Once Upon A Diamond (A sweet Regency Historical Romance)

by Teresa McCarthy

  Tristan rubbed a frustrated hand behind his neck. He had been more than patient with Kate. She had hidden herself in the library, thinking he wouldn’t come for her. But enough was enough. There was headstrong and there was headstrong.

  “Katherine Josephine!” He pounded his fist on the door. “Open this door, wife!”

  He paused, trying to control his temper, which he suddenly realized had disappeared the moment he’d heard the snap of the lock to her bedchamber door. But he wasn’t about to stand for this kind of behavior from his wife.

  Besides, making up with her was never going to happen if this continued.

  “Never, never, lock a door on me, woman. I’m going to give you ten seconds and then ... The devil! You don’t want to know what might happen if you don’t open this blasted door!”

  He stepped back, took a few quick powerful leaps, and with a ferocious grunt, rammed himself against the wooden barrier. It didn’t move, but he did. He bounced back with an oath.

  He jiggled the door’s handle at the same time slamming his hand against the thick wood. He needed the deuced key.

  Of course! He eased a hand over the top of the door and felt for the extra key his housekeeper had put there if by chance she didn’t have her set immediately available. His fingers hit metal, and he let out a wicked grin. How delightful.

  He inserted the key in the door and swung it open. “How dare you–” He froze, taking in his wife’s pale face. “Kate?”

  She was standing as cold as a statue, her eyes wide and looking so frightened, it took him a second to realize she was staring at something, or rather someone other than him. He turned to see Mr. Travis waving a pistol at her chest. “What the devil?”

  “Not another step, or I’ll shoot! Do you hear me? I’ll shoot!”

  Tristan froze. “I’m not moving.”

  “You,” the man yelled to Kate, pointing the pistol at her. “You ruined it all. If you would have gone to England without your brother, I would have sent Jake to come for you. You could have married him, and I wouldn’t have to shoot you.”

  Tristan realized the man meant to pull the trigger. His stomach clenched at the thought of the gun exploding in Kate’s face. The man was crazed.

  “Tristan,” Kate said softly, moving toward him.

  “Stay right there!” Mr. Travis snapped. Kate froze in her tracks when the man swung the pistol toward Tristan. “Robert never guessed I was stealing money. Ah, but I was his good friend after all. Such a pity.”

  Tristan took a quick step forward. “Perhaps we could make a deal.”

  Hard blue eyes locked on Tristan’s face. “Don’t you dare come any further or I’ll shoot your little countess right here."

  Tristan halted as the gun pivoted back toward Kate. The chilling silence was like a steel weight crushing against his lungs. He could see Kate’s haunting expression, but he also saw the fierceness that lay beneath it, and that scared him. The look reminded him of the inn. The little idiot was thinking of saving them both.

  Mr. Travis’s mad laugh broke through the icy stillness. “Get over there by your wife, Lancewood. Yes, the more I think of it, the better this will look.”

  “You’re the one who wanted me killed?" Tristan replied, as he inched closer to his wife. If only he could stand in front of Kate before she did something stupid.

  Mr. Travis laughed. “No, I believe that was your friend, Lord Douberry. Tried to kill you a few times, did he? Botched everything from what I heard. Of course, we had nothing to do about that.”

  “We?” Tristan asked, feeling a shiver down his spine when he saw his mother moving along the sofa. What the devil was she doing here?

  “Oh, yes, we. Captain Gaston and I were partners, you see. But as to the diamond, I hadn’t planned anything until Gaston had informed me of the situation when I came to London.”

  Tristan’s lips flattened. “So, you didn’t just arrive in England?”

  The man let out a diabolical smile. “Knew I pegged you for a smart one, my lord. Yet it seems everybody in England had knowledge about Fletcher and that diamond, including Gaston, who decided to be sidetracked by the gem. And then your little wife here who was supposed to marry my stepson had to ruin it for me. Katherine and you fell in love and secretly married. How very droll. And how very unfortunate for you. Course, I had no idea Gaston favored the girl, but that is neither here nor there, is it?”

  “How much do you want?” Tristan growled.

