“You heard me,” Nicholas said calmly. “You want to leave San Francisco, and I can pay for your passage, as well as the boy’s and your maid’s.”
Mara eyed Nicholas suspiciously, wondering if their uneasy truce was over. “Why the sudden interest in my affairs?”
“With the right woman,” Nicholas said with a look at Jenny, who was now standing beside the big Swede, Gordie holding onto one of his huge hands, “the Swede could find happiness here in San Francisco. I just want to give him that chance.”
“And you think I might interfere with the course of true love?” Mara asked wearily.
“Let’s just say that your beauty holds a certain fascination which might blind him to another, less-alluring woman,” Nicholas said softly. “You also, my dear, are a dangerous woman to know,” Nicholas said, alluding to the many misadventures that seemed to happen to people around her. “I don’t think the Swede needs that worry as well.”
Mara smiled tightly. “Still acting the guardian angel for him? You needn’t worry, there’s nothing between the Swede and me. I have tried to tell you that, so you needn’t burden yourself with me,” Mara told him proudly. “And what makes you think you could survive being anywhere near me, if I’m as dangerous to be around as you say?”
Nicholas smiled. “I lead a charmed life. You might even bring me good luck, instead of bad. Well?” he asked, his green eyes narrowing on her profile as Mara stared down at the glistening bay. “Do we have a bargain? You did say that you’d do anything I asked if I would help you find your nephew.” Nicholas reminded her unfairly, but he was determined to have her sail with him when he left for New Orleans.
Mara nodded as she turned back to look at him, her tawny eyes staring deeply into his with a feeling of premonition as to her future destiny as she placed herself in Nicholas Chantale’s ruthless hands. “I’ll go with you,” she said simply.
As they were rowed away from the pier later that day, Mara glanced back at the city shrouded in a mixture of smoke and fog. She really would miss Jenny and the Swede. She wondered if perhaps Nicholas was right and someday the Swede and Jenny might make a life together. Jenny still had her boardinghouse, and she would certainly have a horde of borders, including the Swede—until some of the hotels were rebuilt. He’d lost most of his possessions with the destruction of the Parker House. There were moments when she wished things had worked out differently and she would be staying in San Francisco too, but it wasn’t meant to be. Never had been, Mara thought sadly.
As she stared at the line of waves curling against the shore, and at the hills in the distance, she suddenly heard Brendan’s laugh ringing across the water, his dark eyes flashing with the light of adventure, his handsome face mirroring his dreams of riches. This new land was to have changed the destiny of the O’Flynns.
“Good-bye, Brendan, my love,” Mara whispered, her lips barely moving as the sound of his voice faded from her mind. The shoreline grew fainter and was swallowed up by swirling fog, as they left the golden shores of California.
Like glimpses of forgotten dreams.
—Tennyson
Chapter 11
“What the devil is this?” Mara murmured as she curiously picked up a shirt that had been tossed onto the berth in her cabin.
“It happens to belong to me,” Nicholas spoke lazily from the doorway as he entered the cabin, closing the door softly, yet firmly behind him as if he intended to stay.
Mara turned and stared at him incredulously. “Haven’t you mistaken your cabin?” she asked politely, one sleek eyebrow arched in question. She watched in growing alarm as he removed his coat.
“No,” he replied casually as he began to undo his shirt.
“No?” Mara repeated skeptically. “That is all you have to say? But this is my cabin,” Mara informed him coldly.
Nicholas smiled thoughtfully. “Actually, it is our cabin.”
“The devil it is,” Mara expostulated, her cheeks flushing hotly with both anger and embarrassment.
Nicholas laughed. “How elegantly you express yourself, my dear, but I’m afraid I shall have to disabuse you of that idea. You see, since I had no prior knowledge that you would be traveling with me when I booked passage on this ship, I took only one cabin. Space being rather limited, I was most fortunate in finding even one extra on such short notice. That cabin is now occupied by your nephew and maid,” Nicholas explained to Mara as she watched uncertainly as he removed his shirt, grimacing slightly as he flexed his stiffening shoulder, the bandage over his wound a bright patch of white against his bronzed skin. He scratched his chest reflectively. Mara could have sworn she caught a mischievous glint in his green eyes as he continued blandly, “And since we have shared a bed before, I thought you wouldn’t mind sharing this cabin with me.”
