Gail Ranstrom – Unlacing Lilly (страница 11)

“Your game is afoot, that much is clear.” Jack sat back in his chair and rocked on the rear legs. “But it is the nature of the game that troubles me. I begin to regret having any involvement in this at all. The Hunters are not ones a sane man would wish to cross. You’ve said you do not have a grudge with Miss O’Rourke, and that she is merely a means to an end, but I have misgivings as to the way you intend to use her.”

So did Devlin, but he merely regarded Jack with an even expression. He could not afford to give anything more away. Not that Jack could stop him if he knew the whole plan, but Devlin had no stomach for a quarrel with no purpose. Quite simply, there was no way to turn him back now.

Jack was studying him and Devlin could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. He was quick and could put clues together faster than anyone Devlin had ever known, but pray he did not put this scheme together.

Yes, there would be adjustments he would have to make, and consequences to pay, but that was unavoidable. It was the greater risk of failure that troubled him. His original plan had been straightforward, clean and sure to succeed, but now it was fraught with possible disaster. If he failed…well, he’d lose his life. To target so powerful a family as Rutherford’s was foolhardy. He’d known that from the beginning.

Apparently tired of waiting for Devlin to tell him more, Jack finally rocked forward in his chair and stood. He headed toward the door, shaking his head. “I’d appreciate it if you never mention my name or my involvement with this, Dev.”

“Done.” But he had one last chore for Jack, and he knew he could persuade him. He reached into his waistcoat pocket and withdrew the scrap of paper that had dropped from Miss O’Rourke’s reticule. Her list of things to do and items to fetch. It would be enough.

Fricke was a dab hand at such things. “Take this to Fricke, will you? He will know what to do with it.”

Jack came back for the paper and pushed it in his pocket. “A forger? Deeper and deeper,” he said in mock despair before he closed the door behind him.

Devlin stood and went to his window to look down on the teeming Whitechapel street. Especially after dark it swarmed with men seeking strong drink and an easy mark, and women seeking the same. This was not a place for the timid, and he wondered how Miss O’Rourke would have fared here. Most likely she’d have hidden in corners and avoided the citizens. She was far too well-bred to even understand the misery in such places.

He remembered her as she’d been this afternoon, a bit bedraggled from the storm, smelling of starch and wet straw bonnet. Even that could not douse the fire she’d kindled in his groin. She’d been so completely lovely, so blissfully unaware of her appeal, that he’d been tempted to tell her. But she’d have run from him, and rightly so. His intentions were about as far from honorable as they could be.

He was still a bit bemused by the brush of their lips. He could not call it a kiss, at least none like he’d had before. Their lips had barely met, and yet he’d felt a surge of heat he hadn’t experienced since his first time at fifteen years old when he’d lain with one of the prostitutes who had been a friend of his mother. In the countless encounters and women since, he’d never found anything remotely as exciting.

And, curse the luck, she was Andrew Hunter’s sister-in-law. Hunter was a man of his word, and he respected that. In fact, Hunter had intervened to keep Devlin out of gaol once. And Devlin had repaid the debt only a month ago by helping Andrew stop the brotherhood of sacrificial killers his brother James was now seeking. If he recalled correctly, Miss O’Rourke’s sister was to have been the last sacrifice, but Hunter had arrived in time to foil their plans and disband the treacherous group.

What a quagmire of conflicting loyalties he’d fallen into. Honor his friendship? Be the gentleman to Miss O’Rourke? Or achieve the very thing he’d lived for since his mother’s death twenty years ago?

He experienced a quick flash of sympathy for the O’Rourkes. They deserved a respite. They deserved a bit of peace.

They deserved better than they were going to get.

Yes, Devlin was the proverbial ill wind for Miss Lillian O’Rourke, and within twelve hours, her life would be changed forever.

