A Scandalous Deception (31 page)

A small burst of light lit the room, and
Aaron’s astonished expression before he dropped onto the bed was an
image Lissy would never forget.

She dropped back down to her knees and
struggled for breath.

“Aunt Lissy?” Ben’s voice from the corridor
nearly stopped her heart.

“Go find your papa, Ben,” Fin called out
rather calmly, though how he could be calm, Lissy had no idea.

Tremors raced through her and though she
opened her mouth to order Ben away, nothing came out.

“Uncle Fin?” Ben asked. “What are you doing
in there?”

“Helping Aunt Lissy with something. Go find
your papa. Go quickly, Ben.” Fin was at Lissy’s side, though she
couldn’t recall him having left the bed. Then his hand was on her
shoulder, steadying her. “Sweetheart,” he rasped. “Are you all
right? Did he hurt you?”

He had hurt her for so long and now… Now his
lifeless from was draped across her bed. A gurgled cry escaped
Lissy and she couldn’t hear or think or speak to save her life.

Lights from candles suddenly filled her room
and a flood of men filtered in. Keeton. Sir Nigel. It was all a
blur.

“We heard a shot!” Sir Nigel said from the
threshold, gasping for breath as though he’d run a foot race.

Fin’s shoulder throbbed like the devil, his
shirt was soaked through with blood, and a number of men were
crowded into Lissy’s chambers, their candles and lanterns filling
the room with light; but all he could focus on was the dark red
splotch at Lissy’s temple. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, dropping to
his knees beside her. “Your head.”

“Dear God,” Luke muttered from the threshold
as he arrived at the scene.

“Papa?” Ben said from the corridor.

“You don’t want him to see this, Luke,” Fin
said quickly.

“No, I don’t,” his friend replied, stepping
out into the corridor. “Come on, Benton, I’ll take you to Mama for
a while.”

“But I want milk,” Ben said, his voice
getting softer as Luke must have ushered the child away.

Fin turned his attention back to Lissy. Tears
streamed down her face and she couldn’t seem to keep from
shivering. He pulled her into his embrace, holding her against him
with his good arm. She trembled and cried and Fin just held her. At
least Aaron Pierce couldn’t torment her any longer.

He glanced over at the man’s lifeless form on
the bed. There was a hole where his neck used to be, but…Fin stared
harder at the man. He knew that face. He’d seen it somewhere
before, he was quite certain. But where?

And then it hit him.

The coaching inn. Pierce had been at the
table next to Staveley’s and could have easily overheard their
conversation. Then the man had followed Staveley up the stairs.
Damn it all. That did not bode well at all, and dread settled in
Fin’s belly, though he kept his fears to himself. Lissy was in no
condition to hear them now.

He held her tighter and whispered in her ear.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. Everything is going to be all
right.”

Lissy blinked her eyes open, finding the
chambers filled with light. Her lids heavy, she closed her eyes
once more and would have been perfectly happy to drift back to
sleep.

But her sister’s voice from just a few feet
away pushed through Lissy’s foggy brain. “Finally awake?”

“My head,” Lissy groaned. Why was opening her
eyes so difficult?

Her bed dipped as Juliet sat on the edge of
it and took Lissy’s had in hers. “Doctor Perkins gave you some
laudanum. Do you remember?”

Lissy slowly opened her eyes to meet her
sister’s concerned expression and wished the fog in her brain would
lift as well…And then it began to recede.

She gasped as memories began to flood her
mind, and she wished that she could forget everything.

Aaron.

Fin.

He’d been stabbed, hadn’t he? In their
struggle? “Fin!” She bolted up and realized she wasn’t in her
chambers. She was in Georgie’s old set of rooms.

“He’s fine,” Juliet assured her. “Though
he’ll be put out with me that I didn’t rush to retrieve him as soon
as you woke. He’s been sitting vigil here all night long until I
made him leave a little while ago.”

“He’s fine?” Lissy’s pulse began to slow to
its usual rhythm again. “But he was injured. I heard him
scream.”

Her sister nodded slowly. “Doctor Perkins
sewed him up in the middle of the night, right after he gave you a
dose of laudanum.”

Why did she need laudanum? Was she sick?
Feverish? “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing.” Juliet smiled and squeezed Lissy’s
hand. “Well, other than jumping feet first into things without
thinking everything through.” She shook her head. “You were shaking
so badly last night, you couldn’t even talk. He thought it would
bring you some rest and some needed peace. I hope he was
right.”

Lissy did remember the tremors that had
racked her body. She remembered the fear that had spread through
her like wildfire when she realized Aaron was in her chambers. She
remembered the terror that took root in her soul when she realized
he meant to kill Fin. She remembered pulling the trigger of Luke’s
pistol. And she remembered Fin wrapping his arms around her a few
moments later. He couldn’t be injured too badly with that being the
case. Still… “I’m not sure if peace will ever find me.”

Juliet heaved a sigh. “Time will help.
Sometimes it’s the only thing that will.”

