Simmer All Night (36 page)

"Christina, you have to go. She's your mother."

"I'm staying here and serving my chili at the barbecue tonight just as I promised."

Cole raked his fingers through his hair, then looked at Thornbury. "Why don't y'all go on. We'll borrow a horse for Christina and catch up with you."

The earl didn't take much convincing, so anxious was he to see his daughter for the first time in over twenty years. Within moments he had loaded up and departed, leaving Cole facing Christina alone in the entrance hall.

He might as well have been in the stable staring down a mule.

"Excuse me," she said, as if he were no more than a fly buzzing about her face. "I believe I'll join the Anglo-Texan Society for this hour's lecture."

Cole took hold of her arm and pulled her into the closest empty room—the library—and shut the door behind them.

"Don't you grab me like that," she protested, struggling.

He let her go. "I swear, woman, it's a good thing you weren't fighting for Santa Anna. Texas never would have won the war. You're too damned stubborn to quit."

"Don't curse at me, either," she demanded, turning her back on him.

Cole shut his eyes and counted to ten, then did it three more times. The afternoon had been hard on his temper. "Christina," he said when he could speak calmly. "Please explain to me why you don't want to see your mother and brother. They've traveled all this way to see you."

"Have they?" she asked, whirling around.

The tears that sparkled in her eyes baffled him and he said, "That's what Jake put in the note he sent with the servant, isn't it?"

"And you believe that?"

He scratched his jaw and made a wry grimace. "Actually, I suspect he's figured out what I've been doing with you, and he's come over here to kill me. Your mama must have come along to see I get a proper burial."

"No, my mama came along to make certain I didn't accidentally end up happy."

The bitterness in her voice stopped him cold. What in the world was she thinking? "I'm lost in the English fog here and you know how thick that is. Can you explain what you mean by that, please?"

"Don't you see?" She crossed to the desk and lifted a crystal paperweight. Staring blindly into it, she said, "She's come to make sure I do her bidding one more time. You thought she was a force to be reckoned with at home, imagine how she'll be here. Lady Elizabeth. An earl's daughter."

Christina set the paperweight down hard. "Well, I'm not going to cooperate. You can go on back to Hartsworth, Cole, and tell her she's wasted the trip. She won't force me to marry you. I'll go sell chili in the village square before she makes me do that. I'll eat a habenero pepper while singing 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' in front of the church on Sunday morning before I'll marry you!"

Cole wanted to throw something, but he settled for a glare. "What is it with you and your mother, and why the hell am I in the middle of it?"

"You've always been in the middle of it."

"Is that part of this?" He lifted his arms and stabbed the air with his hands, palms out. "You resent me? You resent that they brought me into your family?"

She grimaced and shook her head, dismissing the charge. "No, not at all. I've loved you since the day you moved into Delaney House Maybe not the same way I love you now, but love nonetheless. It never occurred to me that my parents or Jake would or could feel any differently."

"Then what is the problem? You tell me you are not going to marry me to spite your mother. Excuse me if that doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

"I'm sorry." She sighed and closed her eyes, then brought her fingers up to her head and massaged her temples. "I didn't mean it to sound that way. Cole, I know I don't always act logically or sensibly, especially where my mother is concerned. It's as if my emotions override everything else."

"Now
that
makes some sense." It also took some of the steam from his anger. She was hurting, he could see that, and he realized it was desperately important he understand why. He went to her, put his arms around her. "Christina, talk to me. Help me figure this out. Tell me what is wrong."

Long seconds ticked by before she spoke. "I think it's possible you could make me the happiest woman in the world. But I know you also have the power to destroy me."

"Destroy you?" Cole tilted up her chin and met her gaze. "Chrissy, what in the world do you mean by that?"

"You might think you love me now, but I know it can't last. You'd send me away, throw me away. Just like everybody else."

Cole glanced down at his chest, looking for the knife that surely must be stabbing his heart, so badly did he hurt. Ah, Lady Bug. How can you say that? I understand you might have some doubts about some things, but not that. Never that. Don't you trust me at all?"

