by Paige Powers
At the end of dinner, she offered to draw Cassie a bath. She knew that she would not decline the bath, because it was the one luxury Cassie enjoyed. Once she settled Cassie into the warm water, she promised to be back for her shortly.
Down the hallway, Bryan was in his room. She knocked lightly on the door.
“Mr. Bryan, I bring you nightcap.”
He opened the door. “Thank you, Maria,” he replied, taking the drink.
Quickly he downed the liquid in the shot glass and gritted his teeth. “Thank you, Maria. I appreciate it.”
She smiled and took the glass back, quietly going to the kitchen to return the glass.
She tiptoed back to the bathroom, and Cassie was still luxuriating.
“Miss Cassie, are you ready to get out?”
“No. Actually if you can get me a bit more warm water, that would be great.”
Maria did what Cassie asked and brought the already prepared bucket of water to fill the bath.
“I will be back for you.”
Cassie closed her eyes and waved her hand, letting Maria know that she was alright. Things were going as planned.
She walked back down to Bryan’s room. Tapping lightly on the door, there was no answer. She pushed the door open slightly and walked in. A fire was glowing and Bryan was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Mr. Bryan, are you alright?”
He rubbed his head. “I feel a little woozy, but I think I will be okay.” Just as he spoke, he fell back on the bed.
Maria swung his feet around, placing his entire body on the bed. She slid off his clothes and abandoned them in a pile by the bed. He was a bowl of jelly when she pulled off her own clothes and climbed on top of him.
He was groggy and barely coherent as to what was going on. In one instant, he recognized Maria, but then it seemed that he thought his siren was Cassie. His consciousness was fading and she took the opportunity to explore his body. His muscular embrace felt just the way she thought it would and for a brief space in time, she was in pure bliss as his hands ran up and down her spine.
When he sat up and kissed her, Maria felt the spark that she knew she would. She could taste the liquor on his lips as she let herself go and lived in the moment. She did not even care that he called out Cassie’s name instead of hers. She would soon make sure that he would call out her name in due time. She would be patient.
His moans gave way to a rise in his hardness and Maria was excited to know that he was ready.
She wanted to go as far as he would let her. Being enraptured in the moment, she did not see Cassie standing there.
“Bryan?” His name squeaked out of her mouth.
When he did not answer, Maria turned to face Cassie with a smirk on her face. She did not move.
Cassie called out Bryan’s name again, but his only response was a grunt before he passed out. She ran crying from the room, screaming down the hallway. In a few seconds, Maria heard the door slam. Finally, the last of her obstacles had been removed.
Chapter 9
Bryan awoke with a splitting headache. He had no idea how long he had been asleep. He felt the bed next to him, but only found a cold sheet. Where was Cassie?
He found himself completely undressed and unable to lift his head.
“Cassie!”
When she did not respond, he called her again, only to find Maria entering the room.
“Mr. Bryan, can I help you?”
He pulled the sheet over her body.
“I was looking for Cassie.”
“I have not seen her. Can I get you something to eat?’
“Yes, please.”
She left the room, and Bryan sat up as slowly as possible. The room was spinning. He tried his best to remember what happened before he went to sleep.
There had been a sandstorm. Lizbeth left a note saying she had left town. Cassie had become his lover. They had been in bed all day long before she retired to take a bath, and then he was in the bedroom waiting for her return. They were going to discuss how they would introduce themselves as a couple.
His memories became fuzzy, but he remembered Maria coming to his room to give him a shot of whiskey. Then things were blurry after that.
What happened? What had Maria done?
He dressed quickly and ran to the kitchen where he knew Maria would be.
“Maria!” He was practically screaming her name as he stormed through the house.
Everything was silent. Maria was nowhere to be found. Then he remembered Cassie. Where could she have gone?
A knock at the door broke into his thoughts. Bryan flung open the door, expecting to see Cassie or Maria standing there. Instead, it was his brother.
“Bryan, what is going on? You look like hell!”
“I can’t talk right now. Come with me. I will explain.”
They hitched their horses and Bryan led the way. If he knew what was going on, Cassie would be on the first train out of Owen’s Bluff. There was no way that he would let two women leave him in the span of a week.
They arrived at the train depot in a matter of minutes. Bryan jumped off the horse, pushing through the crowd on the platform. He did not see Cassie anywhere.
“Damn!”
“What is going on here?” Brent caught up to his brother.
Bryan whirled around to face his brother. “Lizbeth is gone. She left a note saying that she went back home to South Carolina. It’s for the best anyway because we were not the most compatible. I was fine to let her go.”
“So then why are we here at the train depot? Who are we looking for, Bryan?”
“Cassie.”
He was still in distress, searching the crowd of people coming and going to and fro. There was still no sign of her.
“Why would you be looking for Cassie, brother?”
