Duchess by Deception

by Marie Force

  Bancroft and the other men parted to let him through.

  “Go with him,” Simon said to Bancroft. “Make sure he doesn’t take anything else that doesn’t belong to him. Send someone to fetch the doctor again.” Was it too late to save his mother or was she lost, too?

  Left alone in the office, Simon sank into a chair, his legs like water under him as he absorbed the magnitude of what had transpired. His father had killed Derek’s parents, and nearly killed his own wife. Simon had long known that his father had a ruthless ambition that drove him to say and do things far outside the pale, but to kill his own brother and sister-in-law, to poison his own wife.

  Simon’s stomach turned, and it took everything he had to keep from casting up his accounts.

  Madeleine. She would be frantic by now.

  He left the office and took the stairs two at a time, looking to the left where Derek lay on his sickbed, but taking a right to go to his own rooms. After he saw to his wife, he would check on his cousin, who would have to be told the dreadful news when he recovered. If he recovered.

  Simon couldn’t imagine having that conversation with the man who had been like a brother to him.

  When he stepped into the bedchamber he shared with Madeleine, she flew across the room and into his arms, sobbing with relief.

  “Thank God you’re here. I was so worried that he would hurt you.”

  “I am fine, my love, and he is packing his bags as we speak.”

  “Did I do the right thing, Simon? All I could think about while I waited was what I would do if I had told you something that got you killed.”

  “You did the right thing, sweetheart. You helped to rid us of unspeakable evil. I’m so very sorry you had to hear the things you did, and I swear to you I am nothing like the man who sired me.”

  “I already know that.”

  He held her close to him for as long as he could. “I have to go make sure he leaves. Stay here and wait for me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Please be careful. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

  Simon smiled and kissed her. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

  * * *

  Days and nights blended together. Mrs. Langingham brought word of Lord Anthony’s banishment, but Catherine didn’t care enough to ask her, Simon or Madeleine for the details during their frequent visits. She also heard from Rutledge that Mr. Flanagan and two other men in the village were ill with the same fever that ravaged Derek.

  She kept her full attention on her husband and the fever that raged on into a fourth day.

  Exhaustion dogged her every waking moment as she continued to tend to him. She never left the room except to bathe and change her clothing. Sitting beside his bed, she held his hand and talked to him about the life they would have if only he would come back to her. She told him over and over again how much she loved him, using his name in every sentence she uttered.

  He never stirred.

  Catherine began to lose hope that he would recover. People kept saying he was young and strong. If that were true, why didn’t he wake up and look at her the way no one else ever had? She would give anything to feel his love for her, to hear him call her Cat, to have his strong arms around her.

  “It’s my fault,” she said to Madeleine when she brought a tea tray and tried to get Catherine to eat something.

  “How can you say that?”

  “I withheld my love from him, and now he’s dying from a broken heart.”

  “Don’t be silly. He knows you love him.”

  Catherine shook her head as she cradled Derek’s hand between both of hers. “All he wanted was for me to call him by his name, but I wouldn’t give him that.” She dropped her head into her hands. “Why didn’t I give him that when he’d given me everything?”

  Madeleine stroked her hair. “You need some rest, Catherine.”

  “I need him!” She broke down into helpless sobs. “I need Derek.”

  Catherine was so upset she almost didn’t feel the light pressure of his hand squeezing hers. Until he did it again, causing her to let out a gasp. “Derek!” She climbed onto the bed and caressed his face. “Derek! Please wake up and come back to me. Please. I need you. I love you, Derek. Please wake up.”

  * * *

  Derek was underwater fighting to break through the surface.

  Cat. Catherine. He needed to get back to her. His throat hurt so badly he could barely swallow, and his eyelids were made of stone. They refused to open.

  “Derek! Wake up. Please wake up.”

  His body refused to cooperate with his desire to see her sweet face. He concentrated on opening his eyes and blinking her into focus.

  “Oh, God, Derek!” Her tears landed on his face as she kissed him. “I love you, Derek. I love you so much, and I’m so sorry for everything. I don’t care that you’re a duke. I just need you to come back to me.”

  He couldn’t keep his eyes open. “Cat.”

  “I’m here. I’m right here, Derek, and I always will be.”

  His lips curved into a small smile. “You called me Derek,” he said, his voice gravelly and rough. Someone had surely stuck a hot poker down his throat.

  “I called you Derek.” Her body rocked with sobs. “You are my Derek, my love. My only love.”

  He gave her hand a gentle tug that brought her into his arms.

  “Madeleine,” she said between sobs. “Tell Simon and Mrs. Langingham that His Grace is awake.”

  “I will!” Madeleine said joyfully. “It’s so good to hear your voice, Your Grace.”

  “Why is she so excited?” Derek asked when they were alone.

  Catherine continued to sob uncontrollably.

  “Cat.” He licked dry lips. “Why are you crying?”

  “You’ve been so very, very ill for days now. I thought for sure I was going to lose you.”

  “My throat hurts like the devil.”

