Kresley Cole - [MacCarrick Brothers 03] (13 page)

Not to mention that Hugh took his orders to kill from Jane’s own father….

But in the condition Ethan was in, there was nothing he could do to help his brother. The inaction ate at him. He burned with urgency. With nothing to do but think, he stewed, alternately dwelling on his failure and on Madeleine.

Though Ethan had ruined her chances with Le Daex, Ethan couldn’t say that she wouldn’t find another after so many weeks had passed. She was tempting, and if she was provided with a large enough dowry, a man could be moved to overlook her lack of virtue.

Ethan had shown mercy to Grey and look what had happened. He would not make the same mistake twice by allowing Sylvie to go unscathed.

When he was finished with Grey, Ethan would lure Madeleine away from Sylvie back to one of his more obscure estates, with an offer of security in a mutually beneficial arrangement. Or, if she proved stubborn, he was not above promising marriage, with no intention of going through with it.

He wondered if her parents had warned her about a scarred, black-haired Scot, but he doubted it. Sylvie lacked the imagination to make the connection. Van Rowen had been eaten with shame and guilt over the incident and likely wouldn’t have spoken of it before his death six months later.

In any case, it wouldn’t matter if the girl had been warned. Ethan would have her one way or another. He’d been disfigured—the exquisite daughter offered up would appease him. Once she was in his possession, he’d use her until he tired of her.

Then he would throw her out, thoroughly ruined, on her pert little arse, saving countless foolish noblemen from Sylvie’s clutches.

Madeleine had told him that his kind used and gave nothing back.

Miss Van Rowen had seen nothing.

Thirteen

F
or the love of Christ, let it be someone come for me,
Ethan thought the next day when he heard a carriage on the drive.

He closed his eyes in relief when he heard Hugh’s voice in the front parlor. Though Hugh was usually so silent, Ethan distinctly heard him attempt to make conversation with the MacReedys. He wasn’t polished with it, but he seemed to take his fumbles with a light heart.

When Hugh entered, Ethan noticed his brother looked hale and…
happy
?

“Ethan, it’s good to see you!” he exclaimed as Ethan made a painstaking attempt to sit up in bed. “Grey told me he’d killed you.”

Ethan quirked a brow. “So we’re talking to Grey now?”

“No, of course no’.” He grinned. “Those were his last words.”

“You…killed him.” Grey was dead at last? “How?”

After all this time—it wouldn’t be
Ethan
who destroyed Grey.

“Well,
I
dinna kill him precisely.” Hugh pulled at his collar. “More like Jane and I did it together. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way back. If you’re ready to go home now?”

“What do you think? It’s about bloody time someone came for me. I sent a wire weeks ago.”

“There was no wire from you. I’ve searched everywhere—even had runners combing the countryside. That’s how we located you here.”

“
No wire?
” he bellowed, then heard the whelp take off, slamming out of the house. That was why he’d been stuck? Because the whelp had pocketed the telegraph fee? “I’m going to kill that puny bastard.”

“Do it another time. I have to get back to London. Do you need help getting dressed?” When Ethan reluctantly nodded, Hugh helped him to the edge of the bed. “Let me see the damage.” He gave a whistle at the sight of Ethan’s wound. “That was close. Another inch—”

“And I would no’ have been trapped here for five weeks.”

“A bullet wound, though? Exactly how slowly were you moving for Grey to be able to hit you?” Hugh asked, and Ethan’s fists clenched. “The skin’s healing nicely. A couple of weeks more for the stitches—if you’re careful with them.” Frowning, Hugh said, “Why are you still so weak?”

“Because the food here tastes like sawdust,” Ethan said. He’d probably lost a stone of weight.

“That might be, but you’re still going to have to thank them for it.”

“The hell I will.”

Hugh lowered his voice. “If you doona, I will no’ tell you how Grey died. And I might just leave your arse here….”

Twenty minutes later, Hugh and his coach driver were heaving Ethan up into his carriage. “That was no’ so bad, now, was it?” Hugh grated with a last shove.

Ethan gritted his teeth, collapsing back onto the squabs. “Sod off, Hugh.” His wound was singing, his head was spinning, and yet even after being blackmailed into muttering gratitude to that family, excitement drummed in him. Because Ethan had realized that Grey’s death meant his duty was done. Ethan was free to go to Paris as soon as he got his strength back.

