Letitia’s eyes narrowed. “He is very handsome. Now, if he is only wealthy—”
“If he is not, he will be,” Alicia answered as the door opened and the men joined them.
She should have told Letitia of Travis’s ancestry, but if Travis wished it to be known, he could do it himself. It was doubtful that his background could be kept a secret with every keelboatman on the river knowing of it.
Letitia left to cling to Chester’s arm, and Alicia again debated making her escape. Before she could, one of the young gentlemen guests joined her.
“Your father’s wedding has been the talk of the town for weeks,” Samuel Howard exclaimed. “Is there any chance that I might escort you? He says there will be dancing at the reception, and I have been practicing the waltz just for you.”
Alicia hid her impatience and allowed Mr. Oliver to chatter. Though certainly half a dozen years older than she, he seemed more child than adult. The only offspring of a wealthy elderly couple, he had been pampered all his life and stood to inherit a sizable fortune, if he did not gamble it all away. He certainly seemed harmless, so Alicia did nothing to discourage his persistence. That seemed to please her father, she could tell by the contented glance he sent her way.
Travis joined the ladies in the parlor a short time later. He sought Alicia and frowned. Alicia swallowed nervously at Travis’s single-minded beeline toward her with a gleam of determination in his eye. She should have known better than to think he would leave her alone when he had evidently spent the meal impressing Letitia with his admiration for her stepdaughter-to-be.
Travis clapped Mr. Howard on the back. “Surprised to see you here, Samuel. I thought I remembered someone mentioning another party where you were expected tonight.”
Judging from the color rising in the gentleman’s face, the party was of a less than respectable nature, Alicia surmised. She wondered about Travis’s source of information. He had hinted that he was a gambler, but her father had called him a businessman. That seemed to be the way of things with this man, as if being half of one race and half of another made him two people, with access to twice as much information as any other.
Within a few uncomfortable minutes Mr. Howard departed, and Travis pulled a chair up, making himself comfortable while cutting her off from the rest of the room.
“Do I have cause to be jealous?” he asked, completely throwing her off balance.
Alicia reacted angrily. “Cause has nothing to do with it. You have no right to be jealous. I don’t know whose arm you twisted for an invitation, but I’ll thank you to allow me to speak with whom I wish.”
Travis leaned back in the small chair, his muscular frame looking out of place in the delicate drawing room. “When another of the guests failed to show, and I happened to appear at the right moment, your father invited me. I didn’t twist his arm, though I did surrender a rather substantial IOU to another party in exchange for the vacancy. And you may save your thanks, for I fully intend to monopolize your company for the brief time allowed me. I had to plead another engagement as excuse for appearing at the door wearing these duds.”
His frankness twisted a smile from Alicia despite her anger. She could almost feel the warmth of his gaze as he searched her face for reaction. She could not maintain the proper degree of haughtiness to put him in his place. He knew her too well.
“You have managed to pass Letitia’s inspection, though she has cross-examined me on your background. If you are to wrest any further invitations from my father, you had best come up with a respectable occupation and a good story to explain your past.”
“I see no need to explain myself to anyone. I have made several investments since arriving in St. Louis, and your father is aware that I am looking for others. Cash is a scarce commodity in these parts. The citizens of St. Louis are more than happy to accept mine.”
“For as long as you have it. Gamblers tend to lose as much as they win and then more.”
Travis chuckled. “You might ask your friend Samuel about that. Experience tells me that the house is the only winner in games of chance.”
Frustrated, Alicia was seeking another tactic when a servant distracted her attention. Instead of gliding into the room bearing a caller’s card, the butler seemed agitated. Catching Alicia’s eye, he sidled along the edge of the crowd, avoiding her father.
“What is it, Jasper?” Alicia asked. Such behavior would not have been tolerated in Philadelphia, but trained servants were few and far between out here.
“A man at the door, miss. Asking for you or someone called Lonetree. He’s not a gentleman, miss. Should I have your father speak with him?”