  “It’s too late for that,” the man laughed.

  “You’ve been planning this for a long time, I take it?” Tristan needed to keep the man talking. When the man let down his guard, that’s when Tristan would pounce.

  “Of course,” Mr. Travis went on. “After the Brackshire Ball you shoved your friend Mr. Wilcox out of the carriage first. La, you believed it was an accident that he was shot. Believe it or not, it was not an accident. Mr. Wilcox escaped an earlier attempt in Boston, too. But he lived. ’Twas a pity I had to dispose of the stupid men who messed up those attempts. Now, I find I must do everything myself and finish the job.”

  Tristan finally understood. The man needed Kate dead. It was too late to kill Tristan and make her a widow, hoping she would wed Jake. It would be too messy. Mr. Travis couldn’t depend on Kate being part of his plan anymore.

  “You’re going to kill them all,” Tristan continued, “Robert, Matthew, then take over their shipping line. If the family is wiped out, you inherit everything, is that it?”

  The man lifted the pistol higher. “Ah, like I said, you’re a smart one, my lord. Knew that the first time I saw you. In fact, I think you’ll have to go first.”

  Fear slammed into Tristan when he caught Kate’s mutinous expression. He had no doubt what she was planning. She was going to try to put herself between him and the pistol! Hadn’t she learned anything from the inn?

  It all happened in a matter of seconds. Kate leapt toward Mr. Travis. The gun exploded. Tristan sprung toward his wife, trying to throw her body away from the blast.

  Mr. Travis stood there laughing, pulling out another pistol. “One dead. One to go.”

  Dead?

  Horror speared Tristan’s heart. He thought he had thrown Kate away in time. But she lay on the floor, unmoving.

  “Look at that!” The man laughed, pointing at Tristan’s chest. “That’s her blood, not yours.”

  Tristan drew in a sharp breath at the red splotches spread about his torso. Surely, it was his blood on his body. He had been nicked. Kate had only swooned.

  “Mother!” Edward’s sudden shout from the doorway sent Tristan’s mind spinning. Too many people. He couldn’t let anyone else get hurt.

  But he was too late.

  His mother was moving toward Mr. Travis. “I won’t let him kill you, Tristan. I won’t!”

  Mr. Travis pivoted toward the lady and pulled the trigger. At the same time, Tristan’s mother lunged, plunging a letter opener into the man’s chest. Mr. Travis staggered back and fell to the floor with a deadening thud.

  Tristan rushed toward his mother. A circle of blood was spreading over her chest. “Mother,” he cried, lifting her to the sofa.

  She put a hand to his cheek and closed her eyes. “I did...love...you,” she murmured. “N-n-not...enough...”

  Confused, Edward knelt down, holding the lady’s hand. “I heard a shot, then saw Mother standing there. What the devil is going on? She killed Mr. Travis with a letter opener and he shot her? She’s dead, Trist! Dead!”

  Tristan hurried toward Kate. “She saved me, Edward. In the end, Mother saved me. Mr. Travis was the villain. We just didn’t see it.”

  Tristan bent over his wife lying on the floor like a rag doll. Her eyes were closed and dark lashes swept over a pair of chalk white cheeks. “Kate?”

  “KATE!"

  Edward hastened to Tristan’s side. “The devil! I didn’t see her, Trist.”

  Swallowing the terror that stuck in his throat, Tristan patted Kate’s cheek
. “Come on, sweetheart. Speak to me.”

  By then, a handful of servants had gathered by the door.

  Tristan leaned over to pick up Kate’s limp form. A warm, sticky liquid touched his hands. Blood. Warm blood oozed from her head. “Noooooooo!”

  Edward cursed when he saw the blood on Kate’s body. He immediately ordered one of the servants to fetch the doctor. One of the maid’s gave Tristan a cloth which he pressed against Kate’s bleeding head.

  A second later, Tristan let out a heart-wrenching sob. “Oh, God, don’t let her die. Don’t let her die. Not her too!”

  During those next few minutes, the powerful earl whom the ton had said was as cold as the diamond he sought, buried his face in his wife’s red-stained neck and prayed like he had never prayed before, exposing his heart and soul to the Creator he had long forgotten.

