Wicked Proposition (51 page)

Gabriel had not kept his promise to not approach
her. He would corner her again, he knew with a grim look. He would
enjoy turning his life upside down when he did.

“You must trust me, Catherine,” he said softly
as he looked deeply into her eyes. “There are many things you do
not remember, I fear. I have kept many things from you while you
recovered believing I was protecting you. There is so much more you
do not know.”

“I don’t want to know!” she cried and wiped at
her tears and bit back a sob. “Do you hear? I cannot bear it!
Please say no more of this? I cannot bear to think of anything but
what we have now. It does not matter what happened in the
past.”

“You must remember what happened, Catherine,” he
said and a flash of pain crossed his face as he reached out to
touch her cheek and gently wipe away her tears. “It threatens our
future.”

“What do you mean?” she said hoarsely, her eyes
wide with dread. She searched his face for some grasp of what he
meant by his ominous words.

“You didn’t lose your memory from a fever as we
all told you when you came back to us aboard the ship,” he said
with a grimace and his hand slid into her hair at her nape. He
reached up further to touch the round scar there. “You were shot in
the head and left for dead when I found you. I thought you were
dead. I brought you aboard the ship and Tulley did what he could to
save you. I hired Mrs. Bingham and she is the one who takes credit
for your recovery.”

Catherine grew pale at his words and trembled.
The pain in her head began anew as she recalled the blonde woman
standing over her, her dark blue eyes gleaming in triumph.

It was Lady Iverleigh who sneered down at her.
What was it she held? She was holding something, but her eyes
refused to see it.

Catherine wiped at her tears and grew quiet as
she looked down at her trembling hands. She concentrated on what
was held in the woman’s arms. She felt his hand on hers as she
looked closer at what she was seeing. She struggled to see past the
dark cloak covering her lost memory.

She sobbed as the image became clearer. She
heard the crying and she knew. She bit her lip and the hot tears
flowed unchecked as she recalled the birth of her child, first the
boy who was promptly taken from her. Then she gave birth to the
tiny girl that the midwife had been told to give away.

The pistol Lady Iverleigh had trained on her was
the last thing she remembered. Lady Iverleigh had stolen her
children and tried to kill her! She closed her eyes and the grief
for the children that had been taken from her then made her sob
incoherently.

Nicholas rocked her in his arms and she wept
against his chest as she recalled everything that happened that
night. When her tears were spent she stared at him with a ravaged
face and a heavy heart.

“Tell me the rest now. What happened to me
before that,” she said in such a cold, detached voice he cringed.
He told her everything he knew. She did not interrupt him until he
finished the tale.

Her green eyes narrowed when she learned he had
known most of this all along. He reached out to touch her hand and
she drew away from him. She was looking at him like she did not
know him anymore.

“Why did you keep this from me? Lord Iverleigh
has my son. Do not tell me it was to protect me. I saw the bruises
on his face as well. He is the one you fought with, was he not? You
have deceived me from the moment we arrived here, haven’t you?”

“Yes, it is true. I had no choice, my love. I
had to find out who tried to kill you. There was no other way!” he
said and met her accusing stare calmly. “I was not sure Gabriel’s
son was yours, Catherine. How could I have known? I have had to
piece much of this together.”

“There were two of them, twins,” she recalled
softly, eyes murky with her sadness. “She did not want the girl.
She told the midwife to give her away and she took my son.”

Nicholas reeled with the news she had borne
twins. He wanted to kill Lilly savagely as he thought of what she
had done to his wife just to secure her position with Gabriel’s
heir. His eyes met hers and he saw her bitterness and felt her
frustration. He looked into her eyes and cringed to see the pain
there.

“I will find your daughter, Catherine,” he
promised softly, his heart clenching at her sorrowful expression.
He felt her faltering and slipping away from him before his eyes.
“If it is the last thing I do I will make this right again for
you!”

He stopped speaking at her sudden harsh laughter
and gazed at her beseechingly.

