Sizzle All Day (42 page)

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Excerpt from

Simmer All Night

Bad Luck Abroad

Book One

by

Geralyn Dawson

© 1999, 2011 by Geralyn Dawson Williams

Chapter 1

San Antonio Texas, 1883

I want to strangle Christina Delaney.

While the bimonthly meeting of the Historical Preservation Society continued without his attention, Cole Morgan reread the note the Delaney family's butler had slipped him moments ago and tried to hide his outrage. The message was from Rand Jenkins, the third partner in the law firm of Morgan, Delaney, and Jenkins. It read:

Thought you and Jake would want to know. Tonight I went down to Military Plaza for supper and discovered a new chili stand serving up spice. Jake's little sister is San Antonio's newest Chili Queen. I may go back for seconds.

Christina a Chili Queen.

Cole could only imagine the scandal this would create. The rebellious daughter of San Antonio's first family had pulled her share of stunts in the past, but this time she had gone too far. Her behavior would fiercely upset her mother.

"So what do you say, Morgan?" a local businessman asked. "You'll go?"

"Go?" He jerked his head up. To Military Plaza? Did they know about Christina already? "Go where?"

"To England, man."

"England? Me?" What had he missed? Cole crushed the note in his fist and quickly shoved it into his pocket. "Why in the world would I want to go to England?"

Elizabeth Delaney sighed as she smoothed a straying strand of graying hair back into her coiffure. "Cole, you haven't been paying attention, have you?"

That quickly, he was thirteen again, mortified at being scolded by the woman he held above all others. "I'm sorry, Miss Elizabeth. I'm afraid I was distracted by a message I just received."
Another sin to place at Christina's feet.

Elizabeth's tender smile offered both forgiveness and encouragement. "Word has reached the Historical Society that one of the missing copies of our Declaration of Independence may well be in England. We suspect it was included in papers sent to the Republic of Texas's legation in London some forty-odd years ago. My father, the Earl of Thornbury, has heard a rumor that an Englishman whose family had ties with the Texas embassy in London may have it in his possession. We have unanimously chosen you as our representative to investigate this rumor and, we hope, to track the document down and bring it home."

They what?
Cole shot an incredulous look around Elizabeth Delaney's parlor, where the cream of San Antonio society sat smiling at him. "Wouldn't that be a bit like sending a chuck wagon cookie to the ballet?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Cole." Elizabeth Delaney's elegant eyebrows dipped into a frown as she added, "You are every inch the gentleman—when you wish to be, anyway—and I am certain you will hold your own with any peer of the realm."

"She's right," piped up the distinguished owner of a local bank. "You're a home-grown aristocrat, Morgan. You ooze that Texan-born-and-bred pride, but you do it within acceptable bounds for Polite Society. It's a talent, I say. One that will serve you well on this quest."

Aristocrat? His father had been a gardener and his mother a laundry maid in England before immigrating to Texas. Before he could pose another protest, the butler nudged him in the back, reminding Cole of the note.
I need to talk to Jake.

But first, he needed to get out of going to England.

He shook his head slowly, then motioned toward his best friend, Elizabeth Delaney's son and the new Chili Queen's brother. "Jake should go. The earl is his grandfather, after all, not mine."

"No." Jake folded his arms and leaned back in his seat, eyeing Cole keenly. "I have a new client. Remember? The trial is scheduled to begin in six weeks, but I intend to ask for a delay. This case could drag on for some time. I won't be going anywhere for the foreseeable future."

Cole scowled. He'd forgotten about the murder trial. Maybe it was kismet that he was reminded at this particular moment of the man accused of murdering a family member during a fit of rage.
So I won't
strangle
Christina. I'll just make her wish I had.

He threw a pleading look toward Jake. "Maybe this... quest... could wait until the trial is done? You know I just bought that ranchland west of town, and I'd hoped to spend my extra time during the next few months getting that operation up and running."

Elizabeth Delaney shook her head. "I think a delay is ill-advised. This is the first good lead we've had on any of the missing copies of the Declaration since we started looking two years ago. I strongly feel we dare not waste a moment investigating the matter further."

"You'll do fine, Cole," Jake said, a spark of mischief in his green eyes. "I agree with my mother on this one. You are the perfect choice."

Fine. Thanks for nothing, friend.

