Deceived Read online

  Deceived

  (THE WICKED WOODLEYS BOOK 2)

  By

  USA Today Bestseller

  Jess Michaels

  DECEIVED

  The Wicked Woodleys Book 2

  Copyright © Jesse Petersen, 2015

  ISBN-13: 978-1517321567

  ISBN-10: 1517321565

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For more information, contact Jess Michaels

  www.AuthorJessMichaels.com

  PO Box 814, Cortaro, AZ 85652-0814

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  DEDICATION

  To the boy who saved me from all my own fears that I couldn’t be loved. Michael, you are my hero.

  PROLOGUE

  1800

  Lord Evan, second son of the late Marquis of Woodley, sat beside the lake on his family’s country estate watching the prettiest girl he’d ever seen come strolling to the water’s edge. She had come to his family estate for his mother’s gathering. Right now on the veranda all the adults were holding court and speaking of boring things. His older brother by two years, Edward, was a part of that, forced into their company by the fact that he had inherited the title of marquis a year before.

  But Evan? Evan was glad not to be there. He was much happier here.

  “What’s that girl’s name?” Evan asked, elbowing his younger brother Gabriel.

  “Who?” Gabriel asked, looking up from the muddy puddle he was poking with a stick. He shielded his gaze from the sun and shook his head. “That’s Claire, stupid.”

  Evan gritted his teeth. Gabriel was only ten and rather obtuse when it came to girls. “Not her, of course. The girl with them.”

  “Josie?” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “She and Claire have been best friends forever—you’d think you’d know that.”

  “I do know it. I mean the older girl. Who is the older girl?” Evan asked again.

  Gabriel seemed to search the massive collection of data that made up his sharp mind and shrugged. “I think Mama said her name was…was…Aurora. She’s Lord Aldridge’s daughter. But she’s two years older than you are, Evan. She’ll never notice you.”

  Evan arched a brow. “Is that a challenge?”

  “Everything is for you.” Gabriel rolled his eyes and promptly returned to his mud puddle where he would likely stay.

  Evan grinned. What his brother said was true. While Edward was serious and studious and Gabriel was already observing everything around them, Evan’s claim to fame in the Woodley clan was that he never refused a bet or an opportunity to prove someone wrong about himself.

  And now was the perfect time to do just that. Because Aurora, Claire and Josie had just reached the lake’s edge.

  “Ladies,” Evan said with a flair he’d seen some dashing gentlemen use. Claire rolled her eyes and Aurora’s flicked slightly to his, but Josie let out a wide smile.

  “Hello Evan,” she said, edging toward him.

  Evan frowned. Josie and Claire were best friends and she was three years younger than him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Josie—not at all. She was fine enough company, he supposed. But she liked him a bit too much, and while most days he just ignored it…perhaps even enjoyed it a little, today he didn’t want Aurora getting the wrong idea.

  “Josie,” he grunted, and moved away from her toward Aurora.

  Two more different girls there could not have been, really. While fifteen-year-old Aurora was willowy and fair, with golden ringlets that were arranged just so, Josie was short and plump, her brown locks somewhat flat and her nose sprinkled with freckles.

  Though why he compared the two girls, he didn’t know. After all, Josie was nothing but a nuisance.

  “Lady Aurora,” he said, pushing all his thoughts away and smiling at the girl who held his interest. “Aren’t you lovely today?”

  She shrugged. “I’m lovely every day.”

  He laughed at her quip for a moment before she glared at him. Oh. So she didn’t mean the comment to be amusing. He frowned. So she was a little vain. Why wouldn’t she be?

  “I cannot imagine that isn’t true,” he said, scrambling to recover from the annoyance he had put in her eyes. “Are you enjoying our estate?”

  “It really is the prettiest place,” Josie interrupted, moving forward again. Her hands were clasped before her and her eyes rapt as she stared around the grounds.

  Claire laughed a little. “It’s hardly different from your father’s home, Josie, which is only, what? Five miles away?”

  Josie shook her head. “Oh, no. His estate is nothing compared to this! This place has always been a fairyland to me.”

  At that, Aurora snorted out a laugh. “Well, I suppose some of us still need baby fairy stories. If I had your life, Josie, I would believe in them too.”

  Evan jerked his gaze from Aurora’s face to Josie’s and saw his sister’s friend crumple ever so slightly, but then she lifted her chin. “I never said I believed in fairy stories, Aurora. I only said that this place put me to mind of them sometimes.”

  Aurora folded her arms. “Well, what of you?” She tossed her chin in Evan’s direction and he realized she was directing her question to him. Ah, just what he’d been waiting for!

  “I’m certainly too old for fairytales,” he said as he sidled closer to her. From the corner of his eye, he saw Josie’s face fall further but ignored it. He couldn’t be responsible for sensitive little Josie Westfall’s moods. Right now he had to focus on matters at hand.

  But Josie didn’t seem to be deterred by the older girl’s teasing. She moved closer too. “You needn’t judge, Aurora. It wasn’t so many years ago you used to dress up and dance around like fairies too!”

