Bonds of Matrimony

by Carrigan Fox

  “Chastity! Rosalie! Oh, Grandmother!”

  His strong arms enveloped Chase and lifted her into the air. She looked down into his bearded face and hardly recognized him. But the smile was the same as she remembered. He had always had the most generous smile she’d ever seen.

  He gave Reese and his grandmother equally welcome hugs, still holding Chase’s hand and pulling her along behind him.

  “Thank God! I’ve been so worried about you. How was your trip? Did everything go as planned?” He fired one question after another, hardly waiting for a response.

  “I’d say it went as planned. Until Reese slipped about being related to you, nobody on board knew they were the beautiful Fairfax women,” Webb greeted boastfully. He grinned at Marcus’s evident surprise, but did not offer his hand.

  “Webb?” our brother greeted with confusion. “You know my sisters?”

  “I met Chase in Liverpool before we boarded,” he answered with a shrug.

  Chastity scowled at him and confirmed his explanation, adding, “I cleaned him out at the poker table in a local tavern.”

  It was Colton’s turn to scowl, while she grinned in response to her brother’s hearty laughter. “Good for you, Chase. Good for you.”

  The reunion was brief, as Marcus was in a hurry to get away from the crowds and settled in for the evening at a hotel further inland. “Hanging out at port is not safe for anyone, much less a man with three beautiful women in tow. I’ve got rooms reserved at a modest hotel on the other side of the city. We’ve already got tickets for the train home. We’ll depart at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning. We can talk more once we get settled in there. Besides,” he added, rubbing a hand over his rough beard, “I could use a shave. I just got into town myself, and I haven’t had a chance to shave since I left Texas.”

  “I thought that perhaps you were trying something new,” his sister laughed, reaching up to touch his beard.

  “Beards are for cheats,” her brother answered, brushing her hand away with a smile.

  “That’s what I told him when he first came to Texas,” Colton Webb interrupted. “You should have seen how hairy he was when he first got off the train.”

  Marcus only shrugged and began leading them all through the crowd.

  “Mind if I tag along, Fairfax? I’m sure you could use another hand looking after these three. And Elisabeth would probably enjoy the female companions,” he suggested.

  “Oh please do,” Lady Colchester invited, before anyone could refuse him. She reached out warmly and took Elisabeth’s hand. “When Rosalie told me you were on board, Elisabeth, I could hardly believe it. I kept waiting to run into your family, but I didn’t see them on the ship.”

  “No, they’re still in England,” she answered quietly. If Chase hadn’t been standing so close, she probably wouldn’t have heard her response. The quiet woman ducked her head sheepishly, but there was no avoiding the flush that rose in her cheeks.

  Lady Colchester apparently recognized the young woman’s reluctance to discuss the matter, and she let it drop. But Elisabeth Davies had piqued Chase’s curiosity once again.

  She remembered that first ball of the season. She had been so utterly bored and disgusted with the gossip that her mother had spewed about every person they had met. She had little faith in the accuracy of such stories. But when she had told them about Elisabeth’s betrothal to a man who was supposedly her mother’s lover, Chastity had looked at the beautiful young woman and felt sympathetic. And when she had studied her expression and mannerisms, she had sensed that she was an exceptional young woman. So what role did her cousin play in this scene?

  Nevertheless, Chase followed her grandmother’s lead and walked in silence. She focused her attention instead on the different people they passed wearing different clothes and speaking odd languages. She had never experienced anything like it.

  She wondered what her father and mother would think if they could see their daughters now. Would they be shocked and appalled that they were being jiggled through a crowd of such diversity? Were they even aware that such a place existed? Both of them had been so sheltered living the life of high English society all their lives. If Chase hadn’t been there to see it herself, she probably never would have imagined such a scene.

  Marcus suggested that they hire a driver to take them to the hotel, but Chase pleaded with him to let them walk. “It’s just so new. I don’t want to be rushed. I just want to walk and take it all in.”

