Simmer All Night

by Geralyn Dawson

  As far as wedding plans for herself were concerned, Chrissy had reached a conclusion about that, too. She had given herself permission to put off that decision until the Declaration was in their hands. She needed both the time to think matters through and the deadline to force her to move forward. For the time being, she wouldn't worry whether she dared trust in his claim of love. She'd wait a little while longer to decide if she dared to give her hand in marriage to Cole Morgan.

  Be honest, Chrissy. What you decide may not matter. Knowing Cole, he's liable to take it anyway.

  "And he says I'm marble-headed," she muttered.

  "What was that, my dear?" her grandfather asked.

  "Oh. I didn't mean... never mind. Are we there yet?"

  Lana laughed. "Why Chrissy, you sound just like my children."

  Welby turned from the window and said, "You can see the house now. Its low-lying position deep in the park is a reminder of Harpur Priory's monastic origin. Members of medieval religious orders liked secluded sites for their buildings."

  "They did?" Lana asked, encouraging him with a look to elaborate.

  As Welby launched into a discussion of architectural accomplishments during the Middle Ages, Chrissy got her first look at Lord Bennet's ancestral home, her first thought being, My, how ominous.

  The Greek Revival portico extended from a Baroque front, obviously a later addition to the main structure, according to Welby. "I'll know better once I've seen the place up close, but I imagine Harpur Priory is a hodgepodge of fourteenth and fifteenth century walls."

  The gray sandstone walls were forbidding, no matter how old they were, and Chrissy felt a trickling sense of unease as the coach descended the gentle slope toward the south front. "In Texas we'd never build in a gully like this," she observed. "Looks to me like it's asking to flood."

  Welby continued, "Notice that the house is a rectangular block with projecting corner pavilions. This design for country houses was much favored in England around seventeen-hundred. Note how the pavilions are defined by fluted pilasters that support a classical cornice." He studied the structure silently for a moment, then added, "That cornice is magnificently bold and elaborately decorated. I suspect its design was derived from a plate in Philibert de l'Orme's treatise on architecture."

  Chrissy felt her eyes starting to cross at the lecture as the earl observed, "You truly are well versed in the subject, Welby."

  "Architecture is a particular interest of mine." He grasped Lana's hand and offered her an adoring smile.

  Harrumph, The earl solicited Lana's gaze, then said, "See that the young pup builds his mother the most elaborate dower house in England. Your marriage will be the better for it."

  Dryly, the viscount replied, "I've had the plans drawn for years now. I ordered building to commence two weeks ago."

  They had no more time for discussion about Welby's mother because the coach rattled to a stop. They had arrived at Harpur Priory.

  Cole was there to take the footman's job away from him, and he boldly placed his hands around Chrissy's waist and swung her to the ground. "Hey there, Lady Bug. How was the drive? I wish you'd ridden with us."

  His hands lingered at her waist and he stood closer than was proper. Chrissy suspected he might kiss her then and there. "Marking your territory, Mr. Morgan?"

  He frowned and made a stab at looking affronted. Then he did lean down and give her a quick buss on the lips. Chrissy pulled away, laughing and saying, "I guess I should be pleased you chose that method rather than lifting your leg."

  "Now Miss Delaney, no need to be crude."

  Then, because he'd timed it that way, he turned around to greet their host who had come out of his house to meet them, visually anxious to welcome a pair of honest-to-goodness Texans to Harpur Priory. The handshakes and backslapping were at odds to the greetings Chrissy had witnessed elsewhere in England. This was reminiscent of a true Texas howdy and gave her a sharp tweak of homesickness.

  You'll never be happy making your home in Britain, her conscience whispered. Texas is in your blood.

  It was a truth she could not deny. With Cole or without him, someday she'd go home. Right this moment, staring up at the imposing facade of Harpur Priory, she wished someday was today.

  Well, let's lift the curtain on this play. The faster they found the Declaration, the quicker she could go home. Maybe that's what needed to happen. Maybe she needed to go home with Cole and see how he acted around her mother. Maybe that would show her if his claims of love were true or motivated by guilt and the fear of displeasing the almighty Elizabeth Delaney.