“It will never be right again!” she cried in
anguish and looked out the window of the moving coach. She turned
to him, her eyes flat and devoid of emotion. “She has won! She has
stolen everything from me! Do you think Gabriel will merely hand me
over my son?”

“I have spoken with him. He will allow you to
see the boy!” Nicholas argued hotly. He knew Gabriel as well, if
not better than her, and had to agree. Lord Iverleigh would not
give up his son to her.

“He will forgive you for your part in this,
Catherine. He knows what his wife is capable of. We must
concentrate on finding your daughter now.”

“Mrs. Gates was her name. I can remember nothing
else. She is the only one who knows where my daughter is!”
Catherine snapped harshly. “What if she is dead? What if Lilly
killed her that night?”

“Myron Chumley will find her,” Nicholas said
desperately. “You must not give up hope we will find your
daughter.”

“I wish to see my brothers,” Catherine replied
in a dull voice and ignored his words. He realized she held no hope
whatsoever she would ever see her daughter again. “This has had to
have been most difficult on them.”

“They were told some weeks ago you lived,”
Nicholas said with a weary sigh. “Gabriel felt it was important
they have time to prepare.”

“Who is buried in the crypt at Dunleavy Hall,
Nicholas?” she asked darkly, her eyes growing fierce as she thought
of the nameless one who had died in her place to meet Lilly and
Sullivan’s ends.

“We do not know,” Nicholas muttered. “Whoever
the woman was, she looked enough like you to convince your steward.
He was the one who identified the body.”

Catherine nodded and said nothing more. Finally
the coach stopped in front of the house. He assisted her down and
she brushed past him and went into the house. He was fast upon her
heels as she entered their room. He shut the door and stared at her
rigid back.

“Catherine, I didn’t keep this all from you to
hurt you. I did it to protect you. I thought to spare you this
grief until I had answers for you.”

“Yes, I know,” she replied sarcastically. “You
also did it to keep me from knowing about Gabriel too.”

Nicholas would have denied it, but it was better
to speak the truth if he wished to save his marriage now. “Yes, a
part of me felt you didn’t need to know of any of that,” he
admitted with a frown as he still looked at her back. “He was
married, Catherine. He was also your guardian. He could have never
offered you more. He wouldn’t have ever offered you more! You do
not remember everything! I recall him telling me he planned to keep
you as his mistress, even after he claimed to love you.”

Catherine flinched to hear it. She heard what he
said, but she could not argue any of it. She simply did not
remember that time in her life. She couldn’t recall if what he said
was true, or how she even felt at the time. They talked about
another woman from another life.

“You had no right to make those decisions for
me, Nicholas!”

“I had every damned right!” he snarled. He
approached and grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him,
his blue eyes boring down into hers. “While you played a part with
him, I saw you as you were. I loved you, even knowing what you were
doing. Could he say the same? He authorized your arrest, while I
tracked you down trying to get you away! Say what you will to blame
me, but I did what I did to protect you, Catherine.”

“She will kill me you realize?” Catherine
whispered.

“Catherine---,” he began, but she put her hand
up.

“No, you don’t know her, Nicholas,” Catherine
said and began to tremble. “She despises me! That much I can
remember. I am in her way now. It is just a matter of time before
she hires someone to do her dirty work again.”

“I have guards around you day and night,” he
said. “She will not get to you! In the meantime, Gabriel will allow
you to see the boy.”

“How very generous of Lord Iverleigh to allow me
to see my own son!” she snapped bitterly.

“Catherine, try to remember he was also the
victim in this,” Nicholas reminded her.

“I am having a very hard time feeling sorry for
anyone but myself right now!”

Nicholas released a frustrated breath.
“Catherine, he doesn’t have to allow you to see him at all. Tread
carefully. Gabriel can be quite an unforgiving man. Should you try
to force the issue here, he could deny you seeing him at all.”

“I want my son back, Nicholas!” she ground out
harshly, her eyes flashing in outrage.

