Born of Proud Blood

by Roberta C. M. DeCaprio

  The elderly woman had no inclination the shifty fashion Leah had lived and dealt with these many years. Only because Langley could get a better price for Leah untouched had her virginity not been comprised.

  “Nay a need to worry, Elma dear,” Leah reassured. “Oliver would never allow any ’arm to threaten me.” She squared her thin shoulders. “Besides, I am not a novice at takin’ care o’ myself.”

  The widow nodded reluctantly, her frown deepening. “And then what will become of you, mite?”

  “When Leah arrives in London, she will be able to accompany Oliver to Glenshire Sussex. She will have a home at Collins Stead where I live with Lady Lucinda Collins,” Riley added to ease the elder woman’s mind, as well as her own.

  With her knee injured, accompanying Leah on the ride to London by horseback wasn’t an option for her. She turned to Leah. “Auntie Cinda will welcome you with open arms, Nellie and Rufus as well. Of this I am positive.”

  “Are ye sure, miss?” Leah replied with a hopeful gaze.

  “Absolutely,” she answered.

  Simon's face brightened. “Splendid, then we will all be neighbors.”

  She frowned. “I don't quite understand.”

  “My family and I are moving into the smaller dwelling on the premises,” Simon informed her.

  She arched a brow. “I was always under the impression Lady Collins meant that piece of property for me.”

  “And she still does,” Simon reassured her. “But until her demise, which was the time you are to take possession, Gabriel asked I occupy the smaller manor in order to keep an eye on Collins Stead in his absence.”

  Her heart sank to her toes. “Other than Brighton, which is only a few hours journey by train, where else would he be?” she said, her voice shakier than she liked.

  “America, Miss Riley,” was Simon's reply. “He plans on returning to his people as soon as his sister has her baby.”

  She closed her eyes and took an audible breath. Gabriel would leave England, then...and her.

  I am ashamed for being so bold, for kissing him, for thinking he...

  Simon neared her, his voice interrupting her thoughts. “Are you all right, miss?”

  She nodded and glanced up at him. “I apologize, Captain. I am more exhausted than I thought.”

  “As is understandable,” he said. “Then I shall leave you ladies to your rest.”

  Within an hour’s time, she was sharing a room and a bed with Leah, snuggled wearily beneath the worn quilt keeping them warm. And while the younger woman was in a deep slumber, Riley thought further of the kiss she had coaxed from Gabriel. How could she have acted so wanton? Had she not been taught it was the man that made the first advance, and a woman must always decline? It was the way of a lady.

  She grimaced. Exactly what kind of impression did Gabriel now have of me?

  Not a very respectable one, she was sure, though Gabriel seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the whole incident as much as she.

  Of course he enjoyed it...he’s a man...but such a fleeting pleasure would hardly compel him to stay in England. Obviously, if he had planned to leave for America all along, his intentions were not to court me...especially now that I have appeared so indecent.

  Her brows furrowed.

  Though I never understood why a woman is considered indecent simply because she acts upon her heart’s desire, and a man in the same position is considered suave?

  Perhaps it was the severe consequences that followed an impulsive woman. Her grandmother acted upon her desires when she ran off with the gardener. In so doing, she found herself disinherited from her family’s wealth and with child. She was made to live in poverty, raise her own daughter under unsafe conditions and amongst those with shady notions. In turn that child, when grown, gave herself over freely to her desires. She became with child without the bands of matrimony and died in childbirth. This was her linage, the stock from which she came. Top Hat Tom always told her she was born of proud blood, but how proud could one be if they gave in so easily to impulsive decisions?

  Nay...it was love that my grandmother and mother gave in to...not sin, not debauchery, neither of them was indecent...just totally in love. But love didn’t turn out so convenient for them.

  She bit her bottom lip.

  I understand their hearts now, because I’m in love with Gabriel. I’ve loved him from the moment I gazed upon his handsome face. Yet he didn’t see me, his glances were set upon Collette Halston.

  Just thinking of the other woman’s name made her ill. She squeezed shut her eyes and pulled the quilt over her head.

  Lord, help me. Even with Collette gone, he still doesn't see my heart.

