Howard Haskell Takes A Bride (The Brides of Paradise Ranch Book 0) (7 page)

Elizabeth grinned, proud of that fact. He may have been wicked, impish, and devilish, but he was her devil, and no one would stand in the way of that.

H
oward couldn’t keep still
. A crowd had started to form at the starting line of his race against Jonas Armstrong even before the competitors had arrived. Word has spread throughout Cincinnati that Elizabeth Ayers’s hand in marriage would be decided by a competition between two suitors. Howard eyed the spectators as he danced on the balls of his feet. Some were there because they enjoyed a good competition, like him, no doubt. The rest were nothing more than gossip-mongerers.

“Are you certain this is the best idea?” Virginia fretted. She put a hand on Howard’s shoulder in an attempt to still him.

Howard shook her off gently. “Of course this is the best idea. This is my plan.” He grinned and winked at her.

Virginia arched a brow. “Yes, dear brother, and your plans have a tendency to veer wildly off-course when you haven’t had time to think them through.”

“I’ve had plenty of time to think this through, dear sister,” Howard replied with a laugh. “Elizabeth and I are destined to be together. Her parents see otherwise. What is the absolute best way to convince unrelenting parents to consent to an unlikely marriage?”

Virginia’s only response was to hum and shake her head in disapproval.

“You do realize that the two of you will be forced to leave Cincinnati when this is all done?” Cyrus put his two cents’ worth in, although his grin held more approval than censure.

Howard shrugged and resumed running in place to limber up his muscles. “We were planning to leave anyhow. The great mystery of the West calls to me, and it calls to Elizabeth as well. We will embrace it.”

“Yes, but at what cost?” Virginia drawled.

Howard was spared giving her an answer as Jonas Armstrong made his way through the growing crowd to the area demarcated for the start of the race. Unlike Howard, Jonas displayed perfect outward calm. He was dressed in a sporting uniform and wore special shoes.

“Good morning, Haskell,” he said with a sniff and a roll of his shoulders.

It was the first time that the man had actually addressed Howard as something approaching an equal. Howard still wanted to punch the smug grin off the man’s face. It would serve him right for the outrageous way he had manhandled Elizabeth.

“Armstrong.” Howard nodded in return with a smile in spite of his violent inclinations toward the man. It was the vision in sky-blue silk that approached behind Jonas that eased his stiff smile into a heated grin. “Elizabeth, my dearest.”

Elizabeth blushed as though everyone around could see into her thoughts and his to divine what had passed between them that morning, even though she walked with her head tilted down. She followed her parents, who had their chins raised in reflection of each other and their disdain for Howard. They stopped well on Jonas’s side of the invisible line separating the two sides of the competition.

“You look to be in fine form today, Mr. Armstrong,” Mrs. Ayers greeted Jonas.

How the woman could smile and simper at a man who had mistreated her daughter in front of her eyes baffled Howard. At least Mr. Ayers appeared to be more circumspect about the competitors.

“Haskell.” He nodded to Howard, expression betraying nothing.

“Mr. Ayers.” Howard bowed with as much elegance as he could muster in shirtsleeves and his third-best trousers. “Mrs. Ayers, how lovely to see you in such high spirits this morning,” he continued. Mrs. Ayers was too far away for him to reach for her hand, but he bowed low to make up for it.

As he rose, he met Elizabeth’s eyes. The fire that he’d seen glowing from her very soul as she’d climaxed under his touch was condensed in the brightness of her eyes. She smiled at him, eyes averted ever so slightly, as if their encounter in the garden had taken place minutes ago instead of hours. It was a moment that would live in eternity, as far as he was concerned. He would never forget the flush of her porcelain skin as she panted in ecstasy, never remove the glorious image of her exposed breasts, nipples dark and straining with pleasure, never stop hearing her pitched sighs as tremors of desire pulsed through her.

He cleared his throat and stood, all-too aware of what memory alone could do to him if he wasn’t careful. The strength of Elizabeth’s passion had brought him dangerously close to bursting that morning. He was not too proud to admit that he’d needed to pause in a secluded spot at the edge of her garden to release the pressure she’d built in him before he had been able to continue on to set his plan in motion.

“Are we ready to get this over with?” Jonas asked, pouring ice water over Howard’s misplaced ardor.

“I am more than ready to prove the depth of my love for Elizabeth and to win her,” Howard replied, even though Jonas’s question was addressed to Mr. Ayers.

