She didn’t try to struggle, knowing it would be futile. Her heart thrashed against her ribs and she glared at him. “What kind of arrangement, sir?”
He smiled and traced her jawline with a finger. “Boyd had asked for an extension on their loan yesterday. I gave him two weeks. This morning your husband was at the bank when it opened trying to negotiate for more time. We agreed upon an arrangement.” His finger had left her jawline to rest on her lips. “If you give me the same pleasure you give your husband at night I’ll let forget about this loan payment.”
“What?” April shouted. She squirmed under his grasp, trying to worm her way away from him.
“You want to help your husband, right?” Mr. Baxter asked in a silky smooth voice.
Yes, but not this way.
His lips inched close to hers. She scratched his cheek, drawing blood.
He hissed and grabbed her wrist. “Mr. Seever caught himself a feisty one.”
She stomped on his foot and he howled, letting her go. She clawed his neck, drawing more blood.
“Son of a bitch,” Mr. Baxter said.
She punched him in the stomach and he took a step back. She struck him two more times in the gut, making sure he was stunned. While he was bent over, gasping for air she flung the door open and ran out the warehouse. She raced up the stairs, then pounded on Allison’s door.
The woman opened it and an ear-piercing wail from the baby greeted her ears.
April burst inside and slammed the door shut. “We need to block the door,” she said out of breath.
Without asking any questions, Allison helped April drag a heavy trunk in front of the door.
“A man is after me,” April said. “The man from the bank.”
“What do you mean he’s after you?”
“He claims Mr. Seever said he could…” Her cheeks burned and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Share me.” Matt was not that kind of man. In her heart she knew that, but it still worried her. This threat went back to her original fear of being used.
“He would never do that!” Allison picked up Marie from her cradle and rocked her in her arms. The baby quieted instantly.
“I’m sorry I woke her.”
“No apology necessary. I know what it is like to be pursued.”
April considered asking to know more, but decided not to. It wasn’t a pleasant subject.
“Do you think he’ll come up here?” April asked. She fell silent listening for an echo of footsteps on the stairs.
“I don’t think so. If he wanted you he could just wait till you go back down.”
“I’m not leaving any time soon.”
“Of course not,” Allison said. “Would you like a glass of water or anything?”
“No, thank you.”
“You can stay here as long as you want. I’m sure Mr. Seever will be back shortly. They’ll get the fire put out.”
They might put out the fire at the warehouse, but it would take more than water to dowse her burning anger. Mr. Baxter wanted to use her, pray on her husband’s desperation, and on hers. Matt was her weakness. She’d do almost anything for him. But not that. Even if they lost everything.
Without a marriage license, their relationship was based solely on their love. April closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek. “Is our love strong enough to brave the fire and the loss of the business and the birth of the baby?” It felt like her perfect world was crumbling.
Allison put Marie back in her cradle and then rested a hand on April’s arm. “No one said love would be easy. You and Mr. Seever will make it work. I know.”
* * * *
Matt ran down the street to the other warehouse. Orange flames shot from the roof, the crackling noise of burning timber roaring in his ears. Firemen were trying to put out the fire, but there was no way they were going to save the building. Matt and the workers stood in the distance watching the warehouse burn to the ground.
Boyd walked over to them and Matt’s gaze dropped to his injured arm. The sleeve on his left arm burned off, his skin dark red with large blisters. He smelled like singed hair and charcoal.
“Are you all right?” Matt asked.
Boyd nodded with clenched teeth. “I’ll live.”
Both brothers stoically watched their last hope at keeping their business running turn to a pile of cinders.
“It’s a shame,” George said softly.
Matt drew a deep breath. “Your job—”
“Don’t worry about me, sir. I can always go back to the water.”
I might be working on a steamer again, too. He watched Boyd out of the corner of his eye. What was his brother going to do? He’d always been a businessman. Ever since he finished school he’d wanted to climb the social ladder. Owning two warehouses was only a sliver of his grand dream.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Boyd said.
“It went up in flames fast,” George said. “I’m glad you only hurt your arm, sir.”
Boyd forced a smile. “Thank you, George. I don’t know how the fire started. None of the workers…I didn’t…” He shook his head. “Sugar and molasses burns quickly. I had been expecting more of an explosion though.”
“An explosion?” Matt asked.
“From the gunpowder and bullets. I ran into the burning building hoping to get them away from the heat. I didn’t want anyone to be accidentally killed…” His voice trailed off.
“And?” Matt asked.
“There was no gunpowder or bullets left in there. They had been taken.”
Matt’s left hand formed a fist. “The fire was deliberately set.”
“I wish we knew who the bastard was,” Boyd said. “I’d like to wring his neck.”
“One-handed?” Matt asked. “There is nothing we can do here. I better get you to the doctor.”
Reluctantly Boyd let his brother lead him away from the fire. “It isn’t fair,” Boyd muttered. “It is like someone is out to get us.”
