“I don’t believe that,” Dennis repeated. “I saw them together. The way he looked at her. He’s in love with her. I’d bet on it.”
Shane snorted and even Prim experienced a jolt of incredulity. Love might be carrying things a tad too far, but she had believed he’d cared for her. He’d said as much. A wave of longing washed over her. She’d truly hoped one day it might grow to be more than that. But no, she didn’t believe Dennis any more than Shane did.
“Dennis is right,” Jeremy spoke up. “I think he’s in love with her as well. Just as she loves him. Am I right, Prim?”
Heat born from humiliation warmed her cheeks. She’d hardly own to loving James to her brothers before she even told him. Or without knowing where he was. Such a confirmation would only make the situation worse for her if he never returned.
“I love him,” Luella whispered.
“Me, too.” Ellis scooted along the floor with the handful of baseball cards James had given him. He looked up at Prim hopefully, as if she could somehow work a miracle.
“Me, too,” Hazel piped in, though Prim doubted she knew what cause she was supporting. Only wanting to be part of it. Or perhaps she did love James. Perhaps they all did. Children gave their love so easily.
She hadn’t offered James much resistance in bestowing hers, either. Despite her best efforts, she’d fallen like a rock. Fallen for his kindness, his faith. His stalwart support. Neither her cause for equality or her reticence toward remarrying had been able to stop her.
He was, as she’d told him, so easy to love.
And she did love him. With all her heart. To her surprise, there was a certain freedom in admitting it. To herself, at least.
“You are all just a bunch of fools,” Shane sneered. “As if love even matters. What would it get her? A warm bed and another passel of brats?”
“Shane!” they all protested in unison.
Prim rose shakily to her feet, hoping the children hadn’t understood his implication. She waved Jeremy and Dennis back when they also stood in her defense.
This was her fight.
“Your rudeness knows no bounds, does it? Well, I’ve had enough of you. Simply enough.” Her hands curled into fists, and she called Banks to escort the children away. They didn’t need to hear what she was about to say.
“I’d thought once you’d accepted I wouldn’t marry Mr. Leachman, that I was more than able of taking care of myself, my family, and my life without assistance, I might have the brother I love back. The one I always loved so dearly, who I knew loved me unconditionally. But that isn’t going to happen, is it?” she asked rhetorically. “He’s gone and in his place is an unrepentant bastard.”
“Now I’m a bastard? None of this ever would have happened if you’d just married Mossman in the first place,” he shot back. “You’re the one who made it worse. Letting MacKintosh into your personal affairs.”
“I’ve told you before, whatever place I allow Mr. MacKintosh in my life is my business.”
“It’s not just your business. He has no right sticking his nose in our finances.” Shane’s lips compressed tightly and Prim realized he’d said more than he’d meant to.
Then it dawned on her. “You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?” Dennis asked. Jeremy, too, looked curious.
“Monies have gone missing from all of Fletcher’s investment accounts. All of them.”
“How much?”
“Hundreds of thousands,” she admitted. “Jam...Mr. MacKintosh had been helping me sort it out. Initially, we thought they were just loans being paid out but they weren’t. Someone has been stealing money from them.”
Shane remained tightlipped.
“But I thought Declan was helping you out with all that,” Jeremy said.
“Who else would have access to them?” Dennis asked.
“No one,” Shane choked out. “No one else had access to them. You see what I was trying to protect you from, Prim? To spare you? I wanted you to wed Mossman so you’d have someone to take control away from Declan. Instead, you’ve given him unlimited opportunity to rob you blind.”
Prim still couldn’t believe it, despite what she and James had come to suspect. Declan had looked almost apologetic when he’d personally delivered the last of Fletcher’s investment files after Christmas.
Not sorry, but apologetic, as if he’d been saddened about what she would find.
Not for his sake.
But for hers.
“I never wanted it to come to this, Primrose.”
She’d thought he’d been referring to what she’d be able to confirm about him when sorting through the files. About his crimes against her and his son’s legacy.
But he was trying to spare her something else altogether.
Something far more painful to digest.
The realization brought a sickening weight to her gut.
She and James had been so wrong.
Chapter 34
Perhaps it is our imperfections
that make us so perfect for one another.
~ Douglas McGrath
Manhattan, New York
Late January 1896
“That her?” Ian asked.
James nodded, a burst of pride swelling his chest. Six weeks ago, he wouldn’t have thought it possible to love a woman like Primrose Eames. But now he couldn’t believe it’d taken him so long to see the incredible woman concealed within. She was a bloody marvelous lass.
And she was his.
Or soon would be, he hoped.
“Aye, that’s her.”
Prim circled the entrance of the Majestic Hotel on 35th and Broadway with more than a dozen of her suffrage sisters. She waved a banner calling for votes for the women who birth all the male voters on the face of the earth. He gave her points for cleverness and more for stalwartly rejecting the uniformed officers trying to part the ladies to form safe passage for the governor.
Moses had parted the Red Sea with greater ease.
