The Earl’s Dangerous Passion: Historical Regency Romance Novel

by Ella Edon

  “Good to know.” Derby grunted. He held up his wrists. “But in case you haven’t noticed, I’m tied up as well. I’m as much a prisoner as you are.”

  “What?” Beatrice stared at his binds. “Why you?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “I...I only just came around.”

  Beatrice’s face was tinged green. Derby shifted back onto his knees and moved closer. Twigs and sharp leaves dug into his legs.

  “What happened, Lady Beatrice?”

  “I don’t really know.” Beatrice wiped the sweat off her forehead with her arm. “Someone came into my room, but not...not by the door…” She stared at Derby. “Are there secret passages in your home?”

  “There are. My ancestors built them in during the civil war.”

  And the killer had to have known about them. There wasn’t many who did know, but it could easily be more than Derby realized. People only just had to stumble across them to find out about the secret corridors.

  And someone had taken advantage of them. How else would he have got him and Beatrice out of the house without anyone noticing?

  “Oh, God.” Beatrice was beginning to shake. “We’re going to die. He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?” She began to wail. “He’ll kill me! I don’t want to die!”

  Derby gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to slap her.

  “Lady Hartley, that’s enough! We can’t afford to panic. We need to untie ourselves and get out of here.”

  “And just how are we going to do that?”

  Derby managed to get his hands inside his jacket. Ever since their ancestors had fought in the civil war, the Earl of Derby had made sure their coats had a special lining and a secret pocket, where they would have a knife or a weapon they could fit in it. Mostly a pocketknife. Derby had taken it to heart. There was always a time when he needed a knife, mostly for opening a bottle.

  He never thought it would be to cut into rope that was keeping him prisoner.

  “With this.” He held up the knife for Beatrice to see. “My family always have a back-up plan.”

  Beatrice’s eyes locked onto the knife. She sat up and held out her wrists.

  “Cut me loose.” She ordered.

  “No.” Derby managed to open the blade and started to cut into the ropes at his wrists. It was a little awkward, but he found a rhythm. “I’m cutting myself loose, and then I’ll help you.”

  Beatrice lowered her wrists and scowled.

  “If you were a gentleman, you’d cut the lady loose first.” She grumbled.

  “And if you were a lady, you’d help me afterwards instead of running away.” Derby shot back. “I don’t trust you to hang around and help me, or even leave the knife behind.”

  From the look on Beatrice’s face, that was what she had been planning on doing. In no time at all, Derby managed to slice through the ropes, the remains dropping to the ground. He cut through the ones at his ankles, and then he turned to Beatrice. The Viscountess was still sulking as he cut her loose. The urge to just leave her there and head back to the house was ever so tempting, but Derby wasn’t that cold. Not if there was a killer about.

  He finished slicing through Beatrice’s ties, and the woman started to stand up, stretching herself out.

  “Oh, that feels so…”

  Derby grabbed her and dragged her back down. Beatrice gasped and tried to fight him off, but Derby pinned her to the tree and put his hand over her mouth. He had heard voices and footsteps nearby, and they were getting closer. He put a finger to his lips.

  “Someone’s coming.” He whispered. “If it’s the person who put us here, we need to play dumb. Pretend you’re tied up and don’t run until I say so.”

  Eyes wide and frightened, Beatrice nodded. Derby eased away from her and picked up the ropes. Between them, they managed to wrap the ropes around them as if they hadn’t been broken, and then Beatrice huddled against the tree, face buried in her arms. Derby leaned against the tree, watching the break in the bushes by the lake. One way in, one way out.

  Then his heart stopped when he saw Amy and Day appear. Amy was looking nervous, trying to put distance between her and her stepfather even as he held onto her hand against his arm. Day was looking smug. Derby had never seen him like this before.

  “Amy?”

  Amy turned. She saw him and faltered.

  “Oh, my God! Daniel!”

  She tried to come to him, but Day hauled her back, wrapping an arm around her waist. Derby started to get up, only to freeze when he saw a knife in Day’s hand. There was a flash of silver, and Derby dived to the side. He hit the ground as he heard a thunk and looked up to see the knife buried in the tree where his head had been.

  “I figured you would have gotten out of your binds somehow.” Day said. He didn’t sound like the man Derby knew. Something sharper was in his voice. “You try that again, and this will go down worse for you.”

  Amy whimpered. She was silently crying, trying to get out of Day’s arms. But Day refused to let go.

  “It’s all right, Amy, darling. I’m not going to hurt you. This is for us.”

  “No.” Amy was shaking her head. “Please, no.”

  Derby moved into a crouch and rose slowly to his feet. He wanted to charge at Day, tackle him to the ground and throttle him to within an inch of his life. But he had Amy in his arms, and while Derby was confident that Day wouldn’t really hurt Amy, he wasn’t about to take that chance.