Time. There would never be enough time in the
world to erase last night or Lissy’s culpability. “I’m so sorry,
Jules. I’m so sorry about everything. If I could do things
over…”

“We’d all make different choices if we could
do things over,” her sister replied evenly. “But you can’t go back.
You can only ever move forward.” Then she moved closer to Lissy and
wrapped her arms around her in a very motherly fashion, the way
Georgie used to. “You are free now, sweetheart. Free to start over.
Free to do things differently this time.”

But Lissy wasn’t certain that was the case.
“I killed him last night, didn’t I?” she asked, just to make
certain. With as horrifying as the previous night was, she needed
to make sure she wouldn’t ever have to face Aaron Pierce again.

Juliet pulled back from her slightly. “You
did.”

“So I’ll have to face a trial.” Lissy winced
at the idea of baring her soul in an open courtroom. How would she
ever be able to do so? She hadn’t even told Fin or Juliet all of
it. But a room full of strange men?

“Sir Nigel isn’t charging you,” her sister
softly interrupted her thoughts. “He never would have, as you were
clearly defending yourself and Fin, but when he realized Captain
Pierce had murdered Charles Mycroft last night to gain entrance…”
her voice drifted off.

Sir Nigel’s eldest son? “Oh no!” A sob was
wrenched from Lissy’s soul and she fell back onto the bed, staring
up at the ceiling above, the weight of her guilt weighing down on
her.

Juliet fell into place beside her, grasping
Lissy’s hand. “Oh, sweetheart.”

“It’s all my fault,” Lissy said through her
tears. Charles Mycroft would still be alive right now if it wasn’t
for her. No amount of time in the world would ever bring the man
back to his father and brothers.

“It’s not your fault at all. Pierce’s actions
were his alone, Lissy.”

But she shook her head. “He came here because
of me. I put all of you in danger. You, Luke, Ben…” Oh, good
heavens! Ben! Had he been in her chambers the night before? She
seemed to remember he was there. “Oh, Jules, did Ben…?”

“Ben is fine. He’s safe.”

“But did he see anything?” Lissy would never
forgive herself if that sweet little boy was plagued with those
awful images for the rest of his life.

“He didn’t see a thing. Luke brought him to
me, and he stayed with me through the night.”

Thank heavens. Lissy closed her eyes and
wrapped her arms about her middle. “He could have been hurt. You
could have been hurt.”

“And you
were
hurt, Lissy,” Juliet
said softly. “You were hurt for a very long time and you certainly
didn’t deserve such treatment at his hands.”

“I chose to marry him. I—”

“You were too young to make such a decision.
He took advantage of your age, and naivety, and the fact that you
didn’t have a guardian looking out for your best interests. It is
not your fault. You didn’t make him the man he was. You didn’t make
him do the things he did. You fell in love with the image he
presented to you. It’s not your fault he wasn’t who he pretended to
be.”

How could Juliet so easily forgive all of
Lissy’s sins? Lissy couldn’t do the same. Her conscience wouldn’t
allow it. Charles Mycroft was dead. Fin had been injured. And the
rest of Prestwick Chase had been put in danger all because of her.
She wasn’t blameless and Lissy’s guilt couldn’t be wiped clean with
just a few words. “I should have been smarter. I should have
realized he wasn’t who he seemed. I—”

“You were
fifteen
, Felicity. And
barely that,” Juliet stressed. “You are not to blame and that’s the
end of it.”

A mirthless laugh escaped Lissy. “You may be
more stubborn than me.”

At that, Julie laughed in earnest. “Are you
just now realizing that? You should have asked Luke, he’d have told
you.”

“Well, Fin might disagree with him.” Fin.
Lissy had the overwhelming need to see him just then. “You promise
he’s all right?”

Her sister nodded. “The dagger went through
Fin’s shoulder. As long as infection doesn’t set in, he’ll be
fine.”

“I need to see him.”

“I imagine you do.” Juliet squeezed Lissy’s
hand once more. “He loves you, Lissy. Injured, he sat vigil at your
side all night as though he was afraid you might disappear if he
looked away.

Fin’s entire right arm throbbed, from his
shoulder right on down to his wrist. Of course, Doctor Perkins said
it would be that way for a while since his muscle in his arm had
been sliced open. He lifted a coffee cup to his lips with his left
hand, which did feel a little awkward, but he’d make do.

“Sir Nigel just left,” Luke said as he
entered the breakfast room.

The poor man had been more than
grief-stricken all night after the loss of his eldest heir. But he
hadn’t returned home until he’d removed Charles Mycroft and Aaron
Pierce’s bodies from Prestwick Chase. “Something has been worrying
me all night, Luke,” Fin said, lowering his coffee cup back to the
table.

“Just one thing?” The man dropped wearily
into a chair across from Fin, looking much older than his
thirty-seven years.

“Staveley,” Fin replied. “I saw Pierce at
that coaching inn in Northamptonshire. Didn’t know who he was at
the time, of course. But I’m fairly certain he overheard what
Staveley told me that night. And if I was a betting man, I’d wager
he’s responsible for whatever has delayed your brother-in-law’s
arrival.”