  “But Grandmother—” he began to protest.

  She cut him off sharply. “I am doing just fine. And I, too, would love to enjoy this first walk through an American street.”

  He agreed reluctantly, and the six of them walked the twenty-three blocks through the city to their hotel. Chase knew it was twenty-three because Webb made a point of muttering a curse in her general direction when he held the door open for her at the hotel.

  Reese and Chastity were sitting on a bench in the lobby, admiring the beautiful woodwork and deep red rugs, when Webb abruptly approached Marcus. He seemed riled up about something, and she could only imagine what had him so animated now.

  Elisabeth hurried over to the sisters and enlightened them.

  “They don’t have enough rooms available,” she announced. She fell onto the bench that Chase shared with her sister, evidently as exhausted as they were.

  “Then we’ll share rooms,” Lady Colchester assured her. And with little more discussion, the matter was settled. Reese would share a room with her grandmother, Elisabeth and Chastity would room together, and the men could share the third room Marcus had reserved. Neither Colton nor Marcus seemed particularly thrilled about the arrangement, but they got over it quickly when Lady Colchester mentioned food.

  Although their dinner was extremely satisfying, Chase could not wait another moment to take a bath. For six days aboard the Mauretania, her washing had been limited to soap, water, and a washcloth. The idea of immersing herself in a tub of hot scented water sounded like Heaven.

  So after they finished dinner, they found a department store down the street and purchased some new clothes for Reese and Chastity and some scented bath oil. The men had opted to stay at the hotel after dinner, and Elisabeth also stayed, claiming that she could be bathed and have fresh water drawn for Chase upon her return.

  After her bath, she was dressed in her robe and brushing her hair when Elisabeth decided to put her book aside and strike up a conversation.

  “Would you mind terribly if I ask you something, Lady Chastity?” she asked softly.

  “Grandmother says that we don’t use titles in America,” she answered. “And I’ve always hated the name Chastity. Perhaps you could simply call me Chase.”

  She smiled warmly and nodded. “How many of the rumors are true about you?”

  The shy woman’s sudden boldness caught Chase off guard.

  She laughed and blushed. “I apologize. I simply have heard so many outrageous stories about you. Naturally, I know that hardly half of those rumors can be believed, which was why I was shocked when Colton asked if I knew you and told me you had been pretending to be a young man on the ship.”

  “I had to do something,” she explained in defense of her actions. “Grandmother worried that we would be taken advantage of by every man we encountered on our way to America.”

  She sat silently for a moment, clearly in thought. “I can understand that,” she finally answered.

  “As for the rest, it’s mostly true. I am not terribly ladylike. I love racing my horse through the woods. I hate riding side-saddle and wearing skirts. I enjoy playing cards. But these aren’t the activities of a lady,” Chase frowned. “So I have, on occasion, dressed as a man to pursue my less ladylike interests. But I have never cheated. I play fairly, and I win on occasion, too.”

  “Your parents must have been mortified,” she laughed. She quickly realized her blunder and ducked her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound as though I’m judging you.”

>   Chase thought of her parents’ mortification. Unlike Elisabeth, they had judged her and found her guilty of a number of crimes against them. And then they had passed down her sentence.

  “Lord Booth is a womanizer,” Chastity had argued against the man her father had arranged for Reese to marry. “He’s engaged in numerous sordid affairs with many married women, not to mention taking the innocence of Madeleine Forsythe, thereby ending her engagement and making her an outcast. And Mr. Stockton is obnoxious and disrespectful. I overheard him telling Lord Booth he would break me like a wild stallion and have me eating out of his hand.”

  Her father had only responded by saying, “You shouldn’t be eavesdropping, Chastity. It’s not any of your business.”

  “Not my business? They were talking about me!”

  “I’m certain you misunderstood.”

  “I’m certain I did not,” I argued indignantly.

