If He’s Wicked

by Hannah Howell

  “I will do my best. There is only the one man?”

  “Just one, but he has a bad look on his face. A real bad look. Makes you feel like you better run real fast afore he starts looking at you with them mad eyes.”

  Julian stood up and looked at his brother. “Guard the children. I will make my way to the kitchen and see what is happening there.”

  “I done just told you what is happening,” said Brindle.

  He forced himself to smile pleasantly when all he could think of at the moment was getting to Chloe as fast as he could. “I know, but I need to see where he is standing and what he carries for a pistol. It is important that I gather a bit more information or all I may accomplish is getting my wife killed.”

  “That be what he is going to do anyway,” grumbled Brindle. “He got a killing look in his eye. Not just a rutting one.”

  “She called him Sir Arthur,” said Drew. “He looks like the man what used to live here and liked to touch the girls, but dirtier. Go kill him now, because she was nice and I doan want him to be hurting her.”

  The words the two children said burned into Julian’s brain but he had no time to think on this newest revelation—that his uncle abused very young girls. Now he had to go and try to save his wife. Moving silently, he made his way toward the kitchen. The sight that met his gaze nearly made him act foolishly. He wanted to cut his uncle down just for holding a gun on Chloe, for threatening her life, and, if the paleness of her skin was any indication, for frightening her. He did not need Nigel’s silent presence at his back to know that would be a bad idea. Arthur still had his pistol aimed straight at Chloe’s heart. Julian could not chance that the man might pull the trigger even as he died.

  “Nay, he is Julian’s son,” Chloe said. “He has the mark.”

  Julian was stunned by the rage that twisted Arthur’s once handsome features. Arthur must have thought that Julian was trying to fool everyone, might even have planned some grand denouement. The news that Anthony had the Kenwood birthmark had shattered the last hope that he might yet win this game, or, at the very least, win another seat at the card table.

  A movement to the right of Arthur caught Julian’s attention briefly. With one eye on his very still wife, he glanced in that direction and saw a filthy boy with a thick short club in his hand. He was staring at Arthur with a wild look of hatred. Suddenly, as if the boy sensed his presence, the boy glanced at Julian and Julian took that moment to slowly shake his head. He could not afford having the child try some grand rescue. Then, silently stepping up behind the boy came his mother and his aunt. Was anyone down in the room that had been so carefully built to keep the family safe, he thought a little wildly.

  “I think I will wait until Julian is close enough to watch you die. He had once sworn that he would never take a wife again and yet, here he is, married to you, a filthy Wherlocke.”

  “Actually, I bathed today,” she murmured.

  “Are you foolish enough to think I will not kill you simply because you are a woman?”

  “Nay, I know that that is your plan. You wish to wipe out the Kenwood line, at least the one you could rule.”

  Julian heard a very soft shuffle, as if someone had just tried to take a step with fully lifting his foot off the floor. Unfortunately, Arthur heard it too and looked at him. The man’s eyes widened and he grabbed Chloe by one arm, dragging her across the thick table that had separated them. The soft cry of pain that escaped Chloe had Julian instinctively raising his pistol and aiming it at Arthur’s head. Arthur then pushed her down so that she was lying half on the table on her back. He drew a knife from his belt and held it to Chloe’s chest as he set his pistol down out of her reach and then, in a movement too swift to stop, he stabbed her in the upper part of her arm. The way he kept himself crouched near Chloe made it impossible for Julian to get a clear shot at him. Only a soft groan escaped Chloe, and Julian could tell that annoyed Arthur. Before Julian could even correct his aim and take a shot at Arthur, the man had Chloe back on her feet and pinned in his arms, using her slender body as his shield.

  “Let her go, Arthur,” Julian said, aching to grab her and ease her pain.

  “No, I think not. I need to get out of here, and because of her, you are going to let me. Now move aside so I can return her to her cottage myself.”

  “Why would you take her to a cottage that has been empty for years?”

