Cathy felt even more unsettled. “I’ve been terribly busy, settling in at Tempest Hall.”
“Yes, yes, I suppose so! The place must’ve been falling down around your ears!”
Theo listened with narrowed eyes, then interjected, “Mr. Lightfoot must be an expert on old plantation houses, my lady. He was the heir to one of Barbados’s grandest.” He looked at Basil. “Too bad you had to auction off so many treasures! I furnished half this hotel at your estate sale.”
The older man’s lip curled. “How did you and Lady Raveneau become such great chums?”
“Actually,” Cathy said, “I’m considering making an investment in the Ocean Breeze.”
Theo winced at that and Basil went wide-eyed, but before either of them could speak, Adam Raveneau strode into the dining room with Alice beside him.
“Here you are, my dear. I’m so glad you two didn’t wait for me.” Smiling and impeccably turned out, he lightly caressed her neck with one strong hand and bent to kiss her cheek. Alice sat down next to Cathy’s chair and rested her chin on her mistress’s lap. “Basil, what a surprise to see you again.” He drew up a chair for himself and pointedly left Lightfoot standing.
“Your wife’s just been telling me that she means to invest in this hotel.”
“Cathy’s been pulling your leg, old fellow. She has a wicked sense of fun.”
Theo sent a glance toward the lobby, and an instant later Yvette was there, guiding Basil Lightfoot away to another table where an elderly friend was waiting for him.
“It seems I arrived just in time to salvage our reputation,” Adam said to Cathy in cool tones.
She could hardly believe he was there, let alone what he’d said. A scream rose in her throat, but Theo’s stare restored her composure. “I wasn’t doing anything scandalous, for heaven’s sake. Is it a crime for a woman to have lunch, openly, with a male friend? And will someone tell me why it would be so unthinkable for me to invest in this hotel?”
Before Adam could speak, Theo leaned toward her. “My lady, I insist that you put this notion out of your mind.” He looked at Adam. “I told her it was a ridiculous idea the moment she first mentioned it. I told her that you’d wring my neck—”
“I might like to do so, Harrismith, but in reality I wouldn’t dream of infringing upon my wife’s right to spend her own money in any way she sees fit. After all, her father has been good enough to bestow some of his fortune on me, and Tempest Hall. What sort of oaf would I be if I interfered with the funds he’s given Cathy for her private use?” Adam spoke lightly, but a muscle moved in his jaw. “We just need to reach an understanding about discretion on this island.”
She wondered if she could be losing her mind. “Discretion? Yes, do, please, instruct me.”
Their eyes met, and he saw fury in hers. Intrigued, he brushed a bit of sand from his white trousers before replying, “My dear, a key element in discretion is learning what not to say in public places. We’ll take this up in privacy.”
“I don’t think I want a sea-bath any longer,” Cathy said to Theo. “I’ll go and get my things. I am so anxious to hear my husband’s speech and to learn the reason for his visit here today! Could he have come all this way just to explain the niceties of feminine discretion to me?”
Her host stood, looking nervous. “I’ll show you the way.” As the waiter cleared away the remaining dishes, Theo whispered in his ear and the young man hurried off. He then turned to Adam with a smile. “I’ve ordered a rum swizzle for you, my lord. I hope you approve of our barman, Frederick. If you are hungry and would like luncheon, you need only glance toward Yvette. She keeps a close eye on the dining room.”
Adam’s face was unreadable. “Nothing, thank you.” Alice returned to his side, and he stroked her brow.
Theo led Cathy to a small storeroom off the lobby. Once inside, she shook her fists at him.
“I am going to give that philandering, deceitful hypocrite a gigantic piece of my mind just as soon as we leave here! I don’t even care if Simon is driving the buggy and hears every word! It would serve Adam right. How dare he presume to imply that my conduct is wanting in any way?” As the angry words tumbled forth, tears began to gather in her eyes. “What is wrong with men?” She broke off, just before the secret of her own father’s betrayal came out. “Are they all false?”
