by Linda Ladd
Alysson laughed. “It is only a legend, but I think we will be quite safe in Captain MacBride's hands."
Odette closed her eyes in a show of ecstasy.
"Ooh la-la, is he not magnifique? I would put myself in his hands quite eagerly, would you not? And his brother, so dark and tall and handsome! And those eyes, so black and like fire! I would welcome his hands on me!"
Her words sent an embarrassed flush climbing Alysson's neck as she remembered a night when those very hands caressed her bare flesh. She was glad when Odette took hold of her arm.
"But come, Alysson, I nearly did forget. Rosalie wishes to speak with you, and I will introduce you to the others with us."
Alysson let herself be drawn along, down the steps to the main deck, where two men stood together at the rail. Odette stopped beside them.
"Here she is. This is Alysson. You have already met Edgar, but this is Edgar's brother, Milton. They are twins, as your eyes will tell you."
"How do you do,” Alysson said, and the one named Milton swooped low over her hand, pressing it to his lips while his brother shook his head and rolled his eyes upward.
"My sweet little flower,” said Milton, “it is my pleasure to meet you."
"You can tell them apart by sniffing their breaths,” Odette informed her, behind her hand, but loud enough for them both to hear. She laughed. “Milty loves the wine."
They were identical in countenance, Alysson had to agree, tall and slender with the same full mustache and brown bushy hair. Even the eyes were the same dark blue with laugh lines at the corners. She did note, however, that Milton's skin was of a much darker hue.
"I am sure I will be able to tell you apart by your darker skin,” she said to Milton, looking around in surprise as they all laughed at her.
"Not after a week has gone by,” Odette explained. “That is a stain on his face. He played Othello last week, and it has not yet worn away."
Alysson laughed with them as Rosalie came up, dressed elegantly in an olive-green velvet skirt and jacket with a froth of white lace at her throat and cuffs. A young boy was with her, and Alysson remembered thinking him handsome when she had seen him at the Crownover Theater.
"So there you are, Miss Tyler,” Rosalie said in her low, husky voice. “Mr. MacBride told me you would be aboard with us."
Alysson thought she saw something in Rosalie's brown eyes as Rosalie gestured to the boy with her, but she could not be sure.
"This is Billy Brock, one of my newest members. I have great hopes for him, once we rid him of his atrocious cockney accent."
"Me ‘oner, miss,” Billy said, smiling shyly at Alysson. He was really quite pretty for a boy with his big blue eyes and curly blond hair. His face was still smooth and unbearded, with a natural flush in his cheeks, and Alysson guessed his age to be around fifteen or sixteen. Alysson turned away from him as Rosalie spoke brusquely to the others.
"Run along now, all of you, and see to your unpacking, because I have need to speak to Miss Tyler alone."
The others bid Alysson good-bye and moved away, except for Milton, who lingered to kiss her hand again. After he had gone, she looked warily at the elegant red-haired woman. She knew Rosalie Handel was good friend of Donovan MacBride, and she would no doubt think Alysson as guilty as he did. Despite her thoughts, the bluntness of Rosalie's next words came as a shock.
"I am not one to mince words, Miss Tyler. I know all about your compromised marriage to Donovan Mac-Bride, and I would like to know if you used me to trick him as he says you did."
Alysson's face went white, and she wondered just how much Donovan had told Rosalie about that terrible night.
"Then I will be frank as well. I did not trick him. I want no marriage with him, and I have already signed an annulment agreement to that effect. In truth, I am eager to arrive in New York and be away from him."
Rosalie stared down into almond-shaped green eyes. She wondered if the girl spoke the truth. There weren't many women who would let a man like Donovan MacBride get away once she'd gotten him to the altar, but Donovan certainly didn't believe a word she said. He was still furious with her and believed her to be a spy for her father. She certainly looked innocent right now, very young and vulnerable, but Donovan had insisted the girl was a born actress, and if she had fooled Donovan MacBride with an act, she had to be extremely good. Donovan MacBride was nobody's fool. She was intrigued enough to want to see Alysson Tyler perform.
