The Maverick's Bride Page 5

  Cissy had no idea how often Emma had protected her from their father by blocking the advances of unsuitable would-be beaux. And yet when Cissy fell in love…and she often did…her father lightly reproved her, then hugged and pampered his younger daughter. Emma, who looked and acted so much like her mother, bore the brunt of his rage.

  “Priscilla is in your charge,” he reminded Emma. “You must set a worthy example for your sister. I expect you to take care of her and protect her. I cannot be both mother and father to my daughters. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Father.”

  “Then go to your room, Emmaline. I shall inform our hosts you were feeling tired.”

  Struggling to her feet, Emma tugged her hem from beneath her father’s foot. At the door, she picked up the lavender gloves and held them to her lips. Her injuries would not look bad now, but she knew it could not be long until her face was blue and swollen.

  As she stepped into her room, Emma shut the door behind her and ran to the window. Pushing back the curtain, she pressed her cheek against the cool glass and let the tears flow.

  Her father was right, of course. She could never escape him. She must do as he said. Always.

  Was it possible that her father was more powerful even than God? Although such a thought seemed blasphemous, Emma now knew without doubt that she would never be a nurse. The holy calling in her heart could not be answered. One day very soon she must marry the man of her father’s choosing—a proper man, as her mother had done. She would bear children, her father’s longed-for male heirs. She would live in a fine house in London during the season and spend the other months at a country estate.

  She would do all the things she had been brought up to do. It would a fine life. A grand life. And somehow her father, a mere mortal, would overpower the will of God Almighty.

  “Emma?” The door swung open and Cissy stepped into the darkened room.

  “I’m here, Cissy.” She drew away from the window.

  “You must come quickly! It’s Father’s heart again. He’s having a spell.”

  For an instant Emma hesitated. Her father had forbidden her to practice nursing. By rights she could refuse to go to him, letting him suffer or perhaps even—

  “Where is he?” she asked, hurrying toward her sister.

  “In the study. Mr. Bond found him collapsed on the floor.”

  “Did you use his smelling salts?”

  “I forgot.” Cissy clapped her hand over her mouth. “Oh, Emma, you know how useless I am in a panic!”

  “It’s all right. Come with me.” Emma lifted her skirts and strode along the hall and down the steps.

  The study was crowded with guests as she pushed her way toward the sofa where her father lay. Lady Delamere hovered over him while Nicholas placed a damp cloth on his pallid forehead.

  “We must have fresh air,” Emma said as she knelt on the carpet beside the settee. “Please clear the room, Mr. Bond.”

  She saw at once that her father’s round stomach rose and fell evenly. His heart, though weak, still pulsed. Flipping back his lapel, she removed the bottle of salts from his pocket and held it under his nose. Instantly his eyes fluttered open and he began coughing.

  “There, there,” she murmured softly, as her mother always had. “All is well, sir. You must rest.”

  He caught her arm. “Emmaline, is my daughter—?”

  “Calm yourself, Father.” Emma anticipated the question that always formed itself upon his lips after an episode. “Priscilla is fine. You’ve given her a bit of a fright, but she’s just outside the door waiting to see you. I shall send her to you in a moment.”

  Rising, she spoke with Lady Delamere, then she slipped out of the room. Cissy rushed to her sister’s side. Her blue eyes swam with tears.

  “Emma, did something happen in the study?” she whispered. “Did you quarrel?”

  “We did have words.”

  As she turned away, Cissy gasped. “Oh, Emma! He’s hit you again, hasn’t he? Your cheek!”

  “Shh, Cissy,” Emma said. “Say nothing more.”

  Arm in arm, they left the others and returned to their suite. Cissy turned up the gas lamp so that the room was bathed in a golden glow. She turned toward her sister.

  “Come with me, Emma. I want you to see something.”

  Emma allowed herself to be led to the mirror. When she gazed into it, she saw two figures staring back at her. One was just as she had been when they’d left the room earlier that evening. Cissy stood prim and soft in a powder-blue gown, her golden hair coiled around a bright bird, her eyes shining.

