Compromised Hearts (29 page)

Emily met Cloud’s gaze and they both smiled, hers growing wider when Cloud murmured, “Thor Ryder. Tempest Ryder. I like it. Maybe I won’t strangle her.”

H
arper smiled and waved at Mark Topson, the blacksmith. He had smiled and waved at everyone but could not seem to control the outward signs of his euphoria. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he wished he could tell everyone.

All winter he had worked, nearly chaining himself to the store. He had cut expenses to the bone, both business and personal. At the same time, he had tried every way available to him to gather money. Whatever he had gathered he had given to Chilton and his other creditors, forestalling that man’s ability to foreclose. Now, at long last, he was finished with debt.

He had kept the growing evidence of his
success from Dorothy. She had stayed by him all through the struggle that he had just endured with little complaint, something he still found hard to believe. Now he could surprise her, show her there was some tangible reward for her steadfastness. After a winter of austerity, this would seem like the richest of gold strikes.

When he entered the house, he did so quietly. He never came home in the middle of the day. His good humor made him feel mischievous and he decided to surprise his wife. Not finding her downstairs, he started up to the second floor only to come to a dead halt, shock stopping all movement, as he reached the upstairs hall.

The door to the guest bedroom was wide open, so there was no muffling of the voices he heard. Slowly he moved toward the room. Standing in the doorway, he watched the couple on the bed for a few moments before he realized that, amidst the myriad of emotions he felt, there was no surprise. Now he knew the reason for Dorothy’s uncharacteristic forebearance.

Dorothy purred beneath Chilton’s caresses. He had proven to be a remarkably skilled lover. She wondered yet again why she had never taken a lover before. It was the perfect way to relieve the tedium of the day. Suddenly, she felt Chilton tense and he ceased his attentions. Moving off of him, she followed the direction of his gaze to the doorway and froze.

“Harper,” she croaked, scrambling for her robe.

“Surprise, dear. I’m home early.”

“Harper, darling, it isn’t what you think. I did this for you.” She glared at Chilton but he made no move to leave.

“For me? No, I think not. You did this for yourself, Dorothy, as you’ve always done anything.”

“That’s not true. I did this to save all you’d built.”

“I’ve saved it, Dorothy.”

“What?”

“I’ve saved it. That’s why I came home early, to tell you that I’m out of debt.”

She looked at Chilton, who simply shrugged. Then she looked at Harper, only to see him walking across the hall to their room. Hurrying after him, she saw him take a bag out of the closet and set it on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Leaving. You’ve worked so hard for this, you can keep it.”

“You can’t leave. You’re my husband. You love me.” She paled under the look he cast her way.

“No. I don’t. I was willing to try and regain what we’d had at the beginning, but I thought you had faith in me at least. I can see now that you never had even that. All the while you were acting the forbearing wife, you were whoring with Chilton for the money you felt I could never recoup. You were forbearing because you felt you had
everything secured and so could let me play the man.”

All the time he talked, he packed. He realized suddenly that he had very little. What possessions there were in the house were all of Dorothy’s choosing, reflecting only Dorothy’s tastes. The clothes he stuffed into his bag were really all he needed or wanted.

“You can’t desert me! Where can you go?”

“For now, I’ll throw myself on Emily’s mercy—not that she has any reason to look kindly upon me. Everything’s yours, Dorothy. Do with it as you will. There’ll be no more coming in unless you earn it yourself. Keep that in mind.”

When he closed his bag and started to walk out of the house, she grabbed his arm. “Harper, just give us a chance.”

Prying her fingers from his arm, he looked at her coldly. “I did. You wasted it. Actually, I should have seen this coming. You were willing to sell my sister to Chilton. The next logical step was to sell yourself. Good-bye, Dorothy.”

Stunned, she watched him walk down the stairs and out the door. It was a moment before she recalled Chilton and turned to see him, dressed only in his drawers, leaning in the doorway to the guest bedroom. Slowly, the realization that Harper, her husband, the man who was like clay in her hands, had just walked out on her was settling in.

“This is all her fault,” she hissed.

“Whose?” Chilton thought Dorothy looked just a little wild and wondered if she had actually loved Harper.

