Bonds of Matrimony (5 page)

           
“Cigar?”

           
“Please.”
 
She accepted his matches and lit her
own, as though she’d done it millions of times before.
       

           
“What’s
your brother like?” Webb asked, turning on his stool to study Chase more
closely.
 
She didn’t have to face
him to know that he was scrutinizing her.

           
“He’s
three years older.
 
Dark like
me.
 
My younger brother, Reese, is
blond.
 
He looks more like my grandmother.”

           
“Is
he still in England?”

           
“Reese?
 
No.
 
He’s here.”

           
“On
board?
 
Funny.
 
I never see him with you.”

           
“Reese
and I are very different.
 
He
spends more time watching over my grandmother.”

           
She
met his eyes and saw his concern.
 
“Is she ill?”

           
“Oh
no.
 
She’s healthier than you and
me.”

           
The
silence grew awkward.
 
She turned
and saw Webb grin into his beer.
 
“You don’t like talking about your family, do you?”

           
“It’s
not a fascinating topic.”

           
“I
was just wondering if your brother was as…” he trailed off.

           
“What?”

           
“I
just wonder if he’s a strong man.
 
You seem very sheltered, Cochrane.
 
I hope you know what you’re getting into by coming to Texas.”

           
“Tell
me about it,” she suggested.
 

           
“It’s
hard work.
 
The sun is brutal this
time of year.
 
Ranching is a
lifestyle, not a job.
 
And judging
by your…” again he paused and then grabbed her wrist.
 
“Well, judging by your soft hands, for example, hard work
isn’t something I’d think you were used to, no offense.”

           
“None
taken.”
 
How could she be
offended?
 
He paid closer attention
than she would have thought he did.
 
And he thought she was a prissy young man.
 
It occurred to her that he was probably hoping her brother
would make her more manly.
 
“And
you’re right.
 
I’m probably not
prepared for what lies ahead.”

           
“What
was your life like back in England?”

           
“Stifling.
 
Rigid.
 
Detestable.”

           
He
laughed.
 
“Okay, I get the idea. So
why’d you stay?
 
Why not leave with
your brother?”

           
“My
father was an earl.
 
My parents
obsessed about the perceptions and opinions of others.
 
My brother disgraced the family and was
disowned.
 
He left because he had
no other option.”
 
She didn’t think
he could possibly understand that.

           
Surprisingly,
he nodded.
 
“I know a bit about
disgrace.”
 
Before she could ask
for more details, he said, “So have you also been disowned?
 
Why are you following him now?”

           
“There
is nothing keeping us there, not anymore.”

           
“Nothing
keeping you?
 
As the second son,
wouldn’t you be next in line for your father’s title and estate?”

           
That
had been a mistake on her part.
 
Apparently, Colton Webb knew more about English titles than she thought
he had.
 
She couldn’t come up with
a response.
 
“My father had other
plans,” she answered lamely.

           
“He
didn’t approve of your playing cards,” Webb guessed.

           
That
was true enough.
 
She only
nodded.
 

           
“Well,
be prepared.
 
Texas is not an easy
place to make home.”

           
“We’ll
see,” Chase answered quietly.
 
She
looked at the half full glass on the bar in front of her.
 
“And on that note, I’m going to have to
turn in for the evening.
 
This
excitement has exhausted me.”

           
He
nodded in response, and she turned and left him alone at the bar.

***

           
That
night, Chastity lay on her back, focusing on the movement of the ship as a
distraction from the thoughts that continued to plague her.
 
She couldn’t get Colton Webb out of her
mind.
 
He was beautiful as no man she’d
never met before.
 
And yet, he was
also more masculine than any man she’d met before.
 
He talked about how hard life was in Texas, but he was quick
to smile and seemed to thoroughly enjoy life.
 

           
It
seemed she had only just fallen asleep when Reese woke her for breakfast.

           
“But
it’s so early,” she complained, rolling over and burrowing deeper under the
warm velvet quilt.

           
“Well
rest then.
 
Grandmother and I are
going to the dining room for breakfast.
 
Come and join us when you decide to roll your weary body out of bed,”
she sighed, clearly frustrated with her sister’s lack of energy.

           
Chastity
managed to ward off the feeling of guilt for thirty minutes or so, but then she
felt obligated to join her family.
 
As she descended the elegant staircase, she located her grandmother and
sister.
 
They were sitting at a
table with the Havisham sisters again…and Colton Webb!

           
She
came to a dead stop in the middle of the staircase, unsure of whether she
should rush down the steps and put a curt end to their conversation or turn and
flee the scene entirely.
 
Her grandmother
knew that she was portraying a young man.
 
