Bonds of Matrimony

by Carrigan Fox

  Her grandmother, never one to abide strictly to the laws of their rigid society, took James in a firm embrace and planted a dry kiss on his cheek. “You take care of yourself, James. And try to be of some comfort to my son and your aunt. I expect they won’t understand why we are abandoning them. And the girls’ mother is going to certainly fall ill worrying about the gossip of the ton. They will undoubtedly and conveniently forget that they have brought this upon themselves. I imagine their efforts to disguise their embarrassment as grief in the public eye is going to get rather tiresome and annoying. But he is still my son, and she is still his wife. So try to be of some comfort to them, James.”

  “Lady Colchester,” he replied, “you remind me that I would be better off buying a ticket for myself and escorting the three of you to America.” He grinned at her and lifted her soft hand to a sweet kiss. “I will keep an eye on them. Rest assured.”

  “Thank you, James. And may God bless you,” Lady Colchester said sternly. She patted his cheek in a perfectly maternal fashion and then turned to board the ship.

  James shook Reese’s hand and frowned when her handshake proved to be too flimsy. Immediately, she corrected her error with a smile.

  “Good bye, James. Write to us, won’t you?” she asked sweetly.

  “Of course, sir,” he responded with another grin.

  Chastity was the last to say farewell.

  “It’s your bosom, Chase. You will have a difficult time passing as a young man unless we can somehow bind you,” her grandmother pointed out.

  Chastity looked down at the full breasts she had been cursing for the past four years, and cursed them one more time for good measure. “Dammit,” she muttered.

  “Chastity,” her sister scolded.

  “It’s perfect,” James argued. “In fact, you must both feel free to use profanity liberally once you’re on board.”

  “Of course,” their grandmother agreed. “It’s one of those things that men do when a lady isn’t present. It’s important that Reese and Chase both get used to hearing and using those words without blushing.”

  Lady Colchester ushered Reese out of the room, leaving James and Chase. He had only nine days to turn her sister and her from London ladies to convincing young men. He looked back at Chase and studied her from head to toe. His gaze lingered a moment too long on her breasts, and he hid his smile behind his hand as he rubbed his face in mock frustration.

  “Oh bugger off, James,” she cursed.

  James had always been like a brother to Chastity, but never moreso than in the past two weeks. It broke her heart to leave him. And the thought of never seeing him again brought threatening tears to her eyes.

  “Don’t you dare,” he scolded.

  “Take care of Artemis,” she choked.

  “You needn’t even ask,” he reminded her. “I plan to purchase her from your father. I happen to have an open stall for her in my own stables.”

  “And give your mother a kiss for me.”

  He smiled wryly and replied, “To a passerby, Sir, that might sound a bit lewd.”

  She laughed sadly, already missing his jokes and humor.

  “So long, Chase.”

  She took the hand he offered her and returned his firm handshake. “Take care of yourself, James. And do write us soon.”

  “I hope the three of you can finally find some peace and happiness in America. Truly. And who knows, maybe someday, we’ll meet again.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Having said their good-byes, Chase cleared her throat, lifted her chin, and began the ascent to the deck of the ship.

  “Chase,” he called after her.

  She stopped in mid-stride and turned to see him one last time.

  “Remember what I told you,” he warned ambiguously.

  “Everything,” she assured him.

  “Especially the part about Webb.” It was something that James would typically say with a playful grin, teasing her for last night’s fascination with the attractive Texan. Today, his eyebrows were drawn together, a telling sign of the seriousness of his warning.

  She nodded at him, frowning a bit, and then followed her sister and grandmother to the decks of the Mauretania.

  ***

  Once on board, the porter directed them to their cabins. Chastity prepared herself for the worst as Reese opened the door to the room they were going to share. Instead, she was shocked to see the elaborate mahogany woodwork and furniture. The double bed was covered in dark blue velvet that looked particularly inviting after her late evening.

  “It’s gorgeous,” Reese gasped.

