Wicked Proposition (59 page)

Caspian had long earned a reputation for being a
savior to these street children. They came in droves to get coins
for food or warm clothing when he was in residence. Even though he
moved every other week to another of his residences in the city,
they always managed to find him.

The small, dirty little boy showed little fear
when he stood before him, staring up at him with a sheen of tears
in his eyes.

“Ye gotta help me, Mister Roth,” he cried
brokenly, his dark eyes filling with tears he wiped away viciously.
“Ye gotta come and be quick, sir!”

“What seems to be the problem, Ezra?”

“A liedy was stayin’ with us fer o’ time,” Ezra
said tearfully. “A nice, pretty liedy, she is. She took care o’ us.
She saved me from Herbert, an’ Lester got’ er instead!”

Caspian looked deadly calm. He knew of Herbert
only too well. He had tormented the children in White Chapel for
years. The filthy slime sold children too brothels all over the
city. While the woman’s actions were brave, it landed her in
Lester’s grasp. Even Caspian knew what that meant. They rarely
snatched women off the streets anyone ever saw again.

“Where did he take her, Ezra?” Caspian asked,
his green eyes filling with cold, dark rage.

“Come on, we got ta hurry, Mr. Roth,” Ezra
pulled at his arm, his eyes pleading. “I’ll do whatever ye want!
I’ll steal fer ye the rest o’ me life, if I have ta, just save her
Mr. Roth!”

“Show me where they took her,” Caspian demanded
as he stood up and nodded to Ty, who ran ahead to get his coach,
and his pack of weapons.

###

Catherine felt the hair stand up on the back of
her neck as she sat reading in the library. She reached down in the
crack of the sofa for her cutlass hilt.

The weapon never left her side since the day her
son was born. Some awareness in her knew she was not alone. Her
eyes grew wary as she looked about the dark library.

She had only enough candles lit for reading.

The tapers made shapes dance upon the wall. She
gulped as she saw a shadow form. She slid back against the back of
the sofa as the shadow got much larger.

“Why are you not in bed, love?”

She relaxed in relief as Nicholas joined her,
concern in his eyes. His blue eyes were teasing as he saw the hilt
of her sword.

“You are starting to act like Natalia, wife, you
scare me,” he joked and kissed her softly as he sat next to
her.

Catherine hit him in his bare chest playfully.
“I am taking no chances, Nicholas. You wanted me to start taking
this whole thing more seriously, did you not?”

“I did not want you to live in fear, Catherine,”
he said soberly. “We have the matter well in hand.”

“I am being cautious!”

“Catherine, do not think I don’t know you sleep
with that thing under our bed,” he said gently and took her hands
between his. “Your safety is my only goal. Come to bed.”

Catherine looked up at him, her eyes softening.
He really was perfect for her. She had begun to realize that
lately, and more, much more. She wished to share that with him, to
alleviate any worry he had of her feelings for Gabriel.

After the day she snuck over to confront
Gabriel, she realized why the two of them would have never suited
one another in the long run.

Gabriel could have never accepted her flaws as
this man did. Nicholas knew her at her very worst, and still adored
her. He fought with her, challenged her, and appealed to her in
every way. Instead of closing himself off to her in anger, he
kissed her into silence, unlike the cold, unforgiving man she had
believed she loved once.

He was her life, her present, and her future.
She smiled in a sultry manner, knowing it was safe enough for them
to continue relations after their son was born. Her pulse quickened
as she put her hand upon his breech-clad thigh, her green eyes
darkening with desire.

“I noticed no one about on my way down here,
Nicholas,” she said huskily as she allowed her hand to stroke
further up his leg. “The library is not just for reading, my love.
There is also much to study here if you look further.”

Nicholas smiled as her hand reached further, his
loins tightening in response to her seductive exploration. He drew
her up on his lap and met her inviting look with a raised
eyebrow.

“You will have to show me what interests you
here, love,” he whispered, his hand already stealing up her
nightgown. “We can start in alphabetical order if you like.”

