Wicked Proposition (47 page)

“You begin to worry me, love,” Nicholas
whispered in concern, his eyes scanning her face. “We need not
stay.”

“We leave after we dance,” Catherine informed
him with a smile, “and not a moment sooner.”

Teighan looked about the ballroom, determined to
find some lady to spin around so they could leave. That was when he
saw her. The brunette was lovely. Her amber gown complemented her
lush figure to perfection. Tieghan was riveted by her and looked
away in annoyance. He drained another flute and eyed her
determinedly. She was the only thing separating him from the door.
The woman would dance with him.

###

Catherine saw Gabriel was gone, disappearing
into the crowd around him. She felt relief within her to know he
was no longer there to taunt her memory. A sense of loss fell over
her she could not explain.

The tortured images fell into place at last. No
more could she not put a face to the man who had haunted her dreams
these last two years. He was real.

Catherine felt her child move. She was glad for
the distraction as her baby kicked her to remind her who she was
with.

Catherine looked up at Nicholas guiltily,
flushing slightly to know how distracted she had become. He was
watching her intently. She was grateful the orchestra started and
smiled brightly to cover her lapse.

“It is time to show me all you have learned,
Nicholas.”

“You are enjoying my pain, aren’t you, love?” he
nearly whined.

She smiled in delight and tapped her foot
impatiently. “I will not have all my efforts go to waste. You will
do fine.”

“I would not want to disappoint you, of course,”
Nicholas said with a smile. “Do not blame me if we trip some of
these fine people and are asked to leave.”

Nicholas looked distressed to have to perform
for his wife, but she was determined. He looked at Tieghan like he
was going to the gallows as he led his wife to the dance floor.

They took their places with the other couples on
the dance floor. He concentrated on his steps as he guided her
through the waltz, his eyes meeting hers laughingly as he spun her
around the floor expertly.

Nicholas’s efforts earned a look of delight from
his wife. He ignored all those in the room and it was just them on
the floor. Catherine was caught up in the dance. She pushed all
thoughts of Gabriel away. This was Nicholas, her present.

Nicholas saw every eye in the room was on him
and his wife. He was glad he spared her toes as they moved around
the floor gracefully. Catherine was looking up at him and smiling
brightly, looking enchanting. He felt it surreal they were here at
all. This was Gabriel’s world, not theirs. Nicholas should have
refused her desire to come here. He knew she could remember
everything at any moment, but it was a chance he must take.

Nicholas was sure Thomas Sullivan was now aware
his wife lived. The man looked decidedly ill as he moved through
the crowd. Nicholas stiffened to see him standing with Lilly then.
The hair stood up on the back of his neck and he looked away. A
bead of sweat broke out on his forehead, and it was not the heat in
the room, but the feral smile that curved her lips when she saw
him.

###

“Lilly, she looks very much alive. You have
betrayed me after all I have done for you?” Sullivan asked
harshly.

“Calm yourself, Thomas,” the Countess said
softly and stared out over the darkened gardens with a malevolent
gleam in her eyes. “I put a bullet in her head, I assure you. It
appears the twit survived it.”

“She knows everything!” Thomas said harshly in a
low whisper. His brown eyes grew wild as they met hers. “She will
see us both hang!”

“No, she would have exposed us both already if
that was her intent,” Lilly mused and tapped her fingers on the
railing. “Something is not right here.”

“She will see us both to the gallows!” Thomas
snarled and grasped her wrist roughly. He stared down at her in
fury. “She knows who I am! If I am caught, you are as well! Do not
tell me to be calm! I have as much to lose as you!”

“Thomas, you should really try to calm down,”
Lilly advised in amusement as she disengaged her arm from his grasp
and gave him a scathing look. “She will be dealt with. I have hired
a man to see to it. They guard her closely. He has been unable to
get to her. Eventually they will turn their backs.”

“How can you be so bloody calm at a time like
this, Lilly?”

“How can you have so little nerve at a time like
this, Thomas?” she replied in amusement. “It does add to the
excitement of it all, does it not?”

“I find nothing exciting about the situation we
are in! I would like to avoid hanging, Lilly,” Thomas replied
tightly. “I need only a few more investors and we can finish
this.”