  What she learned from Simon this evening made it all so very clear. Falling in love was not convenient for her as well.

  And what will be my destiny now that I have given my heart to someone who will never love me in return?

  ****

  Gabriel occupied a bunk on the steamer, the darkness closing over him like the night sky that took over for the light of day. His body cried out for release, to be able to sink into the depths of a long-needed sleep. His flesh bruised and sore, begged for the delicious unconsciousness awaiting him in slumber.

  Yet his mind raced.

  The kiss he shared with Riley, the wonderful and oh-so-brief uniting of their lips, had turned his outlook into another whole perspective.

  For a long time, he had listened to the wind calling him home to America's shores. It summoned him now, cried for him to save his people. For many moons the doors of their homes have been too easy for the white man to enter and take what pleases them. It is time they are stopped. And now he has the financial means to put the hellish nightmare to an end.

  The pale-faced intruders have awakened the sleeping spirits of his ancestors. They have mocked the legacies handed down to his people, and such disrespect has disturbed their grandfather's bones from their eternal rest. The old gray-hairs are angered at the fact the agents have encroached upon their territory, robbed and humiliated their people. Now they call out to him on the wind, beseeching his help.

  He cannot...he will not...turn a deaf ear.

  Yet, he cannot leave Riley either. Not now, not after he tasted the promise of a true and honest heart.

  But to ask her to come with him, leave all she knows and loves just for him, would only have her resenting such a decision put upon her over time.

  He grunted and turned onto his side.

  “What disturbs you, Gabriel?” Simon inquired from his bunk.

  “Her kiss,” he stated flatly.

  “Aye, I heard about that kiss from Oliver, who heard it from Leah, who in turn heard it from Lady Wellington, who claims to have actually witnessed it,” Simon teased.

  “Have none of you anything better to do than gossip?”

  Simon chuckled again. “It appears not.” He cleared his throat. “And was it not to your liking?”

  “What?” he muttered.

  “The kiss,” Simon probed.

  “It was very much to my liking. It just does not fit well into my plans,” he grumbled.

  Simon chuckled. “Now you sound like my brother, Rafe. His gripe was much the same as yours when he realized he was falling in love with your sister. His jawing over the dilemma set us up talking an entire night.”

  “And what words of wisdom did you offer him?”

  Simon spoke quietly. “I don't remember the exact words, but I do have some advice for you.”

  Tiredness blurred the edges of reason, but Gabriel would hear his friend's counsel anyway. “I am listening.”

  “I believe honesty still remains the best option, for both you and Riley. Sometimes being direct is the only way to learn what you seek. And following your heart is always the best policy.” Then Simon added, “Of course, when all else fails and you see it best to just bugger off, giving the situation up to luck isn’t a bad idea. Luck is sometimes the best friend a chap can have.”

  Gabri
el suddenly felt very old and worn, like he had crammed several lifetimes into the span of just one. In many ways he had done exactly that. “I think you have simplified things, my friend. If love were that easy, no one would have to try so hard to make it work out.”

  “I see exhaustion has made you more stubborn and disagreeable than usual.” Simon snorted. Then the tone of his voice piqued with concern. “Don't do anything you'll regret, old chap. Love, true love, as you’ve just said, is hard to come by. Rare, even, I’d say as finding a convent’s nun in a brothel. That’s exactly why, if you believe you have found it, you must go against all odds to preserve it. Of this you must trust me. Before I fell in love with Fiona, married her and became a father, I was nothing but a shell of a man. Life...true living comes within a loving relationship, two hearts beating as one,” Simon offered, rising from his bunk and lighting a lantern.

  “Where do you go at this hour?” He turned to catch a glimpse of the other man’s face.

  “To evacuate my bowels.” He rubbed a hand over his abdomen. “The day-old beans I ate for dinner is having a jolly time with my stomach.”

  Gabriel snickered. “A good cleaning out never hurts anyone.”

  Simon looked taken aback. “Are you insinuating I'm full of...”

  “Not insinuating, stating a fact. It is all the tea you Brits drink. The stuff is binding, clogs me tight, right up to the ears.”