  Emma hardly recognized herself. Her hair, no longer curled and pinned to the top of her head, hung wild about her shoulders from her dance with Adam. The pink stain of her father’s handprint marred her cheek. Her mouth was swollen and bruised. Shaking her head, she touched the drop of dried blood on her lip.

  “What has become of me?” she whispered. “Who am I?”

  “You’re my sister and I love you,” Cissy said. “Do as he says, Emma. Please don’t let him hurt you again. Please.”

  Emma folded her sister into her arms. “I love you, too, Cissy.”

  A loud thumping woke Emma from a tortured dream. Sitting up, she blinked in confusion at her surroundings.

  “Oh, do come and look!” Cissy fluttered before the window in a long white nightgown.

  Emma slid from her bed and padded across the room. “What is that noise? It can’t be thunder—the sun is too bright.”

  “Just look!” Cissy clapped her hands in delight as Emma stepped out onto a small balcony and peered down at the tin roof of the wing below. A quartet of monkeys danced and cavorted across it—thin, wiry monkeys with gray fur and funny black faces.

  Emma had to smile, but as she did her lip cracked painfully.

  Cissy’s brow furrowed at the sight. “Oh, dear. You look as though you’ve been to battle.”

  “I have been to battle.” As she watched the monkeys, Emma dabbed at her lip. “We shall soon have our fill of wild creatures, you know. The train leaves at eight. What time is it now?”

  “Six-thirty. The servants brought breakfast earlier, but I chose not to wake you. It’s on the table.”

  Emma turned into the room, but her sister’s next words brought her head around quickly.

  “Emma, look! It’s your cowboy.”

  The black horse she recognized from the previous day was trotting down the long drive. Adam tipped his hat to the window, a smile lighting the features of his handsome face. Emma shrank back, her hand over her bruised cheek.

  “He saw you, Emma. He was looking for you.” Cissy peeped out from behind the curtain. “Isn’t he odd—and wonderful at the same time? Just look at that long riding coat. It’s made of leather. Have you ever seen such a thing? And his boots. Aren’t they rough?”

  Emma couldn’t resist peering over Cissy’s shoulder. Adam dismounted and looped the reins over the branch of a flowering tree. A gentle breeze ruffled his black hair.

  “He’s wearing those blue trousers again, isn’t he?” Emma whispered. “They suit him. I do like that hat, although it certainly isn’t anything one would see in London or Paris.”

  “Do you suppose he’s come to call on you?”

  “Call on me? Don’t be silly, Cissy.” Her heart fluttering, Emma left the balcony, drew the curtains and started for the breakfast table. “He has business with Lord Delamere, I’m sure. They know one another well.”

  “I think he likes you.” Cissy eased herself into the chair across from her sister and picked up a slice of toast.

  “Mr. King is married, Cissy.” Emma swallowed a sip of tea. “He has a wife—in America.”

  “Oh.” Cissy’s voice was low.

  “Do pass the jam.” Emma blinked back the tears that inexplicably had filled her eyes. She took up a knife and buttered the toast. “I’m going to have to get married, Cissy. Father will choose the man.”

  Cissy’s eyes clouded. “I’m not goi
ng to marry anyone. My heart belongs to Dirk Bauer. I hope he’s safe. He promised to write me every day, but…”

  Emma half listened to Cissy, whose conversation—as usual—focused on herself. Sounds in the hallway below were of greater interest at the moment. She wondered if Adam were now inside the house. What had he come for? What was his wife like? Clarissa. How long had they been married, and when would she arrive in the protectorate? Did they have children? He would wish to be near his children, she felt sure as she remembered the sight of him holding the small African boy he had rescued.

  “I miss Dirk so much my insides ache with longing,” Cissy was saying. “Every waking moment I think about him, Emma. I mourn him. He’s probably at his post by now, standing guard against the enemy—us.”

  Emma took Cissy’s delicate hand in hers. Of late, the German kaiser had been causing Queen Victoria no end of trouble. Safeguarding a claim to inland territory coveted by both the Germans and the British had led her father and his associates to build the railway. The ivory trade was essential to the realm.

