A Woman Made for Sin (38 page)

Bessie looked up at Millie, and while not an unkind look, there was little sympathy
in her eyes for her titled plight.

Millie stood up then, letting her anger show. “I’ve lived your life, Bessie. You have
not lived mine. You dream of the benefits wealth brings, but you do so from a man’s
perspective, not a woman’s. For my and my friends’ independent natures, the constraints
are too often stifling.”

“And so you get into men’s clothes and search for thieves in the middle of the night.
Makes sense,” Devlin huffed, and took the glass of whiskey Clive brought him. He downed
it in one swallow.

Millie took a deep breath and exhaled in frustration. “It was not a whim. There were
other reasons. Good reasons. But in my husband’s mind, every excursion the three of
us undertake ends up in disaster. If you had heard Charlie that night, ordering me
to go and stay in the country while he resolved another one of my mistakes, you would
better understand why I had to fix this one on my own.”

Devlin felt a shiver run up his spine hearing Millie refer to her husband so informally.
It just dug the knife in a little deeper. He had wanted
his
first name on her lips, to hear the love in her voice when she referred to him. Now
Devlin knew he never would. “You both are fools,” he said, standing. “Your husband
for thinking that putting you in a cage would work, and you for not understanding
why he sent you away in the first place.”

Devlin walked over to the hook holding his overcoat and slipped it off. Putting it
on, he said to Clive, “I need to get out of here, but I will send you a hack for Lady
Chaselton.”

Clive grimaced in understanding. He had known Devlin liked Ellie. The news she was
married had to be somewhat of a shock. “I’ll make sure her ladyship gets home safely
tae her husband before I go home tonight.”

Opening the door, a cold blast of wind blew in just as another lightning bolt lit
up the sky. Any minute the rain would begin to pour. Devlin looked one last time at
Millie.

She stared at him, confused and angry over what he had said. Damn if she did not look
even more beautiful. It was no wonder the marquess fell in love with her. Her spirit
was infectious and no doubt a constant nuisance, but it could warm the hardest of
souls. Devlin had let it thaw his, and it hurt to know that this would be the last
time he ever saw her. What had he expected? Had he really thought he was going to
somehow whisk her away to his home? That by gaining her love and support he could
solve all his problems? She would have only caused more.

Just like him, Ellie—
Lady Chaselton
, he corrected himself—had only temporarily escaped from her real life and responsibilities.
Just as she needed to go and reclaim her identity, it was time for him to do the same.
He had gathered more than enough funds to recover what his father had lost. All he
needed to do was go home and face what he had to do.

Millie wanted to scream out of frustration. She was standing in a tavern, her hair
in a simple bun that she herself styled, wearing a dirty garment with tips hidden
inside, looking
nothing
like a woman who had any wealth, let alone a titled husband. And yet, the moment
she had revealed who she was, all three of them had begun to treat and talk to her
as if she were some fragile piece of china. They no longer saw her, but her title.

Devlin MacLeery had not asked if she wanted to go home. He and Clive just decided
to send her there. Could they not understand that Chase would be furious for bringing
yet
another
problem for him to resolve?

“I will leave, but I won’t go home,” Millie announced unequivocally. “I will not give
my husband another reason to believe I have brought nothing but trouble into his life
when he married me.”

“I have no doubt that ye are as much trouble as ye say ye are,” Clive said softly.
Millie’s head whipped around to glare at him, but he just shrugged it off. “But there’s
something ye should know about yer man. The night he came in here looking for ye,
he was in pain not knowing where ye were. And a man who can feel that amount of loss
over a woman is never going tae change his need tae protect her. That’s just a fact.”

He pointed at Bessie and continued. “Bloody hell, if it were Bess, I would be doing
the same thing. And, aye, she’s trouble. Lots of it. Damn woman is either insulting
the men who come in here or making them crazy with lust. But that wouldn’t have anything
tae do with why I would be hiring every runner I could tae bring her back tae where
she belonged.”

It was Bessie’s turn to jump to her feet. “Who says I
belong
anywhere?”

“I do. Ye belong here and ye belong with me. Something ye and I have known for a while
now.” After realizing all that he just said and what it implied, nerves claimed Clive.
Both women were staring at him in shock. Suddenly he felt the need to disappear. Ducking
down, he grabbed an empty crate and announced, “I’m going in the back tae get some
more whiskey.”

Bessie’s mouth was open in shock. It was Millie who found her voice first. “I
told
you that Clive was far more interested in you than you believed.”

But before Bessie could respond, another huge gust of wind blew the front doors open.
With it came various pieces of material that had been flying around in the streets.
It was a miracle nothing had hit and broken the main window.

Bessie headed toward the door. “I gotta get the shutters closed.”

Millie nodded and grabbed her cloak to help, but Bessie stopped her. “That wind will
throw your ladyship all around. You best stay inside.”

Millie thought about arguing, but she did not want to distress Bessie any more than
she already had. She handed Bessie her cloak and said, “Then wear this.”

“I’m not puttin’ that on.”

Millie ground her teeth in frustration. Bessie would have taken the thing from Ellie,
but now that she was Lady Chaselton, the pride-filled woman was refusing. “Bessie,
I remember someone giving me a thorough scolding for not accepting tips because I
did not think I had earned them. That woman would have snatched this cloak when it
was offered, regardless to whom it belonged. She would say only a fool would be cold
when they did not need to be.”

Bessie’s mouth twitched and a second later a smile overtook her lips. “I’m nobody’s
fool,” she said. Then, taking the cloak from Millie’s outstretched arms, she put it
on and headed outside.

