if hes wicked (13 page)

him long to find out or figure out your part in al of this. Then you, too, wil be in danger.” He grabbed her by the hand, tried to ignore how good that simple touch felt, and led her out of his bedchamber. “My mother needs to know the truth.”

Chloe sighed as they paused in front of the door to the blue salon. “Aye, I suppose she does, and not just for Anthony’s sake. She grieves hard,

Julian.” She was not surprised when he had to look away for a moment to compose himself. “Should I go in first and try to prepare her for this?”

“I am not sure there is a way to prepare her for the son she thought dead to walk into a room in al his sartorial splendor.”

It was hard, but Chloe made no response to that touch of nonsense, only rol ed her eyes. “Is your mother the sort to swoon?”

“Never seen her do so before, but who can say? This might wel be the time that she does. After al , I never heard her curse before, either, and it is

clear that she does it very wel . As do you.”

“I was shocked. So was she. Now, I think you should al ow me to go in a few steps ahead of you, mayhap even a few minutes before you so that I

may keep her from fal ing wrongly and hurting herself if she does swoon.”

Julian nodded and stepped to the side so that he could not be seen when Chloe opened the door. He found that he was eager to see his mother.

Over the last year, dreading both her sympathy and her disapproval, he had avoided her. He had reached the point where he even made a conscious

effort never to be in some place where she or any other member of his immediate family might be.

Pure embarrassment and shame had been the reason for that avoidance, he admitted to himself. Even in his worst drunken haze, he had been

aware of the fact that he was behaving badly and that he was undoubtedly breaking his mother’s heart. Julian suspected he would have eventual y pul ed

himself out of the quagmire he had sunken into in time simply because of the grief he was causing that good woman.

What he was going to have to tel her now would also grieve her. His mother had never liked Beatrice and it had caused a slight rift between them,

but he doubted she would have ever thought the woman her son had married could be as evil as she was. Fortunately, his mother had never much liked

Arthur, either. It was the depth of the crimes against the Kenwoods and the insult to the family name that would hurt her. And, he mused, as he heard his

son’s voice, the mere thought that her husband’s brother and her daughter-in-law would try to murder Anthony would cut her to the bone, just as it had him.

She needed to know the truth, needed to know it al , he thought as he heard his mother spit out a surprisingly pithy curse. There were obviously a

few things he did not know about his mother. She could wel be a lot stronger than he had ever realized. Deciding he had given the women enough time

alone, he stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind him.

Julian stood for a moment and just studied his mother. He could see a few new lines on her shocked face and felt the pang of guilt. When al the

color drained out of her face, he hurried toward her, certain that she was about to faint. Even as he reached for her, she flung herself into his arms. To his utter horror she began to cry.

He looked to Chloe for some help, but she just watched them with an odd, slightly glassy-eyed look on her face. Anthony stood staring at him and

looking as if he was about to cry as wel . Julian patted his mother’s back, uttered what he hoped were soothing, if nonsensical, words, and prayed that the storm of tears would soon end. He felt like the very worst, most ungrateful of sons for making her cry, but he knew there had been little choice.

Chloe watched Lady Evelyn fling herself into Julian’s arms and felt an odd chil go down her back. Suddenly what she was seeing was not Lady

Evelyn crying al over her son’s waistcoat, but Lady Evelyn kissing another man. The man was tal , elegant looking, and gray haired. His clothes were

clean and neat but not of the best materials. They were not in the blue salon in Leo’s house but on a strip of rocky beach, the moonlit waves lapping very

close to their feet. It was obviously a lover’s rendezvous.

Then Chloe blinked and the scene disappeared. She saw Julian handing a large handkerchief to his mother, who no longer clung to him as if he

would disappear. Chloe was not sure whether she had just seen something that was to come or something that was already begun, but it appeared that

the elegant Lady Evelyn had or would have a new love. And, she realized, the man would not be equal in birth and title to Lady Evelyn. Why her gift thought she needed to know that when there were so many other more immediate things she needed to have the answers to, matters of life and death, she did not

know.