“Because I have fallen in love with her.” The very confession coming from his lips made things feel official.
“In love? I had no clue you paid attention to Cassie. Isn’t that Lizbeth’s lady’s maid?”
“Yes. She is. Or she was. Lizbeth left her here. Everything happened so quickly. I did not have time to think. But besides that point, I think that Maria poisoned me.”
“This just gets more and more strange by the moment. My mind is boggled right now. You are saying that you are in love with your now ex-fiancée’s lady’s maid and that your current housemaid tried to poison you.”
“Yes.”
Brent shook his head. “This is all too much for me to handle. But I will go with you on this, brother.”
“Thank you. Just help me look for Cassie. She could not have left yet. The next train does not leave for an hour.”
All of a sudden, the train platform felt like the largest place on earth. Bryan had never seen it filled with so many people. He was angry at the fact that it felt like things were slipping from his fingertips. Just when it seemed that things were going his way, there was a change in direction like the wind blows.
His heart dropped because it seemed like he would never find her. Life was dealing him some low blows that he did not really feel ready for.
* * *
Cassie replayed the moment over and over again in her mind. One moment she was happy. Truly happy. Spending the afternoon with Bryan. Having their relationship rise up to the next level. Getting everything that she wanted. She had been so patient for so long and she was right on the verge of having the man she wanted and she lost it all in one instance.
She was completely blindsided by Maria. All this time that she was laying in wait for Bryan’s love, Maria was swirling around like a shark waiting to prey on him. Cassie kicked herself for not seeing it coming. Of course other women would admire Bryan from afar. She had for years and when she saw her chance, she took it. So why would she think that another woman would not do the same?
It was a dangerous game that she played and she lost. It was as simple as that. She lost. Lizbeth had left and practically handed Bryan over to her, and she sti
ll was not able to make it work. He admitted to loving her and wanting to be a couple. Had all of that been lies?
It could not have been untrue. When he touched her, she felt his tenderness and his affection. She knew that he wanted to be with her just as she wanted to be with him. What she could not figure out was what had gone wrong.
The only thing that she could come up with was that Bryan was not the man that she thought he was. He was not the caring, kind-hearted, loyal man that she envisioned him to be. But it was not possible that she had made all of that up in her mind. It would be foolish to think he was the man of her dreams. She had sat around for years pining away for the man. For a man that had not even so much as acknowledged her presence for years, how could she be so foolish to think they would fall in love with each other?
The love that she felt for him was real, but she was crazy to think that he could fall in love with her overnight. She shook her head and clutched her train ticket tightly. When she got to the counter that morning, all she could think to do was purchase a ticket for the farthest place she could afford to get to. Her ticket would take her to Nebraska. She had no clue what she would do when she arrived, but she had full confidence that she would make out alright.
The only thing that made her heart sink was the fact that she would never get any closure on the situation. She would not get the chance to ask Bryan if he was telling her the truth about his feelings or was he just filling her head with lies. She wanted to know if he had any true feelings for Maria or if it was simply a fling. Either way, it did not matter. Everything she had looked forward to over the years had crashed and burned in an instant.
A tear escaped, dripping down her cheek. She did not want to cry. She simply wanted to be strong enough in this situation to move on and not look back. After all, hadn’t she done that when she left South Carolina? Cassie believed in herself enough to make it happen again.
The conductor called for all to board the train. Steam shot from the train and she heard the locomotive readying to move.
“Cassie!”
She almost did not hear the voice calling her name.
“She’s over here, Bryan!”
Through the crowd, she could see two men running toward her. She could make out Bryan’s face as he ran to her.
“Wait!”
Her first impulse was to board the train and act as if she did not hear him. He continued to yell for her.
She stood still, frozen in her tracks. At least this way, she would get a chance to hear his explanation. Hopefully it would give her some type of closure and she could move on. By the time she turned to him, her eyes were full of tears.
“You have exactly one minute to explain,” she offered.
He was out of breath by the time he got to her. “You have to hear me out. Please.”
Bryan paused for a moment, making sure that he had her full attention.
“Look. We have a misunderstanding here. Nothing happened with me and Maria. She poisoned me and I was not aware of what was going on.”
“Am I supposed to believe that?”
“Yes. It is the truth. Do you think that I would do something like that to you? With you only a few feet away?”
“I don’t know what to say. I want to believe you, but I can’t.”
“Please,” he said kindly as he took her by the hand. “Cassie, I would never do something like that to you. I confessed how much I care for you and I meant it. Every single word.”
She tried her best to look into his eyes and see if there was any way she could see if he was telling the truth. There was no way to decipher exactly what he was feeling just by looking into his eyes. She would have to just trust in love and trust that what she was feeling and what he professed to feel would be more than enough for them to make it as a couple.
“Cassie, we just talked about sharing with the world that we were a couple. Why would I do something like that to you? Something so hurtful?”