After the message painted on the warehouse, Matt had a sickening feeling Boyd was right. Was he the cause of the fire? Did not dismissing April cause someone to destroy their business?
If that thought had crossed Boyd’s mind he didn’t say. After he learned Matt was having a baby with April he hadn’t said another negative word on the subject.
“April,” Matt said. If this was tied to his relationship with her, she could be in danger.
“Go,” Boyd said. “My arm is burned, but my legs work fine. I can get myself to the doctor. Go to your wife.”
Matt ran as fast as he could down the street. He returned to his warehouse office. Half of him wanted to curse and the other half wanted to break down. There was no way they were going to pay back Mr. Baxter now. All he wanted to do was hold April in his arms and console himself.
The door to his office was open. He peeked in. No April. His chest seized, panic racing through his veins. The baby’s green cap lay carelessly on the floor and her sewing basket had been upset, the contents scattered.
“April!” he shouted. “April!”
He yelled her name as he searched the warehouse. She wasn’t there. He looked both ways down the street. Had she headed home? Maybe Allison would know. He climbed the stairs as fast as he could and knocked on the door.
He heard a scratching sound, something scraping against the floor. After several minutes Allison opened the door. “Mr. Seever,” she said a little out of breath.
“Have you seen April?”
Allison opened the door wider and he saw April standing behind Allison, petrified.
He hurried inside and reached for her, but she stepped away. Something had happened. What? All he wanted to do was calm her down.
“April, why did you leave my office?”
Her eyes flared. “I’m sure you wanted me to stay there and earn you some money,” she spat at him.
“Earn some money?” Matt repeated. “I don’t know what you mean. You were sewing when I left. I thought that was for the baby.”
&nbs
p; “It is for the baby.”
“Then what were you planning on selling?”
She gritted her teeth. “Like you don’t know. Don’t play this innocent act with me.”
Matt shot a pleading look at Allison. He was totally lost and April looked mad enough to spit nails.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, April. Honest.”
“See,” Allison said, “that should calm the last of your fears.” Allison looked from April back to him. “That’s an honest face if I’ve ever seen one.”
April let out a long sigh and sunk into a wooden chair as if her legs had given out. “Mr. Baxter visited me after you left,” she said, her voice broken.
Matt’s eyebrows furrowed. “Oh.” So the man must have riled April. “What did he want?”
“Me!” April shouted, pointing at her chest. “He said you’d agreed to share me, in exchange for your loan payment.”
“He what?” Matt roared. “That’s a flat out lie, April. I would never do that. Even if I was down to my last penny I would never do that.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
He shoved out a breath. Damn Baxter. The bastard had plenty of money. Men like that often thought they were entitled to anything they wanted. Well, he wasn’t entitled to April.
“I’ll speak with him, April. He won’t come near you again.”
April’s bottom lip quivered. “You can’t promise that.”
“I can protect you, April. That is something I can promise.”
“What happened at the warehouse?”
Her change of subject was welcomed at the moment. Not that his news would provide cheer. “The warehouse is a complete loss.” He scuffed his shoe on the wood floor. “Boyd burned his left arm pretty bad.”
Allison gasped.
“So what are you going to do now?” April asked. “If you can’t pay back to loan you’ll have no business, no job.”
Was she still worried he’d offer her to the wolves? He walked toward her, arms outstretched. “I can get another job, April. I can get hired on a steamer easy. I will provide for you and my children. That is my responsibility.”
“Then go,” she said, standing. “You have no responsibility to take care of me. Like Mr. Baxter said, I’m not your real wife. I’m just your hired help.”
Her words felt like a punch to the gut, and he found it difficult to breathe let alone speak. He knew she didn’t mean it. She was just shaken; even so he felt the urge to soothe her irrational fears. He had to find a way to show her how much she meant to him. She couldn’t leave.
Not caring that Allison was watching, he dropped to his knees in front of her. “You have nothing to worry about, April. I don’t want you to be my nanny. I want you to be my wife. And I don’t want you to threaten to leave every time we have an argument or a misunderstanding.” He gazed up at her and saw her chewing on her lip, her eyes pooling with tears.
“This is what I think about my wife,” he said, and kissed one ankle and then the other.
She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair before offering to help him to his feet. “Thank you,” she said, throwing her arms around him. He held her close and she sobbed on his shoulder.
“I’ll worship you, April. You’ll never be treated like a servant again, and I’ll fight any man who disrespects you.” He had a few choice words for Baxter. Since their loan was already a lost cause he might as well speak his mind.
Tears poured out of April’s eyes. “I knew all along you weren’t like Mr. Bowden…but my fear overtook my instincts.”
“Who is this Mr. Bowden?”
April sniffled. “One of my former masters. I would have been his mistress if his wife hadn’t given him an ultimatum to sell me.”
“Is that what you were worried about? That you were merely my mistress?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But I’m not worried anymore.”
“Good.”
“I love you,” she whispered in his ear.
His hand ran down her black hair. “I love you, too.”
