Swept Away (44 page)

Grateful to have settled the matter with one punch, Raven straightened his jacket, and then turned around in time to see Eden and Molly McCay hurrying through a door at the back of the room. While he was pleased his wife had had sense enough to get out of his way, he was still mad she had not stayed outside where he had left her. His expression grim, he ignored the whistles and cheers of those he passed as he hurried to catch up with her.

When Molly had rushed up and taken her hand, Eden had been glad to flee what she feared would surely become a brutal brawl. Once they had reached the safety of the storeroom, she sat down on a barrel of ale and struggled to catch her breath. Molly was used to scuffles between the tavern’s patrons, however, and hoped the fight would be a fierce one so she would have an excuse for a long break. When Raven entered the storeroom almost on their heels, she was badly disappointed.

“You ought to have known better than to bring your sweet little wife down here, Captain.” Molly laughed as she viewed Eden’s ashen face and trembling hands. “I always consider it a compliment when men fight over me, and you should too, darlin’.”

“I didn’t ask them to bring me inside,” Eden hastened to assure Raven. “I was just minding my own business and—”

“Well, clearly they mistook what business you’re in,” Molly interrupted with another throaty laugh.

That Eden appeared to be terrified that he would blame her for causing the fight stopped Raven cold. He had been annoyed with her, that was certainly true, but he did not want his wife to be frightened of him. He bent down on one knee by her side and took her hands in his. “I should never have left you alone, not even for the minute I intended to. I thought the fact you’re a lady would be obvious to anyone, but apparently those three wouldn’t recognize a lady even if they saw Queen Victoria wearing her crown. The mistake was mine, Eden, not yours. Now smile for me.”

That Raven had not accused her of inviting Rob and his pals into the Fife and Drum simply amazed Eden. She studied his smile for a long moment, and then delighted to find it sincere, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “No, I’m sure I should have been able to send those men on their way so you wouldn’t have had to deal with them.”

“Oh please,” Molly sighed. “You two lovebirds can apologize to each other later. I’m supposed to be serving ale, not just wasting my time chatting.”

That Molly would describe them as lovebirds embarrassed both Raven and Eden, and they quickly drew apart. Raven rose to his feet, and dusted off his pants. Certain the two women had not introduced themselves, he attended to that chore but gave only Eden’s first name, without referring to her as Lady Clairbourne. He then asked if Molly remembered John Rawlings.

“Is that why you’ve come looking for me, to ask if I remember one sailor from another?”

Clearly Molly thought that feat impossible, but Eden did not. Molly had the curly red hair many Irish women possess, blue eyes, and a flawless complexion. Her figure was lovely too, but the girl had so brash a manner Eden found it difficult to believe John Rawlings had wanted to marry her. “Perhaps you would recall him if we’d brought some of his friends from the
Jamaican Wind
with us.”

“The
Jamaican Wind?”
Molly frowned slightly. “That has a familiar ring to it. Is that your ship, Captain?”

Raven nodded. “John was in his early twenties, good looking fellow with curly brown hair and gray eyes. I imagine he would have tipped you generously.”

Molly favored him with a seductive smile. “They all do, Captain, every last one.” Convinced their errand had been stupid in the first place, Raven helped Eden to her feet. “I’m sorry we’ve wasted your time.”

“Wait a minute,” Molly demanded crossly. “Is that all there is to this?”

When Raven looked down at her, Eden answered. “John was injured on the voyage from England. He talked about you just before he died. We thought if you two had been close, you would want to know.”

Molly flung open the door. “Sorry, the name John Rawlings means nothing to me. I hope he asked you to give me his pay, though.”

While Eden gasped at the coldness of that comment, Raven had expected it. “No, as a matter of fact he didn’t and I’ll send it to his mother.” He tipped Molly for her time, but did not return her delighted smile. With a tight grip on Eden’s elbow, he escorted her out of the tavern. Once outside, he looked up and down the walk to make certain Rob and his buddies were not waiting to jump him from behind. Pleased to find them nowhere in sight, he started back toward the
Jamaican Wind.

