"Georgina isn't here," Daniel said conversationally when Peter didn't immediately speak.
"It's you I want to talk to." Peter's voice was harsh, but a hint of uncertainty edged it. He glared at Daniel. "I want to know who you really are and what you want. And don't give me any more cock and bull about being my brother. Your grave is in the family cemetery."
Daniel chuckled. "How touching. Did I get a monument? Did I rate an angel and an inscription about being known for so short a time but loved just the same?"
Peter scowled. "Daniel Ewan Mulloney is dead. Did you really think you could walk in here and claim to be heir to Mulloney Enterprises?"
"Hell, I hadn't even intended telling anybody who I was until you pulled your little stunt. But the more I look at what Mulloney Enterprises is doing to this town, the more I think somebody with a backbone ought to step in. Can those pretty suits mean that much to you that you'll allow a family to be thrown into the streets to keep them?"
Peter leaned over the table and grabbed Daniel's shirt front. "Mulloney Enterprises is none of your business. If you know what's good for you, you'll get the hell out of town now."
Daniel grabbed his brother's wrists and applied pressure where it would hurt most. The grip on his shirt immediately slackened, and he shoved Peter away. "This is Georgina's home even if her family resorts to kidnapping to save the family business from our father's clutches." Peter's look of startlement gave Daniel some sense of satisfaction.
He plunged on. "I'm not leaving until Georgina's ready to go. After you leave here, why don't you go look for my death certificate? Then find the midwife who delivered me and ask about the baby with a crooked leg born to the mighty Mulloneys. If you can get that far, then you're ready to talk to your father's attorneys. They have the records showing the checks mailed to St. Louis for every month of my life until I came of age." Daniel rose behind the table and leaned over it. "Then do us both a favor. Go ask my mother if she knew I was alive. I'd like to know what kind of monsters created me."
Daniel caught Peter's furious swing, yanked his arm behind his back, and shoved him toward the door. The huge dog growling prevented any further attack.
Eyes glaring with fury, Peter stopped at the door before leaving. "I'll make you regret this, whoever you are. I'll not let you hurt my mother. She's suffered enough as it is."
Daniel shoved him out and released him, and Peter walked away without looking back. Daniel ran his hand through his hair as he watched him go. His mother was the one missing piece in this entire puzzle. Could the woman who had borne him really have let her first-born son be given away? Or did she even know he was alive?
So far, he hadn't had the heart to find out.
Chapter 27
Georgina entered the office that evening dragging an unwilling Janice after her.
"Janice says Egan means to evict them at the first of the month. What are we going to do about it?"
"We, my dear, are doing nothing about it. You are staying out of it entirely." Daniel stood up and stretched the knotted muscles of his bad leg. He was relieved to see Georgina home and in fine fettle, but he had to put a stop to her dangerous notions.
She dropped Janice's hand and placed her fists on her hips. "All right, Mr. Know-it-all, what are you going to do about it?"
Daniel sent Janice an apologetic look. "Technically, there is nothing anyone can do about it. ABC has a right to remove any tenants they consider undesirable. The houses belong to them."
Janice looked resigned. "That's all right. We really can't keep up the rent much longer anyway. My great-aunt knows of a boarding house that is much cheaper."
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't say that was the only alternative. ABC could be bought out by someone else. The management of their houses could be turned over to someone a little more conscientious than Egan. Or lacking that, the tenants could strike the owners where it hurts."
Both Janice and Georgina looked at him with interest. He could almost see their minds spinning, ready to keep up with him. They both seemed to catch on at the same time, but Georgina was the first to speak.
"If all the tenants refused to pay their rent until their conditions were met, they couldn't throw everyone out, could they?"
"They could, but if those houses are heavily mortgaged and they need the rent money to cover the payments, they won't."
More certain of Daniel than Janice was, Georgina said, "And the houses are mortgaged, aren't they?"
Daniel beamed at her in approval. "Mulloney believes in leveraging. Everything he owns is mortgaged to the hilt."
Georgina threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. Before she could realize what she was doing, Daniel caught her waist and held her beside him. He figured he was grinning like a fool, but he liked having the little firecracker in his arms. She didn't put up a struggle, he noticed.
"I don't expect you to handle this one, Janice," he said to the wide-eyed woman watching them. "You do whatever you think is best for your family. I'll start talking to the men tonight. I figure word will reach their wives soon enough, and it should be all around the neighborhood by the end of the week. I don't think we'll have any difficulty persuading people not to pay rent."
"What about Egan?" Janice whispered. "He likes hurting women."
Georgina jerked away and glared at Daniel even before he gave the answer she expected. He shrugged at the accusation he saw in her eyes. "I'll take care of Egan and his cronies when the time comes."
Janice left with an obvious look of relief on her face, but Georgina wasn't so easily seduced by easy promises. As soon as the door closed behind Janice, she demanded, "Who do you think you are? Pecos Martin? You're not a figment of imagination, Daniel Mulloney! You can get hurt just like real-life people."
