if hes wicked (25 page)

pistol next to Leo.

Before she could try again to talk him out of what he was doing, Julian was swinging himself out of the window. It was a tight fit but that did not slow

him down much. Chloe was terrified for him, afraid she would soon see him fal , but she was given no time to give in to that fear. Leo was shooting and

handing her each empty pistol to reload as fast as possible. The noise made her head hurt and the smel of pistol smoke was choking, but Chloe kept

loading pistols and praying. When the carriage began to move much more smoothly, she nearly fainted from relief.

“Safe?” yel ed Leo.

“Safe enough,” Julian yel ed back. “Todd is bleeding badly but wil be fine if we can get back home. Ah.”

She could hear him and Todd talking although she could not hear what was being said. Chloe could not stop the squeal of surprise that escaped

her when the carriage suddenly took a sharp turn. She barely saved the ammunition for the pistols from spil ing al over the floor. When Leo stuck his head out of the window again, she thought she would scream, fearing she would see him shot right before her eyes. But to her surprise, he turned toward Julian.

“They have fal en back,” he said and pul ed back into the carriage.

A moment later Chloe got up on her knees and could see why the men chasing them had fal en back. They were entering the better sections of

London again, the areas where there were watchmen and far too many people who would not hesitate to tel the authorities what they had seen. Their

pursuers were no longer free to chase and murder someone with no fear of being caught. After another moment she eased her battered body back up

onto the carriage seat, careful to avoid the glass shards scattered over it.

“Wel done, cousin,” Leo said as he col ected the pistols and shot.

“My brothers taught me wel ,” she managed to say.

The moment the carriage pul ed up in front of Julian’s home, Chloe scrambled out. She needed to see that he was unharmed with her own eyes.

He climbed down as Wynn hurried out of the house. Leo moved to help Wynn get Todd back into the house and Chloe threw herself into Julian’s arms. It

was weak and she risked the neighbors seeing the embrace, but she had to hear his heart. It was al that would ease the fear stil clutching her by the

throat.

Julian put his arm around Chloe’s shoulders as the stable hands hurried out to take care of the carriage. Even though she did not ease her hold on

him, he managed to get them both inside the house. He immediately took her to the blue salon where he knew there was some brandy. After forcing her to

take the drink he poured her, he poured himself one. The liquor burned down his throat and soon warmed him enough that he could shake off the chil of

fear.

The only thing he had been able to think of as he had climbed out of the carriage and into the driver’s box was that Chloe was in danger. This time

Arthur and Beatrice had put Chloe in danger. Julian suspected his deep need to get her to safety was why he had managed something that he admitted

scared him half to death. He urged her into a seat and sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding her close.

“I cannot believe you climbed out and up to the driver’s box,” she muttered and took another drink.

“Todd was not going to be able to hold the reins much longer. Someone had to do it,” he said. “I was the one who had done it before.” He laughed

softly. “I had forgotten how damned terrifying it was, too.”

“I am glad I was not alone in being terrified, then.”

Before he could say anything, Leo strode into the room. The man went straight for the brandy and drank nearly half of what he poured himself

before he sat down across from them. He looked more furious than afraid but, in the work he did for the government, perhaps being shot at was not so

unusual.

“How is Todd?” asked Chloe.

“He wil be fine. It is not a mortal wound, just hurts and bled a lot, weakening him,” replied Leo. “How are you, Chloe?”

“I expect I shal have some bruises but no more.”

“I wil admit that this was unexpected. We shal need to take guards with us wherever we go from now on. Whether it is Arthur or Beatrice does not

matter. We can not be caught off guard like that again.”

“Agreed,” said Julian. “Which is why I have just come up with a plan.”

“And this plan is?”

“In two days we leave for Colinsmoor.”

Leo said nothing for a moment and then nodded. “A good plan. There are too many places for your enemies’ hirelings to hide in this city. In the

country any stranger is immediately seen and spoken about. I wil make some plans for the securing of the area,” he said even as he stood up and left the

room.

Chloe looked up at Julian. “Colinsmoor?”

