Wicked Deception (45 page)

Many questioned whether Iverleigh put a
stop to his countess and Christian Bane’s friendship. It was
snickered about that he was determined to get his heir.

Gillian went through the motions with a
smile pasted upon her face and endured her husband’s insistent
lovemaking every night, lying stiff and unyielding beneath him
despite his efforts to arouse her.

Gabriel would become angry at her
continued denial of him, and finish quickly and leave. She cried
herself to sleep when he left. It had become a ritual this last
week, and it was taking its toll upon them both.

Gabriel had given up thinking he could
soften his countess’s feelings towards him. He was disgusted with
himself and her, and after listening to her cry bitterly as he
left, he came to her no more. He couldn’t pretend it was satisfying
to him at all, remembering the first night he had come to
her.

Every night since was a mockery of the
passion he knew her capable of. She denied him for spite. He
refused to lower himself to raping his own wife. Gillian was
relieved when he ceased to come to her bed after that week, and
gloried in rejecting him.

An insidious voice called her a fool
for it. She went about her morning calls and daily rituals without
breaking stride, but knew she was miserable. She missed her cycle.
She didn’t have to wait several more weeks to know she was with
child, and determined it was the first time he had come to her in
disgust.

Her cycle was so predictable. When it
didn’t arrive, she faced it with marked calmness except for the
panic she felt, knowing she would get her wish to be free of Lord
Iverleigh very soon.

Her hands shook as she penned the note
that would give her the freedom she had demanded out of hurt pride
and humiliation he still kept Catherine. She felt little
satisfaction as she had it delivered to her husband that morning,
demanding her separation agreement be set up at once, informing him
she was indeed expecting his heir.

~ ~ ~

Gabriel read the note with a sad look
upon his face and crumbled the note in his fist. He should have
been elated to have what he had sought but his bitterness as he
sent for Hines was obvious. Gillian would have her freedom. He
faced his losing his wife with considerably less grace than he had
Catherine.

He threw himself into forgetting her at
once, paying Constance a visit, and going out each night after,
determined to put the image of her out of his mind. The news he was
to be a father again should have pleased him, but knowing how he
had forced it upon his wife made him feel nothing but hollow
inside, and increasingly lonely.

He chanced to meet Angeline Weston
again backstage at the theatre recently, and the beautiful blonde
hardly batted an eyelash as he engaged her for a later assignation.
He was determined to get on with his life now.

Angeline was delighted to have such a
handsome, well-titled gentleman seeking her favors. Gabriel could
hardly complain of her performances on stage or in his bed. She was
delighted to become his mistress.

The home and gifts he lavished upon her
were accepted by her with the grasping intent he had learned to
expect. He faced his future without bitterness. He accepted that
happiness was never to be his.

~ ~ ~

Catherine didn’t know what awoke her.
She had no wish to get up and even investigate the matter. Martha
had forced her to eat earlier, seeing signs of the depression that
came and went. She very much wished to be alone to grieve her
husband.

Nicholas would chide her for laying
about moping over his death, she knew. Her despair was a dark
living thing now inside of her. Her days were spent missing him,
her nights spent alone and shrinking in their bed.

The noise became more evident the
longer she was awake. Scratching at the window was obvious. She sat
up and her hand went to her throat. Her nerves over her husband’s
murderers being after her now made her rise from the
bed.

Clothed in only her night rail she
peeked behind the drape, gasping to see a man there trying to pry
the window lock on the outside. A scream filled her throat and she
backed away, intending to run until she backed into a sold wall of
flesh.

The scream in her throat died as a hand
clamped over her mouth. Her terrified eyes looked up and saw the
handsome and dangerous form of Caspian Roth standing in her
bedroom. His coolly amused green eyes met hers intently. His
sensual lips curved into a smile as he drew her quickly away from
the window.

“
Do not scream, Catherine.
That fellow out there will hear you and run off again,” the crime
lord whispered at her ear. “I have much to ask him, like who has
hired him for one.”

He removed his hand and she backed
away, eyes wide. “How did you know?”

Caspian shrugged. “Your husband
entrusted your safety to me before he met his sad end,” the man
whispered back. “It is most troubling why these nobles would see
you as a threat, but they obviously do, to hire such
ruffians.”

“
Are you going to deal with
the man or not?” Catherine snapped under her breath, hearing the
man’s continued scratching at her window, wondering why her elegant
protector seemed in no hurry to stop him. “You mean to allow him
inside?”

Caspian smiled with deceptive
pleasantness, his charming smile sure to melt any woman’s heart.
“He did go to such trouble, my sweet. We will let him finish. He
has companions who wait on the street, no doubt. Not a good idea to
let them think he failed. My men will deal with them, so no
worries. I must say, you look well, Catherine. Mourning does not
suit you, though.”

She became aware she wore nothing but
her night gown, blushing in embarrassment to see Roth’s eyes glued
to her neckline where her breasts strained against the fabric.
Feeling the man’s eyes upon her made her conscious of the fact they
were alone in her room, with an assailant outside her
window.

Catherine tiptoed over to the divan and
snatched up her dressing robe. She was disgusted by Caspian’s look
of disappointment when she was adequately covered from his
gaze.

“
Motherhood agrees with you
as well, sweets,” he noted and smiled smugly at her glare. “Come
now, it is the least you could do is pretend to appear pleased I’m
here. I do have such fondness for you, and Nicky was my
friend.”

“
The time to visit is at an
acceptable hour, sir,” she reminded him softly, looking at the
window in concern. “You might have shown your presence when I
stayed at your house.”

