A Scandalous Deception (29 page)

“You’ll
stay
with me?” Fin asked as
they reached the steps, as though he was afraid to let her out of
his sight, and she wondered if he had any idea of the inner
workings of her mind.

“For the rest of my life,” she vowed. No
matter how short that might be, just as long as she took Aaron with
her.

She led Fin up the steps, slower than normal,
as his legs did seem rather wobbly. Heavens, had he ridden all
night long to return to her? He truly did mean to keep her safe
even to his own detriment. Noble, honorable Fin. Lissy led him down
the corridor towards her chambers, then she opened her door wide
for him.

Fin’s brown eyes speared her where she stood.
“Felicity St. Claire, I have a feeling all of a sudden that you’ve
set your mind on something.”

Felicity St. Claire
. Heavens, it had
been a hundred years since anyone had called her that. St. Claire
was preferable to Pierce, however. Her life would be so different
if she’d only ever been a St. Claire. “The only thing I’ve set my
mind on, Phineas Granard, is making certain you get some rest.”

“And you won’t leave me?” He seemed able to
stare right into her soul. “Promise me you won’t leave me.”

“And go where?” she hedged, laughing just a
bit. “Everyone I love is right here at The Chase.”

“I have a feeling.” Fin shook his head. “An
ominous feeling that if I don’t secure your word right now, I’ll be
sorry for it the rest of my life.”

“My word?” she echoed.

“I can’t lose you, Lissy.” His voice seemed
caught in his throat all of a sudden. “After everything, I can’t
lose you too. I’ll never survive it. So promise me you won’t leave
my side. Give me your word.”

He hardly seemed like himself, exhausted and
nearly broken. So Lissy nodded, she couldn’t help herself. “I
promise, Fin. I won’t leave you.”

“Thank you.” He seemed to sag forward a bit
as he stumbled over her threshold.

Lissy hurried to his side and slid her arm
around his back, steadying him. “You almost killed yourself with
that ride, didn’t you?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “I got here first,
that’s all that matters.”

Stubborn man. He could have killed himself.
“Take off your jacket and waistcoat, Fin.”

“Are you going to take advantage of me in my
weakened state?”

Lissy snorted in response. “You are mad.”

“Wishful thinking, then” he said as he slowly
shrugged out of his jacket.

At that, she couldn’t help but laugh. Though
it might be the last time she’d laugh in quite a while.

Afternoon light poured into Lissy’s room and
she blinked her eyes open. Heavens, she hadn’t intended to fall
asleep but with Fin’s large, warm body wrapped around hers, sleep
had come quite naturally. She started to slide towards the edge of
the bed, but Fin’s arm tightened around her waist.

“You promised,” he whispered.

Lissy turned back and stared at his handsome
face, his eyes closed and his brown hair mussed against his brow.
She could happily stare at that face the better part of most days,
but today wasn’t most days. “For heaven’s sake, Fin.” She sighed.
“I can’t stay in bed all day.”

“Why not?” he asked, cracking open one eye.
“You have somewhere else to be?”

It really was rather frustrating how well he
knew her, but then he had known her the better part of her life.
“I’d like to check on Juliet, if you must know.”

“Very well.” He opened both eyes. “I’ll go
with you, then.”

He was maddening! “Meaning you don’t trust
me?”

Fin pushed up to his elbows, his dark eyes
peering right into her soul. “Are you not the same girl who bolted
from that inn in the dead of night, making me chase you across
Derbyshire?”

“You didn’t have to chase after me,” she
grumbled.

“Yes, I did,” he said softly, tucking one of
her curls behind her ears. “If anything had happened to you, Lissy,
I’d—”

A scratch sounded on her door, halting
whatever else he meant to say. Lissy glanced from the mussed
counterpane to Fin. “You will scandalize Annie, you know?”

“I
am
fully dressed,” he
countered.

Mostly. His jacket, waistcoat and cravat
were
draped across her chair, rather neatly, a few feet
away.

“Besides,” he continued, “since I have every
intention of marrying you, Annie will have to get accustomed to
finding me in your bed.”

Meaning he didn’t have any intention of
leaving her bed at the moment. A scratch sounded once more and
Lissy heaved a sigh. “Come,” she called half-heartedly.

Her maid strode through the door and stopped
in her tracks when she spotted Fin and her cheeks pinkened
instantly. “I—I,” she began. “I am sorry, my lady. I—”

“Lord Carraway was just napping, Annie,”
Lissy explained, though it explained very little.

“U-um, well, Mr. Beckford was asking for you
in his study.”

“Staveley must have arrived. We’ll be right
there,” Fin said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

“We?” Lissy echoed.

He reached for his discarded waistcoat.
“Until Aaron Pierce has been dealt with, I don’t intend to let you
out of my sight.”

Her heart warmed at his words, even if he was
being his overbearing self. “You are very stubborn, my lord. Do you
know that?”

He shot her a smile that warmed her to her
toes. “Which makes us the perfect match, does it not?”

The perfect match? Aside from their
stubbornness, they were as different as night and day.

