Grayson left the harbor and checked into the first decent looking inn he came to. He hated the fact that he was going to have to wait until morning to begin his task. Unless he could find a much faster ship than the one he sailed in on, he was not going to be back in time to stop the wedding. He told himself it didn’t matter. That’s why there was such a thing as annulment. Jaxon was so smitten by this Jezebel, he would probably refuse to believe him, but Grayson would have his proof in spades.
26
The smile left Jaxon’s lips. “I guess we should go say hello.”
Jaxon put his arm around her shoulders unconsciously displaying his possessive emotions. He carefully led her out of the dancers to the doorway where his brother and rival stood.
Morty, tall, flaxen haired, built like the Norse god, Thor, searched the dance floor looking for Charlie. It wasn’t until they were nearly to him did he recognize Charlie in her new garb and hairstyle.
Suddenly, he lunged forward, embraced her, and swung her in a circle, pulling her out of Jaxon’s grip. He tried to kiss her, but she turned her head.
Charlie squealed and giggled. “Put me down you big oaf.”
Morty set her on her feet, but kept his hands on her waist.
“Charlie, you look beautiful.”
When his eyes traveled downward, pausing at her breasts, Jaxon could take no more. He shoved him back and stepped between them.
“What the—?”
“Keep your hands off of her!” Jaxon growled.
Morty should have deferred to the captain’s uniform alone, but Jax wasn’t his captain nor were they at sea. Morty bowed up.
“Mister, I don’t know who you are….”
“I’m Charlie’s fiancé. This is our engagement party.”
Morty paled. He looked more than crestfallen. He looked like someone had delivered a physical blow.
“Damn it, Jax! You didn’t have to be so blunt about it,” Charlie said stepping around him to place herself between the men. She had seen where Jaxon’s temper and jealousy could lead and she wasn’t about to let him hurt Morty. “And you,” she said to Daniel. “Why didn’t you warn Morty?"
“And miss this?” Daniel’s look of smug satisfaction made her want to put the recently healed black eye back on his face.
Charlie ignored him. At the moment, Morty was her concern. She reached out to lay her hand on his arm, but he took a step back.
“I-I’m sorry I interrupted your party.”
She could tell he wanted to say more, but he turned on his heel and headed toward the hotel’s street exit.
“Wait, Morty.”
He paused only a second before continuing on.
When she turned back to Jaxon, there were tears in her eyes. “You didn’t have to tell him like that. You know how he feels about me.”
“It’s because I know how he feels; I had to do be firm. He needs to understand that there is no hope for him.”
“Morty is the closest thing to family I’ve got. He didn’t deserve that.”
The tears were coming nonstop now and he watched as she fought them back and wiped them away. He had made her cry in a way he had never wanted.
“Excuse me,” she said and turned to go after Morty.
Jaxon grabbed her arm. “Charlie if you go….”
“What? You’re not going to marry me? What makes you think I want to marry someone who has no regard for other people’s feelings—if not for his sake, then for mine? You have to get your temper and your jealousy under control or we are done.”
She pulled her arm away to chase after him, but when she spotted Daniel, she hesitated. “There is a real streak of cruelty in the men of this family. I don’t know if I would want to raise my children around that.”
Charlie ran out into the street, but couldn’t see which way he had gone. Automatically she turned towards the docks. He would either head towards a tavern or the ship. It suddenly occurred to her she didn’t know how he had gotten to Chimerical Cove. Had he transferred to the corsair then boarded The Dragon’s Lair or was the Arcadia in port? Charlie picked up the pace and was nearly running when the wharf came into view. She couldn’t imagine why she hadn’t caught up with Morty. She scanned the harbor looking for the familiar outline of the Arcadia. She spotted Jaxon’s Baltimore clipper first, but sitting three slips beyond it was her ship.
“Thank God,” she said aloud as she hurried towards it.
It was a typical pier with sailors of all sorts moving around. A small group of noisy men were disembarking from one of the ships on their way to a night of merrymaking.
“Hey, gorgeous, looking for me?” one of them yelled. Charlie thought about hurling an insult at him, but she wasn’t dressed for a fight.