Wicked Proposition (41 page)

A dark figure stole through the alleyway. The
doorway to the rear entrance of the law office was bathed in
shadows. Soon a series of prying tools were applied. The door
opened with a click in under a minute after a series of deft turns
with the tool.

The offices were dark. The figure crept in and
out of each until he found what he sought.

Nicholas muttered a soft curse as he lit the
small taper in his pocket, burning himself. He sucked on his
injured finger as he availed himself of Edward Thornton’s file
cabinet. He knew not what he sought, but reasoned anything damning
could prove useful.

Nicholas picked the lock to his desk and
rummaged through the contents of one drawer after another. He came
up with nothing of interest. He was about to abandon his quest when
he found the false drawer underneath the desk.

His eyes narrowed as he pulled the documents out
of the drawer and found the small leather bound book as well. He
opened the book with interest. The name on the inside cover drew
his eye with sudden awareness.

He had no time to peruse his find as he put the
book in his pocket as well as the documents. He doused the candle
after he was assured he had left the office in the same semblance
of order.

Nicholas frowned grimly as he pulled out the
leather book when his coach was underway. He opened it and looked
at the name written on the inside cover and whistled. Lady Mary
Dunleavy. Was it Catherine’s mother? He wondered as he put the book
back in his pocket.

Nicholas leaned back in the coach. His eyes
glittered to think of how Sullivan would react to find the contents
of the drawer gone. He would become enraged. Enraged men make
mistakes. He was going to be there when he did.

###

Catherine looked down at the diamond
heart-shaped pendant dangling from a chain about her neck. She
smiled as she fingered it with a sigh, popping another chocolate
into her mouth.

The gift had been from Nicholas. He claimed she
already had his heart, but if she needed proof of it, she had
merely to look down at the pendant to remind her. She lay on the
divan in her room resting after her training sessions with Tieghan.
She thought of her husband and sighed again. He had been so tender
of late and thoughtful, bringing her small gifts and sweets
whenever he was out. Catherine didn’t ask him where he had been
last night. She frowned recalling he had joined her in their bed
late in the evening.

Catherine had lain awake for some time, feeling
something was amiss. It wasn’t clearly defined. She sensed the
tension in him and not the cause. He didn’t speak of it. She
worried he was losing interest in her and stared at her growing
abdomen worriedly.

Was he with another woman? The thought made her
pause before she popped another chocolate into her mouth and her
green eyes narrowed in anger. The melting tenderness, the gifts,
the late-night disappearances, and his short responses to her
questions all led her to the same conclusion. He had been with
another woman.

Catherine swung her legs over the side of the
divan and got up. She paced and fretted. She decided she would not
stand for it as some wives did. Tears filled her gaze and she
touched the heart pendant, feeling silly for these thoughts. She
knew Nicholas was keeping secrets from her.

Catherine had never been bothered by it before.
Who had more secrets than she? She chuckled despite herself at
that. With the child coming, she was out of sorts and her emotions
were taut.

Catherine went down to the study to confront him
about his late-night activities and ran into Tieghan on her way
down.

“Where is Nicholas?” she asked casually.

The pale-eyed giant shrugged and eyed her with
that closed expression she had come to despise. She would learn
nothing from Tieghan. He was fully aware of where Nicholas was at
all times. She glared at him, knowing he was not telling her on
purpose. She pouted and returned to her room. She glowered at the
box of chocolates, knowing if she ate the whole box it would not
sweeten her temper.

###

“Lord Iverleigh, Captain Van Ryker has arrived,”
Higgins informed as he entered the dining room where Gabriel was
having breakfast.

Gabriel looked up from the paper and grinned as
Nicholas sauntered into the room. He rose and went to embrace his
friend, clapping him heartily on his back.

His smile of welcome froze as he noted his
friend’s puzzling demeanor. He stood back and eyed him closely.
Nicholas had stiffened and drew away from him, his sky blue eyes
troubled. Gabriel frowned and regarded his friend for some sign of
what troubled him.