Now the tears were spilling down her cheeks, but for once, they didn't touch Cole. He couldn't feel her pain past his own.

"Don't you see?" she asked, her voice trembling. "How can I trust you when you are part of them—the Delaneys? You're one of them and they said they loved me but they sent me to England. They sent me away to school."

Cole gaped at her. "That happened years ago. What does it have to do with now? Besides, I had nothing to do with sending you away. Your father did that."

"Yes, and my mother let him do it."

Her eyes took on an agitated gleam that shook Cole to the core.

"She didn't stop him," she continued, "and she's my mother and supposed to protect me and she didn't. I loved her more than anyone else in the world and she betrayed me."

Emotions were a riot inside him. Had the woman lost her ever-lovin' mind? "Excuse me, Christina, but I don't see your mother standing here in this room with us. So why are you bringing her here? How does what she did or didn't do years ago have anything to do with why you don't trust me now? I'm not your mother, I'm your lover!"

"Are you?" She wiped furiously at her tears. "Or am I just handy?"

"Handy! Hell, Chrissy, you've never been handy a day in your life,"

"And that's it," she said, shaking a finger at him. "That's exactly it. I'm an inconvenience, aren't I? I'm not the kind of woman you want for a wife. I'm not a social asset. I won't do your law career any good."

"That's the damned truth. I'd spend half my time bailing you out of trouble."

"See there, I'm right. You've never made a secret of the fact you think my mother hung the moon. You want a wife like her."

Her mother again! Chrissy wouldn't listen to him, wouldn't hear him. Wouldn't believe him. Cole felt the last of his control snap. Fueled by frustration and fury, he attacked. "Maybe I do. Maybe I do want a wife who dresses and acts like a lady. Maybe I do want a wife who considers a good reputation something to value. Think how nice it would be not to worry what sort of scandal my wife will bring to my doorstep next. Imagine the joy of walking into a room and not find my mate flirting with every man in sight. Picture my life with a woman who doesn't argue with everything I say. I guess you're right, Chrissy. I guess the attraction between us was just sex. I guess I do want a lady wife. I'm glad we got that settled."

Anguish furrowed across Chrissy's face as his conversational bullets hit their mark. She made tiny, grieving sounds as she sank into a chair. A part of Cole recognized he'd gone too far, but any remorse he might have felt was overwhelmed by his own gut-wrenching pain.

With one last, furious glare, he turned his back on her. "Enjoy your barbecue, Chili Queen. I'm off to Hartsworth. There's a
lady
there I'm anxious to see."

* * *

At the barbecue that night, Chrissy served up her chili with a smile. She accepted the accolades with graciousness and cheerfully answered the numerous questions about her recipe and the spices it contained. She took a turn along with a number of other guests at attempting to throw a lasso, chuckling at her pitiful effort, ignoring the concerned glances Lana and Lord Welby sent her way.

And then she danced. Dressed in her scarlet skirt and white blouse, barefoot, she whirled and twirled to the strum of a guitar and the keening of a fiddle. She laughed and she sang and she flirted with her partners.

The Chili Queen had come to England.

But inside, Chrissy cried.

Cole had left her. He'd saddled up his horse and ridden away from her. Because, of course, she'd finally made him admit the truth.

He wanted someone like her mother, not a Chili Queen. She'd known it all along.

Then why does it hurt so bad? Why does it break your heart in two?

Because she loved him, of course, she always had. She feared she always would.

She buried the thought as the rhythm of the music pulsed around her, sank into her bones. She moved with it, soothed herself with it, without conscious thought. And while she danced, while she smiled and twirled and winked at the man who partnered her, she fought back the tears that threatened.

The music ended and defiantly, she reached up and planted a quick Chili Queen kiss on her dance partner's lips. "Thank you, Lord Harcourt. It was a pleasure."

Chrissy refused the next dance claiming her feet needed to rest. As she started to leave the circular section of lawn serving as the ballroom floor, she sensed a change in the atmosphere. She glanced around and her smile died.

"Mother."

