One Pink Rose; One White Rose; One Red Rose (36 page)

He didn't tell her the truth, that he was amused by her. The play of emotions that had crossed her face as she rambled on and on was comical. She was smiling one second and glaring up at him the next. He felt like laughing, and if she hadn't been so agitated, he probably would have given in to the urge. He didn't want to hurt her feelings though Genevieve obviously took the matter of their engagement seriously, and he was pretty certain she expected him to do the same.

It really was a hell of a mess, and he had no one but Mama Rose to blame for meddling in his private affairs. He would deal with her later, but now he needed to have a long-overdue discussion with Genevieve.

First things first. He needed to move away from her. He was standing entirely too close. Odd, but he couldn't seem to make himself step back. Her scent, so light and feminine, made him think she'd bathed in lilacs. He liked it more than he thought he should. He liked just about everything about her. He even noticed, and approved of, what she was wearing, and he had never been interested in such superficial things before. Still, the starched, high-collared white blouse and white skirt were a nice contrast to her flawless coloring. She looked as prim and proper as a banker's wife, and was as sexy as hell.

He shook himself out of his reflection. “Why don't we go down to the library.”

“The library? Yes, we should go to the library.”

“Good idea,” he drawled out.

She inwardly groaned. She was doing it again, repeating his words. He was going to start calling her a parrot if she didn't get hold of herself and stop thinking about foolish things, such as how deep and rich the sound of his voice was and how clean and masculine his scent was. He seemed to carry the outdoors around with him.

He really had the most devastating effect on her. She let out a little sigh. “I've been dreading this.”

“Dreading what?”

“Our private talk,” she said. “Shall we go and get it over with?”

She sounded as though she were on her way to a firing squad. He agreed with a nod and walked by her side down the stairs. When they reached the end of the back hall, he moved forward to open the door, then stepped back so she could enter the library first.

The room was musty and smelled of old books. She found it very pleasing and looked around in fascination and approval. There were hundreds of volumes lined up on cherry wood shelves from the ceiling to the floor, and more books were piled in stacks on the hardwood floor near the windows.

The library had taken on the character of the man who occupied it, she decided. She knew from Adam's letters to his mother how much he loved to read, and she would have wagered every cent she possessed that he had already read every book there. He might even have read them more than once.

He motioned for her to take a seat. She chose one of the two overstuffed leather chairs facing the desk, sat down on the very edge of the seat, with her knees and her ankles pressed together and her back as straight as a ruler, and folded her hands in her lap.

She couldn't sit still long. While he was getting comfortable in his chair behind the desk, she nervously began to tap her heels against the floor. She stared down at her lap so she could concentrate, and rehearsed what she would say to him.

She thought it would be better if she let him speak first, and after he was finished, she would then gently—yes, gently—explain that her circumstances had changed and she couldn't marry him. She would be as diplomatic as a statesman so that she wouldn't injure his feelings or damage his pride.

Adam sat back in his chair and stared at her, patiently waiting for her to tell him what was on her mind. After several minutes passed in silence, he decided it was up to him to begin. He knew exactly what he wanted to say to her, for he'd been thinking about it all week long. Why then was it so difficult for him to get started?

He cleared his throat. The tapping got faster and louder.

“Genevieve, I'm not certain what your understanding with Mama Rose was, but I—”

She jumped to her feet. “Oh, Adam, I can't do it. I just can't.”

“You can't what?”

“I can't marry you. I wish I could, but I can't. I wanted to explain right away, but you've been avoiding me all week long, which makes me think you don't really want to marry me anyway, and this personal matter wasn't something I wanted to talk about in front of your relatives. It's all so awkward, isn't it? Your mother put both of us in such a peculiar position. Are we engaged or aren't we? No, of course we aren't. Will it surprise you to know that I do want to marry you, or at least I used to want to marry you? For heaven's sake, don't look so surprised. I'm telling you the truth. Everything's changed though, and I can't possibly marry you now. No, it's out of the question, and even if you did want to marry me, well, eventually you'd find out about the trouble I'm in, and then you'd be horrified you ever entertained the notion. Do you see? I'm saving you from making a terrible mistake. I'm so sorry to disappoint you. Truly I am. You're just going to have to get over me. Broken hearts do mend. There, I've had my say. We can't get married, no matter how much you want to, and I apologize for deliberately misleading you. It was insensitive and cruel of me.”

She finally paused long enough to take a breath. She knew she'd made a mess out of her explanation, and even while she had been rambling on and on, she'd kept telling herself to stop, but she couldn't seem to make herself do it. He probably thought she was crazy. His expression didn't give her a hint of what he was thinking, and she could only conclude that he was too stunned to react at all. Some of the words she'd blurted out kept repeating inside her head. Dear God, she'd started out telling him she didn't believe he wanted to marry her, and by the time she'd finished, she was insisting that his broken heart would mend. Oh, yes, he had to think she was demented. Mortified, she turned her attention to the wall behind him, pretending great interest in the framed map hanging there.

“I have to ‘get over' you?”

She was relieved there wasn't any laughter in his voice when he asked the question. She gave him a weak nod and said, “Yes, you do.”

“I see. You said you misled me. When exactly did you do that?”

She continued to stand and stare at the map while she answered him. “The night we met, I introduced myself as your bride. That was a falsehood.”

“Ah, yes, I remember.”

She dared a quick look at him. The warmth in his eyes had a strangely calming effect on her, and she began to relax.

“Are you always so self-assured?”

He laughed. “No.”

“I think maybe you are. You don't get riled easily, do you?”

“No, I don't. Did you want to rile me?”

“No, of course not. You really do have an odd effect on me. I'm very relaxed around your family, but you . . .”

“I what?”

