Seduced at Midnight

duke.

'I've some news,' Gideon said. 'Is there somewhere private we can talk? Your study perhaps?'

The duke's sharp gaze assessed him, then flicked back to Haverly and Rayburn. He nodded in their direction. 'What's going on there?'

'That's partly what I want to discuss with you. It seems Haverly's in a bit of a… bad situation. But I don't wish to discuss it here.'

'My study then,' he agreed and led the way into the corridor. A moment later they entered a darkly paneled room that smelled of fine leather, beeswax, and tobacco. A fire burned in the grate, casting the room in flickering shadows. The duke settled himself in the leather chair behind a massive mahogany desk, then indicated Gideon take the chair opposite him.

'I prefer to stand,' Gideon said.

'Very well. What did you want to discuss with me?'

'A new development. Haverly's watch was given to the kidnappers as partial payment for abducting Lady Julianne.'

Something flickered in the duke's eyes, something Gideon recognized but that was gone so quickly he might have missed it if he hadn't been watching for it. Then the duke's gaze turned glacial. 'You're saying he's responsible? That bastard.' His fist slammed onto the mahogany desk. 'All those murders, all those robberies. Thank God you've stopped him. I trust Rayburn is taking him into custody?'

'Actually, no.'

The duke frowned. 'Why not?'

'Because although the watch belonged to Haverly, he isn't the person who hired the kidnappers.'

'Then who did?'

'You did.'

The duke stared at him for several seconds then laughed. 'You think I hired those men to kidnap Lady Julianne? Really, Mayne. I suspected you were incompetent, but this is-'

'I don't think you did. I know it. Absolutely. Will and Perdy, the men you hired, are very observant fellows. Fellows who spend a great deal of time studying the wealthy people they target. They recognized your voice, Your Grace,' he lied without batting an eye and without the slightest twinge of remorse. 'And in spite of the hood you wore, they recognized you.'

The duke cocked a single brow. 'No one will take the word of two criminals over mine. They couldn't possibly have seen anything in the dark.'

Gideon slowly smiled. 'I never said it was dark.'

For several seconds the duke didn't react, then pure hatred flared in his eyes. He shrugged, a casual gesture, but Gideon saw the tension in his shoulders. 'I merely assumed it would be dark.'

'No, you knew it was. Because you were there. Tonight. Paying them with Haverly's watch. Which you stole. Just like you stole his snuffbox the night of Daltry's party.'

The duke leaned back in his chair and chuckled. 'This is quite a story you've concocted, Mayne.' He waved his hand in a rolling motion. 'Please continue to entertain me.'

'With pleasure. You stole Haverly's snuffbox and watch to implicate him. You purposely left the snuffbox near the window you left open during Daltry's party. Your plan was to return later that night to steal Lady Daltry's jewels.'

The hatred in the duke's eyes had gone from a mere flare to a steady burn. 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'Yes, you do. When you returned later that night, you found the window locked. How do I know? Because I locked it. Your plan was thwarted, but you didn't worry. After all, you'd already killed Lady Ratherstone and Mrs. Greeley and gotten away with it. Who would suspect you?

'The day after the party, you waited until Daltry went to his club, then you returned to the house and robbed and killed Lady Daltry. She would have let you in through some little-used servants' entrance to avoid detection. Just as you robbed and killed Lady Hart earlier today. You knew she'd be alone in the house as you'd been having secret trysts there regularly for the past month.'

Gideon set his hands on the desk and leaned forward until he was eye level with the duke. 'Walston's sister, Lady Celia, was to be your next victim.'

'Celia? Now I know you're mad. I barely know her.'

'You know her well enough to have had sex with her earlier this evening.'

The duke narrowed his eyes. 'There's no way you could prove that.'

'Are you calling the lady a liar?'Gideon asked softly.

Gideon could read the cold calculation in the duke's eyes, could almost see his mind racing at the implication that Lady Celia had admitted their tryst, an implication he had no way of knowing was false. Discovering that the woman he'd seen enter the room after the duke earlier tonight was Walston's sister had made everything finally click in Gideon's mind. Except for Gatesbourne, whose daughter was being threatened, and the three men from Cornwall no one but the duke knew anything about, Walston was the only man on the list who hadn't yet had a woman important to him robbed and murdered.

The duke steepled his fingers and touched them to his chin. 'I am calling you mistaken, Mayne. Not only are you incompetent, you're insane. What possible reason would I have for robbing anyone? For killing those women?'

Gideon straightened, then said, 'The oldest motives in the world: money and revenge. All revolving around the failed business deal between you and nine other men.'

Gideon could see by the duke's expression that he'd hit his mark. Pressing his advantage, he continued. 'At first there were only seven of you. You, Gatesbourne, Walston, Penniwick, Daltry, Jasper, and Ratherstone. You each put up ten thousand pounds in a venture guaranteed to quadruple your money. But you saw a chance to gain even more. You brought in three more investors-your friends from Cornwall, Count Chalon, Mr. Standish, and Mr. Tate-who each put up ten thousand pounds.'

Gideon paused for several seconds, then said, 'But there was no Count Chalon, Mr. Standish, or Mr. Tate. You made them up. Your greed led you to lie to your friends. To put up the monies for the fictitious Chalon, Standish, and Tate, money your heiress wife had brought to your marriage, so that you would reap the rewards four times over.

'But the investment went bad. You wanted to stay in, wait for things to turn around, as that forty thousand pounds was all you had. Yet one by one, the others pulled out. They felt the pinch of their ten-thousand-pound loss, but you, you lost four times as much. An amount that left you on the brink of financial ruin. And it was all their fault. If only the others had stayed the course, you would have been one of the richest men in England.

'Instead, your wife found out what happened. What you'd done. Found out you'd tried to cheat your friends and lost all the money she'd brought to the marriage. Between the disillusionment of discovering her husband's true character, the reality of social and financial ruin, and the heartbreak of losing your child, she killed herself.'

Unmistakable anguish twisted the duke's face. 'She was so young. So lovely.'

'You loved her.'

'I adored her. And she was mine. And they stole her from me. No one steals from the Duke of Eastling.' Where his eyes had always seemed cold, they now burned with a combination of fervor and hatred. 'If it wasn't for them pulling out of the deal too soon, none of it would have happened. I wouldn't have lost everything. I wouldn't have lost Amelia.'

'So you made them pay,' Gideon said softly.

'Yes.' The word sounded ripped from his soul. 'Damn it, yes. They had to pay. All of them. They owed me. I wanted them to feel