Wicked Seduction

by Jade Lee

  “I dare, my lord. I am already a savage with so much blood on my hands. In service to her, I would kill the prince regent himself.”

  “Kit!” exclaimed Maddy from behind him. He continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

  “But you, my lord, would be a pleasure to gut. Slowly. Do you know that a man can live for hours while his skin is carefully stripped off his body?” For emphasis, he tilted the knife and allowed it to draw downward. It was as easy as peeling the skin from an apple, and the coppery tang of blood filled the air.

  The earl let out a high-pitched squeal of horror, and he immediately shoved Kit back. But he had no leverage, and Kit was planted firmly. As soon as the man moved, Kit used his free hand to shove the bastard’s head backward, slamming it against the wall. The earl gasped and his knees when out from under him, but he did not lose consciousness.

  Kit stepped back with a curse, allowing the man to fall to the floor. “You should go home now, Maddy,” he said. “He probably brought the carriage, but if he did not, there are coins in my pants. Take a hansom—”

  “Certainly not! This was my choice, Kit. I will not run away from it just because—”

  “Maddy!” Kit spun on her, his knife at the ready. Not against her, but in case her uncle chose to attack while Kit’s back was turned. “You will go home!” he snapped. Then he abruptly spun her around so that he could finish buttoning her gown. She had done her best, but there were a great many of the damned buttons. Meanwhile, Maddy was voicing her objections as only a woman could.

  “I am not a child to be packed away. I created this situation, and I will not leave it. Besides, you have already threatened his life. You cannot expect me to leave when I know damn well you would do it. You would kill him, Kit, and then what would happen? You would be forced to leave for the Continent, and I will be stuck without a business, without a place to live, and without you!”

  Her voice had raised to a higher register. She was not hysterical yet, but her agitation showed. Oddly, it pleased him enormously that she would be terrified at the thought of losing him. And that pleasure moderated the savage within him enough that when she paused for breath, he could speak to her rationally.

  He began with a task he knew she wouldn’t refuse. “Would you mind bringing my clothes here from the bedroom? I will not leave him alone.”

  She cast him an anxious look but agreed. She returned within a moment with his new trousers that he had worn earlier. He sighed internally. He would be sad to lose these to the blood that was sure to flow soon, but he had little choice. He would not leave this man alone, not now when he was beginning to realize how very desperate the situation was.

  “Thank you, angel,” he said as he pulled on his pants.

  “You look very savage with that knife in your teeth,” she said. It was clearly an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, and he gave her the appropriate smile. But his mouth was behind the weapon, so it had little effect. Then his pants were on and he could once again hold the hilt in his hand.

  “It is time for you to go now, angel.”

  “No!”

  “Listen to me. You have been very strong and I revere you for it. But there are some things that must be handled between men.”

  “Poppycock!” she said as she folded her hands across her chest.

  He did smile at that. “Angel, do not argue with me when you know it is true. Unfair as it is, men handle the money.”

  “And what has that to do with anything?”

  “Men handle estates and wills and the protection of women.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. “I know you are beyond capable, but in this, you will be ruled by me. I need to talk to your uncle, and it cannot be done in front of you.”

  She frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because I am going to expose his sins, angel. Sins that you would rather not know.”

  That caught her attention. He knew she still harbored some tender feelings for the man. He was, after all, her only living family except for Rose. He had taken her in when she was destitute. He had been kind, in a limited fashion. She would not want to have him irredeemably ruined in her eyes.

  He could see those very thoughts flitting through her expression. But then they slowly faded. She tightened her jaw and lifted her chin. “I will stay. I will hear these sins.”

  Kit sighed. “Angel, have some pity on him and on me. It is hard enough talking about these things. Do not force us to do it in front of a woman. Certainly not in front of his niece.”

  The resolve in her eyes weakened and she looked to her uncle. He was still on the floor, watching everything with narrowed eyes. His neck had stopped bleeding. The cut was not deep. And Kit could see that the man was already plotting his revenge. The earl would not bow to the inevitable easily. Maddy had to leave.

  Meanwhile, his angel released her breath on a sigh. “Is it truly as bad as that?”

  Kit huffed, his patience nearing an end. “Madeline. Go! I swear I will not kill him, and I will come to you later today to tell you everything. But for now, save your breath and your reputation—”

  “But—”

  “Go!”

  She didn’t want to, but she knew he was right. So with a soft curse, she crossed to the door. “I shall expect you this afternoon promptly!” she said.

  He smiled. “I will not fail you.”

  She nodded, cast one last anxious look at her uncle, then left. She shut the door quietly behind her and Kit sat in silence listening as her steps retreated down the hallway. A minute later, he heard the sound of a carriage pulling down the street. Only after those noises faded did he finally turn his attention to the earl. And only because the man could not hold his tongue.

  “I will break you,” he hissed.

  Kit smiled. “Do you know what my job was among the slaves, my lord? Do you know what I was in charge of?” He twirled his knife as he spoke. And when he grew bored of that, he found his whetstone and began to sharpen the already lethal blade. “I was put in charge of breaking new slaves. It wasn’t hard. Most had already seen their lives destroyed, their loved ones murdered, but there were always a few who refused to see the truth. Who were too arrogant to understand their changed circumstances.”

