He could not believe that Juliette had left him.
She had left him and ventured into an unknown city on her own. Harrison was momentarily stunned, his mounting anger tempered by an overwhelming concern for her immediate safety. Did the stubborn wench even know where she was going? Or how dangerous it was for her to be alone in a strange city? Was what they had shared together on the Sea Minx meaningless to her?
Of course, he knew where she went.
Fortunately for him, Juliette had left her things strewn about his cabin so he had seen the letters from her friend Christina Dunbar and noted Fifth Avenue as the address. Now Harrison knew he had to go after Juliette, if only to wring her neck for taking such a terrible risk and to assure himself that she was well.
Then…then the little baggage could be on her own, if that was what she wanted so desperately. He would wash his hands of her. Not only had she scorned his offer of marriage, she had fled from him. No woman had ever done that to him before! Torn between irritation and wounded pride, Harrison stormed across the deck of his ship.
“Captain!” Robbie Deane ran up to him, out of breath and his expression anxious. “I’m sorry, Captain. I thought it was okay, because Miss Juliette said that you knew, but now I see—”
“What is it, Robbie?” Harrison asked, his heart pounding.
The young man spoke hurriedly, his freckled face full of contrition. “I’m sorry. I guess while you were in the shipping office, Miss Juliette asked me to get a hired carriage for her. I just figured she was going to your house, so I helped her. That was a couple of hours ago. Now you have everyone on the ship and the dock looking for her, as if she were missing. So I thought I should tell you that it is all my fault that she’s disappeared. I’m sorry, Captain.”
Harrison shook his head in disbelief. “Don’t worry, Robbie, I have a pretty good idea of where she went. I appreciate that you helped her.” Harrison’s heart turned cold at the confirmation of Juliette’s disappearance.
Robbie shook his head. “You mean she just left us?” The wounded expression on the young boy’s face must have mirrored the one on Harrison’s own.
Hearing the harsh truth said aloud almost brought him to his knees. He gave Robbie a sympathetic look. “It seems that way.”
With a sickening feeling in his gut, Harrison gave some brief instructions to Charlie and left the Sea Minx in his first mate’s care while he went ashore.
He found the house of Christina Dunbar easily enough, since he was quite familiar with that particular neighborhood. It was a grand five-story brownstone on a very fashionable section of Fifth Avenue near Thirty-fourth Street, almost as impressive as his own house. He stared up at the front door, feeling something of a fool. He had followed a woman who did not want to be followed. A woman who obviously did not want him, after he asked her to marry him. What could he say to her now? Nothing. He just prayed that she had arrived without mishap.
Harrison took a deep breath and climbed the stone steps. Lifting the brass knocker, he rapped on the door.
A weary looking butler answered his knock. The distinct frown on the man’s face signaled his displeasure at being disturbed so early. “May I help you?”
Harrison stood quietly, wondering how to word his question without sounding as if he were a crazed lunatic. “I apologize for intruding. This is the Dunbar residence, is it not?”
The man nodded his head. “Yes.”
“My name is Captain Harrison Fleming, of the clipper ship the Sea Minx, and I…I was wondering if a young lady had arrived here this morning.”
The butler eyed him skeptically.
“Miss Juliette Hamilton traveled from London on my ship. We docked this morning and she left, without waiting for an escort. I just wished to be certain she arrived at Mrs. Dunbar’s safely.”
The man relaxed at Harrison’s explanation. “Why yes, sir, a Miss Hamilton did arrive just a short time ago. She is upstairs with Mrs. Dunbar now. Shall I inform her that you are here, Captain Fleming?”
Harrison shook his head. “Thank you, but no. Now that I know she is here and safe, I shall be on my way. Good day.”
With a heavy heart he returned to his ship, which seemed strangely empty without Juliette on board. His crew eyed him carefully as they finished the final unloading and he gave them leave. Later that afternoon, he had a telegram sent to Lucien Sinclair, informing him that his sister-in-law was safe at the home of her friend. He did not wish for her family to continue to worry about Juliette.
