Bonds of Matrimony (7 page)

“What about it?”

“Grandmother tells me you’re
from Midland County.
 
What is that
like?”

“It’s growing like
crazy.
 
It’s mostly cattle ranchers
around the county.
 
There have been
some disputes recently between ranchers who share public land for grazing.
 
Some sheep farmers have come in and put
their sheep on our cattle grazing land.
 
We’ve tried to keep them out, but it’s public land.
 
Last Spring, old man Rothchild got shot
over a land dispute.
 
Midland
itself is becoming quite a city.
 
That’s where most of us ranchers have to go for supplies.”

“You’re a rancher?” Chase
asked, surprised.
 
When she’d told
him that Marcus owned a ranch, he hadn’t told her that he was a rancher.
 

“Sure am.”

“Married?” she asked
nervously, hoping that if he heard the tremor in her voice, he’d think it was her
shivering in the cold.

“God no,” he answered with a
snort.
 

God no?
 
What kind of answer was that?
 
He sounded like marriage was a fatal
disease.
 
Never mind that until
quite recently, Chase had shared that opinion with him.
 
Now, however, she began to wonder if
marriage would be more appealing if she simply found the right man to love.
 

“Cochrane, if there’s only
one thing you learn from me on this ship, let it be this.
 
Marrying isn’t all it’s cracked up to
be.
 
No matter what your
grandmother tells you, put it off as long as possible.
 
In fact, if you’re foolish enough to
find yourself beside a woman in the front of a church, make sure you’re in a
casket.
 
That’s my recommendation.”

“You told my grandmother you
would have married her if you’d known her when she was younger,” she pointed
out.

He grinned wryly and looked
up at the moon.
 
“You have to tell
women those things.
 
Besides, your
grandmother and the Havisham sisters would spread awful rumors about me and
give me a bad reputation.
 
With two
and a half days left on this ship, I may find an interesting woman to keep me
company.
 
But if word got out that
I have no intention of marrying, women would run from me screaming.”

He was clearly
exaggerating.
 
And he was starting
to sound a bit like an ass.
 
She
was preparing to tell him so when he pushed away from the railing and blew out
a cloud of smoke.

“The tables are waitin’,
Cochrane.
 
Have a good night,” he
drawled, already turning his back to her and walking away.
 

Unfortunately, she couldn’t
bring herself to shout some witty retort to his back.
 
She simply watched him walk away and admired the view.

***

The following morning, Chase
was awake and dressed before her sister had even begun to stir in bed.
 
Propping herself up on her elbows, Reese
studied her sister’s face for a moment and then collapsed on the bed with a
groan.

“What’s the matter?” Chase
asked.

She sat up abruptly and
glared.
 
“You saw him again,” she
accused.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she
answered shortly.
 
“What would make
you think so?” Chastity added, suddenly curious how her sister was able to read
her so well.

Reese took her eyes off of her
and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
 
“You’re looking awfully proud of yourself.
 
You have that same look you had the
morning after you met him.
 
I’ve
never seen you like this, Chase.
 
The only interest you’ve ever had in any man was admiring his freedom.”

“The only interest I have in
Colton Webb is admiring his freedom, as well.
 
And he’s an American.
 
Doesn’t that fascinate you?” she asked, down-playing her overpowering
attraction to the man.

Reese glanced at her and
rolled her eyes, turning her attention to her own trousers as she struggled to
stand on one foot while the ship rocked her dangerously.

“What?”

“I’ve met the man,
Chastity.
 
And I would bet
everything I own that his freedom isn’t the quality you most admire.
 
I won’t tell Grandmother about this,
but you must promise to stay away from him,” she urged.

“I promised once
before.
 
I didn’t seek him
out.
 
A small boy nearly fell
overboard, and I rushed to catch him.
 
Suddenly, Webb was standing beside me and pulling the boy to
safety.”
 
Chase gauged her expression
for signs of belief.
 
When her
sister didn’t seem convinced, she added, “I only talked to him for a
moment.
 
I swear to you, Reese.”

She finally sighed and
buttoned her trousers.
 
“Don’t do
it again, Chase.
 
We’ll be in
America the day after tomorrow.
 
You put us at risk every time you speak to that man.”

Chase only nodded in
response.

But fate seemed against her
where Colton Webb was concerned.
 
When they entered the dining room for breakfast, they met him on the
grand staircase.
 
He was on his way
out.
 
On his arm was a beautiful
young woman who looked very familiar.
  
Her glossy black hair was swept off of her neck into a
mass of curls on top of her head.
 
Her eyes were an even more brilliant blue than Reese’s.
 
Her smile seemed quick, but shy when
Webb spotted the young Cochrane men and paused to greet them on the steps.
 

“Mornin’, Cochrane,” he
drawled.
 
He nodded at Reese, as
well.
 

“Good morning, Webb,” Chase
replied, feeling a stab of jealousy at the sight of him with this other
woman.
 
The woman studied Chastity’s
face a moment too long and then looked away with a blush in her cheeks.
 
Chase wondered how she knew her.

“Grandmother is waiting,”
Reese reminded softly, heading down the stairs ahead of her sister.
 