“You’re asking a man?”
“Oh, but Theo— you’re different.”
He made no reply to that. “Look, we can’t stay in here forever, or he’ll be in an even worse mood. I just wanted to let you be hysterical, then tell you that of course you must not let on that you know about Gemma, or the baby, or any of the rest.”
Cathy blinked as if she thought she’d heard wrong. “You don’t mean that.”
“Oh yes, I do. A man like Adam Raveneau requires a much subtler strategy. Unless you really do want a divorce, you can’t tell him what you suspect or how you feel about it.” Theo opened the door and gestured for her to return to the lobby. “Not yet, anyway.”
Chapter 17
During the ride home, Cathy found it galling to swallow her real feelings, and even more impossible to be charming. So, she compromised and merely endured Adam’s explanation of Barbadian propriety. All her arguments were suppressed, along with the pain and outrage she felt about Gemma and little Paul.
Reaching the end of his speech, Adam said, “So, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be seen alone with other men right now. People are bound to be uncertain because you’re an American.” Cathy’s passive acceptance of every word he uttered took the wind out of his sails. Perhaps he’d been too hard on her. “We just have to be careful, until the islanders realize how kind and fine a person you are.”
She gave him a demure smile. “Why Adam, you’ll turn my head with those compliments.”
“Are you having me on?” Now that he’d negotiated their carriage through the maze of roads in and around Bridgetown, he could relax a bit and let himself study Cathy more closely. Behind them, Alice was lying on an empty passenger seat, napping, as the road dipped through a cool, dark gully lined with fanciful bearded fig trees.
“Did you want me to argue with you?”
“No, but I did expect— from the look in your eyes at the hotel— a bit more resistance.”
“Well, Theo reminded me that you have a lot on your mind these days, what with returning home and restoring the plantation and adjusting to our marriage. I ought to be more understanding and—” Pausing, she took a deep breath. “And I should try harder to meet you halfway.”
“Theo made those suggestions?”
“I have told you that he and I are only friends and you needn’t be jealous of him.”
“I am not jealous of him!” His nostrils flared. “Stop saying that!” When she merely obeyed, sitting in silence beside him, Adam tried again. “Do you know the reason I came down to the hotel?”
“I can guess.”
“No, it was not because I was jealous!”
“Of course not.” She couldn’t help smiling and feeling encouraged by his outbursts. So much of the time Adam was cool and indifferent, but it seemed that if he didn’t care for her he wouldn’t be reacting so heatedly now.
“It was because I encountered Simon and June in Bridgetown, and they told me you’d gone on to Hastings by mule tram! Damn it, Cath, it’s just not done, especially without even a maid by your side.”
“I was craving a bit of time to myself, a bit of independence, but now I understand that I was rash.” She felt his eyes on her and knew he was suspicious of her quick capitulation. Turning, Cathy put a hand on his arm and smiled. “I’m quite sincere.”
Arching an eyebrow, he muttered, “Are you sure you’re the same woman who was staring daggers at me at the Ocean Breeze Hotel?”
“I just needed time to think about everything and calm down.” And then she said some things that were quite true. “Adam, I don’t want to quarrel with you, or drive you away from me. We have problems enough as it is. I’m feeling quite alone in a strange place, and you’re my husband...”
“I know I’m not doing a very good job at it, but I did warn you from the first— that night you came to my room at the Whitehorse Tavern—” He glanced at her and sighed. “Perhaps I should have let you marry Byron after all. He was better husband material.”
“I didn’t want to marry Byron. He only offered for me so that you would intervene. Not because you were jealous, of course!”
They both laughed then, and the air between them was sweetened by hope. Alice put her head on the back of their seat and watched approvingly.
A few miles farther north, just before the right turn that would take them east to Tempest Hall, Adam steered the little carriage down a bumpy cart track that led into a grove of cabbage palms. The calm Caribbean Sea that lapped at the shore of the island’s west coast made for sublime swimming if one knew the way to certain secret coves.