Wicked Proposition (54 page)

“This should be our last night out until after
the child is born,” he assured her and smiled. “Miss Hamilton is
meeting Tieghan if you must know. We go for him. Does that make it
easier for you?”

Catherine felt her anger melt away. She
encouraged Tieghan’s interest in anyone but her maid these days.
She did not mention what she already knew to her husband.

Elise had not had to confide in her for her to
realize why the girl was ill so often of late. Teighan was to be a
father.

“Miss Hamilton has done an about face,”
Catherine remarked snidely.

“Tieghan can be most persuasive when he wants
something.”

Catherine gnashed her teeth, wanting to say
something spiteful. She knew it was none of her affair, but she
felt protective of her maid.

Teighan had certainly abandoned Elise, as she
feared he would. He was out with Miss Hamilton nearly every other
evening, while poor Elise took to her bed.

“Let us hope he treats Miss Hamilton better than
he has my maid!”

Nicholas rolled his eyes and ignored her waspish
comment. He refused to indulge Catherine’s temper of late and
ignored her surly moods.

“Didn’t you ask me to intervene months ago and
ask him to leave Miss Grey alone?” Nicholas couldn’t help but ask.
“Now you are angry at the man for doing so. I do not understand
your logic, Catherine.”

Catherine simmered and ignored her husband. She
narrowed her eyes at him in her mirror as she put the final touches
on her hair, missing Elise’s expert styling.

Nicholas grinned to see her expression. His wife
would not admit she was wrong in her persistent vilifying of
Teighan over his affair with her maid.

“Let us go and get this over with,” she snapped
as she rose and allowed him to button up the back of her gown. “My
feet already ache and I’m in no mood for these people tonight.”

Nicholas smiled and dropped a kiss on his wife’s
shoulder. “We will not be long, I promise.”

###

Elise stared at her reflection in the mirror,
loathing herself for continuing this masquerade. The ball gown was
a lovely shade of lilac. She worked violet silk flowers into the
sable wig.

Elise had no choice what she would do tonight.
She tucked the pistol in her reticule. She merely had to get close
enough to Sullivan to kill him.

She ran out of time. She overheard Captain Van
Ryker talking in his study with Tieghan, and knew they hunted
Sullivan too. All she had heard was his intent to run, and she
became motivated to act.

Killing the man had seemed easy enough, but her
hands shook as she repeatedly checked to make sure the weapon was
loaded. She took a deep breath and grabbed her valise.

She sagged with relief as she heard the coach
leaving, knowing the Van Ryker’s had finally left for the evening.
She pled illness nearly every night she went out to hunt Sullivan,
knowing Tieghan kept an eye on the man and they were likely to be
anywhere he was.

Her disguise as Miss Hamilton made that all
possible. She frowned when she thought of the funds she had to pay
the aged chaperone each night she joined him.

Her finances were sorely depleted but she was
closer to meeting her objective. It had to be tonight. She would
kill Sullivan and be done with this farce once and for all.

Elise Grey would resign her post.

She would leave for America then. Her heart hurt
to know she could not go with Tieghan. He had asked her to leave
with him only once. No offer of marriage, no declaration of love,
just an extension of what she already was to him. She emphatically
refused.

Tieghan was angry at her refusal. She locked him
out of her room, and dared him to expose her now. He did not. He
went away without a fight, and sought out Miss Hamilton.

If it were not so ridiculous to be jealous; she
would not have been so miserable to know Tieghan had left her for
another of her characters. Tonight the charade would end.

Tieghan did not appear happy as he stood with
Miss Hamilton near the buffet tables, trying to listen to her
chatter and not think about Elise’s rejection.

Catherine and Nicholas were talking with Miss
Wentworth’s parents, both appearing concerned to learn Agnes was
still missing. Nicholas felt badly for the pretty young debutante
that had given them directions to the dressmaker’s shop months
before. The abduction sounded similar to the one done to Nan. He
could almost bet Miss Wentworth found herself sold into the sex
trade. He would make it a point to go and speak with Constance soon
to discover where the missing girl was. The abduction was one of
many lately.

Nicholas watched Lilly enter with Gabriel’s
former nemesis. He felt Catherine stiffen at his side.

