To Tempt an Irish Rogue (28 page)

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Authors: Kaitlin O'Riley

Tags: #Romance, #General, #Historical, #Fiction

BOOK: To Tempt an Irish Rogue
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The fire spread faster than he ever could have possibly imagined. When he reached Margaret’s bedroom he could already hear her screams and smoke spilled from under the door. He reached to open the door but the knob was mad hot and the door was locked, and that’s when he froze. Mara Reeves came running from the opposite end of the hallway, calling for her mother. She stopped short when she spied Gerald standing there. Startled by the child, Gerald screamed at her. “Go back to bed, Mara. You’re a very bad girl!”
Margaret’s shrieks pierced the air and the smell of smoke burned his nose. Frightened out of his wits at this point, Gerald didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t even supposed to be in Galway and not a soul had seen him there.
Except the terrified little girl in front of him.
Another shrill scream from Margaret, like that of an animal caught in a trap, pulled at his heart. Mara ran toward the door, frantic to help her mother. Gerald shoved her backward, as hard as he could, and the child fell to the floor, as he yelled, “Bad girl! Go to bed! Get out of here!”
Margaret must have finally unlocked the door for it suddenly flew open and a whoosh of flames shot out of the room. Gerald was lucky to only get singed as he jumped out of the way, falling to the floor and huddling in a ball. He saw Margaret come out, her nightgown already in flames, and she was shrieking in pain. Her long silver-blond hair had begun to burn. Bursts of flames lashed across the hallway blocking his path to Margaret and Mara. Now they were both screaming, the fire spreading quickly toward him. He could not get to either of them without crossing a wall of fire. It was then that his survival instinct kicked in and Gerald fled in the opposite direction, down the back stairs and out of the house as fast as he could go.
The rest of that night was a miserable blur. He managed to find his horse, which he had hidden in the fields, and he rode until he almost passed out, the horror of what he had just done driving his every step. He’d been lucky to get away unharmed, he told himself. But he worried about Mara. How had he left her there alone and defenseless in that inferno? He could think of nothing else until he finally learned the next day that she had escaped the fire unharmed.
Now Mara sat before him, with all eyes on her. Gerald knew in that moment it was all over. Everyone would know what he had done.
Again Sebastian Woods asked in a quiet tone, “Was there anyone else there you knew that night besides your mother and father?”
Mara nodded her head slowly and her green eyes met Gerald’s. “Yes. Uncle Gerald was there. He said I was a bad girl.”
A pin could have dropped in the study. Tears spilled from his eyes. Gerald could not stop them. “I’m so sorry, Mara, sweetheart, I’m so sorry . . .”
“You are a good girl, Mara. Thank you for telling the truth,” Sebastian Woods said. He stood and gave a hard look at Gerald.
Immediately Declan rose from behind the desk and went to his daughter, gathering her in his arms and hugging her tightly. “You are a very brave girl, Mara darlin’, and I love you very much.” He then set her down. “Mrs. Martin, why don’t you take Mara upstairs and give her a special treat and perhaps let her paint or read.”
“Of course, Lord Cashelmore,” the woman, who was quite shaken, said with a forced grin. She rose and took Mara by the hand. “Let’s go, dear. The grown-ups have much to discuss.”
Once they were gone, the atmosphere in the room quickly became charged. Gerald reached in his pocket and retrieved his handkerchief. Weeping like a child in shame and remorse, he wiped his eyes. He looked up to see all eyes, full of recriminations and outrage and pity, staring at him. Paulette Hamilton looked aghast. The two Ryan sisters were appalled. That Eddington fellow looked fit to kill. The solicitor sported a satisfied grin. And then there was Declan. The look of hurt and betrayal on his face was unbearable to Gerald.
“I didn’t want to believe it was you, Gerald,” Declan said, his voice full of disappointment and disgust. “I truly didn’t. I never would have believed you capable of something like this. You let Margaret die. If I hadn’t found Mara when I did, she would have perished along with her mother.”
Gerald desperately wanted another whiskey. The pain in his chest increased to the point he could barely speak. “I’m sorry . . .”
Paulette Hamilton rose from where she had been sitting on the sofa and moved to Declan’s side. He placed his arm protectively around her shoulder.
Sebastian Woods knocked on the door to the adjoining room and called, “You can bring Mrs. O’Rourke in now.”
One of the burliest Cashelmore footmen entered the study, escorting a very reluctant Alice. His wife was absolutely furious.
“How dare you treat me this way?” she demanded angrily, until she saw Gerald sitting there, blubbering like a baby. Then she rolled her eyes at him in abject disgust. “Oh, dear God in heaven. You’ve told them everything, haven’t you?”
