Wicked Proposition (42 page)

Nicholas opened the door and limped out of the
study, past the shocked servants who stood listening in the foyer.
He staggered by, ignoring the gaping servants.

Nicholas nodded to Maggie, who wept as she
watched him let himself out. Nicholas stood on the stoop and cursed
softly at Gabriel’s parting words, knowing he meant what he
said.

His chest tightened at the thought of Catherine
leaving him for Gabriel, preferring to go back to being the man’s
mistress to being his wife. He had known this day would come. He
descended the stone steps to his waiting coach.

###

“I can see that went well,” Tieghan remarked
sarcastically as he applied salve to Nicholas’s swollen eyes.

Catherine was napping and did not see him arrive
home bloodied, broken, and disheveled. Tieghan took advantage of
his inattention. Before Nicholas could think about it, he gave his
nose a cruel twist to pop it back in place.

Nicholas let out a muffled cry and held his
throbbing nose. He eyed his companion with a scowl.

“I have a new respect for the English,” Tieghan
declared and laughed heartily. “The Earl packs a mean punch.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you!” Nicholas
agreed sourly, feeling every bit of those punches all over his body
at the moment. “He has agreed to say nothing to her until the child
is born,” Nicholas muttered darkly and eyed his bruised hand
wrapped in the bandage ruefully. “It is more than I can ask.”

“He is right, you know,” Tieghan said testily as
he felt Nicholas’s ribcage and frowned. “She will not thank you for
this. You should have told her what you knew before you married
her.”

“It was the chance I took,” Nicholas argued, and
refused to believe Tieghan sided with Gabriel. “She is having my
child, may I remind you? Given her condition, I don’t feel it is
the right time to tell her anything that would upset her.”

“There will never be a right time,” Tieghan said
wisely and inspected his other wounds and found them less severe
than the others. “You are deliberately keeping this from her
because you are afraid, my friend. You must have more faith in your
wife. She doesn’t strike me as the type of woman to leave her
husband and child for an old lover. She will be angry for a time,
but she was born a lady. She will do her duty.”

Nicholas scowled darkly and said nothing.
Tieghan bound his ribs tightly, proudly declaring three of them
broken before he left him alone with his thoughts.

Nicholas leaned back sorrowfully upon the sofa
in the study and nursed his swollen jaw, wondering how the Earl
fared after their bout. He drank the brandy gratefully and hung his
head when he thought of his wife. Tieghan was wrong.

When Catherine discovered Gabriel had her son,
she would do anything to get the boy back, even if it meant
becoming his mistress once more. Nicholas had chosen not to share
that news with Lord Iverleigh, not wanting to give him the upper
hand in stealing his wife from him.

###

Gabriel allowed Maggie to nurse his wounds and
ignored her clucking sounds as she cleaned his battered face with
antiseptic. He yelped loudly and cursed sharply at the stinging
sensation. She glared down at him, but said nothing.

Gabriel’s foot was indeed broken, both eyes so
swollen he could only see through slits. He knew at least four of
his fingers to be broken as well. The gash in his cheek and
forehead required stitches to close.

Gabriel felt like he had been run over by hack.
He could tell Maggie wanted to say something. Given the fact that
every servant in his home knew what he and Nicholas argued over, he
felt her opinion better served to his face.

“You think I should just walk away and let him
have her, don’t you?” Gabriel snapped as she removed splinters from
his head where he had hit the desk.

“She is his wife, my lord,” Maggie said and
shook her head sadly. “People do not always do the right thing when
they are in love. Captain Van Ryker saw an opportunity and he took
it. Perhaps both of you should consider it is not either of your
choice to make now, but hers.”

“He betrayed me Maggie! Do not defend him to me!
He tricked her into marrying him! He gave her no choice,” Gabriel
said stubbornly, refusing to give Nicholas any benefit of the
doubt.

“What would you have done in his place, Lord
Iverleigh?” Maggie chided and raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

Gabriel thought of those words for a long time.
He sat upon the Persian rug and got drunk alone in his wreck of a
study. He lay down on the debris-littered floor, staring glumly at
the ceiling.