  “It’s not quite as awful as James led us to believe, is it?” Chase joked.

  A knock sounded on their door, and they let their grandmother in.

  “It’s worth the two-hundred pounds per ticket, isn’t it?” Lady Colchester asked with a flush in her cheeks and a light in her eyes.

  “Suddenly, staying locked in my room for five days doesn’t sound awful,” Reese admitted with a smile.

  Her final words were drowned out by the booming horn of the ship, signaling to its final boarders.

  “Should we go out to the main deck and try to find James? We could wave good-bye one last time,” Reese suggested.

  “We’ll never see him in that crowd,” Chase pointed out. “I’m going to lie down for a bit and let everyone settle in. I could use a mid-morning nap after last evening’s excursion.”

  “Oh yes. How did it go?” her grandmother asked.

  Chase thought of Colton Webb’s laughing brown eyes and beautiful blond mane. She remembered his tan forearms resting on the table and his big tanned hands holding his cards. “It was quite a success,” she commented, certainly thinking of her meeting with Colton Webb as much as she was her successful impersonation.

  “So, what was it like?” Reese whispered, as though there were others around to hear what they were discussing.

  “Loud, smoky, stinky.” She paused and grinned. “It was strange and exciting all at once. James bought me a beer. We watched these ladies singing and dancing on stage. Then I joined in a game of poker and won a few hands. Then Webb offered me a cigar, which tasted surprisingly sweet,” she added. “But after I finished my second pint, James thought it would be wise to take me back to the hotel.”

  “You drank beer and smoked a cigar?” Reese asked in amazement.

  “Who’s Webb?” her grandmother asked, never missing a tiny detail.

  “He was just a man,” Chastity told her, waving her hand to dismiss any concerns she might have. She didn’t dare admit that he was the most appealing man she’d ever met. And she most certainly didn’t plan to tell her that he was on the same ship. Lady Colchester would watch her granddaughter like a hawk for the next six days if she even suspected any attraction toward such a ruggedly appealing man. Chastity feared her great adventure would turn out to be no different than the rest of her life under her father’s controlling thumb. She recognized that her grandmother was nothing like Father; but she would definitely be concerned about her granddaughter showing any interest in any man, particularly a raw Texan who seemed to have a talent for making women positively hum.

  She smiled to herself in memory of his stories from the evening before. He had the most attractive drawl. And the way his smile reached the corners of his eyes, exuding confidence and comfort. Oh yes. It was definitely not challenging to imagine his effect on women. Chase didn’t have to imagine. She had felt it herself.

  Half of the men she’d met during her first Season in London seemed nearly as prissy as Reese. The other half of them were either scoundrels or repugnant. Colton Webb, on the other hand, was the least prissy person she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. And he was the farthest thing from repugnant that one could be. And as for the scoundrel bit, she wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t a bit of a rogue, but it was so very appealing on him.

  For the first time, she wondered how big Texas truly was. She wondered if she would ever see
Colton Webb again. In spite of James’s warning, she most certainly hoped so.

  “How many people are on this ship, Grandmother?” she asked suddenly, interrupting something that Reese had been saying.

  “I’m not exactly certain. I believe there must be around 2,000 passengers. But most of the passengers will be in second or third class. We will probably not see them again until we get to America. Why do you ask?”

  Chase shrugged nonchalantly. “I was simply curious.”

  She wondered if Colton Webb was in first class. If he was, she would undoubtedly see him aboard.

  ***

  That evening, Reese and Chase dressed in their formal-wear for dinner. Following the Porter’s directions, they made their way to the elegant dining saloon. Chase led her grandmother, escorted by Reese, down an elaborate staircase into the golden room. She paused near the bottom of the stairs to make note of the colorful dresses of the women and the soft light cast by the crystal chandeliers. Her attention was drawn to the dome ceiling with unusual decorative symbols above the center of the room.

  “Those are the signs of the zodiac,” their grandmother informed them.