Gerald hadn’t, but he knew they knew. It was over. He and Alice had lost everything they’d planned for so carefully.
“Have a seat, Mrs. O’Rourke,” Sebastian Woods said, rather obligingly. “We’ve just had a very interesting talk with your husband.”
Alice flounced to the sofa recently vacated by Mara and Mrs. Martin. She crossed her arms and began tapping her foot with impatience. “Well, what is it you need me for then?”
“We have a few questions for you,” Sebastian Woods answered, eyeing her critically. “Did you know of your husband’s plan to set the house on fire?”
“Yes, of course. Do you think he thought of it on his own?” She laughed in derision.
Great tears spilled down Gerald’s cheeks at his wife’s cruel words.
Mr. Woods continued to question Alice. “Were you there that night as well?”
“No, I wasn’t,” she snapped. “Had I been there it would have been done correctly. None of them would have survived.”
Gerald sobbed aloud as he sensed Alice’s utter contempt for him.
Sebastian Woods continued his questions. “Who sent the letters to Miss Hamilton and Lord Cashelmore?”
Alice shot an angry glance in Gerald’s direction. “We both did. We had a man in London, keeping an eye on Declan. We wanted him to come back to Ireland to be tossed into prison or flee the country for good. We were hoping the letters would scare him into doing one or the other, but they didn’t seem to do much but break up their little romance.” Alice cast a disparaging glance at Declan and Miss Hamilton.
“I’ll need the name of your man in London,” Mr. Woods said.
“Jesus, leave him out of it, will you? He’s my little brother and he was only doing me a favor,” Alice said, bristling with irritation. “I don’t want him going back to gaol!”
“Well, your brother faces some charges in this case as well,” the tall solicitor stated with satisfaction. “He might have to go back to gaol. As will you.”
Declan added, “We figured out it was you sending the letters because Paulette said the day she came to Cashelmore, you knew about her and me, and I had never told a single soul about my friendship with Miss Hamilton.”
Gerald sobbed, unable to look at Declan or Alice for the shame that consumed him.
“Gerald, after all you said to us about Declan and you were the one who killed our sister?” Ellen Ryan Hanlon suddenly blurted out, eyeing him with confusion.
“You made us believe from the start that it was Declan’s fault!” Deirdre Ryan Hollingsworth echoed, wringing her hands with worry.
Gerald could say nothing in his defense. He merely sobbed louder and shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
“I don’t understand how this happened!” Ellen wailed in distress.
Still confused, Deirdre asked, “But Declan, who are these people? Who is this woman?”
“Paulette Hamilton is the woman I love,” Declan announced to the room. “And this beautiful woman, unlike everyone else who supposedly knew and loved me, believed me when I said I had nothing to do with Margaret’s death.”
Placing his hands over his face, Gerald sobbed uncontrollably.
Chapter 32
Wedding
Papa was marrying Miss Hamilton!
Mara was so excited she had trouble standing still, even though Mrs. Martin had instructed her very carefully about how she was to behave in the chapel. Mara rocked from one foot to another, wearing the pretty, white ruffled-lace dress they had just purchased for her in a fancy Dublin shop. Filled with pride at being a part of the wedding, Mara tried to hold still to be the little angel Papa said she looked like in her new dress. But she was just so joyful because she knew that Miss Hamilton made Papa happy and besides, she loved Miss Hamilton, too.
Miss Hamilton was kind and thoughtful and never cross with her, and she made Papa’s eyes smile again. Now she would get to go to the magical bookshop whenever she wanted to and she would always be able to play with Sara Fleming. Tomorrow they were all going back to London on a grand ship. Sara said it was her father’s ship and that she and Mara would be able to play together for the whole journey!
As they waited for the wedding to start, Mara stood holding Papa’s hand in the little chapel. A nervous flutter raced through her when she saw everyone seated in the pews looking at her. Papa said it was a small, private gathering but Mara thought there were still a lot of people there watching them in the chapel. Mrs. Martin grinned at her with pride. She had never seen Mrs. Martin dressed so fancy before and wearing a little hat with a feather, too! Her best friend, Sara Fleming, giggled at her and stuck out her tongue only to get scolded by her mother. As soon as they were married Sara would be her cousin! That made her excited, too. And Mara had already been instructed to call Sara’s parents Aunt Juliette and Uncle Harrison. Mara marveled at the prospect of having an aunt and uncle who did not frighten her.
Her eyes glanced at her other aunts, Deirdre and Ellen, who were there in the chapel as well, still dressed in dark black with serious faces. They usually frightened Mara with their harsh words and strict manners. They were quite different from Aunt Juliette, who was high-spirited and always smiling. Miss Hamilton told her she had other sisters, too, who would also be her aunts and Mara would get to meet them again when they returned to London. Mara couldn’t wait to go back to the grand house and play in the nursery with Sara, Phillip, and Simon once more. She now had a big family!
