Regency 02 - Betrayal (22 page)

Raven popped her head around the door. She
smiled at them. “Everything better?” she asked brightly.

“Come in, Raven,” Adam invited with a smile.
He released Bri’s hand. “Did you need something?”

“I was asked to bring this to you,” the
actress replied.

She handed him a sealed letter. It was from
Miles. Adam felt short of breath and afraid. What if she was
already dead? Would he ever be able to forgive himself?

He cracked the seal and read the words. She
wasn’t dead, Miles said, but the end was very close. Adam leaned
his head back and sighed. Then he held the letter out.

Bri took it from him with a curious glance
sent Raven’s way. That woman shrugged her delicate shoulders but
said nothing.

Bri unfolded the parchment and read the brief
note. She looked at Adam and studied his face. He appeared upset
although his face was blank and his eyes were closed. His hand,
however, was balled into a tight fist.

“Raven, will you send for Con please?”

The men who had attacked Adam had been
apprehended. Connor was satisfied with their punishment of
transportation. He had yet to tell Adam of this latest development.
He had already planned on visiting him with the news when a servant
informed him that Lady Rothsmere and Mr. Prestwich were asking for
his presence.

Connor entered the room with a smile on his
face that quickly disappeared when he beheld the grim countenances
of his friends. He sent a curious glance at Raven who curtsied and
then excused herself and closed the door behind her as she left the
room.

“What’s to do?”

Bri rose from the bed and handed Lord Connor
the letter she held in her hand.

“Read it,” Adam commanded.

Connor did. His confusion increased. “What do
you want me to say, Adam? That I’m sorry? This woman has put you
through hell. And she is probably in considerable pain anyway.”

“I have to go to her, Con. I have to talk to
her again before she dies.”

Connor threw a sharp look at Bri. She smiled.
“I agree with him,” she said simply.

“Are you asking me if you
should
go or
if you are
well enough
to go?”

“Neither, actually,” Adam replied, finally
opening his eyes to look at his friend. “I am going. I was hoping
you would go, as well. And Verena and Bri, of course.”

“Is that wise?”

“Probably not,” Adam admitted. “But I find I
can’t face her alone.”

Bri stood impassively by the bed. Connor
looked from her to Adam and back again. “Did you agree to this as
well?” he asked shortly.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it, my
lord,” she replied gravely.

“I see.”

“Do you?” Adam asked. “It would surprise me,
Con, truly it would. Will you go?”

His friend stared at him for a tense moment.
“Very well. Is there anyone else you would like to be there?”

“Raven and Greville,” Adam answered
instantly. “If Denbigh and the rest of your family have no problem
with Raven’s presence, invite them as well. A house party makes the
thought of facing her that much more possible.”

“My family had no problem inviting Raven to
stay here,” Connor replied dryly. “Gwen and Jenny like her,” he
added in reference to his twin sisters.

“Good. I wish to leave today.”

Morris entered the room and grumbled at Adam.
Adam laughed and told him to pack anyway and he could gloat later.
Connor shrugged and bowed to Bri and took his leave.

As he walked through the door, he heard
Morris grumble again and then Adam called Connor back.

“What?”

“Have you found them yet, Morris wants to
know?”

“Oh, the devil, I forgot to tell you. The men
who actually beat the tar out of you were transported yesterday.
Father and I saw them off personally. And the duke has begun a plan
to make Corning pay as well. It seems Corning has a few radical
leanings that father thought the House would be very interested in
learning about.” Connor grinned. “He’ll have to hole up on the
continent to avoid the ramifications of certain actions that could
very well be considered treasonous.”

“There, Morris, you see? Nothing to worry
about.”

Bri cast an amused look at Connor who
returned it. Then he left.

The party that descended on Adam’s residence
in Cornwall consisted of Connor’s entire family, Bri, Raven and
Greville. Miles was shocked but bore up under the strain very well.
He wished Adam had written to warn him of all the extra people.

His cousin’s appearance was also a shock. He
held his tongue until they were alone and then listened in
open-mouthed astonishment to his employer’s tale of revenge.

