A Bewitching Bride (27 page)

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Authors: Elizabeth Thornton

BOOK: A Bewitching Bride
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She looked over at her father. “What are they debating?”
“Macbeth. Your father seems to think that he was the best king who ever sat on the throne of Scotland.”
Macbeth. The king.
She was careful to keep her voice neutral. “And what does Mr. Hayes think?”
“Oh, he’s immersed in Shakespeare. Naturally, he thinks the opposite.”
The group around her father had grown. Poor Cedric, she thought. No one ever won a debate with her father.
Massey looked on the point of saying more, but Gavin appeared at that moment with a smile that would have done credit to a shark, and after blathering a lot of nonsense, he spirited her away.
His jaw was tight; a muscle pulsed in his cheek. “It’s a bit premature for you to set up a flirtation, is it not? We’ve only been married a few days.”
Her jaw went slack. “A flirtation? I wouldn’t know how to flirt if my life depended on it.”
“Then what did he want?”
“He was just being friendly.” There was a challenge in her voice.
He made a scoffing sound.
“Did you say something?” she asked sweetly.
“No. Yes. Just be careful. Men like Massey can’t help themselves. A pretty woman catches their eye, and they’re off and running. Every woman under thirty is Massey’s best friend.”
She gave an involuntary look over her shoulder, and her gaze was caught and held by her friend Sally. Sally didn’t look too happy, and Kate wondered if it was because Massey was neglecting her. That last day on Deeside, Sally and Mr. Massey had seemed quite taken with each other.
“What I wanted to tell you,” said Gavin, “is that there is trouble in the kitchen. The hotel chef is making things difficult for the caterers. I’m going downstairs to sort them all out. To be on the safe side, I’ve asked Dalziel to keep an eye on you.”
She looked over at Dalziel, who returned her stare with a slight inclination of his head. A little apart from him was Cedric, standing alone now, and looking quite satisfied with his own company. As hostess, it was her duty to say a few words to him. The thought was daunting. How could Sally bear to be married to that stick?
“Did you hear me, Kate?”
“I heard you. Don’t forget to put happy, happy thoughts in their heads. You’ll have them hugging and kissing you before you know it.”
“Very funny!” It was a retort, but he was smiling.
Her mother joined them, and after a moment or two, Gavin gave Kate a look that spoke volumes and then excused himself. Mrs. Cameron did most of the talking, leaving Kate free to let her mind wander. She wasn’t thinking of anything in particular when the hair on the back of her neck began to rise. In the next instant, she was transported to the reception at Juliet’s wedding. She experienced the same undercurrents of danger that were tempered by confusion. Something or someone was not as it appeared on the surface.
Her pulse started to race. Something was pulling at her mind, something that seemed familiar. Someone who seemed familiar. Who was it? She let her eyes wander over the various knots of people who were standing around. Her gaze passed over a gentleman she did not know, then jerked back and narrowed on him. She’d seen him before. He wasn’t handsome, he wasn’t plain, but he was smiling, and she knew that she had never seen him smile. He was thirtyish with nothing distinguishing about him. Then where did she know him from? And then it came to her. He was at Juliet’s wedding reception, not as a guest but as one of the “invisible” waiters who hovered around tables and generally made themselves useful. He was not a waiter now but masquerading as one of the mourners.
“Mama,” she said abruptly cutting off her mother’s flow of words, “who is that gentleman over there, the one who is talking to Magda?”
Her mother looked. “I’ve never seen him before, but there is Mrs. Rees-Jones. I must go and speak to her.”
Mrs. Cameron moved away just as the gentleman in question bowed to Magda and turned to go.
The mystery man was leaving. There was no time to find Dalziel or Gavin. If she didn’t intercept him, they could lose him altogether. With no clear idea of what she would say, she hurried after him and was stopped in her tracks when her friend Sally stepped in front of her.