She giggled despite herself, and gave herself up
to exploring the secrets within the library. The tapers guided them
to the rows within the long shelves of books that lined the
room.

Catherine grew dizzy when they reached the
section under botany, her low, encouraging sighs and gasps filling
the room. She gave into the carnal desire Nicholas always sparked
within her, letting herself go.

Later, when they lay side by side upon the floor
under the section for gardening, she stroked his hair softly as he
lay naked next to her.

“I love you, Nicholas,” she whispered as she met
his blue eyes with a certainty he had never seen in them before. “I
know you think there is some feeling in my past that holds me back
now, but it is no longer there.”

Nicholas was too overwhelmed by her words to do
anything but bring her hand to his lips. He kissed each finger
lingering.

“I have no regrets, no doubts, no more ghosts,
my love,” she said with love shining in her eyes. “You are first in
my heart, for always.”

“Catherine-,” he began, but she put her finger
to his lips, cutting off whatever he would say.

She met his gaze solemnly. “No, it needs to be
said. You think I would not want what we have right now if I could
have what I lost long ago. I would not go back if I could, my love.
Maybe that bullet made me the person I needed to be, to realize you
are the one for me. For that, I have no regrets.”

Nicholas felt relief fill him at her words. He
felt released from the persistent fears that dogged his every
waking moment. He had lain awake at night brooding she had some
lingering feelings for Gabriel still.

He pitied Gabriel now for losing her love.
Nicholas knew Gabriel’s taking her son and her brothers away from
her had made her see him in a quite different light. He kissed her
fingers. She had truly opened her eyes to everything now.

“I waited for you to realize this,” he informed
her knowingly as he drew her to his chest, dropping a kiss upon her
nose. “Sometimes I thought you would always put me second in your
life, thinking you were cheated somehow by the fates.”

“Fate blessed me the night you found me,
Nicholas,” she said tearfully and buried her face into his hard
chest. “That is the truth of it, my love. Do not ever doubt
it.”

He sighed and held her, closing his eyes, his
arms tightening around her.

“I learned much on this tour of the library
tonight, love,” he whispered softly against her hair. “What do you
say we put a bed down here? Do you think the servants would be
horrified by it?”

She giggled as she looked up at him with love in
her eyes. “I think they expect such from us, my love.”

“We have come to the section under animal
husbandry, my love,” he breathed against her throat, his lips
creating gooseflesh across her neck. “Shouldn’t that have been
under the A’s and not the H’s?”

“We could move it down there if you like,” she
replied silkily. She pressed herself to him boldly.

“I would like to explore this topic further,” he
said as he purred and growled loudly at her ear, making her eyes
widen in delight.

###

Lord Dartmouth kicked the body off the edge of
the dock with little regret. He watched Lord Seaton disappear under
the dark water.

He glared down at the body as it floated for a
time, before it sunk below the waterline. It had been more than
necessary.

Seaton had told the one person outside their
group who had the power to destroy them all. The decision to kill
Seaton had been unanimous. They had all agreed, with the exception
of Lady Iverleigh, who was not there this night when they met. He
felt he could safely cast her vote.

The others would relax now, knowing Seaton could
unburden himself no more over his part in Nan’s death. The younger
man refused to believe himself responsible in the death of the
prostitute.

Seaton believed himself safer than the rest of
them. He felt safe enough to consider going to the authorities, to
relieve his conscience.

Dartmouth spat into the water below, annoyed he
had been assigned the task of ridding the group of Seaton. They all
thought themselves too good to dirty their hands.

His lips tightened to think they dumped such
tasks upon him now. He killed to release his own inner torments,
not for the whims of the nobles who saw someone in their way.

He thought of the gift Yvetta had for him
waiting in the cellar and smiled. He walked away from the docks and
got back into his coach.

###

Caspian snuck stealthily around back of the
brothel. He heard music within and laughter. He tensed when a maid
appeared out back of the kitchen door to dump bottles and rubbish
before disappearing back inside.