The police were outnumbered and having a difficult time of it. The number of women rallying today had more than doubled since the last demonstration he’d witnessed. Some familiar faces dotted the crowd. Daughters and even matrons of old Knickerbocker families he wouldn’t have thought intrepid enough to join in. Maggie would be sorry she missed it.
The governor, Levi P. Morton, exited the hotel as if he were expecting a rotten tomato to come flying. His bushy silver muttonchops stark against his red face. The women pressed forward and his sweet Prim was right on the front line, waving her banner in his face.
He only wished he could hear what she was saying.
“Looks feisty.” Tam rubbed his jaw as if trying to make sense of it all.
The twins had returned with him from Scotland, eager to have their own go at America. For all that they lived for pranks and social disruption, their first foray into New York had overwhelmed them.
Or perhaps just the sight before them had.
“Aye, she is.”
An officer hooked his arm around Prim’s waist and dragged her back from the governor. She gave such a good fight, even as he pulled her away in the direction of a waiting paddy wagon. Though the urge was strong to rush to her defense, James tamped it back. It wasn’t likely to be the last time she got hauled away like that. He hated to set a precedent she wouldn’t appreciate him following.
“Well, I guess we should go bail her out, don’t you think?” Tam asked.
James grinned. “We’ll give her a few hours. She might be mad if we didn’t.”
* * *
“Come on, Mrs. Eames. Ladies. All of you.” A guard unlocked the holding cell. “Your bail’s been posted.”
“Bail?” She laughed. “How can bail have been posted when you had no grounds to arrest me in the first place? Any of us? It’s our right to peaceably assemble.”
The ladies in the cell with her cheered.
“Or haven’t we even that right?”
“Look, I’ve got noth
ing against you ladies,” he sighed, “I’m just doing my job. Bail’s posted so out you go.”
“Who posted it?”
Joy flooded Prim when she saw James waiting outside the police station. What immediately followed was confusion. And anger.
She didn’t care if he’d dipped deep into his pockets to bail out her dozens of co-protestors. How dare he show up now?
Still, it didn’t stop her feet from running toward him of their own accord. He was back, with a gorgeous grin on his face, and she’d missed him more than she’d ever imagined possible.
Where had he been?
The question dragged her to a halt right before him. She wasn’t sure who was more surprised when her hand lashed out, smacking him across the cheek.
Her palm stung from the contact. James didn’t look so much pained as confused.
Prim’s hands flew to her own cheeks, astonishment flooding her as she stared at him in horror. “Oh, Jamie, I’m so...”
Flinging herself against him, she kissed him with all the desperation she’d felt over the past several weeks. The emotional toll of not knowing where he was, why he’d left, poured from her. Her blood, chilled with torment, was burning again, rushing down her veins, and she put it all into that kiss, only distantly aware that he was holding her so tightly she could barely take a breath. She didn’t need to breathe. She had Jamie in her arms once more. His kiss on her lips.
Nothing else mattered. Not the uncertainty. The heartbreak...
Prim pushed away and slapped him again. “Where have you been?”
“Feisty.”
This came from one of the two identical men lounging against an automobile behind him. They were both huge, towering over even Jamie. Auburn haired and dark eyed, they had none of his coloring but she recognized them from the photographs in his book. The twins.
“What are they doing here? When did they get here? Where have you been?” she asked again, focusing on Jamie once more. Her tone expressed her confusion this time. “You take off without a word—”
The look of amused tolerance James had been wearing faded away and his body went stiff. “Without a word? I wrote you a letter. Had a messenger deliver it.”
“When?”
“On Christmas day.”
That long ago? Prim’s heart ached over the long days of worry she’d spent in between. Knowing he hadn’t abandoned her without a word couldn’t entirely expel the misery.
“I never received a message. All I know is I never heard from you again after we...after you...then, then I hear rumors you’ve run away with Mrs. Preston. I didn’t believe them, of course, not truly, but I felt like such a fool. Oh!”
James caught her fist before she could hit him again, holding her hand between his own. He bent his head to hers, giving comfort. Seeking it.
His cheek brushed hers, the stubbled caress rousing a suppressed longing in her.
“I received a telegram on Christmas morning,” he murmured. “My sister-in-law passed away.”
“Oh, Jamie,” she whispered, stroking softly at the handprint she’d left on his cheek. Which of his sisters-in-law she wasn’t certain, but it didn’t matter. She knew he loved them all. “I’m so sorry.”
Acutely aware of the watchful eyes of his brothers and even passersby on the street, Prim cast a look around them. Taking the hint, James led her to the mouth of the alley next to the police station. They weren’t alone, but at least they were out of earshot from his brothers’ curious ears.
“We left that night in a rush to catch a ship in Groton,” he told her.
“You and Mrs. Preston? Oh, it wasn’t Evelyn or Kitty was it?”
James shook his head just as she realized such news would have spread across the Knickerbocker ranks quickly.
“No, it was Ilona.”
The one who’d just had the baby girl. True sorrow swept away the last of Prim’s anger. “Oh, Jamie, I’m so sorry.”