“Catherine, do not betray one facial expression
or you give it all away,” he warned her under his breath.

“I think I can manage, Nicholas,” she fumed, her
face growing red, a frown puckering her brow.

He chuckled and looked to where Sullivan stood
with Lord Rudd and his cronies. “I am glad this is almost over,
wife. You wear yourself upon your sleeve for all to see.”

Catherine made a face at him. “I dare her to
approach me again. I am in no mood to play tonight, Nicholas. Be
warned.”

Nicholas hid a smile, keeping a careful eye on
Lilly and Lord Lyndon as they made the rounds. It was clear to see
Lilly had survived the gossip surrounding her the previous year.
Being seen with Lyndon only improved her popularity now. He found
it nauseating how people deferred to Lyndon.

Christian Bane was fast becoming a leader among
the elite ton. The Marquis was above reproach and given his
romantic foibles with Gabriel years before, he was seen as some
sort of romantic hero to every swooning debutante he passed.

Gabriel kept his distance from them all,
Nicholas saw. Mrs. Hart appeared a bit withdrawn at his side
tonight. Nicholas pitied her. He knew Gabriel tired of her already.
Annabelle was rumored to be the object of Dartmouth’s interest now
that Gabriel’s attentions waned.

Nicholas observed Tieghan and Miss Hamilton and
wanted to laugh at how miserable his friend appeared. The rejection
by Miss Grey was taken hard by him.

“Tell me again why it was so important we come
tonight?”

“It won’t be long, love,” he soothed, squeezing
her arm.

Lilly wasted little time in making contact with
Sullivan. The pair disengaged themselves from their companions,
heading out to the gardens separately. Tieghan excused himself from
Miss Hamilton, but was waylaid in his efforts to follow the pair.
He was forced to endure a group of matrons who fawned over him
adoringly.

Lilly and Sullivan had gotten away from Tieghan
for the moment. Nicholas fumed as he watched. He wasn’t leaving his
wife’s side. He looked down and saw Catherine frowning in the
direction the pair went.

“I will be alright, Nicholas,” she said as her
eyes met his. “You must follow them.”

“I will not leave you here alone,” Nicholas said
stubbornly and she didn’t argue. “Tieghan will find them and try to
learn what they are up to.”

Catherine felt relief to know her husband was
staying by her side. She could no longer stomach the looks they
received, knowing what they meant now. They were an object of
interest, nothing more.

###

“What is it you want, Thomas?” Lilly asked in
annoyance. They walked among the Billingsley garden in the dark,
with only a few torches in the ground along the path to light the
way. They came to a garden bench and Lilly sat down in a huff.

“I see your sister is still alive. You might
wish to consider finding another assassin, my dear, and not another
lover,” he pointed out tightly as he stood before her, his face
tense.

“If she had any plan to expose us, she would
have done so by now,” Lilly said coolly and shrugged. “My man
waits, but they guard her closely. Sooner or later, he will get
her.”

“She knows everything and you sit here calmly,”
Thomas sneered in disgust, kicking the stones on the path.

“Who would believe her, Thomas? She has no proof
of anything! I know my husband. If he knew what I had done, there
would be no place for either of us to hide! Look what he did to my
former lover? Lyndon is missing an arm, and not because my husband
missed his mark! He wanted to maim Christian, not kill him!”

“Your arrogance will not save your neck now,
Lilly.”

“You are growing paranoid, Thomas,” she said
silkily. “Perhaps you should try living more honestly in the
future. You have no stomach for what needs to be done anymore.”

“They play you! Your husband, the dwarf, even
Van Ryker! You refuse to see it!”

“That’s absurd! If they knew, we would both be
in prison or hung!”

“You did not break into my office, did you
Lilly?” he asked suddenly with a worrisome frown. “You were telling
me the truth of that?”

“What reason would I have to break into your
office, Thomas?” she snarled and glared up at him. “This
conversation is ridiculous!”

“Someone broke in,” he said tightly. “They found
the diary and the list!”

“You were supposed to destroy it!” she said
venomously, her eyes narrowing. “You kept that thing to hold it
over me! And now it is that which will get you caught!”

“If I go down, so do you, my dear,” Thomas
informed her harshly.