He scanned the dark doorway for signs of Lester
or Harry. He crept farther until he arrived at the door to the
cellars, seeing it was locked from the outside.

Caspian fished in the satchel over his shoulder
for the tools to cut the lock from the door. He worked quickly,
conscious he had little time.

Night had fallen. He had watched the gentlemen
arriving. Thoughts of Ezra’s lady filled him with grim
determination. Anyone who showed these children any kindness at all
was worthy of his rescuing them, as far as he was concerned.

He grew frustrated when the lock held. He knew
he was losing valuable minutes. He breathed a sigh of relief when
the old, rusty lock gave out at last.

Tossing it aside he pushed the creaky door open,
gazing into the gloomy darkness for some sign of the woman. His
eyes adjusted to the dark quickly as he made his way down the stone
steps.

He retrieved a small taper in his satchel and
lit it. He felt rage to see the half-dozen cages there, filled with
round-eyed children who backed away from the cage doors in
fright.

His heart beat frantically in his own ears as he
moved closer. The children whimpered, making him curse the scum who
catered to such perversions in the world.

Caspian’s dark thoughts recalled what had
happened to Nicholas, and many more children he grew up with on the
streets. He decided he could not leave these children to their
fates.

He unlocked each cage, holding his finger to his
lips to silence them, his gaze holding theirs. Most of them knew
him, thankfully, and did not cry out.

They were kept drugged and naked in their cages,
and most cringed away when he reached for them to pull them
out.

“Where is the lady who was brought down here
today?” he whispered to the most lucid child.

The little girl looked up at him adoringly as he
tucked a ragged blanket from her cage around her bare shoulders.
She pointed to the corner, her eyes round.

Caspian made sure he retrieved every child he
could find before he retreated to find the woman, holding the taper
aloft.

Caspian saw her huddled upon the stone floor,
bound and beaten severely. She was unconscious, her head turned to
the side, her long braid dangling down her back.

He felt for a pulse at her neck, and drew back
in shock at how hot she was to his touch. She was burning up with a
fever too, he noted grimly.

Caspian could hardly make out her features in
the dark, but he was certain this was the lady Ezra spoke of.

He swung her up in his arms and gestured to the
children to follow him. They followed Caspian up the stone steps
like he was the Pied Piper, huddling under their ragged blankets,
their expressions filled with gratitude.

Ty met Caspian at the side of the brothel, his
expression grim to see the half dozen children and unconscious
woman in his arms. Rage filled the giant’s eyes. Caspian smiled
grimly.

“I got them all, Ty,” he assured him and the
giant relaxed visibly. “Let’s get them out of here before they are
missed.”

Caspian carried the unconscious woman in his
arms to his coach, parked blocks down the dark alleyway they
travelled.

Caspian’s eyes burned with an inner fury. He
longed to go back and kill every last one of them. He was shocked
at his loss of composure. His cold methodical control was what made
him the best at what he did.

Seeing the children locked in the cages had
driven him to near bloodlust. He was shaking by the time they got
to the coach.

Ty helped all the children inside; conscious
most were drugged and unaware of their surroundings. Ezra was
crying in relief as Caspian hefted his burden up inside the coach.
The little boy gazed at him gratefully as he cuddled up to the
woman, looking down at her adoringly.

Caspian’s wicked heart softened to see Ezra’s
expression. It was clear the woman had impressed the hard-edged
pick pocket, no easy feat at all.

Ty settled the children within and took his seat
upon the perch with the driver. The horses whinnied nervously as
they drew away from the alley.

The coach light cast eerie shadows within the
cab. Caspian eyed the woman lying among the children curiously. He
would send for a doctor for her when they returned to his current
residence. He didn’t like the signs of the fever, or her ragged
breathing.

Caspian didn’t question the kindness he did this
night, knowing it was unlike him. He had hardened himself to the
realities of what most of these children faced, growing up as he
had.