Red-faced with frustration, Connie demanded, “You just aren’t going to take this seriously, are you?”
James’s lips twitched the slightest bit. “I’m just remembering that the last time we tried abduction of a fair damsel, we ended up pulling my sweet niece out of the bag. And the time before that, when Regan was quite willing to be abducted, I ended up being disowned and soundly thrashed by my dear brothers. But that’s neither here nor there. I didn’t come all this way to let your worry over what is no more than a slim possibility at most change my plans.”
“Just what are your plans?”
That particular question brought back James’s irritation, and then some. “I haven’t any yet, but that’s beside the bloody point,” and then, “Artie, where
the hell is the wench? You two laggards
did
discover her whereabouts, didn’t you?”
“Aye, Cap’n. She lives in a big ’ouse just outside o’ Bridgeport.”
“Outside? Then I can find her without actually going through the town?”
“Easily, but—”
James didn’t let him finish. “There, you see, Connie? You were worried over nothing.”
“Cap’n—?”
“I won’t have to go anywhere near the harbor.”
“
Merde!
” Henry was finally heard from as he glowered at his friend. “When will you tell him,
mon ami?
After he has entered the tiger’s house?”
“That’s lion’s ’ouse, ’Enry, and what do ye think I’ve been tryin’ to do, eh?”
They had James’s full attention again after that. “It’s lion’s den, gentlemen, and if I am to enter one, I suppose I must assume I’m missing something pertinent. What would that be?”
“Just that it’s the girl’s family what owns them Skylark ships, ’er brothers that sail ’em.”
“Bloody hell,” Connie mumbled, while James started laughing.
“By God, that’s irony for you. She said she owned a ship, but I’ll be damned if I believed her. Thought she was just being lippy again.”
“Appears she was being modest instead,” Connie said. “And there’s nothing funny about it, James. You can’t very well—”
“’Course I can. I’ll just have to choose a time when she’s likely to be alone.”
“That won’t be today, Cap’n. They’re givin’ a sorry tonight.”
“A soiree?”
“Aye, one o’ them. ’Alf the town’s been invited.”
“To celebrate the whole family is home,” Henry added. “Such an occurrence apparently does not happen often.”
“I can see now what took you so bloody long,” James said in disgust. “I send you to locate the wench, and you come back with her family history. All right, what else will I find of interest? I don’t suppose you discovered what she was doing in England, by any chance?”
“Lookin’ for ’er intended.”
“Her intended what?”
“Her fiancé,” Henry clarified.
James sat forward slowly. All three of his companions recognized the signs. If he’d been in a simmering rage since they’d left Jamaica, it was nothing compared to what that single word just did to him.
“She…has…a…
fiancé?
”
“No longer,” Henry quickly explained.
“She found ’im wed to an English wench, and after she’d waited six years for—Ouch! Jesus, ’Enry, that’s my bleedin’ foot ye’re steppin’ on!”
“It should be your mouth,
mon ami!
”
“She…waited…
six
…years?”
Artie flinched. “Well, ’e got ’imself impressed, Cap’n, and then the war…They didn’t know what became o’ the lad until earlier this year. It ain’t common knowledge, at least that she went searchin’ for ’im. ’Enry ’ad to sweet talk one o’ the ’ousemaids—”
“Six years,” James said again, but this time to
himself. In a louder voice he added, “Sounds like George was very much in love, don’t it, Connie?”
“Damn me, James, I can’t believe you’re letting that bother you. I’ve heard you say a number of times that a woman on the rebound makes for a splendid tumble. And you didn’t
want
the brat falling in love with you, did you? It always annoys the hell out of you when they do.”
“Quite so.”
“Then what the devil are you still glowering about?”
“W
here the hell have you been, Clinton?” Drew demanded belligerently as soon as his brother entered the large study, which was the general gathering place for the men in the house.
Clinton glanced at Warren and Thomas lounging on a maroon sofa for an explanation of Drew’s unusual greeting, but since Drew hadn’t bothered to tell either of them why he’d been so impatient for Clinton’s return, they both merely shrugged.
