Bonds of Matrimony (6 page)

           
“He
tells us that he’s quite fond of you and enjoys your company.
 
He voiced some concern over your
preparation for cattle ranching.
 
He even volunteered to take you in and work with you until we get to New
York.”

           
She
knew on some level that her grandmother was arguing with her claim that she
hardly knew him.
 
But Chastity
couldn’t get past what she’d just told her.
 
“He enjoys my company?
 
He said that?”

           
“Listen
to yourself,” Reese whispered from across the table.
 
“You’re going to give us both away if you aren’t careful,
Chase.”

           
She
was right.
 
They both were.
 
Already, Chase found myself looking for
him any time she left her cabin.
 
And when she was in her cabin, he was all she thought about.
 
She was completely infatuated with the
man, and she couldn’t jeopardize her sister and grandmother because of her
surprising attraction to this stranger.
 
She could ruin everything for all three of them.

           
“You
can’t see him again, Chastity.
 
Not
while we’re on this ship,” her grandmother ordered her sternly.

           
Chase
nodded in agreement.
 
“You’re
right.
 
I won’t.
 
Our safety on this leg of our trip is
entirely dependent on convincing everyone on board that we are young men.
 
I won’t ruin this for us.”
 
She met her grandmother’s eyes first,
and then her sister’s.
 
She nodded
to assure them that she meant what she had said.

CHAPTER 4

           
She
managed to keep her promise for a full day and a half.
 
After dinner that evening, Chastity
stayed in her room with her sister and tried to teach her the rules of
poker.
 

           
“I
think I’m starting to understand,” she beamed.
 

           
“You’re
doing very well,” Chase assured her, preoccupied with thoughts of Colton
Webb.
 
She wondered where he was at
that very moment.
 
She wondered if
he was sitting at a table in the lounge, looking over his hand, and waiting for
her to arrive.

           
“Perhaps
I should go to the lounge and try my luck at cards,” she suggested, grinning at
her cards, not daring to look at her sister directly.

           
“Perhaps
you should,” she challenged.

           
“Perhaps
I could find the love of my life, too,” she teased.
 

           
“He
isn’t the love of my life.
 
He’s
just a man.”

           
“He’s
one of the most handsome men I’ve ever met,” she argued.

           
Chase
tried to hide her smile.
 
“Me,
too,” she muttered.
 

           
“What
is he like?
 
He seems so…” she
trailed off, unable to explain it.

           
“Charismatic?”

           
“Irresistible,”
she corrected.
 
“He told
Grandmother that he’s from Texas, too.
 
A place called Midland County.
 
I wonder how far that is from Slaughter.
 
Grandmother wants you to stay away from him now because our
safety depends on hiding our identity.
 
But that doesn’t mean you can’t see him once we’re in America.
 
Perhaps Midland County is nearby.
 
Maybe Marcus knows Mr. Colton
Webb.
 
Wouldn’t that be something?”
 
It most certainly would be
something.
 
Her sister had revived her
fantasies and given her something new to focus on.
 
Chase simply dismissed her excitement with a shrug.
 
These ideas weren’t safe right
now.
 
She needed to find a way to
keep him out of her system for four days.
 

           
The
following morning, she hurried out of bed and rushed to the dining room for an
early breakfast.
 
Chastity figured
that if Webb had spent the evening playing cards in the lounge, he probably
wouldn’t be up too early for breakfast.
 
The last thing she wanted to do was run into him now.
 
He would probably insist on knowing why
she hadn’t joined them for cards last night.
 

           
Fortunately,
she managed to finish her breakfast without any incidents with Colton
Webb.
 
In fact, she managed to
avoid running into him all day.

           
That
third evening on the ship, Chase was reading in her room and feeling a bit
antsy.
 
She had chosen one of
Reese’s romantic novels to read, in hopes that it would distract her.
 
Instead, she struggled to avoid
visualizing herself with Colton Webb riding horseback through the prairie.
 
She pictured him putting his arms
around her and kissing her mouth.
 
She
imagined what it would be like to watch him lean over and smile into her eyes.

           
She
had to get out.

           
She
hastily closed the book, startling Reese, who was sitting on top of the bed
reading another romantic novel.
 
She
pushed myself up from the chair she’d been sitting in and pulled on a jacket.

           
“What
are you doing?” she asked, sounding concerned.

           
“I
have to get out of here.”

           
“But
Grandmother—”

           
“I’m
just going to go walk on the main deck,” she assured her sister.
 
“I’ll stay out of the lounge.
 
I promise.”

           
Reese
sat back and buried her nose in her book again.
 
But Chastity caught her sister peeking over the book to
watch her as she walked out the door.
 