“You look as though the ocean has dried up on
you, my friend,” he said with a low laugh, his dark eyes searching
his friends face. He was not amused in the least at his jest. “When
did you get back into town? What the devil is wrong, Nicholas?”

“We must talk, Gabriel,” Nicholas said tensely
and his blue eyes were shuttered as they met dark inquiring ones.
“And you will not like what you are about to hear, Lord
Iverleigh.”

At Nicholas’s use of his formal title he knew
something was definitely amiss. Nicholas had always used his given
name. There had never been any class distinction or pretenses
between them. He gestured to him to follow him to his study and the
sea captain complied.

Gabriel poured him a brandy and Nicholas
declined one. He sat tensely as he waited to find out what was
wrong with his friend. He appeared so out of sorts he was growing
alarmed.

“What is the matter?” Gabriel said in a taut
voice. His instincts told him he was not going to like what he was
about to hear. The stark look of regret on his friend’s face began
to alarm him.

“Catherine is alive,” Nicholas said quietly. He
absorbed Gabriel’s look of shock and then elation. And then he
added in a low voice. “And she is my wife.”

Higgins jumped in the foyer when he heard the
sounds of breaking glass and the shouting. All manner of
obscenities erupted from within the study. Loud thumps and crashing
against the walls was heard. The servants came running as more
glass and shouting ricocheted throughout. Furniture was being
upended and overturned and more sounds of splintering wood and
crashing items reverberated. Finally, there was utter silence.

Higgins was wondering if he should call for the
watchmen after several moments of tense silence prevailed. Then the
shouting continued once more. He sighed with relief. It continued
for better part of a quarter hour. Then, to Higgins surprise the
Earl staggered out into the foyer, looking like he had taken a
horrific beating. He was breathing raggedly and demanded a bottle
of brandy and towels be brought to his study. His employer was
looking so incensed the servants jumped and ran to do his
bidding.

He closed the door and the shouting continued
once again. Several more thumps and a loud groan, and it was
blessedly over.

Nicholas was nursing his broken nose which now
bled profusely. He gazed at the Earl, who was rising from where he
had been tossed over a chair in the corner, looking in no better
shape. Gabriel’s eyes were both swollen and a bleeding gash ran
across his cheek and forehead.

Gabriel’s dark eyes were blazing in fury as they
met his. Nicholas flinched from the look he received. He sat up on
the floor and struggled to remove the remainder of the table that
was broken around him. He realized in disgust his ass was stuck in
the thing. He twisted free and struggled to his feet.

The butler knocked and entered with a tray of
glasses and a bottle. The maid peered around his back with a stack
of towels. She flung them at Higgins. She ran from the room with a
squeak as she viewed the destruction within.

Higgins gave no expression. He assessed the
battered and bloodied men who stood eyeing each other murderously.
Both looked like they were likely to commence to brawling at any
moment.

Higgins had nowhere to place the tray. All the
furniture was either broken or overturned. He set it on the floor
and backed out of the room, with a worried look at the Earl and
shut the door.

Nicholas wiped the blood from his face with the
towel. He flexed his arms and shoulder, wincing as he realized he
had broken several ribs and possibly his hand as well. The Earl
glared at him. He was fuming and looking so betrayed, Nicholas
broiled in guilt. Those dark eyes met his across the room with
simmering rage in them.

He stood and was prepared that Gabriel would
come at him again. Gabriel’s shoulders slumped wearily instead. He
ran a hand through his mussed golden hair, looking defeated and
oddly saddened.

Nicholas felt his dejected expression and
writhed inwardly with the pain he had caused his friend.

“She remembers nothing at all before the
shooting?” Gabriel whispered harshly and limped around the chair to
come forward. “Not a bit of what transpired between us?”

“She remembers nothing. We will likely never
know what happened to her. The doctor said it was quite
permanent.”

Nicholas eyed him warily as he approached. The
Earl sighed and disdained to pour a drink into a glass. Instead he
pulled the cork out of the bottle and drank from it instead,
closing his swollen eyes in dread.

