Free Wicked Deception by Karolyn Cairns Page A

investigate the whole house, finding every room to
look identical to the other in terms of mess. It would take weeks
to clean it up.
    She went to her room and was dismayed
by the wanton, intentional destruction there. Her dressing table
was smashed to pieces, the drawers scattered everywhere. The
armoire was lying in the middle of the room, and it too, was hacked
apart. Anything that could have hidden whatever evidence Nicholas
had upon Lord Rudd and the others was rifled through.
    She was picking up pieces of broken
glass when she saw something on the floor. She frowned as she
reached down to pick it up. The cuff link was expensive, a diamond
in a very distinct crest. It wasn’t her husband’s. She could only
surmise it fell off one of the men who destroyed her
home.
    She went down below to find Nicholas.
He stared at the cuff link in interest, and pocketed it to show it
to Gabriel later. She was relieved when Maggie and a troupe of
Gabriel’s servants arrived to help put her home to rights while the
two men conversed in his study.
    “ I can’t be sure who the
cuff link belongs to without looking up the crest to be certain,”
Gabriel replied moodily and was still angry as he looked around his
friend’s home. “You came home just in time. Lord Rudd paid me a
visit yesterday. We have much to discuss, but before I do,
congratulations on your son.” He smiled broadly and searched for an
unbroken bottle of spirits under the sideboard, crowing in delight
when he found one undamaged bottle of brandy. Glasses were another
matter, for they crunched under their boots, or what was left of
them. “I have no renter at my other residence if you and Catherine
want to stay there?”Gabriel said it without thinking, and looked up
to see Nicholas’s dark look.
    Obviously staying in the same house as
the one he had with her so long ago was out of the question. He
shrugged, not wanting to add to the man’s grief this day. He tipped
the bottle and handed it to him as they discussed all he learned
from Rudd.
    “ I’m encouraged to know he
plans to kill me after he gets the list back,” Nicholas said coldly
as he looked around the shambles in his study with a sigh. “Now is
the time to worry, for he will do whatever he can to get it back.
Don’t think I haven’t thought this well in advance.”
    “ I see Chumley tomorrow to
see about forging a list that will more than satisfy Rudd. We will
hire guards if we have to,” Gabriel said quietly and took the
bottle when Nicholas gave it back. “Don’t worry, he believed me.
Now you just have to act like you’re my friend again. Do you think
you can do it for others benefits?”
    “ I’m doing it right
now.”
    Nicholas chuckled and took the bottle
from him. Their discussion turned to Dunleavy’s successes in recent
months. Nicholas informed him of how Jaime’s stable was producing
some of the most coveted stock of horses in the country.
    Gabriel was obviously pleased his
ward’s holding was recovering after being bankrupted by Thomas
Sullivan. The estate was thriving through Gabriel’s investment and
Brian O’Neil’s love of the place.
    Nicholas was depressed as he looked
around. He’d known the nobles would be infuriated enough to have
his house searched. He stepped over to his safe and painstakingly
leafed through the contents to make sure everything was in
order.
    He smiled when he withdrew the old
bible he found there. A quick check of it revealed the contents
were still intact, sewed inside the lining. He placed that with the
other items back and shut it.
    “ We can’t stay here; you’re
right.” Nicholas looked around, feeling himself tense at the
thought of taking Gabriel up on his offer of the other residence.
He hoped Catherine didn’t feel awkward doing it. “We will take your
other residence in the meantime, and you’ll be revered as our
savior by loaning it to us. That’s an effective ice-breaker, is it
not?” He looked displeased with accepting the