Wicked Deception (19 page)

He left a soft trail of kisses to her
engorged nipple, covering it with his lips. His tongue stabbed the
sensitive peak until she grew flushed and gasped. She arched under
his touch, her hands sliding into his hair at last. He closed his
eyes as he loved her with his lips, moving over her pearlescent
skin like a knowing connoisseur.

Catherine’s flesh was so soft and
perfect he nearly wept as he covered her ribs with his palm, down
to delve into the inky velvet tuft of curls between her thighs. She
moaned so deeply he saw the need in her eyes, felt guilty for
denying her for so long.

He parted her and his finger sought her
pearly wetness there. He lowered his head and she held her breath
as he took her there, murmuring in delight as he suckled her, his
tongue snaking against her, lashing her with such intense flicks of
passion she squirmed upward, shivering as his stubble raked her
soft thighs.

She gripped his head and ground into
his questing lips. He brought her to throaty cries of delight as he
readied her with knowing abandon. “I want you now, Nicholas!” she
sobbed and pulled at him, urging him to her, unable to endure it
any longer.

He moved over her and brought the tip
of his hardness into her folds, staring into her eyes. He thrust
hungrily into her, burying himself inside her, groaning as he moved
within her. She held him tightly, her hands gripping him to her as
he thrust urgently at last. She brought up her knees and encircled
his rocking hips, murmuring in delight.

Nicholas closed his eyes as he made
love to his wife, knowing he could never feel as he did for any
other but her. She met his body with eagerness, matching his
quickening strokes with tiny gasps as he pressed her into the
mattress.

She felt herself open to him as he
pounded hungrily within her and clung to him, her hips meeting his
frantically. She held him as she shattered, holding him as he
shuddered and gripped the pillows around her face.

He brought her lips to his, growling as
he felt the fierce hot spurts of his seed shooting into her. He
jerked several times, eyes closed in ecstasy. She gripped him
fiercely to her until he stilled, holding her so closely she felt
like she was being consumed by him at last.

Catherine lay drowsily upon her stomach
as her husband tickled her backside with his stubble, unable to
move from the languid reaction to his lovemaking. He refused to let
her sleep. A glance at the clock could have shown her it was in the
wee hours of the morning. She yawned again and he bit her buttock
playfully.

“
Wake up, wife! I’m not done
playing husband yet!” he informed her and chuckled as she squirmed
away. She sighed as he rolled her beneath him, breathing in slow
pants as she met his gaze.

“
Are we playing still,
Nicholas?” she said quietly as she gazed up at him.”Tell me we can
start anew this time? Tell me you forgive me. I’ve been such a
fool. Tell me you want to be with me again. I have tried to be away
from you. I need you with me, my love.”

Nicholas saw her love and knew she
meant everything in an instant. She loved him. She had at last
chosen him, with everything, nothing held back. He met her gaze
directly. “You must remember that I love you, always Catherine.
There is nothing to forgive,” Nicholas said, eyes solemn. He
dropped a kiss to the tip of her nose and gazed at her with a soft
smile. “No matter what happens, you and the children are all I care
about anymore.”

Catherine could not help but be alarmed
at his words, feeling a sense of premonition as his lips lowered to
hers and cut off any other thoughts. Soon she thought of nothing
else but her need for him, deprived of him for so long she ached to
get closer to him. The invisible wall she erected between them was
gone. They rejoiced in finding one another once more.

They both rose later to leave the hotel
for home. She dressed and watched him as he retreated to smoke one
of his dreaded cheroots at the table. She decided she would not nag
him for lighting up one of those things in her presence this time.
She watched him as she slid her dress over her head and adjusted it
across her chest, came to present him with the task of tying her
laces and re-buttoning her gown. She felt his sure fingers as they
tied her up and glowed from the intimate task.

Nicholas had an alarming efficiency
with a woman’s wardrobe. There was little he would not do for her,
she realized with a pang of joy. She set about fixing her hair in
the mirror.

“
Let us get home before its
light out, wife,” he drawled softly as he stubbed out the cheroot
into the uneaten liver pâté. “The neighbors are already scandalized
by living by us as it is.”

Catherine giggled and retrieved the
rest of their things. She gazed at him as they left the room as if
seeing him for the first time. Her love beamed in her expression as
she took his hand. “We have entertained them quite a bit this last
year,” she agreed and gazed up at him before they reached the
stairs, the muted light from oil lamps playing off the seriousness
in her features. “Let us go back to the Island when this is over,
Nicholas. I will make an agreement with Gabriel concerning my son.
I wish to leave here. Let us go back there.”

“
Do you mean that?” he asked
in surprise.

“
I will miss my son but we
need to leave. The past is too much around us in this
place.”

Nicholas kissed the top of her head,
love filled his gaze. They left then, tiptoeing out of the hotel in
the middle of the night to wake their driver.

When Hennessey opened the door with his
broad grin they both ushered past wreathed in smiles. Catherine
left him at once to see to their sons and daughter. He gazed at
Hennessey with a frown.

“
I will not forget how you
tricked me tonight, Hennessey. Your future bonus will reflect this
deliberate insolence, make no mistake,” he chided with a pleased
grin, his eyes meeting the man’s and silently thanking
him.

“
Yes, sir, I do believe I’ve
earned it,” the butler replied imperiously and bowed and took his
leave, smiling faintly.

~ ~ ~

Chumley’s message arrived at noon.
Nicholas was bouncing Devlin on his chest when Hennessey arrived.
Nicholas’s delighted smile faded as he sat up on the settee and set
the child down to toddle off to new adventures.

His eyes were grim as he took the note,
read and crumpled it, stiffening in protest at what was to come. He
went to seek out his wife. He found her half asleep nursing his
other son in their room.

