Forget-Me-Not Bride

by Margaret Pemberton

  ‘Bitch!’ A hand like iron had hold of her shoulder. ‘Bitch!’ he spat at her again, raising his other hand in order to strike her across the face.

  ‘What in heck …’ one of their, by now, many spectators shouted, leaping towards him, seizing hold of his arm.

  ‘There’s no hittin’wimmen on this boat!’ someone else shouted as Lilli and Edie were suddenly surrounded by a swarm of protective prospectors.

  The raging bull at the centre of the ruckus shook off the man trying to restrain him as if he were nothing more than an annoying blue-bottle. ‘I’ll do for you, you whore!’ he spat and this time no-one was quick enough to deflect the blow he aimed at Lilli.

  It was like being slammed into a solid steel wall at the speed of light. Her knees buckled and a blood-red curtain flooded her vision. Dimly she was aware of Edie screaming, of men blaspheming, of punches being thrown. The wood of the deck was rough beneath her cheek. Edie was at her side, sobbing hysterically, ‘Lilli! Lilli! Please talk to me! Please don’t be dead, Lilli!’

  There came the sound of running feet. Voices of authority. The blood-red wash in front of her eyes began to be peppered with a dizzying array of flashing lights.

  A Scots voice, no longer imbued with an attractive soft burr but raw with rage, demanded, ‘What in God’s name is going on?’

  Lilli tried to tell him but her tongue felt as if it were a million times its normal size. She wondered if she had bitten it. She wondered if she would ever speak again.

  ‘He was frightening Edie and Lilli tried to make him stop!’ she heard Lottie saying in a voice thick with tears and terror. ‘Is Lilli going to be all right, Mr Cameron? Is she going to open her eyes soon? Is she …’

  ‘Get everyone to stand back and give her some air,’ she heard Ringan Cameron command tightly. There was authority in his voice, almost as much authority as in the voice that responded by ordering, ‘Clear back please! Right back.’

  That was the captain speaking. She was sure of it.

  ‘I’m …’ she said thickly, trying to say that she was all right and didn’t need anyone fussing over her. ‘I’m …’ No other words would come. Her vision was clearing though. Disjointedly she could see colours and shapes. The captain’s uniform. An entire array of boots and britches, all at a respectful distance. Lottie’s terrified face. But the figure closest to her was that of Ringan Cameron. He was bending over her, his face so near to hers she could see the coppery stubble of his beard.

  Taking her jaw very gently between his thumb and forefinger he said, ‘Can you move your jaw for me, Miss Stullen? A little to the left? A little to the right?’

  Gingerly Lilli did as he asked. Her jaw moved. It felt as though it was broken, but it wasn’t.

  He leaned even closer to her and for a bizarre moment she thought he was going to kiss her and then she realised that he was looking into each eye with an expertise that seemed almost professional. ‘She’s safe to be moved,’ he said at last, though who to she had no idea.

  ‘I’m …’ she began again, about to say that, given another few minutes, she would be perfectly capable of moving without assistance.

  To her intense annoyance he scooped her up in his arms, saying to Lottie, ‘Will ye lead the way to your cabin, Lottie?’

  Lottie. Muzzily Lilli wondered just when Mr Cameron and Lottie had become such buddy-buddy friends. Less muzzily she wondered just why he thought he was the one to take control of events, to examine her person as if he had a right to such liberties, to carry her through the crowd of spectators without so much as a by-your-leave.

  However deep her indignation there was no way she could give expression to it. Though her vision had finally cleared her head felt as if an army was hammering inside it and the ear on the side of her head which had been hit was ringing fit to wake the dead. There was no strength in her legs either. And all as the result of one blow. At the thought of what the result would be of a beating at the hands of such a man she shuddered. It would be permanent disablement or death.

  As the men made a passageway for Ringan she saw that there was no sign of the monster who had hit her with such barbaric force. She wondered if the captain had ordered him to be detained somewhere and, if he had, hoped he was in chains.

  As Ringan negotiated the narrow companian-way stairs with surprising agility it occurred to her that she was now doubly in his debt. Yesterday he had saved Leo’s life. Today he was very visibly offering her his assistance. All it needed was for Lottie to come a cropper and for him to come to her aid and Mr Cameron would have scored a hat-trick where the Stullen family was concerned.