Chastity was expected to be playing cards and drinking and sharing
cigars with the other male passengers on the ship.
 
Surely, her grandmother couldn’t get angry about that.
 
And she was too intelligent to reveal
to Webb that her grandson was a young woman in disguise.
 

           
No,
Chase was more concerned about the conclusions her grandmother was
unquestionably drawing at that very moment.
 
She knew that Chase had met him in Liverpool.
 
And she was a woman, after all.
 
Would she detect her granddaughter’s
undeniable attraction to the Texan?
 
There was little doubt in Chase’s mind.
 
A blind woman wouldn’t be able to miss the beauty of the
rugged man.

           
Before
she was aware of her own actions, her feet carried her down the last steps and
across the dining room.
 
She
couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

           
He
was laughing easily, per normal, and listening to the conversation at the
table.
 
As she drew closer, Chase
heard her grandmother’s voice while she held the attention of every passenger
at the table.

           
“I
mounted that horse with the certainty that I would prove myself better than
every man present.
 
I thrust my
nose in the air and dug my heels into that stallion; and the next thing I know,
I’m standing and brushing mud off of my bottom while all the men laughed wildly.”

           
Webb
was either extremely polite, or he was enthralled with Lady Colchester’s
story.
 
He listened attentively,
leaning back in his chair with his gaze focused on her.
 
He didn’t even notice Chastity’s
approach.

           
She
was startled when he finally spoke.
 
“Well, Mrs. Cochrane, I wish I would have been one of those men to see
that.
 
A woman that gutsy?
 
I would have dragged you straight to
the church if I’d seen you defy your father and every other man in town like
that.
 
In Texas, we call that
grit.
 
And it’s not often you meet
a woman with that kind of grit,” he assured her.

           
The
elder woman blushed and lifted her cup of tea to her lips.
 
Taking a delicate sip, she replaced the
china cup in its saucer on the table and then saw her granddaughter standing
behind Reese.
 
“Chase, my boy!” she
greeted.
 
“Your friend, Mr. Webb,
asked to join us for breakfast.
 
He’s been humoring this old woman’s reminiscences for the duration of
the meal.”

           
“Mornin’,
Cochrane,” he greeted.

           
“Good
morning,” she replied naturally.
 
Chase
pulled up a chair and dared to look into her grandmother’s eyes.
 
She was curious to see how much she had
figured out.
 
There was a clear
glimmer in her blue eyes, but Chase couldn’t decipher the meaning.

           
“Well,
Evelyn, it was wonderful seeing you again this morning.
 
We must be going,” the elder Havisham
sister explained, as the two rose to leave the table.

           
Webb
jumped out of his seat to help the two women out of their chairs.
 
“Allow me to escort you back to the
main deck, ladies,” he suggested.
 
The women didn’t protest.
 
He was a few steps from the table when he tossed back, “See you tonight,
Cochrane.
 
Bring your brother, if
he’d like to come.”

           
She
didn’t respond.
 
She was too busy
noticing her grandmother’s sternly pursed lips.
 
She waited until he and the Havisham sisters were nearly to
the top of the staircase before she hissed, “
That’s
Mr. Webb?”

           
Chase
looked across the table and saw Reese smile into her breakfast plate.
 
Evidently, both women noticed the
attractive masculinity of Colton Webb.

           
“Yes,”
she answered innocently.
 
“How
strange that he chose your table of all tables.
 
Did he know who you were?”

           
“He
knew as soon as we introduced ourselves as Evelyn and Reese Cochrane.
 
He made the connection and introduced
himself.
 
He told us that you spent
the evening together in the lounge last night.
 
Mentioned that you might have saved him from being
shot.”
 
She raised her eyebrows in
question.

           
“It
was nothing really.
 
I bumped into
this man as he pulled out his gun, and nobody was hurt.
 
I was never in any danger,
Grandmother.
 
I swear it,” she
promised in a voice barely above a whisper.

           
She
studied her granddaughter’s eyes for a few moments and shook her head in
disgust.
 
She picked up her cup of
tea again and mumbled, “I don’t believe for one moment that you were never in
any danger.”

           
“He
wasn’t aiming the gun at me.
 
There
was no struggle.
 
I’m—”

           
She
interrupted Chase, saying, “The gun wasn’t the danger.”
 
She paused and sipped her tea, studying
her granddaughter over the rim of her glass.
 
“And judging by the color in your cheeks, the danger is
still very real.”

           
“Grandmother,
it’s nothing.”

           
“A
man like that is never nothing, darling.”

           
“We’ve
just played cards a time or two.
 
I
hardly know the man,” she protested.