She considered this for a moment, then looked at Lee. “All right, but I’ll give you warning now. I don’t want to marry you, and I’m going to make you feel nothing but relief on the twentieth when I leave this bigoted little town with Alan, because I’m going to make your life as miserable as possible between now and then.”
Lee turned to Alan. “I love a woman with fire in her veins. May the best man win.” He extended his hand and Alan shook it. It was settled.
Chapter 9
The day after Alan arrived, Blair was stretched on her back on a quilt spread across the grass under a tree in Fenton Park. Alan was reading an article to her about the latest advancements in the treatment of diphtheria while she watched the clouds moving overhead, listened to the buzzing of the bees and heard the laughter of the other people in the park on this beautiful day.
“Blair, did you hear me? I was reading Dr. Anderson’s report. What do you think?”
“About what?” she asked dreamily, turning onto her stomach. “Oh!” she said, startled. “I guess I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about my sister and what happened yesterday.”
Alan closed the book. “Care to share your thoughts?”
“That man Taggert sent her a carriage and horse and, along with it, the world’s largest diamond. Houston wasn’t even ruffled. She just very calmly clutched that ring to her heart, walked out to that carriage and drove away, and she didn’t get home until after nine o’clock. By then, Mother was prostrate with grief because her daughter was selling herself, so I had to spend hours trying to quiet her before she could sleep. And this morning, Houston left before daylight—which started Mother crying again.”
“And she isn’t worried about you?” Alan asked, as he put the medical text down and leaned against the tree.
“I think that both she and Mr. Gates believe that I’m getting a better man than I deserve—or at least Gates thinks that. I’m not sure what Mother thinks. She’s too worried about how Houston’s life has been ruined.”
Alan ran his fingers along the edges of the book. “And you still think that I shouldn’t be introduced to your mother and stepfather?”
“Not yet,” she said, sitting up. “You can’t imagine what Gates is like. If he heard that I’d—.” She stopped because the last thing she wanted to do was to remind Alan of why she’d become engaged to Lee in the first place. But she knew that if Gates heard that she’d slept with one man while being engaged to another, her life would be more miserable than it was already. That man never missed a chance to point out to her that she was ruining her sister’s life so that Houston thought she had to marry a man for his money, anything so she could save herself from humiliation in front of the entire town—humiliation that was entirely caused by Blair and her immorality. Night and day, that’s what she heard from her stepfather.
She gave Alan a weak smile. “Let’s not t
alk about anything unpleasant on this lovely day. Why don’t we go for a walk or, better yet, why don’t we rent a canoe and go out on the lake? I haven’t had any practice on the water since I left the rowing team in the fall.”
“I would like that,” he said, rising and offering his hand to help her up.
They folded the blanket, took the book, and started toward the small rental shop beside Midnight Lake, where they rented a canoe. There were several couples on the lake and they called out in greeting.
“Good morning, Blair-Houston,” they said, looking with interest at Alan, and some of them hinted that they’d like to be introduced, but she didn’t oblige. Houston might feel an obligation to satisfy the curiosity of the townspeople, but Blair didn’t think she had to.
She leaned back in the canoe while Alan paddled, her face protected from the fierce high-altitude sun of Chandler by a large hat, letting her hand trail in the water; she nearly fell asleep.
“Good morning!” came a voice that made her sit upright. She looked into Leander’s face as he rowed alongside them.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, jaw clenched. “Go away.”
“According to your mother, I’m out with you. Well, Hunter, you don’t look altogether comfortable with that paddle. Maybe it’s too much city living.”
“Will you get out of here and take your snide remarks with you? We were perfectly peaceful until you came along.”
“Careful with your temper, people are beginning to look, and you wouldn’t want them to think there was anything wrong in paradise, would you?”
“Paradise? With you? You’re nothing but a—.”
Leander interrupted her. “Hunter, can you give me a hand? I seem to have caught my foot under this seat and it’s beginning to swell.”
“Alan, don’t do it,” Blair warned. “I don’t trust him.”
But it was too late. Alan, newly out of medical school and very aware of his responsibilities as a healer, could not resist a plea for help. He instantly put the paddle down and leaned over the side to help Lee—and as soon as he was stretched across the water, Lee gave the canoe a shove, and Alan, after a moment of struggle, fell into the lake. Blair instantly leaned over to help Alan, but Lee grabbed her about the waist and hauled her into his boat.
There was laughter surrounding them, and the sound of Alan thrashing in the water as he tried to get back into the canoe, and there was the sound of Blair flailing at Lee to make him let her go. Somehow, he managed to row them the few feet to shore using just one oar, while holding Blair with his other arm and suffering as little physical injury as possible from her flying fists.
Once on shore, he stood before her and grinned like a little boy who’d just done a magnificent feat.
“My hat,” Blair said through clenched teeth and Lee, still grinning, went to the little wooden boat to get it.