  The knowledge was oddly infuriating. She didn’t want to be in the debt of a man who erroneously thought her a trollop. The gratitude she owed him for Leo’s life was one thing and she would never skimp on it, but she was damned if was going to fall over herself being grateful to him for the aid he had just so publicly given her and was still so publicly giving her. After all, if he hadn’t so pushily assumed the role of a man with medical expertise any one of a score of other men would have made sure that she still wasn’t concussed and that her jaw hadn’t been broken.

  ‘We’ve just heard what happened!’ she heard Kate’s voice saying anxiously from behind them. ‘Our cabin is third down on the left-hand side, Mr Cameron. Would you like me to squeeze past you so I can open the door?’

  ‘I can get past easier,’ She heard Leo say, eager to assume a role of importance.’ Do you think the captain will keep that man in a locked cabin all the way to Skagway, Ringan? And if he does, do you think the man will break out of it? Do you think he’ll go berserk and …’

  ‘“Open the door, Leo” Ringan said, an edge of amusement in his voice. “Your sister may look a lightweight but looks can be verrra deceiving.”

  Lilli’s indignation reached almost unmanageable proportions. She hadn’t asked him to come to her aid. She hadn’t asked to be carried like a parcel for what had seemed to be the entire length of a deck whilst a sea of prurient eyes feasted on the sight. Lucky Jack hadn’t been one of the spectators though. Where was he that news of what had taken place still hadn’t reached him? If Lucky Jack had seen what had happened, Ringan Cameron would never have been able to come near her. It would have been Lucky Jack who would have come to her aid. Lucky Jack who would have been carrying her masterfully to her cabin. And Lucky Jack certainly wouldn’t have made rude remarks about her weight!

  Leo had scampered past them and thrown the cabin door open. ‘In here,’ he said, enjoying the drama to the full now that he knew Lilli hadn’t been seriously hurt. ‘Lilli’s bunk is the top one. I don’t think you’ll be able to get her up there, will you, Ringan? Are you going to put her on my bunk? Will I be able to sleep in the top bunk tonight?’

  ‘I don’t need anyone man-handling me any further,’ Lilli said stiffly, the side of her face where she had been struck feeling as if it would never be mobile again. ‘I’m feeling much better and …’

  ‘You need a mug of sweet tea and rest,’ Ringan Cameron said curtly, carrying her into the cabin and setting her down on Leo’s bunk with surprising gentleness.

  The cabin was far too small for him. Or Ringan Cameron was far too big for the cabin. Lilli couldn’t quite work out which was the problem. The army in her head was still hammering. The bells in her bruised ear were still ringing. All she knew was that Ringan Cameron filled the cabin with his bulk. Despite the resentment she was feeling she had to admit that it wasn’t graceless bulk. Unlike many powerfully built men there was nothing clumsy about him, his movements were rather those of a big, lithe cat. And there was no denying his gentleness. When he had held her already swelling jaw between thumb and forefinger she hadn’t even winced.

  ‘I’ll get the tea,’ Kate said from the doorway of the cabin. ‘Lottie, you come with me. I think we’re all going to need tea and I’ll need an extra pair of hands to carry another tray. Is Edie still crying? Lettie, can you assure Edie that Lilli is going to be all right?
And where on earth are Marietta and Susan? I would have thought news of what had happened would have spread right through the ship by now.’

  ‘You’re going to feel a bit fashed for a while,’ Ringan Cameron said, looking down at her from what seemed to Lilli to be an impossible height. ‘If ye should have any trouble with your speech or the movements of your right hand and arm will ye send someone to come for me?’

  Fashed. Whatever fashed meant she felt far worse. But not so bad she couldn’t bring the bossily pushy Mr Cameron down peg or two.

  ‘If I should experience any nasty side-effects I shall consult a doctor when we reach Skagway,’ she said with as much firmness as was possible when every word she uttered sounded as though it were coated in thick fog.

  He looked as though he were about to say something and then changed his mind. Turning away from her he said to Lettie, who had replaced Kate at the doorway. ‘Could I just have a wee look at the other lassie?’

