“What is she doing?”
Sam glanced over his shoulder as his brother, Joseph, approached from the opposite direction. He frowned. As much as possible, he tried to shield Joe from the unseemly world of the docks. Protecting the younger Austin was a cause he’d taken up at a young age. While he was meant for this wild and ugly place, gently raised Joe, the mama’s boy, was much more suited to his chosen life as a college professor.
“Her?” he asked with a nod toward the Bolen woman. “I believe she’s looking for me.”
Joe ran his hand through his hair, a gesture so reminiscent of their father that it hurt. “Who is that?”
Sam gave a moment’s thought to telling his brother the story of the will and what this soon-to-be poor little rich girl likely wanted from him. But to repeat the story was to bring Joe into something he had no business knowing about yet.
Not until Sam decided what he was going to do about all of it.
“No one you’d know.”
“Whoever she is, she’s sure not suited for the docks.” Joe shifted his attention away from the woman to slide him a sideways look. “What business would she have with us?”
“I suspect her business is with me, but I think I’ll just wait and see.”
“Why’s she poking that pile of sails? Wharf rats?” Joe said.
“Not on my vessel, though it could be a stray dog or cat.” He shrugged. “Or worse.”
“Worse?”
Sam nodded. “More likely one of those deckhands I hired on last week.”
They watched in silence as the lady in question made a circular trip around the pile and then raised the stick only to lower it again. If, indeed, there were cats or dogs hiding there, she’d get a nasty surprise when they scattered. If a lazy crewman was sleeping, which was the more likely possibility, the surprise would be worse.
Once again the woman raised the stick. Something caught her attention.
“Shouldn’t you stop her?” Joe demanded.
“I’m sorely tempted not to,” he said. “But I have far too much trouble keeping good deckhands.”
“You know you can always call on me,” Joe said, his eyes narrowed. “I’m as much an Austin as you are, and as such am fully capable of doing any work on an Austin vessel that needs done.”
Sam clamped his hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Stick to the classroom, Professor. You’re not suited for that sort of work, and even if you were, I made a promise to our mother and I won’t break it.”
“You know how I feel about that promise you made not to—oh no!” Joe gestured toward May Bolen, who held the stick poised over her head like a warrior about to go to battle.
“Woman, drop your weapon,” Sam called, but as soon as he said the words, he knew they were too late. The Bolen woman slammed the stick against the sails hard enough to be heard over the noise of the docks.
Sam scrambled forward, colliding with a workman and his load of barrels. The barrels went rolling in all directions, and the workman came up swinging.
As Sam ducked the smaller man’s right fist, he spied his formerly sleeping deckhand emerge from the sails to tackle the source of his pain. “Let her go,” Sam shouted, taking his attention off the workman.
Something cracked against his skull, sending him down onto the slime that coated the docks. A second later, the fellow landed with a thud beside him.
“Need a hand?” Joe asked as he reached down to help him to his feet.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” he demanded as he rubbed the back of his head.
Before Joe could respond, a scream split the air. Though the deckhand was still fighting the sailcloth wrapped around him, he had managed to knock the Bolen woman off her feet and was holding her in place with his free hand.
As Miss Bolen scrambled to try and get away, Sam bolted toward the gangplank. Snatching up the edge of the sail, he gave it a yank. The deckhand fell backward, releasing Miss Bolen, who spun around and slammed into Sam.
He caught her. “Mademoiselle, we meet again,” he said to her.
“Release me,” she demanded as she pressed her palms against his chest.
Sam let her go then grabbed her elbow once again when she nearly tumbled. “Easy now. You’ll need time to adapt to standing on a deck.”
“I do not intend to take any more time than necessary.” Her eyes flashed anger. “Do stop following me.”
“Mademoiselle, I believe it is you who are following me,” he said. “And perhaps you’re trying to find me?”
“Only if you are Samuel Austin III, though I would seriously doubt you if you made the claim that you are he.”
He slid a sideways glance at Joe, who had come to stand beside him. With his brother’s grin broadening, Sam shrugged.
“Well then, I suppose you’ve got a better idea of who Samuel Austin III is and where he might be?”
For the first time since she marched aboard the Vengeance, Miss Bolen looked less than sure of herself. “My source says he owns this vessel and often stays aboard.”
“Your source?” Sam said. “Might he have a name?”
“He does indeed, and a very prominent name at that.” She paused. “However I’ll not be revealing anything to a man of your sort.”
“And what sort is that?”
“Well, the sort who would follow me and … oh, I don’t know,” she said, clearly flustered. “I am not looking for trouble, only just to find Samuel Austin III.”
“If you were not looking for trouble, you should not have taken a stick to an innocent man,” he said as he nodded toward the deckhand now glowering at them from a safe distance. “A man who will apologize and then leave us.”
At his subtle command, the deckhand moved a few steps forward to mutter words that might have been a request for forgiveness. As soon as the request was out, the man had disappeared below deck.
“There,” Sam said. “Now tell me about this Austin character.”
Joe chuckled under his breath, causing Sam to elbow him in the ribs. Miss Bolen’s nervous attention skittered between Joe and Sam, finally settling on Sam.
