Claudia wiped her face, then leaned up on an elbow to look into his eyes. “Does he know?”
“Not from me or Patrice. And I believe that Julia and Stephen have kept their word not to tell him, either.” Micah swiped his hand over his face, dragging in a breath to calm his emotions.
His thoughts wandered over that moment when he discovered he was a father. It had broken his heart that in gaining a son he’d lost forever a father. The small boy seemed to want for attention from his mother, receiving it only from his Aunt Patrice. While Micah worked the farm, the little boy had followed him around like a stray pup. He’d lapped up any kindness he could get.
“That was one of the conditions I set, when I left to head out west with Nathan.”
“What conditions were those?”
“When I arrived back home Julia thought I’d gladly fill my father’s place in the family. Not just as head of the household, but as her bed partner. I quickly put that notion to rest, informing her that as long as I lived, I’d never touch her again.”
Micah laughed harshly. “Needless to say, she became a raving lunatic, screaming that Grand Oaks was hers and that it would never be mine. She waved a piece of paper in front of my face, saying my father had cut me out of his will, and deeded that place to her and then to Stephen. I told her I could contest the will if I wanted to, thereby tying the estate up for years in court. That was the only thing that calmed her down. The threat of preventing her from owning the plantation.
“I told her I’d be willing to give up any claim to Grand Oaks provided she met certain conditions. The first was no one would ever tell Hank of his parentage. He was to be left believing I was just his half-brother. Also, she was to put a leash on her demented son. If he so much as caused one injury to Hank, I’d return and rip their precious land out of their grasps. They were also to provide a home for Patrice for as long as she wanted one. They were to treat her as well as they did Hank or again I would return.”
“Did they adhere to their end of the bargain?”
“For years I received letters from Patrice and Hank letting me know that everything was going well. I had them sent through Nathan’s brother Neil, a lawyer in Baltimore, to conceal my whereabouts from Julia and Stephen. Then last year I stopped hearing from either one. That’s when my feelings about Patrice started.” He reached out to stroke Claudia’s cheek. “The rest you know, my dear.”
“You haven’t seen your son since he was four?”
“I went to Grand Oaks before coming here. Hank and I spent some time together. He’s turned into a fine-looking young man, full of righteous indignation at what the family’s been doing, and concern for Patrice. I liked what I saw. And I have a feeling I have Patrice to thank for how well he’s turned out in that rat’s nest they were living in.”
“Are your half-sisters as bad as your brother?”
“According to Hank, they think themselves above all the eligible men in the area. Apparently, they’re waiting for some Prince Charming who is as wealthy as Midas and as patient as Job. That is what the men would have to be to help pay for their every want and ignore their shrewish ways.”
“Oh, you’re terrible,” Claudia giggled and rolled onto her back.
“I can be very terrible, my dear.” He rolled on top of her, tickling her from head to toe until their laughter gave way to passion.
Claudia gently stroked Micah’s head where it lay nestled between her breasts, thinking about the events that had shaped his and Hank’s past. Micah deserved to get to know his son and Hank deserved to get to know this wonderful man who was his father. Somehow she was going to get them together. Julia’s evil web needed to be torn apart so these two men could heal the wounds each bore alone.
She would speak of it to Micah when this ordeal was finished. She might never be able to give him a baby at her age, but she could give him back the son he already had. Sleep eased its way into her body and she drew the covers up over them both.
Tonight, Micah had bared his soul to her, and no matter what the morrow would bring—whether he stayed with her or left her for greener pastures—she knew she’d always love the man in her arms.
* * * * *
Screams shattered the night.
Micah bolted out of bed and headed for the door. Claudia flew to the wardrobe to get her night rail, before following close behind him.
The screams came from Noah’s room, where Dr. Schulman was trying to restrain him from ripping open all of his wounds.
“Patrice! God, where are you? Patrice!”
“What started this?” Micah asked as he grappled the younger man back into the bed.
“I would say his body has healed enough.” Dr. Schulman pushed his glasses up on his nose and pulled his robe on as Claudia entered the room. “There are those in our profession that believe the mind will shut down in times of great stress until the body can recuperate and sustain it through facing the trauma that caused the injury in the first place.”
Noah had slipped back into sleep, his body going limp beneath Micah’s.
“Do you think he’ll come around soon? I mean, become conscious enough to answer questions?”
“Given his strength, I’d say, within a day or two. But I can’t be sure.”
“Then perhaps you should get your rest, sir.” Turning to Henderson, who’d arrived with both boys on his heels, Micah directed him, “See that the doctor has another room for the night. I’ll stay here in case Howard awakens again.”
Claudia disappeared for a few minutes while the good doctor followed Henderson to another room. She returned with two pillows, several blankets and Micah’s trousers.
“What do you think you’re doing, wife?” Micah asked as he struggled into his pants, watching her spread her wares out on the floor near the bed.
“You said we were staying here for the night. I thought we should get comfortable.”
“I said I was staying, not we.” He tried to usher her out of the room.
