He was struggling to remain calm, but perhaps some flash of the anger in him escaped, for she moved away.“The contributions amount to some hundred thousand pounds at the moment, and it is time to make my exit.You see, Nicky, you are completely welcome to the names of all the leaders, just as your foolish brother-in-law is welcome to betray the plot for what he can get.The more trouble you cause them all, the less likely they are to look for me.”
Nicholas maintained his cool facade, though he knew his eyes were telling another story.He was having trouble breathing smoothly.“And you had the satisfaction of watching me alienate my wife as well.”He raised his glass.“My congratulations.”
“Not just that, mon cher.I have enjoyed playing with you—as a cat plays with a mouse.”She took a moment to enjoy that and then continued.“You may have denied me your true devotion, Nicholas Delaney, but you have denied me little else, have you?And now, in mycoup de grace, I have destroyed your marriage.”It was like watching layers peel away.She was no longer loving, no longer amused, no longer beautiful.“You left me once with a broken heart,” she spat.“The only man who has ever done so.Now you too will long for love and be spurned.That is what I promised myself when you abandoned me!”
“Don’t be melodramatic, Therese,” he said dryly.“We had a mild affair—a young man and a whore.Did you expect me to marry you?”
She hit him full force.His head rocked back, but he caught her wrist before she could land the second blow.Immediately a pistol rested cold against his temple, but he did not release her.
“Once is enough for that insult, I think.So you really did care.”He slowly opened his fingers so she could move her arm.“I’m sorry.I try not to hurt my lovers.”
Her eyes flashed bitterly.“Why?Why are you the only one who is not at my feet?You, the only one I have ever loved!”
“I doubt that.”He raised a finger and pushed the muzzle slightly away from his face.“I was the only one you didn’t subjugate, and so you fancied yourself in love.If this is how you love, how do you hate?”
She had recovered her composure, though her eyes still burned.“Love, hate,” she shrugged.“There is little difference, as you will find.”She leaned close again, but not close enough for him to grab her.“Do you remember your wife saying she hated you?Remember it, Nicky.Remember it well.You will drink the bitter cup.My only regret is that I will be unable to see it for myself.”
He raised an eyebrow.“Hence the preview.You are destined to be disappointed if you hope for reports of more such scenes.Eleanor does not have a quarrelsome nature.”
The woman looked momentarily diverted.“She is cold?Poor Nicholas.And with your talents, too … But what can you expect?Raped by one brother, deserted by the other.Truly, as a woman, I regret that to make you suffer, she must suffer yet more.”
Nicholas could not help but stiffen.“How did you know about that?”Then he answered himself, “Of course, Sir Lionel.”
Therese had a smile of total satisfaction.“But no.I myself arranged the whole, my darling.Am I not clever?”
She pointed one long-nailed finger at him.“One of many arrows shot at random.One which found a mark.I was actually looking for a blackmail lever against you through your brother’s unnatural tastes.After all, you had involved yourself in the matter of Richard Anstable, and I didn’t know how long it would take for you to follow the path to me.”
She refilled his empty glass.“Drink, Nicky.I doubt you will drink such quality again for quite some time.”
That, thought Nicholas, sounded decidedly ominous.
“If your brother proved up to the task,” Therese continued, “I intended her as a reward for my friend Deveril.He was a little put out by her escape.I, however, was enthralled when we discovered she was married to you.Enthralled and intrigued.Is she frigid after such an experience?Does she shrink from you in disgust?Perhaps you would have been punished enough, a man of your appetites and talents, without my further interference.”
Nicholas took another measured sip from his glass.She snatched it from him.“What?Are we not to hear the secrets of your marriage bed?You have certainly not sought it much, as I know, and I am sure I have left even you little capacity when you have been home.”
The guards smirked.She laughed and drained the glass in one swallow, then licked ruby wine from ruby lips.
Nicholas allowed a taunting smile to show.“Do you doubt that I could please any woman, any time?”
Her lips tightened, but after a moment she recovered.
“Ah, Nicky … Almost you tempt me to keep you for my amusement.But,” she sighed, “to have to have armed guards around would be so tedious.”
“Not for the guards,” he remarked, causing a smothered guffaw.“Do we have to continue with this, Therese?What precisely do you plan to do with me?”
There was hatred in her eyes now, and he tensed himself for whatever was to come.
“You are altogether too, too confident.I know how very skillfully you can recover a woman’s favor, no matter how badly you have treated her.Does everything in your life always fall out according to your wish, with a subtle smile here, a skillful touch there?How boring for you.We must change all that.”
He recognized the approach of what she considered thecoup de graceand only hoped she had misjudged.
“I think you will have to disappear,” she said.“How long do you think it will take your wife to accept that she is a widow?How long before one of your friends consoles her?The so beautiful marquess of Arden, perhaps?Perhaps he will be able to wipe even your memory from her mind, and her body…”
Despite the futility of it, he fought as the guards skillfully overpowered, bound, and gagged him.
Chapter 13
Eleanor spent the next day waiting for Nicholas to return.Francis and Lucien came separately and together six times to enquire, although they knew she would send word immediately.After Lucien’s third exit—because of a pressing engagement elsewhere—he sent round one of his father’s magnificent liveried footmen to wait and bring the news to him immediately.The tall and handsome young man created quite a stir in the household.
