Adams, Eve - The Banished Bride [Brides of Bachelor Bay 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (21 page)

Lizzie would find out soon enough that Uncle Robert had taken Amelia back to Boston. She’d spare no expense to return to Boston to save her youngest sister. She’d spent her entire life caring for Amelia and her wayward ways.

It was time Amelia took care of her sister for a change.

“Promise me, Uncle.” Tears swelled in her eyes, and she wiped them away as he set her down. “If you promise to do this one thing for me, I’ll go with you.”

He narrowed his dark, dirty gaze. “No fighting?”

She shook her head. “As long as everyone here believes I’m dead.”

“I get it. You don’t want them coming after you. Smart girl. The man I’ve sold you to has friends, all with guns. He plans to share you with them all to pay off his debts. A sweet little pussy like yours will pay off. In return, I’m sure he’ll use any means to protect his investment.”

Share her? Amelia closed her eyes and tried not the think of the horrors she’d return to Boston to face. As long as it protected her family here, she’d endure it.

Chapter 13

Lizzie’s Journal, Saturday, August 19
^th
, 1865

Port Steele, Washington Territory

I haven’t seen my little sister for a week now and I’m just beside myself. I don’t know if sending her to live with Mildred was the right thing. What if something happened to her while I sat here in my own home completely content in my own delusions? I’m positive something is amiss in her life, although I have no proof. I trust my instincts and they tell me something is wrong. Perhaps I should ask Logan to simply check on her. Where is the harm in that? It would certainly make me feel better.

* * * *

“Andrew, I thought you were smarter than that,” a man shouted out above the crowd.

“Apparently not. He’s still with her,” someone else shouted.

Didn’t these people have anything better to do than worry about the lives of others?

“Is there a problem?” Sheriff Caleb Brock walked up, Adam Steele next to him. Caleb was a force by himself. It wasn’t the shiny star as much, but rather the way he presented himself.

Adam Steele also held an air of authority about him that no one dared challenge. Not only did he clear six foot four inches, he didn’t dare back down from a single look. He even scared the hell out of Andrew.

He walked up to Andrew, and the crowd immediately silenced. After having to endure the town’s judgment for him being a half-breed and the fallout from half the town trying to ban Indians from within the town limits, Adam had never been more popular. The town loved him, loved his wife even more, and even accepted his brother, Raven.

“Good day, Adam.”

“Andrew.” He nodded curtly. Adam raked his ebony gaze across the crowd, and several of them scurried away. The ones stupid enough to stay wouldn’t look him in the eye.

He turned his attention back to Andrew. “It isn’t like you to draw a crowd, my friend. Is there a problem?”

From Adam’s tone, he already knew the answer to that question.

He looked Adam in the eye and squared his shoulders. Hell, he’d take the founder on himself if it meant defending his bride. “I love her, Adam. You won’t be able to talk me out of this. I will fight them all, you included,” he said and then turned to the crowd. “Not any of you will be able to change that. I love her!”

“You’re a fool!” someone yelled from the crowd.

Adam rested his cool gaze on Andrew, clearly ignoring the insults being shouted from the crowd. Of course, none of them were directed at him. “Are you a fool, Andrew?”

Andrew took a step toward the crowd, his fists doubled up, ready to take them all on if he had to. “If being so in love that I’m willing to make all the right choices as well as the wrong ones make me a fool, then yes, I am a fool.”

The crowd stirred as the insults died down to a dull roar.

“But she’s a whore!”

Andrew stiffened and glared out at the crowd. “Show yourself. Whomever made that comment step forward like a man and I will show you what it means to insult my future bride.”

“But she means to be your brother’s bride as well!” someone else shouted above the crowd.

“That she does,” Andrew agreed with a nod. “And there is nothing wrong with that.”

“The hell there isn’t!”

“As I said,” Andrew growled. “Show yourself and allow me to deal with you man-to-man.”

“Are you willing to take on the entire town to defend the likes of her?”

“Absolutely.”

Adam gave him a nod and said for Andrew’s ears only, “I remember the day Patience convinced me of the very words you speak. Hold strong to your beliefs, Andrew, and keep your faith in both your brother and your wife. You’ll need them in times like this.”

Adam then turned to the crowd. “What a beautiful day for the a picnic in my and my brother’s honor. I can’t thank you all enough for coming out and sharing this glorious day together. We are all truly blessed.”

Most in the crowd stared at Adam for only a few seconds. Andrew felt the weight weigh on him from Adam’s words and knew it had to have affected others as well. This was a day of celebration, not of fighting. The crowd then thinned and, eventually, dispersed entirely.

Andrew finally released a breath. “Thank you.”

“I seem to recall a time I needed a little help and you and your brothers were there. I’m simply returning the favor. Besides, any man willing to stand up to an entire town to defend a woman he isn’t even married to is either telling the truth or has gone stark raving mad.”

“As I said, I love her. Noah loves her. We will make her very happy together.”

