The Devil's Gift

by Laura Landon

  With tears welling in her eyes, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

  . . .

  She kept her kiss short. It wasn’t meant to be a passionate exchange, but to show him how deeply she appreciated everything he’d done and said. From the look on his face when she dropped back to her heels, her action had not only shocked him, but had affected him more than she’d intended.

  “Thank you,” she said, twining her fingers through the hand he offered her.

  “You’re welcome. Remind me to repeat whatever I did for which I am being so pleasantly thanked.”

  “What you did, what you said just now, means more to me than you can know.”

  “Then your thanks are appreciated, but unnecessary. Your stepmother deserved that and more.”

  “I wasn’t only speaking of her.”

  Jenna knew from the expression on his face he was still puzzled.

  “Thank you for trusting me enough to give me a choice in what we have to do. For a while at least, Eleanor will consider me out of her reach.” Her whole being seemed to expand with the very thought of it.

  Jenna stepped lightly up into the two-wheeled carriage that had just rolled to a stop in front of them. She felt strangely buoyant, with the weight of her stepmother’s wrath off her shoulders.

  “You realize that your plan will undoubtedly put you in greater danger,” she said when Jack was situated and flicked the reins. The horse was nearly at the end of the lane that veered onto a narrow path that wound through Kingston meadows before he answered.

  “Possibly,” he smiled. “But I am more than able to take care of myself.”

  “Because that’s what you did during the war?”

  “Because that’s what I’ve always done.”

  “Is it?”

  He slowed the horse’s gait and relaxed against the seat. “How much did you know about my brother?”

  “Very little, I’m afraid.”

  “Did your father never speak of him?”

  Jenna shook her head. “Not in specific terms. He only ever mentioned that I never had to worry. Once I married the future Earl of Devlin I would always be taken care of.”

  “And you believed him?”

  “I trusted him,” Jenna added, feeling a need to defend her father. “If you knew him you would understand why it was easy to trust him.”

  “Because he always did what was best for you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does that include leaving you unprotected and alone with your stepmother?”

  A heavy weight pressed against her chest. She knew what it looked like to Jack. She understood why he would have a harsh opinion of her father. Jack had seen her back the night Eleanor had unleashed her fury. He knew the danger she was in, without anyone there to protect her.

  “My father doesn’t know what Eleanor is capable of doing.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. He only knows how adept she is at inflicting verbal abuse. He has been the recipient of her tirades on more than one occasion.”

  “He didn’t stop her?”

  Jenna thought of her father and tears welled in her eyes. “If you knew my father you would know he’s not capable of stopping her. He’s too gentle to be harsh.”

  “What about you?”

  “Someone had to take care of Father. Until she died, Mother was the perfect person to take care of him.”

  “And you took over her role after she was gone?”

  “That responsibility was left to me.”

  “Where is your father? Where have you taken him?”

  Jenna’s breath caught and she turned her gaze to the grove of trees to her right.

  “Where?” he repeated.

  “Where he’ll be safe.”

  “Is that why you continue to take the abuse your stepmother continues to inflict? Because you have him hidden nearby and you won’t leave him for fear your stepmother will find him?”

  “Stop,” Jenna uttered in a voice so soft she doubted he’d heard her.

  “What threat does she hold over you? What can she possibly do to him?”

  “Stop the carriage,” she said. “Please stop the carriage.”

  Jack pulled back on the reins and the carriage came to a halt. Before she could descend on her own, he leaped to the ground and held out his hands to help her.

  She placed her hands on his shoulders and he lifted her to the ground.

  “Walk with me,” he insisted when she stepped out of his grasp.

  She nodded and he looped her hand through the crook of his elbow and pulled her close. They walked toward the grove of trees, stopping when they came to a huge tree that had been felled by age and a strong wind.

  “Sit here,” he said, removing his coat and placing it over the wide trunk of the fallen tree.

  When she sat, he sat beside her and gathered her hands in his.

  With his warm, strong hands holding hers, Jenna felt wonderfully safe and protected.

  “I was wrong when I accused your father of being involved in something illegal. It isn’t him. It’s your stepmother and her brother. Do you know what it is?”

  “No. I’ve tried to discover what it might be, but I’ve managed to find out very little.”

  “What have you uncovered so far?”

  “I know Eleanor receives secret messages on an irregular basis. I don’t know who sends them or what they contain, but the morning after receiving one she usually takes her carriage for a morning drive.”

  “Does she go alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “What direction does she go?”

  “To the south.”

  “Did you follow her?”

  Jenna gave him a look from beneath hooded eyelids. “On foot?”

  “Oh. Right. If she had the only horse and carriage…”

  “Exactly.”

  “Are you the only one who knows about these messages?”

  Jenna was confused. “What do you mean?”

  “Do any of the staff know your stepmother is receiving them?” he asked. “Like Benton? Or Maggie?”

  “I don’t think so. I only know because sometimes, when I have trouble sleeping, I go to the upstairs study to sit. There’s a window seat where my mother was fond of sitting. It overlooks a small pond and garden. It’s very peaceful.”

