by Jina Bacarr
Then he left. Without saying a word or making judgment on me. He never spoke of it again and neither have I.’
She took a deep breath, then said in a calm voice without regret, ‘I’ve never told that story to anyone, Ava. I don’t know why I did now. I’ve had the strangest feeling since I met you that I had to tell you.’ She laughed. ‘I owe you a debt of gratitude.’
‘Me, your ladyship?’ Ava whispered, trying to take it all in.
‘Yes. If I hadn’t been so jealous of you, I never would have entertained the idea that Buck does love me in his own way.’
‘What do you mean, your ladyship?’ Ava said, curious.
‘He arranged my upcoming marriage with Mr Brady, then came on this voyage to give me courage. No one else could have convinced me to agree to this crazy scheme.’ She smiled. ‘Without a doubt, Buck is the most charming and magnetic man I’ve ever encountered. I loved him then for what he did. What breaks my heart is I still do.’
Ava looked at the countess. With a wavering light upon her face, the flickering shadows heightened her cheekbones and gave her the look of a Madonna. But the woman was no saint. Underneath her calm exterior, Ava knew, she was hot-blooded and filled with a fever for this man. No wonder she treated him with an air of possession and was jealous of any woman he cast his eye upon.
I’ll have to watch my step and not give myself away. Oh, why don’t I just admit I want to be with his lordship?
Ava turned away, her heart racing wildly. She said nothing. She couldn’t. Her emotions were eating her up inside. The situation was getting beyond her. Now she knew why Father Murphy sneaked a bottle of wine from the chapel storeroom every Thursday after confession.
It’s a heavy burden to carry the sins of others upon your back, lass, leaving no room in your soul for your own. A dead feeling it is, because you can do nothing to help the sinner but tell them God forgives them.
And that she did.
Having bared her soul, a great burden had lifted from her mind and the countess now expected Ava to act as a lady’s maid should. To respect her mistress’s private affairs and perform her duties as if the conversation had never taken place.
‘Why don’t you go up on the Boat Deck and get some fresh air, your ladyship?’ Ava said to her later in the afternoon.
‘I’ve nearly finished this letter to Benson,’ the countess said, sitting at the small writing desk and dashing off a few more lines before signing the letter to her butler with a flourish, then sealing it. ‘Post the letter for me with the purser, Ava.’
‘Yes, your ladyship,’ she said, taking the letter and hoping the countess didn’t see her hand shaking. The last place Ava O’Reilly was going to drag herself was the purser’s office. She’d be locked up faster than a hangman’s prayer.
What to do?
She had an idea. As deftly as a magician hiding a rabbit in his top hat, Ava slipped the letter into the countess’s coat pocket, determined to convince her to post it herself at the enquiry desk with the purser. It wouldn’t matter when the letter left her hand since the outgoing mail wouldn’t leave the ship, but would make the return voyage back to England and arrive at its destination within a fortnight.
‘I’m ready for that walk now,’ the countess said, turning around so Ava could help her on with her coat. For a moment, Ava thought she’d invite her to go with her, but protocol said otherwise.
‘It’ll do you good, your ladyship.’ Standing tall, Ava held the long, heavy coat, and not once did she open her mouth with a snappy retort. By the saints’ holy prayers, would you look at her? Mary Sullivan O’Reilly’s girl doing a right good job as a lady’s maid and not complaining about it.
‘Course, that didn’t mean because she’d warmed up to doing the job, she had any intention of giving up her dream once she got to New York.
‘You’re a good girl, Ava, putting up with my tirade earlier,’ said the countess, remaining still as Ava buttoned up her black coat. ‘I was wrong to accuse you of anything more than infatuation with Buck.’
‘It’s true Captain Lord Blackthorn is devilishly handsome, your ladyship,’ Ava admitted, her fingers closing the top button. ‘But he’s not for the likes of me.’