“Thomas, there is no proof at all of what
happened in Ireland,” the Countess said under her breath. “Don’t
give the game away. I have planned for everything. She cannot prove
a thing. Should she accuse me, it is only her word for it.”

Thomas bit back a harsh laugh at her words. “She
knows I am not Edward Thornton. Did you plan for that? Or did you
just see to covering your own backside in such a case?”

“You knew the risks when you killed the old man!
I did try to warn you. You wouldn’t listen. You stole Edward’s
identity against my advice, despite my warnings. I would think this
is your fault,” Lilly said stiffly. “I have been cleaning up after
you ever since, Thomas. Recall Clarice? That was your mistake!”

“My fault!” he snarled irately. “It would have
all been perfect had you not insisted on bringing the girl to
London, Lilly.” Thomas seethed as he looked out over the gardens.
“Now you have all you wanted, and I am in danger of being
exposed.”

Lilly smiled and shrugged. “As I said, don’t
give the game away, Thomas. She merely plays with us now. I would
question whether her husband even knows the truth. She is not at
all Nicky’s type of woman.”

“Yes, I had forgotten you and Van Ryker have a
history,” Thomas said with a sneer. “Do not count upon his
affections, Lilly. He is married to her now.”

“Yes, and that is most curious,” Lilly said with
a slight frown. “Even little Catherine has her standards, boring
drudge that she is. Somehow I cannot see her jumping at the chance
to marry a smuggler with little or no background, even if he did
save her miserable neck. She is far too proper to marry someone
like Nicky.”

“I know this all excites you, Lilly,” Thomas
said worriedly. “We must finish it and quickly. She must die, and
soon.”

“Yes, it is all arranged. My man waits in the
wings.”

Thomas said nothing more and stalked away from
her and reentered the ballroom. She smiled tightly as she looked
out over the gardens. Inwardly, she seethed to have not gotten rid
of Thomas already. Lilly had determined he was the weakest link in
the chain. She only had to insure the man had more investors. Once
the money changed hands, she could use Thomas’s own methods against
him.

Right now he concerned her more than her little
twit of a sister. Catherine turning up alive was making the man
unravel quickly. She felt a presence at her side. She straightened
when she saw Gabriel standing there, his dark eyes inscrutable.

“Where is Farwell, you appear to be without an
escort, dear wife,” Gabriel said in a bored tone as he joined her
at the rail. “You are losing your touch, madam.”

“You sound jealous, my love,” she noted dryly
and enjoyed his look of disgust. “Lord Farwell is in the country
with his wife’s family. I shall give him your heartfelt
felicitations upon his return, very warmly, I may add.”

“I have arranged for your move to Amberley at
the end of the Season,” he said in a taut voice. “Enjoy your time
here, for you are leaving.”

“Yes, yes, I know, you keep threatening me with
that, my love!” Lilly said and laughed low, her blue eyes dancing
with amusement. “You are banishing me, I recall. Is there anything
you have to say to interest me further? Like, you have contracted
the pox from Mrs. Hart and are not long to this world?”

Gabriel stiffened at her jest. His dark eyes
narrowed. “Consider yourself lucky I do not kill you,” Gabriel said
menacingly. He eyed her ivory throat and longed to choke her until
her tongue turned black. “That is still an option, my dear.”

“You threaten me? You haven’t the nerve!” she
said and laughed delightedly and then looked at him with
consideration. “You should watch your own back, my lord. We shall
see which one of us leaves at the end of the Season.”

She trailed a hand across his scarred cheek and
patted it comfortingly. She strolled away, leaving him at the
railing rigid with unease at her words.

###

Tieghan listened to the exchange and faded
against the stone wall. Lord Iverleigh left the railing and
returned to the ballroom too. Tieghan let out the breath he was
holding as he absorbed the conversation he had just heard.

Tieghan went back to Nicholas. Catherine was in
conversation with a young couple and distracted. Tieghan’s approach
and distinctive frown alerted him something was amiss.

“What is it?” Nicholas whispered grimly.

