Shattered Dreams (18 page)

“At this moment I despise him more than I thought it was possible to hate anyone. Do you know how hard it’s been not to stand up and expose what he did to you?”

Harrison lifted his chin and laughed.

Cassie couldn’t resist the urge to cast a glance at the other end of the table to see Waverley’s reaction to Harrison’s laugh.

His face was tinged scarlet and the hand that rested on the white linen tablecloth was clenched into a tight fist.

“What happened to us, Cassie?”

Harrison’s question startled her and she slowly turned her gaze back to his. The look in his eyes was filled with such intensity the blood flowing through her veins warmed. “Nothing either one of us had the power to stop.”

“Do you think it’s possible for us to once again find what we shared?”

Her heart raced in her breast. “I don’t know. Perhaps.”

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, followed by a reassuring look filled with hopefulness. “Then I think we need to find out.”

Tears filled her eyes and his handsome features blurred in front of her. “Yes, I think we do.”

Harrison looked back down the long line of guests seated around the table. “But first we have a task to take care of. Are you ready?” He placed the napkin from his lap onto the table.

“Yes. I can’t wait to expose him.”

“Be sure to give Elly and Parneston time to get situated before you approach him.”

Cassie nodded as she studied Harrison’s face. “Are you all right? You seem a little paler than before.”

“I’m fine. It was only a scratch and Doctor Brunswich took good care of me.”

Cassie smiled, then leaned back in her chair.

The play was about to begin. She’d rehearsed what she intended to say for hours after she’d left Harrison and now it was time for her performance.

Harrison’s life depended on her success.

And so did his son’s.

Chapter 18

Cassie paused outside the formal dining room in a prearranged meeting with Jules and Amelia Hastings. Everything that happened was part of their well-devised plan. After dinner she was to talk to Jules and Amelia long enough to allow the other guests to enter the music room ahead of her. This would give Elly and the Duke of Parneston time to make their way to the small room where they’d be sure to overhear everything Jeremy Waverley said.

She wasn’t worried that Waverley would go in to the musicale without her. He hadn’t let her out of his sight all night and now he stood a few feet away feigning interest in one of the Fellingsdown ancestral paintings. He was biding his time until he could ask to escort her inside.

Now that she knew his true intentions, he was as easy to read as if he announced his next move. His underhanded maneuvers sickened her.

Suddenly, there wasn’t one thing she liked about him.

She finished her conversation with Jules and Miss Hastings, then let them walk away from her. She turned as if she were in a hurry to enter the music room, then paused when his voice stopped her.

“Cassandra.” He rushed to her side. “May I have the pleasure of sitting beside you during tonight’s entertainment?”

She turned and glared at him with all the hatred she’d stored inside her. “No, you may not.” She faced him squarely so he would realize the full impact of her hostility. “In fact, I’ve been searching for an opportunity to talk privately with you. I think right now would be the perfect time.” She spun away from him and headed toward the yellow drawing room.

She wasn’t worried he wouldn’t follow. Every move he made had one objective: to get her to rely on him while eliminating everyone who came between him and his ambitious goal of acquiring the Lathamton title and the land that would go with it.

Now she knew that not only included Harrison, but her son.

She fought to keep her knees from buckling beneath her. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to keep Andrew safe. That thought gave her the courage she needed to confront Jeremy.

She stormed down the hallway and passed the first door. It was dark inside as Harrison had guaranteed her it would be. So was the second room. But the third room was brightly lit. This was the drawing room where Harrison and the rest waited to overhear Jeremy’s confession.

She stepped inside.

Waverley followed, then closed the door behind him. The minute they were alone Cassie spun to face him. “What have you done?” she said in an accusing tone.

“Done? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He took one step toward her then another.

“Stay where you are!” She held up her hand to stop him. “I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

“You don’t mean that,” he said in a sickeningly smooth tone.

“Oh, I mean it. And more!” She took a step closer to the door behind which the Duke of Parneston hid. “I know what you did, Mr. Waverley. What I don’t understand, is what you thought to accomplish by something so devious?”

