In the Barrister's Bed

by Tina Gabrielle

  Then James had spoken in a calm, deep voice, and she recalled he was by her side.

  “Ah, here is the soon-to-be duchess.” Bella jumped and turned at the feminine voice behind her.

  A tall, slender woman with blond hair and blue eyes approached. The satin bodice of her turquoise gown accentuated her breasts, and diamonds glittered at her throat and ears. She was accompanied by a man of average height with brown hair and eyes.

  “Lady Caroline, are you enjoying the evening?” Bella said.

  Bella recalled meeting Lady Caroline, the daughter of the Earl of Atwood. Their encounter had been brief as the line of well-wishers at the ball had been significant, but Bella had not missed the sidelong glances the lady had cast in James’s direction.

  “The dowager’s events are always a success.” Lady Caroline’s painted lips curved in a smile. She motioned at the man beside her. “I would like to introduce Lord Gregory Devlin.”

  The man stepped close and bowed. “I apologize for my late arrival, Mrs. Sinclair.”

  Bella curtsied, masking her surprise. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Devlin.”

  So this was James’s half brother, the privileged sibling who had been raised in the ducal mansion while James grew up in a boarding school.

  He was exceptionally dressed with a plum velvet jacket, matching embroidered waistcoat, and black breeches, but the well-tailored, padded jacket could not disguise his gauntness. His sunken cheekbones, pointed chin, and pallor that resembled old parchment gave him an ill appearance. He assessed her with unveiled interest.

  “I see what has captivated my brother,” Gregory said with a smile. “I’m fortunate to have found you alone for a moment this evening. You see, I commissioned an artist to paint a landscape for my brother as a surprise engagement present. I’d love for you to view it and give your opinion.”

  “What a thoughtful gift,” Bella said. “There’s no need for my approval. I’m certain James will be most pleased.”

  “Regardless, I’d like your opinion. I had it delivered to the library. It will take but a moment of your time. Will you have a look?” he asked.

  Bella had no desire to view a painting. She glimpsed at the open French doors, hoping to see James enter the ballroom.

  At Bella’s hesitation, Lady Caroline said, “I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the work. It’s a lovely landscape. However, as Blackwood’s betrothed, you would be in a much better position to give an opinion.”

  Bella struggled to suppress her frustration. It took all of her restraint not to rush to the terrace and scan the gardens below. But Lord Devlin was watching her with such an earnest expression, like a student eager for his teacher’s approval. How could she say no? He was James’s brother, after all.

  She made herself smile. “Of course. It would be my pleasure.”

  Lord Devlin’s face brightened. He escorted Bella and Lady Caroline out of the ballroom and into the hall.

  They reached the library door, and Caroline halted and waved at a passerby. “Please excuse me. I see Lady Henley, and I have yet to speak with her tonight.” With a swish of her voluminous skirts, Lady Caroline turned and walked away, leaving Bella alone with Gregory.

  He touched Bella’s sleeve and smiled. “I have a confession to make. The painting is a peace offering. I must admit that James and I have not always seen eye to eye, but I’d like to make amends.”

  “I’d like that as well, my lord,” Bella said.

  “Since you are to be my sister-in-law, please call me Gregory,” he said.

  He opened the library door, and she stepped inside. The smell of lemon polish and old books reached her. Bella blinked as her eyes adjusted from the brightly lit ballroom and hallway to the dimness in the library.

  She heard the door close and then Gregory’s footsteps as he came close.

  “Where is the painting?” she asked.

  The library faced the opposite side of the mansion as the ballroom, and only faint rays of moonlight illuminated the space through the windows.

  “In the corner beside the lamp.”

  She followed him to the back of the room. All she could see was the outline of tall bookshelves and a desk situated before a window.

  She bumped her hip on an end table, and a sense of uneasiness swept through her. Reaching his side, she looked to where he was pointing on the wall. “There’s nothing here. Are you certain it was delivered to the library?”

