if hes wicked (29 page)

as Lady Evelyn would have had. You have been running my home for three years and, by damn, I wil miss that. You have cared for the sick, worked on

charities, attended al manner of social events, and raised a child. Now, I admit the latter is not often listed as a qualification, but it is a good one.”

“You make it al sound so easy,” she mumbled.

“And you make it al seem so much harder than it is. He is an earl, Chloe, not a royal duke. He is also, at heart, a man of the country, not the city.

Cease worrying about how wrong you are for the role of his countess and start thinking about al the good you can do as the countess of Colinsmoor.”

“I suppose there are things I can do. There is no need to talk me into the marriage, Leo. I agreed and, even if I think this is being done too soon, I

wil not go back on my word.” She shook off his arm and stood up. “I know I have made my bed and now I must sleep in it—literal y. I just thought there

would be more time to get used to the idea of being cal ed
my lady
.”

He stood up, hooked his arm through hers and started to walk back to the house. “You wil be fine, Chloe. I would have thought your visions would

have told you so.”

“Nay. It is as if they do not wish to invade my privacy,” she drawled.

He grinned as he led her inside. “Go decide what dress you wil wear on your wedding day, what flowers you might carry, and even what little

cakes wil be served to whatever guests may appear. That should keep you too busy to fret over this.”

When he started to walk away, Chloe had to fight the urge to kick him in the backside. She started up to her bedchamber. The truth was that she

could argue for the next three days and yet stil end up at the altar beside Julian, resentment bubbling inside of her, or she could accept her fate. There was always the passion to consider. And, she thought as Lady Evelyn caught up with her and started to drag her off to the sewing room chattering about

laces and corsets every step of the way, there were also those two simple words of warning to consider—
like rabbits.

“This was not the way I wished to spend my wedding day,” grumbled Julian as he and Leo rode toward the section of his land that was a strange

mixture of marsh and rock. Jake had sent word that he and a ditch-digging crew had found something important, but Julian could not see what of any

importance could be found on this desolate piece of land.

“It is hours before you wed. Your mother very cleverly arranged it so that you marry just before the noon hour, thus we can al stumble out of the

church, our ears and backside numbed by that word-loving vicar, and head for the table with al the food.”

“What a romantic you are, Leo.”

“I do my best. She is nervous, you know,” Leo said quietly. “She fears she wil make a terrible countess. Perhaps you should have spoken to her

about that.”

“I would have if my mother had not made sure Chloe was guarded every moment of the day and night.”

Leo laughed. “She is trying to keep you respectable.”

Julian thought his mother was trying to make him suffer, but did not say so. He had been stunned to find that Chloe was not in her bedchamber the

night after they buried Beatrice, even more stunned to find out she was not in his, either. At first he had feared that someone had taken her, even that his uncle had somehow stolen her away. He was pleased he had not made too great an uproar because his mother had cheerful y told him that Chloe had

been moved to the bedchamber next to hers. The master bedchambers were being readied for after the wedding. Worse, he had been stuck in a smal

room right next to his aunt. It was clear that a guard had been posted to make sure he and Chloe did no roaming in the night.

“It is a little late for that. And I have no idea why Chloe should think she would make a bad countess. She has been acting the hostess of your

home for three years and she is a gently reared woman. Has had al the same teaching and training as my mother.”

“That is what I told her. Do not worry. She wil not stand you up at the altar. Just do not make any criticism until she has settled in a bit. It wil cut her to the heart. Once she is the countess for a while she wil see that she can manage it wel enough. Look, that is Jake.”

Julian spurred his horse to a slightly faster pace and rode up to where Jake stood with two other burly men. None of them looked wel , al three

being surprisingly pale for such muscular and fit men. They al stood in front of a large depression in the ground but he could not see past them enough to see what was in that hol ow.

“You sent word that you have found something, Jake?” he asked.

“Aye, m’lord, that we did.” Jake stepped aside a little. “I am thinking we just found us The Pit.”