Mara opened her mouth, but no sound came forth. She glared at him in stunned silence.
“I see I have shocked you. I’ll have to think up some more surprises, for it’s rather entertaining to have rendered you speechless,” he teased her, his smile of enjoyment confusing Mara even further as she gazed at him with growing suspicion, wondering what his game was.
“Besides, this will be quite convenient for you,” he continued smoothly. “You’re going to need someone to play the part of lady’s maid, what with your own maid suffering a broken arm, and all those exasperating hooks up the back of your gowns.”
“And you see yourself filling that role?” Mara asked in a carefully controlled voice.
Nicholas feigned surprise. “And who else? In fact, I’m quite looking forward to it.”
Mara smiled stiffly. “I beg to differ, m’sieu,” she told him haughtily, “for I shall be perfectly capable of seeing to my own needs, thank you. A pity to have to disappoint you, but perhaps you will be able to find a more accommodating female elsewhere on the ship.”
Nicholas shrugged complacently. “I’m quite satisfied with you, Mara, but we’ll see.” He calmly poured water into the washbasin and splashed his face with it, his broad back turned to her. She continued to watch him, her confusion showing on her face as she wondered uneasily about this change in his attitude.
“I thought you merely desired my absence in San Francisco,” Mara challenged him, determined to get to the truth of the matter. “But now I see you really desired a bedmate. You could have been more honest about forcing me to accompany you.”
Nicholas laughed. “You certainly put things bluntly, my dear.”
“It’s the truth, then?” Mara asked, not fooling herself that he could feel anything more than lust for her.
“The truth is that I wanted you out of San Francisco. In fact, I wonder if the distance of two oceans is indeed far enough. But,” he paused, a light entering his green eyes as they slid over her face, lingering on her lips, “I thought, as long as we are confined in such close quarters, why shouldn’t we make the most of this voyage?”
“Oh, I see. It is to be the mere gratification of mutual lusts?” Mara asked angrily, her eyes blazing. “Your self-conceit is astonishing, m’sieu. I had no idea I had given you reason to assume I cared to share your bed.”
Nicholas frowned thoughtfully. “My pardon, mademoiselle, but it seemed the only natural thing to do. After all, we are a man and a woman who are attracted to one another.”
Mara drew in her breath, covering her discomfiture with a scornful laugh. “Indeed, I have been mistaken. I had thought you disliked and distrusted me.” Mara said mockingly. “Could it be that you have changed your mind about me?”
Nicholas smiled. “Perhaps, now that I know you better, I have a more complete understanding of Mara O’Flynn than I had some years ago. I find I can overlook certain…character flaws.”
“I, on the other hand—now that I know Nicholas Chantale better—find that I cannot overlook his arrogance, his dictatorial manner, or his insolent effrontery.”
“Since you know me so well, Mara,” Nicholas said, not in the least concerned by her outburst, “you know t
hat I shall ultimately win.”
Mara stared at him coldly, her heart fluttering. “And what will you win, Nicholas?”
Nicholas shook his dark head, his green eyes narrowed in speculation as he gazed at her slender figure, stiffened with outraged pride. “I’m not really sure. Perhaps I’ll become acquainted with the real Mara O’Flynn. I think I have yet to meet the complete woman.”
“Nor shall you,” Mara told him stonily.
“I wonder,” Nicholas responded softly, a determined glint in his eye as he gazed at Mara, not missing the nervous wariness in the way she faced him. “You have reason to be concerned, my dear, for you are most accurate in reading my character. I am a very persevering man, especially when presented the challenge of a beautiful woman. I admit that you fascinate me, and have done so since I first saw your face in that damned locket. You’ve haunted my thoughts for far too long. I should warn you,” he added grimly as he threw down the towel he’d dried his face with and came to stand directly in front of her, “that I never yield an inch. I’m a very tenacious and stubborn fellow.”
