Rescued By A Devil

by Vella, Wendy

  “He is a smart fellow.”

  “We need to bind the injury to stem the blood, then get him home,” Nathan said, face tight with worry.

  “Knife,” Beth said, regaining her feet.

  Nathan took one from his left boot and handed it to her. His hands were covered in the dog’s blood. Beth swallowed down the fear. She knew this animal was special to many people.

  “It’s all right now, Ella.” Forrest hugged his daughter.

  Beth sliced the hem from her chemise and handed it to Nathan. Captain Sinclair and Forrest lifted Walter, and Nathan bound him. Walter gave a pathetic whine.

  “Poor baby.” Beth dropped to his side once more. Leaning over him, she kissed his cheek.

  Walter sighed.

  “He will be all right,” Captain Sinclair said. “I will have my cousin send you a paste and some medicine for him.”

  “My thanks,” Nathan said. “I will run home and collect the carriage for him.”

  “No need. I will carry him on Atticus.”

  “I doubt we’ll be able to lift him,” Forrest said.

  Captain Sinclair mounted his horse. “Down, Atticus,” he said.

  Beth watched, amazed, as the horse bent his front legs like he was bowing.

  “Pass the dog to me.”

  Nathan and Forrest did as he asked.

  “I’ll walk at your side, and you return to the house with Ella and alert them that we are coming, Forrest,” Nathan said.

  “I will—”

  “Come with me.” Nathan grabbed her wrist. “You too, Mary. Neither of you are walking about London after what just took place. I will take you home after.”

  “We will get into a hackney. Surely that was just a freakish incident?” Mary said.

  “Perhaps.” Nathan’s eyes were on Beth as he spoke. “But then perhaps not. And you are not getting a hackney.”

  Dear Lord, was that bullet meant for her or Mary? Beth remembered then the threats Logan had issued at the theater. He’d said her family and friends would not be safe if she did not do as he asked. Was this a warning?

  She felt a hand on her back nudging her forward.

  “I can walk on my own.”

  “Then do so,” he snapped.

  “I’m sorry about Walter, Nathan.”

  “He will live.” The words had a certainty to them that reassured her.

  Captain Sinclair held Walter in his arms, and his horse, Atticus, walked slowly beside them. Mary held Beth’s hand but did not speak again. They made a solemn procession as they made their way to the Deville townhouse.

  The journey did not take long, and they arrived not long after Forrest and his daughter. The Deville brothers were all running from the house as they halted.

  “Walter!” Zach ran forward. “Christ. Look at the blood.”

  “What happened?” Gabriel shot Beth a look as he took the dog with Michael’s help.

  “Not now, Gabe,” Nathan said.

  Faces grave, they carried him inside. The others followed, including Mary, Beth, and Captain Sinclair.

  “Is h-he all right, Papa?”

  “He will be, sweetheart,” Forrest said to Ella, who looked tearful. “Everything will be all right now.” He closed his arms round her and held her tight.

  “This way. I have placed several thick blankets over the mattress.” Fairfax, the butler appeared before them. He gave her a gentle smile, clearly remembering her from when she’d visited in happier times.

  The procession trooped up the stairs and soon entered a bedroom. Walter was lowered gently onto a bed. He sighed pitifully and rested his head on the pillow.

  “We must clean the wound and see what we are dealing with. If there is a bullet, it must be removed,” Nathan said.

  “There is no bullet,” Captain Sinclair said.

  “How do you know?” Gabriel Deville looked at him.

  “I am very good with animals. He is hurt but is not in danger of passing from his wounds at this stage—unless there is infection. As I told Mr. Deville, I will have my cousin deliver you some medical supplies to ensure that does not happen.”

  “We’d be grateful. He is very important to my fiancée,” Gabriel Deville said, worry etched in his face.

  Beth’s guilt climbed. Had Walter been shot because of her?

  “I shall leave you now,” Captain Sinclair said.