Just then a lady seated at the harp in the back of the chapel began playing softly and everyone stood up. Papa grinned at Mara and gave her hand a little squeeze. Mara felt a bubble of excitement in her chest.
Then Miss Hamilton entered the chapel, on the arm of that nice Lord Eddington, who gave her some peppermint sticks yesterday. Oh, but Miss Hamilton looked so beautiful! Mara couldn’t help the little gasp that escaped her at the sight. Miss Hamilton’s long gown was white silk with a few ribbons cascading down the back and her blond hair was atop her head, adorned with a crown of white roses. Her face glowed with happiness. Mara thought she looked just like a fairy-tale princess, like the one in the
Sleeping Beauty
storybook she had. Miss Hamilton smiled brightly at Papa as she walked down the aisle toward them. Then her eyes met Mara’s and she smiled again, and Mara felt warm inside.
When they reached the altar, Lord Eddington kissed Miss Hamilton’s cheek and moved to sit in the pew with the Flemings. Miss Hamilton then took Mara’s other hand as Mara stood between her and Papa. The chaplain began talking. He was quite old and had no hair on his head. It seemed as if he talked for a very long time, going on and on about love and something called “holy matrimony.”
Mara held very still, like a good girl, but she found it very hard to listen and her thoughts drifted.
Last night, Mara, Papa, and Miss Hamilton had a long talk together. She was glad because Papa said that now Mara could call Miss Hamilton “Mama.” She missed her own mother very much. But since her mother had gone away, it would be good to have another mother to look after her again, especially one as wonderful as Miss Hamilton. She wanted a new mother and if she had to pick anyone in the whole wide world to be her mother, it would be Miss Hamilton.
Papa also explained to her that Uncle Gerald was going away, because he started the terrible fire. Mara felt sad to think of Uncle Gerald. She didn’t understand why he would do such a dreadful thing. He’d always been kind to her, until the night of the fire, when he was angry with her, but Mara hadn’t meant to be a bad girl by getting out of bed that night. She’d just had a bad dream and wanted to see Mama.
But Papa also told her she didn’t ever have to think about the fire again. Mara liked that idea best of all. Those memories were becoming fuzzier and more faded and that suited her just fine.
She had two people she loved best in the world right there beside her now.
Finally the old chaplain stopped talking and Papa and Miss Hamilton kissed each other. Mara giggled a little. She tried not to but she couldn’t help it. Then they both leaned down and hugged her before Papa lifted her up in his arms. He carried her with them to a small room behind the altar where Papa and Miss Hamilton used ink pens to sign some papers with the chaplain. When they were done, they kissed each other again. And Mara couldn’t help but giggle once more.
Then Papa asked Mara, “So, what did you think of your first wedding, darlin’?”
She smiled at him. “Oh, it was grand! And now I have a new mama.”
“Good,” he said, giving her a squeeze. “Because I thought it was grand, too.”
She like that Papa was so happy. Mara knew how glad it made him that she was talking again, too. She liked talking again, too. It only felt the tiniest bit strange to talk aloud after being silent for so long.
Miss Hamilton took her aside and put her arm around Mara. Miss Hamilton always smelled like a flower garden. “I’m so happy to marry your father, Mara,” she said in her soft voice. “And the most wonderful part of all is that I get to have the best daughter in the world, too. I know we talked about it last night, but you can call me Mama or Paulette.”
“I want to call you Mama.”
“That touches my heart.” Miss Hamilton’s eyes filled with tears, but she looked happy, placing a kiss on Mara’s cheek. “You are a very sweet little girl.”
“Can I choose any book I want?” Mara asked softly.
Miss Hamilton laughed prettily, wiping her eyes. “Yes, of course, and you can have as many books as you like.”
“I feel bad because my toy book with the dancing bear broke.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, but I can get you another one. You can even help me choose children’s books to buy for the store. Would you like that, Mara?”
“Oh, yes!” Mara nodded eagerly. It would be great fun to be in the bookshop all the time and help Miss Hamilton, her new mother.
Papa came to where Mara sat with Miss Hamilton. “Now I have the great honor of taking the loveliest ladies in Dublin to our wedding breakfast.”
Mara giggled in delight and gave a kiss to Papa and her new mother. Not only were they having a celebration today and she was allowed to have two pieces of cake, but also tomorrow they were all sailing to London together!
Mara couldn’t help but think that it was just like the happy endings in her book of fairy tales.

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