“Micah, I want to be here when he awakens. You might need me.”
“I think I can handle things if your young man awakens.”
She looked at him curiously. “He isn’t my young man. But I want to be here in case you hear some news.”
“I won’t hurt the poor thing, if that’s what is worrying you.”
“What has gotten into you?” Claudia pushed his hand off her arm, turning to look at the man she was married to. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was jealous.
“Nothing. I just don’t intend to have my wife pining away over some other man right beneath my nose, that’s all” He leaned over her in that intimidating stance again, his voice angrier than she’d ever heard.
“Pining away? I thought you might want someone here in case you find out your sister is dead. Somehow I had the impression you might be upset if that were the case and you might want a shoulder to lean on.” She picked up her pillow and started for the door. “Obviously I was mistaken, you big oaf.”
“Claudia.” He stopped her before she got out the door. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize what I was saying. You’re right. If you want to stay, I’d be glad to have you.”
“I’m sorry, too. I just want to be here for you.” She dropped her pillow down next to his, lying down and signaling him to join her. “We’d better try to get comfortable. This could be a long night.”
“How do you know?” Micah stretched out beside her.
“When my father was in the throes of his delirium, he used to awaken several times at night. Only he was regressing further away from us, being on his last hours and all. Hopefully, Noah will be more lucid in his confessions.”
“What did your father confess in his dreams?” Micah drew her head down onto his shoulder, lightly brushing one hand through her hair.
“Nothing new. Mostly he relived the beatings he gave me and why. I learned that night just how much my father hated me. I never realized until then how deep it all went.”
�
��Shh, don’t think of it. You don’t need to remember the pain with me.”
“It’s all right, Micah. You see, I know for certain he’s in hell and I can’t say I mind.” She rested her hand on his chest. She hoped the news would be good and Patrice was still alive. Micah needed something good in his life right now.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Patrice, I’ve got to get to her.”
The words came quietly into the early-morning light, for the fourth or fifth time. Claudia had lost count. She eased herself out from under Micah’s arm. He’d gotten up all the previous times and was out from the sheer exhaustion of his night. She wanted him to rest as long as possible.
Going to the table next to the bed where Noah lay, she poured some water onto a cloth. If it was the fever again, she’d try to calm him with a cool cloth. It had been the only thing that had worked earlier in the night.
“Noah? It’s me, Claudia Davis,” she whispered as she sat next to him on the bed. “Can you hear me?”
“Claudia?” This time the voice was coherent—even focused. “How? How did I get here?”
“We found you in one of Gibson’s warehouses, and brought you here. You were injured pretty badly. You’ve been unconscious for three days.” She ran the cloth over his face to comfort him. “Can you tell me what happened to you?”
“She needs me, Claudia. I have to get to her.” He struggled to sit up, only to flop back onto the bed, his injuries too great to allow him to succeed.
“Noah, you’ve been seriously hurt, and need to rest.” Claudia continued to wash his face with the cloth, holding him down with her hand on his shoulder. “You need to think about what happened to you. We need to know so we can help you and Patrice.”
“You know Patrice? Is she here? How did she get here? I have to see her.”
“No, Noah. She isn’t here. We need you to help us find her.”
“How do you know her, then?”
“I’m married to her brother.”
“No! You have to get away from him. He’s evil, Claudia. You don’t know the things he’s capable of doing. I swore I’d kill him, when I found him.”
“Here I am, Howard.” Claudia and Noah both swung their attention to the foot of the bed. Micah stood there in his buckskins, shirtless and barefoot and looking very much like a dangerous wild cat.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard.” This time, Noah managed to force himself up out of the bed, knocking Claudia onto the floor. He stood on wobbling legs, sheer determination and hatred keeping him upright.
“Micah! He’s in no shape to take you on.” Claudia scrambled to her feet.
“Micah? Who is Micah?” Noah asked from his shaky stance.
“I am.” The reply was cold.
“No. You’re Stephen. You’re the one who sent her on that ship. You’re the one who did those things to her. You’re the one I have to kill.” Noah started to lose his battle with staying vertical, falling toward the floor.
“Oh no,” Claudia moved to support him, only to have herself pushed out of the way as Micah lunged to grab the weaker man. Lifting him underneath his shoulders, Micah set him back on the bed.
“I believe my wife was right, Howard. You’re in no shape to take on anyone, especially not me.” Micah reached behind him and drew up a straight-back chair to sit next to the bed. He leaned back, settled himself into the chair and began his explanation. “Patrice has three brothers. I’m Micah, her only true brother. Then there are Stephen and Henry, her two half-brothers. But I can assure you, you will not be permitted to kill my brother Stephen. He’s mixed up in something here, and I’m going to have to use him to stop it.”
“Opium.”
“That’s right. But I believe he and the Gibsons are also involved in another lucrative endeavor.”
“White slavery.”
“Good. Two for two. You’re a quick learner, Howard.”
