Never Seduce a Scoundrel

by Sabrina Jeffries

  As Papa drew Dolly into the protective lee of his arm, Amelia groaned. Dolly was just the sort to believe some trumped-up tale given her by someone she loved.

  “Dolly,” Amelia interjected before Lucas could rage at the poor woman, “Lucas is most assuredly working for the United States Navy. He has letters of introduction describing him as a naval representative. And I know the Kirkwoods would confirm his story.”

  Lucas scowled at Amelia. “She knows I’m telling the truth. She’s just trying to cover Frier’s tracks.” When he shifted his gaze to Dolly, he again became Major Winter, military investigator. “If you thought Theo had gained the money honestly, you wouldn’t have let him pass you off as his wife. You wouldn’t have changed your name, fled to Canada—”

  “Theo told me that the gamblers would hound him to the ends of the earth for their money. And to be honest…” She stared down at her hands.

  “Yes,” Lucas snapped, “let’s have some honesty for a change.”

  Dolly began to cry, and although Amelia knew why, she also knew Lucas would see it as the sort of tactic his mother had used to get her way.

  “Leave her be,” Papa snarled, enfolding Dolly in his arms. “She’s told you what she knows.”

  “She hasn’t told me half of what she knows,” Lucas retorted. “All she’s told me is a pack of lies.”

  “Lucas, please,” Amelia said softly.

  “You believe she was duped, too, don’t you?” he ground out. “She cries, and all logic vanishes. But think, Amelia—if Frier really is dead, and your stepmother really believed he’d won his fortune in a card game, why lie about where she got it? Why invent the late Obadiah Smith? Why lie to you, to your father—”

  “Because I was afraid Theo really had cheated!” Dolly burst out, tears coursing down her cheeks. “I couldn’t bear to tell George…” She stared up at her husband. “I knew you’d be appalled if I told you my fortune might have come from such a thing. And I really wasn’t sure if it had.”

  “Because it didn’t, damn it!” Lucas shouted.

  “I didn’t know that, did I?” Dolly cried. “I wanted to believe Theo so badly. I was at my wit’s end. Mr. Webb’s wife had fallen ill, and he’d started drinking and…and making lewd advances. When I tried to give notice, he refused to give me a reference if I left his employ, and I had nowhere else to go. The town was small—he said he’d make sure I never worked again.” She shook violently. “I wrote Theo to ask if I could come live with him, and he said yes. But Mr. Webb threatened to report me as a thief if I left, so I wrote again to tell Theo that I couldn’t come—”

  “And he stole a fortune.” Lucas sneered at her. “For you . Instead of just marching up there and jerking you out. Is that what you’re claiming?”

  She sighed. “No. If he really did steal the money, it was for him. I’m sure he told himself he was doing it for me, but more likely he took his chance to enrich himself. That was the cause of our original estrangement. He fell into a bad way of life after our parents died, so I became a housekeeper and had nothing to do with him, until he claimed he’d reformed and wanted us to be family again. When he took that job, I believed him. But Theo had a fondness for fine things—”

  “As do you,” Lucas growled.

  Amelia’s heart sank as she watched her husband. To Lucas, Dolly was just another example of his mother.

  “You begged Frier to come rescue you, didn’t you?” Lucas said bitterly. “You begged him to give you a better life, and he complied.”

  “Enough, Major Winter,” Amelia’s father said, tightening his arm about Dolly’s waist. “My wife is no grasping witch. Most of her money went to my estate and Amelia’s dowry. I’ll turn over as much of the funds as I can—providing you can prove your claims. My estate is entailed and cannot be sold, but if I auction off some things—”

  “George, I won’t let you sell everything you care about—” Dolly began.

  “Hush, love, it doesn’t matter.” Her father brushed a kiss on Dolly’s forehead. “I care about nothing but you and the child. And Amelia, of course, though I do hope her new husband still means to support her.” He shot Lucas a disdainful glance. “Given that he married her as part of his investigation—”

  “I married her to save her from ruin,” Lucas snapped, clearly uneasy at the sight of her parents’ visible affection. “Besides, the money doesn’t matter. I want…wewant justice: Theodore Frier, tried, convicted, and executed for his crimes.”