  Lettie’s protective instincts came to the fore. ‘Edie’s not been physically hurt,’ she said as Edie continued to snivel and hiccup behind her. ‘And men scare her …’

  ‘I’ll no scairt her,’ Ringan said quietly.

  Lettie looked up into his strong-boned face and his auburn-lashed, gray, steady eyes and knew he was speaking the truth.

  Silently she stepped aside so that he could speak face to face with Edie.

  ‘Did the man who was bullying ye, touch ye?’ he asked gently.

  Edie shook her head. ‘No,’ she said in a voice little more than a whisper. ‘But he wouldn’t let me out of the stairwell and he scared me …’

  ‘Ye needn’t be scairt of me,’ Ringan said, carrying out a shrewd medical examination of her with his eyes only. ‘I think ye should stay with your friends now and have a cup of tea and bite to eat.’

  ‘Is Lilli going to be all right?’ Edie asked, wondering how a man so big could be so comforting.

  Ringan smiled and, like Lilli before her, Kate noticed how his smile utterly transformed his face. ‘She’ll be a wee bit the worse for wear for a while, but it’s nothing rest won’t put right.’

  He turned again to Kate. ‘Don’t let Miss Stullen sleep for a good while and don’t let Edie wander about the boat unless she’s accompanied by someone a lot older than Lottie.’

  Lettie nodded, wondering what the hell they were going to do to protect Edie once they reached Dawson.

  Ringan, unaware of the problem, stepped out of the cabin and into the narrow passageway beyond. He had done all that was necessary. With a little luck Lilli Stullen would suffer no after-effects more serious than a bruised jaw and a powerful headache. As he strode back towards the companion-way he wondered why he hadn’t admitted to his profession. Was it because he was scared that if he had done so he might be called upon to give medical aid to any passenger that fell sick? That he might once again be publicly regarded as a doctor when he still hadn’t determined if he ever wanted to be regarded so ever again?

  He took the steep steps of the companion-way two at a time with athletic ease. If he allowed himself to be known as Doctor Cameron he would be setting himself up for the inevitable moment when the nature of the crime he had served time for became public knowledge. And then, as a doctor, he would be ostracised. He would again feel not worthy of the profession that he loved. The profession that was his vocation.

  He stood on the deck, his face raised to the refreshing sea breeze. He had other things on his mind, too, apart from the problem of whether he could honourably ever practise medicine again. And those other things were all bound up with Miss Lilli Stullen.

  ‘And so the Scottie carried her off and the captain didn’t make the slightest objection,’ one of Lucky Jack’s cohorts concluded, still breathless from his run down to the stateroom.

  Jack laid his hand of cards face down on the table. The three men playing with him did the same.

  ‘Was she hurt bad?’ he asked, a frown pulling his winged eyebrows together.

  ‘She went down pretty hard. And she was out of it for a few minutes. I think the Scottie must be a doc. He seemed to know what he was about.

  One of Lucky Jack’s companions gave a staccato hoot of laughter. ‘The Scottie ain’t a doc. He’s the very opposite.’

  ‘Which is?’ Jack asked. If there was anything derogatory to know about Cameron he wanted to know it. The guy being a big hero once he could accept. Being a knight on a white charger for the second time in two days was too much to stomach, especilly considering the identity of the damsel in distress. He was the one who should have sorted that particular incident. And if there had been any carrying off to do, he was the one who should have done it.

  ‘He’s a killer,’ his card-playing buddy said laconically. ‘A killer who’s served time.’

  ‘How’d he kill?’ another of the men sitting at the card-table asked with interest.

  ‘A knuckle-fight’

  Jack began to grin. Knights in white armour didn’t kill with their bare fists. Miss Lilli Stullen was going to be very disillusioned when she learned the truth about Ringan Cameron. Very disillusioned indeed.

  Chapter Eight

  ‘A killer?’ Lilli stared at Lucky Jack round-eyed. Was killer Klondike terminology for a man of powerful physique as musher was terminology for an old hand who hadn’t yet struck it rich, and cheechako was terminology for a tenderfoot?