‘Be careful, Ava, or you’ll end up like me. In love with the wrong man.’ The countess put on her black velvet cloche hat and pulled a fashionable black veil down over her face, her retiring shyness adding to her charm. ‘I’m going to change that,’ she said, pulling on her finely stitched gray leather gloves with the pearl buttons. ‘For both our sakes.’
‘What are you going to do?’ asked Ava before she could stop herself.
The countess smiled, taking no offense. ‘You’ll see. I’m off to the reading room to lose myself in a novel until the dinner hour. When Mr Brady calls, tell him I’d be honored to dine with him this evening.’
‘Mr Brady?’ Ava’s eyes widened.
What is the countess up to now? Look at her, smiling like a fiddler playing a happy tune.
‘Yes, if we’re going to be married, we should become better acquainted. After all, it’s my duty to be a good wife. I owe it to him.’ She paused. ‘And to Buck.’ She squared her shoulders, then headed to the door. Before leaving, she turned. ‘I’ve been such a bore today, Ava. Why don’t you take the afternoon off? Go for a stroll up on deck.’
Ava bit down on her lower lip. She’d gotten into enough trouble up on deck, but there was one thing she was pining to do.
‘Would your ladyship mind if I made use of your tub while you’re gone?’
‘You mean, take a bath?’
‘Yes, I’ve never had my own bathtub before.’
‘Of course,’ she said, laughing. ‘You’ll find everything you need on the washstand.’
Ava’s eyes glowed. ‘Thank you, your ladyship.’
Oh, if only Mary Dolores could see her now, dancing around the stateroom after the countess was gone.
11
‘Is it typical for a ship like the Titanic,’ Trey asked, ‘to cruise at twenty-five knots?’
‘Yes and no,’ Buck said evasively. He grinned at the worried look on the American’s face. Should he tell him the truth? The sea was dead calm. There was no telling how fast she would go. ‘If we keep up this speed, Trey,’ he said, ‘we’ll arrive in New York late Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning.’
‘God help me if we dock early,’ Trey said dryly. ‘I’ll never hear the end of it from Mother if she isn’t there to greet her future daughter-in-law. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s learned how to curtsy, even with her arthritis. She’s obsessed with the royals.’
It was well known among the elite that Treyton Brady received an income from a half-million-dollar trust fund. But he would lose claim to a twenty-million-dollar inheritance if he didn’t marry a peeress as per his mother’s wishes. With his bride-hunting trip to Europe coming to an end and along with it his freedom, Buck reasoned his old friend was getting cold feet.
There was something else, too. A change in both of them. They’d lost the devil-may-care attitude that had ruled their lives up to this point.
Trey, he could understand, but why him?
‘My mother is so obsessed with royalty,’ Trey mocked, ‘she sent me numerous telegrams before we left England requesting more information on the countess so she can have her watchdogs check up on her. She can’t understand why I didn’t bring home an English countess instead.’
‘I pity Fiona trying to explain to your mother why she inherited a peerage title when Englishwomen cannot,’ Buck said glibly.
‘I don’t understand you English and your inheritance laws. God knows it would have made my life easier.’ Trey shook his head in dismay. ‘Now you tell me this ship will arrive earlier than scheduled. I’d rather find myself thrashing about in the Atlantic on a raft than deal with my mother.’
Trey had been in high spirits when he’d encountered Buck in the first-class lounge on the Promenade Deck. Their earlier run-in in the countess�
�s stateroom had been forgotten, as usually happened with Trey. He held no grudges, especially when it was in his own best interests. Keeping Buck as his confidante achieved that goal.
The former British Army captain had no doubt his old friend was worried about the countess changing her mind about the marriage and had sought him out to make amends in the only way Trey knew how.
By acting as if nothing had happened.
He looked rather peeved at the idea of the ship arriving early, though he appeared rested. Buck smirked. Most likely the object of his late-night rendezvous in second class had found out he was affianced to the countess and thrown him out.
Who would be his next conquest?
He wondered if Trey realized his fiancée was not as reserved as she seemed.
