Wicked Proposition

**~ ~ ~ **

Smashwords Edition

Copyright by Karolyn Cairns 2012

~ ~ ~****~ ~ ~

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the staff at Smashwords
for their tireless efforts to promote authors. I would also like to
thank my family for their continued support and encouragement for
my pursuits in writing.

~ ~ ~****~ ~ ~

This book is dedicated to my mother Sharon,
an avid reader and my biggest fan.

~ ~ ~****~ ~ ~

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
you’re reading this book and didn’t purchase it, or it wasn’t
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

Ireland 1799

“Do ye love me, Lilly?” Brian rolled atop the
beautiful blonde woman amid the hay pile. He smiled down at her
adoringly. Dark blue eyes stared up at him in sudden annoyance.
Brian O’Neil was ruggedly handsome. His hard muscled body pressed
her down in the hay. Lilly was encouraged to linger with him
longer. Reality intruded, however, and made her decision to return
to the hall.

Reality came in the form of a stepmother. The
lady prowled the manor in search of her errant stepdaughter. Lilly
looked forward to another rousing argument with her father’s wife.
It was the highlight of her day, annoying her stepmother.

Lilly saw the vicar’s tearful wife leaving
earlier. It was right after the day’s services. Knowing the exact
cause of Mrs. Donnelly’s woes, Lilly snuck to the stable. She
sought out Brian to delay the wrath that was sure to follow Mrs.
Donnely’s telling on her.

Brian frowned as Lilly pushed away from him. She
straightened her skirts. Avoiding his gaze, she plucked hay from
her mussed white-blonde hair. Brian scowled and fell back onto the
hay pile with a curse.

“Ye can’t say the words, can ye?”

Lilly flicked him a bored look, ignoring him to
repair her appearance.

Brian’s handsome face contorted in anger. ”I
thought I could go along with this farce. I thought ye loved me,
but ye don’t. Ye were just using me.”

“Brian, don’t be an idiot! We can’t be together
like that. I’m to be married,” Lilly said coolly and shrugged. “Do
not pretend this is more than it is.”

“What will you tell His-Fancy-Pants-Lordship
when he discovers his bride is no virgin?” Brian flung, hurt in his
eyes.

“If he’s as observant as you, nothing,” Lilly
admitted, smirking in delight. “Let us not part this way. My
marriage need not concern you.”

Lilly wearied of Brian O’Neil’s sickly
proclamations of love. The stable hand on her father’s estate was
only one of her many lovers. If not for the size of his most
pleasing asset, she would have grown bored with him long before
now. Brian became demanding since the betrothal announcement.

The stable hand pressured her to go to her
father and refuse the match. His cloying insistence was amusing at
first. Lilly enjoyed it for a time. Now, he just annoyed her. Lilly
could hardly wait to marry the Earl of Iverleigh. Nothing would
hinder her plans. She stood, brushing out her skirts.

“Stay here and marry me, Lilly,” Brian insisted,
his heart in his gaze. “Do not do this. Go to your father. He isn’t
a cruel man to force you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I must marry someone of my
class, Brian,” Lilly said harshly, laughing at his anguished look.
“You did not really think I would wed a stable boy, did you? My,
you are more dull-witted than I thought.”

Brian O’Neil realized his mother was right. He
was just a fine stud in her father’s stable. His mother warned him
to stay away from Dunleavy’s daughter.

Brian heard of her reputation in the village,
but refused to believe the tales. He had thought he was different
from her other lovers. Sadly, he was not.

“Go then, my fine lady,” he replied coldly, his
hurt reflected in his brown eyes. “What will ye do if ye carry my
bastard, Lilly? We have done nothing to prevent it this time.”

“The same thing I did before, Brian,” she
informed him sweetly, her blue eyes glittering in spite. “I will
just get rid of it.”

Brian felt his heart plummet. He was sickened to
think of her seeking the old crone in the village for such a
purpose.

“You are an evil wench, Lilly,” he raged, face
etched in pain. “I pity your future husband enough to warn
him!”

“Pity him if you wish, but do you a favor and
say nothing,” she warned, eyes narrowing. “Recall the last one who
held your position?”

Brian tensed. Everyone questioned Rory O’Brien’s
sudden leaving. Lilly had the same hold over him. One hint of this
to her father and he would be dismissed.

“Go with my blessing!” Brian fumed to know he
could say nothing. “Your secret is safe, Lady Fancy-Pants! But mark
me well, one day you will pay for all that you have done.”

Lilly shrugged away his dire predictions. She
had already found a replacement for Brian. The handsome vicar was
far less pious in the pews. Lilly recalled Vicar Donnelly’s wife’s
horror with amusement. She could envision the look on her
Stepmother’s face when Mrs. Donnelly told her tales. Her eyes
gleamed with relish.

Lilly took the ladder to the stable below. She
dusted her skirts, and heard a noise nearby. Lilly looked about.
Behind a stall, she found her eight year-old half sister hiding.
Lilly grabbed the little girl by her dark braid and yanked her out.
Cruel fingers dug into the girl’s ear.

“You are spying on me again! You miserable
little bitch!” Lilly cried, twisting her ear. “If you tell anyone,
I will make you regret you were ever born!” She pinched the tender
ear for good measure.

The child cried out, flailing to get away.

“Leave her alone, Lilly!” Brian said harshly,
coming to the child’s rescue.

Lilly shoved her little Sister away. She
regarded her lover in disgust, stalking from the stable without a
word.

Lady Catherine Dunleavy lay sobbing. A hand
gently pulled her up. She blinked up at Brian O’Neil, tears
streaming. He wiped her dirt-streaked face in compassion.

“I wasn’t spying!” Cat cried. Her bright green
eyes sparked with defiance. She rubbed her smarting ear. “Papa
promised me a pony.”

