by Dawn Brower
“You truly are interested in politics?” She stared at Cara as though she was some sort of foreign species. “I thought Darling said that in jest the other night.”
“If the livelihood of nearly every Bermudian wasn’t hanging in the balance, Miss Atherton, I would not be here this Season. But it is, and so I am.”
“Please, do call me Emma.”
She was a nice girl, and Cara couldn’t help but smile in response. “Then you must call me Cara in return.”
Emma released a sigh. “Well, Cara, my father does not discuss politics with me, but—” She glanced toward her brother and then her mouth fell slightly open and whatever she meant to say died on her tongue.
What in the…
Cara turned her attention in the same direction and…Had Lucien Gates robbed Emma of her breath? The captain was standing between Reese and Mr. Atherton, and Cara was sure that neither the earl nor the girl’s brother had suddenly caused her speechlessness.
“Emma…?” she prodded.
“Yes?” The dark-haired girl snapped her head back to Cara, and it would have been impossible to miss the blush upon her cheeks. “Have you an interest in Captain Gates?”
If so, she was bound for a heartache. Lucien was betrothed to some Miss Caldwell or something like that. At least, Cara thought he was, not that she ever gave Lucien’s romantic interests much of a thought at all. He had always been like a cousin to Cara, and therefore it had never occurred to her that anyone might ever blush or lose her train of thought over him. Oh, he was handsome enough, she supposed. Though he’d been rather grumpy the last few days. So much so, she hadn’t even thought to ask the duchess about him and thought it best to avoid the topic of the army captain all together. But now…
Emma shook her head. “It’s of no matter. He never—”
But the appearance of a liveried servant, carrying a shaky tray of long-stemmed glasses, halted whatever else Emma thought to add.
“Champagne, Miss Atherton?” the elderly servant asked.
“Oh!” Emma pushed off the bench to take one of the flutes before the entire tray crashed at their feet. “Thank you, Redding.”
Cara quickly followed the other girl’s lead and retrieved a glass of champagne as well.
A pair of red sails fluttered down the mast and a couple of crewmen untendered the barge which moved slightly beneath Cara’s feet.
“And we’re off,” Emma said with a smile.
Cara swayed slightly, but was steadied by a strong arm at her elbow. “Careful,” Reese muttered softly.
Heat swirled within her as she glanced up at him over her shoulder. “You’ve saved me once more.”
“Completely my pleasure, I assure you.” He then plucked a flute from the servant’s tray and gestured to the shoreline with his drink. “Certainly there’s nothing so lovely as this in Bermuda.”
Cara couldn’t help but laugh. The scene on the banks of the Thames was hardly picturesque. Coal stained the buildings within eyeshot, making nearly everything appear grimy; and the odor coming off the river was far from a welcoming scent. “Very difficult for Bermuda’s sunny days and pink sandy beaches to compete, I assure you.”
“Pink sand?” Emma asked.
“I’ve only ever seen varying shades of brown, myself,” Mr. Atherton added, as he and Lucien joined their group.
Cara had nearly forgotten they had an audience. She smiled toward their hosts and explained, “It’s from our coral. Broken up bits litter our beaches after many years of being beaten by the waves against our shores.”
“Coral, you say?” Reese nodded as though that made sense.
“So I’ve often heard,” Lucien added. “But there are probably lots of islands that can boast the same, don’t you think?”
Goodness, Lucien was grumpy and he did know better. “Not that I’ve ever seen or heard about, and Henry…” had visited hundreds of islands, but blast it! Cara hadn’t meant to mention Henry, and she felt Reese’s gaze sharpen on her though she kept her eyes focused on the duchess’ grandson. “I mean, no one has ever reported seeing such sights except along our beaches, Captain Gates.”
Chapter 6
The River Thames
Hadleigh Docks, Essex
Who the devil was Henry? Someone Reese needed to be aware of, obviously. He could tell that the moment Cara said his name and evaded his gaze, but there were too many people about to ask her directly. And while their voyage down the Thames had been mostly entertaining, he couldn’t keep his mind from going back to that question over and over again. Who the devil was Henry?