  Jenna stopped. She suddenly realized Jack’s thumb was moving in slow circles over the top of her hand. A tiny shiver raced through her.

  “Go on.”

  Jenna pulled her thoughts back. “One night I saw a rider approach. He dismounted at the edge of the garden and walked the rest of the way. When he reached the house, he entered through a door no one ever uses any more. In fact, I’m sure the door was sealed up years ago when a wild animal got into the larder and ate half the winter’s supply of bacon. Someone must have opened it.”

  “Did you recognize the rider?”

  “No.”

  “Could it have been Viscount Brackston?”

  Jenna shook her head. “The man was far too tall and broad shouldered to be Brackston. And he had a walk that was quite distinctive.”

  “Did he go up to see your stepmother?”

  “He couldn’t have. He wasn’t here long enough. Just long enough to put something inside, then leave.”

  “Do you know what he left?”

  “I think it was a message. I went down one night after he’d gone but I couldn’t find anything. And...” Jenna halted, trying to suppress another shiver. When she couldn’t, Jack’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and he pulled her close to him.

  “Eleanor nearly caught me,” she continued. “It was as if she’d been expecting someone to come and had been waiting for him.”

  “Did she see you?”

  “No. I stepped back into the corner and didn’t breathe until she left. Thankfully she wasn’t carrying a lantern when she came.”

  “She didn’t need a light?”

  “Evidently not. She walked directly to a sp
ot on the wall opposite where I stood and opened a little cupboard door. The man must have left something for her because she took it and left immediately.”

  “Do you know what it was that he left?”

  “It was a paper. I could tell that. But I have no idea what the message was.” Jenna pressed herself a little closer to him. “I’ve seen the man come twice since then, but I haven’t been brave enough to go down there after he’d left.”

  Jack gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “That’s all right.”

  “What are you going to do?” she asked, realizing how foolish she’d been to think she could ignore what her stepmother was doing.

  “I’m going to find out what your stepmother, her brother, and this stranger are involved with.”

  “Then what will happen?”

  “We will hand them over to the authorities.”

  “I want to help you,” Jenna said, feeling for the first time in months that there might be an end to this nightmare she’d been living.

  “You already are. You’ve agreed to become my wife.”

  “Yes. But I want you to know that you don’t have to worry that I’ll take your proposal seriously.”

  Jenna felt Jack’s arm around her shoulder lift slightly.

  “I don’t?”

  “No. Now that I understand your intent to use the betrothal ball as a means to force the person responsible for killing your brother into the open, I understand that you aren’t serious about marrying me.”

  “Do you?”

  “Of course. I know you told Eleanor and Brackston that the betrothal agreement didn’t list your brother by name, but I know that it probably did, and you’re just taking a chance that they’ll never insist on seeing the agreement.”

  “Do you?”

  “Stop that.”

  “What?”

  “Answering everything I say with a question.”

  “Does it make you nervous?”

  “Of course it does.”

  “What if I told you I didn’t lie about the agreement?”

  “I wouldn’t believe you.”

  “Why? Because you don’t trust me?”

  Jenna didn’t know how to answer him. She did trust him. A little. At least she wanted to.

  But she couldn’t.

  She turned her head to avoid his gaze.

  “Someday you will,” he whispered.

  She wanted to tell him she prayed he was right. When she brought her head back around to face him, his mouth was so close he barely had to move to kiss her.

  Oh, she knew she should discourage him. She knew she should flatten her palms against his chest and push him away. She knew she should turn her face so he couldn’t kiss her. But she didn’t want to. Nothing within her could resist the lure.

  Instead of stopping him, Jenna wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck and tightened her hold. She wanted him to kiss her. She needed him to kiss her. Something happened deep inside her when she was near him that she couldn’t explain. It was as if she had air, fire, and water coursing through her veins at the same time.

  “I was serious...when I told your stepmother...I intended...to marry you,” he said, lifting his mouth from hers only long enough to whisper the words in ragged gasps.

  “You can’t—”

  “I can,” he interrupted.

  Then his mouth covered hers again, stopping any more words she tried to say.

  THE DEVIL’S GIFT by Laura Landon

  Chapter 17

  “Saints preserve us!” Maggie said, rushing back from the closet with another gown in her arms. “I told you do na go to meet the carriage that night. Remember my dream? I knew there was a divvil inside.”

  “The Earl of Devlin is hardly a devil, Maggie.”

  Jenna sat on the edge of the emerald-green velvet settee in the sitting room that adjoined her bedroom. For half an hour she’d watched Maggie remove gown after gown from the rosewood armoire and lay them out on the daybed. She tried to ignore her maid’s need to stay busy by doing tasks that seemed meaningless. She had enough things on her mind without being concerned with the airing of several gowns she’d never worn before. Her head swam with the stunning turn of events since Jack had arrived. She dropped her gaze to the floor and stared at nothing in particular.

  “Do ye doubt he intends to marry ye?” Maggie asked as she removed a peach gown from Jenna’s wardrobe and placed this one on a hook on the wall instead of with the others.