  As Dolly flinched from the word “executed,” Amelia wondered at the vitriol in Lucas’s voice. Why was he still so determined to capture Frier?

  Papa said, “My wife has already told you—he’s dead.”

  “Forgive me for being skeptical, sir. Your wife has told so many lies that only solid proof of the man’s death will convince me. And I doubt she has that.”

  Every eye turned to Dolly, who trembled. “I-I have a death certificate.”

  “Your husband…oh, excuse me, your brother, ” Lucas said snidely, “is a forger, ma’am. Forging a death certificate wouldn’t take him much effort.”

  “If you won’t believe me, then go see his grave in Lisieux,” Dolly said.

  “Anyone can erect a gravestone,” Lucas retorted.

  “There was a local man who prepared his body. His name is Lebeau. I’m sure if you go there and speak to him—”

  “Right. Then when I can’t find him, you’ll tell me he must have moved away. Or died. You have an answer for everything, don’t you, Dorothy?”

  “Don’t call my wife that!” Papa put in. “She’s Lady Tovey now, and you will address her with the proper respect.”

  Amelia groaned.Oh, Papa, that is the last thing you should say to my arrogant husband if you want to save Dolly.

  The look of icy disdain crossing Lucas’s face would have shamed even a duke. “I’ll be sure to remember that advice when I arrest her and take her back to America so she can tell her lies to my government in person.”

  “Lucas, no…” Amelia began.

  “She’s done nothing wrong!” her father protested.

  “Except lie about Frier’s whereabouts. And if I have to take her into custody to bring her brother out of hiding, I sure as hell will.”

  “You’re not taking my wife anywhere, damn you. She’s carrying a child, and she’s fragile. I won’t risk losing another wife in childbirth. Especially when she has told you everything she knows!”

  Eyes glittering, Lucas crossed his arms over his chest. “Can you prove that?”

  Papa didn’t answer, because he couldn’t. Neither could Amelia. Yet she knew in her heart Dolly was guilty of nothing but blindly trusting her brother, the way she blindly trusted everyone she loved.

  “Lucas,” Amelia said, “be reasonable.”

  His gaze swung to her, so icily distant it froze her blood. “I’m not letting Frier escape justice on the strength of his sister’s word.”

  Why did it matter so? Because Frier was born English? “At least investigate Dolly’s tale before you take such drastic action as to take her back to America. Go to France—see if her brother’s grave is there.”

  “And then I’d return to find you all decamped, wouldn’t I? You’d be somewhere I couldn’t find you, while she’d be off meeting with her brother wherever he’s hiding now.”

  “How could you think I’d consent to such a deception?” Amelia’s heart broke to see him regard her with such distrust after what they’d been through.

  “What if I were to travel to France with you, Major Winter?” her father put in. “Dolly and Amelia could remain here while you and I gather proof of my wife’s claims. I’d be your surety for Dolly.” He added in as snide a tone as any Lucas had used, “That way, if my pregnant wife did happen to run off, you could haul me to America. Would that arrangement satisfy your demand for justice?”

  Lucas went rigid. “That wouldn’t keep her from writing to alert him. For all I know, he’s hiding in the next county—”


  “I won’t let you take my wife. I’ll fight you in the courts first.”

  “Don’t try to bluff me, sir,” Lucas said coldly. “Going to court would mean having this all come out in the papers, and you’d never risk the scandal.”

  “The scandal is nothing to me. What I won’t risk is losing my wife or child to your dubious justice.” His gaze narrowed on Lucas. “And before we go any further, I expect you to prove your claims about my wife’s brother.”

  “Yes, Major Winter,” Dolly put in, desperation in her voice. “You claim that Theo stole the money, but my husband said at dinner that it was embezzled from some company called Jones Shipping. So my brother couldn’t possibly have stolen it.”

  Lucas released a low curse.

  “Why not?” Amelia asked, suddenly very afraid that she knew the answer.

