Once Upon a Diamond (20 page)

“I have plans for the earl, you see, and I do not intend
for you to interfere. Is that perfectly clear, Miss Wilcox?”

Kate swallowed past the lump in her throat. She could
guess what perfectly clear meant. She knew what the lady’s plans were and whom
they included. The woman wanted to marry Tristan off to Lady Helen, the
daughter of a nobleman, not to a low-life American. But anger soon replaced any
pity she felt for herself.

“So, I ask you, Miss Wilcox, do you love Lord
Lancewood?” The lady kept her eyes frozen on Kate. “Though love has nothing to
do with marriage, I can see that it might interfere with my plans.”   

Kate shot from her chair, her hands clenched at her
sides. “Love your son? That’s truly none of your affair. However, for the sake
of family, I will tell you. I love Tristan very much, and if he asks me to
marry him, I shall say yes.” 

“I see.” The woman closed her lids and sank further into
her seat, her lips thinning into a grim line of disapproval. “You will not
change your mind then?” 

Giving
the lady one last glare, Kate refused to answer. She departed from the drawing
room, her skirt swishing past a wide-eyed Tristan standing outside the door, who
obviously had heard every word. Drat! 

Awestruck,
Tristan
watched Kate run up the stairs. Her
hips swayed with a graceful anger that made his pulse quicken.

She loved him! His heart overflowed with happiness. With
a start, he realized those were the words he desperately needed to hear.

Now, she had to marry him.

The following morning Kate sat on the piano bench,
paging through her music while Handsome sat beside her, wagging his tail. The
previous evening she had acknowledged her love for Tristan and had hoped he
would do the same. Yet he had seemed startled by her declaration. But she would
not compromise her principles. She vowed to marry for love and that included a
man who loved her. If need be, she would return to America a spinster.

“Bach, I see.” Charlotte strolled into the room, bending
over to pick up a piece of music that had floated to the floor. “I’m sorry we
missed our duet last night. I fear Mother had too much raspberry sauce.”  She
let out a small giggle. “Mother was in such agony. But raspberry sauce always
seems to do her in.”

Kate let out a half smile. She wasn’t about to explain
all that had transpired last night. It was too humiliating.   

“What about playing our duet now?” Charlotte asked.

“Will Mozart do?” Kate stood up and grabbed her flute. “I
have his
Concerto in G Major
for flute and piano. Give me a minute.” 

Charlotte sat on the piano bench and waited. “
Allegro
maestoso
,” she finally said as she counted to four and they began to play.
Handsome
barked, making it a trio. Mr. Divine sat in the corner of the room and let out
a
simply divine
now and then.

In the hallway, a light knock on the front door pulled
Webster from his front row seat on the stairs. A young blond-haired gentleman,
clad in a green velvet coat, stood on the steps and
gave the butler his card. The butler stepped aside to admit him.

When the music stopped, it was Charlotte who turned her
head to view the blond-haired gentleman gazing at Kate. “Good day, sir.” She
rose to greet him before Webster had a chance to announce the man.

Kate
looked up and let out a gasp of surprise. “Matthew!” 

“Mr.
Matthew Wilcox,” Webster announced to the room.

Matthew
laughed and picked Kate up, twirling her around in a circle. Chuckling, Kate introduced
Charlotte.

Matthew
smiled. “Delighted to see you again, dear cousin."  

Charlotte blushed as Matthew took her hand. “I barely
remember you, you know."

Kate hung on to her brother’s arm and grinned. “But you
gave me no warning.”

“When my business was finished, I told you I’d return to
England before they married you off to some wealthy duke.”

Kate gave him a playful swat. “I think not.” 

“But there is an earl that
–
" Charlotte said, then threw a hand to her mouth.

Narrowing his gaze, Matthew turned to Kate and raised a
scrupulous brow. “So, you have an eager suitor? An earl, no doubt. Throwing my
list out already?"

Kate stilled at the mention of the earl. She had no wish
to speak to her brother about Tristan. “You must be tired after such a long
journey,” she said, leading Matthew to the sofa.

Charlotte drew Handsome into the hall and excused
herself, avoiding Kate’s glare. Matthew unbuttoned his jacket, taking a seat
next to Kate. She instantly realized she would have to be careful about her
choice of words because of Matthew’s protective manner. Yet she wondered how
much other information Charlotte would keep to herself.

Matthew held her hand in a comforting manner. “Tell me
about this wonderful earl who has caught your eye.”   

“The earl?” 

Matthew seemed to feel her uneasiness and frowned. “I
know that look, Kate. Are his intentions honorable?” 

His voice held a sharp edge. Kate chewed the inside of
her cheek. What could she say? Honorable? She supposed so, if marrying without
love was honorable.

But Matthew forged on. “Do you love him?” 

Kate peered into her brother’s wary blue eyes and looked
away, nodding yes.

“Kate, look at me. Has this confounded earl hurt you in
some way?” 

Kate shook her head sideways.

“Then who the blazes is this earl that has twisted your
heart?”

Kate laid a hand on his arm. “I love him, Matthew, but I
don’t know if he loves me."

“Ah.” Matthew relaxed. “So the gentleman has not
professed his love for you.”

“He wants to marry me. But he’s not said he loves me.”

“That’s all?" Matthew said. “He doesn’t hate you,
does he?"

“No.” 

Her brother didn’t understand. She wondered if any man
would understand. Matthew thought of marriage as more of a business deal than a
loving bond. He had watched his father suffer from the loss of a loving wife,
and Matthew never wanted that to happen to him.

No, when Matthew married it would not be for love, but
when she married, it would. Her brother seemed to have everything figured out, as
if life were some shipping ledger. Orderly and precise. But life wasn’t like
that.