He continued on to his desk before he replied. “I believe it’s my habit to attend to business when I’m home. I spent the morning at the Skylark offices. Had you bothered to ask Hannah, she would have told you that.”
Drew recognized a subtle reprimand when he heard it. He flushed slightly, but only because he hadn’t thought to question their housekeeper-cook.
“Hannah was too busy preparing for the party to be bothered.”
Clinton had to tamp down the urge to smile at that mumbled reply. Drew’s displays of temper were very rare and so surprising when they occurred. There was no point in aggravating the one he was demonstrating just now. Warren felt no such qualms.
“You could have asked me, blockhead.” Warren chuckled. “I could have told you—”
Drew was on his way to the sofa before Warren finished, so Warren didn’t bother to finish. He just stood up to meet his younger brother head on.
“Drew!”
The warning had to be repeated in an even louder tone before Drew turned back to glare at Clinton. The last time those two had a difference of opinion in his study, he had to have his desk repaired and two lamps and a table replaced.
“You might both remember that we’re entertaining this evening,” Clinton admonished sternly. “With the whole blasted town likely to show up, this room as well as every other in the house is certain to be used. I’d appreciate it if it didn’t have to be rearranged beforehand.”
Warren unclenched his fists and sat back down. Thomas shook his head at the lot of them.
“What’s troubling you, Drew, that you couldn’t discuss it with Warren or myself?” he asked, his tone meant to be soothing. “You didn’t have to wait for—”
“Neither of you was home last night, but Clinton was,” Drew snapped, but said no more, as if that had explained it all.
Thomas’s renowned patience was clearly in evidence as he said, “You went out yourself, didn’t you? So what’s this in reference to?”
“I want to know what the hell happened while I was gone, that’s what!” Drew then rounded on his oldest brother again. “So help me, Clinton, if you spanked Georgie after you said you wouldn’t—”
“I did no such thing!” Clinton returned indignantly.
“But he should have,” Warren put in his opinion.
“A good walloping would have lifted the guilt from her shoulders.”
“What guilt?”
“For worrying us. It’s had her moping around the house—”
“If you’ve seen her moping, it’s because she hasn’t gotten over Cameron yet. She loved—”
“What nonsense,” Warren scoffed. “She never loved that little bastard. She just wanted him because he was the best-looking boy the town had to offer, though why she thought so I’ll never understand.”
“If that’s so, brother, then what had her crying every blasted day for a full week after we left Jamaica? It broke my heart to see her eyes all red and puffy. And it was all I could do to cheer her up before we got home. But I managed it. So I want to know what set her off again. Did you say something to her, Clinton?”
“I barely spoke two words to her. She spent most of the evening in her room.”
“Are you saying she was crying again, Drew?” Thomas asked carefully. “Is that what you’re so upset about?”
Drew shoved his hands in his pockets as he nodded curtly. “I can’t stand it, I really can’t.”
“Get used to it, blockhead,” Warren inserted. “They’ve all got their store of tears ready to discharge at a moment’s notice.”
“No one would expect an asinine cynic to know the difference between real tears and fake ones,” Drew retorted.
Clinton was about to jump in when he saw that Warren was ready to take serious exception to that
last remark. But he didn’t have to bother. Thomas defused Warren’s temper merely by placing his hand on his arm and giving him a slight shake of his head.
Clinton’s lips turned down in chagrin, seeing that. The whole family admired Thomas’s ability to remain calm under any circumstances—ironically, Warren most of all. Warren also tended to take Thomas’s censure to heart, whereas he usually ignored Clinton’s, a fact that annoyed Clinton no end, especially since Thomas was four years Warren’s junior, and also a half foot shorter.
“You’re forgetting that you were of the same opinion as the rest of us, Drew, when we agreed to allow that ridiculous engagement,” Clinton pointed out. “None of us thought that Georgina’s affections were seriously involved. For God’s sake, she was just a child of sixteen—”
“The reasons we agreed don’t matter when she’s gone and proved us all wrong,” Drew insisted.
“All that has been proven is that Georgie is incredibly loyal…and unbelievably stubborn,” Clinton replied. “And I’m inclined to agree with Warren. I still don’t think she actually loved Cameron.”