The moment Lady Evelyn sat down, Chloe moved to the drinks table and poured both Julian and his mother a brandy. When she served the drinks

to them, she watched in an amazement that matched Julian’s as Lady Evelyn tossed the drink back as if it was the weakest of wines. Julian looked so

shocked, Chloe was beginning to think that, like many men, he had not noticed or known everything about his mother. From what little she had learned of

men, they were very good at seeing the women in their lives as they thought they should be and not as they real y were.

“Why did you let me believe you were dead?” his mother asked, her voice revealing no hint of the fact that she had just poured some very strong

liquor down her throat.

“Because I was badly wounded,” Julian said. “Too wounded to protect myself and anyone my enemies might hurt as they tried to get to me. Also, I

do not believe we can ful y trust al the people who work at Colinsmoor. Or at the dower house.” He had not wanted his mother to move there as, unlike

most dower houses, it was nearly a day’s ride from Colinsmoor manor, but she had insisted. Now it appeared that that might have been the best thing for

her to do, for it had meant that Arthur and Beatrice did not see her or his sisters as a threat.

“Someone betrays us to your enemies?”

Chloe thought the woman sounded as if she was ready to grab a sword and cut the traitor into little pieces. As she continued to watch Julian and

his mother, Chloe also watched Anthony. She reached out and lightly tapped his hand when he reached for another cake. The mess on his face told her

he had already had more than enough sweets.

“Mother, Uncle Arthur is the one who tried to have me kil ed.” Julian careful y explained al he and Leo believed Arthur had done. He began to relax

a little when al he saw was shock and a growing anger on his mother’s face. “It gets worse,” he warned when he finished listing al of Arthur’s crimes.

“What can be worse than your father’s brother trying to kil you? And where was that wife of yours whilst al this went on? With one of her lovers?”

Julian winced. “You could say that. Beatrice is with Arthur. They are lovers and, I believe, have been for a very long time. Lord Wherlocke believes

that Arthur chose Beatrice to seduce me to get someone as close to me as possible. I would not be surprised if part of that plan was to make you wish to

put some distance between yourself and my wife.”

“Poor Mildred,” Lady Evelyn murmured. “Is she in danger? After al , if he is to get the title by destroying my sons, he may wish to step into his new

role with a new wife.”

“Aunt Mildred is protected. It is to my shame that I was not the one to do so. Lord Wherlocke took care of the matter a long time ago. The

Wherlockes are the reason I am not dead in some stinking al ey in London. They saved my life.”

“Is that why your son is here?” Lady Evelyn looked at Anthony and then back at Julian. “And do not tel me that child is not your son. I have eyes. He

is you just as you were as a boy. Who is his mother?”

Julian looked at Chloe. “Perhaps Wynn could take Anthony and get the cake cleaned off his face.”

“I was list’nen,” said Anthony.

“I know,” said Chloe, “but sometimes we big people need to say things that little boys should not hear.” She probably should have taken him out of

the room before Julian had begun the ful sordid tale of what had happened to him.

“Wil he be back?” asked Lady Evelyn as Chloe walked Anthony to the door.

“We can cal for him as soon as we finish talking.”

Evelyn looked at her son. She stil clung to his hand, unable to let go for fear it was al a dream. For a year she had watched him try to kil himself

with drink and prostitutes, but she had always held out the hope that he would pul himself out of that mire. Now it appeared that he had been pul ed out of it by the Wherlockes. Worse, she blamed Arthur for driving Julian to such despair that he had sunk into that year of debauchery in the first place.

She watched Chloe Wherlocke as the young woman sent Anthony off with the large manservant. Chloe was a pretty woman, but her attire was that

of a country girl. When Chloe sat down on the smal settee across from her and Julian, Evelyn realized that this smal , pretty woman was obviously part of

al these secrets.

“Who is Anthony’s mother?” she asked, forcing herself not to look at Chloe Wherlocke.

“Beatrice,” Julian answered.

