Wicked Deception (49 page)

He wanted her for himself, he knew. He
had done the unthinkable and had fallen in love with Nicky’s wife.
His friend would roll over in his grave to know he protected his
wife in her bed. A grimace passed over his face to realize he
didn’t care. He burned for her with a passion he could not
control.

She inspired him. For the first time in
months he was writing music again. Catherine filled his heart now.
He was a fool to think he was stronger than Iverleigh and Nicky. He
thought he could enjoy Catherine at his leisure and not get tripped
up in the emotions she created within him. He was the moth to her
flame. Even now with her snuggled to his side in exhausted slumber,
he wanted to wake her and make her his once more.

It could not be; as sweet as it was.
Tortured thoughts of what he would be denied when she left caused
him to frown and slip from her bed. He dressed and left as quietly
as he always came, knowing he would come back.

~ ~ ~

Tieghan watched in the darkness as
Tulley doused the candle in the window, signaling he was going to
bed. He watched the front of the house; Dane and Thor were at the
back. Gareth and Eric were inside. Thane was with Nicholas watching
Gabriel’s residence this night. Tieghan knew she would come. He was
glad his friend wasn’t here.

He never killed a woman before but this
one was different. She made a misery of so many lives. He would
take great pleasure in putting her down like an animal and save
Nicholas the trouble. He and the brothers were taking no chances
Nicholas weakened once more and let her go.

Thor was tired of the game and eager to
go home. The Van Ryker wives were growing more unruly as each day
passed, and the secrecy was damaging their relationships. Catherine
was due to sail in mere weeks. Tieghan was determined he would be
the one to catch Lilly. He knew she would be here one night. Elise
walked in front of the window again, disguised as
Catherine.

He watched as a cloaked figure moved
down the walk, staying within the shadows and smiled grimly. It was
her. He felt it as the hair stood up on his neck, as it had every
time he found her within Nicholas’s house years before.

He withdrew the knife and waited,
breathing harshly as he watched the figure stop and look furtively
about. The quiet residential district was modest and there was
little if any traffic this late in the evening. It was well past
midnight. He knew as he watched her sneak into the gate that it was
time to engage her.

~ ~ ~

Lilly was nearly crowing with delight
at how easy it was to discover Catherine’s hiding place. She hadn’t
dared follow the coach when she picked up her child weeks before,
knowing the coach’s progress was watched by many, anticipating she
would do so.

She merely had to follow the nanny as
she hailed a hack, and found the Tulley residence at last. She
sighed as she moved around the front of the small house, knowing
she could get in through the window there. She chuckled as she
thought of the many nights she watched her sister through this
window, seeing her with her children, and eagerly looked forward to
killing her.

She knew which room was Catherine’s, as
she crept inside the day before when everyone was gone to
investigate the interior. One bullet into her lying, faithless
little heart, and it was finally over.

She opened the window slowly, careful
to make no noise. She was just about to lift her leg up and slide
over the ledge when she felt cold steel at her throat. She
stiffened as she looked up and saw Tieghan looming over her, having
arrived upon silent footsteps until he had her up against the side
of the house.

She cursed him and called him filthy
names as he easily dragged her from the window, pleased as he
pulled her away she had not woken the household with her colorful
litany of phrases. He was grim as he forced her across the street
where a coach waited. She was glaring and snarling at him. He
smiled coldly.

“
You will never get the
chance to harm my friends again, Lady Iverleigh,” he growled
coldly, his pale eyes narrowing as he looked down at her, seeing
her blue eyes widen in horror at his words. She scoffed at him,
determined to bargain with him, even now that she was
caught.

“
Let me go and I will see
you richly rewarded for your efforts,” she promised, still under
the assumption he was Nicholas’s servant. “I can pay you ten times
what Nicholas pays you to walk away and let me finish
this.”

“
Nicholas doesn’t pay me,
Lady Iverleigh,” he informed her with a dark frown. “I do what I do
for him for nothing.”

“
Then you’re a fool!” she
raged, livid to have been caught by the giant and determined to
flee, but his hands were like bands of steel upon her. She could
not escape him, and he knew it as he pulled the ropes and bound her
wrists. He tossed the pistol her found in her cloak pocket onto the
cobblestones.

She was cursing again and he glared as
he stuffed a wad of rag into her mouth. He let out a loud whistle
and soon the four brothers arrived, looking relieved as they saw
Tieghan had at last caught Lilly once and for all.

She was placed into the coach. Lilly
could see no mercy in the faces of these men, and knew she would
die. She was furious she had chanced discovery to return to kill
Catherine now, thinking of all the lovely money sitting in Virginia
that would not be hers.

She wondered where Nicholas was as she
struggled against her bonds. Tieghan chuckled as he joined her,
looked down at her knowingly. “The more you struggle, the tighter
they will become, Lady Iverleigh,” he said coldly.”I take no chance
you will get free again.” She knew he meant what he said as the
chafing at her wrists grew to be excruciating the more she pulled
at them.

The coach left the front of the
residence, the four men standing in the street watching. Lilly
edged closer to the door of the coach, mindful the giant thought he
underestimated her desire to live. She gave only one thought as she
wrenched open the door to the moving coach. Before he could snatch
her, she lunged out the door, landing with a thump in the
street.

She gasped from the pain of hitting the
cobblestones on her backside. She was up and running, mindful of
the giant’s pursuit as she heard his shout. She kept running,
darting down darkened alleyways, side burning, but still she
ran.

They would not stop seeking her so she
pressed on, conscious they had tricked her. Her little sister was
used to bait her here tonight. She cackled despite the soreness of
her muscles as she continued to flee.