Caspian smiled and rolled his eyes.
“Running a criminal empire is taxing, dear lady. I have neglected
my music enough watching over you these last months.”

“
Months?” she asked in
surprise, knowing he was out there all along, keeping close watch
over her. “I only just became aware of Lord Dartmouth’s unknown
accomplice as a threat. May I ask how long they have wanted me
dead?”

“
Since your husband’s
funeral, to be precise.”

Catherine felt sick to know she was so
transparent in her disgust for Lord Rudd that day, knowing she had
warned him she knew everything just by her reaction to him. She
couldn’t help it. Seeing the man at her husband’s funeral, knowing
what he did to him, was too much for her.

“
That long?”

“
Actually, I would say they
planned to kill you both when the coach exploded, but failed to get
to you that day,” Caspian replied rather sourly. “They are nothing
if not tenacious, would you not agree?”

“
Yes, it would appear
so.”

“
Have no worries. I will
deal with the man shortly,” Caspian said with a grim smile. “You
might wish to leave the room.”

“
No, I would know who does
this and why.”

“
We both know the ‘who’ of
it,” he whispered in amusement and winked down at her. “It is
definitely Lord Rudd who held the strings before he graciously
died. The ‘why’ of it makes me have more patience here. He is dead,
yet they still come for you.”

“
Do you think you will learn
anything from his hireling?” she asked doubtfully.

“
One never knows. I won’t be
too hasty in killing him. I’ll give him to my men who wait at your
back door to question the chap. It will amuse them.”

Catherine grew pale, realizing this man
was quite dangerous, even if he was her champion. He killed people
for a living. She had to remind herself, despite his handsome face
and glib tongue. He might be on her side in this, but he was no
better than the man at the window.

True, she had always found him
immensely attractive. If she had not known what he did for a
living, she might have flirted with him. The fact was; she found
him rivetingly exciting the moment she met him.

Nicholas teased her about her
attraction to dangerous men. They spent a rousing day in bed after
Roth left the day she met him. She blushed to recall how heated the
encounter was, stimulated by Roth’s charismatic
presence.

Having him here now under these
circumstances made her aware she still found him wildly exciting in
a primitive way that unnerved her. Recalling what lie beneath his
dark clothing made her wet her lips and look away from
him.

He wore his lustrous dark red hair
long, held back in a black leather silk tie. His powerful build
wasn’t as large as her husband but she knew he was raw sinew and
muscle under his dark garb.

The classically handsome planes of his
face were perfect if not for a slight hook to his nose, obviously
broken at one time. The look in his eyes was knowing, aware of how
please a woman. Catherine felt more than a little aware this man
was far more of a danger to her than the one who still scratched at
the window to get inside.

She was annoyed the man was so inept
and took so long to break in, but in truth, it was because standing
in her bedroom with Caspian Roth was far too exciting. It brought
on fresh waves of guilt. She should not be thinking about another
man while her husband lay cold in his grave only a few
months.

Just thinking about Nicholas made tears
brighten her gaze. Even in death, he protected her. Seeking Roth
out once more before he died made her aware of how deeply loved she
was. Her lustful thoughts of Roth made her aware of her loneliness
only too well.

“
The man’s an idiot!” Roth
complained in a soft hiss, looking bored and crossing his arms over
his chest. “We could have enjoyed a rousing game of chess while we
wait for him to get in.”

Catherine giggled then and earned a
warning look from Roth.

“
Quiet, sweets, you’re not
out of harm’s way yet.”

She couldn’t help it. The giggles were
uncontrollable. She held a hand over her mouth trying to be quiet
as the man outside the window continued to struggle.

“
Should we help him, do you
think?” she said in a whisper and clapped her hand over her mouth
to keep from dissolving into peals of laughter.

Caspian looked incensed at her
merriment. “You’re a disobedient little minx, Catherine. Quiet
please!”

She sobered but her lips twitched as
the man finally lifted up the window pane. She would have been dead
to have slept through such racket. Her demeanor became serious as a
dark clad figure stole into the room, the firelight revealing a
blade he removed from his vest, moving to the bed. The bed hangings
were drawn, so he had no way of knowing she wasn’t in bed, or see
them standing at the foot.

Caspian left her where she was and
moved as silent as a large cat. He had the man by the throat and
his arm was about his neck within seconds. The man struggled
briefly, but the pressure on his neck soon caused him to go lax. He
promptly passed out.

Caspian picked up the blade he dropped
on the floor and stuck it in his waistband. He dragged the man by
his arms toward the door. He smiled at her quite charmingly as he
passed. “If you would be so kind to get the bedroom door, sweets,”
he asked. “I will remove this brigand and take him to my
men.”

Catherine jumped to comply, eyes wide
as Caspian dragged the man out of her room and down the hall to the
servant’s stairs. Too wound up to sleep, she paced, agitated now
and questioning the sanity of remaining in London.

She was startled when the door opened,
revealing Roth had returned. He went and checked the window and
assured himself it was secure. He turned and his crystalline green
gaze met hers teasingly.

“
Now you can laugh all you
wish! Bloody damned woman! You would find enjoyment in this,” he
quipped and returned to her side. His green eyes met hers in sudden
concern. “Are you going to be alright? You’re not hysterical, are
you? Ah, what am I saying? You have been through this before, if I
recall.”

Catherine smiled at his words. “It gets
no easier knowing people continue to wish me dead.”

“
You’re a wealthy woman
now,” he said with a disgusted sigh. “Why do you stay? You could go
anywhere in the world if you wished.”

“
My son with Lord Iverleigh
is here,” she replied and frowned. “I could not leave
him.”