  Chrissy wanted to think about that notion some more, but time ran out. Bennet approached and welcomed her to Harpur Priory. She pasted on a smile and said, "Thank you, Lord Bennet. I am so looking forward to the first meeting of the Anglo-Texan Society. Why, I've felt as if this day would never arrive."

  "My feelings are the same. The days have dragged since my departure from Hartsworth despite my being terribly busy making meeting arrangements and preparing my speeches. Did you see my herd as you drove in? I had the longhorns moved from their usual pasture to the front park. My lawn will suffer for it, of course." He chuckled for a moment, then continued, "So what did you think of them, Miss Delaney?"

  She hadn't noticed them. She'd been too busy looking at the stern lines of Harpur Priory. "A fine herd, Lord Bennet," she replied. "Nothing says Texas like a herd of longhorn cattle."

  Beaming, Bennet nodded rapidly. Had the man a tail, Chrissy mused, it would be wagging fast enough to kick up a breeze.

  "Come in, come in, come in. Allow me to offer you a refreshment white my servants deliver your luggage to your rooms." Bennet showed them into the drawing room where soon they quenched their thirst with, of all things, iced tea.

  "What is this?" the earl demanded, holding his glass up to the sunlight, his mouth fixed in a sour twist.

  Chrissy smiled. "It's sweet tea, the official drink of the State of Texas, Grandfather."

  "Now Chrissy," Cole said, "I thought whiskey occupied that slot." Glancing at the earl, he added, "Bad whiskey it is, too."

  "I have harder spirits also, Thornbury, if you'd prefer that," Bennet said worriedly. "I have planned everything during this meeting to be authentic to Texas." Wringing his hands, he added, "Perhaps that was a mistake. Like you, Miss Delaney, some of my other guests are bringing family members along who do not share our interest in the Lone Star State. Perhaps I should revise the menu. Oh, dear. I simply don't know."

  "I would be happy to assist in that area if that's agreeable to you," Lana said, stepping forward.

  "Oh, yes. Thank you, my lady. That's such a relief."

  Lana smiled graciously. "I'm happy to help, however, you're mistaken in designating me as a lady already. Lord Welby and I are only betrothed. I am still Mrs. Kleberg."

  "Oh. Yes. Well, that's right. I apologize. It's just that you have the bearing of an aristocrat so I became confused."

  "Easy to understand, Bennet," said Welby, walking up beside his wife-to-be. "I daresay my Lana could show scores of titled British women the true definition of the word 'lady'."

  Chrissy sighed at the romance of it all. Cole nudged her in the side, winked, and rolled his eyes. She held her hand up to her face as if hiding a yawn and stuck her tongue out at the Texan.

  He laughed, and said, "So, Bennet. Where is this Texas Room I've heard about? I'm anxious to see it."

  "Now? You don't wish to retire to your bedroom for a rest?"

  "It's just a short ride from Hartsworth to here. Why, I'd have to turn in my Texas Ranger badge if I needed to rest after a jaunt like that."

  "You're a Texas Ranger?" Surprise and something else flickered in Bennet's eyes.

  "Nope." Cole shot him a mischievous grin. "I won the badge from a Ranger in a poker game. It is a treasure though." He paused, then casually asked, "Do you have one of those in your collection?"

  "No. No I don't. I would love to have one, however. Very much."


  "Hmm..." Cole folded his arms and cocked his head to one side. "Well, I might be willing to give mine up. Maybe before this meeting is over, you and I can work a trade."

  "I don't trade my things, but I am always willing to purchase what I want. Yes, I'm certain we will work something out. Come along, then, Mr. Morgan, and any of the rest of you who are interested. I'll show you Harpur Priory's Texas Room." Bennet all but skipped as he exited the drawing room.

  Cole and Chrissy were the only people who accompanied him. The earl was content to occupy a seat beside the fire, and after asking Welby to go find her children who had not made it in from outdoors as of yet, Lana accompanied the majordomo to the kitchens in order to speak with the cook about the menus for the coming meeting days.

