Jo Goodman (28 page)

"Tell me," he said. There was nothing else he needed to say. He saw understanding flicker in her eyes.

She couldn't tell him the truth, so she told him what he expected to hear. The lie would assure that they would never be intimate again. "I think you already know," she said. "I built it for Colin."

Decker's hands dropped away. A moment ago they had been too close to her throat.

Jonna's gaze remained squarely on Decker's face. "I thought he would come back," she said. "I thought a ship like
Huntress
could put him on the sea again."

"In your bed, you mean."

"If you wish," she said almost graciously. It was an effort to shrug off the accusation, but Jonna managed it with careless elegance. She wondered if Decker knew how well he had taught her that attitude.

"He'll never leave Mercedes," Decker said.

"I think that's true." Jonna realized she was clutching his dressing gown in her fists. She loosened her grip and slipped it on. "We'll find out, won't we?"

Decker watched Jonna flinch as he raised his hand. He only used it to rake back his hair, but the truth was he had never been so close to striking a woman as he was at that moment. "Don't try it, Jonna. You won't like the consequences."

"You have no say in it."

"He's my brother."

"I've known him longer," she said. "And I've known him better."

Decker caught the lapel of the dressing gown in his fist and slowly pulled Jonna toward him. "Then think of him as a brother, Jonna. Not a lover."

He bent his head and kissed her hard. As a punishment it was more thoroughly humiliating than a slap. When he set her from him the sheet she had been wearing under the dressing gown was lying on the floor at her feet. Jonna rocked back on her heels. She stared at him mutely for a moment then fled the room.

It wasn't until she was in her own cold bed, waiting for her heartbeat to calm, that she realized he had stolen more than her confidence with that last kiss. He had stolen the ivory pendant.

Some part of
Huntress
was his after all.

* * *

It was Decker who decided they would visit Weybourne Park immediately after breakfast. He didn't invite Jonna's opinion on the matter. He simply announced his own, then left her to finish her meal in silence.

Jonna did not mind that the carriage ride was accomplished without conversation. As long as she was not forced to talk there was no chance she would take back anything she'd said the night before. Decker wouldn't have to know how his response to her lie had unsettled her. Jonna thought she might welcome never having to talk to him again.

Weybourne Manor was a formidable presence on the landscape. It had the monolithic power of a gray stone vault, and it seemed to rise higher out of the ground as their carriage approached. Snow frosted the north and south turrets and outlined the recessed windowsills. Glistening icicles hung from the slate roof, emphasizing the mansion's stark beauty.

Jonna turned away from the window as the carriage slowed. Decker was watching her. "This place is more like Colin than Mercedes," she said. "That's why you wanted me to see it, isn't it?"

"Yes," he said. "You should know all the reasons you can't tempt him to leave."

"He hasn't seen
Huntress.
" Goaded by his arrogant smile, Jonna found the words were out before she had considered them. It was as if she had issued a challenge.

Decker raised a single eyebrow and nodded faintly, his expression implacable. He reached inside his outer coat to his vest and withdrew the ivory pendant. Holding it up, he said, "And he never will."

Jonna didn't try to take it back. The door to the carriage opened as Decker pocketed the piece. He jumped to the ground, then turned for her. His smile was in place, but it didn't touch his eyes. It was with a great sense of foreboding that Jonna put her hand in his.

Mercedes and Colin greeted them in the manor's great drawing room. Mercedes didn't rise as they entered. She had one child in her arms and another scrambling to be held in what remained of her lap. Laughing helplessly, she made her apologies.

It was Decker who rescued her, stealing both of his nieces as easily as he stole handkerchiefs. At just a year, Elizabeth fit neatly in the crook of his arm. She laughed and struck out with her small fists. Emma was more of a handful, but Decker expertly raised her to the height of his shoulder and perched her there.

Watching this, Jonna felt a surge of fear, but she saw that neither Mercedes nor Colin was particularly disturbed and the children were delighted. It didn't seem to matter that he was almost a stranger to them. They were easily engaged by his smile and his laughter and his nonsense chatter. So simply did they surrender to his roguish charm that Jonna counted them as Decker Thorne's latest conquests.

Decker introduced his nieces to Jonna with great ceremony. She had never held a child before and it was with some trepidation that she accepted Elizabeth. The baby's face screwed up immediately, reddened, and she let out a squall that made Jonna wince.

Mercedes whisked the baby away and scolded Decker. "That was very bad of him," she told Jonna as she soothed her daughter. "He thinks it's so very easy to placate them. He gives no thought to how hard it is for the rest of us."

Seeing Mercedes with her daughter, Jonna knew she was being kind. She made it appear as effortless as Decker had. Elizabeth's face was no longer mottled with color, and she seemed quite content with her thumb in her mouth.

Decker hoisted Emma high in the air. The young girl's fine blond curls fluttered around her cherubic face. She giggled happily at her uncle's attention. "Mercedes," he said casually, swinging Emma up again, "I wonder if you would show Jonna the nursery, the whole house for that matter. I would like a moment with my brother."

Jonna felt blood rushing from her face. There was no subtlety here. Decker clearly wanted to be rid of her for a while. She looked from Mercedes to Colin and realized neither of them had reason to regard Decker's request suspiciously. Jonna considered that perhaps she was making too much of it. She and Decker had only just arrived at Weybourne Park. She had had no opportunity to seek out Colin alone, and more importantly, she had no intention of doing so.

Jonna felt a little weak in the knees. Decker didn't know she wouldn't be speaking to Colin about
Huntress.
She had taken great pains to make him think differently.

Mercedes held out her hand for Emma, but she was watching Jonna. "Perhaps Miss Remington has no interest in Weybourne Park," she told Decker. "I can just as easily ring for the children's nanny. You and Colin may speak in the library while we take tea here."