  “My thanks for checking the gunman had gone and for coming to our aid, Captain,” Nathan said.

  “Gunman?” the rest of the Deville brothers said in unison.

  “I will explain later,” Nathan said.

  Captain Sinclair was soon gone, leaving her alone with a room full of Devilles, and Mary, who for once in her life was as quiet as a mouse.

  Chapter Twenty

  Walter fussed and whimpered, so Beth climbed onto the bed and held his head while Nathan and his brothers cleaned the wound. Mary found her voice and started issuing orders.

  “The bleeding needs to be stopped.”

  “Clearly we had not thought of that,” Zach snapped back.

  “Clean cloths pressed to the wound, and they’ll need changing often,” Mary added undeterred.

  “Shut up.” Zach glared at her.

  “It looks like the bullet grazed his side just as Captain Sinclair said.” Nathan studied the still bleeding wound ignoring the bickering.

  “Care to tell me what the hell happened and why Miss Carlow and Miss Blake are with you?” Gabe demanded. Like the others, he had his shirtsleeves rolled. He was holding the pad on Walter’s side while Nathan rolled the bandage around him. Michael and Zach were lifting the dog when required. Each time Walter whimpered, Beth kissed his nose and told him he was a big brave boy.

  “Soon, Gabe,” Nathan said.

  “Care to tell me where my peppermint stick is?” Michael smiled at Beth. “We have a deal that you never go there without returning with supplies for your brothers.”

  Always the peacemaker, Nathan thought, rolling down his sleeves.

  “He needs rest now,” Zach said, doing the same.

  “And some broth,” Mary added, not to be outdone.

  “We will sit with him,” Forrest said, entering the room. “Ella is worried and wishes to read him stories.”

  “I’m sure he’ll love that.” Nathan bent to kiss his niece. “He will be all right, Ella.”

  She gave him wobbly smile, then climbed onto the bed beside Beth.

  “Why did someone want to hurt, Walter, Uncle Nathan?”

  “I’m not sure, sweetheart, but it will not be something you need worry about again.” He stroked her head softly.

  Now that everyone was here and safe, and Walter not in imminent danger of death, Nathan was coming to the realization that he could have lost Beth today. That bullet could have taken her from him. Mary too could easily have been shot.

  “Somebody had better start explaining things,” Zach snapped. “I want answers as to why there was a gunman and why it was Walter who was shot!”

  “As opposed to me or Miss Carlow?” Mary said in an icy tone.

  “That is not what I meant, and you bloody well know it,” Zach snarled.

  “I want answers too,” Gabe said in a voice that the Deville brothers knew well. “Why was Captain Sinclair involved?”

  “Don’t bellow at me,” Nathan snapped. “I said I will tell you.”

  “Then do so,” Gabe growled.

  “Brothers.” Michael sighed. “Come, we shall take tea and talk. Miss Carlow and Miss Blake can then fill in the parts you don’t remember, Nathan. But first I’m sure they wish to wash and be refreshed.”

  “Thank you, we would,” Beth said. She and Mary followed Michael from the room.

  Nathan hurried to wash and change, then returned briefly to check on Walter and found Dimity there with Forrest and Ella.

  “How is he?”

  “Sleeping.” She sniffed, eyes red. “Thank you.”

  “For what? Had I not taken him walking, he wou
ld not have been shot.”

  “You made sure he came home to be cared for.” She came to stand before him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I have seen your Miss Carlow. She is scared, Nathan, and I know she hurt you, but please remember there is usually another side to every story. Perhaps it is time you learned hers.”

  With Dimity’s words ringing in his ears, he found the parlor Mary, Beth, and his brothers were in. Zach and Mary were still arguing.

  She sat in a chair with a cup clasped in her hands as if to warm them. Her hair was pulled back from her head in a smooth bun. Her dress was smeared with Walter’s blood, she looked small and vulnerable, and pain stabbed at him as he thought about the gunman putting a bullet through her.