He took a deep breath and told his mother al about the attempt to kil Anthony. When she grew pale, he put his arm around her. He had known that

this would be the hardest truth for her to bear, nearly as hard as it was for him.

“I never liked that woman, but I never would have thought her capable of such evil,” Lady Evelyn said in a hoarse whisper.

“Neither would I, but there is no denying the truth. Anthony is my son. He even has the birthmark. Arthur and Beatrice could not al ow my son to live,

could they?” He shook his head. “I stil curse myself for a fool who al owed himself to be so beguiled by a woman like Beatrice.”

Lady Evelyn patted his knee. “You are not alone in that fol y, dear. Men have been making idiots of themselves over beautiful women since time

began.”

“Somehow that does not make me feel a great deal better,” he drawled, and scowled at a grinning Chloe, who just grinned wider.

“So Anthony is your heir. And if Arthur and Beatrice learn that he survived, he wil be in great danger.” Her eyes widened. “And Nigel is in danger,

too.”

“Nigel is being watched.”

“Bened Vaughn.”

“Aye,” said Chloe. “Leo had our cousin go and stay with him. Some of our other relations are also watching over Arthur’s wife and daughters.”

“But why?” Lady Evelyn asked. “Why would your family do this? We are neither kin nor close friends.”

“Anthony was given into my care.”

Julian was a little surprised when his mother just nodded as if those few words explained everything. Perhaps to women like his mother and

Chloe, it did. He had a feeling that he could have even told his mother about Chloe’s visions and she would have accepted that as wel . It was for the best that he had left out that part of the tale, however, as he suspected the Wherlockes preferred such things kept as secret as possible.

“So what happens now that I know?” asked his mother.

“I would ask that you continue to keep the secret for a while longer,” said Leo as he walked into the room and then graciously introduced himself to

Lady Evelyn.

“You believe that is for the best?” Lady Evelyn asked as Leo sat down beside Chloe.

“For a little while longer. Your son is nearly healed and I believe the secret should hold until he is back to his ful strength.”

“I can see the sense of that, but I wish to come to know my grandson.”

“Perhaps we can come up with some reason why you and Chloe are now visiting. Charity work, perhaps. The visits must be here, however. Until

we can be certain that Julian is strong and we can adequately protect Anthony, the boy needs to remain hidden from Arthur.”

“And my daughters? Julian’s sisters have sorely grieved, and I would like to relieve them of that. They can be trusted to keep such a secret, and I

often take them with me when I do my charity work.”

“If you are absolutely certain they wil tel no one, not even their maids, then, aye, tel them. But you must be absolutely certain. And if you tel them, you must do so where no one in your employ might overhear.”

“I can do that.” She looked at Julian. “They can be trusted to keep this secret.”

Julian thought about it for only a moment and then nodded. “I know. But Leo is right. You must be very careful where you tel them. We can be

certain of none of our servants.”

Lady Evelyn shook her head. “I just cannot believe that our people would betray us.”

“They are afraid, m’lady,” said Chloe. “People who do not do as Arthur and Beatrice want end up dead. What poor tenant or servant would feel

that they could go against them? The fact that we have papers to prove who Anthony is proves that a few have some courage, but as the man who left

them said—he had a wife and five little ones. I think they are al under siege. And many of the servants at Colinsmoor would have relatives at your other

properties, would they not?”

“Yes, they would.” She looked at Julian. “It is not real y just you, Nigel, and that little boy who need saving, is it?”

“No,” Julian agreed. “I think Chloe put it wel when she said our people are al under siege. And from al I have learned and al that has happened to

me, to Anthony, I believe my wife and uncle are deadly. Deadly and cruel.”

For a while they discussed what was being done and Leo again stressed the need for secrecy. Then Chloe brought Anthony back in to properly

meet his grandmother. The way Lady Evelyn was with the child told Chloe that she would be a loving grandmother. She felt both happy for Anthony and

sad for herself. The more love and attention he got from his rightful family, the less he would need her. The knowledge was a two-edged sword. She