Wicked Proposition (53 page)

Her heart caught to see her son leave. The
desire to snatch her son and hold him to her was overwhelming.
Nicholas came to her side, sliding an arm around her and kissed her
forehead, understanding how she felt.

“It will get better, my love,” he whispered.

“It already has,” she allowed with a sad
smile.

“Gabriel will come around eventually, Catherine.
You must be patient.”

Catherine nodded, hoping he was right. She
detested having to rely upon Gabriel’s generosity for her to see
her own child. It tormented her now. Should he get angry, what
then? Would he deny her seeing her own son? It wasn’t fair, she
thought morosely.

###

Lilly rolled over and stared at her lover with a
delighted smile. The handsome man at her side appeared in no hurry
to leave the bed. Christian was content to lie abed as long as she
wanted to. He had surprised her these last few weeks after they
resumed their affair.

Christian seemed to hold no enmity against her
for his losing his right arm to her husband’s rage years before.
She found his hooked-prosthetic where his arm once was
exciting.

She shuddered slightly to recall the wondrous
things he could do with his hook, her finger tracing his perfect
features with a fond smile. He was slimly built with tight, compact
muscles. He was medium in height. His looks were more pretty than
masculine. His enormous cock was his most pleasing asset of
all.

Lilly vowed the man had to have the largest
member she had ever seen. He blessedly knew how to use it, unlike
some. Christian was an insatiable lover, and as devious as she
remembered.

His golden hair and pale blue eyes made many a
girl’s heart skip a beat these days. Lord Lyndon was seeking wife,
the gossips all said to explain his sudden return to society. She
knew the reason for the Marquis’ return, and a wife was hardly what
he sought.

Revenge was on Christian’s mind these days. He
wanted her husband dead. They had much in common.

“What will you do for your pleasure when I am
exiled?” Lilly asked with a smile, her hand lowering to encompass
his huge cock, excited to feel it harden under her hand.

“I will go back to fucking the chamber maids
again, dear Lil,” he replied with a roguish grin. “Would you like
one of them to join us now?”

She squeezed his cock harder in her hand. “You
have horrible taste in women, my lord, if I remember
correctly.”

“You would approve of this one,” Christian
replied, smiling as she stroked his long length. He reached over
and rang the bell on the bedside table.

In a few moments, a young girl arrived in
Christian’s bedchamber. Lilly watched the girl approach the bed,
smiling in a feline sort of way. The girl was pretty and blonde,
and young. She didn’t want to ask how young this one was, knowing
Christian’s taste went to very nubile young girls.

“Lizzie, come join us,” Christian said softly,
his eyes filled with lust as they met the girl’s. “Show Lady
Iverleigh how talented you are with that pouty little mouth of
yours.”

Much later, Christian sent the servant away and
lay with her, smiling smugly down at her.

“And you thought a ride in the park more
enjoyable today, Lil,” he said as he held her fondly, his hook
sliding through her tangled platinum hair. “We must talk about your
husband now, my dear.”

“Must we again? I do find that subject rather
boring” she said with a disgusted sigh.

“Yes, but we must decide how he will die.”

Lilly smiled and gazed up at him fondly. “It
must look like an accident, Christian. You realize what is at
stake?”

“You will be at Amberley by then,” Christian
replied and smiled. “It is perfect for our purposes.”

“I like the idea of a slow, painful death.
Gabriel deserves to be drawn and quartered for his treatment of
me,” Lilly said with a feral smile.

“Consider it done, my dear,” he concluded
warmly. “The man we hire will not stop until he is dead. He takes
his work quite seriously. He draws the line at women,
unfortunately. He adamantly refused to kill your little sister. He
said she’s far too lovely to kill, if you can believe it. I did try
for you.”

Lilly rolled her eyes, wondering at assassins
with chivalry, how unfortunate for her purposes. Catherine was
still alive. That was proof her own hired man was useless.

“My sister must die as well!”

“It appears you must hope the man you hired gets
a clean shot at her.”

###

Catherine’s reunion with her little brother’s
was a lively one. Both boys rushed into her arms with shouts of
delight as they ran from Lord Iverleigh’s carriage. Maggie was fast
upon their heels.

Nicholas was pleased the boy’s visit cheered
Catherine up. He was pleased when Maggie informed him the Earl had
allowed the boys to stay on indefinitely.