  The earl arched his brow and pushed himself to a sitting position against the wall. Even from that lowered place, he could still project perfect aristocratic hauteur.

  “We are not on a Barbary boat, and you have no power over me.”

  “Power comes from many places, many tools. In the end, all one has to do to break a man is to find out what he most wants in the world, then destroy it before his very eyes. His daughter sold into slavery, his son castrated, his own strength whipped out of him. I was broken by the death of a boy I promised to protect. It was not until I met your niece that I found something I wanted more than his life.”

  “A woman?” the man sneered.

  “Forgiveness. Understanding. A chance to build a life again.”

  The earl pushed to his feet. “You’ll have none of that now. You’ve threatened an earl and debauched his niece.”

  Kit smiled but didn’t move from where he leaned against a table. “What you value, my lord, is your position in society. The ton looks at you and they see a wealthy earl with a beautiful daughter and a charitable nature. Just look how he took in his destitute niece.”

  “Exactly!” the earl gloated as he pulled down his waistcoat. “You are nothing but a savage compared to me.”

  Kit nodded. “True, true, but the thing about reputations is that they are hard to maintain and easy to destroy. Just look at how easily you destroyed Maddy’s. A whisper here, a knowing look there, and suddenly you have destroyed the one thing she wants most of all: a husband and a good, respectable life.” He lifted his chin and stared hard at the bastard. “You broke Maddy, my lord, you took what she most wanted and destroyed it before her very eyes. And for that you should die.”

  “I was not the one who rutted with her tonight.”
>
  Guilt was a sour burn in his stomach. One day, perhaps, he would forgive himself for the things he had done. But tonight was for the earl.

  “She offered herself to me, and I was too weak to refuse. But if she has taught me anything, it is that broken men can be healed. And broken women too, if I have anything to say about it.”

  “You bore me, sirrah.” The earl turned to leave, but Kit was faster. Before the man could do more than turn, Kit threw his knife such that it embedded in the wall right before his nose. And then lest the man have any other ideas, Kit retrieved two other blades from a nearby drawer. In truth, he had seven different weapons spaced throughout his tiny two rooms. He did not need to move more than a step to put his hands on a gun.

  Kit breathed deep as he pushed to his feet. It was time to end the banter and get on with the punishment. “I have let it be known that you stole all of your niece’s money. She never was your whore, but you let it out that she was so that she would never marry and no one would learn what you had done.”

  “It’s a lie!” bellowed the earl. “She had nothing when she came to me.”

  “Yes, it is a lie, but one that is well founded. I have paid a young man very well to make noise about his investigation into those allegations. Eventually he will find nothing, but he will take a great deal of time to find nothing. And he will be quite noisy about his suspicions.”

  “The devil you say!” the man exploded. “I will be ruined in the financial circles!”

  “Just as you ruined Maddy in the Marriage Mart.”

  The earl rubbed a hand over his fleshy face. “I am well known. No one will believe it!”

  “Ah, but you have a penchant for gambling, don’t you? The earldom is not so well seated as you would have people believe. I am sure that could come to light. And the fact that you had your wife killed because she discovered you had wasted all your money. She was going to tell everyone of your crime.”

  “That’s a lie! I never touched Susan!”

  And there, Kit saw the real brokenness in the man. His voice shook with rage at the mention of his wife. There had been true love there, he guessed, and perhaps her death is what had turned the man into a villain. If Kit were still a slave, he would push the advantage. He would pull up the haunting specter of Susan’s death and find a way to make everyone believe that the man had murdered his beloved wife.

  But Kit was no longer a slave, and so he had enough mercy to bow his head. “No one will hear that rumor, my lord, and all the whispers of an investigation will fade to silence if you do one thing.”

  The earl narrowed his eyes. “I could have you killed. Taken by footpads in the middle of the night. Have your guts spilled in the London streets for the dogs to piss on.”

  As threats go, that would probably have most London men shaking in their boots. But such a threat had little impact on a man who had once been a pirate slave.

  “You could try,” Kit returned, “but even if you succeed, it would not silence any rumors. Quite the opposite, in fact, for I have already given instructions should I suffer an untimely demise.”

  The earl swallowed. His pasty skin was slick with sweat. “What do you want?”

  “Gift Maddy with a showy dowry. Something that would prove to one and all that you have not embezzled anything. Ten thousand pounds should do it, I believe.”

  “Ten thousand pounds! You’re mad!”

  “You have the money, my lord. You might have to stop gambling for a while, forego the investment in that mining venture up north, and perhaps economize at home for a time.”

  “But I never touched her!”

  “You said you did. You ruined her, and now you will pay. Eleven thousand, I believe. More if you argue further.”

  “You bastard!”

  Kit merely raised his eyebrows. He saw no point in trading insults with the man. The punishment was already given. All that was left was to make sure the lesson stuck.

  Kit took a slow turn around the room. The earl was still huffing and spitting, but it was a losing battle. He had no other recourse, and so he would bow to the inevitable.

  “Fine, you bloody thief! I will gift her with six thousand pounds, and not a groat more.”