  She elbowed Reese to encourage a more manly show of appreciation, and Reese was quick to close her pink mouth and descend the rest of the stairs.

  They made their way to an empty table in the middle of the room, all while Chase scoured the faces for some glimpse of Colton Webb. He was not currently present.

  They were joined for dinner by the Havisham sisters, two spinsters who had given up on their lives in England in favor of joining their favorite nephew in Boston. The two of them carried the conversation, while Reese and Chase gratefully focused on their dinner and nodded occasionally in acknowledgment.

  During dessert, Chase was forced to apply a swift kick to Reese’s shins when she closed her eyes in appreciation of the sweet cake. She held the silver fork daintily, pinky finger extended, while she paused to savor the sweet flavor. Her eyes widened in surprise and perhaps pain, fork still partially submerged in her pink mouth. But she was admittedly well-behaved for the completion of the meal.

  After dinner, Chase felt as though she had eaten too much, and she was eager to stretch her legs a bit. Lady Colchester and Reese had walked the deck as soon as they had left Liverpool. Chase had declined their invitation so that she could make up the sleep that James had robbed her of the night before.

  Now, her grandmother and Reese wanted to return to their cabins to relax, but Chase was far too energized for such ladylike activities. Instead, she strolled slowly around the deck of the ship with her hands in her pockets. She nodded politely to other passengers as they greeted her, only truly interested in one passenger.

  The sun set fire to the sky as it lowered, casting orange and heliotrope flames across the darkening horizon. Chase leaned against the railing and reveled in the view, wondering if all sunsets were always so beautiful, or if she was merely projecting her own excitement on nature’s routine.

  Two men walked behind her, talking of a card game in the lounge. One was puffing on a cigar, and she suddenly longed to join them. She had always enjoyed cards, and this masculine freedom that she had recently acquired was intoxicating. And of course, she also secretly hoped to run into Colton Webb in the lounge.

  She followed the two men across the ship and into the dark, masculine lounge. Unlike the golden oak woodwork in the dining saloon, the lounge incorporated mahogany woodwork and dark green accents. Even at this early hour of the evening, a light haze of cigar smoke began to fill the lounge. Chase walked slowly through the room and found a couple of open seats at tables. Unfortunately, Colton Webb wasn’t anywhere to be found. She became convinced that he wasn’t traveling first class after all, and her disappointment threatened to ruin her mood for cards.

  To cheer herself up, she finally decided to sit at the loudest table. Two large blond men with beards and heavy accents berated each other and challenged each other without pausing to drink from their mugs. They were evidently brothers. A slender man with dark hair and a mustache sat with them laughing at their camaraderie. He reminded Chase of the despised fiancée she had left in London. But then his kind invitation for her to join them quickly erased any resemblance she might have seen to Jett Stockton.

  After three quick hands, all of which were won by Ian Korvan, one of the blond brothers, a short and stocky man approached the table and asked to join them. He had small beady eyes, a large red nose, and a full brown beard. His voice was slightly scratchy, and his smile seemed stiff and forced.

  “Absolutely! What’s your name, man?” Korvan asked him, certainly figuring that this was another man with money to lose.

  “Richards, Henry Richards,” he offered stingily. He pulled up the chair beside Chase, and the other Korvan brother dealt him into the game.

  “Richards, I’m Ian Korvan, this is my brother, Jack, the mustache there is Thompson, and this beardless young chap is Cochrane.”

  He nodded in acknowledgment and examined the cards in his hand.

  Six hands later, Ian Korvan was certainly regretting his warm invitation to Mr. Richards. The scratchy-voiced stranger had won every hand. With each win, his stingy smile would flicker above his beard as he plucked his winnings out of the middle of the table.

  Chase was pleased to get a winning hand next. She held three kings and was confident that she would take this hand. Her confidence was shaken, however, when a deep manly voice drawled, “You cleanin’ everyone out again, Cochrane?”