Gabriel hoped Nicholas was in as much physical
pain as he was. He wanted to hate him, but in truth, he could
not.

What would he have really done if their roles
had been reversed? Catherine was a desirable woman. Nicholas was no
saint. Neither was he, by any measure. Gabriel knew the moment
Nicholas set eyes upon Catherine that he had desired her as well.
Given her condition and the circumstances, Gabriel was not entirely
sure he would not have done the same. He damned Maggie for pointing
that out to him, for he dearly wanted to remain angry.

Gabriel had never had anything more to offer
Catherine except being his mistress. It was sad but true. Would
that ever be enough for any woman, even for the sake of love? He
doubted it. Discovering she was his sister-in-law now, as well as
his ward, had changed everything in the eyes of the world. He
hardly came to terms with that blow only to discover she was alive
and married to his best friend.

Gabriel remembered the days they had spent
together with bittersweet pain. He thought of the nights in her
arms and her cries of love and passion. He hung his head in sorrow,
loving her still with the same burning intensity. He knew he had no
right to her then, or now for that matter. It was madness. He was
married to her sister. Now she belonged to Nicholas. Like it or
not, she was forever out of his reach.

Common sense told him to walk away, to lick his
wounds and enjoy the charms of Annabelle Hart. A sane, honorable
man would do the right thing and step aside. A pity he no longer
cared about doing what was right.

###

Catherine was giving him a look that he could
feel singe the edges of the newspaper. Nicholas put the paper down
and contemplated her.

She was fuming. Her narrowed gaze was spitting
green fire at him ever since she saw his injuries. Then she became
furious when he refused to tell her who he had fought with.

“It was not important who I fought with,” he
said once more as he met her gaze evenly. “You should not concern
yourself with it. I am fine, my dear, I assure you.”

“You have broken ribs, a broken hand, and a
broken nose!” she wailed. “You are not fine! What happened, you
must tell me. Was it Tieghan who did this?” she cried in outrage.
“I will skewer that man with my blade in training this day!” And
then tears coursed down her cheeks as she began to sob in
earnest.

Nicholas rose and went to her, careful of his
swollen hand. He wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. He
winced as she thrust herself against his injured ribs.

“It was not Tieghan, I can assure you,” he said
dropping a kiss upon her brow. “You do not know him, foul bastard
that he was. He took me unawares, and then he pummeled me. I gave
it as good as I got. I can assure you he looks just as bad as I
do.”

“I hope he looks worse than you, my love,” she
said fiercely as she buried her face in his chest. “I was so
scared! I couldn’t bear to lose you, Nicholas. You must promise to
be more careful.”

Nicholas closed his eyes as she nuzzled his
chest and reached up to bring his lips to hers. She kissed him
hungrily and soon all thoughts of his pain subsided.

Catherine drew back and walked away and pulled
him with her, looking at him naughtily over her shoulder as she
made towards the stairs.

“I think you should be in bed for the rest of
the day, husband,” she said boldly and the sultry glance she gave
him made his blood boil as he followed her eagerly up to their
room. “I need to examine you from head to toe to be sure you don’t
have some injury you may not be aware of.”

Nicholas sighed later as his nurse lay dozing
across his thighs, her long black hair blanketing his hips. She had
examined every inch of him. He closed his eyes in delight, feeling
hardly any pain at all as his good hand stroked her silky
curls.

Catherine sighed and looked up at him, her
satisfied expression made him chuckle. He pulled her up into the
crook of his arm and stroked her rounding abdomen.

Nicholas felt the child move suddenly and sat up
in wonder. He looked at her belly in excitement, his blue eyes
glowing as he bent and kissed it gently. He placed his hand upon
her abdomen and smiled tenderly as he was kicked again.

She wanted to stay in this moment forever. He
gazed at her lovingly and tears brightened her eyes as she snuggled
closer to him. They slept for a time and soon she realized he was
getting up. She reached for him and pulled him back to her.

“I am cured, wife, your loving attention has
healed me,” Nicholas proclaimed. He thought he would rise and get
out of bed. The determined look in those green eyes made him lie
back down beside her with a resigned sigh.