As the barge was steadied at the Hadleigh docks and festive music drifted down to the shore, Arch Atherton was the first to disembark, and he began assisting the other guests from the vessel.
Reese placed a steadying had on Cara’s back as Arch helped her ascend onto the dock. As the other ladies took their turn disembarking, Reese turned his head to the side and caught Lucien’s eye.
“Who the devil is Henry?” he asked his friend.
The army captain heaved a sigh. “I told you your false interest was the last thing Cara Beckett needs.”
In the first place, his interest in Cara was not entirely false, not really. Which was rather surprising, but it was true none-the-less. When he’d first set out to meet the pretty redhead, he’d never have imagined that he was more interested in her than he was some wager. Not that he was about to say as much to his suddenly priggish friend. But that was neither here nor there. “Indeed, but you have failed to mention anyone by the name of Henry, and I feel as though that omission could be something rather important.”
“Captain Henry Barnes.” Lucien glanced toward the shoreline and winced slightly. “He was her betrothed and was lost at sea during a storm, right along with her father.”
Oh, dear God. She lost both of them at the same time? Reese’s gut twisted at the thought. He hadn’t even realized her father was dead, as Lucien had neglected to mention that bit as well. Hadn’t Reese very specifically asked if there was anything he needed to know about the girl? A dead father and fiancé would certainly constitute two very important things he should have liked to have known before now. “And you didn’t think this was information you should tell me?”
His gaze flashed back to the docks where Cara and Miss Atherton were engaged in some sort of conversation. Cara was such a delightful girl – witty, amusing, and bloody gorgeous. And she’d come to Town trying to win votes in parliament because her father was gone and that chore had fallen to her. That made complete sense now, and what an astronomical chore that was going to be.
“I didn’t want you to use it against her,” Lucien muttered.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Reese grumbled. “Exactly, what sort of blackguard do you think I am?”
“The sort who wagered on making some girl he didn’t know fall in love with him for two hundred pounds,” his friend replied.
Damn it all! As much as it pained Reese to admit it, Lucien was right. This whole thing had been foolhardy from the onset and a feeling of shame washed over him. His gaze lingered on Cara and something squeezed in his chest. The last thing he was going to do was cause her even a moment’s worth of anguish. Not if he could help it. Once he got back to London, he’d pay Westham the sum of two hundred pounds and pretend he’d never been involved in such a ridiculous endeavor. And honestly, she could probably do without his attention too. He liked her, her rather liked her quite a bit; but he wasn’t the courting sort, and anything less would be dishonorable.
Reese blew out a breath, anxious to disembark the Hadleigh barge. “You should have told me,” he grumbled as he cast an accusatory glance in the army captain’s direction.
His friend, however, shrugged off the criticism with no apparent remorse.
Slowly, the men on the barge disembarked and then Reese finally stepped onto the dock. Cara flashed him a smile that made his heart lift and his gut twist at the same time. How the devil was he going to disentangle him
self from this mess? And did he really want to, in the pit of his stomach?
Arch Atherton breezed past him and offered his arms to both his sister and to Cara. “What shall we do first, ladies?”
“Oh!” Miss Atherton pointed off toward the fair. “We have to do the pleasure wheel first, Arch, so we can see everything from up high.”
Reese hadn’t even noticed the large wheel structure at the edge of the fair until the girl mentioned it. Of course, it was difficult to notice much of anything with the way his mind was whirring. Even still, Cara had been frightened in his phaeton. He couldn’t imagine she’d want to sit on one of the seats on that wheel and be lifted so high in the air.
Cara followed Emma’s outstretched arm, and her stomach roiled in protest. Certainly her new friend didn’t intend to go up in that contraption. What had she called it? A pleasure wheel? It looked more like a death wheel from where Cara stood. Why in the world would anyone in their right mind want to put themselves in that sort of danger?