  “Tea! I’ll get you tea with lemon and honey.” She started to get up, but he tightened his hold on her and wondered why he felt weaker than a newborn lamb.

  “Don’t go. Stay with me.”

  “But your throat . . .”

  “Mrs. Langingham will be here in a matter of moments with tea and everything else I could want or need. But the only thing I really need is you. I just need you.”

  “I am here, and I’m not going anywhere. You scared me so badly. All I could think about was that you were going to die thinking that I didn’t love you anymore when that couldn’t be further from the truth. I don’t care that you’re the duke. You could be the king, and I wouldn’t care.”

  A low chuckle rumbled through his chest before he began to cough.

  “Rest, my love,” she said, caressing his face as she gazed at him the way she had during those blissful days at his grandmother’s cottage.

  “I’m sorry to have frightened you, but I’m thankful to have you back.”

  “You never lost me.”

  “Felt like I did,” he said, closing his eyes when he couldn’t keep them open anymore. “Worst loss of my life.”

  * * *

  As he predicted, Mrs. Langingham brought tea and food and tender care for both of them as they recovered from his illness.

  Catherine slept for twelve hours, waking up as the sun streamed in the next morning and immediately checking on Derek, who slept peacefully beside her.

  She snuggled up to him and smiled with gratitude when he turned and put his arm around her.

  “Good morning.”

  “Mmm, morning,” he said, sounding better than he had the day before.

  She rested her hand on his cool forehead and smoothed it down over his face. “How’re you feeling?”

  “Like I got run over by a horse.” A vicious bout of coughing seized him. “You should get far away from me before you get sick.”

  “She’s been thoroughly exposed,” Mrs. Langingham said as she came bustling into the room, opening the curtains to let in the warm sunshine. �
�She hasn’t left this room in days except to bathe and change her clothing.”

  They sat up in bed to receive the breakfast trays that two of the maids carried in.

  “Is that so, wife?”

  “That is quite so. I was afraid you’d die if I left for any longer.”

  “I’m too stubborn to die.”

  “I didn’t know that at the time, so I refused to leave anything to chance.”

  After they had broken their fast, a soft knock on the door preceded Simon poking his head in. “Are you awake?” he asked.

  “Come in, cousin,” Derek said.

  “It certainly is good to hear your voice, even if you sound like hell,” Simon said, taking a seat next to the bed. He looked dreadful, as if he’d been up all night.

  “I’m sorry to have given you all a scare.”

  “It was far more than a scare, Your Grace,” Simon said.

  “Never fear, dear cousin. You’re still not in line to inherit the title.”

  “Thank God for that.” Simon looked down at the floor and then back up at Derek. “There’re some things I need to tell you, and I’ve been struggling to find the words I need. I fear shocking you so soon after your illness.”

  “I’ve never seen you so troubled,” Derek said as another bout of coughing seized him.

  Catherine patted his back until he settled into the pillows.

  “I am deeply troubled,” Simon said. “The other day, Madeleine was getting to know her new home and overheard my father speaking bluntly to James.”

  Derek sat up straighter. “What did she hear him say?”

  “I’m ashamed and appalled to have to tell you that my father and James were behind the deaths of your parents.”

  Derek gasped as Catherine let out a cry of dismay, grasping her husband’s hand. He held on tight to her, absorbing the blow.

  “I’m so sorry, Derek,” Simon said tearfully.

  “You are certain?” Derek asked in a hushed tone.

  Simon nodded, his face grim. “I confronted him, and he didn’t deny it. Since you were indisposed, I acted in your stead to banish him from the property and the country. I told him if we ever hear he has come back to England, I will kill him.” Simon’s tortured gaze met Derek’s. “I hope you approve of the actions I took.”

  “I do. Of course, I do.”

  “There’s more.” Simon ran his hands through his hair, leaving it standing on end. “Madeleine heard the two of them discuss how they have been drugging Mother for years. The doctor is weaning her off the laudanum they’ve been giving her in double and triple doses.”

  “Dear God,” Derek said. “So, she isn’t ill?”

  “We don’t believe so.”

  “He’s the devil,” Derek whispered. “I always thought he was overly ambitious, but I had no idea he’d stoop to such depravity. My father was his brother. How could he do this to him, to me, to all of us?”

  “Because he wanted something that was permanently out of his reach,” Simon said.

  “It was hard enough to think of how they died when I thought it was an accident, but this . . . And he comforted me after.” Derek took a deep breath. “I fear I’m going to be sick.”

  Simon acted quickly to bring him a bucket.

  Derek leaned over it and tossed up the meager contents of his stomach while Catherine rubbed his back.

  “Sorry,” Derek said after Simon returned from washing out the bucket in the bathing room.

  “Please don’t apologize to me. I should be the one apologizing to you. What my father did to you . . . I’m so disgusted and revolted. I’ve hardly slept a wink as I tried to make sense of how he could’ve done such a thing.”

  “I was supposed to have been with them that night,” Derek said, his face pale. “He would’ve killed me, too, and taken control of the duchy. How terribly disappointed he must’ve been to find out I’d been left in my nursery due to illness.”