  “I’m not certain of anything, Bella.”

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  Her unease exploded into alarm when she turned and found him holding a knife.

  “Gregory! What are you—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, he pulled her against him and pressed the knife to her throat.

  “I apologize for my ungentlemanly behavior, but you have left me no choice.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she gasped. Panic welled inside her, tying her gut in knots.

  “Believe me, I never meant for this to go so far. But you interfered with my plans for James.”

  She grasped onto the thought. “Yes, James! He can help you. Just let me go find him!”

  Gregory laughed bitterly. “There’s no need. He’s going to find you. Only it will be too late for you and his unborn child.”

  She stiffened in shock. He knew about the child. How? James would never tell. Other than Harriet, the dowager was the only other person who knew.

  A terrifying realization struck her.

  “It was you with the highwaymen! You hired those criminals to kill James!”

  Gregory cackled. “They failed, didn’t they? You weren’t supposed to be in that carriage. But now that James intends to marry you swiftly because of the brat in your belly, I had to change my plans. You’re ruining everything.”

  He meant to kill her and the babe. Fear pulsed hard and fast in her blood, paralyzing her.

  Think! her inner voice cried out. How could she fight him? Even with a ballroom full of people on the other side of the house, he could slit her throat before she could let out a scream.

  “Please, just let me go and I’ll never speak a word,” Bella said.

  “You must think me an idiot.”

  “No, I don’t. It’s not too late to stop this.”

  “We must go now. Come.” He pushed her forward, keeping the knife pressed to her throat.

  She dragged her feet, and tripped on the carpet. “Wait!” she cried out. “You can’t mean this!”

  “Quiet!” he hissed in her ear and covered her mouth with his other hand.

  He couldn’t intend to take her out the front door. The mansion was packed with guests, and footmen were stationed outside escorting people to and from their carriages. She hadn’t noticed the library’s French doors, which led into the gardens on the side of the house. They wouldn’t be seen.

  She struggled and pulled at the hand that covered her mouth. The blade pressed into her throat. She winced as it pierced her flesh, and she felt a rivulet of blood trickle down her throat.

  He opened the French doors and pushed her through. Her heart sank when she saw the waiting carriage on the side road.

  Gregory’s grip on the knife tightened as they approached the carriage. The driver stepped down, and a hard fist of fear knotted her stomach. He was an enormous man, over six feet six inches in height with a scar that ran down the entire right side of his face. Where his eye should have been was an unsightly, puckered scar.

  Gregory shoved her into the carriage and took the seat across from her. The door slammed shut, and the carriage swayed as the driver hopped into his seat. Seconds later, they were off at an alarmingly fast pace.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Bella said. “Surely someone will notice that we departed together.”

  “Only you will be missing, my dear. I will return shortly to the ball. Your body, on the other hand, will be found floating in the Thames days later. Society will assume you drowned yoursel
f rather than marry a barrister turned aristocrat.”

  “That’s ridiculous!”

  “Is it? I overheard James speaking with his hired investigator. Your deceased husband had accused you of being mad. Once it’s known, everyone will understand your rash behavior. Your child will never become the next heir to the title.”

  Raising her chin, she glared at him. “James has inherited the title; you never will.”

  Gregory’s cold brown eyes flashed with contempt. “It was an unfortunate inconvenience that the highwaymen I retained did not succeed with their assignment. But be assured, accidents happen all the time, my dear. Something can be arranged to dispose of an unwanted half brother. The dukedom will then revert to me.”

  They had all been wrong. It wasn’t Rupert, after all. Would James realize it was his own brother who desired to have him killed? More importantly, would he discover the truth in time?

  “Is Lady Caroline your accomplice?” she asked.

  “No. Alas, the lady believes I am to bribe you to disappear. She does not know you are pregnant. She wants you gone, but she is not a murderer. I’m not blind and know she is scheming to seduce James in order to become a duchess. She has no idea that I will eliminate both you and James. If she wants to be a duchess, she will have to marry me.”