She nearly stumbled as Mr. Atherton guided her through the other fair-goers toward the giant monstrosity of a wheel. And as they got closer to the thing, Cara’s fear only intensified and her hands trembled.
There were seats all around the perimeter of the great wheel, where people who may not have been of sound mind had all decided to sit. At the bottom of the wheel, there was a large crank that two very strong men used to make the whole thing turn, rotating the wheel in place, lifting people both high in the air and then back, safely to the ground.
Cara thought she was going to be ill.
“You can sit with me, Cara,” Emma began, exuberance evident in her voice as she started toward the entrance of the wheel.
“I—uh—”
“I’m certainly not going up in that thing,” Reese said from behind them.
Just the sound of his voice made Cara feel ten times better and breathe a little easier.
“Certainly, you’re not afraid,” Mr. Atherton teased his friend.
Reese stepped around the trio as he shrugged nonchalantly. “Call it whatever you wish, Arch. It makes no difference to me.” Then he glanced at Cara and offered her his arm. “You’ll keep me company, won’t you, Miss Beckett?”
He was her blessed lifeline and Cara would have thrown her arms around his neck in thanks…Well, except for the number of other people that filled the fair. “I should hate to leave you unattended, my lord.” She slid her hand from Mr. Atherton’s and took a step closer to Reese.
“Just because Darling is a spoilsport,” Emma said, “doesn’t mean you should miss out on all the fun, Cara.”
Fun? That was not the word Cara would use in this instance. “Truly, I don’t mind, Emma.” She hooked her arm with Reese’s. “Go up in your pleasure wheel. I’ll wait for you down here.” Where it was safe and the world wouldn’t spin beneath her.
“Suit yourself, then. Come on, Arch.” Emma lifted the edge of her skirts.
Mr. Atherton nodded in farewell to Cara and Reese as he started after his sister.
Once the pair was out of earshot, Cara released a monumental sigh and glanced up at the handsome earl at her side. “Thank you for coming to my rescue yet again.”
He winked at her. “It was you who rescued me from having to stay alone down here all by myself. Only a mad person would willingly want to ride such a thing.”
Despite Reese’s best efforts otherwise, he really was rather chivalrous. “So are you saying we rescued each other?”
He grinned down at her. “You can put it that way, if you’d like.”
“In that case, I suppose I don’t owe you a kiss for coming to my aid.”
“A kiss?” Reese coughed into his fist. “Well, come now, Cara, let’s not be hasty. I didn’t realize we were talking about taking kisses off the table.”
“But you said…” she teased.
“Well, I mean, I might have rescued you a little.”
“A little?” she laughed as she noticed Emma, out of the corner of her eye, slide into an open seat on the pleasure wheel.
“So perhaps a little kiss in return…” Reese’s voice rumbled over her.
Cara’s gaze flashed from the wheel back to Reese and a shiver raced through her. Heavens, it truly would be easy to lose her heart to the rogue if she wasn’t careful. “You are incorrigible.”
“You are welcome to try and change me.”
At that, she couldn’t help but laugh. “What a completely ridiculous thing to say.”
“Is it?” His hazel eyes twinkled just so.
Cara shook her head. “In my experience, people are who they are. Change comes from within and not from anywhere else.”
“Ah, a wise woman,” he said and sounded rather in awe, which was quite a heady feeling.
“Besides—” Cara shrugged “—why should I want to change you when I like you quite well enough the way you are?”
He quirked her a smile. “Only well enough? I shall have to try harder, then.”
There he was, being incorrigible once again. Cara smiled as she looked away from him, out toward the other fair-goers. And then she spotted…Well, it couldn’t be! No, it definitely was Commander Charles Ballantyne. Of all the places in the world to run into Caitrin’s betrothed.
Cara’s smile broadened, and she waved her hand in the air to catch the naval officer’s attention. “Charlie!” And then she remembered that she wasn’t back home in Bermuda, but on the coast of England and being so familiar would be frowned upon. She cleared her throat and called again, “Commander Ballantyne!”