“I believe you are toying with me, sir,” she said as she straightened her backbone and squared her shoulders.
“For what purpose?”
“I cannot say, though I merely wish to deliver a …” She looked down and then back up at Sam, her expression now distraught. “Oh no. My reticule. I’ve lost it.” Ignoring the conversation at hand, she wandered away with her attention now on the deck.
He nudged Joe. “Help her find whatever she’s looking for.”
Leaning against the mainsail with his arms crossed, Sam watched the pretty lady scour the deck while Joe walked the perimeter of the vessel. “I think I see it,” Joe shouted a few minutes later as he gestured to the water on the leeward side.
Miss Bolen stood beside him and then seemed to crumple. Sam hurried over in case he needed to catch her for the third time. There, floating in the river between the Vengeance and the next vessel was a beaded bag with strings flowing out of one end.
He fetched a net and scooped up the bag, depositing it onto the deck along with three dead fish, a rotting piece of fruit, and a length of rope. When he lifted the bag from the soggy, stinking mess, a lump of pale-colored pulp fell out.
“Oh no,” she said as she dove for the pulp, and then moaned when it disintegrated in her hands. For the first time since May Bolen came aboard the Vengeance, she appeared to be at a loss as to what to say or do.
“Something important?” Sam asked.
“More than that,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper against the noise of the riverfront docks. “I thought with these documents I might have …”
A tear slid down her cheek, and Sam reached up to swipe it away.
“Mademoiselle”—he said gently as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her toward the gangplank—“I see you are in distress. Perhaps I can help. This Samuel Austin III. What if I were able to deliver him to you?
Or you to him?”
Eyes the color of café au lait lifted to meet his gaze. “It’s him, isn’t it?” she said as she nodded toward Joe.
Sam laughed.
“I knew it was,” she said as she whirled around and ducked under his arm to march over to where Joe stood. “Good sir,” she said. “Am I correct in my guess? Are you Samuel Austin III?”
Joe opened his mouth to respond, but Sam shook his head. Until he had more time to consider his next move, he intended to use her disbelief to his advantage.
Joe closed his mouth and then began again. “I am not,” he said. “However, he is my brother. Would you like me to arrange a meeting?”
“I would like that very much,” she said sweetly. “Mr … Austin, isn’t it?”
“It is. Joseph Austin at your service.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I hope you’ll understand my reluctance to rely on your word alone,” she said. “You see, this is a matter of extreme urgency and I must be certain to whom I am speaking.”
Though Sam shook his head again, Joe ignored him. “In that case, meet me at my office at Tulane University tomorrow morning at ten. I am a professor in the mathematics department. Would the plaque with my name on my office door convince you of my identity?”
“Possibly,” she said, “although I will have to check the notes from my source to be certain a brother is listed in Mr. Austin’s dossier. Might I bring my detective with me?”
“I insist,” Joe said as he shot Sam a grin. “After all, I would hate to think of you traveling unaccompanied. As a matter of fact, I am concerned as to where your escort might be. Surely you did not come down to the docks alone.”
While Joe made a big show of looking around for the Bolen woman’s escort, May Bolen’s expression told Sam she was enjoying the attention. Before Sam could convey a warning to his brother, Joe had talked May Bolen into allowing him to escort her off the docks.
By the time Joe returned, Sam had worked up a powerful irritation. “What were you thinking, Joseph?” he demanded as soon as his brother boarded the Vengeance.
“I was thinking that a pretty lady needed an escort, and she certainly wasn’t going to allow you to be the man to do that. Besides, she made it plain she didn’t want to spend time with you.”
“And yet tomorrow you’re going to tell her how to find me.”
“Well, yes, that’s the purpose for the meeting,” he admitted. “Don’t act like it’s my fault. You could have tried harder to convince her of your identity.”
“I’ll speak with her on my own terms when I’m ready.”
“Now that’s an odd statement, Sam,” his brother said. “She’s quite pleasant. I enjoyed chatting with her.”
“In all the chatting you did on your way up the docks, did you happen to ask that pretty lady her name?” Before Joe could respond, Sam continued. “I know you did not. How did I know, you might ask?” He paused. “Because that woman you just spent time flirting with is May Bolen.”
“As in Bolen Shipping?” Joe shook his head. “Why would a Bolen be looking for you?”
“That, Joseph, is a much longer conversation that I don’t want to have out here on this boat. Let’s go back to your office, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“All right”—he said as he fell into step beside Sam—“but tell me one thing. Is Miss Bolen single or spoken for? I find her fascinating.”
“The answer to that question, little brother,” he said with a grin, “is up to me.”
Chapter Three
May Bolen never allowed nerves to interfere with anything she wished to accomplish. Nor did she fidget.
As she waited for Samuel Austin III’s arrival, however, she did both. Finally, she settled her attention on Mr. Breaux.
“Remind me, sir,” she said as evenly as she could manage. “The man who walks through that door is the man who will determine whom I marry and whether I am to remain within reach of my father’s accounts or out on the street.”