  “Although you and your brother seem to be trying very hard, you have not yet ruined our family name so badly that we are shunned by society. But you have absolutely succeeded in making yourself a horrible match as a wife. Men believe that you are bull-headed, strong-willed, and disobedient at best. Some have been known to say that you are the worst possible example of an English lady. Your mother has even heard people claim that you are not all together right in the head. So if Stockton is willing to marry you, then you will marry him without another word to the contrary.” He had picked up his plate and turned from his eldest daughter.

  “I won’t marry him, Father,” she had muttered.

  He had stopped just short of the doorway, but he did not turn to face her. His voice had been quiet and cold. “The wedding is scheduled for the 12th of September. We have arranged for a suitable dowry. As long as you do as we’ve instructed and marry him, the two of you will live comfortably long after your mother and I are dead. If you refuse, come the 12th of September, you will be on your own. You will no longer be welcome in our home, and you will no longer be our daughter.”

  Although his threats had hardly been as violent and hateful as Lord Capulet’s to Juliet, Chastity knew they were no less sincere.

  Putting thoughts of their betrayal behind her, she smiled at Elisabeth. “They were mortified,” she laughed lightly. “They were ashamed of me. They were especially disappointed that I didn’t have a single suitor come courting after the last season.”

  “Were you disappointed?” she asked with a grin, already knowing the answer.

  “Marriage is just one more method of control,” Chase answered carefully. “It’s just a ceremony where your father hands your life and body over to another man. I felt that if I could keep from getting married, my father would one day allow me to control my own life.”

  “So it is true!” she gasped to herself.

  “What’s that?” Chase asked, curious about what she’d heard.

  “My brother danced with you at a ball that first season. He told me that you insulted him and treated him like a child,” she whispered this last word. “He was so humiliated.”

  Chastity was actually embarrassed to remember how rudely she had behaved to those well-meaning gentlemen last year. “I’m sorry for what I said to your brother,” she apologized.

  “Don’t be,” she laughed. “He’s such an egotistical fop. For months, whenever he did something to anger me, I would remember your insults and laugh all over again. He truly deserved every word you said to him.”

  “What about you? Why are you here with your cousin? And why is your family still in England while you’re here in America?”

  “I’m sure you’ve heard.”

  Chase stared blankly at her, not daring to confirm or deny her suggestion. She wanted to avoid offending her or hurting her by revealing the talk of the ton. She decided to allow her to tell her own story.

  She continued on after a long sigh. “The future Earl of Cardiff began courting me. William Bradford is his name. He was so handsome and charming. And I was so young and foolish. My parents were thrilled about the betrothal. Everything was so perfect,” her eyes filled with tears at the memory. “I even let him…” she swallowed thickly, not sure how to explain. “And then, two weeks before our marriage was supposed to take place, I came home and found him…” she paused, seeking strength to continue the story, “with my mother in the bed she shared with my father. I was heartbroken and disgusted. I had never felt so betrayed in all of my life. And I was so humiliated. When my father found out, he called off the wedding, and his health began deteriorating. He could hardly get out of bed. He passed away on the day I was supposed to be married. My older brother became the next Earl of Bracknell and my guardian. My mother was in a rush to clear her own name. I think she probably felt somewhat responsible for my father’s death. She convinced him to arrange my betrothal again to Lord Bradford. Can you imagine? She betrayed me first by carrying on with the man I love and then forces me to marry him anyway! I had no way of knowing if she and William still have a relationship. But I was so hurt that he would take my mother to bed after he had made love to me.”

  “That must have been a nightmare,” Chastity replied, barely above a whisper. “And you truly loved him?”