Charlie looked directly at her, but he didn’t smile in return and a flash of something lit his eyes. A cross between panic and fear, perhaps? Then he quickened his pace away from her, toward the main row of the Hadleigh fair. What in the world was that about? Was it because she’d called so familiarly for him? Had she embarrassed him somehow? One would think a man who faced enemies on the sea and had dined at her table on countless occasions would—
“You know Ballantyne?” Reese asked.
Cara pulled her gaze from the quickly disappearing naval commander’s retreating back to Reese. “He’s my sister’s betrothed.”
An expression of concern marred his handsome face, which didn’t make any sense in the least. “If you have a care for her reputation, don’t say that aloud again.”
If she had a care for Cait’s reputation? What was that supposed to mean? Had Charlie done something incredibly awful? What could he have possibly done that would affect Cait in a negative way? “I beg your pardon?”
Reese lowered his voice even more. “We can discuss it when we’re not in a crowd of people, Cara.”
Something awful was definitely going on. How was she supposed to even pretend to enjoy the day when her stomach was twisted in such an awful knot?
“Ah, there you are,” Reese called to someone behind Cara.
She glanced over her shoulder to find Lucien Gates slowly making his way toward them.
“Not as quick as I once was,” Lucien called back.
Reese gestured to the pleasure wheel before them and said, “Miss Beckett and I have saved each other from having to ride this contraption. But you’re welcome to join Atherton and his sister if you’d like.”
A ghost of a smile settled on the army captain’s lips as his gaze flicked to Cara. “Still afraid of heights, are you?”
Afraid of heights? It’s true, Cara wasn’t the most adventurous sort, but as far as that wheel went…Not riding it seemed to make her of sound mind rather than being afraid of heights. “Just because I wouldn’t follow you up that tree doesn’t mean I’m afraid of heights, Captain Gates.”
Lucien chuckled as he reached them. “If Caitrin was here, I daresay we’d never get her off this thing.”
He was probably right about that. Cait was the most adventurous and thrill-seeking of her sisters. But just the mention of her sister’s name brought Cara’s mind back to Charlie Ballantyne and whatever awful thing it was that C
ait’s betrothed could have done. “Sorry you are stuck with me this trip, Lucien.”
He laughed once more. “I suppose we’ll have to make do with you.”
Cara rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, that’s so kind of you.” Whatever it was Emma Atherton saw in him, Cara had no idea. He didn’t possess even a thimble’s worth of Reese’s charm.
Chapter 7
It was more than annoyance that rippled across Reese, but it wasn’t quite anger either. He was somewhere in between and he wouldn’t know which emotion would take hold of him until he got a private word with Charles Ballantyne, not that he could say as much to either Lucien or Cara.
Luckily, Atherton and his sister had finished their ride on the pleasure wheel and had started back toward their group. His friend wore a large smile and Miss Atherton’s cheeks had a cheerful glow about them.
“Cara!” the girl gushed once the pair reached their group. “We must go see the menagerie!” She gestured toward the main thoroughfare. “I spotted a lion and a zebra from atop the wheel.”
While Reese needed to go see a particular jackass. “Do go on without me,” he said and released Cara’s arm.
The pretty redhead frowned as she met his eyes, confusion across her countenance. “You’re leaving?”
“I’ll find you soon enough,” he promised. “I won’t be long. I’m sure.” Just long enough to hand Ballantyne his ass, however long it took to find the blackguard.
Reese didn’t dare look in Lucien’s direction for fear that his friend would insist on accompanying him. And that would never do. He bid the small group a quick farewell and then started down the main row in the same direction the naval officer had darted down a bit ago.
He passed one fellow on stilts and another breathing fire, and spotted a woman walking a high wire at the far end of the fair. The place was more crowded than the Strand on any given afternoon. He turned down one row behind a woman selling bonnets and victory was right before him.