  “It will be twelve thousand now or I shall begin to spread rumors regarding your lovely wife. Where there other reasons to kill her? Was she cheating on you? Did she find you so disgusting that she turned to a lover half her age?”

  He expected the earl to attack then. The man was not subtle, and his fury burned the air between them. But the man was also not stupid. He would lose a fight and lose badly. There was more bluster, more dickering, but the end was inevitable. An hour later, a bargain was struck.

  “Twelve thousand pounds. Agreed.”

  Chapter 26

  It was an hour before dawn by the time Maddy made it home. Questions and worries piled up in her brain until she was numb. What did the men have to discuss? What would she do now as a mistress instead of a miss in search of a man? How would she tell Rose? And how had Uncle Frank found her anyway?

  The house was silent when she entered, but there was a candle still burning for her. She took it with her, her hands shaking so bad she spilled wax on her dress. Would she have money to buy a new one? As a mistress, would Kit pay for her gowns? Or would he keep her naked and in his bed every day?

  The thought had some appeal, especially given how wonderful this night had been. She was immersed in memories of all that had happened when she pushed open her bedroom door and squeaked in alarm. There was a dark shape on her bed that momentarily terrified her. But it quickly resolved itself into a girl with a spill of golden blond curls. Rose. Asleep in her bed.

  “Rose, honey, what are you doing here?” Maddy gasped.

  Rose came grudgingly awake, rubbing her eyes and rolling onto her back in a twist of blankets. “You’re home. I was so worried,” she mumbled.

  “Yes, sweetheart, I’m home. I’m sorry I upset you.”

  Rose pushed herself upright. “Did he hurt you?” she asked before a huge yawn distorted her features.

  “Who?”

  Rose grimaced. “Mr. Frazier, of course. I saw him carry you off. His brother said it was nothing. That he would make sure you were all right, but when you didn’t come home . . .” Rose shrugged. “I had to tell Father.”

  Now she knew how Uncle Frank had found them. “Well, it’s over now,” she lied. “You can go back to your bed.”

  Rose pushed her hair out of her face. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “Father said he had to throw you out now. I told him Mr. Frazier had a fit and abducted you, but he said it didn’t matter.”

  Maddy nodded. “I know. But we can talk about this tomorrow—”

  “No!” Rose cried. “I don’t want you to leave! And I don’t want him abducting you. Not when he loves me.”

  Maddy froze halfway through pulling off her shoes. In all the commotion, she had forgotten that Rose believed herself destined to be married to Kit. “Sweetheart, you know that Mr. Frazier’s mind isn’t strong enough to marry. Not yet. What did you think of his brother?”

  Rose smiled, and her cheeks colored prettily. “He was very nice, but not very helpful. I knew more about his brother than he did.”

  “Ah. So you grilled him about Kit.”

  “I asked him about his brother. It’s only natural if I’m going to marry him.”

  “But—”

  “Oh, never mind!” she huffed as she suddenly scrambled out of bed. “You don’t understand!”

  “Rose,” Maddy said, trying to make sense of her mercurial cousin. “Wait—”

  But the girl was already at the door, releasing a longsuffering sigh before she spoke. “Don’t worry, Maddy. And don’t pack! I have it all worked out.”

  Maddy pushed to her feet. “What do you mean? What have you worked out?”

  “It will all be settled tomorrow. I have a plan. You’ll see.”

  “Rose—”

  “No! This
time I am not telling you. My plans go awry when I let you do all the work. It’s time for me to take matters in my own hands.”

  “But—”

  “No,” Rose said, looking more serious and more determined than ever before. “I won’t let you live on the street. I won’t!” And with that she left, firmly shutting the door behind her.

  Maddy stared at the closed door, her mind whirling. Obviously Rose had some fool notion in her head, but whatever the plan, it wouldn’t happen until tomorrow. Right now, she had plenty to sort through, first and foremost being how to face Uncle Frank when he returned home. But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t decide on anything.

  In disgust, she fell backward on her bed and flopped her arm across her eyes. Moments later, her mind surrendered and she fell asleep.

  She woke hours later, stiff and embarrassed. One look out the window told her it was abominably late. Possibly after noon! How could she have slept so long? Kit would be here any minute!

  She bolted upright and rang for the maid while trying to strip out of yesterday’s clothing and comb out her rat’s nest hair. Gilly, the upstairs maid, came quickly enough, her eyes alight with curiosity.

  Maddy began with the easiest question. “Why wasn’t I woken earlier?”

  “Lady Rose left absolute instructions to not wake you. Said you were mighty ill.”

  “That was very kind of her,” she said, fully aware that “kind” was not a word she often used for Rose. “But I’m doing better now. Is anyone waiting downstairs?”

  “No, miss.”

  “Well, thank heaven for that,” she said as she studied the maid’s face. Gilly’s eyes were lively and she was biting her lip as if she had something desperately important she wanted to say. “Is there something I should know?” she asked.

  “No, miss,” the girl answered as she pulled out a fresh gown from the wardrobe. “It’s just that we’re all right worried, is all, with you sick and Rose gone and the earl not home yet.”