“Thomas, I am weary of this sloppiness of
yours!” Lilly fumed darkly as she sat upon the garden bench to
think. “Who do you think has my mother’s diary now?”

“I have some thoughts, none which would please
you.”

“Thomas, you must finish your business and be on
your way,” she said tightly, her blue eyes filled with scorn. “The
longer you delay, the more risk to us both.”

“Lord Rudd is drafting his investment next week.
The others as well,” Thomas replied smugly. “If all goes well, I
will be gone within the next week. You, however, will still be
here, Lady Iverleigh.”

“My husband has banished me to one of his
estates,” she informed him tightly. “I have been informed I am to
be sent to Amberley in three days.”

“A pity it is so far away, whatever will you do
without Bane by your side?”

“Christian has decided to help me rid myself of
my husband,” she said with a glimmer of relish in her gaze. “Have
no worries, I will be back.”

“I want the woman dead before I leave, Lilly,”
he said warningly. “I want no lose ties to follow me when I
go.”

Lilly considered Thomas’s words. “It appears we
have a dilemma then, Thomas.”

“Yes, it appears we do.”

“I must think on this,” she said thoughtfully.
“Allow me to contact the man I hired. I will send word to you.”

Thomas watched her leave the gardens, feeling a
sense of frustration. Lilly had not lied to him about not having
the diary. He brooded to think of who held the evidence of his
identity.

He did not sense a presence behind him.

“You have much to answer for, Mr. Sullivan,” a
cryptic voice said at his back.

Thomas spun around and stared at the comely
brunette in the lilac ball gown, a look of panic in his eyes.

“Who are you?” Thomas replied, seeing the pistol
pointed at him.

“A friend to James and Madeline,” was the cold
reply. “You remember them, don’t you? The ones you betrayed to
become Edward Thornton?”

“What is it you want?” Thomas said as he backed
away, his brown eyes growing worried.

“Madeline was my sister, Mr. Sullivan,” Elise
replied coldly as she held the gun trained upon him. “Is it not
obvious what I want?”

“We can work something out,” Thomas babbled as
he backed away, sweat forming on his forehead. “I can give you
their share of the money. Would that not be fair?”

“No, I think not.”

Thomas stared at the gun, and then met the
woman’s calm eyes. “You cannot kill me, my dear. Over two hundred
witnesses are beyond those trees. You will not get away with
it.”

“Oh, I think I will, Mr. Sullivan,” Elise said
as she advanced on him. “You are not the only one with an extra
identity here.”

“Miss Sinclair, put down the gun,” Thomas said
in a reasonable tone. “Let us discuss this.”

“What do we discuss, Thomas?” Elise jeered, her
hazel eyes narrowing. “Do we discuss how you tipped off the
authorities and had James arrested and hung for your crimes? Or do
we discuss you having Madeline butchered to make it look like Lady
Catherine Dunleavy was dead?”

“It would appear you are very well informed,
Miss Sinclair,” Thomas said coldly.

“I had little trouble finding you, Thomas,” she
said tightly. “You made a few mistakes back in Dublin before you
left.”

“Mistakes, what mistakes? What do you mean?”
Thomas demanded, trying to delay the girl shooting him. His mind
scrambled to recall what evidence he might have left behind.

“Mrs. O’Flaherty, for one,” Elise replied and
saw him tense. “She lived long enough to tell the dwarf all he
needed to know. I only had to follow the man back to London to find
you.”

“She is dead! Nothing can be proven!”

“You ticketed Lady Catherine under Madeline’s
name, Thomas,” Elise said and smiled mockingly. “I know because I
followed the dwarf to the shipping office. I saw it for myself.
They are all on to you, and that murderous bitch you work
with.”

Thomas panicked. He knew real fear now. He
cursed himself for not trusting his own instincts to flee. It was
obvious the detective was investigating him. He felt the manacles
closing around his wrists as he backed away.

“What is it you want from me, Miss
Sinclair?”

“I wanted you to hang for what you’ve done,”
Elise snapped as she advanced towards him. “A pity they cannot
prove you had Lord and Lady Dunleavy killed, as well as Madeline. I
decided I would have my own justice.”