“And she is happy now, you say?” he inquired as
he handed him the bottle, avoiding his gaze as he kicked a piece of
his desk viciously out of his way, gasping as pain shot through his
foot.

Nicholas took the bottle and drank from it. He
poured a bit of the brandy on a towel and handed it to Gabriel. He
accepted it and dabbed at his wounds on his face with a wince.

“I love her, Gabriel. I did not plan this.
Surely you know that much? It just happened,” he said softly.

Nicholas’s blue eyes met Gabriel’s with such
pleading in them for his understanding. Gabriel looked as if he had
been struck again, not wanting to accept what he was hearing.

“She is truly happy. I swear to you of that. I
will devote my life to making her happiness my priority. I did not
want to hurt you. I know this is all very much of a shock.”

“That is putting it rather mildly, wouldn’t you
say?” Gabriel said with a sneer and scornful laugh and kicked at
another piece of his desk. He howled and cursed when shooting pain
shot through his foot once more. “Let us see what is more shocking,
shall we? You marry the woman I love and thought dead. The woman
then turns out to be my dead ward too. Who, as luck would have it,
is also my sister-in-law! She was my mistress for a time and not
worse yet, she is now your wife! How bloody damned shocked can one
get, Nicholas?” he roared sarcastically. “Next you will inform me
she’s having your damned brat, and I’m to be a bloody uncle on top
of it all!”

At his friend’s suddenly sheepish look Gabriel
stiffened. He looked like he wanted to thrash him again as he
staggered back, looking ill at this last admission.

“I guess it would seem congratulations are in
order,” he snarled irately and tipped the bottle back and handed it
to Nicholas who drank from it and looked away somberly.

“Bloody hell! What a damned mess! I need another
bottle!” Gabriel turned and shouted for Higgins, who arrived with
another bottle automatically.

The man looked worriedly between the pair before
he left again. The silence between them was awkward and
uncomfortable. Gabriel’s eyes glittered with anger. He surveyed the
damage to his study with a baleful glance at Nicholas, who remained
deathly silent.

“You realize I am her guardian? She is not of
age. She is only twenty and needs my permission to wed. I could
have this marriage annulled if I chose to.” Gabriel flung the
threat with deadly accuracy. He enjoyed the look of pain flitting
across Nicholas’s battered face. His lips twisted into a grimace.
“I think she has suffered enough, so I don’t see the point, if she
truly loves you as you say.”

“I do not expect your forgiveness. I used her
memory loss to my advantage. I admit it. I wanted her for myself,”
Nicholas said in disgust and flung the towel aside. “I only ask you
to allow me time to find out who did this to her and why. Then you
can tell her whatever you damned well wish!”

“That is very noble of you, Nicholas!” Gabriel
spat furiously and dabbed at his bloodied lip. “I cannot believe
you have told her nothing!”

Gabriel looked like he wanted to kick another
piece of his desk. Instead he stared at the man he had believed to
be his friend with angry disbelief.

“It is best she not know for now.”

“You think it wise to keep her oblivious that
someone wants her dead? You could get her killed! She could very
well invite her killer to tea. I think you underestimate Catherine,
Nicholas. She needs to know she is in danger.”

“I want your word you will do nothing to
interfere until I catch the person who did this thing. I can
protect my wife. I won’t risk her or the child,” he said stubbornly
and drank again and handed it to the Earl as he turned to leave.
“Give me until the child is born. That is all I ask, for her
sake.”

“What will you do when she is told everything,
Nicholas?” The Earl barked angrily at his retreating back. “Do you
think she will thank you for deciding her future? I think you and I
both know how she will react! Go with my blessing! I can already
tell you how this will all end. I will not care if she is your wife
when I have her back! You brought this upon yourself when you took
her from me!”

“I expected no less from you, Gabriel,” Nicholas
said menacingly as he turned and gazed at his former friend with a
chilling calmness. He was feeling black rage at the Earl’s blatant
threats.

“I shall kill you if that happens. I remind you
that at least I married her. You only offered her your bed. It is
you who underestimates my wife. We shall see who is right.”