“How very Gothic,” Miles commented dryly.
“Are you sure you weren’t just set upon by footpads?”

Adam gave him such a speaking look that Miles
chuckled. “Very well. I believe you. It was revenge. But why the
sudden house party? And in the middle of the season, no less?”

Adam shrugged. He looked down into his glass
of brandy as if the answer might be hidden somewhere in the amber
depths. Then he sighed. “Perhaps because I’m still a coward.”

“A coward?” Miles scoffed. “You?”

Adam looked at him with carefully blank eyes.
“I’ve always been a coward, Miles. I run from my problems instead
of facing them head-on. I try to pretend that they no longer exist
instead of trying to solve them. I’m a coward.”

“There is a difference between being a coward
and being scared, Adam,” his cousin retorted softly. “You’re here
now and that’s all that matters right now. You are planning to see
Carly?”

Adam nodded. He couldn’t trust himself to
speak. He wanted to tell his cousin and everyone else to go to the
devil and leave him be. It was easier to run, he had convinced
himself long ago.

Except, now it wasn’t. There was Bri.

“I will see Carly,” he replied finally. “But
not yet. I’ll let you know. In the meantime, have Raven attend
her.”

“You know, Adam,” Miles said uncomfortably,
“it’s not good
ton
to bring your mistress into your
home.”

Adam finished off the liquor in his glass and
set it aside, grinning. “Oh, Raven’s not my mistress.” Miles sighed
in relief. “She’s Greville’s,” Adam said with a chuckle as he left
the room. He was rewarded with a groan from his steward.

Raven did as she was bid and went to meet her
new patient as soon as possible. The day after their arrival, in
fact. It had been more difficult than she had imagined it would be.
Greville had, for some reason, taken exception to her acting as
nurse to Mrs. Prestwich.

“You don’t have to, Raven,” he had commented
from the doorway of her chamber when she was preparing to go to
Adam’s wife.

She turned around. “Of course, I do, Levi.
Mrs. Prestwich needs care. She’s beyond the doctor’s help now.”

“I mean,” her protector retorted as he
entered the room and closed the door firmly behind him, “you do not
have to obey Adam Prestwich anymore. He has no hold over you
now.”

Raven had laughed. “He never did, my
dear.”

“Are you purposely misunderstanding me?”
Greville groaned in frustration. “I don’t want you jumping to do
that man’s bidding, Raven. I won’t have it.”

Raven straightened to her full height—which
wasn’t much shorter than Greville. She fixed a steely dark-eyed
gaze on him. “
You…won’t…have…it?
” she said slowly and
distinctly. Her eyes flashed dangerously.

Greville had never seen Raven in a temper so
he hastened his own death with his next words. “Of course I
won’t.”

“Who the devil do you think you are, Levi
Greville? I’ll tell you who you are,” she answered herself as she
stalked up to him, her hands balled into fists on her hips. “You
are my protector, chosen by me, and nothing more. I don’t need a
protector; I had planned on not taking another one after Adam. So,
do not”—she shook an admonitory finger in his face—“tell me what I
will and will not do!”

And then she had stormed from the room.

Now, as she entered the Rose chamber allotted
to Adam’s wife, she wondered if the earl would drop her. It tore at
her heart to even think about it. She was very much afraid she had
fallen in love with the impossible young man.

Raven was, once again, playing her role of
governess. Her hair was scraped back into a bun and her dress was
plain to the point of severity. She bustled into the sick room with
all the confidence of her breed.

As she neared the bed, Raven smiled brightly
and said, “Hello, Mrs. Prestwich” before she had gotten a good look
at the woman in the bed. When she finally took in her appearance,
Miss Emerson, the Ebony Swan, gasped and lost all of her carefully
cultivated aplomb.

Adam’s wife stared as well. And it was no
wonder, Raven thought sympathetically. The woman had probably just
reached the same conclusion she had. It was like looking in a
mirror. Adam had been much more attached to his wife than he had
let on. He had taken a mistress that could have been her twin.

Nearly a week after his arrival, Adam
requested Miles to present him to his wife.