He’d never forgotten the night Fiona tried to seduce him. Any man would have been flattered. He was embarrassed. He could never feel that way about her and that pained him because she deserved better than that. He felt guilty about avoiding her, but it was best to keep his distance from her until they arrived in New York.
Or is there another reason?
A girl with green eyes, red hair and a lovely figure.
Ava.
‘Don’t try to fool me, Buck. You’ve been carousing with that pretty Irish girl you hired to work as a lady’s maid for the countess.’
‘Be careful what you say about her, Trey,’ Buck said with authority. ‘She’s an innocent girl.’
‘That is a revelation. A woman immune to your charms.’ He looked at his old friend with an expression that made Buck wary when he asked, ‘Where did you find such a gorgeous creature?’
‘The assistant purser recommended her to me,’ Buck lied. ‘She was a lady’s maid back in Ireland.’
‘She’s a beauty all right. I have to admit I didn’t have any luck with her either. She wouldn’t give me the time of day.’ Trey shrugged. ‘Not that I didn’t try, but if you are right about the ship’s run, I have five more days to convince her a Yankee can beat an Englishman at his own game.’
Buck observed his friend with a new worry. The gambling mood had possessed them both, but it wasn’t the ship’s fast run at stake here, it was Ava’s virtue.
It was then he realized his duty as her protector was far from over.
‘I’m warning you, Trey,’ Buck said, clenching his fists at his sides and trying to remember they were in the first-class lounge of the Titanic and not a dosshouse in London’s East End. ‘The girl will bring you nothing but trouble. Keep your mind on Fiona, your future wife.’
‘I’ve tried, Buck, but the countess won’t even sup with me. God knows what a fiasco our marriage will be if she won’t have anything to do with me.’
The two men sat down in the comfortable round chairs and Buck gazed out the large bay windows at the panoramic view of the sea. The room remained at an even temperature though the marble fireplace was merely for decoration.
‘You’re not intending to call off the marriage, are you?’ Buck asked, concerned.
‘Of course not. This is one chap, as you English say, who has no desire to forfeit his lavish style of living, whatever the cost to his personal life.’
Buck’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you up to?’
‘We have a saying in America, Buck. If you can’t beat them, join them.’ Trey waved the lounge steward over and whispered something to him. The steward nodded, then returned with a big bouquet of American Beauty red roses tied up with a trailing red satin ribbon. ‘I had the ship’s florist make this arrangement for the countess.’ He grinned. ‘Do you think it will please her?’
‘Her ladyship will no doubt fall into your arms and vow undying love,’ Buck said, intending to convince the countess Trey was sincere in his efforts to woo her.
If she was still speaking to him.
The vibrant roses nearly put him in a romantic mood. He couldn’t deny the scent was intoxicating and made him think about confiscating a fresh flower for a certain Irish girl.
‘I’m going to leave the roses in her cabin with a note,’ Trey said, standing up. ‘Then I’m off to send Mother a wireless, telling her we’re arriving in New York early. She’ll be thrilled and will probably have a band playing when the ship docks,’ he said with confidence in his ability to diffuse his mother’s anger and get what he wanted – control of his father’s fortune – by his charming subterfuge.
‘Do you wish to make a wager on that?’ Buck asked, baiting him.
‘Don’t waste your money, old boy,’ Trey said with the total assurance of a schemer who knew the only way to get on in this world was to use his boyish appeal. ‘That’s one bet I can’t lose.’
Buck was worried. He wondered if he’d set Ava up for a fall by hiding her with the countess and making her vulnerable to Trey’s advances.
He wasn’t a bad sort, Buck thought. Trey could be quite likeable when he wasn’t trying to live up to his wild reputation as a millionaire’s son.
It was time to speak to Ava about what would happen if she believed anything Trey might say to convince her it was his aim in life to help a working-class girl overcome the social barriers. His American friend had used that same ploy to find his way into the boudoir of many a chambermaid.
No time like the present to perform his duty as grand protector, he decided. He pulled out his gold pocket watch and checked the hour. Ava would most likely be taking tea in her cabin.
He never imagined the countess would thwart his mission.