  “Because that is where she should have died years ago. I will not make the mistake of sending fools to do my work for me. I will do it and you can find her body on the moors later. It is only fair. I lost my love when Beatrice died and now you will lose yours. I hope you have your next wife already chosen, for you will soon lose this one.”

  Chloe was just wondering if, in his madness, Arthur thought she was the woman who had had the stillborn child, but she was not able to ponder that mystery for long. A noise at the kitchen door grabbed Arthur’s attention. Chloe hissed in a breath between her teeth when his sudden movement as he turned sideways caused her wound to scream in pain. He could now keep an eye on the growing crowd encircling the kitchen and on the man who now stood big, and tall, and silent in the doorway. He aimed his pistol right at Bened.

  “Greetings, cousin,” Chloe said, pleased to hear that there was only a slight hint of the pain tearing through her to be heard in her voice. “Sorry to drag you into our troubles.”

  “Mine, too, love. As the brother of that earl you married is my friend and soon-to-be partner, and the fact that you are my favorite cousin, it all becomes my trouble as well.”

  Chloe smiled. Bened was speaking in Welsh. She knew that meant he soon intended to give her some order that might put an end to the problem of Arthur. Bened was her guardian angel, she decided, and nearly laughed. Then she decided that the loss of blood was making her crazed.

  “Just let me know what to do before I bleed to death,” she said to him in Welsh.

  “When I say down in English, my little seer, you fall as fast and hard as you can. I need a clear shot at the bastard’s head.”

  “Understood.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? What is that gibberish you speak?” demanded Arthur, and Chloe could hear the rising panic in his voice. He was cornered and he knew it. Now would be a good time to help me, Bened, she thought.

  “It is the fine old language of Wales,” Bened said in his deep, almost soothing voice as he aimed his pistol at Arthur’s head. “I will ask you to leave go of my cousin now, if you please. If you do not, then you will die.”

  Julian started and would have said something if Nigel had not pinched the back of his neck. He knew Bened had told Chloe something of his plans, but Julian could not see how the man could take his shot without the bullet going through Chloe before it went into Arthur. Yet he could think of nothing to end this, to free her without any further harm.

  “Trust him, Julian,” whispered Nigel close to his ear. “Bened would never put her in harm’s way.”

  “I have little choice,” Justin whispered back.

  He glanced quickly over his shoulder when he heard a faint sound and saw Brindle holding a crying Anthony, the boy Drew helping her to keep his son from running into the middle of this mess. He wished the children had left as he had told them to, but he was not surprised by their presence. Anthony was too attached to Chloe to leave her side when she was in danger and too young to know that he could not help, only hinder. He had to be glad that the girl Brindle had the sense to know it.

  Julian turned his full attention back on Bened, Chloe, and Arthur, and raised his pistol so he was prepared if a chance came for him to shoot without putting anyone else in danger. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched his mother and his aunt grab the filthy little boy with the club and pull him back until they were sheltered from view and harm by the oven. Using his free hand, Julian signaled Brindle to move back as well and a soft scuffling noise told him she was obeying him. He was going to have to find out who this very adult child wa
s, he mused, watching both Bened and Arthur for some sign of what was to come.

  “You shoot me, you fool, and you shoot your cousin.” Arthur chuckled and it was a chilling sound. “Why not just wait there and you can watch me cut away a piece of her at a time.”

  “Down,” Bened said.

  Chloe dropped to the ground, her sudden added weight making Arthur stumble and let go. She rolled away and heard two shots ring out. Something warm splattered her face and she had the horrible feeling that it was Arthur’s blood. A moment later, she was surrounded by people. A wet cloth was swiped over her face and hair, much to her relief, and familiar strong arms encircled her. Just as she turned to look up at Julian she heard a wail.

  “Anthony? Oh, God, do not let him see what is left of Arthur,” she said.

  “Done, cousin,” said Bened as he crouched by her side. “Threw him out the back.”

  “Mama!” Anthony cried as he started toward Chloe and she braced herself for the pain of his arrival in her arms.

