Timeless Passion: 10 Historical Romances To Savor (123 page)

“You have no right to hunt me down. You know nothing of what happened. Yet here you are.” He sneered, all traces of fear replaced by anger. “Ready to be judge and jury and damn me out of hand. Well, this isn’t Britain, and I’m not the callow youth I was then.”

Standing up, he placed his hands flat on the table and leaned towards them. “I have nothing to say to either one of you.” Back stiff, he turned to leave.

He was spun around and a large fist connected with his face, sprawling him on the floor.

Once again the sound of chairs scraping the floor filled the air as men moved out of the way. Anticipating a fight, a loose circle of men formed around Hawke and Tompkins.

Tompkins pushed up on one elbow, and touched his finger to the trickle of blood flowing from his lip. He looked at the blood, and then looked at Hawke with a wicked smile.

“Things have changed ‘Yer Lordship,’” he said, mockingly. He stood up, swiping the blood away with his sleeve. “I’m not the weak spoiled boy I once was. This life has taught me a lot.”

Lowering his head, he charged at Hawke, catching him in the gut with his shoulder, and drove him to the ground.

Hawke slammed hard onto the sawdust-covered floor, but rolled and pulled Tompkins beneath him. Pressing one hand into Tompkins’s chest, he pinned him to the ground, leaned forward and drove another punch into his face.

Tompkins bucked under him and twisted free.

“So you’ve finally learned to fend for yerself, have ye’ whelp.” Standing, Hawke gestured for Tompkins to move. “Let’s see what you’ve learned.”

Tompkins looked for an opening. “I never did anything to your sister she didn’t ask for.”

Hawke roared with fury and charged towards him. Tompkins felt a sharp pain as a fist connected with his chin. Toe to toe they stood, their breathing labored. Like seasoned fighters, they looked for weakness and tried to press their advantage. Fists flew and the crowd roared. Money was being waved all around as bets were made on the outcome.

• • •

Tompkins charged again. Hawke held him, and they fell on top of a poker table. The legs gave out under the weight, and men and table crashed to the floor. Rolling, they each tried to best the other.

Breath ragged and lungs burning, Hawke plowed his large fist into Tompkins’s face once more, this time knocking him out.

Spent, Hawke leaned over, hands on his knees, gasping for air. Alec handed him a handkerchief, “Well, that was quite a show. I thought for a moment I might lose my wager.”

“You bet on the fight?” Hawke cocked an eyebrow. “I guess I should be glad you didn’t bet against me.” Dabbing the blood from the corner of his mouth, he gestured down at the prone figure on the floor. “Gave a fair accounting of himself. Wake him up. I need to talk to him.”

Alec walked over to the bar, grabbed a pitcher of beer and poured it on Tompkins.

Sputtering and spitting, Geoffrey sat up. Alec threw him a bar towel, grasped him by his arms and hauled him up. “You know, Tompkins,” he said, slapping him on the shoulder, “the betting was going your way for a while. It seems you are well liked here.”

Tompkins shrugged off Alec’s hands. “I’ve worked hard to be accepted. Now you and Pryce are going to destroy it all.”

“Justifiable, given what you did to his sister.”

“Sit down, Tompkins.” Hawke snapped. “I want the truth about what happened between you and Bethany.”

He could hear Kara’s voice in his head, asking him to be logical.

All right, I hit first.

Now he could ask questions. Not his most controlled moment, but he felt calmer and better able to deal with the man sitting across from him.

“I really don’t have to answer,” Geoffrey replied stiffly. Hawke began to rise from his chair, but Tompkins put up his hand stopping him. “But I will. I’m tired of running and paying for something I didn’t do.”

Hawke reined in his anger. He could hear his mother’s sobs as she pleaded with Bethany to come out of her room. He could see his sister, a pale imitation of her former self, sitting in front of her window.

“My sister pays every day for what you have done.” His voice was tight. “Since your attack, she refuses to see anyone, barely eats, and will not leave her room. Tell me, Tompkins. How has your price been any worse than hers?”

