Opal patted her daughter’s knee. “You always were easy to talk into anything. Don’t look so surprised, dear, I know my daughters quite well. For all that Houston looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, I know she was the one who used to talk you into the most daring things. You’ve always had the very biggest of hearts and always wanted to help people, which is why I’m sure that you’ll make a very good doctor.”
“If I ever get out of here and can continue my education,” Blair said bleakly.
Opal toyed with a clematis vine running up the side of the porch. “I’ve been thinking about you and Lee. You might not think so at the moment, but he really is a very fine man. I don’t think anyone knows him very well. He was always so quiet around Houston, but in the last few days, he’s been more animated than I’ve ever seen him.”
“Animated! Is that what you call it? He orders me about, tells me I am going to marry him, says that a woman can’t be his partner in the clinic he wants to build and, in general, is a narrow-minded pig of a man.”
“And did you think that on Friday night?”
Blair turned her face away to hide a blush. “Perhaps I didn’t then, but I’d had a great deal of champagne, and there was moonlight and dancing and things just happened.”
“Mmmmm,” Opal said noncommittally. “However you saw that night, I don’t think Lee saw it the same way.”
“I’m not sure I care how he saw it. The problem now is Houston. I have returned to this town and effectively ruined her life, and now she says that she’s planning to marry that ugly Midas, Kane Taggert. How are we going to prevent that from happening?”
“Mr. Gates and I are going to talk to her as soon as she returns home and see if we can persuade her to believe that there is another solution to this problem, other than the drastic one she seems set on.”
Blair looked out through the greenery surrounding the porch and toward the white corner of the Taggert mansion. “I deeply and sincerely hate that house,” she said with feeling. “If Houston hadn’t wanted to see it so badly, we wouldn’t have changed places, and I wouldn’t have spent the night with Leander and, now, if she didn’t want that house so much, she wouldn’t be considering marrying that barbarian.”
“Blair, you should rest this afternoon. Read some of the books you brought, and let us worry about Houston. By the way, where is Lee? Why didn’t he bring you home?”
Blair stood. “I think I will rest. I didn’t get much sleep last night. And Lee will probably be by in a while to pick up the carriage. Under no circumstances do I want to see him.”
Opal hesitated a moment before she agreed. “I’ll send Susan up with a tray. You rest, dear, because, if I know this town, tomorrow will be hectic. Just as soon as everyone hears about your marriage to Lee and Houston’s to that man, I’m sure…Oh my, I don’t even like to think about it.”
Blair didn’t want to either and, gratefully, she went to the sanctity of her room, where she stayed for the rest of the day.
Monday was worse than Blair ever imagined it could be. Breakfast was dreadful. Gates kept yelling, his mouth stuffed with food, that Blair had ruined her sister’s life. Since Blair tended to agree with him, it was difficult to defend herself. Opal kept crying, while Houston managed to look faraway, as if she weren’t hearing any of it.
After breakfast, people began to arrive in droves—wagonloads of them bearing food and flimsy excuses as to why they were there. It’d been so long since she’d lived in a small town that she was appalled at how nosy the people were. There didn’t seem to be anything that they considered none of their business. Paramount was the answer to why Lee was now marrying Blair. And they were very curious about Taggert, asking Houston thousands of questions about him and what his house was like.
At eleven, Blair went into the house, to put away one of the numerous pies that someone had brought, and managed to slip out the back door without anyone seeing her. She practically ran the two miles to the train station and she felt, with every step, that she was getting closer to freedom. When Alan came, he would be able to straighten out the entire mess, and then Houston would be able to marry Leander and Blair could return home.
Impatiently, she waited for the train to pull into the station and when it did, at last, she thought the steam would never clear. But through the mist, she saw him and began to run with the train, following him until he could jump off and take her in his arms.
She didn’t care that the people of Chandler watched them, or that they thought that she was engaged to another man—all that mattered was that she was with Alan again.
“What a wonderful welcome,” he said, holding her close.