  The tears had been welling up in her eyes, and they now tumbled down her beautiful face. “With all my heart. I hated my mother for what she did. I know that William is to blame, too. But she’s my own mother! So I turned to the only person I knew I could trust. Colton’s mother was my father’s sister. When she passed away, his father brought him here, but our fathers wrote to each other often. We began writing each other when we were young. He even came and stayed with us for a summer when he was twelve. I was eight at the time, and I adored him more than anyone in the world. When I wrote to him about my father’s death and my mother’s betrayal, he bought a ticket and came to England. He arrived the day after I learned that my brother had re-arranged my betrothal to William.”

  “And he persuaded you to leave with him and come back to America,” Chase finished for her.

  “No,” she corrected. “It was my idea.”

  Chase studied the surprising young woman sitting before her. Her boldness and bravery was a shock to her. She had felt sympathy when she first explained her betrayal and humiliation. Now she felt respect and admiration for her. She had so much courage.

  “Nobody knew that Colton was in London. I packed all of my new dresses for the season and pretended to be excited to go. I agreed to the betrothal and pretended to forgive him and my mother. And one night, after everyone had gone to bed, I sneaked out of the house and met Colton in the street. We traveled to Liverpool on separate train tickets, and he bought my passage to America under another name. Naturally, I had to spend most of the passage in my cabin. We didn’t want to run into anyone who could tell my mother where I’d gone.”

  “You didn’t leave a note or anything?” Chase asked in amazement.

  Her eyes hardened, and for the first time, Chase saw her cousin in Elisabeth’s eyes. They got the same cold expression in their eyes when they were angry. “I didn’t owe them any explanation. I hope they think I’m dead. As dead as they are to me.”

  She grew quiet, and Chase sat silently reflecting on what she’d just explained. The day she had spied on her conversation with Webb, he hadn’t been rejecting her. He’d been encouraging her to return to her cabin for the sake of her safety. He’d been concerned and protective. And here Chase had been preparing his downfall as revenge on behalf of Elisabeth Davies. Suddenly, she felt sorry for the way she had been treating him. He’d gone out of his way to rescue his younger cousin, to allow her to retain her pride and self-respect.

  Chase stood up and slipped out of her robe.

  “What are you doing?” Elisabeth asked.

  “I’m just going for a walk. All of this excitement in a new country. I’m feeling restless,” she explained lamely. She slipped into the clothes she had worn earlier that day, not bothering to pull her damp hair back in the yellow ribbon a
gain. As she reached the door, she felt compelled to say something to Elisabeth. She paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned to smile at her. “You’re amazing, you know,” she said quickly. “I have all the respect in the world for you. More women should follow your lead and stand up for themselves and take control of their lives.”

  She blushed and grinned. “Are you sure it’s safe to wander about the city by yourself?”

  “I’ll be fine,” Chase assured her. After all, she didn’t actually plan on leaving the hotel.

  She paced the hallway a few times before a man’s voice signaled his approach. He came around the corner with another man. As they passed, both men looked her over thoroughly, their eyes lingering for a moment at her breasts. Their attention made her uncomfortable, and she suddenly realized how vulnerable she was standing alone in the hallway of the hotel. A scoundrel had to only open his door when she passed and pull her inside. She would be defenseless against him.

  She hurried down the hall to the door numbered 217. This was Marcus’s room. Chase rapped quickly on the door when she heard another set of men’s voices approach. She wasn’t quite sure what she would say if Marcus opened the door, but racking her brain wasn’t helping. She couldn’t think of a single excuse. Fortunately, she didn’t have to.

  Webb opened the door. He had his shirt untucked and unbuttoned. He looked her over for a moment before saying, “Your brother isn’t here.”

  Three men entered the hallway, moving quickly toward her.

  “I’m here to talk to you.”

  He looked mildly surprised. His blond hair was mussed and begged to be touched. “So talk,” he responded after a moment of silence.

  The three men passed behind her, and when she turned to meet their eyes, all three of them were looking over her body.

  Webb scowled at the men and then pulled her into his room once they’d passed. “You shouldn’t be wandering around the hotel by yourself. Too many men around here take advantage of women walking alone at night.”