  Aurora’s face went from one of pretty and pleasing to an expression of anger so swiftly that it took Evan off guard. She spun on Josie and the younger girl recoiled slightly, stepping closer to Claire.

  “You shut your mouth,” Aurora growled.

  Claire caught her friend’s hand. “Leave her alone, Aurora.”

  “She should stay out of it, though,” Evan offered, smiling at Aurora. “Aurora is too old for your baby games.”

  “They aren’t baby games—” Josie began.

  “Oh, stop, Horsey,” Evan said, and then clapped a hand over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say “Horsey”—it had been a slip of the tongue.

  “What did you call me?” Josie asked slowly, the color draining from her face.

  Aurora began to laugh, her eyes welling up with mirth-filled tears. “Horsey! Oh God, it’s perfect. Horsey Josie Westfall. How are you, Horsey? Can I get you something? A bucket of oats, perhaps?”

  Claire jumped in front of her friend. “Stop that!”

  Both Claire and Josie looked toward Evan and he saw the twin expressions of expectation on their faces. And now he was in a conundrum. He could correct Aurora, tell her not to bully Josie. But that would certainly end any chance he had to impress the older girl.

  He slowly found himself shrugging. “Aw, come on, Josie. Don’t be such a baby.”

  The next moment seemed to move in slow motion. Aurora laughed and laughed in the background, a wicked accompaniment to how Josie’s face crumpled with humiliation and disappointment. Her green eyes filled with tear
s and she glared at Evan, pinning him in his spot, making him so very aware of how ungentlemanly he was being at present.

  “Come on,” Claire said, catching her friend’s arm. “Let’s go up to the house.”

  “Or the stables!” Aurora cackled. “Prance away, Horsey!”

  Josie let out a pained sound as she stumbled back up the hill toward the house with Claire. Evan watched them for a moment, tossed a glance back at Aurora, who suddenly seemed less pretty as she stood laughing hysterically at Josie. Then he bolted forward to catch up with his sister and her friend.

  “Wait, Josie!” he called out.

  They ignored him and kept walking, and he hustled faster to get in front of them.

  “Josie,” he said. “Don’t be upset. We were just teasing.”

  “No, you weren’t,” Josie whispered, her eyes away from his.

  He swallowed, guilt making him defensive. “You’re overreacting!”

  Now she looked at him. Well, glared at him. “I expected her to be mean, but not you.”

  “Yes, you were awful,” Claire agreed.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his shoes. “You won’t even let me apologize?”

  “You aren’t sorry,” Josie said softly, though her voice trembled. “And I will never forgive you. Ever.”

  And with that she shook off Claire’s arm and began to run toward the house, Claire at her heels. Evan hesitated as they went, a strange urge to follow them burning inside of him.

  But behind him there was a siren’s call.

  “Your name is Evan, isn’t it?” came Aurora’s voice.

  He slowly faced her. She really wasn’t as pretty as he had first thought, but there was a smirking smile on her face now. An inviting look that made him take a step toward her anyway.

  “Yes,” he said slowly.

  “Well, are you going to take me on a turn around the lake?” she asked.

  He looked back over his shoulder. Claire and Josie were gone from view. He should go after them. But the older girl was tempting.

  So he held out an arm for Aurora and promptly pushed aside all his discomfort about how he had treated Josie. After all, he’d have plenty of chances to make it up to Josie. She liked him, she’d forgive him soon enough.

  CHAPTER ONE

  1816

  Evan speared a perfectly cooked sausage link and cut into it with gusto. “Great God, Mrs. Ford is the best cook in the empire,” he said. “I must have her come and give lessons at my London home.”

  His younger sister Audrey laughed. “I’m sure your cook would love that.”

  “Yes, there is nothing a person—a servant—loves more than to be told they need to learn their job,” Audrey’s fiancé and their longtime family friend Jude Samson said drily.

  “Mrs. Ford does outdo herself,” their oldest brother Edward said as he swirled a piece of toast through the yolk left on his plate. “But that is more for Mama than for us.”

  Evan smiled, but his jovial mood faded slightly. The reason they were all at the country estate, Briarlake Cross, was because of their mother. The dowager had fallen gravely ill just over a month before and they had nearly lost her. Even now she was still weak in her recovery.

  “How do you think she is?” Evan asked.

  At that moment, Edward’s new wife Mary stepped into the room. Evan watched as she gave his brother a secret smile meant just for him before she addressed the room at large.

  “I can answer that,” Mary said, taking her spot beside her husband and beaming as he stood and set about filling her a plate from the sideboard. “She is very well, I think. Just overly tired this morning. She’s taking her tray upstairs with Miss Gray as company.”

  Juliet Gray was the healer who had saved their mother’s life. The entire family owed the young woman a debt.

  “Miss Gray is here?” Gabriel asked, sitting up slightly and joining the conversation for the first time that morning. Their brother had been melancholy for weeks.

  And Evan couldn’t blame him. Their sister Claire, Gabriel’s twin, had been missing for nearly two years after an unfortunate marriage. Just a few weeks before, they had nearly found her, but she’d disappeared once more.