Jonna interrupted Decker's reply. She would never be able to mask her anxiety sipping tea with Mercedes. It would be better to have a distraction. "If Decker has not pressed too insistently on your hospitality, I would very much like to see all of your home. At first viewing from the road, I was struck that the manor seemed more like Colin than you. I doubt the same can be true of the inside."

Mercedes smiled at this observation. "Oh, my husband has made his mark here as well, but mostly it has been in his attention to the deep structure of the house." She took her older daughter's hand and hefted the younger one more comfortably in her arms. "Come. It will be a pleasure to show you what Colin has accomplished with the rooms in the north wing. I think you'll find the turret especially interesting."

Decker watched Jonna fall into step with Mercedes and the girls. He gave her full marks for pretending she was unconcerned by his desire to speak privately with Colin. He had noted her pale features and the fingers that nervously smoothed the silk skirt of her gown, but he had been looking for these things. It was clear that she had not expected him to remove her as a threat so early in their visit. What was less clear was whether she had any idea of the tack he intended to take.

Jonna looked at Decker only briefly as she closed the doors to the drawing room behind her. She was not comforted by the slight smile that lifted one corner of his mouth. It was the faintly feral grin of a predator.

Decker's expression stayed with Jonna throughout the tour. Even knowing that was precisely what he'd intended did not help her remove it from her mind's eye. She knew she made all the proper comments as they passed from room to room and that she asked the right questions to demonstrate her interest, but she registered little of what Mercedes gave as responses. It was not that her attention wandered as much as that it was never fully engaged.

Only as they were approaching the grand staircase to descend to the main floor was Jonna able to return her mind to a single focus. This was accomplished because Mercedes brought the conversation around to what was most important to her.

"Do you think we've given them enough time?" she asked.

Jonna drew a calming breath and tried to look unconcerned. "I have no idea," she said. "Decker's business with Colin is a mystery to me."

"Really?"

Jonna hesitated. Her palm was damp on the banister. "Well, yes," she said. "How would I know?"

A small vertical crease appeared between Mercedes's brows. "I've probably mistaken the matter," she said quickly.

Now Jonna stopped on the staircase. "Do you mean you think
you
know what they're talking about?"

"I'm quite sure I don't."

Jonna was not accepting this answer. She was certain Mercedes was trying to extricate herself from misspeaking. "Please," she said. "You must tell me."

"I may be wrong. I couldn't forgive myself for raising your hope."

It was a peculiar phrasing to Jonna. She had no hope concerning Decker's private audience with his brother, only dread. "In what way should I be hopeful?" she asked.

Mercedes's frown deepened. "I'm convinced I'm mistaken. You could not be so bewildered if I were right. I would judge you to be a perceptive woman, and you would know this." She paused and studied Jonna's features. "You see? I've only confused you with this explanation. It must be that I've made an unwarranted assumption."

Jonna almost stamped her foot in frustration. "What assumption?" she asked. "What is it you think you know?"

Mercedes took a deep breath. The words came out of her in a rush. "Why that Decker loves you, of course. I thought he was applying to Colin for your hand."

It was as if Jonna had been winded. There was no breath in her lungs, and it was painful to draw one down. She used the railing to steady herself. She waited until she was certain her voice would not betray her anxiety. "You were right," she said coolly. "You have mistaken the matter." In response to Mercedes's stricken look, she added, "But you mustn't think you've dashed my hopes. The prospect of marrying your brother-in-law is in no way a welcome one, and you would receive much the same answer if you posed the arrangement to him." Having said her piece, Jonna descended the remainder of the stairs. Her hand glided along the banister, and only she knew it was trembling.

Colin and Decker both came to their feet as Jonna entered the drawing room. Mercedes followed a moment later. She immediately sensed the tension and knew she had no place here. A fleeting look passed between her and her husband, and Mercedes responded to the unspoken request.

"If you'll excuse me," she said. "I'd like to speak to Cook about our dinner." She was gone before anyone made a polite protest.

Colin waited for the doors to be closed before he pointed out the empty space beside Decker on the love seat and asked Jonna to sit. She obeyed only part of his command, taking a wing chair instead. Colin thought this small rebellion did not bode well for what he was about to say.

"I can arrange a special license," he said without preamble. "You and Decker will be married in three days' time. The chapel here at Weybourne Park will serve, and Mercedes and I will witness the event. Mr. Fredrick will perform the ceremony. He is the vicar in Glen Eden. It is a distance for him to travel here, but he is a cousin of my wife's by marriage and will be more discreet than our local vicar. Discretion may not be of paramount concern to either of you, but this is my home. I will not have another scandal attach itself to Weybourne Park or Rosefield."

Jonna stared at Colin, astonished as much by his delivery as by the content. "You pompous ass," she said when she had composed herself. "I believe your title has caused you to take yourself too seriously. Certainly you've concluded it gives you the right to dictate terms to me." She stood and looked squarely at Decker. "I only regret that you have not found your youngest brother. If he's the least like you and Decker, it would be a rare pleasure to tell all three of you to go to hell at once."

Decker was on his feet immediately, blocking Jonna's exit.

She didn't attempt to skirt him or push him aside. "Let me pass," she said coldly.

"Where is it you think you're going?"

"London," she said. Jonna had the satisfaction of seeing his slight smile fade. "And Boston after that. I'll book my own passage home. I have no need to wait for
Huntress."

Colin stepped away from the fireplace. "Decker, let me speak to Jonna alone."

Jonna's head swiveled in Colin's direction. "I have nothing to say to you. It's clear that you've taken your brother's side."