Wicked Proposition (58 page)

“Lyndon has no issue with me,” Nicholas mused in
confusion.

“You must have done something to anger the woman
then,” Caspian countered intently.

Nicholas thought of their last encounter,
reminded of his threats to see her hang. She knew he had her
mother’s diary. It was obvious the diary had more of an emotional
hold over Lilly than he realized.

She would kill to get it back.

“Lady Iverleigh poses a constant threat to my
wife, Caspian. Now my son is also in danger.”

Caspian thought of the raven-haired beauty and
sighed. Even heavy with child, she was glorious to look at. He
could see why Nicholas was calling in every favor on the streets to
protect the woman. It was obvious he adored his wife.

“Congratulations on the birth of your son,”
Caspian said thoughtfully. “Allow me time to gather my sources. Do
me a favor and do not seek me out again. I move weekly to avoid
company, Nicky. It is never a good idea to let the flies know where
the spider sleeps.”

Nicholas felt immense relief as he and Tieghan
left. Caspian might be an underworld criminal, but had his own
rigid code that he followed. Killing women and innocent children
was not allowed. He took pleasure in removing such men who did so
himself.

“You can say you trust the man?” Tieghan looked
disgusted as they got into the coach.

Nicholas grinned. “There is that judgment again,
my friend. You must work on it, I can see.”

###

Many weeks had passed. Gabriel was miserable.
The boys were angry and testing him at every turn, even threatening
to run away if he didn’t allow them to see their sister.

The pain of Catherine’s betrayal had cut him too
deeply. He stubbornly refused to allow it, giving them no choice
but to rebel.

His household was in constant upheaval. His son
was even joining in. Giles was an unruly brat of late. Three of the
servants quit without notice, he had estate matters to deal with,
and his mistress left him.

Learning Annabelle was now under Dartmouth’s
protection was disheartening, but she made her choice. He knew she
believed he was getting ready to give her up. Quite to the
contrary, it hadn’t occurred to him.

He hadn’t seen her in weeks, and the next he
knew he heard rumors she was seen with Dartmouth. It was all
decided quite without his blessing or he would have warned her away
from the man.

He was sitting at breakfast reading the paper
when he heard a commotion in the foyer. He vowed if it was Cullen
again, the boy was going to get a spanking he wouldn’t long
forget.

Catherine burst into his dining room. She was
looking ravishing and as fit as ever after having her child, and
furious. Her emerald gaze was flashing with outrage as she
confronted him. Higgins looked apologetic on her heels.

“I will have a word, Lord Iverleigh,” she
demanded tautly. Higgins withdrew as Gabriel signaled him away.

He smiled coldly. His dark eyes slid over her
with interest, unable to keep from noticing her significantly
fuller breasts.

The elegant blue silk gown was tight across her
chest, making his eyes become riveted upon the engorged bounty
despite his desire to remain unmoved. He moved, uncomfortably, in
his lower region. He was glad he was still sitting.

“We have nothing to say to one another, Mrs. Van
Ryker,” he said in a deceptively calm voice. “I take it Mr. Hines
notified you?”

Catherine made a scornful noise, her eyes
cutting him to ribbons. “You have no right to do this!”

“They are my wards, Catherine, and under my
protection,” Gabriel reminded her coolly. “I have every right to
see to their education.”

“By sending them away to school?” she asked in a
seething tone. “You arrive too late at being the dutiful guardian,
Lord Iverleigh!”

Gabriel would not argue with her there. He was
also certain every servant in his household were listening.

“Can we talk somewhere where the children will
not here you caterwauling, my dear?”

Catherine fumed and nodded. She followed him to
his study and stalked in ahead of him. The door no sooner shut and
she launched into another tirade.

“You have no right to keep my brothers from me!”
she nearly shouted, her face flushed with anger.

Gabriel appeared amused as he sat behind his
desk and gestured to a chair.

“Please, sit, and do go on about what I can and
cannot do, Catherine,” he said mockingly, his dark eyes meeting
hers without humor in them. “It is what is best for them.”