  Simon reached for the lantern. “Try a bit of claret, old chap. If it doesn't help that problem, it will do wonders for anything else that ails you.”

  “I will pass on that advice, as you must remember how I lose my sensibility and outlook when the drink is in me,” he grumbled.

  “Aye, I’ve seen firsthand what you’re about when you’ve got several sheets in the wind, quite embarrassing,” Simon recollected. “And now, if you'll excuse my quick departure, I am in need of finding a make-shift privy, preferably an empty bucket somewhere private and out of the way from any unsuspecting noses, before I embarrass myself.” With that said, he hurried, knees slightly pinched together, out the portal.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Riley’s homecoming was bittersweet.

  Sweet it was, upon entering Collins Stead’s doors. Here she always felt safe, bathed in the warmth and love she came to rely on since Lucinda had taken her to live there. The sounds, the smells, the familiar surroundings were just what she needed after her horrendous ordeal.

  Rafe and Sunny, her belly swollen with child, awaited her and Gabriel. In spite of her husband’s disapproval of traveling from home when she was ready to give birth, Sunny would not remain at Bentwood once she got word of Riley’s kidnapping. Their hugs and kisses reassured her of the goodness the world still held. She was a part of a family, made up of kind and trustworthy people, and within this clan she desperately wanted to always belong.

  But bitter, it became, upon learning Top Hat Tom had succumbed to his injury. Elderly, and not generally in good health, the wound he suffered put an end to him.

  She sat on the edge of Lucinda’s bed, freshly bathed and garbed in her own clothes instead of the cotton floral dress Elma Frumkee had given her to wear when she left Lands End, and listened to her aunt’s account of Tom’s last moments upon the earth.

  “He called for Anita a few times in his feverish haze. I know now, with the tenderness he said her name, he loved her deeply. And I have no doubts at all he summoned her to guide him to the afterlife, because he passed with a smile upon his weathered face. With a soft sigh, Tom left us peacefully,” Lucinda said, taking Riley’s hand and cradling it between the two of hers. “He just smiled and slipped away, moving on to somewhere much grander than anything he’d ever known here.”

  “I am so thankful you were with him at the end,” she said.

  “Aye, I would not leave his side.” Lucinda sighed. “I believe no one should have to die alone.”

  She swallowed the tears burning the back of her throat. “He has nay a soul to worry where he rests.”

  Lucinda’s thin lips curved into a thoughtful smile. “You need not concern yourself further on that matter, my dear. A man such as Tom, kind as he was to Anita and you, will not rest in a pauper’s grave. I have arranged for him to be interred in my family’s plot, beside Anita, for as you know she had nay a soul to lay her to rest as well. Services will be in a few days, after you’ve had time to collect yourself.”

  She leaned forward and hugged the elder woman. “Thank you so much, Auntie Cinda.”

  “And now tell me more about this young woman who helped you escape,” Lucinda said, stroking Riley’s hair as she’d done when she was a child.

  She pulled back and told Lucinda all about Leah, what she had endured, her strength and bravery, her dog and cat. “I took the liberty of offering her a home at Collins Stead,” she concluded. “I hope you won’t mind too terribly. And if in time things don’t work out here, I’m sure we can recommend her to another family. I believe her to be an honest and hard worker, so I wouldn’t hesitate to help her have a better life than the one she presently has.”

  “Nonsense,” Lucinda said. “We will make sure all works out, and she will stay here, be my ward as you were.”

  “That would be too much to ask.”

  “Well, you didn’t ask, I offered,” Lucinda stated firmly. “A young woman like your Leah sounds to me just the sort I need around here to stir these old bones of mine into living life again.” She wrinkled her nose. “It seems to me it’s been rather quiet as of late, everyone settled in their ways, doing the same thing over and over again. A bit of variety, noise, a dog and cat, might be just what I need, maybe what we all need, to get our circulations going again.”

  Riley frowned, concerned. “Just promise me you won’t overdo.”

