Bonds of Matrimony (25 page)

“He is an appealing man,
Elisa, but neither Webb nor I have any desire to marry.
 
So we are left at this impasse.
 
We are better off staying out of each
other’s worlds.”

She was silent for a minute
or two, and Chase finally turned to find her sister-in-law studying her.
 

“You’re bluffing,” she
responded simply.
 
“I think that
for the first time in your life, you have found a man you want to marry, and it
terrifies you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Chase
replied quickly.
 
And after a
moment, “Besides, he has no intention of marrying anyone.”

Elisa shrugged.
 
“I think you’re mistaken.
 
He just hasn’t yet admitted to himself
that he cannot live without you.”

Chase grinned back at her,
deciding in that moment that she had finally found the confidante she needed in
her sister-in-law.
 
“How do I make
him realize that?”

Elisa slowly and awkwardly
seated herself on the picnic blanket and went about the task of unloading the
picnic basket.
 
“Now you’re
talking, Chase.
 
Have you kissed him?”

The heat in her face was
enough of an answer.

“Has it gone further than
that?” she whispered.

“A bit,” she shyly
admitted.
 
“But I haven’t allowed
him to make love to me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Why not?”

Chase dropped the sandwich she
had been holding and met Elisa’s eyes, certain she hadn’t heard her correctly.
 
“Pardon?”

“I just figure that if you
don’t marry Colton Webb, you won’t marry anyone.
 
And I feel quite confident that you and Colton will find
your way.
 
Your self control isn’t
benefiting anyone, Chase.
 
It’s
just making your situation more uncomfortable.”

“But it isn’t proper.
 
My reputation would be ruined.
 
Marcus’s business would be ruined.
 
How could I do that to him?”

Her pretty eyes
widened.
 
“Are you planning to post
an announcement in the
Midland Gazette
?”

“Of course not.
 
But if anyone ever found out…”

“Nobody ever would,
Chase.
 
And personally, if you’re
interested in forcing the man to admit that he’s in love with you, becoming
intimate with him might help him to realize the truth that he’s been denying to
himself…probably since the first time he met you.”

She smiled to myself,
remembering the first time they had met.
 
They had been playing poker in the saloon in Liverpool.
 
She certainly couldn’t imagine Webb
ever admitting that he’d fallen in love with her
that
night.
 
He had
thought she was a young man that evening…and for many evenings after that, too.

“Naturally, Chase, it’s your
decision.
 
But I hate seeing the
two of you skipping around each other, when it seems obvious that the two of
you are perfect for each other.
 
I
want you to feel like you can talk to me.
 
And I would be happy to help in any way, even if it means beating some
sense into the man.”
 
She grinned
and added, “And I’m only half joking about that last bit.”

Chase laughed in response,
feeling some long overdue relief over her feelings for Colton Webb.
 
And besides that relief, her stomach
also fluttered with excitement over the idea of her next encounter with
him.
 
Elisa had only repeated
Webb’s earlier argument.
 
No one
would have to know.
 
There was no
shame in submitting to her passions, particularly when these passions revolved
around one irresistible man.
 
Granted, it was contrary to everything her mother and society had taught
her.
 
Somehow, coming from Elisa,
the suggestion hadn’t sounded so sordid.
 

Her grandmother returned
laughing with Marcus and Reese.
 
They
ate sandwiches and met a number of the others celebrating the festivities.
 
People had come from all over Midland
County for the celebration.
 

As the sun began to set,
couples began circling the musicians in a variety of lively dances.
 
Marcus danced with all four of us
repeatedly.
 
Chase had just
finished a dance with him, and they were returning to their blanket when she
spotted him.
 
He was squatting
beside her grandmother, biting into an apple and laughing robustly.
 
Elisabeth had come along with him and
was chatting with Reese.

“Chase!” she greeted warmly,
taking her hands and kissing her cheek.
 
“I am so happy to see you all here.
 
I was terrified when I saw all of these strangers.
 
It’s not quite the same as the Season,
is it?”

“It’s similar,” Chase
suggested.
 
“I mean, if you add the
prissy, stuffy men and the gossipy old women and the warm lemonade…and take
away all of the pleasure,” she added, “it’s almost feels like we’re in London
again.”

She had forgotten how
beautiful the sound of Elisabeth’s laughter was.

Webb squinted up at her.
 
“Evenin’, Lady Chastity,” he greeted.

She narrowed my eyes at him,
unsure of whether or not he was mocking her by using her given name.
 
Her name was made even more ridiculous
by her most recent thoughts of becoming intimate with Colton Webb.

“Good evening,” she answered
simply.
 
She glanced in Elisa’s
direction just in time to catch her ducking her head to hide her grin.

Webb had caught the exchange
and pushed himself to his feet.
 
“Honor me with a dance, Mrs. Fairfax?” he asked, holding out a hand to
Elisa.

Chase watched enviously as
she accepted his offer and climbed clumsily to her feet, allowing him to help
her up and lead her to the dance floor.
 
Marcus scowled after the two of them.

***

 
“Does dancing bother you?” he asked.
 
He and Elisa moved slowly and
cautiously among the dancers.

The pretty woman laughed
over his shoulder.
 