Finding a broken glass shard in a
filthy alley, she cut and sawed at her bindings until she was free.
She rubbed at her wrists and evaluated her options. Getting back to
her room with five hulking men in pursuit gave her
pause.

They would linger in the area,
searching for her, she knew. Despite the direness of the situation,
she felt a thrill to know she managed to elude capture. A smile
curved her lips. She knew better now than to walk into their trap
again.

Tieghan cursed and shouted above to the
driver. He jumped down and looked up and down the dark street,
knowing she was gone. The Van Ryker brothers ran up and joined him,
cursing losing the countess this night.

“
How did she get away,
Tieghan?” Thor growled as he joined them, looking furious, his face
livid.

“
She jumped from the coach,”
Tieghan told him, glaring at him. “I didn’t anticipate that, tied
as she was.”

Eric and Gareth arrived with Dane
trailing, all looking furious. “What do we tell Nicholas?” Gareth
asked and the group grew silent.

Tieghan scowled, knowing his friend
would be furious to know he had lost Lilly this night. Soon Elise
came outside the Tulley’s house, wearing a black wig and widow’s
weeds. Her hazel eyes filled with disappointment to know they
failed to catch Lillianne St. Armand.

She joined Tieghan on the street as the
brothers ran in all directions to search for the Countess. She
could see Tieghan was livid. They had planned the deception to
every last detail but Lady Iveleigh’s obvious daring. She would not
go meekly that much was obvious.

“
We will find her, Tieghan,”
she told him, eyes worried. “She seeks Catherine. She goes nowhere
until she finishes this. There will be other
opportunities.”

“
What do I tell Nicholas?”
he snapped and ran a hand through his blond hair absently, pale
eyes meeting hers with obvious distress. “We run out of time,
Elise.”

“
She might have gotten away,
but I fooled her to think I was Catherine these past weeks. We can
fool her again. You must be patient,” Elise advised and saw his
face harden in anger.

“
She is far too clever to
fall for this again,” Tieghan predicted as he looked down the dark
street, anguish obvious. “She will be cautious now.”

Elise said nothing as Tieghan left her
to join the others to search for the countess. She walked back into
the Tulley house and removed the wig, rubbing her aching temples.
Dressing up like Catherine these last weeks, reminded her of the
ruse that ended her sister Madeline’s life years ago.

She had a stake in seeing Lady
Iverleigh caught. Because of her, Madeline lay in a cold crypt at
Dunleavy Hall. Tieghan had taken her there months ago when they
reunited, left her alone inside to say goodbye to her older
sister.

A promise was made that night they
snuck into the Dunleavy crypt without alerting the servants there
of their presence. Tieghan left her alone to grieve while he went
to the house to meet the steward and ask for permission to
stay.

Brian O’Neil declared any friend to
Nicholas and Catherine was welcome there. They stayed for weeks
while Tieghan looked into the charges against Elise in Dublin.
Officials were no longer looking for Elise Sinclair or her band of
cons. They were sure she fled the country and were not looking for
her in the matter of Lord and Lady Dunleavy’s murders.

They were satisfied with the English
authorities sharing information that it was Thomas Sullivan who
orchestrated the con to fleece Dunleavy of his fortune. Just
knowing she wasn’t being chased as a fugitive now seemed to make
Elise relax.

Elise promised her sister while they
stayed there that the one responsible for putting her there would
finally pay. For that, she would see this done. Too many had died
and suffered to serve Lady Iverleigh’s purposes these last
years.

“
Where are you hiding, you
murderous bitch?” Elise whispered as she stepped out onto the
porch, eyes watching for the others to return. “We will get you, my
lady. Enjoy your freedom for now.”

~ ~ ~

Catherine napped and awoke with a
smile, seeing the rose upon her pillow, left by the dangerous man
who snuck into her bedchamber each night. She plucked it from the
pillow and sighed, closing her eyes in fond remembrance of the
dizzying passion they shared just hours ago.

Caspian Roth was her lover. The fact
should have shocked her to the core and for the first time in her
life, she embraced the sensuality he unleashed in her. No longer
afraid of what drew her to him, she was adventurous to explore
every sensation, every kiss and caress.

He guarded her in her bed now, much to
his self-disgust. She giggled at his expression of dismay last
night to know he did her no service. He was wary and guarded until
his lips touched hers. She closed her eyes and touched them,
feeling their sensitivity after a night with him.

A woman in her situation should not be
enjoying such wanton frivolity but she couldn’t help herself. She
had never felt so vitally alive since her husband died. For the
first time in months, she looked forward to rising, to breathing,
to seeing a face on the pillow next to hers.

Caspian didn’t make promises or
demands. He gave more than he took. He didn’t ask her to stay and
she didn’t ask him to go with her. Their relationship wasn’t about
a lifetime neither could promise the other. It was about the
moment, taking the passion between them without asking if they
should.

Catherine got up and stretched her nude
body, smiling in delight to feel every delicious ache. It was
nearly noon and she knew guilt to know her sleeping habits were
being questioned by her staff. She slid on her robe, luxuriating in
the way the silk felt against her sensitive skin.

Jenny arrived after a time, knocking
tentatively at the door. It was locked and Catherine let her in.
The maid said nothing as she went about tidying her room. The
sheets were pulled from the bed and Catherine had the grace to
blush, knowing they reeked of sex and the maid knew she had a
lover.

Jenny still grieved for her Tom and
returned to her position when Dartmouth was caught. All her
servants returned now, taking up their positions after the tragedy
that killed their friends and coworkers. A small memorial for her
servants was attended by her and Martha the week before. It was
some consolation to know the man who killed her staff was awaiting
the hangman.