“Your mother tells me,” Sally said, “that she has sent out invitations to your wedding in Braemar. I believe she called it a ‘proper wedding.’ ”
Kate tried to move around Sally, but Sally thwarted the attempt.
“You know mothers,” Kate said, edging to the side so that she could follow the progress of the mystery man, “they want things done right and tight. I hope you and Cedric will be there.”
“We’ll be there, but . . .”
Sally floundering for words was a new experience for Kate. “But what, Sally, and why the long face?”
She saw her quarry disappear through a side door but was prevented from going after him when Sally grasped her arm. She couldn’t shake off her best friend without appearing rude.
Sally’s voice was soft and held an appeal. “You mustn’t believe everything I say, Kate. I don’t believe half of it myself. You’re such an innocent. I could never forgive myself if my unguarded tongue influenced you. You could never be happy with a man you did not love and who did not love you.”
Kate was all at sea. “Are we talking about Cedric?”
“No,” replied Sally succinctly. “I’m talking about Gavin Hepburn. Kate, you know he is not the man for you. All your friends are worried about you. I took it upon myself to speak to you. Listen to me, Kate. It’s not too late. Your father is a barrister. It may be possible to annul the marriage.”
Kate said, “That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? Trust me, Sally, I know what I’m doing.” There would be an annulment, but she couldn’t tell Sally that, not until their villain was caught. “Besides,” she went on, “that’s not what you told me at Juliet’s wedding. You said that he couldn’t take his eyes off me.”
“What I said then was meant to bolster your confidence and reduce Lorna’s light to a peep.”
“Things change,” said Kate, wishing people would mind their own business and leave her to take care of her own.
“Has he told you that he loves you?”
Kate’s mouth went dry. That was something she couldn’t bring herself to lie about, so she quoted what she’d heard on the subject from Mrs. Cardno. “Love can grow from small beginnings, or so I’ve heard.”
“Piffle! It’s obvious that you’re in love with him, but Gavin lost his heart a long time ago.” Sally opened her mouth, shut it, and shook her head. “I won’t say more except that if he hurts you, I’ll
kill
him!”
In a swish of skirts, Sally moved away, leaving Kate to ponder her words. One thing she never doubted: though Sally spoke her mind with outrageous frankness, she was a true friend. The allusion to Gavin losing his heart a long time ago naturally referred to Alice.
Alice.
She wondered whether everyone knew about Alice and pitied her. From the speculative glances from the people she passed on her way to the door that the elusive interloper had vanished through, she guessed that Sally was right. Clenching her teeth, she pushed though the door and entered a staircase.
And suddenly it engulfed her, a force so malevolent that she took an involuntary step back. The fine hairs on her neck didn’t rise, they stood on end. Goose bumps made her skin prickle. Imminent danger was all around her, if only she had eyes to see it.
Gavin. Where was he? What was keeping him? The list of possibilities was endless, but what gripped her mind was that somehow the villain she was following had gotten to Gavin.
She stood stock-still, taking her bearings. The staircase was at the back of the hotel, overlooking the courtyard and outhouses. There were windows, but the sun’s rays barely penetrated the small panes of glass. No one was about, no hotel footmen or maids to be seen. This staircase had no gas lamps on the walls, only the odd candle in a wall sconce to light the way, and seemed derelict, as though the owners of the hotel had forgotten its existence. As she sniffed the air, however, and smelled the stale tobacco smoke, it occurred to her that this out-of-the-way staircase passed for the smoking room for gentlemen who were not allowed to smoke in the reception rooms.
Below her, she heard footsteps. A door banged, then there was silence. Though she was rigid with fear, she didn’t lose her head but snatched a heavy brass candlestick from a wobbly table and held it steady as she descended the stairs.
On the half landing, she halted, straining all her senses to find the source of her disquietude. Strangely enough, her intuition had dulled. She no longer knew where the danger was coming from.