Chapter Five

Lilly tucked a strand of hair beneath her ivory silk bonnet. She had trimmed it with fresh pink and white roses, praying that would draw attention away from the hideous wedding gown. Yes, it fit her perfectly, but the multiple bands of ruffles around the skirt combined with the flounce at her neckline and the ridiculous bows on her sleeves and down her back made her look as if a milliner’s shop had exploded on top of her. And the veil attached to the back of her bonnet was just too much. She could not wait for the wedding to be over so she could take the horrid thing off.

The murmur of voices from the church nave made her nervous since it was an indication of the growing crowd who’d come to witness the nuptials. She couldn’t see a thing since the vestry, an interior room, opened off a side passageway and had no windows and only one door. The minister would come in from an outside door just across from the vestry so he could enter the church and change unseen. He had already done so, leaving the vestry for Lilly’s use.

She glanced at the small clock on the console table beneath the oval mirror. Only a quarter of an hour before she would become the Marchioness of Olney. Her heart skipped a beat at that realization. Heavens, she only wanted it over.

A soft knock and a muffled, “Miss Lilly?” told her that her brother-in-law was outside. Was it already time to walk down the aisle? Her hands shook as she opened the door and let him in.

Andrew Hunter was ungodly handsome in his dark jacket and trousers. As he took off his hat, only the expression on his face betrayed his concern. “May I have a word with you, Miss Lilly?”

“Of course.” She stepped back to give him room to enter.

He shut the door behind him and looked uncomfortable. He studied her for a moment before he began.

“Miss Lilly, are you having second thoughts? Any misgivings at all?”

“N-no. Why would you think that, sir?”

“It would be natural at this point. And completely understandable.”

“The excitement…”

He nodded. “This must be a very…confusing time for you. I wanted to take this opportunity to assure you that there will always be a place for you at my home—Bella’s home. Whatever is to come, I will give you sanctuary.”

Sanctuary? Lilly studied Andrew’s dark eyes and wondered what he could be hinting at to warrant such an odd declaration. “Do you anticipate a problem, sir?”

He glanced down at his highly polished shoes. “I, ah, hardly know how to answer that, Miss Lilly. Anything can happen. Olney is a man who has varied and exotic interests. You are innocent of society and may take issue with…well, something.”

“What in heaven’s name are you trying to tell me? That you do not like Olney and would rather I did not marry him?”

He combed his fingers through his dark hair and frowned as if that were a complicated question to answer. “Until recently, Miss Lilly, I was shoulder to shoulder with him in interests. Just as anyone who cared for your sister would not have chosen me for her, I would not have chosen Olney for you. But Bella has proved to be my salvation, and if Olney is likewise inclined to change, then I would not stand in the way. If he is not…”

“If not? Then you would give me sanctuary from my lawful husband? Is this why you and Bella insisted that we move to your house?”

Andrew’s jaw tightened and he gripped her shoulders in his earnestness. “Lilly, try to understand. I wanted your family, including you, to have my protection should anything untoward occur.”

“Untoward?”

“Should you decide not to marry Olney after all. Or should you decide to leave him afterward.”

“What do you think he would do?”

She saw the defeat in his posture. “I can see that you are determined to proceed. I will respect your wishes, my dear. I will go inform Bella, and I’ll be back for you as soon as the last of Rutherford’s guests have arrived.”

Lilly frowned as he turned and opened the door. She was about to call him back and demand an explanation for his odd offer, but the Duchess of Rutherford was standing there with her hand raised to knock.

She pushed past Mr. Hunter carrying a small deep blue lacquer case with a jeweled clasp. “Oh! My goodness. I hope I am not interrupting. I must speak with Lillian immediately.”

“I was just leaving,” Andrew said with a stiff bow and a reassuring glance back at Lilly.

The door closed again and the duchess sighed heavily. “Well, as it appears this wedding is to go forward, I have come to do the proper thing.”

“The proper thing?” Lilly was bemused. She could not imagine what the duchess meant. This was certainly a day for out-of-the-ordinary behavior.

“It does not surprise me that you do not know of these things, Lillian. I believe we shall have quite a chore in bringing you up to snuff.”