  “She is,” Mary said softly, and Evan saw her watching Gabriel closely. She was a new addition to their family, but already she had the same care and worry for them as anyone could hope for.

  “Do you think that the wedding will be too much for her?” Audrey asked. “It is only a few days away.”

  At the question, everyone at the table began to smile. How could they not? Audrey’s impending nuptials to Jude Samson, whom the entire family had long considered a brother, were cause for much joy, even if their “courtship” had not been usual.

  “No,” Edward said with an encouraging smile for Audrey as he handed over Mary’s plate and retook his spot. “I spoke to her at length about it last night. She is very much looking forward to it. We will all be mindful of her condition and Miss Gray will attend to ensure she is not overly excited.”

  “The wedding itself is a small affair anyway,” Jude reassured his future bride, taking her hand in his and smiling down at her. “Just family and the barest few friends. And if the gathering she has planned for afterward gets to be too much for her, I’m sure Miss Gray will insist on making her rest.”

  Audrey smiled up at him adoringly, but then shook her head as if clearing it. “Oh, that reminds me. I will have to tell the staff that they should make space for two more guests at the ceremony.”

  “Two more?” Edward asked. “Who else have you decided to include?”

  “Josie and her mother,” Audrey said. “I thought it would be nice to have them here.”

  Gabriel and Evan both tensed, though Evan thought their anxieties stemmed from very different sources. Likely Gabriel was reminded of Claire by the mention of Josie’s name, since the two had been best friends.

  But Evan was reminded of something very different.

  He took a long sip of his coffee before he said, “Jocelyn Westfall, you mean?”

  Audrey wrinkled her brow as she stared at him. “Do you know many other Josies?” she teased.

  “I suppose I don’t,” he said, hoping his reaction wasn’t totally clear on his face. After all, Josie was normally a source of frustration for him. He hadn’t seen her in several years, even before Claire disappeared. And he hadn’t exactly been sorry about that fact. “Why are you inviting her? It would be quite the trek for her and her mother.”

  Audrey shrugged. “When Mary and I were in the village yesterday, we saw Mrs. Westfall’s butler, Mr. Charles. He was always such a friendly man and he said he had arrived ahead of them to prepare the country estate. They should be here from London this afternoon.”

  Evan gripped his leg beneath the table. “I see. And you’re inviting her to your family wedding.”

  Audrey hesitated slightly and her gaze flitted down to her plate. “She was like family growing up. She and Claire were thick as thieves. Having her here would be a bit like—”

  She cut herself off abruptly, but the entire table knew what she meant. Including Evan, who promptly began to hate himself for making Audrey say out loud a pain he wished she didn’t feel. He cleared his throat before he forced a grin.

  “Josie Westfall despises me, you know.”

  Audrey glanced up and her eyes were suddenly brighter. “I know,” she said as she got to her feet. “But you’re invited anyway.” He threw a hand up to his chest with a dramatic gasp that set Audrey to laughing. “And now I must go up to Mama. I promised to show her the final stitching on the veil for the wedding.”

  Mary leapt up, plate of food half uneaten. “Oh, I will come too! I cannot wait to see the final product.”

  “But you’ve hardly—” Edward began, but Mary cut him off by leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead.

  “I know, I know. I’ll have a very hardy luncheon, I assure you,” she laughed as she caught Audrey’s hand
and the two left the room. For a few moments, they could all hear the peals of giggles coming from the two women in the distance.

  “That girl will drive me to distraction,” Edward muttered, though he exchanged a knowing smile with Jude across the table.

  “The very best kind of distraction,” Jude responded with a smile just as telling.

  Gabriel rolled his eyes as he reached across to Mary’s abandoned plate and took an uneaten sausage link from it. “You two. I swear, you are like puppies.”

  “Oh, don’t listen to Gabriel,” Evan said with a half-smile for the other two men. “He’s just being broody and dramatic.”

  “I don’t brood,” Gabriel said, though the glare he tossed Evan certainly didn’t make his case.

  Evan shrugged. “One of us should. Great God, it used to be Edward, but now he flits around all in love and happy. That leaves the brooding to you, brother.”

  “And why not you?” Gabriel asked, though the corners of his lips had begun to twitch as the conversation went on. It was good to see after the past few weeks—hell, years—of disappointment and sadness.

  “I’d make a terrible brooder,” Evan said with a shrug. “I don’t have a dark bone in my body, I fear.”

  “Truly?” Jude asked, joining in the fun. And he could since he had been part of their clan for what seemed like forever. Marrying Audrey would only solidify his place as the fourth Woodley brother.

  “Why do you look so incredulous?” he demanded.

  Edward was the one who responded. He laughed as he said, “‘Josie Westfall despises me!’” Then he threw his hand up to his forehead and tossed his head back with great dramatic flair, setting off laughter from Jude and Gabriel.

  Evan shifted in his chair. “Now wait a moment…”

  “Oh, you cannot deny it. You were all dramatics when asking about her,” Jude interrupted. “You should have seen your eyes.”

  Folding his arms, Evan stared straight ahead. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re being an idiot.”