Anne Stuart (15 page)

She felt eyes on the back of her naked shoulders and shivered, without turning. Presumably it was Killoran, and she had nothing new to fear. But a strange tightening in the pit of her stomach warned her, and she slowly turned her head.

It was the drunken dandy in puce, watching her. She wondered for a moment why she had ever thought him comical. The extravagance of his clothes was pure foppery, but there was nothing foppish about his small, blue eyes or the twist to his thick lips. “I assume this is a trap,” he muttered, coming toward her.

“
I beg your pardon?”

“
He wouldn’t just leave you alone like this, not when he’s brought you here on purpose to waft under my nose like the scent of a bitch in heat. He knows me well enough, damn him.”

“
What?”

“
Then again, he’s not the man to hurry things. Where is your brother?”

“
He’s not my brother,” she said instantly.

Darnley shrugged, moving closer. “I doubted that he was, but it matters not to me. If he were, it would only add spice to the game.”

“
What game?”

Darnley had come up to her. He smelled of wine and a rich, heavy perfume. “An innocent, are you?” he muttered under his breath. “He brought you here for me, you know.”

Emma stared at him, willing her face to be perfectly expressionless. For all she knew, Darnley could be telling the truth. Killoran’s motives were mysterious in the extreme, and he had already admitted interest in Darnley’s reaction to her.

“
Excuse me,” she said, trying to move past him.

He was very fast for a drunk, and vicious. He caught her, pushing her, and a moment later he’d tumbled her into darkness. She heard the slam of the door as he shoved her up against a wall. His mouth was wet against her neck, his hands pawing at her breasts, and she felt a sharp pain as he yanked at the diamond collar. She fought him instinctively, but this was no callow boy, no lust-crazed old man. She fought
him, scratching, clawing kicking at him, but he was too strong.

The diamond necklace broke, tearing against her skin, and in the back of her mind she heard the rattle as it fell to the floor. But Darnley had no interest in diamonds. He was pulling at her hair, moaning, and his body was pushing at her, pushing at her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

A sudden light pierced the darkness, blinding her. A moment later the weight was plucked off her, and she was back against the wall, feeling like a cornered animal, panting, panicked.

Darnley lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, dazed, staring up at his nemesis. Killoran shook out the lace from his sleeves with a careless, elegant gesture and glanced down at the man. “You’re lucky I arrived, Darnley,” he said in a smooth voice. “Emma has an uncertain temper, and she doesn’t care to be mauled. I may very well have saved your life.”

Darnley tried to sit up and failed. “It was a trap,” he said through his bloody mouth. “I knew it.”

“
Then why, dear fellow, did you fall for it?” Killoran asked gently. “With you so lately risen from your sickbed?” He stepped over the man’s fallen body, moving to Emma’s side. She glared up at him, still trying to catch her breath in the shadowy room. “Well done, my dear.”

If she had a weapon she would have killed him without hesitation. As it was, she could just
stare at him with hatred in her eyes knowing he couldn’t see her expression in the darkness.

She knelt and scooped up the fallen diamond collar. She had no idea whether any of the stones were missing, but she wasn’t about to institute a search. She wanted to get away from the man lying there on the floor, staring at her with equal parts hatred and lust, and from the man beside her, who doubtless felt a cool satisfaction that she’d danced to his tune.

She tried to slip past him, but he took her arm, and her efforts to yank herself free were a waste. He paused at the doorway, looking back at Darnley.

“
You can’t have her, Darnley,” he said in the gentlest of voices. “And if you touch her again, I’ll kill you.”

She waited until they were out in the carriage, her cloak pulled around her, the diamond necklace held tightly in her hand. Killoran leaned back, seemingly prepared to ignore her, and Emma’s rage, already simmering, burst forth.

“
That’s what you want, isn’t it?” she cried. “To kill him?”