Then Harrison threw himself into his work, attempting to block Juliette Hamilton from his mind. For two days he worked nonstop in his office at the H.G. Fleming & Company building near South Street, where he could see the beginning efforts of the construction of the caissons for a new suspension bridge being built from New York across the East River to Brooklyn. He rescheduled meetings he had missed, brokered deals for his shipping line, checked on the status of his steamships, met with investors and merchants, and took care of correspondence, including a long letter to his sister Isabella in Boston.
On his third day in New York, he made plans to travel to his estate in New Jersey. He had put off seeing Melissa for too long now and he needed to get home to her. He also had to oversee some of the new construction on his estate.
While he sat at his desk, a knock on his office door caught his attention. “Come in,” he called, expecting his assistant to enter. Harrison did not look up from the letter he was writing to a gentleman who wished him to invest in a device that could transmit speech electrically. The idea intrigued him.
“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Harrison Fleming.”
Startled, Harrison glanced up to see Lord Jeffrey Eddington standing in front of his desk, and he dropped his ink pen in surprise.
“So they sent you after her, did they?” Harrison asked, assuming that Lucien Sinclair was searching for his sister-in-law.
“No one ‘sent’ me after Juliette,” Jeffrey said easily, but his expression remained anxious. “I offered to find her. And here I am.”
Harrison grinned lazily. “Well, it’s nice of you to visit me for a change.”
Jeffrey gave him a tense look. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not here to visit. Where is she?”
“She’s perfectly fine and in remarkably good health. I’ve already sent a cable to Lucien informing him that his foolhardy sister-in-law arrived in New York three days ago. So sit and have a drink with me.” Jeffrey, visibly relaxed at his words, sank into a leather chair beside the desk, mumbling his thanks to God in a faint whisper.
Harrison poured them each a shot of bourbon. He handed a glass to his relieved friend and sat in the chair behind his desk, pushing the papers he had been working on to the side.
Jeffrey took a drink, and so did Harrison. The reddish liquid burned his throat in a familiar way and it surprised him how much he needed it. He glanced back at Jeffrey.
“I cannot even imagine how worried Juliette’s family has been.”
Jeffrey shook his head. “No, you cannot.” He took another sip and stared at Harrison intently. “Did you know she planned to run away with you?”
“No!” Harrison laughed at that possibility. If he had known Juliette Hamilton was aboard his ship that night he set sail, he never would have left London. “Does anyone know what wild schemes Juliette is planning in that crazy, clever head of hers?”
A wry smile crossed Jeffrey’s face. “I see you have gotten a chance to know our darling Juliette quite well during the voyage.”
That is a vast understatement, Harrison thought to himself, as images of all he had done with Juliette flashed through his head, but even when he thought he knew the woman who had enchanted him, he had not known her at all. More was the pity for him.
“We discovered her onboard that first night, after we had already set sail,” Harrison explained. “She had hidden in a storage room. When she was brought to my cabin, I was half tempted to turn the ship around and bring her home right t
hen.”
“Why didn’t you?” Jeffrey questioned, his eyes narrowing.
“Because I was angry. I was already behind schedule as it was and I have some pressing family issues to take care of. I could not afford to be inconvenienced and delayed because some reckless, stubborn girl decided to have an adventure. In the first place, she was not invited nor welcome aboard my ship, and in the second place, she was not my responsibility.”
“Point taken,” Jeffrey acknowledged reluctantly. “But still, as a gentleman, you might have—”
“As a gentleman, nothing. I figured she was hell-bent on getting to America one way or another and was just crazy enough to stow away on someone else’s ship. At least if she stayed with me, I could keep her safe until—”
Harrison stopped speaking in midsentence, as his words hit home. Had he kept Juliette safe? Had he not taken advantage of her innocence? No, he had not quite kept her safe for he had not been a gentleman with her. Even when they docked in New York, he had tried to do right by her, but then she had fled from him, without even a good-bye. His heart began to thump loudly in his chest. He ignored it.