  “Because the company Theo worked for wasn’t Jones Shipping,” Dolly explained. “It was Baltimore Maritime.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Dear Cousin,

  I do hope Amelia will adjust well to her new situation. The major can be a difficult man, I suspect. But if any woman can weather his temper, it is Amelia.

  Your devoted friend,

  Charlotte

  Hellfire and damnation. Lucas had nearly gotten through this without Amelia’s learning the whole truth. But he should have known her stepmother would seal his doom.

  He dragged in a breath. Maybe Amelia wouldn’t remember the name of his father’s company. Had he even told her?

  When he swung his gaze to her to find her frozen, her eyes accusing him, his gut twisted. She remembered.

  “You lied to me,” she whispered, her eyes huge in her face.

  “No,” he said. “I just didn’t tell you everything.”

  She stepped forward, her eyes glittering. “It’s a rather important thing to leave out, don’t you think? That your father hanged himself not only because he thought you were dead, but because Frier’s embezzlement destroyed his company.” Her eyes widened. “That’s why your family fortune ‘vanished’ a few years ago, isn’t it?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “I couldn’t tell you. It was part of my investigation—”

  “Balderdash!” Her pretty cheeks flushed with her anger. “You couldn’t tell me because then you’d have to admit this isn’t just about doing your duty or capturing a criminal. It’s about revenge for your father.”

  “It’s about justice, damn it!” His temper flared. “And that’s exactly why I didn’t tell you. Because I knew you’d assume that I wasn’t being fair, that I was trumping up the charges for personal reasons.”

  “Aren’t you? The navy spoke of Jones Shipping, so how—”

  “Jones Shipping was involved,” Lucas clipped out. “So were the navy and my father’s company.” He sucked in a heavy breath. “Jones Shipping contracted with the navy to provide several ships and refit others. That included thousands of cannon, which Baltimore Maritime contracted to Jones Shipping to provide.”

  “An endeavor that Theodore Frier oversaw, I take it?” she whispered.

  “An endeavor that Theodore Frier methodically drained of all funds.”

  “And your father was blamed,” she said, with her usual uncanny insight.

  “Of course he was,” Lucas said hollowly. “Frier forged Father’s signature week after week, siphoning money out of the Jones Shipping account, then shifting the stolen funds to a bank in another county.”

  “Theo was always good with numbers,” Dolly put in.

  Furious, Lucas cast her a cold glance. “That’s why Father hired him. And because my mother was taken with the man, with his English background and his fine manners.” He ignored the clear remorse on her face as the ancient wound festered in his gut. “So the cannon were cast and the employees paid, while the bills for materials mounted unseen and unpaid.”

  He glared at Dorothy. “Then your brother fled, leaving behind a mountain of financial obligations and my father’s signature on the bank documents. So the navy and Jones Shipping went after my father, believing he and Frier were in the plot together. They hounded him until he gave Jones Shipping his own precious company to make up the losses. He auctioned off everything he loved, and once he’d done all he could to make it right, he…he…”

  “Hanged himself,” Amelia said softly.

  Lucas faced his wife. “Yes. By then Mother despised him for letting the embezzlement happen, and Father thought I was dead anyway. He had nothing left to live for. Nothing.”

  Lord Tovey looked stricken. “You would have inherited your father’s company if not for my wife’s brother. So it’s not the American navy to whom the money is owed, or even this Jones Shipping. It’s you.”

  “I don’t care about the money,” Lucas growled. “I don’t want a damned thing for myself.”

  “Except Theodore Frier,” Amelia said.

  “Oh yes.That I do want. I want Frier to hang like my father. I want justice, and after what he did to my family, I deserve justice.”

  “Of course you do,” Amelia said. “You even deserve revenge. But against him— not Dolly. You can’t hang a dead man, Lucas.”

  “I have only your stepmother’s word that the man is dead.” Lucas didn’t want Frier to be dead. He couldn’t stand that the bastard might have escaped the humiliation of a trial, the torment of a public hanging. It wasn’t right, damn it!