  It was morning when the doctor finally left. Tristan and Robert had kept vigil in Kate’s room the entire night. Hope sprang in Tristan’s heart. It seemed the pistol ball had only grazed his wife’s head, and she had fallen against the end table, aggravating her wound.

  The doctor had told both Robert and Tristan that when Kate awoke, she would have a nasty headache, and as for other complications, which were very possible, the Lord only knew.

  “I’m sorry, Robert.” Tristan frowned as he walked toward the window where dust motes danced in the sunlight. “I should have done something sooner. She was trying to save me, you know.”

  Robert had been devastated to discover his trusted friend had caused so much evil. “Not your fault, my boy. I should have known about Bartholomew.”

  Tristan and Robert turned their heads as Kate murmured in her sleep.

  “Kate?” Tristan moved to her side, squeezing her hand. “How are you feeling, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes were closed and her lips quivered. “My head aches like the time…I p-pilfered the entire champagne bottle…at Matthew’s t-twenty-first birthday party.”

  Robert’s laugh was shaky. “Well, at least your injury didn’t affect your humor. The blow to your head was a close call, but you’ll be feeling better in a few days.”

  Kate winced as she raised her hands to touch her bandaged head. “Mr. Travis?”

  Tristan leaned down and rested his palm against her pale cheek. “He’s dead. My mother died trying to save me by killing the man with a letter opener.”

  Kate opened her eyes and a tear trickled down her cheek. “I saw her with the letter opener. I was hoping she would stay away from the line of fire. I’m sorry, Tristan. She did love you.”

  Tristan nodded, still feeling the guilt over his mother’s death. But the blankness of Kate’s stare bothered him.

  “Open the drapes, Papa. Or is it still night? How long have I been here? You don’t have to keep it so dark in here. I am not so fragile.”

  Tristan jerked his gaze to meet Robert’s wary expression.

  Kate’s father raised a hand to stifle his outburst. “Katherine, darlin’, the sun’s shining through the window. Can’t you see it?”

  Kate slipped her hands from Tristan’s. “No! I can’t see anything!” She panicked, fumbling for the covers. “I can’t see! Tristan? Papa? I can’t see!”

  “No,” Tristan whispered.

  No!

  He squeezed his eyes shut, and felt as if a knife had jabbed his heart. His wife was blind. Blind because of him. Because he hadn’t moved fast enough.

  He mouthed the word doctor to Robert. Kate’s father nodded and strode from the room.

  “It’s probably only temporary, sweetheart,” Tristan said as calmly as he could. “Things like this happen. Heard about it in the war. Nothing to worry about.”

  Liar! he thought. It could be forever. But he couldn’t let her know how much her condition shook him. She was alive. That was all that mattered.

  “Papa?”

  Helplessly, Tristan watched the tears stream down her cheeks. “He’ll return, sweetheart. I’m here now. Don’t worry. I’m here.”

  “B-but I can’t see,” she sobbed. “I can’t see anything.”

  Tristan brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. Why couldn’t it have been him?

  Three days later Kate still lay in bed. Her sight was slowly returning, but she refused to let Tristan know. He had never loved her, yet he was willing to sacrifice himself for her just as he had when he had been forced to marry her.

  She had felt like a fool when he told her of his work with the Foreign Office and his mission under Secretary Lord Castlereagh to return the diamond to India.

  She had recalled the countess mentioning something before the shooting, but Kate hadn’t understood until Tristan had explained it to her. England had needed the diamond returned to its rightful place for political reasons. Tristan had returned the gem to Whitehall days ago and his search was finished.

  It hadn’t been a senseless quest after all. And now Tristan had been given a fresh start. The diamond was behind him and many of the questions involving his upbringing had been answered. His childhood had been dreadful with a mother who had felt blackmailed to conceal her love. Kate had told Tristan all his mother had told him, about his father and the diamond.

  In some way, she knew he had felt a better about his life. He actually felt sorry for his mother. It was then Kate knew for certain that he needed to start anew - without her.