Elizabeth Delaney stood flanked by Cole on her left, Jake on her right, with the earl standing behind her.
My
family.
Chrissy felt a fierce rush of love even as she spied the disapproval pasted across her mother's face. Elizabeth's horrified voice came to her as if through a water-logged tunnel. "Why Christina Delaney, just look at you. You are a scandal wherever you go."

Laughter bubbled up inside Chrissy. Maybe this wasn't real. Maybe she was asleep and having a nightmare. She looked at Cole, saw his grimace, and her heart sank to her toes.

Then, like she'd been doing all her life, Chrissy left her family.

* * *

"She's headed for the house. I've got to go after her," Cole said, starting forward.

Jake put a hand on his arm. "Let me. We're the ones she is running away from. You stay here with Mother."

Glancing at Elizabeth, Cole spied the tear rolling down her cheek, and he clamped his teeth together to prevent the curses from escaping. Bringing them here, like this, had been a very bad idea.

As Jake jogged after his sister, Thornbury chastised his daughter. "That was a poor greeting, Elizabeth."

"I didn't intend to sound so harsh."

Cole laid a comforting hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I know. Sometimes talking to Christina, words just come out that way." Earlier today was a good example. He'd said some cold, cruel things to the woman speaking out of anger and bruised feelings. Her lack of trust and her accusations had hurt and he'd left Harpur Priory in a lather.

The ride helped him calm down, and once that happened, he began to regret what he'd done. As soon as he had arrived at Hartsworth, he'd decided to turn around and go back. He'd greeted Jake and chastised Elizabeth for having played such a mean trick on her family by claiming a serious illness as a method of matchmaking. Her apology was obviously heartfelt, and it had soothed Cole's simmering anger at her. So when Elizabeth suggested they all accompany him back to Harpur Priory, saying she couldn't wait another day to see her daughter, he made only a half-hearted protest. He believed a talk between mother and daughter was long overdue.

He still believed that, but in hindsight, this reunion should have taken place in private. Of course, he hadn't known they'd find her dancing barefoot in her Chili Queen clothes when they arrived. Otherwise, he'd have done it all differently.

Oh really?
asked his conscience.
You knew she was cooking chili. You knew there would be dancing at the barbecue. You knew she was upset.

Hell, knowing Christina, he should have expected to find exactly what they found.

Shaking his head, he gazed toward the house.
Ah,
Lady Bug, I'm sorry.

He slipped his arm through Elizabeth's and led her toward a seat at a table. "Let me fix you a plate. I'm sure you must be hungry. I am."

It was true. The aroma of Christina's chili reminded him he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He was on his second helping when Lana and Welby stopped by the table. "Why, Cole. I'm surprised to see you here. Chrissy told me you left with her grandfather."

"Uh, we came back." He motioned toward the food line where Thornbury was loading up his plate for the third time. Then he nodded toward Elizabeth. "Lana, have you met Christina's mother?"

Her brows lifted in surprise, then she smiled at Elizabeth and said, "No, I have not had the pleasure."

After the introductions, they exchanged small talk about the Delaneys' trip from Texas, then Lana turned to Cole and asked, "Have you seen Michael and Sophie lately?"

"No, I haven't. We haven't been here very long, though."

"Oh. Well." She sighed a frustrated mother's sigh. "I put them to bed an hour ago, but when I checked on them a little while later they had decamped. I expected them to have sneaked back down to the barbecue, but we've seen no sign of them."

"Have you checked beneath all the tablecloths?" Cole asked.

"That's a good idea," said Welby. "Excuse me, and I'll see to that chore."

"Thank you, Bruce," said Lana. Glancing at Cole, she laughed uneasily. "I'm sure they'll turn up any minute and Lord Welby will be disgusted with all three of us. I've worried him, I'm afraid. I just had a strange feeling that something was wrong."

Cole didn't like that. He was a believer in a mother's intuition of trouble, having seen it so many times in Elizabeth where Chrissy was concerned.

"I'm sure they're fine, honey. Tell you what. Where haven't y'all looked yet? I'll track 'em down and give them a tongue lashing for causing their mother such worry."

"Thank you, Cole," she replied, her smile weak but appreciative. "My children are scamps of the first water, but it isn't like them to disappear this way."