‘You haven’t been to see me, Buck,’ Fiona said with a lightness in her voice he wouldn’t have expected.
He hadn’t heard her come up behind him and, when he turned around, he was surprised to see this lovely woman smiling at him through her black veil. The tiny pinpoints of lace added a flair of mystery any man would find appealing.
Buck kissed her gloved hand, guarding his feelings. There was something regal in the way she held her head and the sway of her body. Coy, but ladylike. Trey would find her a most delightful companion if he was wise enough not to see her as a deterrent to his wandering ways.
‘Trey intends to make up for the misunderstanding between you two yesterday.’
‘That should prove very timely.’
‘What’s going on in that female mind of yours, Fiona?’
‘I intend to make this marriage work, Buck.’ She paused, thinking. ‘I’ve decided to give Trey every opportunity to make me fall in love with him.’
‘I regret things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, Fiona,’ Buck said, doing his best to sound sincere. ‘I’m not the marrying kind.’
‘Does Ava know that?’
‘Ava?’ he asked, taken aback. ‘What does she have to do with it?’
‘She’s fallen head over heels for you, Buck. Oh, it’s not the same deep love I have for you, but it could be over time. She’s got a big heart and an inquisitive mind and needs a man to guide her.’ She placed her hand on his forearm. ‘Don’t hurt her, Buck. She’s a good girl.’
‘She’s the reason I’ve stayed away.’
‘Funny, isn’t it?’ she said, trying to explain. ‘You live by your wits and your courage, yet you don’t believe that’s enough to offer a woman. You’re wrong, Buck. Someday you’ll find out, and when you do, I pray it won’t be too late.’
‘Fiona, you don’t understand. I—’
‘But I do, Buck. It’s been drummed into your head since boyhood that because you’re the second son of a duke, you’re destined to walk a tightrope in this twilight world of upper-class values and rules. That you don’t fit in anywhere. I thought I was the woman who could change that. I wasn’t. Is it Ava? I don’t know. She’s wild, brash and filled with mischief. Which makes me wonder about her.’
Curious, Buck asked, ‘What do you mean, Fiona?’
‘She has a way about her that speaks more of a girl from the hinterlands than a great house. I will tell you this, Buck, if she’s a lady’s maid, I’m Lady Godiva,’ she added with a secret smi
le all to herself.
‘I shouldn’t have tried to fool you,’ Buck admitted.
She smiled at the compliment. ‘I don’t know her background and I don’t care. Whatever your reasons for bringing her to me, be careful. You may be the one hurt this time.’
‘I’m surprised at you, Fiona,’ Buck said, not trying to be discreet, ‘being jealous of a servant girl.’
‘Who said I was jealous?’ she said with not a hint of the demure demeanor he expected of her. ‘I’m just being practical.’
‘Would you rather I dismiss the girl?’
She threw her head back and laughed. ‘You couldn’t if I wanted you to. She’s taken it upon herself to prove to me she’s a lady’s maid as if her life depended upon it. She’s even taken over my bathroom and is enjoying a soaking in my tub.’
‘Ava’s taking a bath?’ Buck asked carefully.
‘Yes. Would you believe the child has never bathed in a private bathroom before?’ she said. ‘She looked so delighted when I told her to take the afternoon off and enjoy a hot bath.’
With her book under her arm, Fiona wandered over to the pantry, where afternoon tea had been set up with a tempting display of finger sandwiches. She didn’t notice the worried look on Buck’s face as he followed her.
He felt his gut tighten. This can’t be happening.
Trey was headed to the countess’s stateroom with a big bouquet of roses, hell bent on leaving the flowers in the cabin. If he got the key from the stewardess and opened the connecting door and saw Ava naked in the tub—
Good God, he couldn’t let that happen.
Trey was a man with little willpower and Ava was a woman no man could resist.
He prayed he got there before Trey did.
12
Like the devil himself had come to claim her soul, Ava grabbed the countess’s dressing gown hanging on the hook and wrapped it around herself when she heard the outer door to the stateroom open.