  Bened caught Anthony before he could throw himself on Chloe. “Your mama is going to be fine, lad.” He spoke in a low voice to Anthony until the boy began to calm down and then set him on his feet. Bened clasped Anthony’s shoulders. “There are some people hiding down in the wine cellar, aye?”

  Anthony nodded. “My cousins and my nurse are down there. But, Mama?” He looked toward Chloe.

  “I will be fine, love,” she said and forced herself to smile at him. “It is a clean cut and Lady Evelyn knows what to do.”

  Anthony looked back up at Bened. “Who are you?”

  Bened introduced himself and waited patiently while Anthony introduced his friends. “Now I think we need to go and tell those people that everything is safe again.” He looked at the other children. “Some help would be appreciated.” He looked down at Anthony again. “I need a man I can trust at my side when I let those people free.”

  Chloe watched as Bened led the four children away. Anthony’s fright had disappeared, washed away by the thought that the big man following him needed his help. She hissed in a breath of pain as Lady Evelyn gently tugged away the part of her gown Arthur had stuck his knife into.

  “Bened has a way with children,” Julian said in a vain attempt to take Chloe’s mind off her pain.

  “He should, he has twelve siblings.”

  “Good God.”

  “Told you. Like rabbits,” drawled a familiar voice and Julian just shook his head at Leo’s nonsense. He could see by how pale the man had gone that he had been nearly as afraid for Chloe as he himself had.

  Chloe knew she was going to lose her grip on consciousness very soon, and so she sought Lady Evelyn’s gaze. The moment the woman’s eyes met hers, Chloe put her hand over her belly. Lady Evelyn smiled and shook her head before she returned to working on her injured shoulder. Reassured that if she was carrying Julian’s child, it was safe for now, Chloe allowed herself to finally slide into the blackness that beckoned her so strongly.

  Chapter 20

  “I must be better by now. I certainly feel better.”

  Chloe sighed when Lady Evelyn insisted on testing her forehead and cheeks for any sign of fever, and for what felt to be the hundredth time. She had never been cosseted like this even as a child. Back then she probably would have reveled in the attention. Now, although she loved Lady Evelyn, after a fortnight of it, it was getting a little tiresome.

  “And where the bloody hell is my husband?”

  “I believe he will be in to see you soon. He is out riding the boundaries of the estate.”

  “Oh. Pardon. Did not realize I had said that aloud.”

  Chloe looked at the food on the tray Lady Evelyn set on her lap. At least it was no longer broth, she thought. It was a rather hearty meal of meats and cheeses and thick-crusted bread. Suddenly feeling famished, she began to eat. When she realized a little later that she had eaten everything, she sighed and slumped back on the pillows.

  “I am with child,” she murmured.

  “That you are. Most everyone knows it, but it might be nice to say it aloud to your husband just once.”

  “True. If he would just wander by here once in a while, I might have a chance to.”

  “He has had a lot of cleaning up to do, and not just the damage done by all those ruffians Arthur had hired. There are all the wrongs done to the people of Colinsmoor that need to be, well, not righted, as that cannot be done, but assuaged. He has taken Jake on as a steward of the land, as the man is a fount of knowledge about crops and animals. Then there is the hiring of all the new servants.”

  “I am well enough to help with that and have been for days. I do not need to stay abed. I may need to rest more because I carry a child, but I am certainly hale enough to hire servants.”

  Lady Evelyn smiled. “Yes, you are. You are, in truth, completely healed. I promised the physician that you would rest for a fortnight, and that time is done. Your wound closed up very nicely and all the stitching has been removed. And, of course, there is no sign that your injury caused any harm to the babe. Not that we can peek inside and see for ourselves, but you are showing no signs of distress.”

  “That did worry me. How are the children doing?”

  “Well, Jem and Drew are doing better, finally settling to learning a little bit, but it is Brindle who is a wonder. That is a thirty-year-old woman trapped in an eight-year-old girl’s body.” Lady Evelyn shook her head. “Considering the sins Arthur committed while those children were there, I am astonished that they are so normal. Only Brindle seems to have suffered, although Arthur never touched her. She is just not a very joyful child, acts as if the weight of the world is upon her shoulders.”