  Welby led them down a hall and up a staircase, allowing little time for more than peeking into the rooms they passed. Chrissy was able to identify a Caricature Room, a room done entirely in yellow, and a library. When she quit looking side to side and glanced down the hallway in front of them, she spied the Texas Room right off. The pair of stuffed longhorn cattle standing guard on either side with miniature Texas flags hanging from each horn gave it away.

  At the doorway, Bennet gestured for them to precede him. Cole walked into the room, then stopped so abruptly that Chrissy bumped into him. "Well," he said in a tone dry as a South Texas August. "Your taxidermist must be a happy man."

  Peeking around Cole, Chrissy's eyes went round. The room was stacked wall to wall with stuffed animals. "Oh, my."

  To the left a coyote appeared ready to spring. On the right, a mountain lion posed with his mouth opened in a snarl. Directly in front of Cole, a black bear stood on his hind legs with his right paw lifted in slashing position. Chrissy took a step back and said, "I didn't know we have bears in Texas."

  "Used to, out in the East Texas forests. I don't know if any live there still today."

  Chrissy's gaze skimmed over the armadillo, a pair of prairie dogs, a particularly ugly javelina before halting in shock. She blinked, but the image didn't go away. "A camel?"

  Bennet grinned. "A dromedary. Not native, of course, but imported to Texas in 1856 for use as pack animals. I thought I should have one in my Texas Room."

  "Certainly," Cole observed, eyeing the ugly beast with wonder. "No Texas Room would be complete without a camel."

  Chrissy gouged his side with her elbow. "Quit being snotty," she murmured, moving toward the center of the room. It was quite a collection, no doubt about that. Along with the menagerie, paintings of Texas scenes hung over every available inch of the walls. Over a dozen display cases stood scattered across the floor, filled with various items of interest. Chrissy glanced in the one nearest to her and saw that it contained pen and ink sketches of prominent Texans such as Sam Houston and Ben McCulloch. Next to it sat a beautiful ebony case displaying paraphernalia relating to Texas railroads. She spied arrowhead collections, a barbed wire sampling, and branding irons by the dozen. Nowhere did she see anything that resembled a historical document, much less the highly valued Republic of Texas's Declaration of Independence.

  Disappointment washed over her. Maybe Lord Melton's information was wrong. Maybe Bennet didn't have the Declaration after all.

  Cole made a show of examining the display cases closely. Every so often he'd hmm or ahh. Bennet spent the time pointing out various items of interest to Chrissy.

  Finally, Cole wandered back to the front of the room and said, "This is interesting," he observed. "I'm sure that someone unfamiliar with Texas would find this collection quite illuminating."

  Bennet puffed up like a toad. "Certainly my collection must be interesting to Texans, too."

  Chrissy shot Cole a chastising look. What good would it do to alienate the man? "Of course it is, Lord Bennet," she assured him, favoring him with a smile. "Why, I've lived in Texas all my life, but I've never seen a javelina this closely."

  Cole seemed determined to be a bore, however. He stuck his hands into his pockets, rolled back on his heels, and shrugged. "This is all nice, but I was hoping to see something unique, something that a fellow wouldn't see looking out the back door of the log cabin."

  This time she moved close to him and used the width of her skirt to hide the fact she stepped on his foot. "You don't have a log cabin."

  He flashed Bennet a grin. "She's telling me to be nice. Sorry, mi amigo, I didn't mean to cast aspersions on your Texas Room. It is a fine collection, and it has certainly set off a wave of homesickness in me. I guess I'm just disappointed. I had thought I'd try to talk you into doing some swapping, but I don't see anything here I'd consider trading my Ranger badge for. I have a special interest in old things, you see. Your collection here is mostly modern Texas. Except for the bear, maybe. And I don't think he'd fit in my pocket."

  Bennet drew himself up straight as the branding iron beside him. "I have older items. I have a collection of items from the mission period."

  Cole trailed his gaze across the cases. "Where? I don't see 'em."

  "They are not currently on display."

  "Oh." Cole's mouth pursed in a disappointed pout that had Chrissy blinking her eyes and giving him a second look. She'd never before in their lives seen that particular expression on his face.