She caught a peek of her brother’s fatherly expression
and considered it was best to tell him everything before he discovered the sordid
information from Charlotte or somebody else.

“There is something else,” she said, pulling out of his
grip.

“What have you done now?”

Kate turned away, struggling with the best way to tell
him about her stay in England. “Well, the first day in England I had to stay at
an inn, and, um, that is to say, a thief died at the end of my bed with a knife
to his heart.”

Matthew’s eye widened. “I don’t believe I heard that
correctly.” 

Kate’s chest tightened. “You heard correctly. A man died
at the end of my bed with a knife to his heart. Well, in essence, he died on
the floor, but what’s the difference?" 

Matthew shot from his seat, thrusting a hard fist into
the palm of his hand. Kate had never feared her brother before. He was always
so calm and cool. But the serene gentleman she knew from back home had
completely disappeared. His eyes blazed with fire as he pointed a shaking
finger at her. “Did you kill him? For heaven's sake, Kate! Did you?”

“No, well, not exactly.”

His lips went taut as she tried to explain.

“Calm down. As I said before, I stayed at an inn the
first day I came to England, because of the storm, you see. The earl was
sleeping in the chambers next door. It was all quite innocent.”  That was the
wrong thing to say.

Matthew’s forehead crinkled into a mass of fierce lines.
“You mean to tell me, you met this earl at a country inn? By yourself?” 

Kate sank deeper into her seat as she watched her
brother’s nerves unravel like a massive ball of yarn.

“And where the hell was Mrs. Hollingsworth all this
time?" he snapped.

“Will you please let me finish?” Kate pleaded. “And
don’t curse. This is not as bad as it sounds.” Matthew clamped his jaw shut as
she continued. “It all makes perfect sense.” 

But Kate gasped when she saw her brother’s knuckles turn
white and the vein pop out on the side of his neck. “You see, that evening a
man came into my room and threatened me."

Matthew’s face darkened. “No, I fail to see anything at
the moment!” He mumbled another curse and started pacing. “What happened
next?”  

Kate blinked. Her brother was overreacting. “The
intruder held a dagger. He wanted to kill the earl and asked me where his
lordship was.” She shrugged. “Of course, just because the earl carried me to
his chambers did not mean
–
” 

“STOP!” Matthew glared into her eyes. “Are you telling
me this earl carried you to his room at the inn. A man, Kate? A full blooded
male?”

Kate scoffed. “What other kind of males are there?”

He stared at her in silence. Kate frowned. What was the
matter with him anyway? She wasn’t in danger. Tristan had saved her. “Listen to
me. This is all so simple. When I refused to tell the intruder that the earl
resided in the room next door, well, needless to say, it was not pleasant.” 

Matthew’s face turned a blotchy red. “Did he hurt you?”

Kate shot him a wide-eyed look. “Oh, no, nothing like
that.”

Matthew swallowed hard. “What happened?”

“The earl came in and saved me. That’s what happened. The
intruder fell on his knife and died at the foot of my bed. That night, Lord
Lancewood watched over me in his own bedchamber since mine was, well,
bloody." 

She sucked in a breath of air and exhaled. “There. Now,
I’ve said it."

Matthew stared back in mute horror. His knees buckled
and he fell hard into the wing chair. “Yes, you certainly have.”

Before the family’s trip to Drury Lane later that
evening, Matthew joined Devin in the drawing room. He hadn’t seen the marquess
since the two were children. When his father traveled with Kate years ago,
Matthew had stayed behind.

The marquess assured Matthew that Lord Lancewood was an
honorable man. But when Captain Gaston’s name came up, it was all Matthew could
do to control his temper.

Matthew strode about the room, his hands clasped behind
his back, his mouth grim. “Gaston worked for my father. My father knew he was a
good captain, so he kept him on. But the man had a dark side my father, like
Kate, has never seen.” 

He stopped and glanced back at Devin. “I witnessed the
captain kill one of his own sailors when I was sixteen. I told my father, but
he said it was probably self-defense. Gaston never knew I had seen the murder. I
suspect the man has killed before, but I have no proof. I admit, he was a good seaman,
and my father liked to think the best of people.”

Matthew helped himself to another brandy. “Believe me, I
kept my eye on the man. But he’s been as clean as the deck after a storm. Almost
too clean.” 

Devin leaned back in his chair, his dark brows knitted
into a frown. “Why didn’t you push your father to believe you?"

 “Like I said, I had no proof, and the captain has been
a true gentleman, nothing problematic, at least from what I could detect. But,
the crux of the matter is, I haven’t been exactly on business since Kate’s been
here. After my father’s death, I discovered his money was being embezzled. And I
had a gut feeling that my father had been murdered at sea.”

Devin sat up. “Murdered?”

Matthew nodded. “I feared that Captain Gaston was
involved somehow, and that he hired someone aboard my father’s ship to throw
him overboard. After we heard word of the incident that my father was lost at
sea, I was attacked, along with a friend of my father’s at a Boston tavern. That
was enough for me to send Kate to visit you. I believed her to be safe here, at
least safer than Boston, until I figured this whole thing out.” His face
darkened. “But after what she told me about the inn and the earl, I have to ask
myself what I was thinking.” 

Matthew suppressed a sigh and spread his hands along the
piano, clinking a few keys. “My father was to bring home a new flute for Kate. She
was so excited.” 

He plucked middle C with his forefinger. “That’s the
story, Devin. I know the captain’s an embezzler and a cold-blooded killer. He
was probably involved in the death of my father, but there’s no proof. Gaston
wasn’t even aboard the ship when my father died."

Devin finally shook his head and blew out a puff of air.
“Unbelievable.”

Matthew moved to the sofa. “Unbelievable, but true.”