Alicia and Travis exchanged glances. When Travis rose, she hurried to go with him.
Alicia recognized the formidable bulk of one of Travis’s keelboatmen waiting in the front entrance. He had removed his dilapidated felt hat, but a dark bandanna still covered his long, rank hair. He shifted his weight uneasily at sight of an unfamiliar Travis in frock coat with Alicia garbed in velvet and lace on his arm.
“What is it, Ryder?” Travis asked.
They were drawing attention from idlers in the hallway, but Alicia’s main concern was with the man’s message. It had to be urgent to send him this far uptown.
“Auguste sent me. There’s been a fracas down at the saloon, and the little girl’s been hurt. She’s crying for Miz Stanford, but Auguste says we can’t move her till the doc comes.”
The message left Alicia confused, but Travis seemed to grasp his meaning. “Becky? What in hell was Becky doing at the saloon?” he whispered, catching Alicia’s arm.
“We were just funnin’. One of the fellows ran into her down to the docks, and he was for giving her a good time and then we remembered it was Auguste’s birthday and well . . .”
Travis gave a pithy curse and turned to Alicia. “Go back to your guests. I’ll see to this. Will you want her back after this, or shall I find a place for her to stay?”
The shock of his meaning knocked the breath from her. She had given Becky permission to step out for the evening. She had never dreamed it would be with one of the crewmen. But who else would the child know in this city? In an instant she recovered her wits and gestured to the astonished servant.
“Jasper, fetch a wrap for me. Tell my father there’s been an emergency and I’ve been called away.”
The servant hurried to do as told without questioning, but Travis was not so agreeable. He shook her as if that would put sense into her head.
“She’s down at the saloon, Alicia. You can’t go in there. By now they’re likely to be tearing the place from stem to stern. I’ll take Becky to Mrs. Clayton’s if you want. Get someone to escort you there.”
“Take your hands off me, Travis,” Alicia demanded. “I don’t understand what has happened, but I’ll not leave Becky surrounded by great, cloddy hulks of mindless buffoons. She might deserve a beating, but she doesn’t deserve that.”
Jasper hurried back with a fur-lined, hooded pelisse and helped her into it. Travis frowned but refrained from fighting with her.
Her father hurried into the hall just as they opened the door, sending in a swirl of dry snow.
“What is going on? Where are you going, Alicia?” He glared at Travis.
“My maid has been injured, Papa. Travis has offered to see me home. Don’t worry, I’m in good hands.” She pressed a kiss to her father’s cheek and plunged out into the night without a look back.
Travis could do no less than follow.
Chapter 16
Light snow blew around them as they hastened down dark streets. Travis had not needed a wagon for himself and had not expected company. Fortunately, the saloon was not too far into town.
Travis made no attempt to prevent Alicia from entering once they reached the brightly lighted windows of the same tavern where they had run into each other just weeks before. He held the door and Alicia hurried in, searching the interior for her maid.
Overturned tables and c
hairs and a few men still lying about the floor nursing wounds or lost in drunken slumber greeted them. Regular patrons had forgotten the row and returned to the bar, but they watched as Travis entered with Alicia on his arm.
Auguste, Dr. Farrar, and several of the men from the boat huddled around the forlorn figure on the bench. The gaudily dressed women crowding in between them, however, offering advice and soothing words, brought a gasp of surprise to his companion’s lips.
The men at the bar greeted him familiarly, and the crowd in the corner looked up in relief at his approach. This was his world, not the fancy one at her father’s. She had wanted to know more about him. Well, now she knew. Boon companion to gamblers and whores.
Travis read the tight look of disapproval on Alicia’s face without surprise, but to his relief she held her tongue. She sat beside Becky as the doctor completed his examination of her contorted arm. The plain maid in her torn finery burst into tears and fell into her arms.
“I’m sorry, Miss Alicia, I truly am. It was just a bit of fun. I didn’t think it would hurt none.”