“You are not even related to them, except
through your witch of a wife! What gives you the right to decide
their futures?” Catherine demanded hotly.

“It’s a legal matter, my dear,” Gabriel replied
coldly. “You would know all about those things, wouldn’t you?”

Catherine paled at his words. He did this out of
spite. She could see it in the hard set of his features. She knew
when Thomas Hines arrived the day before, Gabriel meant to punish
her. The man came to settle the paperwork she signed with Lilly two
and half years before.

The papers guaranteed her no rights, she was
told, due to her being underage at the time they were signed. One
could argue the one she supposedly signed giving away her child
could be seen in the same manner. She didn’t dare, knowing no court
would ever believe her tale.

“Do you think keeping them from me is helpful to
them, my lord?” she asked bitterly. “They have no family left,
except of course, for your murderous bitch of a wife! Somehow, I do
not see her being there for them.”

Gabriel stiffened at her indignant tone. “How
much comfort would they take from you now, Catherine? You were up
to your eyeballs in this matter with my wife! You even sold me my
own son!”

Catherine sat back in the chair and eyed him
closely, her green eyes shining with unshed tears. “Do you really
believe that, Gabriel?” she asked tightly. “Or do you just want to
believe it?”

“You signed over your rights to your own child
for twenty thousand pounds, madam!” he snarled as he leaned
forward, his dark eyes filled with contempt. “Your signature was
verified by Chumley should you wish to argue the matter.”

“I don’t argue it at all,” she said in a
measured tone. “I cannot remember much from that time in my life,
or what reasons I had for doing what I did. I can tell you
honestly, I would have never done such a thing now, not for any
amount of money. That is who I am now. I cannot speak for that
other woman.”

“Catherine, does Nicholas know you are here?” he
asked curiously as he perused her knowingly under his lashes.

Catherine blushed slightly at his question.
Nicholas would be furious if he knew she had snuck out of the house
to confront Gabriel over the children.

“I can see he does not,” he said with a
disdainful expression. “What would one think, Mrs. Van Ryker? You
are quite notorious now. Being seen here will not improve your
reputation.”

She felt her anger simmering. His suggestion of
her impropriety arriving at his home in the morning without her
husband’s permission, and without an escort, made her long to slap
his arrogant face.

“My husband is content to let your anger cool,”
Catherine snapped. “I could give a damn less, my lord! I wish to
see my family!”

“That is no longer within your right to demand,
Catherine.”

“What do you want from me?” she asked hoarsely,
her eyes full of sorrow. “I cannot change the past! I do not know
what did or did not happen anymore, and I do not care! I simply
want to see them.”

Gabriel despised himself for his thoughts as he
allowed himself the luxury of the power he held over her. He wanted
to hurt her as deeply as she had him. He raised an eyebrow
deliberately.

“If you wish to see your brothers, I can think
of how you can appeal to me, Catherine.”

Catherine felt rage at what he implied. She
glared at him. “You would sink that low just to degrade me,
wouldn’t you?” she said coldly, her eyes turning to chips of
ice.

“Come now, you took lessons in this once,
Catherine,” he reminded her with a mocking smile. “I know you don’t
remember, but you were quite gifted at certain things, if I
recall.”

Catherine felt her heart plummet to know he
would torment her this way. She thought of Nicholas, their son, and
all of the things that mattered to her. She thought of her other
son and her brothers, trapped now between her and Gabriel. She
stood up and gazed at him without expression.

“I have taken up enough of your time, Lord
Iverleigh,” she said tightly. “I will not trouble you again.”

Gabriel watched her leave and felt disgusted
with himself for issuing such a challenge. He was infuriated she
had refused, if he truly wished to be honest with himself. The
sight of her had taken his breath, and reminded him of her
treachery with his wife. He despised his continued feelings for
her. He had to forget about Catherine and take Annabelle’s advice.
He was walking away. There was no choice.