She pulled back to look at him. He was still as handsome as she remembered, still with his blond-haired, blue-eyed wholesome good looks, a few inches taller than she was.
She had started to say something when she saw that his attention was directed to something over her shoulder. She turned quickly—but not quickly enough.
Leander deftly slipped his arm about her waist and managed to pull her to him and away from Alan in one motion. “So, you must be Alan,” he said smoothly, with a warm smile. “I’ve heard so much about you. Of course, there aren’t many secrets between lovers, are there, sweetheart?”
“Release me!” she said under her breath while trying to smile at the look of puzzlement on Alan’s face. While shoving an elbow in Lee’s ribs, she told Alan, “May I introduce my sister’s fiancé? This is Leander Westfield. And this is Alan Hunter, my—.”
Lee cut her words off by squeezing her ribs with his hand, and even three sharp elbowings in his side didn’t make him release her. He extended his hand to Alan. “Excuse Blair, won’t you? She’s a little excited today at getting to see an old and dear friend. I am her intended. She and I are to be married in two weeks, actually less than that now, isn’t it, dear? Just a few short days and you will become Mrs. Leander Westfield. I know the anticipation is making you a bit nervous and forgetful, but let’s not give your friend the wrong impression.” He smiled angelically at Alan.
“This isn’t the way it seems,” Blair began. “This man is crazy, and he has some very strange ideas.” With one big push, she managed to move away from Lee. “Alan, let’s go somewhere and talk. I have a great deal to tell you.”
Alan looked up at Lee, who was several inches taller than he. “I think we do need to talk.” He held his arm out to her. “Shall we go?” He looked over his shoulder at Lee. “You may carry my bags, young man.”
Lee successfully pushed himself between the couple. “I would generally take great delight in carrying the bags of a friend of my wife-to-be, but today I have a little problem. Yesterday, I had to walk four miles in new shoes, and my feet are too blistered to endure any extra weight. My doctor has insisted that I put no stress on them. Come along, Blair, we’ll meet your little friend at the carriage.”
“You beast!” Blair spat up at him as he pulled her toward the carriage. “And just what doctor would prescribe an asinine remedy like that?”
“Dr. Westfield at your service,” he said, as he helped her into the carriage.
“That’s an unusual horse,” Alan said as he threw his bags in the back, referring to the appaloosa that pulled Lee’s carriage.
“The only one in this area,” Lee said proudly. “Wherever I go, people can see that horse and recognize it, so if they need help, they can find me.”
“What kind of help?” Alan asked, as he climbed into the carriage.
“I’m a doctor,” Lee answered, as he cracked the whip over the horse and sent the buggy flying before Alan was fully seated next to Blair.
It was a hair-raising ride that Lee took them on, and the citizens of Chandler, thinking he was on an emergency case, moved out of his way. He halted in front of the house he’d bought for Houston.
“I thought this would be a good place to talk.”
Blair’s eyes widened. She hadn’t seen the house since the night she and Lee’
d…“I need to talk to Alan, not you, and definitely not here.”
“The scene of the crime, so to speak? Well, I guess we could go to Miss Emily’s Tea Shop. She has a private room.”
“Much better, but I’d like to be alone with Alan. Houston and I—.” She stopped, since Lee had taken off like lightning again and thrown her and Alan against the back of the buggy.
“And here are our little lovebirds, now. Lee, you should have told us about you and Blair,” Miss Emily said. “When Nina told us you were the lovesick young swain, we all thought it was Houston.”
“I guess it’s true that love is blind,” Lee said, winking at the older woman. “Could we have the private dining room? An old friend of my fiancée’s has come to visit, and we’d like to talk.”
Miss Emily took one look at Alan and smiled. “You have to meet Nina, Leander’s sister, such a pretty young lady.”
By the time they got into the private dining room, and tea and cakes had been set before them, Blair was grimacing, Alan was still looking puzzled, but Lee was smiling proudly.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll tell Alan the truth,” Blair said, as soon as the door was closed. “My sister, Houston, wanted to go somewhere and—.”