Cat continued to sob, looking down at her
stained dress. Her mother would be furious.

“Pay her no mind, Lady Cat,” Brian said as he
tweaked her braid. “She will be gone soon enough.”

Cat smiled at his words. Lilly would no longer
be able to hurt her anymore. Her older sister was leaving to marry
a peer in England. Cat never told her mother of the abuse she
suffered at Lilly’s hands, fearing she wouldn’t be believed.

“I will keep watch for your wee pony, child,”
Brian whispered. He winked down at and returned to his labors.

Cat returned to the Hall. She snuck up to the
nursery to ogle her new brother. Her brother’s nurse dozed on a
nearby pallet. She eased him out of his cradle, cuddling him close.
Cat cringed as Jaime let out a wail, alerting the nurse. Nanny
clucked sternly as she rose. Her kind eyes betrayed her.

“Lady Cat, you’re going to spoil the wee little
Lord, ye are,” Nanny grumbled as she ambled over to take the
baby.

“Can I hold him, please?” Cat asked, looking
hopeful.

“He’s too small yet,” Nanny protested. “He ain’t
a doll or a puppy, missy! Hand him over!”

“He’s my lord brother. And I adore him!” Cat
proclaimed, beaming proudly. “He’s better than a doll…but just like
a puppy, I fear,” the girl said, grimacing to see the front of her
dress was now soaked.

“Your Mother has been looking for you, missy!
Now give over the little lord so I can change his nappy,” Nanny
ordered, eyes twinkling.

Cat handed over her brother and left the nursery
at a dead run. The Countess of Dunleavy wasn’t to be ignored. Her
mother tolerated no deviations from propriety. Cat knew her mother
despaired over her. She had no time to change her soiled dress.

One look over the rail told her none but the
butler, Winthrop was about in the foyer below. Cat took to the
steps, and slid the rest of the way down on the polished mahogany
banister.

Cat giggled at the threatening look she received
from the Winthrop. She entered her mother’s elegant salon and found
it empty. Cat tiptoed down the hallway, pausing at the study door.
Her parents argued within. The source of their quarrel was always
her older sister. Lilly seemed to enjoy causing strife with her
stepmother. Today was no exception. Huddling close to the door, she
listened to the angry words exchanged within.

“I want her gone, James!” her mother’s outraged
voice cried. “I won’t abide her under this roof one more night, by
God! I shall thrash the chit myself! The vicar’s wife is outraged!
It is not every day that good woman catches her husband receiving
fellatio in a church pew!”

Cat heard her father’s harsh intake of
breath.

“She leaves in a fortnight, Brionne,” James
Dunleavy replied wearily. “What would you have me do?”

“You sit on your hands! The girl flaunts her
scandalous behavior! You should have taken her in hand years ago.
Now it is too late!” Brionne accused sharply.

“She is leaving tomorrow,” James was heard to
say consolingly. “Lilly is the Englishman’s problem now. She will
mind her ways once she is his wife.”

Cat heard her mother’s snort of derision through
the door. She knew that tone well. Her mother only spoke her
mind.

“Edward had no right to do this! You should have
refused him. You do Iverleigh no service at all in this, Jamie.
Mark my words, you will rue the day you agreed to this,” her Mother
predicted harshly. “You only solve one problem by creating
another!”

“It is done, wife! Let it be for once!” James
snapped in response. “It solves the problem!”

“What of our daughter, James? You traded
Catherine’s future without a thought to her!”

“You worry overmuch, wife!” James replied
furiously. “You wanted Lillianne gone! This is the means! Edward
did this for Mary’s sake! I grow weary of this talk. Catherine is
yet a child. She has years before she needs to think of
marriage.”

“You don’t worry enough, Jamie,” Brionne
countered sharply. “Thornton has abused his authority again! You
should dismiss him at once!”

“Edward had his reasons…,” James began, but
trailed off and didn’t mention them. “There are matters you don’t
know of. He acted as a kindness here. I cannot fault him for
this.”

“You had better hope Iverleigh doesn’t discover
the truth, Jamie,” Brionne replied harshly. “He will not take
kindly to what you have done, saddling him with such a spoiled
bride!”

“By then, perhaps the man will love her and not
care,” James was heard to muse. “We can only hope for the best, my
love.”

Cat crept away from the door. She was confused.
Nothing they said made sense to her. Shrugging, she ran back up to
the nursery.

Cat watched the next morning as Lilly departed.
Her mother obviously won the argument with her father. They stayed
in the study arguing for hours that day. The Countess stormed out
and retired to her room, locking the door behind her. James
Dunleavy spent another uncomfortable night on the settee. A truce
was finally reached by first light.

Lilly wore her best traveling costume. She
appeared composed and serene. Her trunks were loaded onto the coach
bound for Dublin. Inwardly, she broiled with rage. Her stepmother
had found the means to be rid of her, and sooner than what was
planned. Lilly would reside at a nunnery until her ship’s
departure.

The Reverend Mother had been a dear friend of
the late Lady Mary, and agreed to keep her daughter under lock and
key. Lilly gritted her teeth. She should be sinning with the
handsome vicar, enjoying her short-lived freedom until her
marriage. It was not to be.

Lilly had little cause to wonder why she left
today. Her blame shifted and focused on Catherine. The little girl
shivered in fear as she met her Sister’s fierce look, standing
close to her parents in the courtyard.

There was little emotion exchanged between James
Dunleavy and his eldest daughter. Lilly was stiff as he hugged her
goodbye. Their father’s features were set in stone. He looked down
at his eldest in regret, before turning away.

James did not see the fury in his daughter’s
eyes. He retreated to the stone steps to stand with his wife. Lilly
looked back at them all only once as the footman helped her board
the coach. Her look of pure hatred was unmistakable.