Miles was surprised by this request. It was
made humbly and with some hesitation, maybe even fear. Adam
appeared to be quite upset but not in the way Miles would have
thought. He looked almost sad.

Upon entering his wife’s chamber, Adam felt a
sense of unreality. It had been well over two years since he had
seen her, longer than that since he had married her. She looked up
at him from the big bed with the wide amber eyes he remembered so
well. They had always reminded him of warm honey.

Lady Carlotta Prestwich greeted her husband
in a voice that was low and husky like Raven’s. He realized with a
start that Carly was like Raven in many ways. They had the same
black hair, the same low voice, the same graceful carriage, and the
same height and shape. The differences were actually small. The
eyes were different and Raven’s hair was very straight where
Carly’s was a riot of curls.

Was, anyway. Now her hair was dull and lank.
Her eyes were still bright but there was pain there, too. Her frame
was emaciated. He felt very sad that her beauty was so far
gone.

He tried to dredge up some of the anger that
had sustained him through the years but it was gone forever. He was
only sad now.

He approached the bed and sat down beside
her. “Why did you do it?” he asked softly.

The woman in the bed fought the tears and
lost. They poured down her cheeks and her lips moved soundlessly.
He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. This action seemed
to increase her distress and Adam began to worry that she might
worsen her condition if she didn’t stop soon.

“Carly, you must calm yourself. I have no
desire to see you do yourself harm in this way,” he murmured.
“Please calm yourself.”

Carly valiantly tried to stifle her tears.
She finally succeeded. In a broken voice, she said, “Why did you
never ask me to explain then?” Her voice was slightly accented and
thick with her tears.

“I was hurt, Carly, obviously,” he replied
with a tinge of sarcasm. “Why Steyne? I could have dealt more
easily with anyone but him.”

She blanched. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

She tried to answer but her frail body was
wracked by a violent fit of coughing. Adam procured a glass of
water for her and lifted her up to drink. He was reminded of
another young lady he had helped in just such a way and was
surprised at the feeling of tenderness that he actually felt for
this woman who had betrayed him in the worst possible way. She
swallowed the water, thanked him gravely and tried to shrug out of
his embrace. He wouldn’t let her.

“Tell me what I don’t know, Carly,” he
commanded gently.

“Very well, Adam.” She shifted slightly
against him until her cheek rested against his chest. “The first
time with Steyne was my fault, I admit. I was seduced by his words
and empty promises. But I realized how very much you loved me and
tried to break it off. He threatened to kill you or me if I left
him. So I stayed. And when you found us, I saw the look on your
face and knew you would leave. I was glad. I wanted you to move on
with your life, to find somebody worthy of you.

“I admit with shame that I developed an
addiction to opium as a way to cope with my sorry life. It was that
habit that nearly destroyed my little Calandria.”

“Where is she?”

“She is here, Adam. She is installed in the
nursery with your old nurse. She is three years old and walking and
talking as much as her mother was wont to do. I am so sorry, Adam.
Can you forgive the stupidity of a lonely and selfish girl?”

“I was not a very good husband to you, Carly.
I should have talked to you instead of assuming you were with him
out of choice.”

“I was with him out of choice in the
beginning, Adam. I was one of those females you hated. I was greedy
and opportunistic. I treated you badly and you deserved so much
better.”

“Carly, you are dying,” Adam said after a few
silent moments.

“Yes,” she replied. Her voice was a mere
thread of sound.

“Do you forgive me for leaving you?”

“Yes, Adam,” she breathed. “But only if you
will forgive me for my unfaithfulness.”

“I forgive you.”

“And my lies, Adam,” she added.

“What lies, sweetheart?”

“About Callie.”

Adam felt his heart skip a beat. “What about
Callie?”

But Carly didn’t answer. Her breathing grew
labored and her hand tightened spasmodically on his arm. He seemed
to feel her slipping away from him. He wanted desperately to know
what she was about to tell him about her daughter.

“Carly, love, tell me about Callie,” he
commanded hoarsely. “Carly?” He shook her and raised his voice.
“Carly?” But he knew it was already too late. Carly was dead.