  He deserved to love the woman he married, not feel sorry for her too. But because he was a gentleman, he would never go back on his word and dissolve their union. She would have to do it for him. His stupid honor weighed heavily on her heart. She had to face the fact that he didn’t love her.

  “Papa, I want to go home.” She sat up, placing her teacup to her mouth. “I refuse to be a blind wife, fumbling around every corner, seeking help every minute of the day.”

  It wouldn’t matter, but Tristan doesn’t love me. And I love him so much it hurts.

  “Nonsense, Katherine Josephine,” Robert snapped. “Your husband doesn’t see it that way. I’m certain he loves you for who you are, sight or not.”

  “But I wish to go home.” She was adamant. “Tristan will not have a blind wife. I won’t have it, Papa. I won’t.”

  He doesn’t love me, Papa. I’m leaving because he doesn’t love me, not because I’m blind. Can’t you see that?

  “The doctor said your blindness was probably only temporary.”

  “Temporary? Even if that were true, it could be weeks, months or even years before I can see. I won’t put Tristan through it. He deserves better.”

  Tristan didn’t love her and no amount of sight would change that.

  “But he loves you more than life itself, darlin’. This is foolishness. Plain foolishness. Don’t let Mr. Travis ruin your happiness. I’d shoot the man myself if he were still alive.”

  What was her father thinking? Being blind was her way out of this marriage. Tristan married her out of and honor and stayed married to her out of pity. Oh, he was attracted to her physical attributes, but it had never been love.

  “I’ve made up my mind, and I want you to promise me that you will not interfere in this matter. Please, let me do it my way. Promise me, Papa.”

  “But confound it! This is ludicrous, Katherine!”

  “Promise me. Please.”

  “Very well. I promise. But that doesn’t mean I approve.”

  Kate heard her father’s heels slap the floor as he left the room. She brought her hands to her face, fighting back tears. If she stayed married to Tristan, the pain of him not loving her would eventually destroy her. She had to leave as soon as possible.

  “What the devil do you mean you want to leave?” The fury in Tristan’s voice made Kate flinch. She was clad in her dressing gown, resting in a wing chair beside her bed while the heat of the afternoon sun stroked her skin.

  She kept her head tilted toward the floor, not wanting him to know that her sight was returning. “I want to leave. That’s it, plain and simple. You do understand English, don�
��t you? That is the language of your country?” Her voice hovered on the edge of sarcasm, hiding the ache in her heart.

  He moved next to her, blocking out the sun’s warm rays. “Well, you can’t leave. I won’t allow it. Blast it! You’re my wife!”

  She let out a pitiful laugh. “I doubt many would believe that.”

  He stalked closer and knelt before her, his voice softening. Her skin tingled at the very nearness of him. “I want you to be my wife in every sense of the word. I can’t let you go, Kate. I won’t let you go.”

  He brought her hand to his lips. “The doctor said you’re recovering nicely. Soon you may be able to see. We can travel to Bath, have a little honeymoon. Would you like that, sweetheart? I’ll never leave your side.” His kiss moved intimately up her arm, making her dizzy.

  She pulled back at his touch. A touch that made her desire him as a wife wants her husband. Over the past few days, she had avoided his advances, saying she needed time to recover. But for his sake, she had to forge on.

  “I don’t love you anymore,” she declared coldly.

  She felt him go rigid and drop her hand. He rose. His feet were planted a foot apart, like a soldier preparing for battle, or possibly retreat. Again, she avoided his gaze.

  “I don’t believe you.” His firm voice cut through the brittle silence.

  She bit her lip, afraid to look at him, afraid he would know the truth. “It’s true. I don’t.” It was the hardest thing she ever had to do. She had to let him go.

  His fist slapped the wall. “Well, blast and double blast! Guess what today is? It’s your unlucky day. It so happens that I believe in our marriage and there’s nothing you could say or do that would cause me to rid myself of you. I never meant to say those things at the ball and you know it. We will have children together and raise a family. I love you Kate and I know deuced well you love me too!”

  I love you, Kate. Without a doubt, he didn’t mean it. She couldn’t believe him now. And marriage? He didn’t know what marriage was after seeing his parents’ life.