She had every right to worry.
 
But Chase had made a promise to her grandmother, and she was too
determined to make it to America safely to risk everything for Colton Webb.

           
The
night air was cold and crisp, stinging her face and making her grateful for
having grabbed a jacket.
 
In spite
of the cool air, there were a surprising number of people walking the deck,
just like she was doing.
 
She kept
a brisk pace in an effort to generate more body heat.
 
She was also hoping the exercise would tire her out so that she
could sleep soundly for once.

           
Ahead
of her, a young boy trailed behind two women strolling arm-in-arm.
 
The light of the full moon glinted off
of his white-blond hair.
 
He fell
further behind the two women when he began tossing his stuffed toy into the air
and trying to catch it.

           
Chase
smiled to herself and slowed down to enjoy watching the simple entertainment of
the child.
 
He squealed in delight
when he caught the toy and clutched it to his chest.
 
He then threw the toy again, higher this time, and watched
it fall back to the deck of the ship.
 
He ran to where it landed and bent to pick it up, tossing it in the air
as he righted himself.
 
He cried
out as the toy went over the railing of the ship and disappeared into the
night.

           
“Bear!”
he yelled, running for the railing.

           
Without
thinking, she began running herself, softly cursing her distance from him.
 
He stepped up onto the railing and
leaned over precariously, crying loudly for his lost toy.
 
He began to topple just as she reached
him and closed her left hand around his chubby calf.

           
“No!”
she cried out, reaching frantically for his other leg.
 

           
The
boy screamed in terror and squirmed, threatening the grip she had on him.
 
Chase caught his other foot, and his
miniature shoe came off in her hand.
 
As suddenly as she had grabbed him, a pair of strong arms reached down
over the railing beside her and gripped the child around his little
middle.
 
He pulled the boy safely
onto the deck.

           
The
boy cried and collapsed in Chastity’s arms, sobbing about his toy bear, forcing
her to wonder if he knew how close he’d been to dying.
 
He couldn’t have been older than
three.
 

           
“Charles!”
a woman cried out, reaching Chase’s side and kneeling beside her.
 
She took her boy into her arms.

           
“Bear,
Mama!” he cried, pointing to the railing.

           
“He
accidentally threw it overboard, ma’am.
 
He nearly went over the side himself when he tried to get the bear,” she
explained.

           
She
met Chase’s eyes and clutched her son’s head to her bosom.
 
“Thank you.”
 
She nuzzled her cheek against the boy’s hair and sniffled
softly.
 
“Oh, my Charles,” she
crooned.

           
“I
want Bear,” he sobbed.

           
She
kissed his head and combed her fingers through his hair.
 
“We’ll get you another bear, baby.
 
Thank you again,” she said softly to
her.

           
In
spite of the fact that the little boy was unharmed, her heart was still racing
in fear.
 
And when she turned to
leave the mother and child, she found herself facing Colton Webb.
 
Chase had to look up to meet his eyes,
and she felt warmth spreading to her toes when he grinned down at her.

           
“That
was a close call,” he replied casually.
 
He had apparently been the pair of arms that had helped her lift Charles
back to safety.

           
“Thanks
for your help,” she answered.

           
“You
headin’ for the card tables?” he asked with a grin.

           
She
shook her head.
 
“My grandmother
has asked me not to,” she told him honestly.
 

           
“She’s
an amazing woman, your grandmother.
 
Not your typical woman,” he added.
 
He pulled two cigars out of his shirt pocket and offered her one.
 

           
She
accepted.
 
“What makes you say
that?”

           
He
shrugged and cupped the flame of the match with his palm to keep the wind from
blowing it out.
 
He managed to
light his cigar and exhaled a cloud of smoke before answering.
 
“She’s tough.
 
She’s not dainty or frail.”

           
Chase
got a little thrill from hearing his admiration of these traits.
 
These were the same unladylike traits she
had been criticized for.
 
“Do you
think she’ll survive the hard life of cattle ranching in Texas?” she asked him,
curious to hear his opinion.

           
He
grinned up at the moon and sucked on his cigar for another moment.
 
“I think your grandmother could survive
damn near anything.”

           
She
struggled to light her third match and grunted when the wind blew out the flame
immediately.
 
Webb heard her
frustrations and laughed.
 

“Here,” he offered, taking
the cigar from her mouth and putting it in his own.
 
She watched his lips hold the cigar while he battled the
wind to light it for her.
 
When he
returned the cigar to her, the tip was wet from having been in his mouth.
 
She put the cigar in her mouth slowly,
hoping to taste him.
 
A light fluttering
began in her stomach and moved lower, to the core of her femininity.
 

“Tell me about Texas.”