“Where?” Lee interrupted.
She glared at him. “If you must know, she had received an invitation to see that monstrous house of Taggert’s that night and she wanted to go, and the only way she could was if I posed as her and went to the reception with you. Anyway,” she turned back to Alan and her voice lost its anger, “my sister wanted to trade places for the evening, like we used to do when we were children, so we did. Except I didn’t know what I was getting myself into because he,” she glanced at Lee, “kept getting angry at me, I mean Houston, and I kept trying to get away from him but he wouldn’t let me. And then, the next day, he found out we’d traded places, and now he stupidly thinks I want to marry him.”
Alan was quiet for several moments. “The story seems to be missing a few pieces.”
“I’d say about half of it’s missing,” Lee said. “The truth is, the twins did exchange places, and I don’t for the life of me know why I didn’t see it right away. I was engaged to Houston, who’s a cool little thing, so I should have guessed it wasn’t her because when I touched Blair she practically ignited.”
“How dare you say such a thing!”
Lee looked completely innocent. “I’m just telling the truth, sweetheart. I took her to my house for a late supper and, well, let’s just say that we had the wedding night a couple of weeks early.”
“Alan, it wasn’t like that. I was Houston and she loves him, Heaven only knows why, because I don’t even like the man. He’s bigoted, egotistical and thinks a woman couldn’t be a partner in the clinic he wants to open. I just want to go home and work in St. Joseph’s and marry you, Alan. You have to believe that.”
Alan was frowning as he ran his fork across the tablecloth. “You must have some feeling for him or you wouldn’t have—.”
“I told you,” Blair interrupted, her face showing her anxiety. “I was Houston. Alan, please believe me. I’ll leave with you right now.”
“Over my dead body,” Lee said.
“Ah! at last a pleasurable thought,” she said, smiling at him with her eyes narrowed.
Alan interrupted them as he turned to Lee. “Tell me, do you plan to drag her down the aisle by her hair?”
“I have nearly two weeks. By the day of the wedding, she’ll be begging to marry me.”
“Are you sure of that?” Alan asked.
“Positive,” Lee answered.
“Shall we put it to a test? On the twentieth she either leaves with me or marries you.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed!?” Blair rose from the table. “I don’t think I want either one of you. I’ll not be bargained over like a head of cattle.”
“Sit down.” Lee put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back into her chair. “You say you’re in love with him, yet you can’t resist me, so who else do you want to choose from?”
“I don’t want to choose at all. I want to marry Alan.”
“That’s what you say today, but you’ve only just met me,” Lee said smugly. “Of course, it was an impressive first meeting, but—. Here! sit down.” He looked back at Alan. “We need some rules set up. First, she has to agree to stay in Chandler until the twentieth. No leaving town. And second, she has to accept my invitations. She can’t sequester herself in Gates’s house or only go out with you. Anything else is open territory.”
“That sounds fair enough to me. What about you, Blair?”
Her first thought was to walk out of the tearoom and leave them both there, but first, she wanted to know the consequences. “What if I don’t agree?”
“If you don’t agree, and I take that to mean you plan to slip out of town,” Lee said, “I’ll send Gates after you in Pennsylvania, and after he finishes telling his story, you won’t have a medical career. On the other hand, if on the twentieth, you should mistakenly choose Alan, I’ll buy your train ticket and I’ll somehow pacify Gates.”
She considered this for a moment, then looked at Lee. “All right, but I’ll give you warning now. I don’t want to marry you, and I’m going to make you feel nothing but relief on the twentieth when I leave this bigoted little town with Alan, because I’m going to make your life as miserable as possible between now and then.”
Lee turned to Alan. “I love a woman with fire in her veins. May the best man win.” He extended his hand and Alan shook it. It was settled.
