Sophie lifted her chin. "Mama says Miss Chrissy acts completely proper. She says men fall over themselves to be near her no matter what she does or says."
"That's true," Michael said glumly. "It's even worse here than it was at home because in San Antonio, everybody knew Mr. Jake would kill them if they did wrong by Miss Chrissy. Well, everybody except the vaqueros in the square. I think that's one reason she liked being Chili Queen so much—the men weren't always looking over their shoulder for Jake."
Cole remembered her dancing and kissing that man in the square that night and scowled. Maybe the Kleberg youngsters had a point. Maybe he should have been keeping a closer watch on Christina. He had promised Jake he would. Just because she'd acted within the bounds of acceptable behavior so far while in England didn't mean she couldn't get herself in trouble.
As if she had read his mind, Sophie reached out and tugged on his coat. "I really like Mr. Earl of Thornbury, but he's not much help. He wants her to marry one of these men and stay in England close to him."
"You know better, sir," added Michael. "You know she shouldn't marry one of these Englishmen unless she has fallen in love with them which I promise you she hasn't because that's what she told my mama. You need to fill in for Mr. Jake. You must be her brother."
Be Christina's brother? Cole grimaced. The very idea of it repulsed him, but he wasn't up to digging too deeply for the reason why. "Fine," he said, giving in. He didn't cotton to the idea of Welby for Christina's husband anyway. "Where is she?"
Michael peered through the bushes behind the statue of Zeus, then said dryly, "She's over here. She's letting Mr. Welby look for something in her mouth. With his tongue."
Cole bit off a curse and joined the boy at the bushes. "Dammit," he muttered, staring through the leafy branches toward where the Englishman had Christina wrapped in his arms for a kiss. Some things never change. "Children, y'all run along back to the house. I'll take care of this."
Rounding the hedge, he heard the viscount croon, "You take my breath away, my dear. I would be honored if you would consent to being my wife."
Cole didn't give her time to answer as he filled in for Jake. "If you want to keep your tongue, you'll make sure it stays in your own mouth where it belongs."
The couple broke apart. He had the grace to look sheepish. She all but bared her teeth in anger. "Morgan. You need to go away."
He ignored her and turned his fiercest, narrow-eyed glare on the Englishman.
Welby held up his hands, palms out, and offered one of his patent winning smiles. "Now, one moment, Mr. Morgan," he protested. "This is not as unseemly as it appears. I have proposed marriage to her."
"You and the multitude," Cole drawled.
"Cole!"
He continued as though she hadn't spoken. "Listen up and I'll make this simple and sweet. Touch the lady again and I'll take one of those fancy vests you like so much and tie it in a hangman's noose. Around your neck."
"That's enough!" she snapped. "You can't say something like that. You have no hold over me."
"Yes, I do-I promised your brother I'd stand in his stead." With a glance at the Englishman, he added, "You've probably read of his exploits in the newspapers? Killer Jake Delaney?"
The pretty-boy viscount's eyebrows arched above doubting eyes. He met Cole's gaze squarely and his lips twisted in an understated smirk. It was, Cole thought, an English gentleman's way of saying You're full of bullcrap.
Then Welby offered Christina a gentle smile and said, "Obviously you have family matters to discuss. Christina, you and I shall speak of this again later." With that, he dipped his head in a bow, then turned and retreated toward the house.
Chrissy fumed. "Curse you, Cole Morgan!" Her temper blazing, she barreled up her fist and took a wild swing at him. He dodged that blow easily, but she caught him by surprise with a strong kick to his shin.
Ignoring the pain in her toes, she demanded, "What's the matter with you? Welby proposed marriage, you fool. My first."
"First?" he repeated, rubbing his sore leg. "Fifty-first, maybe."
"My first while in England. From a viscount, no less. Within a month of my arrival. That's why Mother sent me here, Morgan. It's what I'm supposed to do!"
Anger flashed like lightning in his sky blue eyes. He struck like a rattlesnake with the question, "Do you love him?"
