Bicycle Built for Two (39 page)

“Please,” begged Mary Jo. “I’ve never been
alone before, and even though I know it’s a new hotel and Alex is
there, too, it would be such fun to have you stay with me.”

Billy grinned. “Sounds good to me.”

Walter wasn’t so instantly won. “Well . .
.”

“I promise you, I won’t allow any harm to
befall your sister, Mr. Finney.”

It seemed strange to Kate
that Walter should be addressed as Mr. Finney. The only person
she’d ever heard addressed thus was her father, and he didn’t
deserve the
Mister
part. Manners. They were priceless.

Thus it transpired that Kate Finney spent the
night in the absolute pinnacle of elegance for the first time in
her life.

Chapter Eighteen

Alex liked Walter Finney almost as much as
he liked Bill, although Walter was stuffier than his brother. He
considered this circumstance—the liking, not the
stuffiness—extremely encouraging. There had lurked in the back of
his mind a niggling doubt about Kate’s siblings. After all, they
were the products of a vicious drunkard. It was interesting to Alex
that the influence of a good woman like Hazel Finney could be more
powerful on the characters of two growing boys than the influence
of a bad father.

Or maybe it wasn’t. If he
followed the thought to its natural conclusion, Alex might have to
admit that women were as powerful as men, and he didn’t believe it.
Or maybe he did.
Nuts
, he said to himself as they reached the door to Mary Jo’s
room.

“I really wish we could have stopped to get
some of my things,” Kate muttered when Alex turned the key in the
lock and pushed the door open.

“I’ll go to your place and pick up some
things for you, Kate. I don’t want you anywhere near that place
until I know what’s going on with your father.”

She heaved a huge sigh of what Alex pegged
as exasperation and annoyance. He braced himself for a verbal
lashing in reaction to his usurpation of her flat and the things
therein. He wasn’t about to back down, though. It had taken him
dashed near thirty years to find her, and he wasn’t about to allow
her snake-mean drunk of a father to kill her before he married
her.

“Let me at least go with you.”

“Not on a bet. I don’t want you anywhere
near your place.”

“Darn it, Alex, I don’t want you pawing
through my things!”

Mary Jo gasped. Alex presumed she’d never
heard anyone speak to her big brother like that. Little did she
know. Once she got better acquainted with Kate and realized how
vulnerable to insult he was, Alex feared for his position of
command over his little sister.

“Too bad. I’m not letting you go to your
flat.” He spoke with authority, and hoped like mad Kate wouldn’t
argue with him for the rest of the night.

What she did was turn to Mary Jo and say
politely, “Will you please excuse us for a moment, Mary Jo? I need
to talk to your brother.”

“But . . . You can talk in front of me. I
don’t mind.” Mary Jo smiled sweetly, hoping, Alex knew, to be privy
to the argument.

“Um . . .” Kate was flustered, apparently
unaccustomed to putting off vexing younger siblings with
finesse.

Alex, who knew Mary Jo didn’t deserve
finesse—after all, she was his little sister—said, “No. We’ll speak
in my room.” And with that, he shut the door in Mary Jo’s face. He
laughed at her expression, which was one of indignation.

“We don’t need to go to your room,” Kate
said, resisting as he tugged on her arm.

“I’m not about to wage a fight about this in
the middle of the Congress hallway. My room’s just next door.”
Because he didn’t want her escaping, he kept hold of her arm as he
fished for the key in his pocket.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Kate grumbled.

Alex still didn’t trust her not to bolt. As
soon as he’d opened the door, he yanked her inside, kicked the door
shut with his heel, and grabbed her into his arms. “Dash it, Kate,
I’m not going to expose you to danger.” Then he kissed her, as he’d
been longing to do all day.

# # #

The real reason Kate hadn’t wanted to go to
Alex’s room was her fear of this very thing. She wasn’t sure she
could control her unwieldy emotions, not to mention her body’s
cravings, if he kissed her this way in a private room. Darn it all,
she knew she couldn’t.

Kissing him back with all the love in her
heart, Kate gave up resistance. She’d probably never get another
chance to do this. She knew the dangers; none knew them better than
she. If a baby resulted from this idiocy, so be it. Kate had
supported her mother and herself for darned near five years; surely
she could support a baby and herself.