She called him Mr. Waverley on purpose, knowing how much he hated the degrading title. He never let her call him anything but his Christian name. Now she knew why. He would settle for nothing less than being called by his Christian name or the Lathamton title – a title he intended to acquire by murdering her son.

“I have no idea what you think I did.”

The gleam in his eyes told her getting a confession from him wouldn’t be easy. He was playing with her, hoping to make her doubt herself. But she wouldn’t. She had to stop him now or forever live in fear.

“I am not a fool, Mr. Waverley.”

“Stop calling me that! My name is Jeremy and that is what I choose to have you call me.”

“
I
choose to call you Mr. Waverley. And what
I
choose to do will be what happens.
I
am the Marchioness of Lathamton and my son is the Marquess.”

Cassie stiffened her spine and prepared to say what she knew would open the door to his admission. “Lathamton Estates belongs to my son and I want you to remove yourself from his property.”

She saw that her words took him totally by surprise. He reacted with more anger and fury than she’d imagined possible.

“No!” he bellowed. “Lathamton Estate is
mine
!
Mine
!

“It will
never
be yours.”

“It will. And so will
you
!”

Cassie laughed. She realized how furious he was and reached for every ounce of courage she possessed. Laughing in his face, however, achieved the objective she wanted. His glare hardened and his face turned a mottled red.

“Lathamton Estate has been mine since my uncle took me in.
I’m
the one who always took care of it.”

“Do you think that gave you the right of ownership?”

“I have more right to it than your weak husband did. Even my uncle realized that. If he hadn’t died so soon after Everett, he would have made sure I got it.”

“No,” Cassie said, raising her chin. “The title and the estates belong to my son.”

“Your son! He’ll
never
inherit Lathamton! I won’t allow it!”

He stopped. His face lost several shades of color. He knew he’d said too much.

Cassie focused all her fury on him. “From this moment on you will not step foot on Lathamton property except to collect your belongings. And you will be watched every moment you are there.”

He shook his head and smiled. “You don’t have the authority to enforce that, Cassandra.”

“Then I’ll find someone who will help me.”

“Who? Fellingsworth?”

Cassie didn’t respond. Threatening to evict Waverley had caused him to become dangerously agitated. She suspected it might not be safe to provoke him further.

“Do you think I don’t see what’s happening between the two of you?” He clamped his jaw so tightly the knots on either side of his face bulged. “Do you think I don’t realize you’ve fallen in love with him again?”

He took a step toward her. She wanted to run but she didn’t dare. She needed him as close to the room where Elly and Parneston hid as possible.

“Today was your warning, Cassie. Next time Fellingsdown won’t be so lucky. Next time instead of wounding him, I’ll kill him.”

“Do you intend to kill everyone I show an interest in?”

“I won’t allow you to ruin what I’ve spent my whole life working to achieve. Lathamton Estate will belong to me. I’ve managed every inch of it from the time my uncle took me in. I knew it was only a matter of time until it would be mine. Then the scandal broke out and I—”

Waverley stopped.

Cassie knew she should allow his partial sentence to go unfinished but she couldn’t. She was desperate to know what had happened that night. She needed to know why her father disinherited his only son and why he allowed his only daughter to be caught up in a scandal that was sure to ruin her life.

“What do you know about the scandal?” she asked, anxious - yet dreading to hear what happened.

Waverley smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile or an open smile, but a sinister grin.

“I know it all,” he said, taking another step toward her. “I know every single sordid detail. Which part would you like to hear first?”

She didn’t answer him. He enjoyed this and she knew he wouldn’t need prompting to continue.

“Should I tell you first why your father disinherited your brother and forced his only son to leave England? Or would you rather know the details of what happened to cause you and Everett to be discovered naked in each other’s arms?”

She reached out to steady herself against the wall. She wanted him to stop – Harrison would hear every revolting word of this, and yet,
she
needed to know.
She
needed answers to the questions that had plagued her for four years.

She looked up into Waverley’s eyes. He relished being the one to tell her every disgusting detail.