That shut her up. While she stood stiff and silent, Cole sent her a smile that was anything but amused. "I guess I have my answer."
Chrissy's defenses rose like a wall. "I like Lord Welby very much. Given time, it could grow into something more. And he professes to admire me for who I am. He doesn't want to change me."
"That's because he hasn't seen the real you," Cole shot back. "You've not been acting like yourself of late, Christina."
"That's not true," she countered, although now that he mentioned it, she suspected he did have a point. In her effort to find love without conditions, had she been placing conditions on herself?
Maybe she had been trying to conform to this society's behavior rules more than she ever had at home. Why? Was she afraid her mother was right after all? Was she afraid no one could love the real Chrissy Delaney?
It was a question she'd have to face another time. Right now she was too busy arguing with Cole.
And feeling more alive than she had in days.
She cleared her throat. "I'm simply trying to make a place for myself in proper society. That's what my family wants for me, what they think I'm too improper to have."
"So you're out to prove them properly wrong, is that it? That's stupid, Christina."
"It's what they want for me," she repeated.
"Since when did you ever do what your family wanted?"
She sucked in a sharp breath. It was a low blow, and ordinarily she'd end the argument by walking off. This time, however, for some reason she couldn't quite comprehend, she felt the need to explain. It was important to her that he understand.
Forcing calm into her voice, she said, "I was born trying to please, Cole Morgan. I was a good girl. I behaved. I did what good little girls were supposed to say and do. So, my mother should have been pleased, right?" When he didn't answer, she said it again, "Right?"
He scowled. "She was pleased."
Bitterness spiced her laugh. "Really? And how could you tell? Did she give me hugs and kisses for it? Did she tell me she was proud, that she loved me?"
He remained silent.
"I was very little when your mother died, Cole, but I remember how she used to reach out and hug you every time you walked by. I used to yearn for that."
"Your father used to hug and kiss you. He called you his sweet little love."
"Yes." Chrissy's throat tightened and her eyes stung at the memory. "Yes, he did and for that I am eternally grateful. When I lost him, I lost so very much."
"I know, Christina. He was a fine man."
She wrapped her arms around herself, huddling deeper in her cloak. "Both my parents treated Jake differently than they did me. Once you came to live with us, they treated you just like they did Jake."
"But we're boys and you're a girl. Of course they treated us different. And as far as hugging goes, your mother never once hugged me."
"No, but she gave you the smile—you know which one—that special smile she reserves for you when you've pleased her. I don't know, Cole. It's hard to put into words how she made me feel. It wasn't bad, just somehow... less. For instance, Mama often boasted about you and Jake to her friends. I never once heard her mention any of my accomplishments."
Cole opened his mouth, then apparently reconsidered and snapped it shut without speaking.
Chrissy continued. "Remember when the three of us played that prank on the smithy?"
"The biggest, meanest man in town," Cole said with a nod.
"Mama chuckled over your bravery. She banished me to my room for a week."
"Well, you did take a risk with that branding iron. We all knew at the time you shouldn't
have done that."
"Your action with the tongs wasn't any better." When Cole started to protest, she waved it away and said, "You know what? It didn't bother me too much because at least I got her attention. I was happy to be there because every day she would come by and lecture me about my behavior. I had five uninterrupted minutes of her time."
Exasperation chased across Cole's face. "That was ten years ago, Christina. What does it all matter now? You need to grow up."
She offered a bittersweet smile. "You wouldn't think it should matter now, would you? I did a lot of thinking about this during the voyage to England. Yes, what happened when I was a child shouldn't matter now. I should be able to get beyond those old hurts. It's a childish way to think and I know that, so I'm trying to let it go. Truly, I am. But it's hard, Cole."
"Why?"
"I think it's because no matter how old you are, you never outgrow the need to please your parents. Mama is all I have left."