“Emily. That little bitch Emily.”

Although he did not see that at all, Chilton was not about to say so. He had wondered if Dorothy would attack him, for it had to occur to her that he would have known that Harper was getting clear of debt. Despite that, he had kept demanding her favors. He had formulated a mass of flattery to excuse that deception, but he was just as glad that he would not need to use it. So too did he see that Dorothy could be a useful ally in the completion of his revenge against those who had made a fool of him. By steering her toward blaming Emily for all her troubles, he could insure that.

“Ah, yes.” He put an arm around her shoulders and gently urged her back to the bed.

“Things have gone wrong since she arrived.”

“They have, haven’t they?”

“I’ll see that she pays for this.” Despite her fury, she allowed Chilton to push her down onto the bed.

“It all started when she jilted me.”

“Yes.” Dorothy smiled as she watched him shed his drawers. “So you have a score to settle too.”

“I don’t know,” he faltered convincingly as he untied her robe. “Maybe it’s best to just forget the whole thing.”

“Oh, no.” She welcomed him into her arms. “Never that, Thomas. Well talk about it.”

He smiled against her neck. Unlike Harper, he knew just how to handle Dorothy, understood her perfectly. Letting her work to convince him to follow her need for revenge, he carefully steered her in the direction he wanted her to go.

Emily never paused in patting the newly fed Temptest Mason Ryder’s small back as she went to answer the knock at the door. It did not surprise her to see Harper until she saw the luggage he carried. With a worried frown, she led him into the parlour where a contented Thor Pentrayne Ryder lay wriggling and gurgling on a blanket on the floor.

Even before he could explain, Cloud, Wolfe, and James strolled in, followed by Giorsal. Having finished the lunch Giorsal had cooked for them and helping to clear away the remains, they thought to indulge in a few moments or spoiling the twins before they had to return to work. Their surprise at seeing Harper also only came when they spotted his luggage.

“Off on a trip?” Cloud collected his tiny daughter from Emily, smiling into the child’s jade-green eyes.

Harper looked around at all the people gathered in the room. He had not anticipated such an audience to his personal troubles.

Then he smiled a little. They were family and he doubted that his personal troubles would long be a secret in town anyway.

“I’m not sure. I have left Dorothy.” He noted idly that his audience looked only mildly surprised.

“But I thought you had sorted everything out.” Emily sat down next to her brother on the settee. “You were planning to surprise her soon with the good news about your success, weren’t you?”

“I intended to do that this very day. I surprised her all right—in bed with Thomas Chilton.”

Cloud moved to pour Harper a large glass of brandy, musing fleetingly that he had become very adept at doing things with one hand. He almost smiled as he served Harper the drink, for Emily looked shocked to her very soul. She remained remarkably innocent concerning the follies and failings of the human race.

“You mean,” breathed Emily, “she was, I mean, she—with Chilton?”

“Yes, Emily,” Harper responded gently. “All winter.”

“But—that’s adultery.”

“Aye, and she’ll be plunged into the fires of hell for it,” Giorsal said. “But the question now is—which o’ them did ye kill?”

“Kill? I did not kill either of them, Giorsal.” He had to smile at her astonishment. “Bloodthirsty wench.”

“I am so sorry. Harper.”

He shrugged. “Mostly, it’s my pride that’s hurt, Em. I realized that on the way here. A man doesn’t like to think that he’s been played for a fool and that I have. All the while I thought she was standing by me, she was whoring with Chilton because she was so sure I would fail. She’d made it plain that she thought me useless, a loser. There’s no point in staying with her anymore.”

“But what of your home, your business?”

“I gave it all to her. After all, she’s worked so hard for it.” He was unable to suppress a touch of sarcastic bitterness.

“What will you do now?”

“I’m not quite sure, Em.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay here until you decide,” Wolfe invited. “ ‘Course, you’ll have to share with James.”

Smiling, Harper said, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“We can use another strong back just now, what with getting Cloud’s house built and all the work needing doing when spring is in the air. Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

After Wolfe had led Harper upstairs, Emily turned to Cloud. “Dorothy and Chilton. Can you believe it?”