  “You killed them all, didn’t you?” He accused.

  “Of course, I did. I won’t have anyone between Amy and I.”

  “But to kill anyone who got in the way?”

  “Anything to have her.” Never looking away from Derby, Day pressed a kiss to Amy’s head. Amy flinched, but Day didn’t seem to notice. “When I first met Amy, I knew she was the one for me. It was never Anna, it wasn’t always her daughter. But she was too young. I had to wait until she was old enough. Her mother was divorced, and she was close to Amy, so I had the perfect excuse to be hanging around without questions being raised.”

  “What?” Amy stared up at him. “You used Mama?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, Anna is a good person, but she isn’t you.” Day’s expression softened as he stroked her cheek. “Then you came of age, and you were even more beautiful. Everything I wanted. But now I was married, and it wasn’t something I could get out of. Plus, you were getting attention from other men. I wasn’t about to let them take you from me.”

  Derby felt sick. Of all the conclusions he had come up with, none of them included a man in love with his stepdaughter. Day had hidden himself very well.

  “You were the one who threatened anyone who showed any interest in Amy.” He said. “You made sure they didn’t come near her again, even if they left Society altogether.”

  “And it was you who wrote those letters to me?” Amy whispered.

  Day sighed.

  “Forgive me for the harsh ones, but I had to make sure you understood your position. That you were mine.”

  “By threatening me?”

  “No one was going to become involved with a woman who had a stalker and was sending her death threats.” Day’s expression darkened as he looked up at Derby. “Clearly, that part didn’t work.”

  Derby glanced at Beatrice, who was now staring at Day like she had seen a ghost. He edged closer to Day. Maybe he could keep him talking…

  “You killed Kenneth.” He looked Day in the eye. “Dobson, Leicester. Even her father.”

  Amy gasped. So, did Beatrice.

  “Leicester’s dead as well?” Beatrice shrieked.

  Day snorted.

  “Don’t get all teary-eyed about him, Lady Hartley. He’s not worth crying over.” He turned back to Derby, stroking Amy’s hair. “Lord Merseyside had confessed to being in love with Amy. I wasn’t about to have Amy reduced to being his mistress. It wasn’t difficult to pour him a drink and put some poison in it. Something very fast-acting, no leaving anything beh
ind.”

  Derby glanced at Amy. She was looking horrified, shaking in Day’s arms. She looked at him, silently pleading with him to help. Derby took another step closer.

  “And what about Dobson?” He asked. “He wasn’t in love with Amy.”

  “But he was fond of her.” Day pointed out sharply. “And he had seen me leaving the Marquis’ room shortly before he was found. It wouldn’t have taken much for a smart man like him to figure out what had happened.” He sniggered. “He was a little harder to poison, but the valet wasn’t about to doubt a doctor who was about to kill him.”

  Derby clenched his fists. He was still holding his knife, hiding in his hand. The blunt side of the blade was digging into his fingers. Amy shrugged Day’s arm off and spun around, facing him down.

  “What about Father?” She demanded. “And Lord Leicester?”

  Day smirked. He folded his arms. His behavior said he was enjoying himself.

  “I think you can guess Leicester, Amy. No matter what, he was making you his wife. A trophy, in a sense. He would never have treated you as anything like a wife, not like I would. He had to go. And as for your father…” He shrugged. “Well, you said you hated him. I was merely doing as you wished.”

  “I didn’t want him dead like that!” Amy cried.

  Day’s expression hardened a little. He reached out and brushed his fingers across Amy’s cheek. She jerked her head away, which had Day’s jaw tightening. Derby used this distraction to move a little closer.

  “Hartley hurt you,” Day was still talking to Amy, “And I was fed up with seeing you in tears because of him. Covered in bruises because he dared lay hands on you. Besides, by the time it came to him, it was getting quite easy to kill. Even if Hartley did put up a fight.” He absently rubbed at the cut under his eye. “Got me really good. A lot of makeup was needed to hide that. He knew what I was up to. Man was smarter than people thought. But I won.”

  Beatrice started crying. Derby ignored her.

  “What about Alan France, Doctor? You killed him as well, didn’t you?”

  Amy gasped, her hands going to her mouth. Day snorted.

  “I went to see him, to tell him he should keep away. But he just laughed in my face. The little upstart thought he was invincible. Told me I had no sway over Amy as her stepfather. He was the first. Well, the first that was found, anyway.”

  Derby felt a cold shiver go down his back. The first that was found? How long had Day been killing people?

  “I trusted you, James.” Amy’s voice was trembling. She looked like she was about to collapse. “I trusted you with my mother. You love her. You can’t marry me while you’re married, and you have no grounds for divorce, and I refuse to become my stepfather’s mistress.”

  “I had already thought of that.” Day looked very proud of himself. “Why do you think Anna keeps getting sick over the last couple of years? She gets better and then gets worse again.”