  “I think it might have been for a while,” Chloe said. “I also think it will take a while before she dares to trust in her change of fortune. Once she knows it is not going to be snatched away she may actually smile now and again.”

  “Possibly. And I can now answer that question you have been afraid to ask. Julian will suffer no consequences for killing Arthur. Mildred took Arthur’s body home and, as she said, dumped it in a hole.”

  Chloe laughed softly but quickly grew serious. “It was so chilling to listen to him speak of killing his own children, and right in front of their mother, simply because she had not given him a son. Wherever he is, I hope he is being appropriately punished for ever even thinking of such a thing.”

  “Mildred did have a quiet word with her daughters and thanks be to God, he never soiled them with his perversions. It is why Helena carries a knife, however. She did not like the way he watched her younger sisters the few times he stopped by to act the husband and father.”

  “It is all being righted,” Chloe whispered.

  “It is, yes. And that seems to be lifting the weight of guilt from Julian’s shoulders. I believe tomorrow the girls and I will return to London and attend a few events before the summer’s heat drives all those who can leave to do so.”

  The arrival of the children for their morning visit ended the pleasant interval of genteel gossip. Chloe was astonished at the change in Jem, Drew, and Brindle. They all looked remarkably healthy now, a steady regimen of good food working wonders. Anthony was pleased to have other children around even if the very serious Brindle did not act much like a child. By the time they left, Chloe needed a rest. She was healed enough to do most things, but she acknowledged to herself that she still tired easily.

  By the afternoon she was sick of her own company and rose to get dressed. Just as she had donned a clean shift, her long-missing husband wandered in her bedchamber. Due to her injury he had not shared her bed yet. Chloe had every intention of changing that. She missed him at her side in the night and was hoping that he might have missed her, too.

  “Going somewhere?” he asked her and brushed a kiss over her lips.

  “Just getting out of bed and out of this room for a while.”

  Julian slid his arms around her waist and held her close. For a moment he just sto
od there enjoying the feel of her in his arms. For those few torturous minutes in the kitchen when he had to see her caught by Arthur and then stabbed, he had feared he would lose her, but that fear was finally easing. Since he ached to prove to himself just how alive she was in the usual way, he had avoided her somewhat during her recovery, but there was no question that she was fully recovered now.

  “All healed and strong again?”

  “I was never that strong,” she teased and ran her hand up and down his arm. “But, aye, I am officially and completely healed.”

  “Thank God,” he muttered, picked her up, and carried her to the bed.

  “I just got out of bed,” she protested as he set her down on her back. “I am not at all sleepy.”

  “Nor am I,” he assured her as he began to strip out of his clothes.

  Chloe blinked in surprise at the soft growl of his voice. Then her body awoke to the need she always shared with him and heat flowed through her veins. She began to suspect that some of Julian’s absence was due to the fact that when he was near her, he needed to touch her. Worse, she might have tried to comply with what he wanted and slowed down her healing.

  It took only one kiss to ignite the fire they had kept banked for two very long weeks. Chloe was not sure who tore his clothes off and flung them all around the room, but she suspected it was both of them. Since he was now touching her, skin to skin, she really did not care. They both struggled to outdo each other in the way they touched, stroked, and kissed each other, but it was finally too much to bear. When Julian turned onto his back and demanded that she ride him, Chloe was in such a fever she did not even hesitate to try this new way of making love. She tried to go slow but her body was hammering at her for release. Chloe finally gripped his shoulders, bent down to kiss his mouth, and rode him as hard as she could, slowing down only now and then to regain her lost rhythm.

  When her release began to roll through her body, she suddenly found herself on her back. Julian went up on his knees and lifted her legs up until they rested flat against his chest, and then he thrust himself home. Chloe had to clamp her hands to her mouth to keep herself from screaming out her pleasure as he drove them both to the release they had missed for too long.