  “Thank God you were left behind,” Catherine said, drawing him into her embrace.

  Derek clung to her as he tried to make sense of what Simon had told him.

  “Madeleine said they were making plans for when you passed away, and that James was calling Father ‘Your Grace.’”

  “That’s outrageous!” Catherine said.

  “I agree,” Simon said.

  “The good news is that he is gone,” Derek said. “If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t be back.”

  “I had hoped you would approve of banishment over prosecution that would drag the family name through the mud of a trial,” Simon said, shuddering at the thought of the scandal that would’ve ensued. “We’ve also ensured that James and the so-called nurses Father had working for him will be punished for the roles they played.”

  “Of course, I approve. As much as I’d like to see him hanged for what he’s done, he would prefer death to losing his privileged life of luxury and status.”

  “Indeed,” Simon said. “The only bright spot in this otherwise horrific episode is that I will never again have to see his smug, arrogant face or hear about the many ways I’ve been a disappointment to him.”

  “You are a thousand times the man he will ever be,” Derek said.

  “That is kind of you to say, but often he was right about me. I’ve been a bit of a wastrel. But those days are behind me now. Going forward I will endeavor to be an asset to you rather than a liability.”

  “You have never been a liability.”

  “Yes, I have, but now I shall do whatever I can to support you the way I should have for all this time.”

  “The past is the past, my dear friend,” Derek said. “I would be honored to have you more involved in the day-to-day management of the estate, but only if it’s what you truly want.”

  “It is. I’m a family man now, and my wife wants to be here with her sister. I may as well make myself useful.”

  “In that case, I am more than happy to have your assistance, and I appreciate you standing in for me when I was ill.”

  “It was an honor and a privilege, Your Grace,” Simon said, his voice wavering with emotion. “And from the bottom of my heart, thank you for recovering and saving the duchy from a woefully underprepared stand-in for you.”

  Derek laughed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “Thank goodness,” Simon said.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  For some time after Simon left them, Derek was quiet and contemplative as Catherine helped him to bathe and dress at his insistence. He said he’d spent enough time abed and needed to get back to normal.

  His body, however, wasn’t quite ready for normal. The act of bathing and dressing depleted his reserves rather quickly, forcing him to settle for taking some sunshine and air on the veranda off their bedroom.

  “Tell me what you are thinking,” Catherine said, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the return of her husband’s companionship. She’d never missed anyone more in her life than she had him during the long days he’d been so terribly ill.

  “I’m going over it and over it in my mind,” he said. “Every minute I’ve spent with Anthony since my parents died. I’m trying to make sense of the way he prepared me to assume responsibility for my holdings when all the while he was wishing me dead, so he could be the duke.”

  “It’s beyond comprehension.”

  “I am recalling a time he took me into the forest to climb trees. I was going through a phase, my grandmother called it, when I wanted to climb everything. He kept urging me to go higher. Was he hoping I would fall and die in yet another tragic accident, so he could inherit my title? He taught me to drive a hack and said real men drive fast. I remember him saying those exact words.”

  “He is clearly a vile human being who cares more about money and power than he does about family and the things that truly matter in this life.”

  Derek glanced at her. “And what truly matters to you, my love?”

  “You do. You matter to me more than anything else
in this world, and I promise that you always will.”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “If I have you and your love, I could never want for anything else.”

  “Maybe a few children?”

  “As many as we are blessed to have.” Giving her hand a gentle tug, he brought her close enough to kiss her lips. “Will you do something for me, my beautiful Cat?”

  “I would do anything for you.”

  “Will you marry me all over again, this time as Derek Eagan, the Duke of Westwood?”

  “It would be my honor to marry you all over again, Your Grace.”

  “Derek,” he said, smiling. “My name is Derek.”

  Returning his smile, she said, “I love you, Derek, and I will happily marry you again.”

  * * *

  It took two weeks for Derek to completely recover from his illness. In that time, they received word that Mr. Flanagan and the other men in the village who’d been similarly stricken had also recovered.

  Catherine took advantage of the time at home to plan the wedding her husband had requested. She had invited her family and his friends to come from London for a house party without telling them the true reason for the gathering.

  She had received two letters from her father, expressing genuine remorse for his actions and how they had endangered her. He’d promised to take better care of her younger sister Hillary than he had her or Madeleine and to never again wager something too valuable to lose.

  After reading and rereading his letters, debating for several days and discussing it with Madeleine, Catherine decided to invite her father to join them, hoping to have the opportunity to repair their fractured relationship.

  Everyone was due by dinnertime, so she was running around with Madeleine and Mrs. Langingham, seeing to final details, while Derek and Simon were enclosed in the office so Simon could catch his cousin up on what he’d missed while he’d been sick.

  By the time she made her way upstairs to change for dinner, Catherine was so exhausted that she had to lie down for a few minutes. Derek kissed her awake, and Catherine was startled to realize the day had grown dark while she slept.

  “Our guests!”

  “Are happily settled and said they’d see you at dinner.”