The boy’s things were taken up by the servants
and they regaled his wife of all their adventures the last two
years. Jaime and Cullen were impressed with their new uncle and
Nicholas could see he would get no peace until they received a tour
of The Orion.

Tieghan got his attention in the doorway of the
salon. He knew the look. He left his wife alone with her siblings.
The two men retreated to his study.

“What is it?” Nicholas asked anxiously, dreading
the man’s unease.

“Chumley’s contacts told him Lord Lyndon is
helping the Countess now,” Tieghan said with a black look. “They
have hired an assassin, it appears. Someone you know.”

“Who have they hired?”

“It is Caspian, who else?”

“You would think the man has enough money to
avoid these messy affairs,” Nicholas asked pleasantly, unperturbed
to know Lord Lyndon and Lilly hired the man.

“Caspian asks for twice what they pay him to
abandon the contract on Gabriel.”

“Pay the man,” Nicholas said and looked
relieved. “I have no qualms. What is your concern, Tieghan?”

“Caspian said they wanted Catherine dead as
well, not just Gabriel.”

“Caspian doesn’t kill women,” Nicholas reminded
him.

“Yes, but one of his associates had no problem
with taking the assignment. Caspian sends his apologies to you,”
Tieghan told him. “The man was paid by Lyndon last night. He will
come after her first, Nicholas.”

Nicholas’s face paled to know Lyndon was
connected enough to seek Government assassins now. The man known as
only Caspian had some, if few, scruples, and killing women and
children happened to be one of them.

“How much does Caspian want to take this man out
of the equation for us, Tieghan?”

Tieghan smiled grimly. “I already paid him.
Consider it a wedding gift to you both.”

Nicholas chuckled at Tieghan’s words. “Pardon me
if I don’t share your gift with my wife. I don’t think her getting
an assassin is high on her list of wedding gifts.”

“Caspian told Chumley he would handle it. He
says more will come.”

“Gabriel needs to be warned,” Nicholas said
quietly. “If we fail in this, all we do is for nothing.”

Nicholas smiled at him knowingly. “Rejection
doesn’t appear to agree with you, my friend. Forget Miss Grey.”

“I told both your brothers if either of them lay
hands upon her, I will kill them,” Tieghan replied, his pale eyes
growing dangerous.

Nicholas grinned in obvious enjoyment. Tieghan
was starting to look more like a big jackass every day over the
maid. He silently applauded Miss Grey’s adept handling of the man.
Tieghan was head over heels for the maid and hadn’t a clue of it
yet. She kept her legs together during the day, and her door locked
at night. Tieghan was a mess.

“We have one last engagement to attend,”
Nicholas reminded him and saw Tieghan’s pained look. “And no, Lady
Billingsley will not take no for an answer. She expects us all
there. She has something up her sleeve.”

“Were Miss Hamilton to be invited, I may
consider it.”

“Getting back at Miss Grey with another woman
isn’t the answer, Tieghan.”

“Very well, but this is the last one!”

“Sullivan will be there, and Lilly and her new
lover, most definitely,” Nicholas said grimly. “I cannot keep an
eye upon all three and protect my wife.”

Tieghan’s eyes grew cold. “We should just kill
all three and be done with this. The Earl need not know of it.”

Nicholas silently agreed. “This will be over
soon.”

###

Thomas found Yvetta struggling over credit
invoices. She looked relieved at the intrusion when he entered the
office. It was midday and the house was quiet.

“When do we leave?” she asked him urgently as
she abandoned the chore and came to his side.

“Lord Rudd has shown an interest once more,”
Sullivan said shrugging off her worry. “This is the chance we have
waited for. With his investment and Iverleigh’s, we can leave here
at once.”

“Lord Iverleigh took the books recently,
Edward,” she confided with a grimace. “He knows I have been
cheating him.”

“I told you not to be so greedy, my dear.”

“Lord Dartmouth thinks it is Iverleigh who
blackmails them now,” she informed him in relief evident in her
eyes. “I told him Lord Iverleigh emptied the safe as you asked me
to.”

“Very good, now the man will steer clear of this
place for a time,” Edward replied.

“But you said-,” she began in alarm and Thomas
chuckled and shook his head.