“Ah, I see you’d rather know what happened the night you and Everett were found together. I know you don’t remember because—”

His malicious grin broadened.

“You were drugged, my dear Cassandra. Both you and Everett. That was the only way the world would ever find Everett in bed with a woman...considering his abnormal preferences.”

Cassie thought she might become ill. She clutched her hand to her stomach and held tight. She wanted him to stop. She didn’t want to hear another word, yet knew she had to let him continue.

“You knew that, though. Didn’t you, my dear?”

She forced herself to glare at him as if his words didn’t destroy her.

“Everett’s unusual practices were at the root of this whole tragedy. Everett’s penchants...and your brother’s.”

“My brother was not—”

Waverley shrugged. “Perhaps not, but I had to make your father believe he was for my plan to work.”

The bottom fell out of her world. “You intentionally destroyed my brother’s reputation so my father would disown him?”

“It was part of my plan, Cassandra. Once I discovered Hollyvine wasn’t entailed, I realized I had to have it. Combining the land from Hollyvine with Lathamton would make me one of the most influential landowners around. Even more influential than Fellingsdown.”

Cassie burned with rage. She hated him more than she’d ever hated anyone in her life. “You evil liar. You won’t get away with this.”

“Oh, but I will. My plan is perfect. Once I make you my bride...”

Waverley reached for her. The feel of his hands on her caused a reaction she’d never experienced before. Before he knew what happened, she pulled back her arm and slapped him.

___

The loud crack of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the small room where Brent hid along with Harrison, George and Spencer. Harrison reached for the door to go to Cassie’s aid, but George and Spencer placed a reassuring hand on his shoulders. Brent held up his hand to motion to everyone to stay still.

“Don’t you ever touch me,” they heard Cassie say and Brent looked through the small opening he’d made to watch what was going on in the room. What he saw almost made him smile.

Waverley staggered back several steps and rubbed his left cheek. “You shouldn’t have done that Cassandra. It’s going to give me great pleasure some day to tame that temper of yours.”

“You’ll never get the chance.”

“Won’t I? I’ve worked too hard to let anything stop me. Your late husband nearly destroyed the Lathamton title when his abnormal preference was discovered. The severity of the situation required drastic action. It was all I could do to clean up the mess Everett created.”

Waverley shoved his hands in his pockets. “Lucky for all of us that I was an expert at covering for him. I’d done it my whole life.”

He paced in front of the door where they hid and Brent moved everyone back. He didn’t want Waverley to realize they were there. But he didn’t have to worry. Waverley was so focused on his rantings he passed them by without a glance.

“Poor Uncle Henry’s first instinct was to send his son away on a permanent excursion, but I couldn’t have that. If Everett went away, I’d never inherit his title. Everett needed to be eliminated. That was the only way I could become the Marquess of Lathamton.”

“You killed Everett?”

Waverley didn’t answer for a few moments and everyone held their breath while they waited for him to answer Lady Lathamton’s question.

“Oh, Cassandra. What do you take me for?”

“A murderer!”

Waverley laughed. “No, I’m not nearly so calculating. Your husband’s health was always questionable. He died of the influenza, just as the doctor said. Of course, the special medicine I concocted probably didn’t help him as much as the medicine the doctor intended him to take would have.”

“How could you!”

“Oh, Cassandra. Don’t tell me you weren’t at least a little relieved when dear Everett died. You never loved him. How could you? He was so pathetically weak.”

“He was a human being who didn’t deserve to die!” Lady Lathamton cried out.

“You have such a soft heart. I’ve always known that about you. From the very beginning I regretted having to involve you in my scheme, but you were so perfect for the part. And so was your brother.”

Lady Lathamton shook her head and opened her mouth. But Brent could see she was past speaking.

“It didn’t take much effort to force your father to disinherit your brother and send him away. His pride in the Hollyvine name worked to my advantage. Besides, the generous amount I offered to support your brother in his new life convinced your father that his son would never lack for anything.”

“Losing my brother killed my father.”

“I regretted that, Cassandra. Honestly, I did. But I had no choice if I wanted to gain control of Hollyvine.”