  “Oh, Emma,” Cissy cried, “do you hate the kaiser because he wants to stop the spread of the empire? I don’t! I can’t make myself care about him at all. Dirk is a German, he’s good and kind and he loves me.”

  “I know, Cissy, but you must do your best not to think about him. You and Dirk enjoyed three happy weeks together. Now you have your whole life ahead.”

  At a knock on the door, Emma took up her shawl and hurried across the room. In the hall, a servant held out a silver tray bearing a pen, an inkwell, and an envelope. She read the words written on it in a bold black hand:

  Miss Emma Pickering

  With a glance at Cissy, she took out the note and opened it. Emma, please come down. I need to talk to you about the subject we discussed last night. Adam King

  She let out a breath. Of course she could never agree to see the man again. To preserve a fragile peace, she must obey her father.

  “What is it, Emma?” Cissy called. “Am I wanted?”

  “It’s nothing,” Emma replied. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  She must send her polite regrets at once. It was one thing to disobey her father by following God’s leading to become a nurse. It was quite another to pursue her own willful yearnings into the arms of a married man.

  Picking up the pen, she dipped it into the inkwell on the silver tray and wrote on a clean sheet of paper.

  Dear Mr. King,

  I cannot speak with you again. Please forgive me.

  Emmaline Pickering

  She blew on the ink to dry it, then she slipped the letter into the envelope and thanked the servant. The man nodded and set off down the hall toward the stairs.

  “Was it from him?” Cissy rose from her chair. “Did Mr. King send up his calling card?”

  “He asked to speak with me. I wrote that I couldn’t go down.”

  Emma moved to the washstand and surveyed her reflection. Her cheek bore a pink bruise and her lips were still swollen. She poured cool water into the basin and splashed it on her face.

  Why must she honor her father by complying with his wishes? Look what he had done to her. His mistreatment was insufferable. Yet suffer she would. The opportunity to ask Adam about a mission hospital had been lost. She would have to pry the information from Mr. Bond, even though he probably knew little beyond railroads and waltzing.

  Praying for peace, Emma stepped to her trunk and took out a beige traveling skirt and a white blouse. Cissy helped Emma into her corset and began to lace it up the back.

  “You ought to go down to him. Father has no right to tell us what we may and may not do.”

  “He is our father, Cissy.”

  “Yes, but we’re grown women now. We must be allowed to make up our own minds.”

  Cissy tightened the laces, then Emma slipped on her chemise and pulled her tangled waves of hair through it. She fastened her petticoat and skirt at her waist, while Cissy began to dress. Emma was buttoning her blouse when a sharp ping sounded at the window.

  “Whatever can that be? A monkey?” Cissy stepped to the window and gasped. “Upon my word, Emma! It’s your cowboy. He’s…he’s…”

  Emma hurried to her sister’s side. As they crowded onto the balcony, they saw Adam on the grass below, spinning a looped rope over his head. His face was lit with the golden light of early morning, and Emma caught her breath at the glow in his blue eyes. Suddenly he released the rope, and both girls drew back as it sailed through the air, landed on the tin roof and slipped around a projecting drainpipe.

  “Emma—oh, dear—he’s climbing up here!” Cissy squealed, clutching her sister’s arm.

  Watching the rope pull taut against Adam’s weight, Emma gripped the curtain as if the thin lace might somehow hide her. She could not let him see what her father had done.

  “Cissy, what can we do?” she cried. “If Father sees Adam climbing up to our balcony, he’ll have the poor man tossed in jail.”

  “I can’t bear it. I’m going into the sitting room!”

  “Wait, Cissy. Stay with me!” But it was too late. Her sister fled and Adam was halfway up the wall.

  Adam hoisted himself onto the balcony, swinging one leg at a time over the rail. Not an easy task for a man with spurs on his boots and a six-shooter at his side. One thing he knew for sure—he hadn’t been spotted by a compound guard.