Geoffrey looked surprised by the news. “I didn’t hurt her, I swear it. Yes, I did ask her to sneak out and meet me that day.” His voice was strained, his face hard. “But I had no intention of forcing myself on her in any way. We met by the lake. It wasn’t the first time we had met in secret. I was in love with her, and she with me. I was going to ask her to come away with me, to be my wife.”

Hawke felt like he’d been hit in the gut again. The air rushed from his lungs. “Why would you ask her to run away with you? Why all the secrecy?”

“I had no prospects,” he replied, sadness in his voice. “I had already planned on coming to America by the time we met on that last day.” He looked at Hawke, pain twisted his face; a haunted look entered his eyes. “I told her my plans, asked her to come with me. I knew you and your father disapproved of my suit. You wouldn’t let your sister marry a poor man. Not only a poor man.” Anger tightened his voice. “But a man planning on taking his wife to a new country, far away from her family and everything familiar.” Tompkins took a swig of whiskey and looked Hawke square in the eye.

“You … you have everything and always have. You know nothing of wanting something so much it is all you can think about and not being able to have it. Of being rejected as if you aren’t good enough just because of your birth order. I loved her.” He pounded his fist on the table. “But she refused. She said she couldn’t leave, she was afraid of having nothing, of being away from her home. She didn’t trust me, or my love for her, enough to take the chance on us. She cried, and then she lashed out at me, telling me I shouldn’t leave her, that I should go to her father or to you when you returned. She wanted me to beg your family to set me up, beg your family for money!”

He looked at Hawke, pride warring with pain. “I couldn’t. My own family couldn’t afford to help me. There was no way I was going to throw myself on the mercy of the mighty Pryce family and ask for financial assistance, while asking for Bethany’s hand in marriage. You understand, don’t you?”

Hawke understood. Any man would. But it still didn’t answer his question. “But what happened to Bethany? She was found in hysterics, with her dress torn, bruises on her waist and arms. She refused to tell anyone what happened beyond meeting you.”

“She attacked me.” Geoffrey replied softly, “At first she cried, saying she could never love another, and I was breaking her heart. I was cruel for making her choose between me and her family. Pryce, I swear to you, I loved your sister, I still love her; I wanted her to be with me. She wouldn’t listen to me. I told her I was still going, but I would send for her when I found a suitable place to live and a way to support us. She kept screaming at me. Said I would never send for her. That I would forget about her and I didn’t love her enough.”

He gripped the table, his hands shaking.

“Nothing I said reassured her. She became more and more agitated, more unreasonable. She flew at me, like she was possessed. She tried to strike me with her riding crop. I grabbed her by her arms. I was probably too rough, but she was acting like a mad woman, screaming and flailing. I threw her to the ground, pinned her to stop her hysterics.” Looking down, he reached for the bottle, poured another drink and swallowed it in one gulp. “I’m not proud of what I did next.” He looked at Hawke, anguish turning his eyes dark. “I panicked. She wouldn’t quit screaming. She was foaming at the mouth. It was terrifying … I didn’t know what to do. She was a different person, not the sweet, gentle girl I was in love with. She had scared off her horse, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone showed up. I knew what it looked like.”

He glowered at Hawke. “I knew your father would assume the worst, and you would try to beat me to a bloody pulp before I could explain. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. My brother knows what happened. I explained it all to him. He helped me get to the coast and catch my ship. He has been sending me letters along with a small stipend since. Why didn’t you question him?”

“We did.” Hawke replied quietly. “He always maintained your innocence. He told a story similar to yours.”

Anger drained slowly out of Hawke. He had been told the truth. He just hadn’t wanted to hear it. His own arrogance and unreasoning anger had driven him to ignore any explanation other than what he wanted to hear. He looked at the man across from him. His face was swelling from the blows he had taken. The skin around one eye was turning purple and beginning to swell shut. Tompkins gaze was steady, waiting for him to reply. Hawke sat back in his chair. What could he say?

“I’ve tried contacting her,” Geoffrey said quietly. “I’ve written her repeatedly, but I never heard from her.”

“All correspondence from you was kept from her.” Hawke grabbed his glass and took another swallow. Realizing the harm their actions might have caused, he continued. “We thought by not letting her see your letters, she would get better. If she had only told us the two of you were in love and you wanted to marry … if we had known.” He leaned towards Tompkins, his hand palm up. “All I can do is offer my apologies. It would have been easier if you hadn’t run, but it appears my behavior contributed to this entire mess.”