Millie heard Bessie close the shutters over the window as she started to pick up the
muck that had been blown in. Several minutes passed and Millie worried when Bessie
had still not come back in. Thinking that it was just taking longer to tie the shutters
in the unusually fierce wind, Millie went outside to help her.

She was no more than two steps out the door when a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating
all that was around her. Immediately her heart stopped.

“Lady Aldon. We’ve been waiting for you.”

The man was holding a dagger to Bessie’s throat with one hand and had another hand
over her mouth. He was hunched and disfigured, but Millie recognized the voice. It
was one from her nightmares. “It’s Lady Chaselton now, Sir Edward. Or perhaps I should
just refer to you as what you are. A traitor.”

Fury erupted on his face and he squeezed the blade closer against Bessie’s skin, causing
her to yelp in pain. “Call me what you like. It doesn’t matter. But unless you want
to say good-bye to your friend, you will get into that carriage.”

Millie looked at the black vehicle behind him. The single driver on top looked straight
ahead, refusing to intervene. Whatever happened once she was inside, she would be
at Edward’s mercy.

Millie reached down for the gun in her cloak pocket and inwardly cursed. Her hooded
coat was probably why Edward had grabbed Bessie, thinking that she was Millie. “Let
Bessie go, Edward. She is no one important.”

“Ah, but she is to you,” he snarled. “So she comes. Now, get in before anyone else
comes out here. Otherwise, their death will be on your conscience.”

Millie swallowed. Fear swirled inside her and she forced it down. Clive was not a
small man, but he would have been caught unawares, and Edward was not the type to
make threats he would not keep. Unable to think of what else to do, Millie stepped
into the carriage and was barely inside when Bessie was thrust in behind her.

The door closed and the carriage immediately lurched forward. Using the end of the
long knife, Edward pointed at the seat across from him. “You sit there. And you there,
next to her.”

Bessie whimpered and did as she was told. Millie did the same, cursing her luck. Her
gun was not in the pocket closest to her.

“Just what do you intend to do?” Millie asked, amazed her voice was so calm.

“You and Chaselton,” he snorted, “ruined
everything
. You even thought you had destroyed me, but you were wrong. I’m alive. Something
you won’t be come morning.”

Bessie squeaked and grabbed Millie’s arm in fear. But Millie sat composed, staring
at the long thrusting dirk in Edward’s hand. She could fight, but with her size, there
was really no way she could offer any resistance against someone who knew how to wield
the weapon. “I might be dead, but you would soon join me. Charlie would find you.”

Edward produced a laugh that chilled her bones despite her effort to remain unaffected
by anything he said. “He doesn’t even know I’m
alive.
”

“Then does that not remove a large portion of the thrill in killing me?”

Edward twisted his lips. “For a time, perhaps. But he will eventually learn of my
resurrection. The thefts, the actual prize I seek, your death . . . all will become
clear and he will realize I was behind it all. But by then it will be too late. I
will be unstoppable.”

All three of them bounced unexpectedly as the road became extremely rough. They hit
another hole, and then another, and Millie realized where they were. When she, Aimee,
and Jennelle had left Hembree Grove that infamous night a month and a half ago, they
took this road. Right before it converged with Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place was in
serious need of repair, but there was a dispute about when it should be fixed. Some
who were in Town for the Little Season had wanted it done immediately, but most gentry
opted to wait until the spring, after more of Society had arrived and could share
the expense.

Millie waited what seemed like forever for another major rut to cause the carriage
to heave. This time she was ready and gave in to it, allowing herself to be flung
over Bessie. Immediately, Edward grabbed her shoulder and flung her back into place,
but it was too late. Millie had managed to snatch her pistol out in time. Fearing
that Edward would see the pistol and grab it in the time it took to aim, Millie fired
the weapon. She was rewarded when Edward yelped in pain.

She had no idea where she hit him but was not going to take the time to find out.
Kicking the door open, she shoved Bessie out of the moving vehicle and then lunged
after her. She made it out and landed with a thud, but not before Edward had stabbed
her with his dagger.

Millie forced herself to ignore the pain and forced her eyes to open to see if the
carriage had stopped, but the sound of the gunshot must have made him want to disappear.
Bessie was screaming, but this near the park and at this time of night, there were
no linkmen around to hear her. The only one who knew where they were was Edward, and
Millie could not be certain she had injured him badly enough that he wouldn’t be coming
after them.

“Stop screaming,” she managed to get out, loud enough for Bessie to hear her. Immediately
Bessie did, which both surprised and relieved Millie. “The blade. It’s in my shoulder.
Take it out.”

Bessie swallowed and crawled near where Millie lay on the road. She hesitated. “I
don’t know if I should.”

“Tear off a piece of your shift. Then pull it out and tie it as best you can, tightly
around the wound.”

Bessie’s hands were quivering as she did as she was told. By the time she reached
for the blade, they were seriously shaking, and Millie almost told her to stop. But
when Bessie grabbed the dagger, white hot pain shot through Millie’s body, causing
her to pass out. When she came to, she felt a sharp pain as Bessie tied another knot
in the material binding her shoulder.

Millie considered telling Bessie to leave her there and go for help, when she heard
the sound of a carriage coming toward them. Forcing herself to look around, Millie
quickly discerned that she was right. They were at Hyde Park Corner. “Help me up.
We have to hide before that carriage gets here.”

Bessie’s blue eyes flew wide open as she understood what Millie was implying. They
could not assume whoever was coming would help. Worse, more than likely it was Edward
coming back for them.