“Yes,” Julian said and kissed the tip of her nose. “We have done al we can here to make life a misery for my enemies. Time to return home.”

“And search for the proof you want?”

“That is certainly one good reason to go there, but it wil also be a great deal safer for you and Anthony. Leo was right about that.”

Chloe touched her snifter to Julian’s and they made a soft chiming sound. “To Colinsmoor. I think I wil enjoy returning to the country.”

“Look! Horse!”

Chloe kept a firm grip on the back of Anthony’s coat to ensure that the boy did not tumble out of the window he was so avidly staring out of. “Aye, it

is a horse.” A hearty stal ion, she thought, and prayed that Anthony did not notice the rather startling appendage on the beast. “Ah, look there, Anthony.

There are some sheep.”

Pleased when the child’s attention was immediately drawn to a smal herd of sheep peaceful y grazing on the hil side, no rude appendages visible,

Chloe sighed and glanced at the two men seated across from her. Both Leo and Julian were grinning like fools. They obviously knew exactly why she had

quickly diverted the child’s attention. Her scowl did nothing to dim their amusement.

“Did you hear anything about where Beatrice and Arthur may have disappeared to before we left town?” she asked.

Julian laughed softly and shook his head, amused by her attempts to ignore a stal ion that had obviously scented a mare in heat, but then he grew

serious. “No. They have gone to ground. If that attack on us was Beatrice’s idea, I believe the next word we have of her wil be that she is”—he glanced at Anthony—“gone. Arthur wil hate having to hide, to stay away from al his usual haunts. He is a man who has a great love for al the pleasures society

offers. I would not be surprised if he has begun to feel that al his grand plans are crumbling about his ears, and he wil be looking for someone to pay for those failures.”

Although Chloe was glad to leave the city, she had to ask, “And you stil believe we should be going to Colinsmoor? You do not think he wil fol ow

us there?”

“He might, but he found us often enough in a crowded city, did he not? At least here in the country he cannot hide so easily. It is too open and too

many would recognize him and send us warning.” He glanced out the window and started to say something about wanting Anthony to come to know his

heritage only to see a group of men preparing to breed a mare with the barely restrained stal ion. “Divert Anthony’s attention again. Quickly.”

“Oh! Cohee, look! More horses!” Anthony reached up to put his little hands over Chloe’s when she covered his eyes. “I cannot see. I wanna see

what the horses were doing.”

“They were wrestling,” Chloe said, removing her hands from his eyes the moment the men and the horses were no longer in view.

“Wrestlin’? Like me and Papa do in the garden?” asked Anthony.

“Uh, nay. The horses were doing a sort of animal wrestling. It is not something people do.”

When Anthony just nodded and returned to looking out the window, Chloe looked at the men. They both had a hand over their mouths and their

shoulders shook with the laughter they valiantly tried to smother.
Men can be such children
, she thought with disgust, and turned her attention back to the same scenery that so fascinated Anthony.

It was beautiful countryside they were passing through, she mused, realizing how little of it she had seen or appreciated when she had been in the

area three years ago. Then suddenly the beauty was gone. She was seeing the city again. When she realized she was staring at Lady Evelyn’s elegant

townhouse, Chloe felt an icy finger scrape down her spine. Then she was inside the house and the vision began to flow past her eyes at an increasing

speed. A blood-soaked settee. A pale hand lying limply on a bed. Items knocked to the floor. A broken vase, its pieces scattered next to the twisted form

of a young woman. When the face of that young woman passed through her mind, Chloe screamed and everything went black.

Strong arms wrapped around her and Chloe began to hear things. Anthony was crying and she could hear Leo trying to calm the child. Julian was

ordering her to open her eyes. Nay, not just her eyes, she mused. Her
damn
eyes. She almost smiled. Then remnants of her vision wafted through her

mind and she gasped even as she opened her eyes. Looking around, she was reassured that she was safe inside the carriage with Anthony, Leo, and

Julian.

“I am fine, Anthony,” she quickly reassured the child. “It was just a bad dream.”