Chapter 9
The day after Alan arrived, Blair was stretched on her back on a quilt spread across the grass under a tree in Fenton Park. Alan was reading an article to her about the latest advancements in the treatment of diphtheria while she watched the clouds moving overhead, listened to the buzzing of the bees and heard the laughter of the other people in the park on this beautiful day.
“Blair, did you hear me? I was reading Dr. Anderson’s report. What do you think?”
“About what?” she asked dreamily, turning onto her stomach. “Oh!” she said, startled. “I guess I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about my sister and what happened yesterday.”
Alan closed the book. “Care to share your thoughts?”
“That man Taggert sent her a carriage and horse and, along with it, the world’s largest diamond. Houston wasn’t even ruffled. She just very calmly clutched that ring to her heart, walked out to that carriage and drove away, and she didn’t get home until after nine o’clock. By then, Mother was prostrate with grief because her daughter was selling herself, so I had to spend hours trying to quiet her before she could sleep. And this morning, Houston left before daylight—which started Mother crying again.”
“And she isn’t worried about you?” Alan asked, as he put the medical text down and leaned against the tree.
“I think that both she and Mr. Gates believe that I’m getting a better man than I deserve—or at least Gates thinks that. I’m not sure what Mother thinks. She’s too worried about how Houston’s life has been ruined.”
Alan ran his fingers along the edges of the book. “And you still think that I shouldn’t be introduced to your mother and stepfather?”
“Not yet,” she said, sitting up. “You can’t imagine what Gates is like. If he heard that I’d—.” She stopped because the last thing she wanted to do was to remind Alan of why she’d become engaged to Lee in the first place. But she knew that if Gates heard that she’d slept with one man while being engaged to another, her life would be more miserable than it was already. That man never missed a chance to point out to her that she was ruining her sister’s life so that Houston thought she had to marry a man for his money, anything so she could save herself from humiliation in front of the entire town—humiliation that was entirely caused by Blair and her immorality. Night and day, that’s what she heard from her stepfather.
She gave Alan a weak smile. “Let’s not t
alk about anything unpleasant on this lovely day. Why don’t we go for a walk or, better yet, why don’t we rent a canoe and go out on the lake? I haven’t had any practice on the water since I left the rowing team in the fall.”
“I would like that,” he said, rising and offering his hand to help her up.
They folded the blanket, took the book, and started toward the small rental shop beside Midnight Lake, where they rented a canoe. There were several couples on the lake and they called out in greeting.
“Good morning, Blair-Houston,” they said, looking with interest at Alan, and some of them hinted that they’d like to be introduced, but she didn’t oblige. Houston might feel an obligation to satisfy the curiosity of the townspeople, but Blair didn’t think she had to.
She leaned back in the canoe while Alan paddled, her face protected from the fierce high-altitude sun of Chandler by a large hat, letting her hand trail in the water; she nearly fell asleep.
“Good morning!” came a voice that made her sit upright. She looked into Leander’s face as he rowed alongside them.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, jaw clenched. “Go away.”
“According to your mother, I’m out with you. Well, Hunter, you don’t look altogether comfortable with that paddle. Maybe it’s too much city living.”
“Will you get out of here and take your snide remarks with you? We were perfectly peaceful until you came along.”
“Careful with your temper, people are beginning to look, and you wouldn’t want them to think there was anything wrong in paradise, would you?”
“Paradise? With you? You’re nothing but a—.”
Leander interrupted her. “Hunter, can you give me a hand? I seem to have caught my foot under this seat and it’s beginning to swell.”
“Alan, don’t do it,” Blair warned. “I don’t trust him.”
But it was too late. Alan, newly out of medical school and very aware of his responsibilities as a healer, could not resist a plea for help. He instantly put the paddle down and leaned over the side to help Lee—and as soon as he was stretched across the water, Lee gave the canoe a shove, and Alan, after a moment of struggle, fell into the lake. Blair instantly leaned over to help Alan, but Lee grabbed her about the waist and hauled her into his boat.
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