“I’m not going
to give birth if I bounce around the dance floor a time too many, Colton.”

He smiled down at her and
picked up his pace.
 
“You and Lady
Chastity seem to be getting on pretty well,” he prodded.
 
He had seen the look they had shared,
and he was fairly certain that it had something to do with him.
 
If Elisa Fairfax was anything, she was
honest and forthright.
 
If he
asked, she would tell him.

“She’s an incredible woman,
isn’t she?” Elisa asked.
 
He pulled
back and looked down into her laughing eyes.
 
She was definitely taunting him.

He looked over her head
again and spun her a bit too rapidly.
 
“I don’t know her well enough to say,” he lied.
 
Incredible?
 
That hardly seemed to accurately describe how amazing Chase
Fairfax was.

Elisa laughed softly.
 
“You always were a rotten liar,
Colton.”

He danced in silence until
the song was nearly done.
 
“What do
you want me to say?” he asked.
 
Even he was able to hear the choking restriction in his voice.
 

Elisa tiled her round face
up to study his.
 
“You don’t have
to say anything, Colton.
 
I have
always believed the two of you would be perfect together…long before the two of
you even met.
 
I will stand by that
until the day I die.
 
I just hope
that you can be honest…with yourself and her.”

The song ended to punctuate
the seriousness of the conversation.
 
Elisa gave a slight curtsy and nod and left him speechless among other
winded dancers.

The band immediately began
another song, and he made a decision as he crossed the grassy field, following
Elisa’s awkward form.
 
She was
right, of course.
 
They were
perfect for each other.
 
He didn’t
know what that meant.
 
He didn’t
know what they were supposed to do next.
 
He just knew that he wanted to dance with Chase.
 
He wanted to look into her eyes and see
the same raw need that he was feeling at that exact moment.

And as he neared their
blanket, she pranced past him in the opposite direction on the arm of young
Hadley, a cocky blond farmer who was extremely popular with the young women of
Midland County.
 
She didn’t even
see Webb as she was laughing sweetly and following Hadley into the crowd of
dancers.

Webb paused only a moment to
watch their backs.
 
He’d be damned
if she caught him watching her giggle and flirt with the young man.
 
He had to force himself to slow his
furious pace toward the blanket.
 
He
put a playful grin on his face and held a hand out to the younger, fairer
Fairfax sister.

“Honor me with a dance, Lady
Rosalie,” he suggested.

She smiled up at him sweetly
and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
 
They walked past her sister, who took a startled second glance at them.
 
He deliberately oozed charm for her
sister, doing his best to make her laugh.
 
And all the while, he was enjoying the daggers that her sister kept
trying not to shoot at him with her dark eyes.

And as much as it pained him
to do so, he promised himself that he wouldn’t give the woman the satisfaction
of a dance as long as she was going to play games and deny the attraction
between them.

CHAPTER 13

She frequented the dance
floor as often as possible, but never once was Webb her dance partner.
 
He danced with Elisa once, her
grandmother twice, and Reese three times.
 
And still, he refused to ask her to dance.
 
And she’d be damned if she asked him to dance.
 
It wasn’t so much an issue of violating
social norms as her pride and refusal to allow him to see how badly she wanted
to dance with him.

More often than not, she
found herself following William Hadley toward the band.
 
He was a handsome and charming young
man who flirted shamelessly and was one of the most insincere men she’d ever
met in her life, second only to Mr. Jett Stockton, suggesting that the men in
America were perhaps not so different from the men in England.
  
He was also the worst dance
partner she’d ever had.
 
As much as
she was enjoying the celebrations, she was eager to get home and rub her poor
toes.
 
But she smiled and laughed
loudly, determined to make Webb see that other men found her desirable and
pleasant.
 
And although he was
polite to her all afternoon and evening, he didn’t seem to take much notice of her
presence.

“He’s being ridiculous,”
Elisa growled under her breath as she watched him waltz his cousin around the
other dancing couples.

“He’s being perfectly
civil,” Chase argued quietly, although her heart was definitely not in the
retort.

“He’s being stubborn.
 
I was certain that he was going to tell
you how he feels, but as soon as he saw you dancing with Will Hadley, he got
that scowl on his face.
 
He is
apparently determined to make you pay for daring to dance with another man.”
 
She frowned in his direction.
 
“How dare you enjoy yourself, Chase,”
she scolded mockingly.

She shrugged, fighting to
keep the disappointment from her face.
 
Although the women were talking in muffled tones, Chase’s grandmother
was sitting within earshot, and she didn’t dare let her see or hear how upset she
was.

Elisa stared at her for a
moment and then sighed heavily.
 
Having not gotten the response she’d hoped for, she pushed herself to
her feet and wandered off to join a large group of people gathered farther from
the band.
 
Chase recognized the
burly general store owner, Henry Armstrong, even at this distance.
 
The group seemed to greet Elisa warmly,
and chatted with her for a bit.
 

In spite of her efforts, she
couldn’t stop herself from looking for Webb among the dancers.
 
Having spotted him laughing with his
cousin, she comforted herself with the reminder that Elisabeth posed no threat there.
 
After all, she was his cousin.