“Keep her safe until…?” With one eyebrow raised in question Jeffrey prompted him to finish his sentence.
“Until other arrangements could be made for her.” Harrison declared, finishing the rest of his bourbon and setting the glass back on his desk with a louder thud than he had intended.
“And now that you are here, I leave all future arrangements to you. Juliette Hamilton is your responsibility. I officially wash my hands of her.”
“Where is she now?”
“She is staying with that friend of hers who lives on Fifth Avenue.”
Jeffrey nodded his head. “Ah, yes, Christina Dunbar. In the letter Juliette left her sisters, she mentioned that she would be going to see her friend. That was to be my next stop after I checked in with you.”
After a thoughtful silence, Harrison asked, “Who is he?”
“Who is who?” Jeffrey’s puzzled expression gave Harrison pause.
“The man she came to New York to be with. Do you know who he is?”
“Juliette came here to be with a man?” Jeffrey moved to the edge of his seat and appeared utterly incredulous.
“I’m asking you that question.” Harrison kept his irritation in check.
“Did she tell you that?”
Harrison recalled all the denials Juliette had given when asked the same question. He had refused to believe her. Uncomfortable now, Harrison stammered. “Well, not exactly, no. But what other reason would a beautiful woman have to run away from a loving family and a wonderful home to travel to another country to…?” His voice trailed off at the sound of Jeffrey’s laughter.
Jeffrey’s loud guffaws echoed through the office. “Maybe you didn’t get to know Juliette that well after all!”
“What do you mean?”
“I have grown quite close to Juliette over the last year. If you haven’t noticed, she’s not like other women. I’m probably her closest friend and I would wager that I know her better than even her sisters do. I can tell you this with the utmost certainty: Juliette Hamilton never does anything to please anyone other than herself. And she would never do anything to try to win over any man.”
Harrison felt a strange pang of uneasiness in his chest at Jeffrey’s words, yet he said nothing.
“Juliette has threatened to leave London for as long as I’ve known her. Her friend gave her an open invitation to visit so I suppose that proved to be too much of a temptation for her to resist. To add to that, her mother had expressly forbidden her to go, which was probably just the same as sparking a match to a powder keg. Your ship simply provided her with an opportunity she waited a long time for. Juliette lives in the moment and takes chances. She has a mind more like a man’s, despite having the face of an angel.”
Harrison recalled images of Juliette climbing the mizzenmast, Juliette wearing the key to his cabin around her neck, and Juliette sewing closed the tops of all the socks she was supposed to be mending. In spite of himself, he grinned. “Yes, I’ve noticed that about her.”
“Believe me, if Juliette had come to New York to be with a man, I would know about it.”
Harrison was still not totally convinced. “But you didn’t know she had stowed away on my ship, or that she was leaving London at all.”
“That’s true enough,” Jeffrey admitted reluctantly. “I’m impressed that she could keep a secret of that magnitude from me. But I would know if Juliette were in love. She would have confided in me. I’m sure of it.”
Harrison gave Jeffrey a long look. “What are your interests in Juliette?”
“What are yours?” Jeffrey countered.
After a tense silence, Harrison finally said, “Listen Jeffrey. I did not ask for the responsibility of Juliette’s welfare, but I did get her to New York unharmed. As soon as I arrived, I sent a cable to Lucien to let him know that his sister-in-law was safe. She is now happily ensconced at the home of her childhood friend. What more do I need to do?”
Jeffrey held up his hand in concession. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Harrison stood.
“Good, because I need to visit my sister in New Jersey. As I mentioned, she has not been well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jeffrey commented. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Thank you, but no.” He could not help himself from asking, “So what are you going to do about Juliette? Are you taking her directly back to London?”
Jeffrey hesitated before smiling. “First I thought I would wring her pretty neck for putting herself in such danger and scaring her sisters and me half to death. My main concern was to ascertain that she had been on your ship and that she had arrived safely. But I suppose I shall have to bring her home. Colette and the rest of them would have my head if I returned without her.”
“She won’t go.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I wanted to send her on my next ship back to London, but she left for her friend’s home before I could stop her.”