“Dash it, Kate, I want to protect you.” Alex
was panting when he stopped kissing her.

Fortunately for Kate, he didn’t release her
from his embrace or she’d have fallen on the floor, having lost
control of her leg muscles. Not to mention her brain muscle. She
told herself that sarcasm wasn’t appropriate at the moment. She
couldn’t catch her breath, so she didn’t say anything.

Alex went on. “We’ll be married soon, and
then I’ll have the right to do so. I’m claiming the right now, as
your affianced husband. I’m telling you that you can’t return to
your flat again.”

Dear God. She couldn’t allow him to continue
in this vein, or she’d be lost. It would be criminal of her to
marry him. Kate couldn’t bear the notion of ruining the life of the
only man she’d ever loved. Taking her courage and all her strength
in her own two hands, she stepped away from him, using a good deal
of force to break his hold. She felt cold when his arms fell away.
She scooted across the floor and behind a chair as if all the
devils in hell were pursuing her.

He looked at her in confusion. “What is it,
Kate? I won’t dishonor you again. I’m gentleman enough to control
myself.”

Oh, Lord, he sounded snippy. Kate realized
she was trembling and wrapped her arms over her chest, trying to
hug the shakes away. Didn’t work. Because she didn’t want to get
distracted from her purpose, she blurted out, “I can’t marry you,
Alex.”

He gaped at her, as if he couldn’t credit
his ears to have heard her correctly. His eyebrows soared nearly
into his hairline, his head jutted forward, and his mouth fell
open.

Seizing the moment of silence engendered by
his astonishment, Kate rushed on, still hugging herself, trying
with all her might to hold herself together. Her voice shook, but
she couldn’t help that. “I can’t marry you. If I married you, I’d
be an evil person, and I’m not, darn it, whatever you think!”

He snapped to attention. Now he looked
outraged. “I don’t—”

But Kate cut him off. “No. Let me speak.
Darn it, I’m a girl from the slums, Alex! You can’t marry a girl
from the slums! What would your friends think? What would your
mother think? I’m so far below you in the scheme of things, it’s
not even funny. I wouldn’t have a clue how to act around your fancy
friends.”

“Kate . . .”

“No!” She wished she could
hold her hands out, as she’d seen policemen do when controlling
traffic on Chicago’s busy streets, but her hands were currently
occupied in holding herself together. “Darn it, will you
think
for a minute? If
you married me, you’d end up hating me, and I—” Her voice broke on
a sob. She forced herself to finish the sentence. “I couldn’t stand
that.”

Alex took two quick steps forward, but she
shouted at him. “No! Don’t come any closer! Darn it, I love you,
Alex. I didn’t want to, God knows. I tried not to. I tried to hate
you, but it didn’t work. When we first me, you thought I was an
immoral strumpet. Well, guess what? I’m almost what you thought I
was. But I have enough character left to know I’d be ruining you if
I allowed you to marry me, and I won’t do it. I won’t.” She
swallowed another sob and took a huge breath. “I won’t.”

He glared at her for almost a minute. Kate
was grateful for the space of silence, because she was having a
good deal of trouble keeping the boulder of pain out of her throat
and her tears contained. She’d learned early that tears served no
good purpose to someone like her; she could kick herself for having
forgotten this important lesson during the time she’d known
Alex.

When she saw that he was drawing in air in
order to speak, she braced herself. Her crossed arms were about all
that seemed to be keeping her inner turmoil from bursting out and
humiliating her, so she kept them tight around her and leaned
against the back of the chair to give them added support in their
monumental effort. His words took her completely aback, not having
been those she’d expected.

“You love me?”

Since he was still frowning and looking as
if he’d as soon shoot her as talk to her, Kate only nodded. She’s
spoken her piece. If she said any more, she’d only confuse the
matter. She needed to be firm on this issue, since it was the most
important of her life, except for that of her mother’s health, and
God had taken that one away from her. Sometimes, even though she
knew it was blasphemous to do so, Kate hated God.