With her arm draped around his, Fin led Lissy
through Prestwick Chase until they reached the ducal study. He
released her arm and directed her over the threshold of Luke’s
borrowed domain. He expected to find Staveley sitting before Luke,
explaining about Pierce’s presence in England; but the local
magistrate Sir Nigel Mycroft, a thin man with graying hair and soft
eyes, occupied the seat instead. The man’s three not-so-thin sons
lined the walls, all sporting rather serious expressions.

Luke and Sir Nigel came to their feet and the
older man smiled in Lissy’s direction. “My lady, always so nice to
see you.” Then his eyes met Fin’s and he nodded. “Carraway.”

“Has Staveley filled you all in?” Fin
asked.

“Staveley?” Luke frowned. “What the devil
does he have to do with any of this?”

Fin shook his head. He must have done a
rather poor job of explaining things this morning. “So he hasn’t
arrived here yet?”

“I can’t imagine my brother-in-law anywhere
other than his own library,” Luke continued. “What is this about,
Phineas?”

Damn it all, Fin would have to start at the
beginning. He gestured towards one of Luke’s empty chairs. “Do sit
down, sweetheart,” he said to Lissy. “I think this might take a
while.”

She was shaking just a bit, but she did as he
asked. Fin followed after her, and grasped the back of the chair in
his hands, hoping his presence would offer her any support she
needed.

“Lady Felicity is in trouble,” he began.

“Beckford said as much,” Sir Nigel replied.
“It’s the sort of trouble she’s in that we don’t understand.”

And Fin had to find a way to explain the
situation without revealing too much of Lissy’s most private
torment. “Well, you all know she married an American captain
several years ago, while she was in Boston, visiting her mother’s
family.”

“Yes,” Sir Nigel agreed. “That is what Lady
Juliet said at the time.”

Fin took a deep breath. “What Lady Juliet
didn’t say, what she didn’t even know, was the terrible
circumstances Lady Felicity found herself in while in Boston. Aaron
Pierce is the most vicious and evil man I’ve ever heard of.”

All eyes shifted to Lissy but she didn’t even
squirm in her seat. Good for her.

“Vicious and evil?” Charles Mycroft, the
magistrate’s oldest son asked.

Fin nodded. “I have seen quite a bit of the
world, but nothing prepared me for Lady Felicity’s horrific tale.
To have survived her ordeal, she is the strongest lady of my
acquaintance. And I am simply in awe of her resilience.”

Luke frowned at hearing these words. No doubt
the man would want a better explanation than that at some point,
but not in front of Sir Nigel and his sons. The general
brushstrokes would have to do for now.

“She was tormented and tortured,” Fin
continued. “In order to survive, escape was her only option. She
rather ingenuously tricked him into believing she had died and then
she fled home to England.”

“Tricked him?” Sir Nigel asked.

“I left him a suicide note,” Lissy said, her
voice small and timid in this group of men. “There was so much
blood in the room, I imagine the story was easily believed.”

“Until now,” Fin added. “Pierce has somehow
arrived in London, looking for Lady Felicity.” He met Luke’s gaze.
“I happened upon Lord Staveley last night at a coaching inn. He was
headed here to warn you of Pierce’s imminent arrival.”

“How the devil would Staveley know any of
this?” Luke shook his head.

“He said your sister…” Fin let his voice
trail off when Luke snorted.

“Well, that explains it.” Luke heaved a sigh.
“So what do we do, Carraway? Just wait for Pierce to show up at The
Chase?”

“I’m certainly not going to ever let him harm
her again. I think waiting for him here, being ready for him, is
our best chance.”

“I do not relish getting involved in any
man’s marriage, Carraway,” Sir Nigel heaved a sigh. “That’s between
him and God.”

Which would be most people’s feelings on the
matter without hearing the horrific details, Fin was certain. But
he wasn’t quite ready to concede that point. He turned his
attention to the magistrate and said, “I was on my way to London to
see what could be done about the marriage. Her guardian was never
asked for permission for her to marry, sir, and I believe there are
grounds for an annulment.”

“Meaning you plan to use your influence to
gain her one,” the magistrate said.

Fin would use anything and everything at his
disposal. “You were a friend of her father’s. He isn’t here to
protect her.”

“But we are,” Sir Nigel finished for him.

“But we are,” Fin agreed.

“Very well.” The magistrate sighed. “What do
you want from us, Carraway?”

“I would like each entrance of The Chase to
be guarded by one of our rifles or pistols. I don’t want Pierce to
get past us or take us by surprise.”

“You think that’s necessary?” the
magistrate’s youngest son, Howard, asked. “Pistols and hunting
rifles? You think this American fellow can siege the castle, as it
were?”

“I only wish there were more of us.”

“I thought we were just going to see her,”
Heaton said, as he crouched down beside Aaron in a copse of trees
not far from Felicity’s family seat.

Against the backdrop of the waning light,
Aaron gestured towards a burly fellow with a rifle, leaning next to
a side door of the manor house. “The place doesn’t look very
welcoming.”