Mr. Ayers shifted his narrow-eyed glance from Jonas to Howard. He clasped his hands behind his back. “We must wait for my man, Iverson, to arrive with confirmation that all is ready at Mill Creek for the swimming portion of the competition, and that the horses are ready further upstream.”

“You’ve brought Lancelot in from my stables?” Jonas asked.

A grin tweaked the corner of Howard’s mouth. No doubt Jonas thought he could tilt the competition by bringing in his own thoroughbred. There was probably a tired old nag waiting to serve as Howard’s mount alongside it. It didn’t matter.

Mr. Ayers cleared his throat, sending Howard one final glance before lowering his voice and speaking to Jonas. “Lancelot is ready. A change of clothes is waiting for the both of you at the stables where the final leg of the race will begin.”

“Good.” Jonas nodded, cast a quick look over his shoulder at Howard, then stepped closer to Mr. Ayers. Whatever he said next was whispered too low for Howard to overhear.

Howard couldn’t have cared less. His gaze was firmly set on Elizabeth. His dear, sweet, passionate, wonderful Elizabeth had lost the fire in her eyes at Jonas and her father’s exchange. Her lips now worked in tight anxiety, as if she desperately needed to speak but was under some spell. She begged with her eyes for Howard to do something.

He couldn’t resist her lover’s plea. Regardless of the crowd around them or her father and Jonas’s machinations, he left his spot at the starting line and crossed boldly to her. Mrs. Ayers opened her mouth to say something to stop him, but he ignored her.

“What is it, my sweet?” Howard murmured when he had reached Elizabeth’s side.

“I—” Elizabeth darted a glance around, staring at her mother for a moment. When her mother did nothing but glower, Elizabeth leaned close and rushed on with, “I have prepared the tool shed in the garden as a secluded spot where we might…talk.” Her cheeks flushed as pink as her breasts had that morning.

“Perfect, my darling, perfect,” Howard said in response to her words and her blush.

Elizabeth shook her head, panic filling her beautiful face. “I don’t see how we will ever have a chance to make use of it. Jonas is not only athletic, he’s cunning. He has something planned with the horses, I know. And he may have something planned at the creek as well.”

“He may,” Howard conceded. “But he has no idea what
I
have planned.”

“Oh, Howard.” Elizabeth’s sigh was heavy with love and despair.

As bold as day, Howard took her hand and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You must leave this place at once. Go to the end of Cherry Street, where the woods end and the narrower streets begin. Do you know the place?”

“Yes, yes I do.” Elizabeth leaned back, blinking at him in puzzlement. “But why?”

“You’ll see.” Howard chuckled. He could barely contain his excitement, knowing what he had in store. “I have a surprise for you there. It should be there in less than half an hour’s time. Do you think you can slip away to be there on time?”

A fraction of Elizabeth’s confidence returned. She peeked at her mother, then at her father, who was still in close conversation with Jonas. For a moment, she bit her lip, then she turned back to Howard. “Yes. I can slip away. Moses drove the carriage on the way here. He’s a good and loyal friend. If I tell Mama I have a headache and cannot bear to watch the competition, Moses will pretend to take me home. He won’t say a word.”

“A carriage.” Howard’s face lit with excitement. “How perfect. A quick delivery will suit my plan all the better.”

Elizabeth’s brow knit. “What is your plan?”

“Enough of that.” Mr. Ayers’s barked command cut the conversation short. “Get away from her.”

Howard didn’t protest. He winked at Elizabeth, then strutted back to his position at the starting line.

“I hope your words to
my
fiancée were sweet,” Jonas sneered. “They’ll be the last words you ever say to her.”

“They were honeyed words of delight,” Howard told him, ignoring the venom in Jonas’s tone. “They were confections of romance, delivered by angels to another angel.”

Jonas snorted and shook his head. “Are you a man or a simpering poet, out of place and out of time?”

“I am a man.” He dropped all pretense of fluff, staring hard into Jonas’s beady eyes. “As Elizabeth will tell you.”

A few gasps rose from those close enough to hear Howard’s words and grasp his implications. Jonas went red, balling his hands in his fists. Virginia buried her face in one hand and shook her head.

It was all part of Howard’s plan.

“How dare you insult a woman’s honor in such a crude manner?” Jonas seethed.