Cursing softly, Julian dismounted and one of the men quickly stepped forward to take the reins of his horse. Another did the same for Leo’s horse

when he, too, dismounted. Julian cautiously walked to the edge of the pit and realized it was a lot deeper, and steeper sided, than he had anticipated. At

the bottom were the remains of several people. He was sure that Jake was right in his assumption. They had found the infamous pit.

“Do you know how many are down there?” Julian asked.

“We think it be five, m’lord,” replied Jake. “We counted feet. Got ten. So, five people.” Although he did not move any closer to the edge, Jake did

lean forward so that he could peer down into it. “I think that one near the far end, to the right, be Melvin. I recognize them boots. And one of the ones in the middle is Gordon, the butcher’s eldest lad. He went missing about two months past. They could not believe he would leave them but then decided he had

trotted off to London. Too many of the young ones do and they never come back. I recognize that coat, as he was right proud of it. I can guess at the

others just by recal ing who is missing and mayhap, if we get closer, see something that I recognize.”

“Why would they kil the butcher’s lad?”

“He done said no to the lady. Had himself a sweetheart, he did, and he was going to be amarrying her in a month. He was not going to be

betraying her in any way. That made m’lady furious.” Jake nodded down at the rotting remains of five men. “This is what he got for being a good,

honorable lad who did not want to be no whore’s toy. Beggin’ your pardon, m’lord.”

Julian rubbed a hand over his hair and sighed. “No need, Jake. Let us see if we can get the bodies out of there. Once we know who is in there, as

best as we can leastwise, we can tel their families and give them a proper burial.”

“We can do it, m’lord. You got a wedding to be at, eh?”

“Not for a few more hours, and since my mother has locked my bride away for safekeeping, I might as wel keep busy.” He found the strength to

smile when the men chuckled, but it was fleeting. “Damnation. I think the two of them were as mad as hatters.”

“They certainly were not right in the head near the end, no doubting that.”

Julian and Leo worked alongside the three other men to bring out the gruesome trophies of his uncle and late wife’s reign over Colinsmoor. Guilt

was a heavy stone in Julian’s chest. This was but one horrible example of what his people had suffered while he was sunk in drink and whores. Chloe was

worried that she would not make a good countess, yet he, a man born to the role, had made a poor earl.

By the time they had dragged up the bodies, Julian was covered in dirt and sick at heart. Jake and his friends had identified four of the bodies

from recognizable bits of clothing, and were fairly certain they knew who the fifth one was. Julian looked at the body marked as Gordon, the butcher’s son, a young man in his prime, in love, and murdered by Beatrice because he had told her no. Melvin had been kil ed because he had tried to do right and tel

his lord what was happening. The others had al died for much the same reason, self-preservation or stung vanity. It did not bear thinking about or he

would disgrace himself by weeping like a babe.

He had brought this trouble to his people, good honest people whose families had worked for the Kenwoods for generations. Julian did not like to

think of al the times he had left Beatrice to handle matters while he went into London to pursue a thriving career in government. He cringed as he thought of the year he had left Beatrice and Arthur in complete control while he had swal owed enough drink to fil the Thames and wal owed in whores. Gordon

had been murdered during that time. He had put a knife at the throat of the people of Colinsmoor and then walked away.

Instructing the men to take the bodies to Colinsmoor and contact their families, he hurried back home. He would see that the bodies were buried

wel with a nice headstone although he doubted that would assuage the grief of those who had lost someone or ease his guilt. Julian cursed himself over

and over for a blind fool as he rode.

“It is not your fault,” said Leo.

“No? I am the earl, the owner of these lands. I might be able to excuse myself for being blind in the first few years, but not at the end. I was

wal owing in self-pity while my uncle and my wife treated these people like serfs. It is bad enough that I let them rob me blind, but this? How could I not have seen it if I had just paid a little attention to something other than myself.”

