Nicholas laughed maliciously. “You can’t think I’d hang for this. For killing you? Hardly. Those men you call friends respond to money, and I have that in spades. I also have a fleet of ships at my disposal. I’d be away from San Francisco before anyone really even missed you. Hang for killing you? Don’t be ridiculous!”
Lexie pulled Nicholas’s arm closer to her. “Please, don’t,” she said when he turned his eyes in her direction. To Buchanan, she said, “You’ve been paid back what we owe you for my father. Can’t you just go? You’ve lost nothing.”
“You don’t think so, little girl? You were to be my wife. To have you stolen out from underneath me is an affront to my honor!”
“I wasn’t yours! I was never yours! Nicholas and I had nothing to do with you,” Lexie protested. “Take your money and go. No one knows about the contract except the people in this room, and no one else has to. Just go and leave us in peace.”
Buchanan glanced at the envelope in his hands. Hefting the weight of it in his hand as if weighing his options, he snarled at Lexie, “You’d be the best investment I ever made if I take this. But make no mistake, girl, he bought you as surely as I did. You know what that makes you.”
Nicholas lunged forward, grabbing Buchanan by the lapels of his jacket. “Apologize!” he roared.
Lexie put a staying hand on Nicholas’s arm. “No!” she cried as she noticed she was the only one who was even attempting to restrain Nicholas. O’Connor finally looked interested and James looked resigned. “Help me!”
O’Connor regarded her with his unusual gray-green eyes. “Nay. A man’s got to protect what’s his. I’ll not stop a man from doing something he has a right to do.”
When Lexie turned her eyes to James, he merely shrugged as if he completely agreed with O’Connor’s twisted logic. Men. “Nicholas,” she said softly. “Let him go.”
“Lexie, this man needs to be taught a lesson,” he growled in response.
Lexie nodded, but pulled more firmly on his arm. “Maybe so, but not today. Today is our wedding day. Let him go.”
Nicholas pushed Buchanan backwards, toward the door. “Get out of here. If I hear of you coming anywhere near my wife or my property ever again, I’ll kill you. Make no mistake about it. I am quite capable of it. Get out of town.”
To O’Connor, Buchanan snarled, “You heard him threaten me.”
O’Connor shrugged, bored again. “I didn’t hear anything of the sort, Mr. Buchanan.”
“Nor I,” James added.
“Take the money and go, Mr. Buchanan,” Lexie said softly. “Just go. Leave us in peace.”
Buchanan looked at his envelope, and began to chuckle low in his throat, a sound more like a growl than a laugh. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Miss Markland, you certainly know how to surround yourself with men with money. You’re far cleverer and manipulative than I had ever imagined.” Turning to her father, he said, “And you, Markland, I daresay you’re a dead man.” His gaze darting from Nicholas to O’Connor, he continued. “That’s not a threat, just a statement of fact. I’d not waste my time killing him. His creditors will do it for me.” Buchanan turned and walked out the door.
The group of them watched him leave.
Everyone turned to look at Markland when his breath left his body in a hiss.
“You can’t do this, Lexie. You heard him. They’ll kill me.”
“As marriage to Mr. Buchanan would have killed me? I wonder why I should care,” Lexie retorted.
“I’m your father!”
“A poor example, to be sure,” Nicholas muttered. “Seems to me I just paid your living expenses for the last two years. I don’t think we owe you anything more. Lexie doesn’t owe you the rest of her life because you live above your means and can’t pay your debts. It was shameful to press her into such an agreement. You’d understand if you had any honor left.”
“You’re one to talk of honor! If I had never made that contract with you, Lexie would be married to Buchanan by now.”
“Possibly,” Nicholas answered. O’Connor turned and left the room, his brother-in-law close on his heels. “But the fact remains the plan has changed. If you can’t be happy for us today, I suggest you go home.”
“Lexie,” Markland began.
She shook her head. “No, Father. I’ve given you enough.” She paused for a moment, thought of all the things she could say to him, all the things she had wanted to say to him, tell him about the hurt she had endured. But she didn’t think it would make much of a difference. He couldn’t see himself, never had been able to. “I gave you five years. I know you miss Mama—I miss her, too—and if you want to destroy yourself, that’s your choice. I can’t stop you, though God knows I tried. I thought that if I loved you enough, if I gave you enough, your fortunes would change, but they won’t until you decide to change. It’s taken me this long to realize I can’t change you, and I can’t fix this. I gave you five years, and that’s all I’m prepared to give. We’ve paid your living expenses for two years. We’ve paid those debts. Destroy yourself if you must, but I won’t let you destroy my family, too. I’m done.”
“Lexie, you can’t mean that,” Markland said, shocked.
Tears sprang to her eyes and began to fall. “I do. Because the more I give, the more you take. The more you take, the more you want. I can’t do it anymore. Sober up. Get a job and start paying your debts.”
“It’s not that easy!”
Nicholas put his arm around Lexie, pulled her into him, and wiped away her tears. Holding her close, he said, “I know it’s not. But nothing worth having ever is.”
His words reminded her of the day she had invited him to tea. He was right: the road here hadn’t been an easy one, but it was worth it. It was worth the pain and the shame to find herself here, with him. She wouldn’t change a thing about the past, because every decision she had made had led her here, to this moment. Had led her to him.
“Lexie...”
His voice calm and soft, Nicholas said, “Go home, Markland.”
Lexie looked up at Nicholas. “No, I’d like him here, if he cares to stay.” To her father, she said, “I love you, Father. I always will. But I can’t keep living my life in the hopes you’ll come back to me. I can’t keep telling you I’m sorry for what happened when Mother got sick. I’ve paid for it for too long, and I can’t save you from yourself. If you want to stay for me, I would welcome it. But today is about me and Nicholas, and if you can’t be happy for us, then you will need to leave.”
Nicholas had never been prouder of her. She had needed this time with her father, needed to tell him the words that lived in her heart. She had given so much, was so used to sacrificing herself, that she had almost given the rest of her life to save her father...and him. It was time she stood up for herself, and live her life as her own woman. He would spend the rest of his life making sure Lexie never regretted her decision to marry him. He would devote his life to making sure Lexie knew how very special she was, how loved. He would be by her side for the rest of her life, would be there to soothe the hurt, no matter how big or how small.
Markland regarded Lexie for a long time, as if seeing her for the first time. Then he did the one thing that surprised Nicholas: he leaned forward, kissed his daughter on the cheek, and sat down.
Surrounded by family and friends, Alexandra Markland and Nicholas Wetherby had their perfect day.
They got married.
The Marker Page 27