Mara stood her ground despite his closeness, and stared up into his green eyes, losing herself for an instant in their luminous depths. She sought desperately to fight the almost overwhelming attraction he held for her.
“Do you think you can resist me, Mara?” he asked softly as he lowered his lips to the side of her neck, breathing in the heady fragrance. He rubbed his rough cheek against her soft skin. He felt her warm breath tickling his ear as she sighed. Pulling back, he stared down at her and shook his head. “Even dressed in black mourning you still look more beautiful than other women in their finest gowns could ever dream of. In fact,” he added almost resentfully, “you are even more beautiful for there is no color, no frills to distract from the stunning, almost pure beauty of your face.”
A slight flush spread across Mara’s face. She’d never before been subjected to a Nicholas bent upon seduction, and she was determined at all costs not to reveal any weakness. She raised her chin haughtily, allowing a slight smile to curve the corners of her lips as she gave him a disdainfully provocative look. To Nicholas staring down at her, she was the miniature portrait coming to life before his eyes.
“So you are no different from any other man,” Mara said as she purposely allowed her gaze to travel over him pityingly, “and have become a victim of your own lustful nature, letting that rule your head. A pity. I thought you were made of stronger stuff, or at least,” she added tauntingly, “so you’ve told me.”
Nicholas’s hard fingers closed over Mara’s chin as he forced her face up to his and looked deeply into her eyes. “You are mistaken, madam, if you think I am not different. I am no callow youth carried away by the breathlessness of your beauty, nor some bourgeois lout who has never seen such perfumed and silken loveliness before,” he told her with a grim smile, his thumb moving along the line of her jaw. “I cannot be fooled by you, and although I might desire your body, I have no illusions about you, Mara.”
Mara pulled free of him as she stepped away and said, “Nor I of you, Nicholas.”
“It should prove an interesting contest of wills,” Nicholas remarked, and Mara could have sworn he was actually enjoying himself and even looking forward to their next confrontation.
Mara unconsciously shook her head as she said firmly, “Since we shall be parting company in New Orleans, I prefer to keep our relationship as casual as possible by not falling prey to your baiting.”
“I won’t need to bait you, my sweet, for do you really imagine that you and I can share a narrow berth without becoming intimate? You are either very trusting, or dangerously naive, for nothing has, nor ever will be, casual between us,” Nicholas told her; yet he didn’t seem angry or even disappointed by her refusal as he pulled on his clean shirt and proceeded to fasten it carelessly. “You do have spirit, though, and that I do admire,” he said suddenly; then, picking up his coat, he left Mara in the silence of the cabin.
Her stern resolve for noninvolvement was much easier said than done, Mara was to think later as she prepared for bed and realized that the close confines of the cabin did not allow for privacy—in fact, very little at all, she swore as she bumped her knee against the berth while struggling into her nightgown.
The first night, Nicholas was still on deck when she prepared for bed, and by the time he returned she had already claimed her half of the berth and had even managed to erect a barrier down the middle in the shape of a rolled-up blanket. Mara pretended to sleep when she heard him enter the cabin, ignoring his snort of contempt when he saw her makeshift wall. But it held, with only the contact of cold feet during the inhospitable night. Mara awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and quite rested, but as she rolled over, she found Nicholas’s half of the berth empty.
She was still standing in her petticoat when Nicholas entered the cabin a short while later, his skin roughened from the cold air up on deck and his black curls windblown as he shrugged out of his heavy overcoat. He didn’t look as if he’d had too comfortable a night’s rest, and as he saw Mara standing in her lacy underclothing, her skin glowing like soft silk, his mood blackened even more. Mara’s satisfied feeling of superior smugness faded, however, as, she pulled her dress over her head and attempted to hook it up, straining tiredly to get her arms behind her, and after a struggle of five minutes, with only a few fastened hooks to show for her efforts, she gave up. Mara stared silently at Nicholas’s broad back, for he’d turned his back on her as he read a book with increasing absorption, ignoring her and her futile attempts to dress herself.