“Then why would she wait six—?”
“Don’t be a total ass, Drew,” Warren cut in. “The situation around here hasn’t changed in all these years. There still aren’t a great number of unmarried men in this town for her to choose from. So why shouldn’t she wait for Cameron to come back? She didn’t find anyone else in the meantime that she would prefer to him. If she had, you can bet she would have forgotten that Cornishman in the blink of an eye.”
“Then why did she run off to find him?” Drew asked hotly. “Answer me that?”
“Obviously, she felt she’d waited long enough. Clinton and I had already come to the same conclusion. He was going to take her with him when he went to New Haven to visit his children this trip home. His mother-in-law is still active in the social whirl there.”
“What social whirl?” Drew snorted. “New Haven is not much bigger than Bridgeport.”
“If that didn’t work, then I was going to take her to New York.”
“
You
were?”
Warren’s scowl became positively threatening. “You think I don’t know how to escort a woman about?”
“A woman, aye, but not a sister. What man would approach her with you near at hand…the perpetual brooder.”
That brought Warren to his feet again with eyes flashing. “I don’t brood—”
“If you two would stop trying to provoke each other,” Thomas managed to interrupt without raising his voice. “You might realize that you’ve gotten away from the point. What was intended is irrelevant at the moment. The fact remains that Georgie is obviously more unhappy than the rest of us thought. If she’s been crying…Did you ask her why, Drew?”
“Why?” Drew exclaimed. “Why else? She’s heartbroken, I tell you!”
“But did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t have to. The day she found me in Jamaica she said that Malcolm had married another woman and then she immediately burst into tears.”
“She hasn’t seemed the least bit heartbroken,” Clinton remarked. “She’s been damned bossy, if you ask me, after getting away with what she did the other day when she arrived. This blasted party tonight was her idea, too, and she’s thrown herself into preparing for it.”
“Well, you don’t see her down here this morning, do you? She’s probably hiding in her room because her eyes are all puffy again.”
Thomas actually frowned. “It’s time someone had a talk with her. Clinton?”
“What the hell do I know about these things?”
“Warren?” But before Warren could answer, Thomas chuckled. “No, better not you.”
“I’ll do it,” Drew offered reluctantly.
“When all you can do is make assumptions, and you turn to mush at the first sign of a few tears?” Warren sneered.
Before they could begin another argument, Thomas rose and started for the door, saying, “With Boyd likely still asleep after being out half the night, I suppose that leaves me.”
“Lots of luck,” Drew called after him, “Or have you forgotten she’s still mad at you?”
Thomas paused to glance back at Drew. “Did it occur to you to wonder why?”
“There’s nothing to wonder about. She didn’t
want
to go to England. She wanted you to go.”
“Exactly,” Thomas replied. “Which means she didn’t really care if she saw Cameron again or not. She just wanted the matter settled.”
“Well, hell,” Drew said after he’d gone. “Was that supposed to be significant?”
Warren couldn’t let that one pass. “It’s a wonder you aren’t still a virgin, Drew, with as little as you know about women.”
“Me?” Drew choked out. “Well, at least I leave them smiling. It’s a wonder that
your
women don’t freeze to death in your bed!”
They were too near to each other for that kind of exchange. All Clinton could do was yell, “Watch the blasted furniture!”
“T
homas!” Georgina exclaimed when she lifted the corner of the damp cloth covering her eyes to find her brother walking toward her bed, rather than her maid. “Since when do you just walk into my room without knocking?”
“Since my welcome became doubtful. What’s wrong with your eyes?”
She tossed the cloth on the table next to her bed and threw her legs over the side to sit up. “Nothing,” she mumbled indistinctly.
“What’s wrong with
you
then, that you’re still in bed? Do you know what hour it is?”
That managed to get a glare out of her. “I’ve been up. Does this look like my nightclothes?” she asked, indicating the bright yellow morning gown she was wearing.
“So you’ve just become lazy, is that it, with so much inactivity on your recent voyages?”
Her mouth dropped open before it pulled into a tight line of irritation. “What
do
you want?”
“To find out when you’re going to start talking to me again.”