Jeffrey’s broad grin spread across his face. “That’s my Juliette.”
Harrison bristled at the possessiveness in Jeffrey’s words. Quickly changing the subject, he asked, “How was your voyage?”
“Sea travel is not my favorite, but it was fine.”
“Where are you staying?”
“No where at the moment, since I just arrived this afternoon. Can you recommend a nice hotel?”
Harrison shook his head. “You are more than welcome to stay at my house. I’ll be leaving for the New Jersey shore on a steamboat tomorrow, but my staff will take good care of you for as long as you stay. Come with me now, and we’ll get you settled. Then you can pay a visit to Juliette quite easily. I live only a few houses away from the Dunbars.”
Jeffrey could hardly refuse.
14
What Goes Around, Comes Around
“Oh, Juliette, that looks lovely on you!” Christina clapped her hands with glee as she admired the elegant gown of blue silk that Juliette wore. “Doesn’t it look lovely on her, darling?”
Maxwell Dunbar nodded in agreement with his wife, but barely glanced in her direction. A large, barrel-chested man, Maxwell Dunbar kept his dark, intense eyes fixed squarely on Juliette. Uncomfortable with her friend’s husband’s stare, Juliette continued walking with them into their elaborately decorated dining room.
“Thank you very much for lending the gown to me,” Juliette said as she took her place at the lavishly set table.
“You are most welcome. Now we shall have to host a party to introduce you to all our friends.”
“Oh, Christina, that really is not necessary—” Juliette began.
“Of course it is,” Christina insisted. “My dearest friend has come all the way from London to visit me. And you are the sister-in-law of an earl! I simply must show you off to all my new friends.”
“While I’m weari
ng your clothes!” Juliette laughed at the absurdity of it.
Christina patted her softly rounded belly and smiled. “Well, I certainly cannot wear my gowns now, so you might as well enjoy them.”
“You mustn’t even consider having a party for me in your condition,” Juliette protested. “I won’t hear of it.”
Maxwell chimed in with a too-bright, too-eager smile. “Miss Hamilton is quite right. You should be resting, Christina.”
“I suppose you are both correct. Besides, anyone who is anyone is out of town,” Christina admitted cheerfully. Her light brown hair curled in ringlets around her face and her brown eyes sparkled. “But since your trunks were misplaced while they unloaded the ship, I’m happy to have you wear my gowns for as long as you need them.”
When she arrived at the Dunbar residence three days ago, Juliette had confessed to Christina just how she had come to be in New York and how she had slipped away from the Sea Minx in a hired carriage. Leaving the ship that morning had been quite a difficult decision. Juliette regretted leaving Robbie and the other crewmembers in such an abrupt manner, but she knew she had to break free or she would end up as Mrs. Harrison Fleming. She did not dwell on Harrison’s reaction to her departure. She had had to put that to the back of her mind.
Her friend, however, realized that Juliette simply could not tell everyone that she had left London without the consent of her family or that she had stowed away on a clipper ship with dozens of sailors without a proper chaperone. Christina had stressed the importance of not revealing those details to anyone, especially her husband. Even as reckless as Juliette was, she understood the necessity to hide her scandalous behavior. So they led Maxwell Dunbar to believe that she had been under the protection of the captain of the ship, with the blessings and good wishes of her family. And was it not a terrible shame that her trunks full of clothes had inadvertently been lost on the dock? Juliette’s story seemed more acceptable that way.
While Christina had been astonished by Juliette’s outrageous and unorthodox mode of travel, Juliette had been equally shocked to learn that Christina was expecting a baby. Had Christina mentioned that little fact in her last letter, Juliette would have thought twice about descending upon her friend in such an unexpected fashion. And Juliette had been surprised by more than just Christina’s pregnancy. She had known that Christina’s parents had quickly married her off to a wealthy American, but Juliette had had no idea just how wealthy. Their lavish and ornate Fifth Avenue mansion displayed their vast prosperity in a staggering manner.
Desire In His Eyes Page 11