  The sight of Emma Pickering peering out from behind the curtain confirmed his decision to see her again. Her green eyes shone with a mixture of apprehension and joy. Her thick wavy hair gleamed like a field of wheat rippling in the wind. He had done the right thing.

  “Good morning, Miss Pickering.” He took off his hat and leaned against the white window frame.

  “Mr. King, did you not receive my message?” She was almost breathless. “I cannot speak with you.”

  “I got your note, but I need to talk. Mind if I come inside?”

  “Indeed, sir, you may not take another step!”

  “Can we just talk for a minute or two?” he asked.

  “Mr. King, I have already told you I’m unavailable. Now please let yourself down by that…that rope thing, and—”

  “My lasso?” He began coiling his lariat.

  “Sir, this is unseemly.”

  Adam studied the intriguing eyes peering at him around the curtain. Emma was edgy this morning. Almost frightened. Different from the bold young woman he had met yesterday.

  He couldn’t let that concern him, he decided as he tucked away the end of the rope. Last night after he left the consulate, he had made up his mind to keep things strictly business with Emma Pickering.

  “I’ll leave after I’ve had my say,” he told her. “This is important.”

  “Speak quickly, sir. My father must not find you here.”

  “With all due respect, Emma, do you think I’m concerned about what your father thinks?”

  “You may not care, but I do. What do you want from me?”

  “I need a nurse.”

  Her face suffused with surprise. “A nurse? Are you ill?”

  “Not for me. I have a friend—at my ranch.”

  “Your wife is surely tending to this friend in your absence.” She paused a moment. “You are married, are you not?”

  “Not the last time I looked.”

  “Really? Well, then…” Her eyes deepened in concern as she let the curtain drop a little. “What sort of illness does your friend have? Can you describe it?”

  Adam looked away, his attention skirting across the tops of the palm trees. How could he explain the situation without scaring her off?

  “It’s not an illness. It’s more like…” Searching for the right words, he turned back to Emma. But at the first full sight of her face, he reached through the open window and pulled the curtain out of her hands.

  “Emma, what happened to you?” He caught her arm and drew her toward him. “Who did this?”

  She raised her hand in a vain effort
to cover her cheek and eye. “It’s nothing,” she protested, trying to back away. “Please, Mr. King, you must not…not…”

  Even as she tried to speak, he stepped through the balcony door and gathered her into his arms. Brushing back the hair from her cheek, he noted the swelling and the darkening stain around it.

  “Emma,” he growled. “Who did this to you?”

  She fell motionless, silent in his embrace as he stroked her tender skin with his fingertips. No wonder she had shied like a scared colt. She hadn’t wanted him to know. The sight of a drop of dried blood on her lip stopped him cold.

  “Bond,” he snarled, his voice hardening in anger. “He did this to you, didn’t he? I swear, if I see that lousy—”

  “No!” Emma’s eyes flew open as she backed out of his embrace. “No, it wasn’t Mr. Bond. He never touched me. Please…please, Adam, just go away now.”

  “Emma, you have to tell me…” Realization flooded through him. The pompous, nattily dressed English railroad tycoon had struck his own daughter.

  Without stopping to weigh consequences, Adam drew his six-shooter from the holster and pressed it into her hands.

  “Take this, Emma,” he told her. He squeezed her hands around the pistol. “This country is wild. It’s filled with animals and people who prey on others.”

  “No.” Emma held the gun awkwardly, as if it were a dead thing. “Take this weapon and leave me, I beg you. Our train leaves at eight, and you have no place here.” She set the weapon on a table. “Please, sir. You must go.”

  “I want you to come with me,” he told her. “I need your help. Emma, I’ll take care of you.”

  “I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” she shot back. “I have my own plans, and God is watching over me.”

  “Emma!” Both turned toward the open door where Emma’s sister stood, eyes wide.

  “What is it, Cissy?”

  “Emma, go with him!” Cissy crossed the room toward them. “Run away with him, Emma. It’s your chance to escape—to become a nurse, as you’ve always wanted. You’ll be safe at last and you can have your dream.”