  “Start at the beginning, Nathan,” Gabe said when he’d settled in a seat near Beth.

  “I left the house with Ella and Walter—”

  “I know that part.”

  “You said start at the beginning.” Nathan took the cup Fairfax handed him. It was laced liberally with sugar, but he felt the urge for something stronger than tea. “There is actually not much to tell.” Nathan shrugged. But he explained everything he remembered in detail.

  “Did any of you see the gunman?” Michael asked.

  They shook their heads.

  “Do you believe it was a random attack?” Gabe asked.

  “I—ah, I’m unsure why it wouldn’t be,” Beth answered, looking nervous. She was hiding something Nathan was sure of it.

  “Mary and I need to return home.” She got to her feet when the questions had stopped. “If there is nothing more you want, Lord Raine, I will say good day to you.” She started for the door. “Come along, Mary.”

  Mary dropped a quick curtsey and followed after shooting Zach a glare.

  “Where are you going? I said I’d accompany you both.” She ignored Nathan and walked out of the room without a backward glance with her friend on her heels.

  He looked at his brothers, who all wore differing expressions he had no wish to decipher.

  “Well, go after her and that she-devil, or they’ll likely walk home and get into more trouble.” Zach made a shooing motion. Nathan left.

  “What do you think you are doing?” He walked around Mary and caught Beth as she began to descend the stairs to the front entrance.

  “Leaving.”

  “Your stupidity knows no bounds,” he muttered.

  “I am not now, nor have I ever been stupid,” she stated. “Perhaps once I may have given you that impression, but I assure you that is no longer the case.”

  “Why did you give him the impression you were stupid?” Mary asked.

  Beth waved her friend’s words away.

  “You contemplating walking about London alone is stupid. But doing it twice in one day after what transpired earlier is doubly so.”

  She stopped suddenly, and he nearly walked into her. Then she turned, and he saw the fire in her eyes.

  “Mary, please wait for us in the carriage.”

  Clearly Mary had seen the fire also, as she ran out the door.

  “Once, I would have allowed you to speak to me that way, but no more. I am no fool, nor am I stupid. I rarely take risks unless it is necessary for me to do so. I did not see going to the sweet shop this morning as a dangerous venture.”

  “And yet it was,” he snapped. “And a stupid one.”

  “Do not ever call me stupid again!” She drilled her finger into his chest before turning once more and stalking out the door behind her friend.

  “When is it necessary for you to take risks?” He followed.

  “I’m going home, Nathan. Go away.”

  “And what did you mean by saying, ‘once I would have allowed you to speak to me that way’?”

  Mary now sat in the carriage. Before he could reach her, Beth had climbed inside and settled herself on the seat beside her friend.

  Nathan gave Toddy, his driver, the address for the Blake residence and then joined the ladies inside. They traveled through London in silence for the next twenty minutes. A heavy, thick silence that had Mary shooting looks between Nathan and Beth. Neither said a word but kept their eyes on the streets outside.

  “I will stay with Mary and have a carriage take me home from here.” Beth rose with her friend as the carriage stopped outside the Blake home.

  “No, you will not. Good day, Mary. You will forgive me for not escorting you to the door,” Nathan said, gripping Beth’s wrist.

  Mary shot another wide-eyed look between them, then kissed her friend’s cheek before leaving.

  Nathan lifted the hatch above his head and gave Toddy directions to Beth’s house while still holding her wrist. He then urged her back into her seat as the carriage began to move.

  “You had no right to stop me leaving with Mary,” Beth said with barely concealed fury.

  “What did you mean when you said, once you would have allowed me to speak to you that way, but no longer?”

  He thought she wasn’t going to tell him, just sit in angry silence for the entire trip. He was wrong.

  “I was a foolish innocent three years ago whose only worry was to make sure I transformed myself into everything you wanted me to be. I am no longer that person.”

  He looked at her as if he’d never really seen her. Were her words the truth?

  “I only ever wanted you to be yourself. I asked for nothing more than that.”