Alex had tossed his hat on the chair next to
the door as soon as he’d dragged Kate into his room. He snatched it
up again now and slammed it on his head. “Wait here. Don’t move.
Don’t even think about escaping.” And with that, he wheeled around,
jerked the door open, and marched out as if he were going off to
slay a dragon.

# # #

Damn the woman. She was the most
exasperating, irritating, aggravating, annoying female Alex had
ever met in his entire life. He hurtled down the stairs of the
Congress Hotel, ignoring the fancy new brass-cage elevator gleaming
at him from across the way. He even ignored Frank, his coachman,
who was walking across the lobby floor after having stabled the
horses and parked the carriage.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw Frank
stop and make a move as if to waylay him and ask him if he needed
his services, but Alex forged onward. He pushed the huge double
doors open as if they’d done him a personal affront, and barreled
down the steps of the fancy hotel, charging past the liveried
footmen, and bellowing for a cab himself. Damnation, a body would
think a gentleman was totally unable to fend for himself in the
world, with all these servants hovering around, getting in the
way.

Well, Alex English could fend for himself.
He’d done so all his life and he intended to continue doing so. And
if he wanted to marry Kate Finny, admittedly a girl from the slums,
he’d dashed well do so, whatever she said. Damn her. How dare she
think he was unable to make such a momentous decision by himself?
How dare she say she’d ruin his life? Nobody was going to ruin his
life unless he said they could, and he wasn’t going to.

When he gave the cabbie Kate’s address, he
barked it, daring the man to make a comment on the unsavoriness of
Kate’s neighborhood or Alex’s ability to take care of himself
there. Damned fool. They were all damned fools.

“Wait here,” he snapped when the cabbie drew
up in front of Schneiders Meats.

“Say, Mister, this ain’t a good neighborhood
to be waiting in,” the cabbie said. He, too, was evidently in a
mood to ignore others, since Alex’s bad mood didn’t seem to faze
him.

“Wait anyhow,” Alex commanded. When he
turned to look where the cabbie had his attention fixed, he
realized a crowd was gathered outside Schneiders. Dash it, what
now? Reaching into his pocket and thrusting several dollars at the
cabbie, he barked, “Wait.”

The cabbie scratched his chin. “Well, hell,
Mister, I reckon I can wait for five bucks. But I’m pulling down
the street a ways. I don’t want no trouble.”

“Fine.” Dismissing the cabbie, Alex forged
through the crowd. Spying a woman who looked faintly familiar, he
said, “What’s going on?” He had a sinking notion that he already
knew.

The woman confirmed his suspicion. “Herbert
Finney.” She spat into the gutter, giving Alex a fair notion what
her opinion of Herbert Finney was. “He’s looking for his wife and
daughter.”

“Aw, hell.”

Shoving his way through the
crowd of onlookers gathered around the door opening onto the
stairway to Kate’s apartment, Alex took the steps three at a time.
He found the man charging around Kate’s flat, giving Alex a good
idea where the expression
bull in a china
shop
came from. A few men were attempting
to dissuade Finney from smashing Kate’s furniture and flinging her
belongings around, but Mr. Finney was a powerful man. In his
present fury, he reminded Alex of what an enraged grizzly bear
might do, although he admittedly had no experience of bears,
grizzly or otherwise. He wondered if Finney was drunk and decided
it didn’t matter.

“Get the hell out of there,” Alex roared,
causing the good-intentioned men to jump and Herbert Finney to
shake his head, this time reminding Alex of an enraged bull. He’d
seen enraged bulls a time or two.

“Who the hell are you?” Finney bellowed.

“Never mind who I am. Get out of Miss
Finney’s apartment now.”

“I’m her father!” Finney shouted, beating his
chest, as if he thought siring a child gave him unspecified but
unlimited rights to do whatever he chose to do to said child and
his or her possessions.

“I don’t give a damn who you are.” Because
he was almost as big as Herbert Finney, and because he was every
bit as angry, and because he’d had lots of practice in leveling
maddened cattle of various sorts, Alex didn’t hesitate, as had
Kate’s other defenders, to approach her father.

Striding straight up to Finney, he grabbed
him by the shirt front, startling the man into staggering sideways.
“Get out of here,” Alex commanded once more, lowering his voice
into a threatening rumble.