Bonds of Matrimony (32 page)

Chase shook her head.
 
“His father, by reputation, is an
honorable man.
 
He would most
assuredly not encourage his son to travel the world in order to kidnap a
bride.
 
And he definitely wouldn’t
finance such a ploy.”

“His father is honorable by
comparison to his son,” Lady Colchester corrected.
 
“But he is not above loaning him some money if it means he
will find an heiress to marry.
 
The
Viscount, from what I hear, will do just about anything to be rid of his son
and his debts.
 
If the rumors are
true, though he may be a good man, he would rather his son swindle another’s
money instead of his own.
 
I think
it is not only possible, but
probable
that his son is traveling on his father’s bill.”

She didn’t need to close her
eyes to be able to envision the towering man barking at his son in their
library.
 
She knew her grandmother
was correct.
 
Had the Viscount been
a truly honorable man, he would not have dismissed Chase and his son’s vulgar
assault as easily as he did.
 
He
had certainly seemed more disgusted by the fact that his son was getting in his
way than the fact that he was attempting to force himself on his betrothed.

“Regardless of how he has
financed his journey, he is here and determined to return to England with you,
Chase,” Marcus reminded his sister needlessly.
 
“I know that you hate to admit weakness, but you must use
caution until we can see Jett Stockton out of town.”

“I understand,” she answered
softly, hating the meek sound of her voice.
 
She shivered and squeezed the bridge of her nose.
 
She was definitely feeling a headache
coming on.
 
“If you’ll all please
excuse me, I’m going to go to bed.”

“It’s awfully early,” Reese
pointed out.

Chase looked at the clock on
the mantle and nodded.
 
“I have a
bit of a headache.”

She woke when the bed
shifted with her sister’s weight.
 
The room was lit by the full moon, and she watched Reese’s silhouette
settle into the bed beside her.

“Sorry to wake you,” she
whispered softly.

“It’s okay.”

They lay in silence for a
while, and Chase tried to ignore the fact that the room suddenly seemed
stifling.
 
She was beginning to
sweat uncomfortably.
 
She tossed
from her left side to her right, trying to move gently enough so as to avoid
disturbing Reese.
 
When she could
finally stand it no longer, she climbed out of bed and closed their bedroom
door behind her before tip-toeing down the hallway.

In the kitchen, she poured herself
a glass of lemonade that her grandmother had made that afternoon.
 
She added a couple of slivers of ice
from the ice box and moved to the kitchen window that overlooked the barn and
stables behind the house.
 
Was it
really only twenty four hours ago that she had snuck through the yard to meet
Webb in the barn?
 
She imagined all
the different shadows Jett Stockton could now be lurking in between the back
door and the barn door, and a chill ran down her arms.

In spite of the chill, she
still felt too warm for comfort.
 
After only a slight hesitation, she pushed open the window above the
kitchen sink and sighed contentedly at the feel of the gentle breeze that
welcomed her.
 
A Texan summer
didn’t allow for many cool nights, according to Marcus, but the breeze helped
eliminate the discomfort.
 
She
leaned against the kitchen sink, sipping her lemonade and watching over the
dark yard.
 

She was hardly surprised
when a light flickered in front of the barn door.
 
The small flame of the match was lifted to the cigar, which
began to glow orange at the end.
 
She
knew it was Webb; it had to be.
 
But Chase couldn’t afford to take the risk and leave the house.
 
She imagined that it was Stockton
leaning against the barn, grabbing her arms and forcing her to the ground
before she had time to realize what a mistake she had made.
 
Her nightgown wouldn’t pose near the
challenge that her skirt had that day.
 
And for certain, nobody would come barging in to interrupt him and
rescue her.
 
No, she was safer
staying locked up in her brother’s kitchen.
 

She watched in the darkness
for nearly half an hour before the cigar was snubbed out, and the shadow figure
moved away from the barn.
 
He
disappeared and reappeared as he moved through the shadows.
 
Chase was swallowing the last bit of
lemonade when a whisper came through the open kitchen window.
 
She gasped and nearly dropped the
glass.

“Cochrane, it’s me,” he
hissed.

“Webb?”

His face popped up in front
of her, startling her again.

“What are you doing out
there?” she asked, knowing exactly what he was doing.

“I’ve been sitting in front
of that barn for over an hour now waiting for you.
 
I saw you open this window and thought for sure that you’d
come to me, but you haven’t moved from this window.
 
Didn’t you see me?”

She held up her hand to
silence him and cocked her head to listen to the noises of the house.
 
Nobody else seemed to be awake.
 

“Come out here so we don’t
wake your entire family.”

She nodded and pulled the
window closed.
 
She placed her
empty glass in the sink and slipped out the back door.
 
She had barely heard the latch fall
into place before Colton was wrapping his arms around her from behind and
pressing his lips to her neck and shoulders.
 
His hands moved hungrily over her body.

Chase turned to face him and
met his kiss with equal passion.
 
He, in fact, was the one to pull away first.
 
“I have an idea.
 
It’s not safe here.”
 
He
took hold of her hand and started to pull her into the yard.
 

She glanced at the shadows
and hesitated.
 
He turned back to her.

“What’s wrong?
 