Mara tapped her satin-shod foot indecisively for a moment before sighing in defeat as she walked over to him. “I find that I am in need of your services after all, if you’ll be so kind?” Mara informed him as she turned her back and waited for him to assist her.
Nicholas turned and stared at the slender back stiffly presented for his inspection, and a devilish glint entered his eyes as his gaze traveled up to the back of her neck and the fine, silky hairs on her nape just below the smooth, chignoned head held so arrogantly aloof.
“Of course. My pleasure. But,” Nicholas said as he stood up and, pulling the two gaping edges of material together, continued, “my services are no longer being offered for free. I shall expect payment.”
Mara looked up at him over her shoulder. “What do you mean? I don’t have very much money; you know that.”
“But you do have two very soft lips, and I think a kiss would be sufficient payment for my time and trouble,” Nicholas told her softly as he stared down into her tawny eyes, which were still locked with his.
Mara turned around, breaking that suffocating contact with him, as he continued to close the back of her gown, his fingers touching her skin every so often—perhaps unnecessarily, she thought resentfully as she felt his hand linger against the curve of her shoulder as he completed the last of the hooks.
Mara set her face firmly and turned around once again to face him, even though he still stood close behind her.
“Well, do I receive payment?” he demanded.
Mara knew she needed no urging to kiss him, yet she wouldn’t let him see that it would be an exquisite agony for her, so she cocked her head sideways as if in contemplation, her lips pursed thoughtfully. “Hmmmm, I suppose.”
A look of amusement showed briefly in Nicholas’s green eyes as he smiled. “How gracious of you, my dear, to bestow such a great honor on me,” Nicholas said lightly before suddenly pulling her into his arms and kissing her long and hard. Mara’s parted lips clung to his breathlessly as he lifted his mouth, his warm breath fanning her face as he stared down into her golden eyes, partially masked by her passion-heavy lids.
“I look forward to this evening when we dine with the captain and you have to change for dinner,” Nicholas said with a speculative gleam in his eye.
That day, Mara waited on Jamie for the first time in her life. Jamie seemed far more put out about that state of affairs than s
he was about the relationship developing between Nicholas and Mara. On first hearing of the cabin arrangements, she had seemed momentarily surprised, then suspicious, and finally almost pleased.
“I really can’t understand your attitude, Jamie,” Mara questioned her in perplexity. “I thought you didn’t like Nicholas Chantale. Doesn’t it bother you that I’m sharing a cabin with him?”
“Nope,” Jamie answered, with a shake of her head. “Don’t really know the man, so can’t say whether or not I like him. And what goes on in that cabin between the two of ye, well, ’tis no business of mine. Besides, I figure ’tis about time ye got yourself a man, and a good one at that. He’s a fine man, to be sure, and he’s proven he can be trusted. He saved Paddy, didn’t he? Aye, seems to me ye was destined to come to this, what with him bein’ mixed up in that London affair, knowin’ all about ye, comin’ to look for ye, and then meetin’ so strange like in California—twice too. Just seems as though ye paths were fated to cross.
“Anyway, it’s no good bein’ a woman alone, especially a beautiful one like you, just askin’ for trouble. I like the feelin’ of havin’ a man around now that, well…” Jamie trailed off huskily, both of them knowing what she had been going to say. Brendan was no longer with them. They needed a man.
Mara glared at the self-assured Jamie. “Perhaps, Mistress Jameson, since ye’ve such a likin’ for the man, you should be sharing his bunk instead of me,” she recommended. Jamie’s wizened face turned beet red with embarrassment.
“Well, I never!” Jamie sputtered. “I can see that someone’s goin’ to have to teach ye to curb that wicked tongue of yours,” Jamie warned. “Ye’ve got the worst of your mama in ye, God rest her soul. She could cut loose with a phrase or two that’d have ye reelin’ with the shock of it.”
“But I don’t intend to follow in her footsteps, Jamie,” Mara told her, feeling a momentary flicker of fear at the memory of Maud.
“Ye won’t,” Jamie said with assurance. “Ye be stronger than Maudie ever was.”
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