“You can’t have him back, Catherine!” Nicholas
exploded. “There are laws! He is entitled to the boy whether we
like it or not. I am sorry, but a part of me wished to keep this
from you for that very reason. I also know Gabriel. He will not
give up his precious heir.”

“I will have my son back!” she stormed furiously
and she backed away from him, tears filling her eyes. “He is mine!
Stolen from me by that heartless bitch! I will have him back if it
is the last thing I do!”

“Catherine, stop this! Do not get so upset.
Please,” he pleaded as he held out his hands to her. “Think of our
child now.”

“I am thinking of this child,” she said harshly.
“I am thinking I do not know his father at all, it seems.”

Nicholas flinched at her words. She was not
done.

“You married me, knowing all of this!” she
accused, her green eyes flashing with anger. “You allowed me to
believe I was going insane when I started having these dreams. How
many times did you tell me none of it was real?”

“I had to keep you in the dark a bit longer to
find out who tried to kill you, Catherine. I did not do it for any
other reason than to protect you.”

“You did it to protect yourself, Nicholas!” she
cried bitterly as her tears fell freely. “You had such little faith
in my love. You thought as soon as I remembered him, I would run
right back into his arms!”

“Don’t tell me the thought hasn’t crossed your
mind, love,” Nicholas replied harshly and she flushed an angry red.
“You talk in your sleep, wife. It was never too difficult to
understand what was happening there. You also said his name more
than once.”

“You have no right to accuse me of
anything!”

“I don’t have to, Catherine,” he said calmly.
“It’s written all over your face.”

Catherine paled as he turned and left their
room, slamming the door behind him. A part of her wanted to go
after him and deny what he said. The other was still furious and
hurt he had lied to her for so long. The latter won out and she
made ready for bed, thankful Elise had not waited up. She couldn’t
stand her own company right now.

The weeks passed with agonizing slowness.
Catherine had no opportunity to kick her husband out of their
bedroom. He left on his own. She was outraged to find him sleeping
in the guestroom after the night they quarreled.

Nicholas avoided her now. She fumed to know it.
She found herself feeling ashamed for her anger towards Nicholas.
He saved her life. There was no getting past that glaring fact. If
not for him, she would still be senseless or dead. She tried to put
herself in his place and cringed to know she would have likely done
the same.

Nicholas had brought her back here to face these
demons from her past, and to find her child. She had no reason to
fault him. He loved her. She knew all he had done was for her.

While he might worry over her feelings for
Gabriel, he did the right thing in bringing her back. She had no
reason to continue to punish him. All he had done was to protect
her. He couldn’t have known what she had endured.

###

Nicholas sat unspeaking during the interview
with Myron Chumley the next morning. The man arrived first thing in
the morning to learn anything she might have recalled about the
midwife. Catherine found the interview frustrating. He scribbled in
a notepad and seemed pleased with what little she could tell
him.

Catherine knew finding the woman was the only
hope they had of incriminating her sister now. She didn’t want to
dwell upon that. Myron took his leave. Nicholas’s eyes were bruised
as they met hers. He intended to leave the study without another
word to her. She knew he was hurt.

Catherine wanted to alleviate his concerns. The
feelings for Gabriel were nothing but residual memories resurfacing
and meant nothing, but she would lie to him. The lost memories were
coming back with a vengeance, haunting her with images of them
together. She felt torn, and he knew it.

“Please, we must talk,” she said wearily as she
slid into a chair, a dull ache in her lower back.

“Tired of sleeping alone yet?” he taunted
spitefully.

Catherine glared at him. “What are you so angry
about, Nicholas?”

“You can’t even admit your feelings for him,
Catherine. You lie only to yourself.”

“I cannot remember how I felt for him,
Nicholas,” Catherine admitted and looked saddened. “True, I see
images of us together. That’s hardly love. You make more out of it
than there is. Whatever was there is gone. Might I remind you the
man is my brother-in-law?”

Nicholas grinned maddeningly and cocked an
eyebrow at her words. “Come now, love, who do you think you talk
to?”