Suddenly he felt ravenous.

“Now, tell me how the hell Grey died,” Ethan said once the coach began to roll along.

Hugh peered out the window as he answered, “Well, Jane plugged him with some arrows, and I…tripped him.”

Ethan grew still. “Grey died by
tripping
?” This was too humiliating.

“It was worse than it sounds,” Hugh said quickly, facing him again. “Gruesome. A trial, truly. So how did Grey get the drop on you?”

“I was careless, and I paid for it.” He shrugged, wanting away from that subject. “What else has happened in the last five weeks? Have you gotten your marriage annulled yet?”

“No, I dinna.”

Ethan exhaled. “You told me Grey died weeks ago, and you still have no’ done this?”

“I’m…staying married. Jane is mine now.”

“But the curse,” Ethan said, scowling at this absurdity. “Your past—”

“She knows about my past, about her father, about everything. Grey was sure to reveal all to her. And of the curse…it’s no’ as we thought, brother. Court’s gotten married to Annalía, and, well, he’s to be a da.”

“No. That’s no’ possible.” Ethan grew light-headed.
Never seed shall take….

Hugh shook his head. “It’s true. Annalía’s big with his child. I saw her myself.”

“The babe’s no’ his.”

“That’s what everyone thought you’d say. Annalía’s a good lass, but for your benefit, I’ll tell you that Court was her first and only, and that it was just the two of them together for weeks.”

Ethan had met Annalía and knew she wouldn’t possibly lie about the parentage of her babe—or take another lover besides Court. But still, to have this sole development refute what they’d believed for so long? “So how do you explain why Court’s never gotten a bairn on any girl before? And then he does it so quickly with her?”

“Everyone who knows about the book and what’s happened agrees that the last two lines of the foretelling must say something about each son finding the woman meant for him.”

This was exactly what Ethan had feared—his brothers getting their hopes up, to be crushed. And yet Ethan couldn’t argue the reasoning. Many a time, he’d used the book in just such a way as this. “You believe that?”

“I do, Ethan, and I hope you will, too.”

“So you feel certain that I can marry and have bairns?” Ethan was unaccountably restless after hearing this news, even as he felt removed from the entire conversation, as if he were watching it instead of participating in it.

“Aye, if you find the right lass. And then you can get back to the life you’re meant to lead.”

“I am—”

“No, you’re no’,” Hugh interrupted. “You’re the Earl of Kavanagh. You’ve got responsibilities and lands and people. You’ve got a title to pass down.”

“Maybe I’m more satisfied in my current occupation.”

“It’s no’ the life Da wanted for you—no’ killing and being shot. And no’ being alone nearly every damned day and night of your life,” Hugh snapped.

“Just because you and Court have suddenly settled down does no’ mean I have the same needs. I like the hunt. I like the danger.”

“For how long, Ethan? You’re no’ getting any spryer. You bloody got tagged by
Grey
.”

Ah, that was low, and they both knew it. Ethan narrowed his eyes. “So you think you can just walk away from your job without looking back?”

“Aye, because now I have something to look forward to.”

“Have you ever thought that you should no’ be staying with Jane for reasons other than the curse, and other than your past?” Ethan demanded. “This all goes back to common bloody sense—something I’m discovering my brothers dearly lack, especially in their choices of brides.” He flashed an expression of realization. “Jane’s with bairn, is she no’? Apparently, it’s quite easy for MacCarricks to propagate these days. That’s why you are staying with her? And that’s why she had to accept you.”

“No, she is no’ pregnant. We’re waiting.” At Ethan’s look, Hugh hurriedly said, “
No’
as in abstinence.”

“Waiting,” Ethan said with a slow nod. “So my mercenary brother has gone off and married an excruciatingly rich heiress and gotten a babe on her, and my other brother is practicing contraception like a radical. Let me guess, her idea?”

“
Our
idea. And I have thought over my marriage, Ethan. For weeks, I agonized over keeping Jane or no’. Every time I tell someone I married Jane Weyland, they laugh, thinking I’m jesting.” Hugh frowned, muttering, “That’s grown wearying quickly.”