He nodded, his lips tight. “Maggie insisted on coming along. For her daughters, and so that I’d have a friend along the way.”
“I didn’t know. I thought, well I’d heard...nobody knew where you’d gone.”
“Her staff knew,” he said. “I wrote to you straight away. Sent it with a reliable footman.”
“I didn’t get it. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what could have happened to it.”
“I might have an idea about that. Lass, we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Declan. We were wrong. It’s not him.” James raked a hand through his hair. She could feel his hesitation. “It was Shane, lass.”
“Yes, I know.”
She could see the shock on his face, but it was no greater than her own had been when she figured it all out.
“He’d been investing...no, let’s be honest, stealing money from Fletcher’s accounts since his death. He’d lost his own fortune when the market crashed and thought to rebuild it with my funds without me knowing.”
“And Leachman was in on it?” he added. “There had to be a reason.”
“Yes, he’d dipped his fingers in before Shane even. It’s what gave Shane the idea. They intended to gain full access to my fortune via marriage to Leachman. They’d divide it between them and hide their crime. I would never have known if they’d gotten their way with the marriage and all.”
“What did Declan have to do with it then?” he asked. “It’s the one detail I hadn’t been able to figure out.”
“Declan figured it out and confronted Shane, who promised to pay it all back,” she explained. “Declan was trying to cover it all up in the meantime, trying to spare me knowing how my brother betrayed me.”
“But he pushed Leachman at you, too.”
“He wasn’t aware of Leachman’s involvement,” she explained. “He only wanted me to have someone to watch over me. Someone he thought he could trust. He was devastated when he found out.”
“And you weren’t?” James asked. “Your brother took advantage of you. Using your love for him to cover his crimes. I knew something was wrong. I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner, save you from such misery.”
Prim’s lips trembled at the emotion each word bore. He really did care. She hadn’t been wrong about that.
“But I guess you saved yourself, didn’t you?” He peered down at her, that pride once again shining in his eyes. Still, there was a hint of sadness as well. “I guess you didn’t need me after all.”
But she did. She always would. Without him, she would never have found the strength to demand her family’s respect. It’d been difficult while he was gone not to lose ground without him there to encourage her, to have faith in her. Coming out today to a local protest where anyone might see her had initially been terrifying.
She was a better person with him, one she could be proud of. She loved him for helping her discover the strength she’d never known she possessed. Loved him for the affection he’d shown her children. For his humor. For his...
Ah, blast, she simply loved him .
And he’d asked her to marry him before he left. For whatever reason. She’d hesitated, not because of the reason he’d obviously thought—that she didn’t want a husband—or that the thought of marrying him didn’t thrill her, but because she wanted him to ask for the same reason she wanted to accept.
She wanted his love.
* * *
James looked away, wondering if he should just take the shot or not, ask her once more to be his wife. This setting was even worse than the first. She might reject him, probably would, but he couldn’t walk away without taking his future into his own hands.
Better or worse, his visit home had taught him that. To seize life with both hands, for no matter how long it lasted.
“Listen, lass, I know you’re not in the market for a husband, but I find myself very much in want of a wife. Not just any, but you. And only you.”
She gaped up at him, but remained silent...again.
“I asked you once befo
re, but never received an answer. Will you marry me, lass?”
“Why?”
No, not what he’d hoped to hear.
“Because I need you in my life, lass. I need you by my side.” Joy glowed in her eyes at his words. “And you need me as well.”
Her lips pursed with adorable familiarity then parted as if she meant to argue the point with him. Then, “Even if I did need you from time to time, that’s no reason to marry.”
“How about doing it because I love you, then?” he asked huskily, pulling the engagement ring out of his pocket and holding it out to her in his palm.
She didn’t take it, only stared down at it as if she’d never seen a diamond sparkle in the sunlight before. James was becoming uncomfortable as more and more passersby stopped to stare at the spectacle they were creating.
Bloody hell, but he was nervous. He really hadn’t thought this through. Did every man feel like this when their confession of love wasn’t immediately returned? Had his brothers borne this agony?
Poor bastards.
“Och, give over, lass,” he sighed, “I’ll let you drive my Benz.”
Her eyes rose to his, the amethyst depths alive with emotion. “Would you really?”
“Aye, even if you don’t want to be my wife.”
Prim leapt up, wrapping her arms around his neck. She kissed him passionately right there on the sidewalk. Her feet dangling inches above the ground.
James wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against him. He’d missed her so, missed having her in his arms. She parted her lips with a sigh, drawing him in more deeply.
He lost himself so thoroughly to emotion and desire he was hardly aware of the pedestrians who stopped and stared at such a public display of affection. It wasn’t until he heard his brothers’ shouts of approval and their wolf whistles that he recalled himself and pulled away. Though not far.
“I’ve missed you,” she finally admitted, her breathy whisper a balm to his wounded pride. “Oh, Jamie, how I missed you, how I worried.”
She kissed him hard again. And all too briefly.
A Question Worth Asking Page 22