She shrugged and then decided to change the subject. “Your mother didn't tell me what a nice-looking man you were. It doesn't change anything. I still can't marry you, and I wouldn't marry any man just because he was handsome. I've learned from experience that appearances are misleading.”

“Mama Rose didn't tell me how pretty you were. Why don't you sit down and tell me about the trouble you're in. Maybe I can help.”

“Trouble? Why do you think I'm in trouble?”

Her voice rose an octave, and she seemed astonished that he would ask her such a question. He held on to his patience. “You just told me you were.”

She didn't remember. “I spoke out of turn. I was in such a hurry to get everything said, and I was very nervous. I'm sure you must have noticed. I was talking a mile a minute, but I so wanted you to understand. And I was concerned about hurting your feelings. I didn't, did I?”

“Hurt my feelings? No, you didn't,” he assured her with a smile he couldn't quite contain. “I might be able to help you, Genevieve, if you'll tell me what the problem is,” he insisted once again.

She shook her head. She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to tell him the truth either, for then he would be involved and could very well end up in trouble too.

“I don't have a problem.”

She didn't think she could have been more emphatic, yet from his frown, she knew he still wasn't convinced. Once again she tried to get him to talk about something else.

She nodded toward the wall behind him. “Your mother showed me that map right after she purchased it for you. Why did you frame it and hang it on your wall? That wasn't what she wanted you to do with it. You were supposed to take it with you when you set out to see the world.”

He knew she was deliberately evading his question, and that only made him more curious to find out what was troubling her. He wasn't usually intrusive, but she was a guest in his house and a close friend of his mother's, and if she really was in trouble, then he should try to help. He couldn't imagine that she was involved in anything serious though. She was such a sweet, innocent woman, one who undoubtedly had been sheltered by her family. What possible trouble could she have gotten into?

His mind leapt from one possibility to another. “Did you leave a suitor pining after you when you left New Orleans?”

The question gave her pause. “No,” she answered. “I wasn't in New Orleans long enough to meet anyone. Why would you ask me such a question?”

“I was just curious.”

“Are you always this curious with all your guests?”

“Only the ones I find myself engaged to,” he teased.

She hastened to correct him. “You were engaged, Adam, but you aren't any longer.”

He laughed again. “That's right,” he agreed. “How long were you in New Orleans?”

“Two weeks.”

“Just long enough to see the sights?”

“I wasn't there to see the sights. I was singing in a choir, but then I decided it was time for me to leave. Now it's your turn. Answer my question and tell me why you haven't left here to travel the world. I know you wanted to, because I read all the letters you wrote to Mama Rose.”

He raised an eyebrow in reaction. “You did? Why would you—”

She wouldn't let him finish. “I love Mama Rose, and I wanted to know everything I could about her family. It was something I could share with her. We met at church,” she added. “Then I joined the choir and traveled from place to place.”

“You have a beautiful voice. Did you ever think about teaching music?”

“No, but I did think about a career on the stage. Then I came to my senses. I sing in church, and I occasionally sing to babies,” she said with a smile. “Now it's your turn to answer a question. Tell me, why haven't you gone out to see the world?”

“I can see the world every time I turn my head and look at a map, and I can go from port to port by simply opening one of my books and reading.”

“It isn't at all the same. You've become too complacent, Adam. Think of all the adventures you could have. What happened to your dream? You've forgotten about it, haven't you? Your mother didn't forget, and that's why she gave you the map. She showed me all the presents she was bringing to her sons and her daughter, and every one of them had special significance. Mary Rose continues the family tradition by wearing her mother's brooch, and Douglas carries his gold watch with him. Travis told me he takes his books everywhere he goes. Why, just last night he was rereading
The Republic.
I haven't seen Cole's compass yet,” she added.

Before she could continue, Adam interjected, “He hasn't seen it yet either.”

She looked perplexed. “I don't understand. Why hasn't he seen it? Didn't Mama Rose give it to him?”

“Both the compass and the gold carrying case were either stolen or borrowed from Mama Rose.”

“Which was it, for heaven's sake? Stolen or borrowed?”

“It depends on who you ask. Cole insists it was stolen, but the rest of us think it was borrowed. I'll admit that when Mama Rose first told us what happened, we all thought it was stolen, but since then ;most of us have changed our minds.”

“Tell me what happened,” she insisted. She sat down, folded her hands together, and waited for him to begin.

“Mama Rose was waiting for a train at one of the stations on her way here. She showed the compass and the gold case to a man who was traveling with her. He was also headed for Montana,” he continued. “According to Mama Rose, the two of them became friends and confided in one another.”

“Your mother's a good judge of character.”

“Yes, she is,” he agreed. “She told us that he looked out for her on the journey and was very kind to her.”

“He gained her confidence, and after a while, she began to trust him,” she said with a nod that suggested she understood what had happened.

“Yes, she trusted him.”

Her voice was edged with sadness when she said, “I bet I know what happened then. He betrayed her, didn't he?”

Adam found her reaction to the story intriguing. He had expected her to be a little curious, but she seemed upset about it.

“Cole thinks he did betray her,” he said. “Is that what happened to you, Genevieve? Did you trust someone who betrayed you?”

The question startled her. She quickly shook her head in denial. “We're talking about your mother, not me.”

“Are we?”

“Yes,” she insisted. “I do find the story disturbing,” she admitted. “Has anyone notified the authorities about the theft? They might be able to get the compass back.”

“So you think he stole the compass?”

“Yes, I do. The gold case is very valuable. I'm telling you, Adam, you just can't trust anyone these days.”

He was trying not to smile. She had formed her conclusion without knowing half the facts. She and Cole had a lot in common. Like his brother, Genevieve was willing to think the worst.