Alicia held the girl and looked questioningly over her head to Dr. Farrar.
“The arm’s broken.” The young doctor opened his bag. “She’s still in a state of shock, but she’ll be feeling it shortly. We’ll have to set it.” He glanced up to Travis, who had shouldered his way next to Alicia. “It might be better if you took the lady to another room. It won’t be pleasant.”
“No! Don’t leave me, Miss Alicia!” Becky cried, grasping her cloak. The pain and shock had obviously demolished her usual tough defenses, reducing her to the child she should have been.
“Auguste, you’d better hold her. Becky, stop that caterwauling. Miss Alicia can’t hold you while the doctor fixes that arm. Behave yourself or I’ll tell her to send you back where you belong.” Travis barked orders while clearing a space for the doctor. He knew better than to expect a response to his commands from Alicia. He merely nodded to Auguste to lift Becky up while Travis took Alicia by the arm and prevented her from following. “Take her in the back room. There’s been enough free entertainment here for the evening.”
Becky’s wail of protest died as Travis’s powerful foreman encompassed her in his arms. Alicia tried to follow, but Travis planted both feet on the ground and held her back. She glared at him.
“I can’t desert her. I’m all she has. Let go, Travis.”
“She’ll not know who is with her in a minute, but if you insist on fighting me, we’ll provide further entertainment for our audience.” Travis retained his grip on her arm.
Alicia glanced at the interested faces of the various females watching them, then back to the men at the bar. Every eye in the room seemed to be waiting to see what they would do next, and she flushed.
“For pity’s sake, let me go with Becky,” she whispered, though she no longer struggled against his grasp.
“In a minute.” Travis nodded to one of the women. “Gladys, bring the lady some wine.”
Becky’s scream pierced the air before the woman could do as told. Alicia turned white and clung to his arm as the scream quivered and died. Gently he pushed her into a seat and took the wine from the tray.
“Drink this. It will be over in a minute, and we’ll take her home. You shouldn’t have come. I warned you.”
Travis tried to block her from view, but he couldn’t hide her from the curiosity of the whores who worked here.
“How do you know these people?” Alicia murmured.
“I own half interest in the place. It pays to know them.” Travis watched her expression.
She didn’t blink an eye, but she didn’t look him in the face, either. “How fitting,” she said without inflection.
He frowned. “From the amount of wine consumed at your father’s table tonight, I wouldn’t think you a temperance advocate.”
“There were women at the table tonight, but you wouldn’t have me believe they were of the same sort as these?”
“Lonely men are victims of many sins. Would you deny us all pleasures?”
“That’s disgusting.” Alicia could not meet his eyes, imagining him in the arms of one of those frowsy, painted females. How could he kiss them and then turn to her? She wanted to go home and scrub her face.
“No, it’s not,” Travis informed her. “They chose their profession. It is unfortunate that we cannot all have money and lawfully wedded spouses, but it is not disgusting.”
Alicia glanced back to his impassive expression, her curiosity unsated. “If men cannot control their”—she scrambled for a word—”desires and so must frequent such creatures, why is it that women must remain virtuous? Because they don’t have the same desires?”
Travis caught her hand and played with her fingers. “Women have the same needs as men, but society forces them to pretend otherwise. If it did not, we would be overrun with children who had no fathers.”
There was logic in that, but her own experience did not support it completely. She had felt nothing but disgust for the act that a man had forced upon her. And here were women who obviously enjoyed the act, but seemed not to bear the results of it. It was all too confusing, and she was too distraught to consider it rationally.
“With a harem like that, what man needs a wife? I want to see Becky.” Alicia rose, and tilted her chin.
Travis stood, but did not release her hand. “Some men are a trifle choosier than others. You will remember admitting that we all have our weaker moments.”
Her hand trembled, and he brought it up to cover his arm before escorting her toward the back room. “I will not lie and pretend I am an angel, but I’ve not laid eyes on another woman since I first saw you.”