“
I have to leave, Catherine.
I will be back. My men from the ship will arrive soon. This will be
over at last, my love,” he promised as he kissed her fully on the
lips.

Catherine came awake at once, alerted
to danger and feeling renewed panic as he drew away from their bed.
She set her son aside and slid out of the bed, her eyes wide and
fear-filled.

“
Take care, Nicholas,
please, my love?” she begged, her eyes darkening. “Come back to me,
Nicholas. I will not lose you now.” She buried her face in his
chest when he enveloped her into his arms. He drew away and looked
down at her, a faint smile about his lips.

“
No matter what happens
today, Catherine, I want you to leave here and go back to our
island home. Can you do that for me?” Nicholas asked urgently and
pushed away from her, looking deeply into her green eyes. “I want
your promise you will do this, wife.”

“
I promise we will both go
there, now do hurry up,” she said softly and sank back to the edge
of the bed as he turned and walked out of their room. She was just
settling back to enjoy her nap with her son when she heard the
explosion that made the house shake.

She sat up with a start. She set Aidan
down upon the bed, ran to the window and pulled back the curtain. A
huge cloud of smoke billowed up in front of their residence. The
coach exploded. Debris flew everywhere in the square. The smoke
cleared to see the fiery remains.

The sight of the dead horses and
screaming pedestrians propelled her to move. She backed away from
the window and ran, crying desperately as she left the room. She
went down below, seeing servants running everywhere in her path to
get out the door. She crumpled when she saw the scene
outside.

Hands grabbed at her as she sought to
claw her way to the burning wreckage, screaming and not recognizing
her own voice in her ears. Hennessey was crying into his hands,
saying Nicholas was in the coach when it exploded.

Catherine felt blackness and then she
felt no more. She didn’t feel the hands that lifted her from the
steps to carry her back inside the house. She felt numb to the
horror of her husband’s death. She vaguely recalled her Uncle
yelling at the servants to call the authorities before she was
dragged inside and ushered up to her room.

Her son was carried out by Jenny. Her
Uncle held her by the fire, unable to console her in her grief. She
was senseless and sobbing uncontrollably when Martha arrived and
they both held her.

Martha sobbed bitterly and eyed Devlin
in anguish. Devlin felt overwhelmed with the loss, his guts twisted
as he dealt with the two grieving women. The older woman held her
and rocked her while she cried.

The authorities arrived and there was a
knock upon the door. The Bow Street runner at the door announced
the detective below had confirmed her husband had died in the
explosion. Devlin felt like a messenger of death as he approached
his niece and her former teacher.

Catherine saw his look and blanched,
sobbing in earnest. Martha met his sorrowful gaze and held
Catherine as she exploded into heart-wrenching sobs.

Catherine went through the motions. The
funeral was arranged in a month to allow for Nicholas’s family to
attend. The fact his body was blown to bits allowed for the delay,
a fact that made her weep uncontrollably.

She soon retreated to her room. None
could reach her, and none tried in the days that followed. She
found herself either nursing her child or sleeping. Soon she just
slept. A wet nurse was brought in to compensate for the situation.
She saw light and dark come together as she lay in her bed, too
numbed with grief to rise.

~ ~ ~

Thor’s letter came a day before the Van
Ryker’s and their wives arrived. They were staying in Gabriel’s old
residence. Catherine paid little attention to the details, grateful
for Martha handling everything. A throng of people descended upon
the residence to pay their respects that week. It was exhausting
for her. Her life was shattered and she no longer cared about
appearances.

Nicholas was gone. She slumped against
the door as the last visitor left each day to know he wasn’t coming
back to her. No amount of wishing made it so. The days were bleak;
the nights agony. Tears choked her every time she thought of the
beautiful evening they spent the night before he died.

~ ~ ~

“
How is she?”Martha asked
Lord Iverleigh as he came down the stairs. She knew Catherine would
not see him. Ordinarily that would have pleased her. Right now she
just wished she would come out of her room.

“
Much the same, I fear, she
will not come out,” Gabriel told her. “She refuses to accept he is
gone. I have tried to speak to her but she cries and will not
listen. I have left her Uncle to handle it now. He thinks to take
her to Dunleavy when all is settled here.”

“
Catherine needs time to
grieve. Leaving is not the answer.”

“
There is no point in
telling the man anything.”

Martha gazed at the Van Ryker’s in the
salon with a sad look as Lord Iverleigh joined them. How different
all was now? The last time she saw them all they were at Catherine
and Nicholas’s wedding. How tragic an end for them to meet again at
the Captain’s funeral?

She was aware of her husband’s hand
upon hers and smiled at Robert, seeing the sadness in his eyes. Her
eyes were filled with grief to think of how Catherine
suffered.

“
Let us hope the Earl finds
out what Mr. Chumley cannot,” Martha whispered sorrowfully, and the
two went silent thinking of the unknown assailant that killed
Nicholas. The authorities knew nothing except the coach was rigged
with explosives that were detonated when he sat within it. The
fragments of the burnt wreckage yielded no clues.

Martha worried about her former charge.
Catherine was like a wraith, staring unseeing as the empty casket
was lowered into the ground. She’d not come down since they
returned from his gravesite. None intervened upon her grief, but
the matter of her children needed to be addressed.

The children were very much blessedly
unaware of the turmoil within the house. Catherine’s siblings sat
with haunted eyes, privately grieving for their sister’s husband
who had meant so much to them.

An onslaught of new mourners entered
the salon then. The Duke of Rudd entered and Martha saw the look of
unease on Gabriel’s face.

~ ~ ~

Catherine returned to the salon at that
time looking pale in the severe black dress. She stilled as she saw
Lord Rudd, her expression filled with anger and terror combined.
Lord Iverleigh was at her elbow in an instant.