  Bella’s voice was shrill. “James is your brother. How can you do this?”

  Gregory pointed to himself. “I am supposed to be the duke. I was born and bred for the position, not that conniving barrister. He had the audacity to suggest I work for him. Work! As if I’d ever entertain the notion. He’s nothing but a bloody bastard!”

  She bit her lip to keep from screaming that James had never been a bastard, but had been the rightful heir all along. Then the coach came to an abrupt stop, and Bella grasped the seat to keep from being thrown into Gregory’s lap.

  The door opened and the driver loomed in the doorway.

  “Out!” Gregory shoved her from behind.

  Stumbling from the carriage, she looked up in horror at Gregory’s massive accomplice. The man’s one good eye turned on her, and his mouth curved in a malicious smile.

  Evil, she thought. Cold hard eyes just like Roger’s before he had struck her in a drunken fit. She shivered.

  Taking in her surroundings, Bella’s dismay heightened. They had pulled off the main road, and a dense copse of trees loomed ahead. The spot was completely isolated from travelers; even were she to scream at the top of her lungs, no one would hear. Gregory pushed her into the wooded area, and she tripped twice over fallen branches.

  When he jerked her to her feet, she shot him a withering glare. “James will learn the truth. He’ll kill you.”

  Ignoring the comment, Gregory grabbed her arm instead and dragged her through the trees. His accomplice went ahead, slashing at low-hanging branches with a knife. She saw it then: a glimmer of moonlight reflecting off the surface of a lake in the distance.

  “Stop!” she cried out, panicked. “The dowager knows I’m not insane. What if you’re discovered?”

  Gregory sneered at her. “The witch is old and is only concerned with the future generation of the House of Blackwood. With James dead, she’ll need me to produce the next heir.”

  Gregory addressed his scarred accomplice. “Don’t mark her. Make the drowning look like a suicide, then dump the body in the Thames.”

  Sheer black fright swept through her, and she knew her survival was in her own hands. She needed to buy time until James could find her. She struggled wildly, kicking at Gregory’s legs and scratching at his hand. Gregory grunted twice and slowed, but then he tightened his grip and continued to drag her toward the lake. His hand was an iron manacle on her wrist. In a last desperate attempt, she bared her teeth and bit the back of his hand until she tasted blood.

  With an ear-piercing scream, Gregory released her wrist. She stumbled back, then gained her footing and sprinted deep into the woods.

  She heard their shouts behind her. “Stop!” Gregory’s shrill voice. Followed by: “Go after her!”

  Pulse pounding and frantic, she gathered her voluminous skirts in a fist and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Low tree branches and brambles scratched her face and arms and tore her gown. Stones cut the bottom of her slippers and bit into the tender soles of her feet. The dense trees blocked the moonlight, and she could see only two arm lengths in front of her. She could hear the pounding footsteps of Gregory’s accomplice gaining ground.

  He was going to catch her. She needed a place to hide. But where? She turned sharply to the right and spotted a large, fallen oak. She scrambled over its massive trunk, then crouched low against it. Sweat trickled between her breasts in the tight bodice.

  Booted feet snapped a nearby branch on the forest floor, and a man’s heavy breathing came close.

  “There’s no sense ’iding. If ye come out, I’ll make it quick fer ye.”

  His ominous words had the force of a lightning jolt to her already pounding heart. She needed a weapon. Her hands felt about the forest floor, resting on a rock the size of her fist. She grasped it in her right hand.

  The man stepped onto the fallen tree, discovering her hiding place.

  She looked up at him with wide, panicked eyes. “The duke is coming. He’ll track you down!”

  The corners of his mouth twisted in a malevolent smile, and he reached down for her.

  Bella feinted to the side, and threw the rock, aiming for his forehead. It struck his good eye instead.