  “If you promise me, no matter how things might appear, you won’t let Gabriel Eagle slip away,” Lucinda said, raising a devilish brow. Then the elder woman cast a mischievous smile. “And with the way he kept his eyes on you throughout dinner, I’d say he’s thinking of keeping you near as well.”

  “I wouldn’t place a wager on that notion.”

  “Why is that child?” Lucinda asked softly.

  “Mr. Eagle plans to return to America, as you must already know, since you allowed Captain Cavendish to move into the smaller manor house to keep an eye on Collins Stead during his absence.”

  Lucinda waved a casual hand in the air. “Oh, is that all that troubles you?”

  She frowned. “I would say that is quite enough. What’s more, I have it on good authority Gabriel plans on leaving England as soon as Sunny gives birth,” she explained.

  Before Lucinda could return a remark, a knock came at the chamber door.

  “Enter,” Lucinda said.

  Regis peeked into the room. “Permit me if you will, my lady, for intruding upon you at such an inopportune moment, but there seems to be a bit of a commotion in the guest wing.”

  Lucinda frowned. “What sort of a commotion do you speak of, Regis?”

  “It concerns Mr. Cavendish and Mr. Eagle,” Regis said. “Mrs. Cavendish has gone into labor, and Mr. Eagle insists upon entering her chamber.” He arched a brow. “Mr. Cavendish believes this to be a preposterous request and refuses Mr. Eagle admission.”

  Riley stood, turning her attention to Regis. “Is Mr. Cavendish the only one tending his wife?”

  “Nay, miss. Jane, Betsy, and Mrs. Cavendish’s own handmaiden, Cirie, are with her as well,” Regis explained.

  “If you wouldn’t mind instructing Addie to boil water and gather clean towels, and then send Charles for the doctor, I will address Mr. Eagle,” she said.

  “Very good, miss.” Regis closed the door.

  She cast a glance back at Lucinda. “It looks like Gabriel will be leaving a lot sooner than I realized.”

  Lucinda gave her a reassuring smile. “Go to your Mr. Eagle, Riley. Be there for him now, and I guarantee you he won’t be able to forget it later.”

  Gabri
el was far from her Mr. Eagle, but this was not the time to debate the issue.

  “I’m sure you’re right, Auntie Cinda,” she said, forcing a smile of her own before she left the room.

  Riley took the stairs to the guest’s quarters as quickly as her injured knee would allow. Reaching the top of the steps, she paused. Gabriel, with head in hands, sat on a bench outside of Sunny’s chamber. His hair, dark and shining, was unbound and fell in thick strands about his shoulders. His shirt was unbuttoned to the waist, his bronzed, muscular chest in full view, and his feet were bared.

  Poor chap. He looks like he was readying himself to take his slumber.

  Throughout their journey back to Collins Stead, he was quiet, preoccupied, and appeared exhausted. Dark pockets beneath his eyes, evidence of a sleepless night, mirrored her own. They hadn’t spoken of the kiss, to her relief. She had enough wits about her to recognize a fool’s errand when she spotted one, that being capturing Gabriel Eagle’s affections. And enough pride not to rehash her unwise decision to place her heart upon her sleeve in such a bold, unladylike manner.

  He lifted his head when he heard her approach. Large, sapphire orbs, red-rimmed with fatigue and worry, locked with her concerned gaze.

  “I’ve sent for the doctor.” She moved closer.

  He reached for her hand and pulled her down to sit beside him. “When I heard her scream, I tried to enter the room.” His grip tightened. “Cirie, Betsy, and Jane are with her. I should be as well. But Rafe will not allow it.”

  “Surely you can understand, except for the doctor, the only other man present beside Sunny at such a time, should be Rafe,” she whispered.

  “But I am her brother, her only family,” he choked out hoarsely.

  “And he is her husband, the baby’s father.”

  The muscles at his jaw throbbed. “Woman can die on their child-bed.”

  “Sunny isn’t going to die,” she reassured him, in spite of her emotions rising with the thought of her own mother dying in childbirth. But to confess her fears or agree with Gabriel’s notion would only feed into his anxiety. And adding fuel to an already smoldering fire was a very unwise move. Especially since his nerves appeared tightly wound and ready to snap at any given second.