  Amelia gestured to her stepmother. “Come now, Lucas, you can’t really think she’s capable of engineering some plot to hide her brother—”

  “She’s shown herself capable of lying to protect him, hasn’t she?” It infuriated him that his wife continued to take her stepmother’s side. “So if I have to cart her off to America to prove she’s lying, then I will.”

  “You just want to torment her because you can’t torment him. The only thing she’s guilty of is being foolish enough to trust her wicked brother.”

  “And you’re foolish enough to trust her, Amelia,” Lucas bit out, even though her words held a certain truth. “Even you must admit you aren’t the best judge of character. You thought Pomeroy was harmless.”

  She fixed him with a haunted look. “You’re right—I am a poor judge of character.” Her voice lowered to an aching whisper. “After all, I was foolish enough to trust you . But no more. No more.”

  When she turned on her heel and stalked from the room, he stared after her. No more? What the hell did that mean? What did she mean to do?

  He headed after her, then paused to tell his new father-in-law, “We can discuss this further in the morning. I’ll have my evidence ready for you then, and I’ll expect to see this ‘death certificate’ your wife claims to have.” When Lord Tovey nodded in consent, Lucas added, “If your wife goes missing before then, sir, or makes any attempt to reach her brother, I will hold you accountable, do you hear?”

  “We’ll both be here in the morning, I assure you,” the earl said stiffly.

  Lucas went after his wife.

  He found her swiftly climbing the stairs and stalked up after her. “Where are you going?”

  “To my room.”

  “Our room, you mean.”

  “I mean my room. I’ll have a servant move my things.”

  “No, you won’t.” He had to quicken his pace to keep up with her; she was racing up the stairs like bloodhounds were after her. “This changes nothing between us.”

  “It changes everything. I’m not sharing a bed with you until you come to your senses.”

  “Until I agree with you, you mean.” He followed her down the long hall to a door at the far end. “Until I pat your stepmother on the head, and say, ‘Thanks for the information, ma’am, and sorry I interrupted your cozy life.’”

  “If I thought you were merely doing your duty, Lucas, I wouldn’t interfere.” When he snorted, she cast him a heartbreaking glance. “But you’re not merely doing your duty, and we both know it.”

  She entered the room and turned to close the door in his fac
e, but he thrust his foot forward to block it. His temper erupting, he forced his way in, then turned and shut the door behind him.

  “Please leave,” she whispered.

  “Not until we settle this. When we married, you agreed that if your stepmother proved to be Dorothy Frier, you’d let me deal with her as I saw fit.”

  “That’s not what I said. I said that if she’d played a part in the embezzlement, she deserved to be captured. But she didn’t. And she doesn’t.”

  “The point is, she traveled with Frier spending the money, so she’s the only one who can lead me to the man.”

  “He’s dead, and you know it!” Her hands curled into fists. “In your heart, you know it.” As he glared at her, struggling to ignore the niggling fear that she was right, she softened her voice. “But if you admit he’s dead, you have no justice at all. So you’ve let your desire for revenge blind you to the truth.”

  “And you’ve let the spurious claims of a sweet-faced female blind you to the facts,” he ground out.

  “What facts? Have you any evidence that Frier is alive ?”

  He clenched his jaw. He didn’t. His evidence actually supported Dorothy’s story, because he’d found no trace of the man after Rouen. But only because Frier must have realized someone was pursuing him and decided to separate from his sister to throw off their pursuers.

  Unless Dorothy wasn’t lying, after all.

  “Just as I thought,” she said softly. “You have no facts.”

  “Damn it, I can’t simply close this investigation on the word of a woman who’s admitted to multiple untruths—”

  “Exactly: she’s admitted to them. The only thing she won’t admit to is what you don’t want to hear. Even her own husband believes her—”

  “Because it’s either that or accept that his wife could be shielding a criminal, and he’s not going to accept the latter.”

  “Yet you can readily accept that your own wife is a fool. Or worse yet, that she’d actively seek to deceive you if you turned your back.”

  “This isn’t about us, Amelia,” he said sharply.