The couple had gone only a few yards when a petite barmaid came running out of the Fife and Drum and called out to them. Raven and Eden turned and waited for the girl to catch up with them. She wore the same white blouse and blue skirt Molly had, but there was no other similarity between the two. This girl had straight brown hair, hazel eyes, and more freckles than most red-haired children. Plain rather than pretty like Molly, she needed a moment to catch her breath.

“I knew John Rawlings,” she assured them. “I knew him real well. Molly just told me he’s dead. Is that true?”

Eden noted the girl’s tear-filled gaze and reached out to take her hand. “I’m afraid it is.”

The girl began to cry then, her pitiful sobs in stark contrast to Molly’s flippant dismissal of the news of John’s death. Raven pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. “What’s your name?” he asked considerately.

“Mary, sir,” she managed to mumble through her tears.

“Mary,” Raven repeated the name slowly as an idea began to take shape in his mind. “I think my wife and I may have made a terrible mistake, Mary. John was in a lot of pain, and we thought he was asking for Molly. But now that we’ve met her, I’m certain we must have misunderstood. I think he was calling for you.”

Eden listened incredulously as Raven told what she knew to be an outright lie. She had heard John say Molly just as clearly as she could hear Raven’s words now, but when Mary responded with a radiant smile, Eden was not even tempted to tell her the truth. It was as obvious to her as it was to Raven that John Rawlings had fallen in love with the wrong woman, and if they could set the matter straight now, she was all for it.

Before bidding her goodbye, Raven placed several gold coins in Mary’s hand. “I’m sure John would want you to buy yourself something to remember him by, a gold locket perhaps?”

“Oh yes,” Mary agreed as she clutched the money tightly. “I’ll buy one, but I’ll never forget John, not for as long as I live I won’t. Here, you’ll be needing your handkerchief.”

“Keep it. Tie the coins in a corner so you don’t lose them,” Raven suggested. “I think it would be a good idea if you didn’t mention any of this to Molly. It would hurt her feelings to know John wasn’t thinking of her after all.”

“I understand. It will be our secret.” Mary placed the coins in the soggy handkerchief, then gave both Raven and Eden a kiss on the cheek before hurrying back to the Fife and Drum. As she took his arm, Eden paid her husband a sincere compliment. “I think that was the kindest thing I have ever seen anyone do.”

While Raven had been grateful Eden had not disputed his word in front of Mary, he was nevertheless surprised she would condone a lie. “John was a nice fellow. I didn’t think he’d mind my telling Mary he loved her since Molly didn’t even recall who he was.”

“Regardless of your reasons, that was a wonderfully sweet thing to do.”

When Eden gave his arm a loving squeeze, Raven covered her hand with his. No one had ever accused him of being sweet, but if he had pleased her, he considered the trip to the Fife and Drum an afternoon well spent. That he had again scraped all the skin off his knuckles was a small price to pay.

The next afternoon, Raven took Eden to meet Alex’s attorney, Alistair Nash. This time he had hired a carriage, and told the driver to make his way to Nash’s office by the most scenic route possible. That took them up King Street, where the most elegant shops were located, and around Victoria Park. After the previous afternoon’s tour of the docks, Raven was glad for the opportunity to show Eden some of Kingston’s better neighborhoods.

“The original settlement, Port Royal, was east of here, but it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692. Everything you see today dates from after that time.”

While Eden found Raven to be an entertaining tour guide, she was so worried about visiting the attorney she simply smiled and nodded rather than ask questions as she might have on a less stressful day. He had not cautioned her to be silent, but he had not encouraged her to speak freely with the attorney either. Rather than bring up the subject herself when she feared it would spoil his congenial mood, she was left to fret about it unhappily.

Raven was too perceptive a man not to notice Eden’s distress, and wanting to avoid a scene in the attorney’s office if at all possible, he encouraged her to speak. “Is it merely having to listen to the reading of Alex’s will that has upset you, or is it something else? If it’s a legal question, I’d appreciate hearing it before you consult Alistair.”