“Then may I offer you a few words of advice?”

“Absolutely.”

“Take her from Port Steele. You are needed in San Francisco more than you are needed here. Take Amelia and start a new life with her away from the judgment of a small town.”

“I can’t leave Noah.”

“And you shouldn’t.” He turned and nodded at the sheriff, who’d kept a close eye on everything around him. “Give me a minute, would you?”

Caleb nodded at Adam and stepped away, but didn’t let Adam out of his sight.

“Andrew, Amelia has done a lot of damage to her reputation here in Bachelor Bay. Deep down I know she has a good heart or my wife wouldn’t adore her so. Regardless, if you want a life away from the gossips like Lucy McTaggert, your best move is to relocate. Stay here and every time you go out, it will be an event. Believe me, I know.”

“So why didn’t you leave?”

Adam curled his lips into a whisper of a smile and glanced around. “Raven and I came here when there was nothing. Look at what we’ve built. Port Steele is thriving. I can’t leave this. There are still those who would rather run me out of town for my heritage of being a half-breed. I say let them try.”

“So why tell me to leave?”

“I didn’t have a woman’s reputation at stake. A man’s reputation is much more forgettable and forgiving than a woman’s. If you are willing to go up against the entire town to defend her, then doing this for her shouldn’t cause you any hesitation. She deserves a second chance and so do you.”

Andrew nodded. “You’re a wise man, Adam Steele.”

He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Just have Amelia stop by the house and pay Patience a visit before she leaves Port Steele. There’s something Patience would like to tell her.”

“Yes, sir.” He walked as fast as he could before he broke into a sprint. As he turned the first corner out of town he ran into his three brothers all crammed into the tiny buggy.

Noah pulled the reins to stop the horse. “What happened?”

“Adam,” Andrew said, and they all nodded. Nothing else needed to be said. “Where’s Amelia?”

“I left her with Mildred.”

Andrew eyed how the large brothers were all packed into the buggy and knew he wouldn’t fit in there as well. He turned and started to jog toward Aunt Mildred’s. As he drew closer, he picked up his pace, excitement coursing through his system and pushing him faster.

Why hadn’t he thought of this? Relocation made so much sense. He was in San Francisco more than he was home anymore. It kept him up at night worrying about Amelia and leaving her alone so much. It was the reason he’d released her. He’d used the latest news of her flirting as an excuse only. What type of husband would he be if he couldn’t care for his wife?

If they remained in Port Steele, Amelia would continue to be attacked for her choices whether they were right or wrong. Noah would continue to be branded a
lothario
. No one would take them seriously as a couple. They needed the change as much as Andrew did.

He ran to Aunt Mildred’s and slowed as he spotted a strange coach parked off to the side. The hairs on his arms and neck lifted, and when he heard a sob, he knew something was wrong.

“Amelia.” He strangled out her name and threw open the door.

“That’s far enough.” A fat man stood next to Amelia, a gun pointed at her beautiful neck. He saw the terror that fueled the tears in her wide eyes.

“Andrew.”

“Ah, so this is the man you were meant to marry. Sorry, Andrew. She’s already been spoken for.”

“Robert Prescott, I presume?” Andrew doubled up his fists and eyed the gun. He already had the hammer back. One slip of the man’s finger and Amelia would be taken from Andrew forever.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Despite the mixture of rage for daring to break into his aunt’s house and hold a gun to Amelia and fear that he’d succeed in taking her from him one way or another, Andrew smiled. He’d have to summon up more charm than he’d ever had to.

He looked at Amelia and everything tightened inside him. Tears streamed down her pretty face. She was so scared, and he couldn’t do a damn thing to comfort her. He just had to find a way to get that gun from Robert before his brothers barged in and forced the man to pull that trigger.

Andrew took a small step toward the rotund man. “I was actually trying to seek you out. I had no way to find you.”

“I’m here now.”

Andrew gave him a nod and kept that grin frozen on his face. “That you are. Tell me, how much do you owe this man you plan to marry Amelia off to?”

Robert scrunched his fat face into a confused frown. “What matter is that of yours?”

“Just a rough estimate, if you would.”

“Why?”

“Because Amelia Prescott owes my family a great deal of money as well and we are not willing to release her into your care until she’s paid her debt.”

He lowered the gun but held Amelia tight to his side. Andrew let out a slight breath. At least he’d succeeded in getting that gun out from under Amelia’s chin.

“How much?”

“Enough for us to hold her in our employment until it’s paid. If you take her from us, we’ll turn this into a legal matter. My family has several contacts in Boston, most of them lawyers.”

Robert stared at him, as did Amelia. Andrew had no idea if the story he spun for him would convince him or not, but he had to do something.

“So, instead of taking Amelia to pay off your debt, allow me to pay it off for her.”

The gun went back up to Amelia’s chin, and she cried out as Robert dug the barrel into her delicate skin. Andrew raised his hands in front of him, terrified that Robert would pull that trigger.