An Officer but No Gentleman(64)
Charlie had just stepped out of Grayson’s office when Jaxon appeared walking as fast as his uneven stride allowed. His brow was knitted and his expression angry.
“Was everything all right at Imelia’s?”
“Imelia didn’t send for me. Grayson sent that boy so I wouldn’t be at this meeting. He didn’t…?”
“No, nothing like that.” She hesitated. “Grayson doesn’t believe me.” She debated how much to tell him. She didn’t want to make his relationship with Grayson any worse, but she also didn’t want to have secrets from Jaxon. She took a deep breath and decided she would not protect his twin. “He thinks I’m using you and I don’t really love you.”
“Son of a….” Jaxon charged into Grayson’s office. “Grayson, I’ve had it!”
“Am I supposed to sit idly by and let this woman take advantage of you?”
“How is she taking advantage of me?”
“Just look at the bill she’s accumulated at the dress shop. I’ve heard it rumored that she ordered two dozen dresses.”
“I ordered those dresses. She’s going to be my wife. Does my future wife deserve less than what our sisters wear? Shall I buy her two dresses and make her wear those all week long? She came onto my ship with nothing, but the clothes on her back and I had those taken from her and put on our cousin’s corpse. She’s been wearing Jimmy’s garments since.”
“You’re obsessed with her not in love with her. How can you possibly be in love in two weeks’ time? She must be great in bed.”
“No!” Charlie shouted, jumping between them before Jaxon could hit Grayson.
“When you get back, you are going to apologize to Charlie,” Jaxon shouted bowing up on his brother. The vein in Jaxon’s forehead bulged and Charlie could visibly see his pulse.
“When I get back, I’m going to have enough proof to throw her in jail—if she hasn’t run,” Grayson stated with a smirk. “You are so blinded; you just refuse to see what’s right in front of you.”
“For once in our lives, I’ve got something you don’t have and you can’t steal from me. And you can’t stand it.”
“Come now, surely you’re not so naïve that you think she loves you? You were just in the right place, at the right time and ripe for the picking. The whole family tiptoes around you and pretends everything is the same as it was before you were scarred, but it’s not the same. You’re not the same. Then this little chit pays you a little attention and poof, you’re in love. Well, I have news for you. She is never going to fill the hole those scars left in you.”
Jaxon’s lips straightened into a line and Charlie could feel his already tense muscles tightening as he clenched his fists.
“Jaxon, let’s go,” Charlie said pushing him towards the door. “The sooner he leaves, the sooner he’s going to find out the truth.”
“And the sooner he’ll be apologizing!” he shouted at his twin over her shoulder.
~ * ~
They walked nearly all the way home in silence before Jaxon spoke.
“Be honest with me; is he going to find anything I should prepare myself for?”
Charlie looked pensive. “I mentioned the fire to him. He may find out the truth.”
“That was hardly a crime, Charlie. That fire was an accident. That’s not the sort of thing he’ll be looking for. He’ll try to prove you have a history of being with men for their money, or you were posing as a man to swindle people, or you owe people money and you ran off without paying.”
“When you mess up with such dire consequences, you try to toe the line. I rebelled a little when I was older, but I’ve never been in any real trouble.”
Jaxon’s eyebrows lowered, knowing that she rarely volunteered information. If he wanted to know something, he had to specifically ask her.
“I’d like to know what you call rebelling.”
“Getting drunk, smoking cigars, bar fights, wenching with my friends,” she said with a mischievous grin.
His eyes opened wide. A lopsided grin crossed his countenance as his imagination pictured it. “Wenching?”
“I couldn’t let the men think of me as wet behind the ears, so I would take a woman to her room and pay her to keep her mouth shut. When I was angry with my father, I would take the women back to my cabin on the ship.”
“And were you often mad at your father?”
The smile died on her lips. “He was a hard man to please.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“The last few years I really began feeling trapped. So, aye, I was often mad at him.”