“It
is
laughable,” Ethan said, never one to palliate his words. “She’s a famed beauty and wit, with an enormous extended family. You canna stand to be around groups of people and rarely talk to most.”

“Aye, I know. But she is happy being my wife—turns out she’s wanted to marry me since she was a girl.” Hugh sounded so bloody proud. Ethan had to admit he’d never have suspected that from Jane. “And I’m making an effort for her.”

“A man canna change his nature,” Ethan said.

“No, no’ often,” Hugh replied. “But I believe when men like us do, the change is profound.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Take Court. He was almost as selfish as you are, but now he’s different.”

Ethan didn’t bother denying he was selfish, but he said, “Aye, take Court. Another example of a ridiculous match. Annalía’s an heiress—Court does no’ have two guineas to his name. And he’s a bloody mercenary while she could no’ be more genteel. How’s he to support her? Leave her at home with a new bairn while he marches off to wage war for money?”

“He’s retired.”

Ethan gave a humorless laugh. “They’ll starve. And they’ll do it at his run-down manor in the middle of the Highlands—unless he lives off her.” He scowled deeply. “The hell that will be happening. I’ll settle money on him before he becomes the first MacCarrick to live off his wife.”

“No, when he was on his last campaign, I reinvested for him what he had managed to save,” Hugh said. “Court actually has a steady income now. And when Jane and I were hiding out at his property—waiting for
you
to kill Grey—we needed something to do, so we renovated the manor house. Put it this way—I saw work as the only thing I could do to keep my hands from Jane. Trust me, Court’s home is a bloody showplace now. And Annalía loves it there.”

“And how long will that last? How long can it? You two baffle me. I thought my brothers had more sense than this.”

“If what I enjoy now is due to senselessness, then I doona want sense.” Hugh sank back, appearing to have given up on convincing Ethan. “You will no’ understand, you canna, until you feel it, too. It’s like trying to impress upon a virgin what sex is like.”

And with one word, Ethan’s mind was back on Madeleine. He’d been doing so well. At least ten minutes had passed since the last time.

Wait…
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “I hate it when people make asinine arguments like that. That’s like our mother telling us that we could no’ comprehend—or forgive—her behavior toward us after Da died, until we’d been in love.” When she’d said that, Ethan had replied,
“Bullshite. I doona have to jump off a bloody bridge to understand the landing will prove disagreeable.”

Ethan could never forgive her for her actions. There was no excuse for the woman to have blamed her sons for Leith’s death, no excuse for reacting so irrationally. She’d screamed, tearing at her hair, uttering things that could never be taken back….

Hugh said, “No, Ethan, she was right.”

“Of course you agree—now that you’ve been inducted into the cult of marriage. I canna decide if I’m amused or disgusted by all this.”

Hugh stared out the window, and his tone turned grave. “If I…if I lost Jane, I could no’ predict my actions, but I know I would no’ be verra concerned with watching what I said.”

“I’ve decided. Disgusted.”

“Have you never thought about marrying?”

“No, never. I thought we were no’
supposed
to, and to say my personality isn’t favorable to it is an understatement.” Ethan sounded so sure, but now, for the first time in his life, doubts on the subject had begun to creep into his thoughts. Both of his brothers were wed and sounded happy, and apparently, the curse wasn’t as they’d believed.

Ethan had heard that a man’s life flashed before him just before he died. Ethan had been on the verge, and nothing had flashed before him—but then, he’d had few meaningful moments in his adulthood. He’d never had friendships like Court had with his band of mercenaries. Ethan had never felt the selfless love for one woman that his brother Hugh had for years.

That night in the alley, Ethan had believed he was going to die—and he’d realized how pointless his life had been. And for some reason, at such a critical time, he’d thought of that lass….

After a quarter of an hour of silence passed between them, Hugh said, “What are you going to do when we arrive in the city?”

“Ready for a trip to Paris.” Unfortunately, he’d need to spend a few days in London before setting off. He’d eat and regain his strength, healing more as he arranged the logistics of his plan.

“What’s in Paris?”

“Madeleine Van Rowen.”

“
Still
thinking about her?” Hugh raised his brows. “This is interesting.”