You don’t trust me?”

“Of course I trust you,” she
answered.
 
“Do you have your gun on
you?”

“I always do.
 
Does that bother you?”

“No,” Chase answered with
relief.
 
“Where are we going?
 
The barn?”

He turned and the moonlight
glimmered off of his grin.
 
“Too
hot for the hayloft, m’lady.”

He had tied his horse to a
tree behind the stables.
 
He helped
her mount the horse before climbing on behind her.
 
And moments later, she knew he was taking her to the
pond.
 

On one hand, the thought of
being so far from home made her nervous.
 
On the other hand, the pond sounded horribly refreshing.
 
And another night with Colton sounded
heavenly.
 
And a combination of the
two sounded like a perfect distraction.

At the pond, he helped her
off of the horse and set her gently on the ground.
 
The tall grass was rough on her bare feet and legs, as I
wore nothing but her nightgown.
 
Colton followed her frown and quickly rushed to her rescue, sweeping Chase
into his arms and carrying her to the soft sand that surrounded the cool body
of water.
 
The sand was still warm
as it sifted between her toes.
 
The
bright moonlight on the glassy pond was a perfectly romantic setting for a
midnight rendezvous.
 

Colton lifted her chin with
a finger and then placed a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose.
 
“What is on your mind tonight,
Chase?
 
Because it certainly isn’t
me.”

She sighed heavily, not
eager to explain the situation to him.
 
“It’s nothing really.
 
Let’s
just forget it.”
 
Chase leaned in
for a knee-weakening kiss, but he took hold of her shoulders and kept her at
bay.

“Usually, I’m happy to
forget whatever it is that bothers you women.
 
But it isn’t typically a challenge for me to get your
attention.
 
Last night was the most
incredible time I’ve ever spent with a woman.
 
And I don’t want to spoil it with distractions tonight.
 
So tell me what is bothering you, get
it out in the open, and
then
I can
make love to you properly and make
you
forget it.”

She smiled at him and shook her
head.
 
“You really need to work on
your self-confidence, Colton Webb,” she joked.

“Tell me.
 
What is it that kept you from the pond
this afternoon?
 
And why are you
avoiding me and hiding out in your kitchen instead of racing across the ranch
and leaping into my arms?”

It hadn’t occurred to her
until that very moment that Webb might be angry with her for what she was about
to tell him.
 
But Chase suddenly
realized that this wasn’t just about her anymore.
 
Stockton would probably go after Webb for spoiling his
wedding plans.
 
And had Webb known she
was betrothed, he probably would have had nothing to do with her.

“Well?” he prodded.

“There’s a man in town who
has come for me,” Chase blurted out.

“Come for you?
 
Come from where?
 
I don’t understand.”

“My father arranged for me
to be married to this…this…this animal.
 
You see, I have always been set against marriage,” she explained.

“Truly?
 
I hadn’t known that about you,” Webb
laughed.

Chase gave him a small smile
and continued.
 
“So I went out of
my way to make myself a disagreeable prospect as a wife.
 
No man in town would look twice at me.
 
So my father took it upon himself to
arrange a marriage for me.
 
And
this particular man was eager to have me.”

“I would agree with him on
that score.
 
He can’t be a bad
sort.”

“He’s a horrible hideous
monster.
 
He only wants to marry me
for my father’s money.
 
He has a
number of considerable debts that he needs to pay off.
 
When I found out and confronted him, he
attacked me and nearly raped me.
 
If his father hadn’t walked in, he would have succeeded.”

She took a small bit of
pleasure when Webb’s eyes hardened in the moonlight and his fists clenched.

“It was an eye-opening
glimpse into what my future held as the monster’s wife.
 
I tried to convince my father that a
marriage to him would be a mistake, but he refused to consider an alternative.
 
He told me that I could marry Stockton,
or he would disown me.
 
When he
disowned my brother, he still had Elisa; and her father helped them financially
so that they could come to America and get a new start.
 
I had no choice and no alternative.
 
So we fled.
 
Grandmother knew that Marcus was here, and she and Reese and
I packed up and left our life in England.
 
We thought we would be safe here.
 
We thought we would have a fresh start.”

“But he’s here in town,”
Webb finished for her.
 

She nodded and took a deep
breath of the sweet Texas air.
 
“He’s come looking for me.
 
And he doesn’t plan to leave until he has me to take back with him.”

“And why are you telling me
this now?” he asked, suddenly looking angry.

“Because that is why I’m
afraid to leave the house.
 
I saw
him get off the train here in Slaughter today.
 
He’s staying at Chantal’s.
 
George Wainwright has spread the word that everyone should
deny the existence of any Fairfaxes in Midland County, but we can’t be sure
that everyone will.”

“This isn’t simply a hoax to
try to convince me to marry you in order to get this fake fiancée off your
back?” he asked angrily.

Chase stared at him
speechless for a moment before bursting into furious laughter.
 
“A hoax to get you to marry me?
 
You can’t be serious!
 
The reason I’m in this mess is because
I cannot imagine a fate worse than marriage! In fact, whenever I hear the
phrase ‘bonds of matrimony,’ I envision a woman tied up with rope and led
around like a cow by her husband.”