"Whether I believe you or not is of very little matter,” she said, searching Alysson's face. “But I did promise you an audition, and since I am expected to put on a play for the passengers, I might be able to use you."
She watched a look of pure delight overtake Alysson Tyler's face. “Oh, Madame Handel, I would work very hard if you'd give me such a chance, and I would take any part you wished."
"It will only be a temporary thing, of course, but if you prove yourself capable, we will talk further."
Alysson nodded eagerly, and Rosalie went on. “I feel it only fair to warn you, Miss Tyler, that I am very strict with the members of my company. Odette broke one of my rules by going out on the day of a performance, and her action caused us all a great deal of trouble."
"Especially me,” Alysson said quickly, and Rosalie hid a smile at Alysson's grim expression. The girl had no doubt tasted a generous dose of Donovan's anger, and Rosalie knew from experience that could be most troubling.
"Donovan informed me that you are to be known during the voyage as a friend of his family and will be using his stateroom."
She stopped, thinking the girl looked less than thrilled about the living arrangements on the voyage. “There is no room for you in our quarters, but if you wish, you could take your meals at our table in the dining hall."
"Oh, yes, thank you, I would like that very much."
Rosalie smiled slightly as Alysson thanked her again, then rushed off, looking very much like a little girl invited to her first birthday party. She glanced at the quarterdeck and found Donovan's black eyes on Alysson where she hurried toward the quarterdeck doors. Her gaze narrowed speculatively at seeing the massive frown on his face. He usually hid his feelings well, but he stared at the girl with an intensity she had rarely seen in him. Good or bad, she decided, Donovan MacBride felt quite strongly about Alysson Tyler's presence aboard. Rosalie could not help but wonder what his true feelings were.
Chapter 4
The passenger dining hall of the Halcyone was small but ornate, with hanging crystal chandeliers and velvet-edged panels displaying paintings that depicted life in America. The tables were draped with fine white damask and lit by two-branched silver candelabras, and it was at a table for six that Alysson sat with her newfound friends on the evening of departure. Rosalie sat at the head of the table between Edgar and Billy Brock, and Alysson had been seated at the other end with Odette and Milton on either side of her. After all had been served, Rosalie looked down the table at Alysson.
"Edgar and I have decided to do Romeo and Juliet for the passengers, and if your audition goes well, Alysson, we intend to cast you as Juliet."
Alysson stared at her in disbelief, then smiled widely as a thrill of pleasure shot through her. “That would be wonderful, Madame Handel. I know the lines by heart."
All eyes turned to her in surprise.
"Indeed?” Rosalie said, and Alysson nodded eagerly.
"It is my favorite of all the plays, and I have read it often. Memorization comes easily for me."
"It would be nice if it did for everyone here,” Rosalie answered, giving a pointed look at Odette, who blushed under the mild criticism. “But we shall see if you will get the part tomorrow.” She looked around at the others. “Since there are so few of us, we'll have to play several roles each. Billy here will be Romeo, I suppose, and he'll also have to play the parts of various Montague or Capulet young men in the street scenes. Odette, you will be Juliet's mother, and I will be the nurse. Edgar, I think you would do best as Friar Laurence, and Mi
lton, you'll be Mercutio, I think."
Alysson listened with rapt attention as they discussed the coming production, hardly able to believe she might actually become part of a stage company. She looked at Billy, who had said little, wondering if he was a good actor. Though he had been quiet, she had noted the severity of his cockney accent, and he was very young and very shy. While she looked at him, he glanced up, then colored when she smiled at him. Odette and Milton were speaking in low tones, and the subject of their discourse stole her attention away from Rosalie's conversation with Edgar about costumes.
"I think Mr. MacBride is the most divine man ever created,” Odette was whispering. “Look at him over there, with those black eyes. Do you know him well enough to introduce us, Milty? You are from New York, oui?"