Daniel knew that. His tendency to ignore it was regrettable, but it wasn't any of her business either. It was his problem, and he would deal with it. He merely smiled and replied, "The people Egan hurts are real-life people, too. Now let's go find something to eat. I'm starved. And then I want to take you dancing."
"Dancing?" Georgina backed away from him and stared at him incredulously. "It's Monday night. Where would we go dancing?"
Daniel smiled into her upturned face and tugged one loosened curl. She was so incredibly lovely, he had difficulty keeping his mind from straying to where he meant this evening to end. "They're giving lessons over at the church. I've always wanted to take dancing lessons."
"Don't be ridiculous." Georgina's tone wasn't anywhere near as harsh as her words. She seemed to be wavering beneath his touch, so Daniel touched her again, stroking her cheek. Her blue eyes blinked helplessly. "I learned how to dance a million years ago. Why would you want to take me dancing?"
"Because a local orchestra will be playing, and because I've never had a chance to woo you. Wouldn't you like to be courted just a little bit?"
A trifle breathlessly, as his fingers strayed down her throat, Georgina asked, "Why would you want to court me? You have what you want already, don't you?"
Daniel wished she was wearing one of those gowns that buttoned down the front. His hand had to be satisfied tracing a line of braiding down her bodice to seek what he could find beneath the layers of clothing separating his flesh from hers. He played with the tip of her breast as he shifted his gaze to hers.
"I have your body, if that's what you mean. Is it too selfish of me to court your affections, too?"
Georgina stared at him, her breath coming shallowly as her heart beat a rapid tattoo beneath his hand. "I didn't think affections mattered to men. They're not inclined to the gentler emotions."
Daniel smiled and brushed his lips across her cheek. "There are a few preconceived notions in that head of yours that need correction." He straightened and released her, and she stepped away, watching him with wariness.
A wry look crossed his face as he noted her expression. "I never had a family, Georgina. I've always wanted a real family. I've always thought
if I married, it would be for love. I'm willing to work to earn yours."
She was speechless. She stared at him in incomprehension. Men didn't say these things. Men talked about business and politics and sports. Men either didn't care if their wives loved them or took their love for granted. Didn't they?
But Daniel was standing there expectantly, waiting for some response from her. His expression still held some of the elements of boyishness that she found so endearing, but there was something else there behind his eyes, something else she had denied or ignored or never seen through her own blind selfishness.
She knew he was a man. She'd never had any doubts about that. He was a strong man, one who had confidence in his own abilities and didn't need to show them off as a weaker man might. He had humor and grace and intelligence enough for ten men. She was quite certain her judgment wasn't faulty in that. Daniel was the kind of man who could command loyalty and respect for a lifetime.
But he was showing her something more, something he probably had never shown any other woman in his life. He was showing her his weakest point: his loneliness.
That shouldn't be so difficult to believe, but it was. Daniel had everything to make a woman love him. He could easily find someone much better than she, someone who could cook and clean and be the kind of wife he deserved. But he was stuck with her, and he was willing to make the best of it. He wanted her to love him.
Georgina didn't think she could refuse. She wasn't at all certain that she hadn't loved him since the moment he climbed over a train roof to rescue her, except that events hadn't been terribly clear at the time. They were even less clear now.
Thanks to this man, her father was temporarily out of the picture. She had a factory to run, and Daniel had a family to destroy. She wanted to unite the workers of Mulloney's Department Store, and Daniel wanted to tear his father's throat out and shoot anyone who got in his way. He wanted to bed her as one does a bought woman, and she wanted to be a proper wife, except he treated her like a wife and she behaved like a bought woman. It was all terribly confusing, and she didn't trust her judgment one iota, but she wanted to believe that was sadness and disappointment in his eyes as he turned away at her prolonged silence.
She held out her hand and caught his arm. "Daniel?"
When he turned back, the shadows were gone from his face, and he was smiling vaguely and reaching for his glasses.
She wanted to shake him. Instead, she took the glasses away and put them back in his pocket. "Take me dancing, please?"
"It will be my pleasure, Miss Merry." He smiled and bowed and offered his arm.
Her hesitation had ruined the moment, but it wouldn't happen again, she vowed.
Georgina's vow was already wavering before they had been at the church for less than half an hour. She had bathed and donned her simplest evening dress and put her hair up with a yellow rose Daniel had filched from some garden, but she had yet to dance with her husband.
The orchestra was warming up for a waltz right now, and Daniel was across the room, talking with a few men she didn't recognize. She hadn't realized the church he was taking her to wasn't the Presbyterian one her family attended but the Catholic one to which many of the factory families belonged. There were young children here learning their first ballroom dances. And there were young people here who already knew how to dance, but seized the opportunity to meet, talk, dance, and flirt just like at any society party. And then there were the adults who watched over this melange with amused interest and an occasional cruise across the floor themselves. It was to these adults that Daniel turned his attentions.
So much for romance and affection, Georgina thought glumly as she looked around for something to do. She knew Daniel had promised Janice that he would talk to some of the men about the rent strike, and the opportunity had opened the minute they walked through the door. She had just thought they might have a minute or two to themselves, to start building those affections he claimed to want.