Allison walked over to them, grinning. “April you remind me so much of myself. You have nothing to worry about. And a baby! Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” April replied.
Matt’s smile shrunk into a hard line. A terrible thought ripped into their tender moment. He grabbed April’s hands and raised them to his lips. “Honey, did Mr. Baxter say why he wanted to speak with me?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Did he mention the fire?”
“No. He acted like he didn’t know about the fire.”
That was strange. “How soon after I left did he arrive?”
“Not long after. I was going to stay with Allison. I didn’t want to be in the office alone. I opened the door and ran into him. At first I thought he was you.”
Too many coincidences. Matt’s insides coiled and he hissed. If Mr. Baxter hadn’t been the one to set the fire, he sure knew something about the arson. And it was arson, no accident.
He hesitated, not wanting to leave April again. “Will you be all right with Allison a while longer? I need to speak with my brother privately.”
April nodded. “Be careful,” she whispered. “Mr. Baxter is dangerous.”
“I know.”
“Don’t provoke him, Matt.”
He couldn’t promise her that. If he and his brother were going to confront the banker there was liable to be a fight. Briefly he wished he had his rifle. He was a dead shot…of course he didn’t want to be charged with murder either. “I’ll be careful,” he said. “It is time I stand up for my business and my family.”
Chapter 20
Matt entered the doctor’s office and found his brother sitting on the bed, the doctor patting Boyd’s burned arm dry with a piece of cloth.
“Is April all right?” Boyd asked in a strained voice.
Matt was surprised by his brother’s concern. “Yes, except…”
Boyd hissed through clenched teeth. “Are you almost done?” he mumbled to the doctor.
“Yes. Hold still.”
Boyd closed his eyes and looked to be fighting the pain. “Except what?”
Matt pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d prefer this to be a private conversation. “Something happened while I was gone.”
“The other warehouse is still standing, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s one good thing.”
“It might not be standing for long.”
Boyd’s eyes shot open. “Why?”
“I have a good idea who set the fire. I don’t know his motives, but…”
“Who?” Boyd shouted.
Matt eyed the doctor and then Boyd.
The doctor must have caught their silent exchange. “I’ll give you two a minute and then come back and wrap your arm.” He walked outside.
“There was someone else who knew we had rifles in the warehouse we didn’t think of,” Matt said. “Baxter.”
“The banker?”
“He either wants the land for some reason—”
“Or he saw April and then did all this,” Boyd said, cutting him off.
“Yes.”
“We can’t go up against the owner of the bank, Matt. Even if we brought charges he’d hire an expensive lawyer and we’d be sunk.”
“We need more proof.”
“And how are we supposed to get proof?” Boyd asked. He moved his arm and winced.
“I don’t know, but I’m not just going to stand for this. After what he did to April—”
“What did he do to April?”
“I didn’t tell you?” Matt asked, digging his fingernails into his scalp.
Boyd shook his head. “I think you started to.”
“George ran to tell me about the fire. As soon as I left my office Baxter showed up and tried to talk April into sleeping with him.”
“He what? That son of a bitch!” Boyd leapt off the bed, his feet striking the floo
r hard. “How did he go about that?”
“He said if April slept with him he’d forget about the loan payment.”
Boyd’s eyes flared. “You’re damn right you can’t stand for this. He’ll pay. One way or another he’ll pay.”
Adrenaline surged through his veins and yet his brother’s words were calming. His brother was coming to his wife’s defense. His colored wife’s defense. He could say it was his hurt pride, he could say he was fighting Baxter because of his lost warehouse, but Matt saw in his eyes it was more.
“April’s with Allison,” Matt said. “She’s calming her down. The bastard didn’t hurt her, she’s just shaken up.”
“The town isn’t safe if he’s targeting you. You can start over in another city. Hell, I can start over in another city.”
“How are we going to get justice if I run like a dog with my tail tucked between my legs?”
“Right now you have to think about Hannah and Seth and April. Make sure they all stay out of town. You can borrow the wagon at the warehouse.”
Matt hesitated. It wasn’t like him to run.
Boyd’s eyes narrowed. “He’s dangerous and wealthy. Leave tonight. Promise me.”
“The children are out in the country with Frederick and Emma. You think they’re safe there?”
“Baxter doesn’t seem interested in your children thank goodness. But he could easily track you that far if he wanted to. At least take April to the next town for a couple days.”
Matt gave a quick nod. “I will. I promise. I’ll leave with April tonight.”
He left the doctor’s office and saw George still watching the dwindling fire. He waved him over.
“Yes, sir? Is something wrong?”
“I have reason to believe April is in danger. I plan to leave town with her tonight. Will your brother mind watching the children for a couple more days?”
“No. We’ll watch them for as long as you need.”
Matt patted George on the shoulder. “I’d like to go to the farm and explain things to Seth and Hannah, but I don’t have time. Would you do that for me?”
George nodded. “I was planning on heading there after work anyway. Emma could have her baby any day now.”
Midnight Kiss (Moonlight Romance) Page 14