“Really, Micah, can’t this wait until later? He’d been ill for so long, he needs his rest.” Claudia was busy folding up the blankets and sending angry looks at her husband.
“I don’t know how much time we have after last night’s adventure, my dear. I need whatever information Howard can provide. If this is too much for your delicate ears, then perhaps you can make Howard, here, some toast and tea while we talk. I’m sure the man is starved.”
“So, I’m being dismissed now?” She turned on her husband, shaking her fiery mane to one side.
“No, just put to task, my dear.” Micah grinned up at her. Some of the sting from his earlier words disappeared. He walked her to the door, gently swatting her on the behind, which made her narrow her eyes at him.
“Oh, all right. But give him some time to rest, please?”
“I will, I promise.” He watched her walk out of the room, the gentle sway of her hips distracting him from the man in the bed.
“She’s a good woman.” The comment drew Micah’s attention back to Noah.
“That’s right, and she’s mine.” Micah steeled himself to the man before him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Noah struggled to sit up.
Micah watched, not moving to assist him, but allowing the other man to face him on his own strength.
He looked Micah straight in the eye. “Based on your brother’s behavior, I’m not too convinced of her safety. Is she safe with you?”
“Very.” The one-word reply, given in its strength of conviction, seemed to reassure Noah.
“Good. What do you need to know about Patrice?”
“Everything you know. But first allow me to finish dressing while you collect your thoughts.” Micah left the room, only to return the image of the Colorado mountain man. His buckskin shirt and well-worn leather boots completed his image.
“I’d better begin with the disappearance and subsequent murder of Senator Anderson last spring.”
“I know about all of that.”
“You do?” Noah sounded suspicious.
“Claudia’s friend, Laura, was a witness to the murder. She left town to hide by marrying a friend of mine. That was one of the things that brought me back east. Laura wanted her friends to know she was all right, and that the man who had actually killed the senator was no longer a threat to anyone.” Micah leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs out before him. “What I need to know is what happened to my sister and where I can find her. Also, how you happen to know her would be real interesting to hear, too.”
“As I was saying,” Noah continued, “while investigating the senator’s murder I happened upon some information that the senator was working on. It seems the gentleman was researching the connection of some of our other government officials in the distribution of opium. He had gone as far as connecting them with an import company known as the London Far East Trading Company. This company is under the management of Lord Townbridge, a man no one can seem to actually claim to have met.
“The company also uses two shipping companies. One of them imports and exports legitimate cargo. The second trades in less-traditional cargo, such as opium and white slavery. The senator had also pieced together names of several key military men who were deeply involved. I believe that is why the gentleman was killed.”
“It fits the puzzle we’ve been working. Did you get the list of these military men?”
“No. Our senator was a most cautious man. I can definitely say a general, someone stationed in Washington, was on the list. What I can’t figure out is what they stand to gain by risking their careers for this kind of business.”
“We’ve managed to place them in association with several ranking bank officers, as well as some of the men in charge of guarding the gold reserve.”
“Whew.” Noah whistled his astonishment. “That narrows down our general, then.”
“Wallace.” Micah confirmed the agent’s thoughts.
“General Aaron Wallace, senior military officer in charge of the national gold reserve in Alexandria, Virginia. With all the confusion Garfield’s ass
assination caused in the government last year, he was able to move his men into position on the gold reserve.”
“Thereby giving him control over the nation’s economy.” Micah finished Noah’s thoughts. “Using the opium to control members of Congress as well as the officers of the nation’s leading banks, he’s assured himself virtual control of the country. He can increase or stop shipment of the drug at will.”
“And the disappearance of young women without families could be covered up easily by a man with that kind of power.”
The aroma of strong tea and fresh nut bread filled the room as Claudia entered, bearing a tray laden with plates, cups and a server. “To think that anyone could be that evil is appalling.”
“Greed can do strange things to any man.” Micah helped her lower the tray to the table. “Even those you trust the most.”
“Have you determined what happened to Patrice yet?” Claudia handed them each a cup of tea, and a plate with bread on it. “Start out slow, Officer Howard. We don’t want your stomach to revolt on you after so many days without food.”
“Thank you, Claudia. I was just getting to how I met Patrice.” Slipping slowly on the hot liquid, Noah savored its flavor for a moment before continuing. “I decided to join the crew of one of the clipper ships owned by the Gibson brothers. It was while working on one of these ships that I discovered they were transporting women to the orient. Last fall, when I returned from my first voyage, I saw a young lady tour the ship with Jonathan Gibson and the captain of the ship, Stephen Turner. The young lady did not appear to enjoy her tour, saying as much to Stephen. That’s when I learned she was his sister.
“I didn’t see her again for a few weeks.” Noah paused to take another drink of the tea. “But then one night, I was told to help carry on board a rug that was all rolled up. The rug felt heavier than normal and when I had a chance, I sneaked below to see what was inside. That’s when I found your sister. She’d been heavily drugged. I was trapped below for some time and was unable to get her off of the ship before it sailed.
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