As payback, Cole crossed the room and offered a handshake to Jake. "Thanks for the support," he drawled, allowing just a touch of sarcasm to enter his voice as he transferred the crumpled note to the other man's hand. Then, with his back toward the august assembly in the parlor, he gazed out the window toward the rose garden his father had planted for Elizabeth Delaney. Go to England? His father would turn over in his grave.

Samuel Morgan had cursed his native country for the last six years of his life, ever since a duke's son decided to see what it was like to "swive a breeder" and had raped Sam's pregnant wife. In the attack Rosemary Morgan lost both the child she carried and the promise of having any more. When the young lord was let off with little more than a reprimand, Sam took the question of punishment into his own hands and almost killed the bastard before gathering his wife and son and running away to Texas.

"Cole?" Elizabeth asked.

England. It was the last place on earth Cole wanted to visit. But Elizabeth wanted him to go. The woman who'd rescued a shattered eight-year-old at the funeral of his parents and taken him to raise as one of her own seldom asked a favor of him. Since he'd gladly lay down his life for the lady, he couldn't refuse this request. "All right," he said with a sigh, turning back to her. "I'll do it."

At least he saw one bright side to the plan. In England, he'd be far away from Christina and her shenanigans.

Elizabeth offered him that certain smile she reserved for special occasions, the one that made Cole feel ten feet tall.

"Excellent. I knew we could count on you." She turned to one of the other committee members and asked, "George, do you have the information I requested containing the particulars of this rumor so that Cole may make his plans?"

"I'm still waiting on one name, Elizabeth," the fellow answered. "I hope to have everything ready by the end of the week."

"Very well." To Cole, Elizabeth said, "I'll see you get what you need
as
soon as possible."

He nodded, suddenly looking forward to the trip in spite of himself. He hoped their information was right. Finding one of the missing parchments would be personally rewarding.

The Republic of Texas's Declaration of Independence was a historically significant document. Unfortunately, when the capitol burned two years earlier, the lone copy the State of Texas had possessed had gone up in smoke. That's when the Historical Preservation Society of San Antonio had decided to instigate a search for the remaining four copies that had disappeared after the Constitutional Convention in 1836. Cole believed the quest a worthy one and he'd be honored to assist in bringing the document home, though he'd be doing it for Elizabeth as much as for history's sake.

At that point, a choked-off exclamation told Cole his friend had finally read the note. Cole watched as Jake's complexion went red, then white, then red again. Obviously, he liked his sister's new avocation about as much as Cole did.

Watching Jake Delaney's temper build took the fire out of Cole's own anger. She was Jake's sister, after all, not his, despite the fact they'd been raised in each other's pockets. Let Jake take care of the termagant. He'd been happy enough to abandon Cole to an unscheduled sea voyage.

As the meeting's discussion turned to a question of what should be done about the deteriorating condition of the Alamo, Jake quietly rose from his seat and slipped out of the house. Cole ducked out behind him. This confrontation between brother and sister was one he didn't want to miss.

"I can't believe her!" Jake exclaimed when Cole caught up with him halfway along the stone path to the carriage house. "What was she thinking? How could she do this? She's a Delaney. Delaneys have a reputation to uphold."

"Maybe you need to clarify
what
kind
of reputation," Cole suggested.

Jake made a growling noise low in his throat.

All of a sudden, Cole wanted to laugh. With Jake taking responsibility for his sister, the burden was off his own shoulders, and he could see past his immediate anger. How typical for Christina to pull a stunt like this. They should have known the last few months of relative peace wouldn't last.

"Look, Jake," Cole said, hoping to ease the tension a bit before they reached the square. If Jake lost control in public, he'd turn a scandal into a Scandal. "It could be worse. She didn't steal a horse or rob a train. She didn't run off with a patent medicine salesman."

Jake appeared to find the first two items soothing. The third obviously got his goat. He knifed a glare at Cole. "We don't know that. You know who's in town, hawking his wares on the plaza? Dr. J. L. Lighthall, otherwise known as the Diamond King."

"The Diamond King," Cole repeated. "Isn't he the one who pulls teeth?"

"With lightning dexterity. Women are obsessed with the talent in his hands. He's a handsome scalawag and flashy dresser, and he gives a nightly speech from a gilded chariot that resembles a circus wagon while his minions walk through the crowd selling Lighthall's so-called medicine."