  She gave him a pitying look that had his teeth snapping together.

  “You wanted a well-behaved, perfect society woman, and I gave you that.”

  “So what are you telling me, Beth? That you were playing a part? That you had no wish to marry me… no, wait.” He held up a hand. “We both know that’s actually the truth.”

  She clamped her mouth into a line and looked out the window.

  “Oh, so now you’re quiet.”

  “I should not have spoken as I did.”

  “And yet you cannot unsay the words. Cannot tell me that the woman I fell in love with was not actually who you are, but some version you created to please me.”

  “I was who my mother had trained me to be.”

  “But clearly not who you wanted to be?”

  “It matters not.” She dismissed him with a flick of her wrist.

  “It matters a great deal, so don’t dismiss me, you little baggage.” He grabbed her shoulders, urging her to the edge of the seat. “Tell me what is going on with you. Tell me why you left London three years ago without a word. Why were you speaking alone with that man in the theatre? Did what happened today have anything to do with you?”

  Her shoulders jerked beneath his hands.

  “Wh-What do you mean?” Eyes wide, she searched his face.

  “If that bullet was aimed at you, I want to know why. You can trust me to help you, Beth, if you and your family are in trouble.”

  “Let me go, Nathan.” She was terrified now.

  He didn’t, running his eyes over her pale face. A face that had once been so dear to him, he almost knew it as well as his own.

  “Who was that man at the theater?” He spaced the words out slowly.

  “He is the m-man I’m having an affair with.” Her eyes went to his right ear. “W-We are doing so in private, as he has no wish marry me.”

  “You were never a convincing liar, even when you were pretending to be my perfect future wife.”

  “Don’t do this, Nathan. We are done with. There can be no going back.”

  “Do what?”

  “Ask questions I cannot answer.”

  “Why can’t you answer them?”

  The tears were his undoing. They spilled over her lids and fell down her soft cheeks.

  “Beth.” His sigh was ragged. “Don’t cry.” Using the cuff of his jacket because he’d forgotten his handkerchief, he gently blotted her tears.

  “N-Nathan, you must not speak to me again.” She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and tugged them hard as she spoke. “You need to keep your distance. P
romise me. Protect your family and yourself by staying away from me.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head, easing back out of his arms. “Just promise me you’ll do as I ask.”

  “If you explain things to me, I could help. I have contacts; my brothers too will help.

  “I want only for you to leave me alone.” She looked out the window again, the tears still falling silently.

  “Why did your family leave London in the middle of the season, Beth? Even if you wished to part ways with me, you could have stayed.”

  “You m-must do as I say, Nathan. Leave this alone now, I beg of you.”

  “You ask too much of me. Especially now I believe there is more behind your departure three years ago. You are in some kind of trouble that may have played a part in that. Then, I saw what I thought was the truth; now I see I let emotion cloud my judgement. I should have pursued you for answers. Demanded them.”

  “No!” She’d been pale before, but now she was ghostly white. “Leave it, Nathan. This, us, was nothing. I-I don’t love you anymore. Why can’t you accept that!”

  “There is no need to yell, Beth. Calm down.” He took her hands in his.

  “I’m not yelling!”

  “What are you scared of?” He saw the fear clearly etched in every sweet line of her face.

  “I’m not scared.” She struggled to control herself.

  “What is going on with your father?”

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?” She threw the question back at him.

  “Like what?” Nathan didn’t think he’d ever fought in front of her.

  “Using your feet. I have never seen that before.”

  “Have you seen many men fight?”

  She just looked at him.

  “When did you see me fight?”

  Her face went perfectly blank.

  “Where, Beth?”

  The carriage rolled to a stop, and she had the door open and had jumped out before he could stop her.

  He began to follow, but before he could reach her, she ran through the front door and slammed it behind her.

  “I will find your secrets, Bethany Carlow. And then we will have a reckoning, you and I.”

  Chapter Twenty-One