“All aboard!”
The conductor’s signal that it was time to board was the start of the ticking clock.
“Look, Bryan. I can’t forget what I did. I lay in wait, hoping that Lizbeth would misstep and that you would leave her. Instead, she left you and I pounced on the opportunity. Maybe that is the reason why I can’t have you all to myself. Maybe it is some type of karma that says that because of what I have done, it will be done to me. If what you say Maria did was true, would I truly be any better than she is? Could I fault her for feeling the way that she has for you?”
“All aboard!” The conductor yelled again, taking tickets as passengers boarded the train.
“If you think of it that way, then no, Maria was not wrong for her feelings. But if you really pay attention to what happened, you would see that you and I fell for one another and that should be more than enough. I did not profess my feelings for Maria. I said that I loved and cared for you.”
Hearing those words made her heart melt. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he really did care for her as much as he said he did. Maybe it would be worth the risk to find out what was in store for the both of them.
“Miss, this is the last call for boarding. What are you going to do?” the conductor asked her directly.
Cassie looked at the train. It was her ticket to freedom from the pain that loving Bryan had caused. But she knew that if she boarded, there was a possibility that she would spend her time loving him forever from afar and that was not what she had worked so hard to do.
“I’ll catch a later train at another time. I think I’m staying in Owen’s Bluff for a while.”
When she responded, Bryan exhaled. She had not even noticed that he had been holding his breath, waiting for her answer.
Bryan embraced her, kissing her passionately.
“You won’t regret your decision, Cassie. I promise you that much.”
Chapter 10
The ride across Texas was dusty and hot. Lizbeth had enough of riding in the wagon. She had made her dramatic exit and enough was enough.
“Chavez, we will stop in the next town and take a train the rest of the way.”
“Miss, I have never traveled by train. I prefer the open air of the country.”
“And I prefer the luxury of a train. I prefer food and a resting car, not the bumps along the way of this terrain.”
“As you wish. We should be coming to the next town shortly. We can take the train from there.”
Just as Chavez said, the next town was about ten minutes away. It could not come any sooner. Lizbeth was aching and cranky and hungry. She wanted the comfort of the train car and she wanted to be able to relax as she returned home.
She was able to secure tickets for herself and Chavez.
“Ma’am, if you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you require of me?”
They sat in the train depot waiting for the train to arrive to take them back East.
“Chavez, I don’t ask for much. Consider yourself a road companion. My escort of sorts. For safety reasons, of course.”
He simply nodded. “If that is what you wish. I am just concerned about how I will fit into your life back in your world.”
She understood what he was asking. “I think you will do just fine. I will always need a bit of work done around my home. And we can be friends, you know. Good friends that share a small bit of history. Only you will know what my life was like back in Owen’s Bluff. It will be the secret that binds us together. It will be the thing that we share, just me and you.”
“Does that mean that you want more from me?”
She was becoming a bit frustrated that he would continue to try and pull something out of her that she did not want to admit.
“Is it that you want me to admit that I find you attractive, Chavez? Do you want me to say that I want more from you than simple companionship? If that is what you want me to say, that would not be so ladylike, so I will not say it.”
His cocky grin drove her crazy. She was slightly exasperated tha
t she felt the way she did for him. Especially after doing something so out of line as to run off and leave her fiancé with nothing more than a note.
She knew in her heart that Bryan understood where her departure came from. Lizbeth knew that he understood that they were truly not meant to be together. Her life was one place, his was another. There was no reason to go on like they had. She wanted to lead her life in the way that she wished. Coming to Owen’s Bluff had not been a complete mistake. It had actually empowered her to want to live life more richly and do less of what others wanted from her and more of what she wanted for herself.
That mode of thinking would go completely against all that she knew in her life. It would be a complete surprise to her parents and everyone that she was raised with. And even more of a surprise would be the fact that she was returning with Chavez and not Cassie. She thought long and hard about what she would tell people had happened with Cassie. Confessing about things not working out with Bryan would be easy enough. But she would never be able to let them know that Cassie had moved in on Bryan and won his heart in the end.
The train pulled into the station and they waited patiently to board.
“Chavez, are you ready to be plunged into a world of luxury and loveliness?”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Starting now, call me Liza in private. And you can call me Miss Lizbeth in public.”
* * *
Settling into life with Cassie was not hard. It was one of the smoothest transitions Bryan had ever made. He no longer had to worry about if he was good enough for the woman he loved. He knew that Cassie was genuine and he lived up to his promise to make her happy and make sure that she knew she could trust him.
The only other word he had gotten from Lizbeth was a telegram saying that she had made it safely back to South Carolina and had explained to everyone that she and Bryan had mutually agreed to part and that she had left in the middle of the night, refusing to let him escort her back East, even when he insisted.