He raked a hand through his hair. "Let me get this straight. You engage yourself to a platoon of different men, then break it off with each of them. You join the Chili Queens. That's your way of trying to please Elizabeth? Honey, I don't mind telling you, you're going about it all wrong."
"Hardly a platoon, Cole, and it's more complicated than that." Chrissy paced the width of the hedge, then turned around again. Her thoughts and feelings churned in confusion, and she struggled to make sense of them enough to put into words. "Sometimes I feel like I'm a failure at everything I do. Each time I accepted a marriage proposal, I believed my mother would approve of my choice. I was always wrong. I never got the smile, and she always had a snide comment or remark to make."
"And that's why you dumped the fiancés? Because your mama didn't smile? That's a helluva reason to break a man's heart, Christina."
"I didn't break any hearts." She kicked at a small pile of leaves collected in the middle of the path, sending them flying in a spray of yellow, russet and orange. "My beaux played the game well and they fooled me. Every time I said yes, I also believed it to be a love match. So I was willing to bear the burden of her disapproval. But invariably as the wedding date approached, each man proved in one way or another that he didn't love me, not like I deserve to be loved. I won't marry a man I don't love, and I won't marry a man who doesn't love me in return. Love me. The real me."
She paused and took a deep breath, smelling rain in the air. "I need that, Cole. I know at times I act rashly, foolishly even, but I'm not a bad person. I don't mean to hurt my family by my actions."
"So why do you do things you know will upset Elizabeth? Why did you become a Chili Queen?"
Sighing, Chrissy allowed her head to drop back, lifting her face toward the sky. She closed her eyes, felt weak sunshine on her skin and smelled the rain on the way. Then she spoke from her heart. "I joined the Chili Queens because the people in the square accept me. They made me one of them, part of the family." Smiling, she added, "And besides, I make a right fine bowl of Texas Red."
"See, there you go again, acting selfish as sin." Now Cole did the pacing, gesturing wildly as he said, "You already have a family, Christina. And speaking from an orphan's point of view, you're lucky to have them. Why do you think you need another one?"
"I don't have to change for the Chili Queens. I need not pretend to be someone else when I'm with them."
"Honey, you don't have to pretend with me or with Jake. You should know that."
"And if you believe that, you're fooling yourself, Cole Morgan. Let me ask you a question. Why isn't it enough to be loyal and honest and kind? I'm a good person."
"Yes, you are."
"So why do society's rules make me look wicked? Why must I worry about wearing gloves every time I step outside? Why is it such a sin to wear my hair down? Why must I wear a stupid bustle when I'm trying to ride a horse? Do you know how free if feels to wear a Mexican skirt with but a single petticoat beneath it?"
"Can't say I do," he drawled.
"It's wonderful. It's right. It's the way it should be. Why should 'ladies' be forced to wear layer after layer after layer of clothing during a Texas summer when it's hot enough to fry eggs on the back stoop? What purpose do such insane rules serve except to give my mother something to scold me about?"
Cole held up his hands palm out. "All right, Christina, I hear what you're saying."
"Thank you."
"But..." he held up a finger. "Having said that, the business you're about here in England doesn't make a lot of sense. Marrying a British lord will only give you more of those kind of rules to live by."
"But it's different over here. I'm different over here. It's easier for me to follow all these silly rules."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because society as a whole is more proper than it is at home so I'm not constantly faced with temptation. More likely, it's because my mother isn't here to pounce on me every time I slip up. You want to know something funny? I even enjoy parts of life in Polite Society."
"I've noticed you've taken to using a fan."
"Yes I have, and I enjoy it. Mother isn't here to scold me for the way I wield it. You should have seen her the last time I carried one in San Antonio. One little ill-timed flutter during the San Antonio chorale and you'd have thought I shot someone instead of accidentally flirted with him. She doesn't seem to understand that I'm human and humans make mistakes. Does that really mean I don't deserve to be loved?"
