Sins of a Virgin (32 page)

Beatrice continued. “The end of summer came and we agreed he had to keep his word and marry the other woman. Two weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant. By then it was less than a month until Matthew’s wedding. I didn’t tell him. Not until after, when it was too late for him to come after me.”

“So instead he comes after you now.”

Beatrice nodded.

“Why won’t you see him?”

“I could have married several times in the past years. To good men, wealthy men. I could have given so much more to Gabriel and Susan. But I couldn’t, not while I still loved Matthew. I deprived them of so much because of my stubbornness. Gabriel hates his father and I cannot convince him otherwise. I love my son. I cannot betray him like that.”

Did Gabriel have any idea of his mother’s sacrifice for him? She suspected not. She saw the regard in which Gabriel held his mother. He wouldn’t want her to be miserable.

Then again, she’d seen the way he reacted to the mere mention of his father. He wouldn’t believe the man’s intentions toward Beatrice were honorable. In fact, if they
were
honorable. Why had the man bid in the auction?

“So it’s right to protect the people we . . . care for?” Madeline refused to ascribe any loftier name to the emotion she felt for Gabriel. She needed someone to tell her she was right to continue to push him away.

“Mostly, yes. But sometimes—” Beatrice’s fingers coasted over the lid of the box. “Sometimes I wish I had been braver. That I’d thrown caution to the wind and married Matthew. We might have frozen to death in the crumbling ruin of a castle he owned, but we would have been together. Sometimes I wonder if by protecting everyone, I made things easier but not better.”

That wasn’t the answer she’d been hoping for. “Yet you still protect Gabriel.”

“I do, but I hope I won’t have to for much longer.”

Madeline paused before taking a bite of lemon cake. “Why?”

“You, my dear.”

Madeline wished she’d taken a bite, so she’d have had an excuse for the choked sound issuing from her throat. “Pardon?”

“When he’s around you, he has a fire I haven’t seen since Susan’s death. When Susan was murdered, it was as if Gabriel gave up living as well.”

“I would hardly say Gabriel was pining away.”

“No, but for a long time, he ceased living for anything but justice. It was as if he felt guilty moving on with his life, since Susan could not.”

Madeline didn’t have the heart to tell her that Gabriel was interested in her for access to her bidders, not romance. And she still didn’t know what precisely he hoped to find.

“What happened to Susan?” Madeline knew it was a rather bald question, but perhaps if she knew, it would help her make sense of Gabriel’s actions.

Beatrice closed her eyes, pain slicing her expression.

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have—”

She opened her eyes. “No. If you want to understand Gabriel, you will have to understand this. Susan found a position as a governess with one of the families of the girls I teach. She had every other Sunday off. One Sunday while Gabriel was on holiday, she came to visit. She was bubbling with excitement. She said she’d met a man who was interested in her, and not just any man, but a titled gentleman.” Beatrice rubbed her arms as if chilled. “I think Gabriel saw too many similarities between mother and daughter for his liking.”

“Gabriel loves you.”

Beatrice smiled slightly. “Indeed he does. He loved us both, but he had no tolerance for another female in his life professing love for a man so far above her station. I do not doubt that he thought to protect her as someone should have protected me. Another fault to be laid at my door.” She picked up her tea and began to stir. “He told her the man was only toying with her affections. He ordered her to stay away from him. Susan wasn’t one to take direction well, especially from her twin, so she stormed off. One week later she was strangled.”

G
abriel paused at the foot of the stairs to catch his breath. Madeline shouldn’t have ventured out without him. Someone was still trying to kill her.

At least she’d had enough sense to bring Kent along for protection.

To his mother’s house.

Gabriel bounded up the stairs. There was no reason the thought of his mother and Madeline closeted away should fill him with such nervousness, but it did. What did they have to talk about? And why hadn’t Madeline told him she was planning to visit during their drive in the park this morning? He’d been forced to discover her whereabouts from her butler.

He paused outside the door to the parlor.

His mother’s voice was subdued, a far cry from her normal sunshine-laden tone. “They found her body laid out in a bed of a rented room.”