“We al pay attention to ourselves, Julian. It is the nature of the beast. And, forgive me, but even at your most wretched, I cannot blame you for not

seeing that your uncle and the woman you married were any more than adulterers and thieves. I feel certain that if Melvin had reached you, you would have

listened to him and done something.”

Julian wanted to believe that, but seeing those bodies had shaken his confidence in himself. He needed to find the other half of the treacherous

pair that had murdered his people and kept the others too afraid to fight or even hope. They al looked to him now to fix things, and he did not deserve

their trust.

He struggled to shake off his sadness and guilt as they reined in in front of his home. It was difficult when he could see the smal signs of neglect,

knowing from the ledgers he had gone through that the money for repairs had gone straight into the pockets of Beatrice and Arthur. He paused just as he

opened the door and looked at Leo.

“Beatrice was wearing no jewelry,” he said.

“What?” Leo looked at Julian as if he thought he might be going a little mad.

“Beatrice could never have enough jewels, yet there was not even a locket on her body.”

Leo cursed. “He stole it al . Has undoubtedly pawned it.”

“Or wil soon. Beatrice had not been dead for long. The carrion crows had not even pecked at her yet.”

“As soon as you and Chloe are wed, I wil start looking into that matter. Do you have any listing of what jewels she might have had?”

“I have one in my office. When you are ready to look it over, let me know and I can have it for you in minutes. Now”—he took a deep breath and

forced aside al thoughts of Beatrice, Arthur, and how badly he had failed the people of Colinsmoor—“it is time for me to be married.”

Chloe winced as she was stuffed into her wedding gown. She did not understand why the dresses were al made for a corseted figure. She hated

corsets. There should be gowns for people like her who detested corsets.

“I hope I do not have to take a deep breath today,” she murmured as Lady Evelyn’s maid laced her up. “It might embarrass Julian if I fal over at the

altar gasping for air.”

“Hush,” said Lady Evelyn, a laugh clear to hear in her voice. “You look beautiful and you wil be al grace and beauty as you kneel by Julian at the

altar.”

“From your lips to God’s ears.”

Lady Evelyn stood back and studied Chloe for a moment. “Do you not want to marry Julian?”

“M’lady, I love the fool,” she said bluntly. “If you tel him, I may have to show you al my brothers taught me about playing rough, however.” She

exchanged a brief grin with the woman. “I am just afraid. Afraid that he wil never care for me as I do for him. Afraid I shal turn bitter if he does not. And afraid that I shal be such a bad countess that I shal shame him.”

“Foolish, al of it. I can help you whenever you have a question about being a countess.” She laughed when Chloe looked at her in shock. “Did not

think of that, did you?”

“Nay, so now I shal worry that I am too stupid to be his wife.”

Lady Evelyn ignored that and said, “As for the love? Wel , that is hard to comfort you on. I do not know what is in my son’s heart. I wil say that

despite al the trouble that has plagued the two of you, he is happier than he has been in years. He laughs. He smiles. He makes foolish manly jests. He

barely drinks at al . I can promise you that he was il pleased when I moved you out of his reach for a few days. He pouted as only a man can do. I think you are already an important part of his life. What you make of that is your business.” She gently slipped a rose into Chloe’s hair. “And you are the woman who saved his son and has loved that boy, raised him, and always waited for the time when his father could come and claim him. I do not mean that you should

use the great debt he owes you to try and hold him to you; I just point out that he already has enormous respect for you, and that is no smal thing. Even

better, he trusts you. I can see it.”

“Aye, he told me he did.”

“After the hel that Beatrice put him through, that is probably of more worth to him at the moment than something cal ed love.”

Chloe slowly nodded as she acknowledged the truth of that. When one had been deeply and repeatedly betrayed, someone who could be trusted

was more important than anything else. She began to feel a little less uneasy about the step she was taking. She would stil like to have him speak of love, but she could wait. She had the foundation. It was time to marry the fool and build the house.