“I shall decide when you are cured, husband,”
she said and kissed his bruised cheek. “I may have missed some
areas.”

Mrs. Gates had no choice but to go back to
London. She didn’t make enough money in the village to support
herself and the child.

Angel was a good girl and rarely fussed. Her big
blue eyes, so like her father’s perhaps, looked up at her
trustingly as she packed their meager belongings. She had enough
saved to see them to London and secure lodgings. With any luck, the
rest would see them through until she secured employment. She no
longer feared the Countess was looking for her. It had been two
years. She had kept her part of the bargain. She had done whatever
she could to atone for her sins against the child’s mother.

She assisted the poor, the infirm, and any other
in need. There wasn’t a Sunday her and the child didn’t walk the
mile into the village to attend services. She fairly doted upon the
child. Mrs. Gates looked at the baby solemnly as her lips quivered
and she looked away.

The little girl looked so much like her mother,
it hurt to look at her and remember that horrific night. She had
her same black curls. The tiny features showed the promise of
someday sharing the same great beauty of her mother as well.

Mrs. Gates hurriedly packed the rest of their
things and looked down at the little girl and smiled.

“Come, my Angel, it’s time to go,” she said
brightly. She held out her arms to the little girl who giggled and
ran to her. Tears filled her eyes as she hefted her heavy satchel
and led the child out of their cottage.

###

Gabriel used a cane and hobbled around on his
foot for days and cursed Nicholas. He looked into the mirror as he
shaved and thought he favored a raccoon with the two matching
black-eyes.

The servants gossiped incessantly about the
Earl’s mistress running off and marrying Captain Van Ryker. The
female servants were equally divided on which of the men they
favored.

Lord Iverleigh was conscious of their perusal
everywhere he went in the house now. The giggling women got stern
lectures from Maggie. Gabriel avoided company now, content to
wallow in his brandy and his memories of Catherine. His anger and
hurt over Nicholas’s betrayal fueled his rage.

Gabriel felt like he was waiting for something
to happen. That arrived that day in the tiny form of Myron
Chumley.

“Lord Iverleigh, you look deplorable!” the
little man said as he hopped upon a chair in his study and clucked
his tongue.

Gabriel gritted his teeth. “I feel
deplorable.”

“It appears we can say we have solved the matter
of both your ward and Miss Sinclair’s whereabouts these last two
years.”

Gabriel looked incensed but said nothing.

“Tieghan informed me of Mrs. Van Ryker’s
apparent memory loss as well.”

“She remembers nothing. The shooting saw to
that,” Gabriel said stiffly and ignored his throbbing foot and hand
for the moment.

“It is a wonder she survived, my lord,” Chumley
declared and appeared thoughtful. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I
know this is not what you wished for when you hired me to find
her.”

“Yes, well, it appears none of us got what we
wish,” Gabriel said grimly. “She cannot tell anyone what she knew
of Thornton, or my wife.”

Chumley frowned, his steely eyes troubled. “I
haven’t given up on discovering what happened to her during that
time, my lord.”

“Nor have I.”

“I wish to remain on the case a bit longer.”

“I was hoping you would.”

“Captain Van Ryker refuses to allow me to
question her,” Chumley added tightly.

“That does not surprise me,” Gabriel mused and
shrugged. “He has told her nothing of her past.”

“You are her guardian as well as her
brother-in-law, my lord,” Chumley inserted and sighed. “You could
force the issue. It is to her benefit we get to the bottom of this.
Sullivan is responsible for her parent’s deaths as well as the poor
woman in that crypt at Dunleavy.”

“I have agreed to leave the matter be until
their child is born,” Gabriel replied glumly and poured them both a
drink. He raised his glass, his swollen eyes filled with pain. “I
am to be an uncle, it seems.”

Chumley felt Lord Iverleigh’s pain. He could see
the man was hurting, both physically and emotionally learning his
lady was alive and well, and the wife of Nicholas now.

“Very well, I will leave the matter be for now,”
Chumley said reluctantly. “Miss Felicity has gone missing recently,
Lord Iverleigh.”