“Lilly is here. I saw her talking with Sullivan.
I could not hear what they were saying. Lord Iverleigh arrived. She
is his wife, Nicholas!”

Nicholas looked like he had been punched in the
stomach. His blue eyes looked positively livid. He returned to
Catherine’s side. He smiled patiently at the couple, apologized for
them both, but declared they must leave for another engagement.

“We are leaving now? But why do we leave so
soon, Nicholas?” Catherine asked in confusion as he led her away.
She was beginning to enjoy herself. She was looking at him
strangely.

Tieghan was already walking to the door ahead of
them.

Nicholas’s only thought was getting his wife out
of the ballroom. He failed to see Lilly approach until she was on
top of them, cutting them off. She smiled at him beguilingly, her
gaze slicing his wife to ribbons. He felt Catherine stiffen at his
side.

“Hello, Nicky, I wasn’t aware you were back in
town,” Lilly said with a relishing look at his wife.

Nicholas eyed her tensely and knew this
confrontation could not be avoided. Lilly wanted to make her
presence known to his wife.

His expression was detached as he nodded to her
briefly. She looked just as lethally beautiful as always, not a
hair out of place, her dark blue eyes filled with menace.

“Lady Iverleigh, how nice it is to see you
again,” he said mockingly, his blue eyes meeting hers without
expression. She seemed surprised he had at last ascertained her
identity. A slight pause lapsed between them.

“It appears congratulations are in order. I only
just learned of your marriage,” she lied sweetly. She smiled at
Catherine’s paling features. “We appear to have the same taste in
many things. Madame Chevalier does wonders, does she not?”

Catherine was speechless at her blatant
insinuations. Nicholas saw her face grow deathly pale and put a
steadying hand upon her arm. She fought the urge to run, and nausea
began. Her head pounded as she struggled with the feeling she
should know this woman.

Lilly’s insulting gaze fell to her waistline and
the smile grew wider as Catherine gripped his arm fiercely.

“How are you and Nicholas acquainted, Lady
Iverleigh? He has never mentioned you,” Catherine replied politely,
all the while she tensed with such a strong recognition she fought
to control her breathing, feeling the panic attack coming on.

“I have known your husband for a long time. We
were very close once. So close in fact, I was a bit hurt to learn
he married so suddenly.”

“We planned our wedding for over six months,
Lady Iverleigh,” Catherine said coolly, her green eyes narrowed.
“That cannot be considered sudden by any measure.”

“Judging by your condition, it was only soon
enough,” Lilly replied with a smirk of pleasure.

“That’s enough, Lilly!” Nicholas snapped, his
blue eyes cold. “You will not insult my wife!”

“Nicky, you know very well I can’t resist,” she
said with a smile as her eyes hacked Catherine to bits.

Catherine felt the sudden pounding in her head.
She felt an icy trickle of fear down her spine as the woman stared
at her. She knew this woman. She could not remember her, but she
knew instinctively the woman deliberately baited her. She felt
panic begin to rise. Catherine bristled with anger at the
implication she had also been her husband’s former lover. Her green
eyes narrowed.

“My husband had the most deplorable taste in
companions before our marriage, it appears,” Catherine allowed with
a sigh. She smiled sweetly up at her husband. “I daresay I
rectified that when we married. Good evening, Lady Iverleigh.”

“Shall we go, my love?” Nicholas said and smiled
despite himself as he watched Lilly bristle with nothing to say in
retort.

Nicholas steered his wife ahead of him. Nicholas
could feel Lilly’s eyes boring holes in his back. He returned to
the cloakroom to get their things.

“You have some explaining, Nicholas,” she said
testily as he slid her wrap around her shoulders.

“No, I do not,” Nicholas countered grimly. “I
wasn’t a monk before I met you, Catherine, and you were no nun. Can
you cease to act surprised I had other women before you?”

Catherine fumed as he escorted her to their
coach. She ignored him on the drive home. She knew she had no right
to be angry. Nicholas was right. She was acting like a jealous
fishwife, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of Nicholas with
that particular woman bothered her.

“I broke off with her before I left London,
Catherine,” he said quietly. “She is no threat to you. Truly, it
was long overdue.”