Georgina sensed more than heard the first angry murmurs. Her gaze went to Daniel first, but he was engrossed in a discussion that involved many gesticulations from his companions. He didn't seem to be aware of the undercurrent. She looked over the large hall for some sign of the source, and her gaze fell on a newcomer standing at the door. Peter.
It didn't make sense. He had no right here. These people hated him, but had to work for him, so they could do nothing to show their fear and hatred of the power he wielded. Yet he stood there as if he had no notion of the commotion he was creating, just as she had that first day she walked into the factory. She winced at the memory.
The couples on the dance floor didn't notice his entrance. Perhaps she could get him out of here before someone created a scene. She had already seen Audrey turn to some of her young friends. They were just the right age to cause trouble. Georgina hurried to greet him.
Peter saw her at once and headed in her direction. Perhaps he understood what kind of danger he was placing himself in. Georgina hoped he hadn't come with bad news about her parents. As far as she knew, they had not yet returned. Perhaps something had happened? She caught up with him halfway across the floor.
"Georgina." Peter halted and looked her over. "You look lovely. I've been worried about you."
Georgina brushed this nonsense aside. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Have you heard from my father?"
Peter took her hand. "I came looking for you. There was a boy at your office playing with the dog, and he said you'd come here." The music hit a high note, and he pulled her toward the dance floor. "Dance with me, Georgie?"
She jerked her hand from his. "I wouldn't dance with a villain like you if you were the last man on earth. Now why are you really here?"
His jaw tightened. "Do you hate Daniel so much that you must hate me now for forcing this marriage on you?"
Astonishment kept her from answering immediately. Recovering her tongue, she struck out. "Why should I hate Daniel? I abhor violence, and that's what you used against us. Go back where you came from, Peter. You don't belong here."
She started to turn away, but he caught her arm and pulled her back around. "Daniel isn't exactly nonviolent, you know that, Georgie," he reminded her. "I've been gathering a lot of information lately. I'm not the only one he's used his fists on."
Georgina glared at the hand holding her arm. "Take your hand off me, Peter," she replied through clenched teeth. "I'm trying very hard not to create a scene."
"It's too late." The voice came from behind her, a familiar voice with a not-so-familiar edge to it. Georgina didn't even have to look to know whose arm pulled her away. "Daniel," she murmured, stepping back beside him.
Steely gray eyes glared. "Stay away from my wife, little brother. You gave her up. She's mine now."
A jaw as stubborn as Daniel's clenched tighter. "You don't own her. If she's unhappy, I can get her away from you."
Daniel set Georgina behind him and stepped closer to Peter. "Try it, and see what happens."
Georgina pounded her fist against Daniel's back. "Stop this at once, you apes! You're making spectacles of yourselves for no reason. Stop it, or I'll slap you both."
A solid thunk smacked against Peter's back before either of the two men could act. Georgina gasped as the seeds of a green tomato shattered across his coat and slid down his back. As Peter turned furiously to confront his attacker, a barrage of ripe strawberries spattered across his immaculate shirtfront, bouncing off him and striking Georgina and Daniel as well.
Furious that her gown was ruined before the evening had even begun, Georgina leaned over and picked up a handful of the juicy fruit, heaving it at the young man she saw darting into the crowd.
As her wild throw splattered against an elderly lady in widow's weeds, Daniel groaned, "I wish you hadn't done that," and pushed her toward the door.
The room erupted in splattering fruit and cookies, flying lemonade, and thrown fists. Daniel caught a chair heaved in Peter's direction and flung it to the
floor, but he couldn't drown out the curses and threats from the crowd. Peter grabbed the chair and used it as a shield against two young men who rushed in with fists upraised, but he couldn't shield himself on all sides. More fruit struck his turned back, and bright patches of red bled together with the green.
With a sigh of regret Daniel swung his boot and tripped the man running at Peter from behind. Shoving his younger brother through the shouting, cursing melee, capturing Georgina by the waist, he pushed his way out of the rioting crowd.
They were no longer the main attraction. Fights had erupted all across the floor as old grievances gave way to new, and flying objects sent tempers soaring. Abandoning Peter to fend off his latest attackers, Daniel grabbed Georgina, swung her up in his arms, and pushed and shoved his way to the door. Peter followed close on his heels, wielding a chair like a sword.
The brawl was already spilling out of the lighted hall and into the darkened alleys around it. With Georgina clinging to his neck, Daniel hurried to the safety of a lighted thoroughfare. The sounds of the melee fell behind them.
"Daniel, put me down." Georgina struggled to regain her feet, succeeding only as Peter reached them.
"There for a moment I almost imagined you were defending me." Peter said, wiping strawberry juice from his forehead.
"You brought it on your own damned fool self. I was protecting my wife. You'd better get the hell out of here before some of them come looking for you."
Georgina heard the odd note of defensiveness in her husband's voice. Daniel had every reason to despise Peter, yet he did nothing now to show his contempt. She had seen him divert the blows meant for Peter. Another man would have used the opportunity to beat his enemy to a pulp, but Daniel had protected Peter with his fists and strength. Uncertainty kept her from intervening.
"I wanted to talk with Georgina."
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