The attorney had the good sense to look away. “Much as I dislike it, Miss Bolen, the answer is yes. That is exactly what Mr. Austin will be deciding.”
“I met his brother, as you know.” She waited until Mr. Breaux was looking at her again. “He’s a very nice man. A professor of mathematics at Tulane. I do hope the elder brother is as pleasant as the younger one.”
“I have been told I am not,” a decidedly masculine voice said. “Although it was quite kind of Joe to see that you believed him enough to call on Mr. Breaux and agree to this meeting.”
May turned to see a familiar face at the door. “You again.” She looked over at Mr. Breaux. “I do apologize. Apparently this man has decided to once again interject himself into my life. I suggest you call for assistance in removing him.”
“I cannot do that, Miss Bolen, but I can make proper introductions,” the attorney said. “May Bolen, may I present Samuel Austin III. Mr. Austin, it appears you have already met Miss Bolen.”
“I have,” he said as he fixed a smile on her.
“What?” she managed. “But you cannot be …” She paused to shake her head and then gave up speaking in favor of merely staring.
The pirate was the man who would decide her fate? Surely not.
In contrast to yesterday’s workingman’s clothing, Samuel Austin III wore a gentleman’s suit of decent but slightly worn construction and had replaced his boots with a pair of proper men’s shoes. He’d also shaved since their encounters on the dock and aboard the Vengeance, though his hair was still overlong and in need of a trim.
And somehow, he still looked like a pirate.
“You are Joseph’s brother?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”
“My dear departed mother often voiced the same thought,” he said. “It is a source of pride that my brother has made better of himself and is now associated with a university. However, it is also a source of pride that I have made my own way in the world. I’ll not apologize for the calluses on my hands or the fact that I did not inherit the money that pays my bills.”
“Well said”—she snapped as her anger rose—“although I doubt you’ll also apologize for whatever influence you used over my father to cause him to put you in charge of such an important decision in my life. Was it blackmail, sir, or did you use those callused hands to threaten bodily harm?”
Ignoring her question, Samuel Austin III returned his attention to Mr. Breaux. “Thank you for facilitating our meeting,” he told him as he crossed the room.
The attorney greeted Mr. Austin with a formal shake of hands and then spared May a quick glance before hurrying out and shutting the door behind him. Suddenly the air seemed to go out of the room. May rose and went to the window, turning her back on Mr. Austin.
What an arrogant man. And yet she must somehow find a way to charm him into doing her bidding. Until she could secure his permission to accept one of her offers of marriage, she was at the wrong end of a situation that could end in disaster.
A lady is pleasant, even to the unpleasant. She mustered a smile, though it took several attempts. When May turned around, fully prepared to offer that smile to the ruffian, she found him sitting behind Mr. Breaux’s desk watching her.
“Please sit.” He indicated the chair she’d just left. “I do not believe in wasting time or words, so I would like to get on with this.”
“Yes, of course,” she said sweetly. “Though I do wonder if you’ll enlighten me as to how you came to have the upper hand over me in my father’s will. Perhaps we can begin our meeting with the answer to that question.”
“The answer is, I have no idea.”
She sat back and gave up on trying to charm him. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you. This whole thing sounds preposterous.”
“Might I interrupt?” Mr. Breaux peered around the partially open door. “You see, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and, well, I may be able to shed some light on the subject.”
“Please do,” May sa
id.
“With the understanding that I am legally obliged to keep Mr. Bolen’s secrets unless he has expressly allowed me to speak of them, I can tell you, Miss Bolen, that your father was of sound mind when he chose Mr. Austin. And, Mr. Austin, you should know that he was specific in his choices and that he had very good reasons for them, even to choosing the first anniversary of his death to reveal the terms of his will.”
May looked away. She knew the reasons, and they all amounted to the fact that she’d been a terrible daughter and was now reaping what she had sown. While she may deserve this, however, Mama did not.
“Just one more thing,” Mr. Breaux said, his voice rising. “For better or worse, the two of you are inextricably tied together for the time being. As you’ve both been told, on the thirty-first day, the company begins to be dismantled and your time to work together for a mutually beneficial outcome will be gone. Considering you have less than three weeks until the deadline, I suggest the two of you put aside your suspicions and differences and figure out a way to solve the problem that Mr. Bolen has saddled you with.”
“I had a perfectly good solution,” May said. “In fact, had I not been accosted on this man’s boat and lost my reticule and its contents to the river, I would have proof of three excellent offers of marriage to discuss with Mr. Austin.”
“Without proof there are no offers, Miss Bolen,” Mr. Austin said.
“I assure you I can obtain proof. I will just need time.”
“Time is something neither of us has,” he said.
The attorney exchanged an odd look with Mr. Austin. “That is regretful,” he said when he returned his attention to May. “However I am certain you and Mr. Austin will come to some sort of agreement. Now if you don’t mind, I did allow for an introduction at my office, but I am afraid my time is also short. I have another appointment waiting, so perhaps you will take this conversation elsewhere?”
“I was under the assumption we could use your office. I do not know this man. How can I be seen alone with him?”
Of Rags and Riches Romance Collection Page 16