Alicia heard, but chose to ignore Travis’s meaning. If she could force herself to look at these things logically, she would have to admit prostitutes had their uses. If she must acquire a husband, it would be infinitely preferable if he were to unleash his lusts on someone else. But she wasn’t certain she was prepared to be logical. She focused on Becky.
Her maid moaned as Alicia touched her forehead, but she did not waken. Her arm had been splinted and strapped and a sling provided for comfort. Alicia glanced to the doctor. “She will be all right?”
“Bit of a hangover in the morning and the arm will ache, but she’ll recover. She won’t be of much use for anything for a few weeks, though.”
Alicia managed a dry smile. “Becky’s only use is flapping her mouth. I don’t think that was harmed. I’m grateful for your help, sir. Can she be moved?”
Dr. Farrar threw an anxious glance to Travis. “It might be preferable if she stayed here. The incident is certain to cause talk, and the girl is obviously not a proper lady’s maid . . .”
Alicia noticed with interest that the taciturn Auguste appeared ruffled at the implication, but she had to consider Becky first. “People may talk as they like. Becky is my friend and if it is safe to move her, she will go home with me. I’ll not leave her in a place like this.”
Travis offered his hand to the physician. “The lady is right. The girl has suffered enough and should not be vilified for one slip. We’ll find a way to keep Miss Stanford out of it.”
Auguste gently lifted the helpless patient and strode for the door, leaving no other choice but for the others to follow.
Their landlady clicked her tongue and hovered like a mother hen while the sleeping maid was carried to her trundle bed and tucked away. Leaving Becky to the attentions of Auguste and Bessie, Alicia brought Travis to the kitchen and offered him coffee.
She shed the heavy pelisse, and roamed the kitchen in her velvet evening gown, aware that Travis followed her every move. When she bent to pour the coffee in his cup, he grasped her wrist. His gaze had fastened on the low décolletage of her gown.
With surprise, Alicia allowed him to remove the pot from her hand, but the tension in his grasp sent messages even she could understand. She sat down abruptly across from him, but Travis did not forfeit his hold.
His black gaze held hers before traveling downward again.
Mesmerized by the longing of his touch, Alicia could not move away. Travis did things to her insides that she did not understand, did not want to contemplate. But when she looked up into the shadows of his face, she had the urge to return the touch, to brush the lock of dark hair back from his forehead and feel the heat of his lips upon her palm.
“This isn’t the way I planned the evening. What do I have to do to persuade you to come out of your ivory tower?” he asked.
His touch sent delicious shivers down her spine, and Alicia had look at her cup to keep her feelings hidden. “If the world I live in is an ivory tower, then I cannot come out of it, Travis. Perhaps you are pursuing the wrong woman.”
“I’m not some young fool who falls for a pair of pretty eyes. I know what I want. I haven’t made a secret of it.”
“But how do I know what I want?” she asked in anguish. “I am enjoying teaching. I did not enjoy what little I know of men. And I know nothing of you beyond the fact that you are arrogant, presumptuous, and persistent!”
This outraged declaration of his flaws caused Travis to chuckle. He sat back in his chair and watched her as he drank from his cup.
“You can teach anywhere; that’s not a problem. The only man you’ve known was a spineless bastard. You are as innocent of men as any virgin. So it seems the only stumbling point is me. You know I’m not a proper Philadelphian gentleman, but I don’t think you’re well suited for that brand of dandy, and I think you know it. I think you’re constructing imaginary barriers to keep me out, but I’ll make a deal with you. There’s an assembly dance next Saturday night. Go with me, and you can spend the evening asking me any question that pops into that fascinating mind of yours. Then we can proceed from there.”
Alicia read the devilment in his eyes. He didn’t have dancing on his mind. The assembly room wouldn’t have waltzes, and they couldn’t talk while doing an allemande. That was just an excuse to persuade her out of the house alone. Well, she had a serious crimp for that plan.
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