Catherine arrived home more depressed than
before she left. She was moody as she went up to the nursery. Her
son lay sleeping. She was content to watch him. She hardly let the
boy out of her sight, for fear he would disappear.

Only Nicholas understood her anxiety. He said
nothing when she insisted on moving the cradle next to their bed at
night. He understood why she got up in the night just to make sure
he was still there.

Tears filled her eyes for the children that were
lost to her, and the brothers who were torn from her as well. She
would not betray her husband no matter what Gabriel offered her.
Once, maybe long ago, she might have been desperate enough to go to
such lengths, but now she was secure in Nicholas’s love.

###

Caspian sat outside Lord Iverleigh’s residence
while he followed Nicholas’s wife. He wondered at her early morning
errand. He was a bit alarmed when she arrived at the Earl’s
household so early, and without a servant.

Caspian took in her forlorn expression when she
exited the manor on Grosvenor Square less than twenty minutes
later. His expression softened to see the tears.

Iverleigh had obviously upset her. He made sure
she got home without incident and decided to keep the information
from Nicholas. Caspian knew how such information could be
misconstrued by his friend.

Catherine didn’t come here to resume her former
relationship with Lord Iverleigh. It looked like she had just ended
it.

###

Elise whimpered as she lay beaten and tied up on
the stone floor. She raised her head weakly to see she was in some
sort of cellar. She saw cages, some of them empty. Some were not.
She saw the children lying naked among the straw with horror.

Her memory of how she came to be here was slow
in returning. She was picking pockets for the funds to get back to
Dublin. She lived in an alleyway for weeks with several other
thieves, mostly children.

She was returning from buying them all food when
she saw the man beating one of the children she was caring for. The
man was a large lout, completely bald, and terrifying-looking. He
was trying to drag the boy to the nearby wagon where a wooden cage
was affixed in the back. The boy wailed and screamed, but no one
came to his aid. The other children had scattered.

Elise did not think of her own safety, only the
boy’s. She set down her packages and crept up and surprised the man
by pouncing upon his back, making him drop the little boy.

The street urchin got away, and the next thing
she knew she was hit from behind and wound up here.

She was ashamed to soil herself after the many
hours she was left tied up, her skirts sodden with urine. She
sobbed quietly, her thoughts of Tieghan and how she wished for him
to find her. She murmured prayers over and over again. They lulled
her back into blessed unawareness.

###

Ezra banded together the group of thieves in the
alleyway, his small face defiant. The lady who had taken care of
them and saved him from Herbert the Pervert had been taken.

They all knew where.

The boy was determined to save her. He glared at
them all.

“Ye are all damned cowards, all o’ ye!” Ezra
snarled and his young face filled with fury. “Ye know wot she done
fer all o’ us!”

“Oim’ not goin’ anywhere near that place, Ezra!”
one little boy whined. “Kids never, ever, come back outta there.
You know wot’ happens to ‘im.”

Ezra was frustrated. It had been hours since the
lady named Elise was snatched by Lester the Molester. He was
determined to save her, even if he had to go it alone.

He trudged away from the alley, sick with the
defeat he felt. If only he was bigger, he thought. He was puny for
ten years old, he knew.

Still, he had to try. He followed the wagon
after he saw Lester dump Elise in the back. He knew the house where
she was taken, and its sorrowful reputation. It was a fancy house,
not like the ratty cages most bawds worked out of in White Chapel.
It was also a Hell pit of depravation every child feared, knowing
what went on there.

His lips quivered to think of the lady suffering
for saving the likes of him. He hurried up the cobblestones,
conscious that night was fast approaching.

###

“Mr. Roth, there is a boy here,” Ty said quietly
as he entered the music room.

“Give him some coins by the door, Ty,” Caspian
replied in disinterest as he scribbled on his sheet music.

“He wants to speak to you, sir,” Ty said with a
rare smile. “He says he has business to discuss.”

“He has business to discuss, does he?” Caspian
chuckled delightedly, looking away from his concerto and deciding
he needed a break from it. “Then, by all means, show the little
bugger in and watch the silver, Ty.”