He glanced at her. In the murky shadow of the carriage lamp he looked cool and distant, but then, he looked the same in the full light of day. “Indeed,” he drawled.

“
They why don’t you just do it? Why drag me into it?”

“
Because a simple death would be boring. Darnley is, after all, an English peer. He
deserves a more spectacular demise. I want to prolong it, make it something exquisite. I want him to die knowing it was his own lust and uncontrollable desire that killed him.”

“
Is that where I come in?”

“
As I said, he has a weakness for women with red hair.”

“
What about you?”

“
Oh, I have no weakness at all where women are concerned.”

“
Why do you want to kill him?”

“
Any number of reasons,” he said gently, and in the darkness his eyes narrowed, watching her. “Our enmity is of long standing. I believe it started with a disagreement over my courting of his sister. He didn’t approve of a penniless Irish peer aspiring to Maude Darnley’s hand. He made that more than clear. In turn, I expressed my disinterest in his approval. Things went from bad to worse.”

“
How long ago was this?”

“
Oh, nearly ten years ago. I’ve been biding my time. We’ve had our little set-tos in the succeeding years, including one just a few short months ago that left Darnley bedridden for a deliciously lengthy period of time. I probably would have let him worry for another year or so, but you so fortuitously dropped into my lap. The perfect tool.”

“
How gratifying,” she said.

He laughed. “I’d be half tempted to lock the two of you in a room and see who emerged the victor. I’m afraid that Darnley is too much for even such a vixen as you. But you’ll do very
well. He won’t be able to keep away from you. The fact that he believes you’re my sister only makes it more intriguing.”

“
And what happened to his sister?”

“
Oh, she died’ he said, his voice devoid of feeling. “It was rumored that she died in childbed, but since she hadn’t yet married the wealthy British peer she’d become engaged to, no one admitted the truth of it. It could be that she took her own life.”

“
Did you love her?”

Killoran’s expression was pitying. “Trust me, child, I’ve never wasted a moment of my time on such a maudlin emotion. I desired Maude Darnley. I desired her for her perfect English breeding and her perfect white body. I desired her for her passionate nature and her flame-colored hair. But I didn’t love her.”

“
Was it your child she was carrying when she died?” Emma couldn’t really believe she had the temerity to ask him that question. The night had been long and filled with shocks, her neck felt raw where Darnley had ripped the necklace from her, and she was cold, angry, and oddly near tears. She wanted someone to put his arms around her and comfort her. And yet, strangely enough, she wanted to put her arms around Killoran and press his head against her breast.

“
You do have the most astonishing audacity,” he said. “That’s one of the many things I find irresistible about you.”

“
You don’t find me irresistible,” she said in a low voice. “Thank God.”

He reached out and took her hand in his. It was the fist holding the broken necklace, and he opened her fingers with no effort, staring at the jewels. “You didn’t care for the diamonds?” he asked, and there was no way she could fathom the expression in his voice.

“
It broke.” She dumped the necklace into his hands, backing away from him in the cozy interior of the carriage.

“
Unlikely, my dear. I do not buy my women shoddy jewelry.”

“
I’m not your woman…”

“
It doesn’t matter,” he said, leaning back, allowing her to escape. “We’ll simply replace it. It wouldn’t do to have Darnley think I wasn’t properly appreciating you.”

“
I won’t be a party to this.”

“
You have little choice, Emma.” There was sudden steel in his voice. “You can live a life of comfort and ease, with nothing asked of you but your cooperation, or you can be out on the streets and dead within a matter of weeks, perhaps even hours.”

“
What if I choose the streets?”

“
I doubt I’d let you go.”

“
You said I had a choice.”

“
I lied.”

She stared at him, mute, furious. The carriage had come to a stop, and already the coachman had opened the door. It had begun to snow again, and the air was very cold.

“
Why do you have to kill him?”

“
I don’t need to explain myself to you, child.”

“
Why do you want to kill him?” she persisted, ignoring the coachman’s white-gloved hand, staring at Killoran in the darkness.