The words hammered the air from Gabriel’s lungs.

Susan.

Madeline had come to wheedle the truth about her from his mother. Damn it, he’d told her it was none of her concern.

Gabriel opened the door, startling both women. Anger heated his cheeks as he stared at Madeline, daring her to offer an explanation.

She had the grace to flush.

“Have you heard enough?” he asked. “Shall I tell you how she was laid neatly on the bed in a cheap rented room, her hands folded on her chest, her eyes closed? How her hair was plaited? How she was dressed in a new lawn night rail that wasn’t even hers? How the bastard pinned this damned brooch under the purple bruises at her throat?” He drew the brooch out of his pocket. It fell from his fingers and clattered on the table

The newly blossomed color wilted on Madeline’s cheeks, leaving them ashen. “Gabriel, stop.”

“You came here to find out the tawdry details, did you not?”

“Gabriel!” This time the reproach in Madeline’s voice punctured his tirade. He followed her agonized gaze to where his mother sat, her hand shaking so badly tea sloshed on her skirts.

His rage immediately extinguished, leaving only acute shame. “Mother.” He took her cup from her fingers and gently placed it on the table. Then Gabriel knelt beside his mother, chafing her cold, trembling hand. “Forgive me. My behavior was inexcusable.”

She patted him on the cheek. “Susan’s story isn’t yours alone. You may have lost your sister, but I lost my child. And neither did Madeline deserve to have her head bitten off for asking.”

Gabriel exhaled slowly. Madeline knew he didn’t want her interference. But he stood and bowed. He would do anything to soothe his mother’s anguish.

Madeline’s gaze didn’t waver from the pin on the table, but she inclined her head in acknowledgment.

His mother rose. “You have to stop letting Susan’s death rule you.”

What was his other option? Let Susan’s death go unsolved?

For the first time since her death, the burden of the case threatened to crush him. Her death had always weighed on him, but now it dragged him down like an anchor lashed to his leg. What would it feel like to not have it drowning him every moment?

Not every moment, he realized with a start. Several times in the past week, Madeline had banished all thoughts save those of her from his mind. She had the power to make him forget everything with the infinite pleasure of her touch, and more disturbingly, her company, but did he want to allow her that power over him?

No. How could he even consider such a thing? Another girl had been murdered. Both women deserved justice. The killer had to be stopped.

His mother shook her head in resignation. “It isn’t wrong to let yourself have some peace. Contrary to what you think, I think your sister already has hers.”

Gabriel could do nothing more than nod woodenly.

“I need to lie down.” His mother paused by Madeline’s chair and squeezed her shoulder. “I still stand by what I said, as much as he might try to prove me wrong. A week ago, he would have stormed out at my suggestion.”

On that pointedly vague comment, his mother left, shutting the door silently behind her.

Madeline’s hand shot out as soon as the door closed, grabbing the brooch. “Why was your sister in Paris?”

“Paris?” What the devil? “Susan was never in Paris.”

“I saw this same brooch pinned to a dead girl in Paris two years ago.” Twisting the brooch in her hands, Madeline held it up to the light. Her fingers traced the lock of his sister’s hair sealed under glass in the center. “No, not quite the same. The brooch in Paris held blond hair.” Madeline stared at him, her gaze intent.

“What did you see in Paris?” Every muscle in his body tensed as he awaited the answer.

Gabriel knew he must look like a madman but he could do nothing to temper his emotions.

“When the allied troops entered the city after Napoleon abdicated, I was assigned to whore myself—”

Distracted as he was, he refused to let her use that term. “Retrieve information.”

Her lips quirked upward. “Call it what you will. I was assigned to retrieve information about a plot to free the emperor before he was sent to Elba. We were at a ball held in honor of the return of Louis the Unavoidable. I led my target to the room I’d prepared, but a man rushed past us as we entered. I assumed we’d surprised another amorous couple. But on the bed was a young woman.” When Madeline placed the brooch back on the table, her eyes remained lowered. “She’d been strangled and positioned as you described.”