  "Well..." he continued with a heavy sigh. "That's not my favorite period, anyway. I have a real affinity for the days of the Republic. I oftentimes wish I'd been born fifty years earlier. Why, imagine what it would have been like to be alive during the War for Independence. I could have followed the army and fought at San Jacinto."

  Chrissy felt obliged to point out, "You could have fought at the Alamo, too."

  Cole looked at Chrissy, then his gaze skidded over to Bennet. "Maybe I did. Maybe I died at the Alamo and was reincarnated because my life was cut tragically short."

  Chrissy started to laugh, but the look on Bennet's face kept the sound frozen in her throat.

  His eyes glimmered with interest and excitement. "Do you believe in reincarnation, Mr. Morgan?" he asked.

  "I don't know. I tend to wonder about it at times. Why else would I be attracted to certain periods of history so intensely while others barely scratch the surface of my interest?"

  "I know exactly what you mean. Exactly! I, myself, am fascinated about the Republic of Texas. I have studied every piece of information I could find on that ten-year period. So many times I've asked myself why. Why do I crave knowledge concerning that place and that time? Why do I need to surround myself with items that were made and used by people in the Republic of Texas? Why have I been drawn to that short sliver of history?"

  Because you are crazy, Chrissy thought. Perhaps as crazy as Cole was smart, drat his hide. The man was subtly goading their host, obviously hoping to get Bennet to show him those items not "currently on display."

  This was pure Cole Morgan. He needed but a few minutes with a person in order to identify which strings required pulling to manipulate the fellow where Cole wanted him to go. The talent served Cole well both personally and professionally, though it was one Chrissy always considered her duty to resist.

  "You have a collection from the Republic of Texas?" Cole asked, closing in on the kill.

  Chrissy added, "I do recall your mentioning a knife from San Jacinto, I believe."

  A wince betrayed Bennet's regret at having allowed the slip. "Well, yes. Yes, I do."

  "Now that I want to see."

  "It's my private collection. I normally don't show it to anyone."

  Cole slapped him on the back. "Then it's a good thing Christina and I are Texans and not just 'anyone.' Shall we go see it now?"

  Bennet backed away. "Oh, no. That's not possible, Not possible at all. My other guests will begin to arrive at any time, and I must be here to receive them. Then too I must prepare for the lecture I am scheduled to give tomorrow." He walked over to a bell pull and rang for a servant, who responded almost immediately. "My staff will show you to rooms now. Allow me to say once more, welcome t
o Harpur Priory."

  As they were ushered from the Texas Room and down a carpeted hallway, Chrissy said, "You pushed him too hard, Cole. That's not like you."

  "Well I don't like him. Mark my words, Christina. Something is wrong with that man."

  * * *

  Cole stood in front of the bedroom window staring out at the longhorns in Harpur Priory's park as the door snicked shut behind the footman. Idly, he reached toward the marble-topped table nearby and snagged an apple from the tray of fruit and cheeses provided for his comfort and took a bite. Flavor exploded on his tongue, juicy and sweet, and he'd just lifted the fruit to take a second bite when he heard the door behind him open. "Well, well, well," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "If it's not the apple of my eye."

  "Oh, just eat your fruit," Chrissy said, stepping into Cole's bedroom and shutting the door behind her. "We need to talk."

  "You know, Bug, as often as you sneak into my room, I have a difficult time understanding why you balk at moving in permanently."

  She scooped up a small square pillow off the settee and chucked it at him before sitting down. "Bennet must have moved the Declaration to his private collection. We need to plan how we'll get him to show it to us. We must see it before we can make him an offer for it."

  "Ah, don't worry. He just needs a little convincing. I'll take care of it."

  She sat back and folded her arms. "Like you 'convinced' him earlier? What were you thinking of? What happened to your smooth, subtle approach?"

  "I guess I used it all up on you last night," he replied, shooting her his wickedest grin.

  That took some of the pepper out of her chili. Her lips lifted and her eyes softened, "This is the first bit of privacy we've had all day. I missed you when I woke up this morning."