Alysson followed their gazes across the room to the captain's table, where the two MacBride men sat with a couple. She was surprised when the man she didn't know met her eyes, then lifted his wineglass in a salute to her. She nodded slightly, wondering who he was.
"I know of him, of course. Everybody in New York does,” Milton answered Odette, refilling his goblet with wine for the fourth time. “The MacBrides are one of the richest families in the city, so we don't exactly run in the same social circles."
"So Donovan MacBride belongs to the créme de la créme of New York, eh?” Odette said, a speculative gleam in her eye. “I wonder if he is married."
Alysson choked on her wine, and both Odette and Milton turned concerned eyes to her.
"Are you all right, chérie?"
"Yes, yes,” Alysson assured them quickly, taking a bite of her biscuit, but Odette was not finished with the subject she found more than fascinating.
"I saw him once in Paris at Mademoiselle Rochet's house. He was a frequent visitor there before the war made it difficult for Americans. She entertained him herself when he was in town."
"Was she a relative of his, then?” Alysson asked innocently, and Milton laughed aloud, causing heads to turn at the nearby tables.
"They had relations, you might say,” he ventured, draining his glass.
"You hush,” Odette chided him with a frown. “Alysson does not know about such things yet. She is une jeune fille and innocente.” She looked at Alysson and lowered her voice. “Mademoiselle Rochet is a famous courtesan in Paris. She had many men who came to visit her, but he was her favorite. I worked there with her until she lost favor with Bonaparte and was banished to the countryside."
"A courtesan?"
Milton grinned again. “A very expensive prostitute, Aly, love, kept only by men who can afford her."
Alysson was a bit scandalized, but she tried not to show it. “And you mean Mr. MacBride kept her that way?"
"Oh, no, they say he will not be tied to one woman."
"And it is said in New York that he has two passions—women and horses,” Milton added. “And it is rumored he rides both equally well."
Alysson blushed, and Odette was quick to discern the reasons. She frowned at Milton.
"You have embarrassed her with your silly talk."
"No, I'm not embarrassed,” Alysson said, but she was, for reasons neither of them understood. “I think it's most interesting, since I will be forced to share the same stateroom with him."
Odette's eyes grew round, and Milton leaned back in his chair, grinning.
"You best watch yourself then, girl, for Brace MacBride's reputation with women almost equals his brother's, although his mistresses have to contend with his love of the sea and this ship."
"Mon Dieu, I cannot believe you actually are to live with both those magnifique men,” Odette breathed. “The gods surely favor you! But why do you stay with them?"
"My father insisted,” Alysson said on a dry note. “But I assure you they have no interest in me. I have my own bed with a privacy screen around it."
"But sharing a cabin with Donovan MacBride for the whole crossing! C'est formélable! If I could only have such good fortune!"
"I'd change places with you right now if I could,” Alysson said, and Odette stared at her as if she had lost her mind.
Milton nodded with approval. “You're right to feel that way. Odette said herself he had many women, and one of them is the biggest scandal in New York. Her name is Marina Kinski, and she's a Russian countess. The gossips say he fought a duel over her in Venice and killed her husband, then she followed him to New York when he left her there. Now they are lovers, and he bought her a magnificent house of her own, but he still squires around the more socially acceptable women, for appearances’ sake."
Alysson found that none of Milton's remarks shocked her. Donovan MacBride had certainly tried to seduce her at their first meeting, and he would have probably seduced Odette, if she had been able to go to his house. Alysson felt nothing but pity for any woman unfortunate enough to become his lover. Wanting to change the subject, she lifted her wineglass and directed a question to Milton.
"Have you and Edgar been actors for a long time?"
"Since we were twenty, about ten years now. He's the one with the brains, and as you now know, I like wine and the company of beautiful women, like the two of you.” He raised his glass toward his companions.
"Oui, and you got me drunk and in trouble with Rosalie when I listened to your flowery words, so do not listen to him, Alysson."
Milton laughed good-naturedly. “Ah, but we had a hell of a good time before Edgar came and dragged you off, didn't we, love?"
His smile was so charming that Alysson had to smile. “Have you acted in New York, Milton?"