The room dropped away and rushed back with blinding speed. The blues and greens adorning the walls roiled together and Gabriel sat heavily next to Madeline.

There was another victim.

Gabriel caught Madeline’s hand. “Did you notice anything about the killer?”

She shook her head, the proud tilt of her chin ruined by two crimson blotches staining her cheeks. “No. I was . . . involved with my target.”

Gabriel exhaled. To have come so damned close, only to be kicked back to the start, hurt a thousand times worse than not knowing at all.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” He rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

When Madeline remained silent, he looked up. Her hands were clasped together so tightly her fingertips had darkened to purple.

“Isn’t it? The man I was with was too drunk to realize what he’d seen so I just led him away. I didn’t even tell anyone about the body.”

“What would you have done? The killer undoubtedly left to avoid discovery.”

“I could have followed him as soon as I saw the body.”

Gabriel’s regret disappeared under something very akin to panic. “So he could have killed you, too?”

“But that’s not what stopped me.”

Gabriel caught her hands, untangling her fingers. “I don’t care what stopped you.”

“You should.”

“But I don’t.”

“Madeline—”

She jerked away from his hand. “Have there been any other murders in England similar to your sister’s?”

Gabriel frowned. He could hardly return to sentimentality after the change in topic. “Two weeks ago, a schoolteacher, Molly Simm, was found strangled. Her body was arranged like Susan’s.”

“In London?”

Gabriel nodded.

“Do you have any suspects?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you protecting me and not investigating?”

“Her case was assigned to someone else. I was deemed too close.”

“But you wouldn’t be able to let that—” Her eyes suddenly widened and her lips parted. “You
are
investigating, aren’t you? This and your sister’s murder. That’s why you wanted seven years of my bidders’ financials.”

“Madeline—”

“Some of my suitors are your suspects. You used my auction to cover your investigation.”

Gabriel waited with his hands clenched at his sides. He deserved whatever recriminations she threw at him.

“Clever. Who are your suspects?” she asked.

Gabriel searched her face for some sign of her true reaction. “I shouldn’t have kept the truth—”

She cut him off with an impatient wave. “It was a good plan. I would have done the same thing in your situation.”

He couldn’t believe his revelation didn’t affect her at all. “I hid my intentions.”

She raised her brow. “And I put you in danger by not telling you the truth about my past. Now, who are your suspects?” Her lips pursed slightly and her attention riveted on his face. “Judging by your actions, Lenton must be one.”

“No longer, his whereabouts are accounted for the night of the Simm murder.” Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. “I believe it was Billingsgate. His family crest is the most similar to the sketch.”

“Family crest?”

Even though he’d initially hidden his investigation from Madeline, he now found himself sharing every last detail. At first he spoke out of guilt for hiding the truth, but then he continued because he wanted to know Madeline’s opinion and see if she could find anything he overlooked.

“The landlord couldn’t tell you who rented the room the body was found in?”

“No, he said a street urchin had paid for it. These weren’t places where the landlords bothered to ask questions.”

“Yet obviously the killer wanted the bodies found or he would have disposed of them.”

Despite the gravity of their discussion, Gabriel was entranced by Madeline’s face as she examined the clues in her mind. The slight narrowing of her lips. The way she stared as if the answer was just beyond his shoulder. “I’ll speak to Ian and Clayton and see if they remember him from Paris.”

How could she not see how unique she was? How many women would sit and discuss the details of a murder when she had dozens of suitors waiting to fall at her feet?

“When exactly was Miss Simm killed?”

“Thursday the second. She left the school at four and her body was discovered at ten that night.”

“I’ll find out where Billingsgate was.”

He didn’t want her anywhere near him. He tensed as he realized there was one more layer to his deception. “Billingsgate is dangerous.”

“In what way?”

“He is cruel and often violent to his bed partners.”

Her reply took two seconds too long. “I suspected as much.”

“I wouldn’t have let him win the auction. I would have told you.”

She shrugged. “Why? Catching a murderer is more important than my silly auction.”