Hands braced on his hips, Cole demanded, "Love. That reminds me. This conversation has been quite illuminating, Christina, but you've wandered from the question at hand. Where does all this leave Welby? You weren't going to accept the man, were you? You said you didn't love him."
"Yet," Chrissy corrected. "I said I might be able to fall in love with Lord Welby given time. I think he might fall in love with me."
The two of them had spent a good bit of time together of late. The wishes he'd expressed during their conversations had made quite an impression on her. Welby claimed he was tired of being "the most eligible bachelor in England." He wanted a family. He wanted children. But he wanted a wife who wanted him for more than his wealth and his title. Apparently, such women were difficult to find in English society.
She had felt a twinge of conscience at that because his title made a difference to her. Not because she cared about being a lady. She didn't. She cared about finally proving something to her mother, and maybe to herself.
"Besides," she continued. "What does it matter to you, Morgan? My marital status has no bearing on the search for the Declaration."
He took a step toward her. "Would you have said yes to him today?"
She closed her eyes and laughed softly, sadly. "You didn't give me the chance to offer Lord Welby my response, and I'm not about to tell you before I tell him. I won't tread on social graces in this."
Sophie Kleberg emerged from behind a bush saying, "Y'all should go inside now. It's starting to rain."
"Sophie!" Christina exclaimed. "Were you spying on us?"
"Of course," replied Michael as he followed his sister into the open.
Sophie nodded briskly. "It's our job. We love you."
Christina dipped her head. Her shoulders started shaking and even she wasn't certain if she were laughing or crying.
The children made a dash for the house. "Better hurry or you'll get wet, Miss Chrissy," the boy called over his shoulder. "You, too, Mr. Morgan."
Christy stared up at the clouds as rain spat from the sky.
Cole looked at her and his mouth twisted in a rueful grin. "We're standing about halfway between Hartsworth and the folly. Which will it be?"
"Which way are you going?"
He shrugged. "I'm cold and your grandfather has brandy in the house. I'm headed for Hartsworth."
Christina, of course, took the folly path.
Chapter 6
"Contrary woman."
Cole glanced from Christina's departing back to the warm, welcoming, dry fac
ade of Hartsworth. "Just shoot me," he muttered, aiming his feet down the folly path. The woman was headstrong as a mule. He should have figured that whatever he said, she would choose the opposite. She'd been doing that all her life. That was the Christina Delaney he knew.
And, to be honest, the one he'd been missing of late.
He caught up with her just as the sky opened up, drenching them both. Christina let out a squeal and started to run. The rain was cold and wet and miserable.
Christina started laughing.
Despite himself, a smile lifted the corners of Cole's mouth as he followed her. The girl always had liked playing in the rain. Now she literally skipped her way down the path.
What a mercurial woman she'd grown up to be. A man never knew what he was letting himself in for when he shared time with Christina Delaney. No wonder so many men found her fascinating.
To his credit, she'd never fooled him with the shallow, feather-headed act she sometimes adopted around men, but to his shame, he'd never realized how deep her waters ran. Ordinarily, he considered himself an observant man. This time it looked like he'd completely missed the mark.
Take the hugging issue. He'd never noticed that Elizabeth kept her distance from Christina. Since he, himself, remembered missing his mother's embraces after her death, he could sympathize with Christina a little bit on that one. Still, all she'd had to do was ask. Elizabeth would do anything for her children. Anything for Jake, anyway. And me.
But what about Christina? Cold water seeped past his collar as Cole debated the question. He wouldn't accept the notion that Elizabeth mistreated her daughter. But then, Christina hadn't made that claim, had she? She said her mother treated her "less." What a strange term.
He ducked into the folly a few steps behind her. The echo of her laughter brought a full-blown grin to his face. He understood her a little more now, and despite being soaked through to the bone, Cole felt better than he had in weeks. He leaned forward, removed his hat, and gave his head a shake.
"You look just like a dog," she observed with a giggle.
"You're one to talk. Be glad I'm too much a gentlemen to mention you look like a drowned possum."
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