  She didn’t have to turn toward the voice to know who it was. Instead, she dropped her kings and collected her winnings from the center of the table.

  Webb moved from behind her toward the empty seat directly across from the table. “Y’all have room for a slow Texan?” he asked.

  Thompson invited him to join the table, and Chase took the liberty of making introductions.

  “Hell, Cochrane, ain’t you drinkin’ tonight?” Webb joked.

  “Not yet,” she grinned. Lord, he was a treat for the eyes. Not a single one of her fantasies had done him justice. He was ten times more handsome than she remembered.

  “Well, let me help you with that,” he offered with a grin. Chase couldn’t help but notice the laugh lines around his confident smile. Fearing that she would get caught admiring him, she turned her attention to the other passengers in the lounge.

  A waiter passed by, and Webb ordered a round of drinks for each man at the table. Chase made note that not only was he able to afford a first class ticket, but he could also afford to pay for a round of drinks for his new friends. It was just one more impressive detail to add to the man’s dossier. “You men should know that this young man here, this Cochrane, he may look sweet and boyish, but he will rob you blind at the card table,” he volunteered with a wink in her direction.

  Since she didn’t yet have a mug to hide her flushed cheeks behind, she merely smiled and lowered her eyes to the table. “We all have our run of luck at one time or another,” she said quietly.

  “Modest, too. He cleaned me out just last night.”

  The Korvan brothers laughed heartily. “Judging by his performance tonight, Webb,” Jack argued, “his luck ran out sometime between then and now. Richards is the one taking all of our money tonight.”

  “Well, let’s see it then,” he suggested. And the game continued.

  Jack Korvan had been correct. Chase’s luck had certainly run out. She was quickly running out of money. Thompson had quit and left the table nearly thirty minutes before. And she was preparing to fold her hand. She had a pair of threes, and judging by the expressions on the faces of Webb and Richards, she would not be able to compete with the two of them. When the two men made their wagers, Chase was glad that she had folded.

  Five hundred pounds lay in the center of the table, and the two men were preparing to reveal their hands. Richards would have to lay his hand down first. The corner of his mouth twitched in pleasure as he lay down his four eights. He dro
pped his hands into his lap and watched Webb’s face, expecting to see disappointment. Instead, Webb grinned and had the gall to wink at Chase as he dropped his straight flush on the table.

  “That was damned lucky,” Webb said with a shake of his head. He stood to retrieve his winnings, and she turned to see the redness of Richards’s face deepen. The hands, which had been resting in his lap moved quickly under the table, and a gun suddenly appeared in his hand, pointed directly at Webb.

  CHAPTER 3

  Both Korvan brothers pushed back suddenly from the table, startled by the surprising response from Henry Richards.

  Webb looked up and pulled his hands away from his winnings. “Hey now,” he replied softly. “There’s no need for that kind of thing, Richards.”

  “You lying cheat!” he spat, his scratchy voice sounding even more menacing than it had before. “I saw you winking at the boy here! Telling us about his streak of luck to distract us. So we won’t notice your signals. Your cheating ways may be acceptable in Texas, but nobody cheats Henry Richards! Nobody.” He spoke the last word barely above a whisper, and his finger tightened on the trigger of the weapon.

  Chastity didn’t have time to think about what to do. She simply lunged for the man from her seat. Her chair flipped over noisily, drawing attention to their corner of the lounge. She hit him in the belly, and his arms were knocked upward. The gun went off, and the bullet went into the ceiling nearly directly over their heads. Plaster dust showered down upon them while men cried out, still not aware of what was transpiring. The Korvan brothers were quick to leap to her rescue, joining her in the attack of Henry Richards. The two landed on top of her and wrestled the gun away from the man.

  By the time Jack pulled Chase to her feet, one of the ship’s officers was pulling Richards to his feet. The officer assured everyone at the table that Richards would be locked up for the duration of the passage, and no harm would come to any of the passengers.