It had been after Raven had flogged Max and Samuel that Eden had decided to ask Alex’s attorney to explain the inheritance laws to her. That now seemed like years, rather than merely a few weeks, ago. With Raven’s prompting, she realized how badly he would misconstrue her intentions if she failed to explain them first. “We discussed this once before, but I still don’t really understand,” she began hesitantly.

As always, Eden’s expression looked deceptively innocent, but Raven was positive her question wouldn’t be. “Tell me what it is, and if I can’t provide you with a satisfactory answer this time either, then maybe Alistair can.”

“It’s merely a point of curiosity, Raven.”

That Eden was looking down at her tightly clenched hands rather than at him gave Raven a clear warning, and expecting the worst, he braced himself. “We’re almost there. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

Eden did look toward him then, her golden eyes lit with a compelling light rather than scorn. “I gave you my promise I’d stay married to you. You know that I mean to keep it.”

“Yes,” Raven replied impatiently, already confident that she would. “Well, if we hadn’t married, who would be the one to inherit Alex’s title? Would it be my babe, or you?”

“But we are married, Eden,” Raven reminded her firmly, now recalling their earlier conversation. “There’s absolutely no point in confusing the issue with hypothetical questions.”

“Perhaps not, but the answer’s important to me.”

“Why?”

“It just is!”

Raven exhaled slowly. “Alex had no other male kin. He named me his heir in his will and he spent nearly twenty years grooming me to take his place. The possibility he might remarry never entered his mind. Did he ever tell you he hoped you would give him a son?” Raven held his breath, knowing Eden could say whatever she pleased, but praying she would tell the truth.

“No, we never discussed having children. We were far too busy enjoying the moment to consider what the future might bring.”

“Then it ought to be obvious to you that Alex was confident that I wouldn’t disgrace the Clairbourne name.”

“Raven, please. That isn’t really the issue here. I just want to know who is legally entitled to be Alex’s heir. I’d rather not ask Mr. Nash that question because it will look as though I’m accusing you of doing something underhanded and that’s not my intention. I just want to know which of you is the rightful heir.”

“Did your father put you up to this?”

Sorry that possibility had even occurred to him, Eden glanced away for a moment. “He questioned the speed with which we married and indeed it does look suspicious, but that’s only because I dared not explain our reasons.”

“So you allowed him to think I’d rushed you into marriage for some devious purpose of my own rather than describe how willingly you’d shared my bed?”

Eden recoiled as though he had struck her. “No! I lied to protect you, not to make you look like a scoundrel.”

“But he thinks I’m one anyway, doesn’t he? You were protecting only yourself, Eden, not me.”

“It wasn’t that way at all,” Eden contradicted sharply. “It’s only that he wants the best for me. When he has the opportunity to get to know you better, he’ll see what a fine man you are.”

Raven shook his head in disbelief. “If you truly think I’m such a fine man, then why are you asking if I’m really entitled to be Alex’s heir? Why can’t you just accept that I am?”

“I can accept it, Raven, but I’d still like to know what would have happened had we not married.”

Raven lowered his voice to a threatening whisper. “Had we not married, I would still be Alex’s heir. Do you honestly believe he would have preferred to pass his title on to a brat he did not live to see rather than to me?”

Shocked that he would refer to her unborn child in so hostile a manner, Eden again pulled away from him. “You promised to raise my child as your own. I’ll not have you calling him a brat.”

“There’s only one way out of this mess,” Raven pointed out caustically. “You realize that, don’t you?”

“And what is that?” Eden asked apprehensively.

“You’ll have to have a daughter!”

Eden’s eyes opened wide, for indeed she had not once considered the possibility her child might not be male. She was in no mood to think about baby girls now either. “No, it isn’t,” she argued, now dreadfully sorry she had brought up the subject of Alex’s title in the first place. She could not take back that question, but she could at least attempt to repair the damage it had done between them.