  Now Derby was feeling very cold. Amy was looking at Day like she had never seen him before. She started to back away from him.

  “Oh, God. You’ve been poisoning her?”

  “Just small doses. She’s stronger than I thought, or she would have died months ago. But I’m now increasing the doses.” Day grabbed Amy and pulled her back, causing Amy to fall against him. He cupped her jaw, giving her a loving look that made Derby feel sick. “She’s not got long in this world now. Once these two are out of the way, then it will be us. No one to bother us.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Amy felt like she had fallen into a nightmare. No, this couldn’t be happening. Not James. He was her stepfather. Amy knew that he cared for her, but to love her enough to kill? That couldn’t be possible. Surely not.

  Behind her, Beatrice started wailing.

  “Please, Doctor Day, no! I don’t want to die!” She burst into loud sobs. “Do whatever you want to that bastard, but don’t kill me!”

  James turned to Beatrice and snarled at her.

  “You haven’t got a choice here, Lady Hartley. You were going to marry Amy off to that man, the one who deserves the name you just announced, no matter what she said, and you were enjoying her suffering.” He tucked Amy into his side, his fingers digging into her waist. “How can I have someone like you around my girl? As for Derby…” James cast a look over at Derby. “He’s in love with her. I’ve seen them together, and that includes last night.”

  “What?” Beatrice was staring at Amy in horror. “You let him take your maidenhead? Are you insane?!?”

  “I think the more concerning fact is that Doctor Day was watching his stepdaughter having sex.” Derby said dryly.

  “I have to make sure my girl wasn’t harmed. I watched via one of those many secret passages all around the house.” James scowled. “And I had to watch you deflower her. That was meant to be something I was going to do, not you!”

  “You’re sick.”

  “I’m protecting my love.” James shook his head. “You couldn’t love, not after that. I wasn’t about to have you defile Amy further and then make her yours. Not when I had already claimed her.”

  Amy had heard enough. She hit James in the stomach, causing him to groan and let her go. She pushed him away and stepped back, shaking her head.

  “You haven’t claimed me at all. You’re my stepfather, James, and I love you, but...I can’t love you like that. Not when you’ve killed people.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Amy could see Derby shifting closer. Something flashed in his hand. But Amy focused on James, who was straightening up. He looked startled, as if he hadn’t expected her to fight back.

  “I did everything for you, Amy!” James shouted. “I was keeping you safe! I got rid of your father and that cad Leicester! They treated you worse than a slave! And you’re going to turn your back on me now?”

  “You’ve also killed people I cared about.” Amy pointed out. She was frozen to the spot as James advanced on her. “Alan, Kenneth, Stuart. And now you’re going after Daniel and Mama? I can’t stand back and let you do that.”

  James stopped in front of her. Amy couldn’t move as she watched many emotions pass across his face. He finally settled on cold determination, his jaw tight and his eyes blank. His lip curled in a snarl and he grabbed at her neck. Amy gasped as he squeezed and tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight.

  “Then you can die along with them.” James hissed, shaking her by the throat. “But your death won’t be pleasant.”

  “Amy!”

  Amy was aware of someone slamming into James, and the hold on her throat disappeared. She collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, and she looked up to see Derby grappling with James. A pocketknife was in his hand and Derby was trying to stick it into James’ chest. James had a grip on Derby’s wrists, and they were stuck in a stalemate. Then James kicked out, catching Derby in the knee. Derby yelled and ended up on one knee. James twisted the knife from his hand and flung it away, where it disappeared into the bushes. Then he punched Derby in the face.

  Derby fell back and rolled away, coming up as James charged at him. He grabbed onto the man, and then he spun around, twisting James’ body as he did. James ended up spinning around, stumbling onto his knees as he did, and then he was toppling off the bank and into the water.

  Amy watched as James momentarily disappeared below the water, only to resurface spluttering. Derby had slumped to the ground, watching as James rose up, the water coming to his waist, and James charged towards the bank.

  She reacted without thinking. Snatching up a rock at her feet, she ran towards the water. James was starting to climb out, reaching for Derby. Derby was tensed up ready for another fight, but Amy got there first. She got between them and swung her arm. James looked up at her, his eyes widening moments before the rock hit him in the face.

  It knocked James sideways and he slumped onto the bank before slipping back into the water. Derby scrambled over and reached under the surface, grabbing onto the doctor’s shirt. Amy
dropped the rock and fell to her knees, helping him pull her stepfather back onto dry land. Part of her wanted to let him sink and drown, but she couldn’t. Even after everything, the man had been a part of her life.

  She just wanted him to stop.

  James was still unconscious as Derby rolled him onto his back, blood coming from his head.

  “Did I kill him?” Amy asked.

  Derby checked James over, leaning his head over James’ mouth and nose. He shook his head.