  ‘What do you mean by saying Mr Cameron’s a killer?’ she asked again, bewildered. ‘Do you mean he’s a big man? Or a blacksmith? Or a …’

  They were standing on the part of the deck that had become their regular meeting-place. The air was balmy, the water as smooth as glass as the Senator sailed sheltered waters. On one side of them lay a long line of islands and on the other lay a vast shimmering wilderness of virgin forest.

  Jack grinned down at her. He would have had to be inhuman not to be enjoying himself immensely. ‘No, I don’t. I mean a killer as in convicted killer.’

  She continued to stare at him, feeling stupid. What did he mean ‘as in convicted killer’? Ringan Cameron had saved Leo’s life. Though she hadn’t particularly wanted him to, he had given her assistance. He had been extraordinarily sensitive and gentle with Edie, telling her she need not be ‘scairt’of him. Despite his being an ex-convict, from the moment she had spoken to him face-to-face, she had known he couldn’t possibly have been convicted of any violent crime. His eyes had, quite simply, not been the eyes of a violent man. And now her Greek god was telling her that Ringan Cameron was a killer. It was utterly ridiculous. Quite preposterous.

  ‘I don’t know where you got your information from, but I’m sure it’s wrong,’ she said, trying not to sound too schoolmarmish. ‘Mr Cameron couldn’t possible be …’

  Lucky Jack did his best to look suitably regretful. Tipping his Homburg to the back of his head he said, ‘I’m afraid it’s true, Lilli. I had it from a card-sharp aboard ship released from the same prison. Cameron killed a man with his bare hands.‘

  Lilli blinked away a mental image of a man being torn literally apart limb from limb. That wasn’t what Lucky Jack meant. He meant that Ringan Cameron had strangled his victim or beaten him to death. Bile rose in her throat. Were either of those two methods of killing any improvement on tearing a man apart limb from limb? The end result was, after all, exactly the same. A man had died violently and Ringan Cameron had been responsible.

  ‘It just goes to show you can’t tell a book by its cover,’ Jack said gravely, wondering if he hadn’t, perhaps, missed his way in life. It really was ridiculously easy to sound like a sanctimonious preacher. ‘I know you’re grateful to him for saving Leo’s life,’ he continued, seeing no reason why he shouldn’t put an end utterly to Cameron’s aspirations where Lilli was concerned, ‘but you’ve given him your thanks for that and it might be best now to give him a wide berth.’

  Lilli tried to remember who else, quite recently, had made a similar remark about not being able to tell a book by its cover. H
ad it been Kate? And who had she been referring to? She gave herself a mental shake. Whoever had said it and whoever it had been about, it wasn’t of the slightest importance. What was important was the advice Lucky Jack had just given her. She remembered how she had allowed Leo to spend time alone with Ringan Cameron the previous afternoon and shuddered.

  Ringan Cameron may have redeemed himself in the eyes of his Maker by saving Leo’s life but a man who had once killed with his bare hands was a man too unstable to have a child in his care. She remembered how he had swept her up in his arms and carried her off to her cabin and waited for another shudder of horror. None came. Even though she now knew the crime he had been imprisoned for she couldn’t pretend to herself that she had felt anything but safe and secure in Ringan Cameron’s muscular arms.

  From across the Strait came the sound of whirring saw-mills and exploding dynamite.

  ‘Pioneers blasting a new town out of the coastal granite,’ Jack said knowledgeably, aware that he had achieved his object and that it was now time the subject was changed. ‘All the way up this coastline you’ll see similar sights.’

  Lilli looked shorewards to where a seemingly endless forest shelved down on an irregular collection of log cabins and tents all crowded at the water’s edge.

  ‘A little further north of here is an Indian settlement,’ Jack continued, remembering how soft and yielding her lips had been the previous evening; remembering the brief, sweet feel of her breasts against the palms of his hands. ‘Indian towns aren’t remotely like white towns. The pace of life is much more slow-moving.’

  Even just thinking about the previous evening gave him a rising in his crotch. He hadn’t intended a shipboard dalliance with Lilli Stullen, past experience having taught him that respectable young women were far more trouble than they were worth, but a shipboard dalliance it had turned into and, as it had done so, he saw no reason not to enjoy it to the full.