  “Of course he isn’t serious,” Jenna answered, struggling to forget Jack’s comment to the contrary. “The Earl of Devlin is only pretending we are betrothed because he’s convinced that my stepmother is involved in something illegal.”

  “That’s nae a secret,” Maggie interrupted, smoothing out the folds in the gown’s large jeweled bow. “All the staff knows there’s something na right here.”

  “The earl hopes to find out what she’s involved in and who’s involved with her.”

  “And he does na think he can do it without your help?”

  “It will be easier if I help him, Maggie. And safer.”

  “Fer who?”

  Jenna rose from her seat and walked to the window. It was too early yet for the Chisolms to light the lamp. Too early for the light that would signal her father was safe. Jenna would have to wait until after they all endured being together during their evening meal before she’d know her father had remained hidden another day.

  “You will na be the one who will be safe, mistress.”

  “I’ll be safe enough. I’ll have the earl and Benton to watch over me.”

  “Ye had Benton and me to watch over you before and we could nae protect ye all the time.”

  “This will be different. Once the guests arrive there will be too many people around for her to risk showing her true nature.”

  Maggie laughed. “Watching the she-divvil have to control her temper is going ta be a treat to behold. I wonder how long she’ll be able to manage?”

  Jenna turned away from the window. “Have the maids begun airing the guest bedrooms?”

  “Oh, aye. I’ve never seen such excitement in all my life. This is the first time the young ones can recall the Manor having guests.”

  “If Mother were alive,” Jenna said with a catch in her voice, “our lives wouldn’t have been like this.”

  “My grandda always said ta never wish for things that could nae be.”

  “You’re right,” Jenna said. Her eyes dropped to the stack of invitations she’d written out after she and Jack had returned from their ride. They were the tinder, set to explode her world once she sent them on their way.

  Jack had given her a list of names of a select group of friends and relation he wanted invited, mostly people who lived in London or the country between there and here.

  To that list, Jenna had added several names of her own, several family friends they hadn’t associated with since her father had married Eleanor. And of course there was her Aunt Chloe. A footman would begin delivering the invitations at first light.

  And, of course, there were the names Eleanor had yet to give her.

  Jack told her he wanted a copy of Eleanor’s list the minute Jenna received it.

  She knew that one of the names there would be the person Eleanor was involved with. And that person was more than likely the same person responsible for Jack’s brother’s death.

  Jenna tamped down a shiver of apprehension and reached for a handkerchief to dry her damp palms. She couldn’t imagine what was so important that they would murder to keep from being found out.

  “Sit down, miss,” Maggie said as she secured a second gown on the hook beside the first gown. “Let me give your hair a look before you go down.”

  Jenna sat before the mirrored dressing table and watched Maggie lift the ivory-handled brush that had once been Jenna’s mother’s.

  “Cook says you’ve hair the same color as your mother. You and the earl make a handsome pair.”

  Jenna’s gaze fla
shed to Maggie’s. Her maid had traded the brush for the curling tongs that were still warm. A thin scrap of brown paper crackled as Maggie folded it around a loose curl. She wrapped it tightly within the tongs for a moment, letting the heat work its magic before seating the curl with a tiny comb so it framed Jenna’s face.

  “Are you paying Lord Devlin a compliment, Maggie?” Jenna asked.

  Maggie shrugged. “Nae. I’m just saying that Lord Devlin has the divvil’s own black hair while you look like any of the angels on the ceiling in the ballroom.”

  “Is that good?”

  “It canna hurt,” Maggie said, placing the tongs back on the brazier. “Every divvil needs every bit o’ good they can gather ’round ’em.”

  Jenna smiled at Maggie’s comparison. Jack was hardly a devil. And she was far from angelic.

  She rose and straightened her skirts, then walked to the door. “I’d best go down. I don’t want to leave Lord Devlin alone with my stepmother and her brother too long.”

  “Call out if you need help. Benton and I will be close at hand.”

  Jenna nodded, then opened the door, but stopped when Maggie’s voice reached her.

  “Which one do ye like best, Miss?”

  Jenna looked at the two dresses hanging on the wall. Neither had been worn before. Jenna hadn’t necessarily been keeping them for a special occasion. She’d just had nothing important enough to which to wear them.

  “I think the peach silk,” she said comparing the gown on the left to the deep blue satin on the right.

  “I thought that would be the one you’d choose,” Maggie said with a smile on her face.

  “Choose for what?”

  “Your wedding. We’ll keep the blue satin for your ball.”

  Before Jenna had an opportunity to tell Maggie that there wouldn’t actually be a wedding, her maid closed the door to Jenna’s room and left her standing in the hallway with an unsettled feeling roiling in the pit of her stomach.

  “Are you all right?” Jack’s low voice said from behind her.

  Jenna spun around. “Oh. Yes, I’m fine.”

  “Are you sure? You looked a little upset just now.”

  “No. I’m fine. I was just thinking. That’s all.”

  Jack studied her for a second more before he leaned closer and spoke softly.