“Dartmouth will find out you lied about that
only too soon, my dear, but we will be gone by then,” he told her
smugly. “I told you blackmail was a nasty business. Dartmouth will
confront Iverleigh and he will come back here looking for you.
Count upon it.”

“I wish to leave now, Edward! You promised!”
Yvetta cried hoarsely, her eyes wide with fear. “I feel as though I
sit here waiting for them to come and kill me.”

“Patience, Yvetta, you know we cannot leave
yet,” Edward soothed. “With luck, Dartmouth will delay confronting
Iverleigh. That should buy you time, no more.”

Yvetta was hardly comforted knowing the deranged
nobleman had been temporarily diverted. Just last week, Lester had
dumped two more bodies because of Dartmouth’s twisted pastimes.

She felt sick to recall the rose room was now
the red room. Milly had been unable to remove the bloodstains from
the wall where he had smashed the girl’s skull during his
rage-filled bloodlust. The girl had been kidnapped and blessedly
drugged during the ordeal. It merely pacified Dartmouth, these
weekly offerings. The second of his victims had been a girl of more
importance.

Yvetta cringed to think Lester stupid enough to
take anymore girl’s from the nobility. Miss Agnes Wentworth had not
been worth the trouble her disappearance was causing. The girl was
popular among society and a city-wide search for her had begun.

Lord Dartmouth had been delighted to despoil the
prim, wailing debutante he knew from society functions. He took his
time with poor Agnes. The girl lasted the longest of all the
others. Yvetta surmised her innocence had appealed to the man’s
depravations.

He was soon unsatisfied with merely raping the
girl. He commenced to beating her until her face was a bloody pulp,
hitting her and heaving over her, even long after she was dead.
Lester had watched in the peepholes and claimed the man was Satan
incarnate.

Agnes’s family was not letting the matter go
now. The Crown was involved and pressed the magistrate to handle
the inquiry as a priority. They were seeking answers to the girl’s
disappearance. Lester assured her he wasn’t seen snatching the girl
from the street corner. He had brutally cuffed her aged chaperone,
and the older matron was unable to give an adequate description of
Agnes’s abductor.

Still, Yvetta fed Dartmouth’s obsessive
tendencies to her own detriment, as surely as Clarice had. Sooner
or later, Dartmouth’s depravity would incriminate them all. He had
no control over his rages anymore.

“I do not plan to wait for him to come looking
for me, Edward.”

Edward met her gaze coolly. “I cannot leave any
sooner. This should take but a few weeks.”

Yvetta agreed with no choice, but her blood ran
cold when Lester arrived to inform her he had another offering for
Dartmouth in the cellar.

“You are as bad as Clarice in feeding the man’s
sickness,” Edward observed contemptuously. “I would think three
hundred pounds hardly worth the trouble.”

“It pays to keep him happy. He leaves the
regular girls alone.”

“Yes, we all still mourn Felicity,” Edward said
coldly, “but most especially does Iverleigh’s pet dwarf! Why do you
not just confess everything to the man while you are at it?” he
railed. “He has been back here a half-dozen times this last month.
He knows you lied about the girl’s whereabouts.”

Yvetta flinched at his tirade. She had not
thought the matter through when she tossed Lord Dartmouth Felicity
like a fatted bone to whet his appetite for blood. Now the
detective was alerted.

“The more reason to leave here now while we can,
Edward,” she fretted.

“In due time,” he said as he pulled her with
him, his brown eyes glowing with lust. “Let us go upstairs, my
sweet. I did not come here to be nagged.”

###

Catherine dreaded this event, knowing her and
her husband were merely fodder for society’s enjoyment. She took
little enjoyment in getting ready tonight.

“Tell me again why we have to go?” she asked as
she saw his reflection in her mirror, watching him dress
quietly.

Elise was not feeling well and took to her bed,
leaving Nicholas to help her dress, a task he adored.

“I thought you enjoyed these outings, love.”

“That was before I realized we were their
entertainment!” Catherine said in outrage, her green eyes glowing
with ire.

Nicholas sighed. She was more snappish than
usual. Thor had written to explain all the notable variances in
mood changes as his wife reached the end of her pregnancy.
Catherine was spitting like an angry kitten most of the time. His
patience was wearing thin.