"Yes, we did As You Like It there a year ago."
Alysson got to the question she really wanted to ask him. “I heard once that there was a very good actor there at one time named Adam Sinclair. Have you ever heard of him?"
She thought at first he had by the expression in his eyes, but then he shook his head. “No, never heard of him. Is he a friend of yours?"
Alysson was saved a response as Odette clutched her arm, whispering excitedly.
"Look, Donovan MacBride is heading straight for us. What could he want?"
Alysson tensed all over as Donovan approached. She tried to act nonchalant while all the time her stomach rolled with apprehension. What if he ridiculed her or said something that would be impossible to explain to Odette and the others?
She waited expectantly as he paused beside Rosalie's chair and made a few polite remarks to the others at the table. He did look superb in his dark evening attire, she had to admit, but she stiffened when black eyes found her.
"I was hoping you would lend me the company of Miss Tyler for a moment or two, Rosalie. My dinner companions would like to meet her."
Alysson glanced quickly at the couple seated at the table with Brace, wondering why they would be interested in her.
"Of course, Mr. MacBride. We are just finishing anyway.” Donovan held her chair as Rosalie stood, still speaking to the others. “The rest of you should go ahead and retire, because I intend to have the audition first thing after breakfast. Alysson, my dear, I'll see you then."
"You are too lucky,” Odette whispered as she put down her napkin and stood. She moved away on Milton's arm, leaving a reluctant Alysson behind.
Donovan drew back her chair with the utmost politeness, but when he spoke to her, his tone held none of the cordiality with which he had addressed Rosalie.
"Mr. Atkinson is my business associate, and since you saw fit to give him such a blatant invitation to sample your charms, he has insisted on meeting you."
"I did not! He raised his glass to me, and I only—"
"Shut up.” He cut her off sharply. “Just say hello, then make your excuses and go below."
For the first time since she had met Donovan Mac-Bride, Alysson was incensed. A great tide of resentment rushed from deep inside her to prick at her pride. She was suddenly quite tired of his hatefulness, his cruel and condescending manner toward her. Her anger gave her the courage to make her retort.
"I'm surprised you agreed to introduce me to any of your American friends since I had the gall to be born English."
"It gives me no pleasure, that's for damn sure,” Donovan returned succinctly. “Perhaps you should use one of your many accents with which you lie so well and save me the embarrassment of having an English woman sharing my cabin. My sentiments toward your country are well known by the Atkinsons."
His words held such cold, arrogant sarcasm that Alysson's own anger built by degrees as he led her across the room, holding to her elbow in a painful grip. She was tired of him! Tired of taking his insults and suffering under his sneering contempt! She had signed his stupid annulment agreement, and still he treated her like dirt beneath his feet! Well, she was sick and tired of taking it! If he wanted an accent from her, he'd get one he would never forget! What could he do anyway? Throw her overboard?
When they reached the captain's table, Brace and the other man rose at once. Donovan released her arm and smiled warmly down at her as he spoke to his friends, while Alysson looked at him coldly, thinking that he should have been the actor instead of her.
"Miss Tyler, please allow me to introduce my good friend and business associate, Mr. Richard Atkinson, and his lovely sister, Miss Evelyn Atkinson. I told them you are a close friend of the family, and we were honored to give you our protection on the crossing."
He looked expectantly at Alysson, obviously waiting for her to verify his story, and Alysson gave him her most dazzling smile before she turned glowing green eyes to Richard Atkinson.
"Aye, ‘at be the truth o’ it, guvna,” she trilled shrilly in her best rendition of Billy's cockney accent. “Donnie, ‘ere, ‘e be a real blue-blood gent the way ‘e took me in ‘is own cabin and gave me ‘is bed and all. Me pappy, ‘e insisted, if ye get me drift?” She winked broadly at Mr. Atkinson, who was staring at her with openmouthed shock, then she smiled brightly up at Donovan. Donovan's jaw went rigid as Alysson began again, this time leaning down close to Miss Atkinson.