“I didn’t know she had become so ill. No one told me.” Concern lined Geoffrey’s face. “Is there nothing to be done? If she would have me, I still would marry her. I’ve never stopped loving her. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but I have been saving the money I have earned working in the mines, and I was planning on buying a small ranch nearby to raise horses and cattle. This is a wonderful country and I have learned I don’t have to rely on family to be successful. I can be my own man. I feel more at home, more alive, than I ever did living off my father’s sufferance.”

Hawke saw a spark of hope in Geoffrey’s eyes as he asked. “Do you think if Bethany were allowed to see my letters, and were to hear you approved, it might help bring her from her depression? Maybe a letter from both of us?”

“It might be worth try.” Hawke felt like a burden he had been carrying had eased. He would send a telegram to his father explaining everything. Maybe it would work.

“Hawke,” The note of warning in Alec’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “I believe the proprietress would like to have a few words with you about the damage to her establishment.” Hawke followed Alec’s gaze. A woman of mammoth girth swathed in yards of dark green satin was bearing down on them. Standing at her approach, Hawke bowed.

“Madame.” He smiled politely, exercising all his courtly charms. “Might I offer my sincerest apologies on the damage my colleagues and I have caused to your lovely establishment.”

“Horse-crap,” she snapped. “I don’t want to hear your nonsensical garbage, mister.” She gestured to the broken furniture and glassware strewn around the room. “Just tell me how you plan on paying for all this.”

Alec stepped forward stepping between the woman and Hawke. “Madame, I believe
Lord
Stoneham is more than capable of not only repairing the damages, but should he wish, buying this drab little gambling palace of yours several times over.”

“Right.” The proprietress snorted in disgust. “And Lord Peavey over there is the next king of England.”

“He really is a very wealthy man, Madame Varnish,” Geoffrey came forward. “I realize none of us look our best, but I can guarantee you Lord Stoneham is indeed more than capable of covering the damages, no matter how exorbitant the price,” he added with a grin.

Wondering why she was so skeptical, Hawke turned and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror behind the bar. His clothes were torn and dirty, a large purplish bruise was growing beneath his right eye and blood welled from a cut on his lip. Tompkins didn’t look any better, but he seemed to have more credibility.

“Well, Geoffrey,” she smiled affectionately, “if you say so.” Casting a baleful eye at the other two, she looked back. “I know you’re trustworthy.”

Hawke laughed at the absurdity of the situation, reached for his wallet, pulled out a wad of bills, and handed them to the startled woman.

“If that is not enough, please, do contact me at the hotel, and I will have a draft drawn on my bank to cover the rest.” He sketched an unsteady bow. “Good night, madam.”

Chapter 17

Kara woke and stretched leisurely as the morning sun shone in her bedroom window. She sat up, quickly realizing it was Saturday. They were going into town. She would see Hawke again.

Closing her eyes, she relived that searing kiss. She could feel his lips on hers, asking then taking. It was like his hands were tracing her skin again. She could feel the heat of his large palm cupping her breast. A tingling desire coursed through her. She wanted to explore these new feelings further. She wanted to understand this desire, this need to be with him. She leaned back against her pillows and thought about the past few days.

After Hawke and Alec left, she kept busy helping move the cattle to the summer pastures. On the long rides, she had replayed their last night over and over in her mind trying to understand what it had all meant.

His kiss had seared not only her lips, but her soul and she didn’t understand. Why him, why his kiss?

Other men, not many, had kissed her before, and she had fancied herself in love with at least one of them, but none had ever inflamed her senses the way Hawke had.

Colin.

She hadn’t thought of Colin for such a long time. They had met at her first cotillion in Virginia. She had been so excited that night. He was the son of a congressman, suave, sophisticated — at least she had thought so then, and very handsome. He had pursued her with a single-mindedness that was overwhelming to a raw country girl. She remembered the way he would look at her, making her feel like she was the most important thing in the world to him. She had fancied herself madly in love with him.