“You scareded me,” Anthony said as he climbed up onto her lap.

“I am sorry, Anthony, but, truly, I am fine. Listen to my heart,” she said quietly as she rubbed his back. It was not until Dilys appeared at the door of

the carriage that Chloe realized their little caravan had stopped. “Oh, I am so sorry. I had not meant to cause so much trouble.”

“Nay, you did not cause trouble,” said Leo. “It never hurts to let the horses pause for a moment now and again.” He leaned forward and ruffled

Anthony’s hair. “Hey-ho, lad, Dilys is here. Why not go with her so that Chloe can rest a bit after having such a bad dream?”

Chloe was reluctant to let the boy leave. It had been a long time since she had held him close as he slept, something she knew he would soon do,

and his weight in her arms was a comfort. After kissing his cheek and reassuring him that she was fine, she handed him into the care of Dilys. She had to

tel the men what she had seen. Although she could not tel them exactly when the danger would strike out at Lady Evelyn and her daughters, she knew the

women needed to be taken out of the city right away. Since the rest of them were traveling to Colinsmoor, she decided that Lady Evelyn and her

daughters would probably be safest with them.

“What did you see?” demanded Leo the moment Dilys and Anthony were gone and the carriage had begun moving again.

“Mayhap it should wait until she is calmer,” said Julian, for he could feel the fine tremors of fear rippling through her body as he held her close.

“Nay, it cannot wait,” Chloe said, and straightened up in her seat, pul ing away from Julian just enough to look straight into his eyes. “I think Arthur

has gone mad. Or it might be Beatrice who has al owed fury to rob her of al reason.”

“Why would you say that?” asked Julian, alarmed by how white she was. He could almost smel her fear.

“You must go and bring your mother and sisters here, Julian. Bring them now. They need to be taken away from London.”

A cold fist tightened around Julian’s heart, and that was when he realized that he believed in Chloe’s gift. He had no doubt in his mind that his

family was in imminent danger. “Tel me what you saw.”

After taking a deep breath to steady herself, Chloe told him everything she had seen and watched al the color drain out of his face. She knew she

would remember other details later, whether she wished to or not, but they could not wait. One thing her vision had made horrifyingly clear was that

someone intended to turn Lady Evelyn’s lovely home into a charnel house.

“An act of blind, mindless fury,” murmured Leo, yanking on the boots he had shed so that he could be more comfortable in the carriage. “This is a

strike at al that you hold dear, Julian.”

“Which means it could be either Arthur or Beatrice. Either is ful y capable of such brutality.” Julian was surprised he could speak so calmly when

everything inside him shook with fear. “Your vision did not happen to show you
when
this would happen, did it?” he asked Chloe who looked as terrified as he felt.

She shook her head. “Only where. Do you think he has heard that he is, more or less, already convicted of murder and treason? That you and Leo

now hunt him and can kil him without fearing punishment?”

“It is quite possible,” replied Leo. “Ready, Julian?”

“Yes. Chloe.” Julian lost the ability to speak when he saw how glassy her eyes had gone. “Another one? S’blood, Leo, can she bear them coming

so often?”

“I have no idea. If it is any comfort, I have never heard of any of our other relatives with such a gift going mad or the like.”

“No, it is not much comfort. Chloe,” he urged when she groaned softly.

Chloe slowly opened her eyes and stared up at Julian’s too pale face. “You must bring your aunt and cousins here, too. Safety in numbers, Lady

Marston said.”

“But Aunt Mildred lives in a direction quite opposite from London, where my mother and sisters are.”

“They are not safe, either. He is clearing the fields. If he cannot have what he wants, no one else wil .”

“I wil go after your aunt and the girls, Julian,” Leo said. “I have men there who can help, and they wil be needed at Colinsmoor.”

“But if we both hie off after the others, that wil leave Chloe and Anthony alone,” Julian said. “He has to be planning to come after them as wel .”

“They wil be guarded and guarded wel . My men have already cleared away the ones who were faithful to your wife and not just terrified into doing