An inside door at the foot of the stairs creaked in the draft that came from the outside. Holding the candlestick high above her head, she continued the descent. There was no need to enter the room with the squeaky door. She found him in a grotesque heap at the bottom of the stairs. Her heart leaped to her throat, and she sank to her knees beside him. “Gavin,” she cried, but it wasn’t Gavin. His eyes were open, staring sightlessly. It was the interloper, the waiter from the Deeside Hotel. It looked as though he’d fallen down the stairs and broken his neck.
She choked back an involuntary sob. It wasn’t Gavin! It wasn’t Gavin! She couldn’t help what she was feeling. All that mattered to her was that Gavin was safe.
How long had she been delayed by Sally? It must have happened then. Wouldn’t someone have heard him call out? Shouldn’t someone have heard him tumbling down the stairs? A bootboy? A groom? Whoever used this neglected staircase?
“Kate!”
Kate looked up into eyes that blazed with fury: Gavin’s eyes. The fire died when he saw what was at her feet. He knelt beside her.
“What happened here?” he asked.
“I think he must have fallen down the stairs.”
“And you’re here because . . . ?”
She was staring at the pool of blood that was forming on the wooden floor.
Gavin touched her face, bringing her eyes to his. “Kate, what happened here?” he asked gently.
Her brain unfroze. “I thought I recognized him upstairs. I thought I’d seen him at Juliet’s wedding. He was one of the waiters.”
Gavin studied the interloper’s face and nodded. “I think you’re right. I think this is the man who waited on Will and me.” His brow knit in a frown. “I wonder if he overheard you arranging to meet with Will later? Who would notice him?”
“Yes,” she said. “We’re not as discreet as we should be around servants.”
The door to the outside suddenly opened, and a gust of wind blew it back on its hinges. Her candle went out. In the blink of an eye, Gavin had his revolver in his hand. “Stay down!” he told Kate as he rose to his feet. With his revolver pointing at the open door, he positioned himself in front of her.
A man appeared, stopped, and let out a long breath that reeked of tobacco. He squinted into the dimly lit interior. “Hepburn? Is that you?” The voice belonged to Cedric Hayes. “Come out for a smoke, have you? I’d be happy to keep you . . .” His voice trailed away when Kate rose to stand by Gavin’s side. Gavin surreptitiously slipped his revolver into his pocket.
“There’s been a terrible accident,” he said. “My wife and I were going out for a breath of fresh air when we came upon this poor sod. I think he must have been coming out for a smoke and fallen down the stairs.”
“Who is he?”
Gavin squeezed Kate’s hand, a signal for her to keep her mouth shut. “We don’t know, but he seems familiar.” He lit a candle from one of the wall sconces.
Cedric got down on one knee and examined the dead man’s face. “I’ll say he looks familiar,” he said. “His name is John Liddel, and he was thrown out of Sandhurst for cheating at cards and stealing from other cadets. The Royal Military College, you know? I’d say he was up to no good here.” He swore softly. “You’d better ask the guests to check their money and valuables.” Then to the corpse, “Didn’t anyone tell you, Johnny boy, that the wages of sin are death?”
A startled look passed from Kate to Gavin. Cedric had once been in the military? Incredible!
“What do we do now?” Kate asked.
“We call in the police,” said Cedric. “They’ll bring in their own doctor if foul play is suspected, but it looks like a case of accidental death to me.”
He got to his feet. “Why don’t you take your wife to her room and spare her the investigation that is sure to follow?”
“Thank you,” said Gavin. “This shouldn’t take long. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Kate concealed the candlestick she would have used as a weapon in the folds of her gown and preceded Gavin up the stairs.
Nineteen
The police arrived eventually, made a perfunctory investigation and, after the medical examiner had given his consent, removed the body to the mortuary.
“They found a few expensive trinkets in Liddel’s pockets,” Gavin told Kate, “as well as a drawstring bag stuffed with a wad of banknotes, and a key to a bedroom in the attic. They also found a rough plan of the hotel. You can imagine what that leads them to believe.”

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