“Easily.” Cloud exchanged his daughter for his son as Thornton arrived to entertain Tempest as she lay on the blanket on the floor.

She scowled at him. “Really?” “Really. That house and everything in it is all important to Dorothy. She’d do anything
to hold on to the symbols of her so-called status.” “Poor Harper.”

“Lucky Harper. Don’t scowl. You’ll get wrinkles.” He kissed her forehead. “He’s well rid of the bitch, and don’t think he can’t see that.”

“Well,” she mused aloud, “he didn’t seem very grieved, but then, men are good at hiding what they feel.”

“Not that good,” said James. “Not if they’ve just seen the woman they love in flagrante delicto.”

“Pardon?”

“Having at it with another mon, Em.” Giorsal’s blunt explanation caused the men to laugh and Emily to blush.

“He didn’t lift a hand against either of them, honey. That should tell you something.” Handing Emily their son as Wolfe and Harper returned, Cloud stood up. “To work, then.”

“Eager devil, isn’t he,” James groaned even as he strode out with the other men.

“Poor Harper.” Emily sighed again.

“Nay, your mon’s right. He’s lucky to be out of that. If a woman doesn’t have faith in her mon, then there’s no reason for him to stay. He might have been able to forgive her lying with Chilton, but he’ll never forgive her for doubting him like she did.”

“Mama, I think Tempest needs to be changed.”

That effectively took Emily’s mind off her
brother’s troubles. With three children, three men, and a house to take care of, even with Giorsal’s help, she was always busy. Not until much later did she find time to let her mind return to Harper’s difficulties.

Harper looked around at the half-built house on Cloud’s land. “Going to be a good size.”

Leaning against an inner wall support, Cloud began to roll a cigarette. “Got three kids already.”

“Ah, yes—Thornton. He’s got no kin?”

“Not that we know of. We put an ad in a Boston paper over the winter, but no word’s come on it.”

“Em’s probably glad it hasn’t.”

“Can’t say I was looking forward to hearing anything either. Kid’s grown on me, you might say.”

“Mmmm. Might say that. The whole town’s still in a state of shock over your transformation from rogue to family man.”

Cloud shrugged. “Lots of men have done the same.” He looked at the forming house. “Think Em’ll like it?”

“Of course. Why shouldn’t she?”

“Won’t be very fancy. Not what she’s used to.”

“What Em is used to,” Harper said quietly, “is rejection. She was unexpected and unwanted. She caught Mother on the change, as it were, and my parents never let Em forget it. If they weren’t blaming each other, they
were blaming her. They were a cold, unloving pair. The rest of us were full grown and couldn’t be bothered with her. I was fond of her, but not fond enough to stay around once I was old enough to set out on my own. What companionship she got came from the servants’ offspring.

“When my folks died, my older brother got the house. Well, his wife fancied herself quite the belle. She did not like having a younger, prettier girl around to steal all the attention, so Emily went to Carolynn. Carolynn saw her as a nursemaid for her three brats and something of a charity case. She used her as a servant and treated her like one.”

“She also saw Em as a possible substitute for herself in her husband’s bed, as I understand it.”

“Sounds like Carolynn. Anyway, Emily has been surrounded by the so-called better things in life, but has never really been part of it. My folks left her nothing but those few baubles of my mother’s. Carolynn got the really valuable pieces. Believe me, Emily would think a mud hut a palace so long as she was sharing it with someone who cared about her just a little. Give her a family that truly is one and she’ll think she’s in heaven.”

The only response Cloud gave was a nod. He had not realized that Emily’s life in Boston had been like that, although thinking back, he saw that she had hinted at it. That he would not, at least for a while, be keeping her in silks and pearls did not matter any
more. He could give her just what Harper felt she really needed and wanted. His only worry now was Thomas Chilton. Something told him the man was not yet done meddling in the affairs of his family.

Chilton lay sprawled on Catrina’s plush bed just recovering from a wild sensuous romp. He watched Catrina pour herself a glass of wine and began to plot a way to get her cooperation in the plans he and Dorothy had made. It was going to be tricky, for what he planned could sting Catrina’s vanity and that would make her uncontrollable.