Killoran sighed with exaggerated weariness. “Because it wasn’t my child Maude was carrying when she died,” he said sweetly.

“
Then whose was it?”

“
Her brother’s,” said Killoran. And he moved past her, out of the carriage, leaving her sick with shock.

When Killoran strolled into the library that night, he almost strolled right out again. Nathaniel was waiting for him, a judgmental expression on his handsome face. “You can’t do this, Killoran” he announced.

“
Don’t be absurd, Nathaniel. I can do anything I please. What are you racketing on about this time?”

“
You can’t foist Emma off on society as your sister. You can’t take her to a place like the Darnleys’ and fondle her like some incestuous...”

“
My, my,” Killoran murmured. “Word does travel fast. And you weren’t even in attendance. How very gratifying. And since you’ve obviously lain in wait to give me a piece of your mind, you must enlighten me.”

“
You can’t continue with this disgusting charade.”

“
Why not?”

The simple question stalled Nathaniel for a moment, and Killoran went back to contemplating his snifter of cognac. He drank too much. His mother had warned him about the evils of too much drink, but she was gone, along with his father, and there was little that made life endurable. Large amounts of brandy were one of the few things that hadn’t palled. And even that was losing its effect.

“
Because it’s... it’s not done.”

“
You’re presuming to lecture me about the ways of society, dear boy?” Killoran drawled. “You’ve learned such a great deal in the past weeks?”

“
Damn it, you can’t just introduce a mysterious young lady as your sister. You have no idea who she really is, where she comes from.”

“
Nathaniel,” his host said wearily, “I can do anything I please. I thought you were fond of my young guest.”

“
Too fond of her to see her become a victim to your games.”

“
You are all victims to my games,” Killoran replied. “As for society, it’s like a huge, voracious monster, feeding on gossip. The appearance of Emma has simply provided more fodder for its insatiable appetite.”

“
Let her go, Killoran.”

Killoran favored him with a deceptively pleasant smile. The one calculated to strike terror into innocent hearts. As usual, it worked. Nathaniel whitened.

“
I have no intention of letting her go anywhere. May I remind you, Nathaniel, that you are here as my guest. I’ve had no difficulty with your keeping Emma company, but there it will
end. You may throw yourself at Lady Barbara’s feet all you want, but you will keep your hands and your noble motives away from Emma. Is that understood?”

“
I don’t understand...”

“
Then let me make it a bit clearer. Lady Barbara is fair game. You’re obviously besotted with her, and for some reason, she’s been extremely patient with you. If you need to rescue a fallen damsel, concentrate on Babs. She should provide a suitable challenge for you.”

“
I
ought to black your eye.”

“
You wouldn’t get very far in the attempt,” Killoran murmured. “Take your pick, Nathaniel. Who do you want to rescue? Who would you rather have be the object of my dangerous attentions? The unknown Miss Brown? Or Lady Barbara? It’s your sacrifice.”

Ah, he was a very bad man indeed. Nathaniel looked ready to explode in rage and frustration. He could consign neither woman to Killoran’s careless regard, so he simply stood there, fuming.

Killoran drained his cognac, refilled the snifter, and poured one for Nathaniel. “Don’t waste your emotions, my boy,” he said, putting the glass in Nathaniel’s unwilling hand. “In six months neither of them will matter in the slightest.”

Nathaniel looked at him, his big hand closing around the crystal. “I don’t know who I pity more,” he said slowly.

“
Pity neither of them. Babs is doing her best to go to hell, and she’s making a competent job
of it. Miss Brown, on the other hand, will depart this house with sufficient money to keep her quite happily until she finds some young fool to marry her. Neither of them deserves your pity.”

“
No,” said Nathaniel. “It’s you whom I pity.”

Killoran was momentarily startled. “Dear me,” he said faintly. “Maybe I will have to kill you, after all.”