  The man howled through clenched jaws and fell to his knees.

  Bella jumped to her feet and sprinted back toward the clearing, toward the moonlight. Her lungs felt as if they would burst in the tight bodice, and her arms and legs ached from her mad dash. She cleared the woods, risking a glance behind her, when she ran straight into Gregory and fell down heavily.

  He loomed above her, his face red and blotchy with anger. “Bitch! There’s no escape from your fate.”

  Just as he grasped her wrist and wrenched her to her feet, the sound of pounding hooves could be heard on the dirt road. Gregory’s head jerked around.

  The shouts of men followed, and Bella spotted the riders. There were three in all, one in the lead riding a black stallion. Judging by its size, it had to be Maximus.

  “James!” Bella cried out.

  Gregory pulled Bella against him and pressed the knife against her throat.

  “Killing me will gain you nothing,” she hissed. “He is the duke. He has always been the duke.”

  “Shut up!”

  The riders came close, and James pulled back on the reins. Anthony and Jack followed on their own mounts. James took in the scene. His gaze met hers, a frantic need shining within the sapphire depths of his eyes, but when he turned to Gregory they held a murderous fury. He held a pistol in his hand.

  “I never knew you had a death wish, Gregory,” James bit out as he jumped down from his horse.

  “Death wish! It’s not me that’s going to see their maker this night.”

  “The opium has addled your brains.” James aimed his pistol at Gregory. “You’re outnumbered. Throw down the knife and step away from my woman.”

  Anthony and Jack aimed their own pistols at Gregory’s accomplice as he ran into the clearing, blood running down his face.

  Gregory backed up a step, taking Bella with him. “No! You shouldn’t get everything!”

  James’s expression hardened. “It’s over, Gregory. There’s no way out. Let her go.”

  “So you can have me arrested?”

  “No, so you can get the help you need.”

  Gregory continued urging Bella backward. With the knife pressed to her throat, there was only one way to go. She dropped her chin then whipped her head back with all her might, smashing into his face. Gregory stumbled, dropping the knife away from her throat. She followed with an elbow jab into his stomach. Gregory fell backward, taking her down with him. A heartbeat later, she heard the deafening crack of a pistol firing
and felt the whiz of a bullet by her ear.

  Chapter 35

  The acrid scent of gun smoke burned his nostrils as James dropped his pistol and rushed to Bella’s side. “Bella!”

  Bella struggled to sit. “Thank God you came!”

  He gathered her in his arms. “Are you hurt, darling?”

  “No. I’m all right, but Gregory—”

  Gregory writhed on the ground, clutching his arm and howling.

  “I don’t care about him,” James said. He held Bella tightly to his chest, his breathing ragged. When he rode into the clearing and saw Gregory’s knife pressed against Bella’s throat, he’d never been more terrified in his life. Thank God he had reached her in time.

  After discovering Rupert wasn’t responsible for the highwaymen’s attack, James had sprinted into the ballroom. Hearing from Lady Evelyn that she had last seen Bella leave with Gregory, James’s heart had dropped to his stomach. He had fetched Maximus and raced to follow the coach. James dared not think of what would have happened had he not learned of Gregory’s deception in time.

  Jack now had his pistol pointed at Gregory’s accomplice while Anthony tied the man’s hands behind his back. They would take care of the criminal.

  James brushed a gentle kiss across her lips.

  Gregory cried out behind James. “You shot me!”

  James lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at Gregory. The bullet had struck his arm, just below the elbow. James’s intent had been to disarm him of the knife, not kill him. “You’re lucky I’m a good shot, Gregory. I could have aimed for your skull.”

  “You bastard!”

  James rose, ready to finish the job with his fists. Bella’s touch on his chest halted him. “No, James! He’s injured.”

  “He’s going to the gallows.”

  “This can be handled quietly. A public scandal would devastate your grandmother,” Bella said.