“Is my ardor any more offensive than your abuse?” Howard boomed. He rushed on before Jonas could answer with, “Not at all. Every woman should feel pleasure as deeply as any man. She should never be ashamed of desire.”

“How dare you?” Jonas quivered.

“Mama, I cannot remain here.” Elizabeth spoke up and crossed to her mother right on cue. “My head is pounding and I…I cannot endure the baseness of this event.”

She sent the briefest of grins in Howard’s direction. Howard’s chest swelled with pride. His dear heart had taken a page out of his book with her overflowing prose as if she had been born to it.

“Of course, my dear. Let me take you home.”

“Oh, no!” A flash of panic lit Elizabeth’s eyes at her mother’s suggestion. She pressed a hand to her forehead before going on. “I…I need you to stay here so that you can provide me with a full report. I wouldn’t trust an account from anyone else. Moses can take me home.”

Mrs. Ayers narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. She sent her husband a glance. Mr. Ayers met her unspoken question and nodded.

“Very well,” Mrs. Ayers sighed. “Moses can take you.”

“Thank you, dear Mama.” Elizabeth heaved one last sigh, then turned and rushed off…perhaps too fast for someone with a headache.

It didn’t matter. Another piece of Howard’s plan clicked into place. All that was needed now was the final coup.

“And now, I will prove my superior strength and cunning and win my dear love’s hand, once and for all,” he declared, stepping up to an imaginary starting line.

Jonas sneered at him. He rolled up his shirtsleeves and came to stand a few yards away from him, pointing in the same direction. “I expect you to fulfill the terms of your defeat and leave Cincinnati immediately at the conclusion of the race.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Howard chuckled.

“Five dollars on Mr. Howard Haskell,” Cyrus called out behind them. “I’ve got five dollars on my friend Howard to win it all.”

“Six dollars on Jonas Armstrong,” someone else echoed him from further back in the crowd.

A flurry of betting followed, delaying the start of the race. Howard waited patiently, grinning and chuckling to himself. Any delay would only give Elizabeth more of a chance to get into place for the surprise part of his plan. He couldn’t wait to see the shock on her face when things finally came together. In more ways than one.

“Enough of this,” Mr. Ayers called out at length. “We need to get on with things or it will be dark by the time the race finishes.”

“Yes, indeed,” Howard echoed. “Let’s get on with things.” He stretched first one leg, then the other, then shook his arms out.

Not to be outdone, Jonas cycled through a few stretches beside him before digging his feet into the dirt at the imaginary starting line.

“The race will commence on foot,” Mr. Ayers repeated the rules they’d set forward the night of the soiree. “It will proceed from this point along the Whitewater Canal as it passes through the woods. At Mill Creek Road, both competitors will dive from the bridge and proceed to swim upstream to Coleman’s estate. From the stables at Coleman’s estate, they will ride to the marker at the top of Mt. Auburn. First man to reach that mark will be the undisputed champion and will win Miss Elizabeth Ayers’s hand in marriage.”

“Perfect.” Howard nodded.

“Prepare to taste defeat,” Jonas grunted.

Mr. Ayers clenched his jaw. If Howard didn’t know any better, he would have thought that the man didn’t want Jonas to win after all. Winning Elizabeth might turn out to be easier than he’d thought.

“Gentlemen, take your marks.” Mr. Ayers raised his hand.

The crowd around them hushed. Jonas moved into a racer’s crouch. Howard grinned, winked at Virginia and Cyrus, then sank into his own crouch.

As soon as he saw they were in place, Mr. Ayers lowered his hand and shouted, “Go!”

The crowd erupted into cheers as Howard and Jonas shot forward. Jonas had the edge right out of the starting line. Howard did his level best to keep pace with the man, to watch his form and gauge his endurance. Elizabeth and the rest of them were right, Jonas was an athlete. That much was evident in the pull and strain of his muscles as he sprinted ahead, the steadiness and concentration of his stride. As fast and hard as Howard ran, Jonas began to outpace him.

They pulled away from the crowd, although some stragglers had jogged ahead to get a view of the competitors as they passed. Howard made note of every one of them, kept a careful count of where they stood and when they began to thin out. And still Jonas pulled ahead, bit by bit. The grove of trees that they raced through became thicker and more wild the farther they got away from the city. The canal edged the road on one side as it narrowed. Howard took in every detail, making his calculations as they went.