She nodded, although she was
unable to see her sister’s acknowledgment.
 

Webb grinned and started up
the stairs again.
 
The attractive
woman on his arm cocked her head to one side and watched the young men as they
ascended.
 
Turning from her
scrutiny, Chase hurried down the steps.
 
For the first time in her life, she actually wished she had been dressed
in more feminine attire.

When she reached the table
where her grandmother was seated, she fell into a seat and turned her attention
to the top of the grand staircase.
 
He was standing in front of the doors with the woman, and he seemed to
be introducing her to another passenger.
 
She held out her hand daintily and laughed musically when he said
something that amused her.
 
Webb
automatically grinned in response to her pleasure and then led her out of the
room.
 
Chase’s fury killed her
appetite and apparently colored her cheeks.

“Are you feeling well,
Chase?
 
You seem especially flushed
this morning,” her grandmother observed.
 

Chastity wasn’t sure if her
grandmother had seen the scene on the staircase, so she simply grumbled, “I’m
fine, thank you.”

***

That evening, in spite of her
promises, she went in search of Colton Webb.
 
She lied to Reese and told her that she needed to take a
walk on the deck.
 
Not willing to
believe her sister, Reese insisted on joining her.
 
But after one lap around the deck, she was shivering
brutally and hurried off to the warmth of the cabin they shared.

As expected, Chastity found
him playing cards with four other men.
 

“Mind if I join in?” she
asked, pulling a chair up to the table.
 
She didn’t care if they minded or not.
 
She had some questions for Colton Webb and was determined to
get some answers.

“Cochrane!” Webb greeted
heartily.
 
“I didn’t expect to be
seeing you here this evening.”

“Can’t sleep,” she explained
shortly.

He waved at the barkeep and
asked for a round of drinks for all of the card players at the table.
 
Chase took a long drink of the cool,
frothy ale, hoping to pull some courage from the glass.

“That woman you were with at
breakfast, Webb…” she began.
 
She
trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

“Webb?
 
With a woman?
 
I can’t imagine,” one man laughed loudly across the
table.
 
“Who was she, Webb?” he
asked, saving Chase from the question.

“She was nobody,” he replied
nonchalantly.

“Nobody?
 
She was stunning!” she argued.

He glanced at her across the
table and then studied the cards he held before him.
 
“I wouldn’t say she’s stunning.
 
Granted, she’s attractive enough, but not stunning.
 
Stunning is a fair blond with electric
blue eyes who will stop a man in his boots outside of a saloon full of
half-naked women,” he drawled.

Startled, Chase glanced at
him and studied his expression to see if he was toying with her.
 
The very scene he was describing was
the first time she had seen him.
 
He had been captivated by Reese, the fair blond with electric blue
eyes.
 
Had he known all along that Chase
Cochrane was a woman?
 

“I prefer a curvy red-head,”
barked the large boisterous man seated across the table from her.
 

“I prefer intelligent
brunettes,” she piped up angrily.

Webb choked on his drink and
laughed aloud.
 
“Intelligent
brunettes?” he snorted.
 
“An
intelligent woman is something no man should have to tangle with.”

The other four men laughed.

“You’ll learn soon enough,
Cochrane.
 
Leave the intelligent
women to the dandies who don’t have any testicles of their own,” he
suggested.
 
“Your life will be much
happier for it.”

Chase forced a grin and then
hid her scowl behind her pint of ale.
 

During the next hand, she
spoke up again.
 
“If it’s fair
blondes who stop you in your boots, Webb, why was that dark-haired beauty
attached to your arm at breakfast?”

He shrugged and replied,
“She needed an escort to breakfast; I volunteered.”

She remembered back to the
first time she’d heard his sexy drawl.
 
He’d been telling the story of the woman he took against the wall in an
alley.
 
“Did you make this one hum,
too?” she spit out with a grin.

He only grinned in
response.
 
“She isn’t the hummin’
kind, if you know what I mean.”

Chase stared at him blankly.

He shook his head in
disbelief.
 
“Texas is goin’ to eat
you alive, man,” he muttered.
 
“I’m
sure you’ve met different kinds of women in England.
 
There are the women who like to have a good time and enjoy
the company of a man.
 
And there
are the kinds like Elisabeth.
 
She’s…” he trailed off, searching for the words.

“She’s a lady?” one of the
men volunteered.
 
Judging by his
lack of American accent, Chase could tell he was from England.

“Yeah.
 
She’s the marrying kind.
 
The marrying kind of girl hides herself
away from the world.
 
She would be
disgusted with the thought of enjoying a man.
 
Sure, she might flirt and tease you a bit.
 
She might even be tempted to fall into
bed with you.
 
But if her parents
found out, they’d have you racin’ for the church.
 
This kind of girl was born and raised to be a good proper
wife.
 
This kind of girl is taught
to be obedient…like a cow.
 
No mind
of her own.
 
Typically boring as
hell,” he paused to take a swig from his mug.
 
“When I think of these marrying kinds, I don’t know which is
worse:
 
sitting and listening to
their idiotic chatter or bedding their cold and soulless bodies,” he finished.