ to forget.”

Nicholas often forgot about the others
who Clarice blackmailed. He had only been set to get the four men
he wanted to pay for what they had done to him. The other names on
the list wouldn’t care if he had left them alone. He would never
escape their desire to keep their own matters quiet.

The only reason Catherine was alive was
because he was dead and no threat to them all. She would have to
understand what that meant. He could never return to England, never
risk discovery. They would have to assume his new identity for the
rest of their lives. One thing at a time; first, she had to get on
that ship.