Love Inspired Historical July 2015 Box Set: The Marriage Agreement\Cowgirl for Keeps\The Lawman's Redemption\Captive on the High Seas (66 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

R
ose's theatrics were something Mary was quite used to. And yet, nothing tore at Mary's heart worse than knowing Rose had been beaten for the loss of Aunt Ina's brooch. They'd had an unspoken agreement about the beatings, her and Rose. When one of the little ones was at the end of Aunt Ina's switch, either she or Rose would take their place.

She should have known someone would have been beaten for the missing brooch. She should have put two and two together and realized that because of the promise she and Rose had made, Rose had taken the punishment.

But Mary had been too busy being blindly in love to realize it.

“I didn't steal,” Mary said as calmly as she could. “The money for Bess's spectacles came from her Sunday school teacher, but she didn't want anyone to know, so I said I took on extra work and bought them.”

Aunt Ina had taken a switch to her for that. She'd been irate to think that money that could have been used for one of her fripperies had been wasted on spectacles for a child.

Rose stared at her. “How do I know that's not another one of your lies? You admit that you lied to me about Ben. You admit that you lied to me about your whereabouts when you were sneaking off to see him. How can I ever trust you again?”

If Ben hadn't been smirking, Mary might have been tempted to tell her sister that she didn't blame her. That she'd do whatever she had to do to earn her trust again. She'd admit how duped she'd been by the smooth-talking charlatan. And she'd promise to spend the rest of her life making up for her mistakes.

Instead, she looked to Will for guidance. Only, he looked at her as if he believed her to be the miscreant she was accused of being.

Even Will believed the lies.

Mary had been right to keep everything a secret. No one believed her now, just like they wouldn't have believed her then. Ben had been right.

“Please, forgive me, Rose.” Mary had no other words, no other excuse she could offer.

It was just as well that the slowly developing feelings Mary had for Will would never be returned. She'd never allow herself to be blinded by her love for another person again.

“Never.” Rose glowered at her, then smiled, running her hand up and down Ben's chest. “When Ben came looking for you, I knew what I had to do. You ruined my chances of happiness with the only man I will ever love, and now I have stolen yours.”

Rose's eyes glittered in the gaslight. Her sister was a vain, spoiled girl, but the tears were real. Despite Rose's bravado, she felt no joy in her victory.

Swallowing her own tears, Mary took a step toward Rose. “I think, then, you should reconsider your actions. I don't love Ben. I broke it off with him before we moved here.”

She turned and looked to Will. “You wouldn't happen to have that letter you confronted me with, would you?”

“No. It's in my room at the boardinghouse.” He still wore the look of accuser, but as he continued, Mary's heart hoped. “But I can verify the veracity of Mary's statement. Her letter condemned what she called Ben's scandalous behavior and stated in no uncertain terms that she no longer loved him and could not marry him.”

Will seemed to consider each word slowly, as though having to repeat them finally made him understand what she'd been trying to tell him all along.

But did it mean he believed her about not stealing?

His good opinion shouldn't matter so much to Mary, but as she tossed that question in her mind, she realized that his coldness hurt far more than Rose's.

“Rose, please, don't marry him. Not to get even with me. I wronged you, and I am sorrier than I can ever express. Yes, I lied to you. But I promise, I didn't steal. And I promise, it wasn't my fault that Silas married Annie. It's not too late to come home.”

Her promises, she knew, meant nothing, given that she'd already admitted to being a liar. But surely she could appeal to the goodness in her sister's heart. The love of their family that made her step in when Bess got the switch for spilling the milk because she couldn't see the steps.

Mel stepped forward, carrying the box from which she'd taken the brooch. “Listen to your sister, girl. If Mary was a thief, then why does Ben have all the jewelry? If Ben is penniless, then why does he have such a fancy room? Why does everyone bow down to him?”

Mary watched her sister for any sign that logic was swaying her emotion, but then turned her gaze to Will. Did Will see that Mary couldn't have stolen all these things? That if Ben had been telling the truth, he wouldn't have a box full of jewels?

“Enough!” Ben stood, adjusting his fine clothes. Finer clothes than what he'd worn when Mary had known him back in Ohio.

“So I had a spell of luck after I met Mary. I was hoping to surprise my bride-to-be with my good fortune after we married. I don't need your brother's money. I fell in love with my beautiful Rose, who comforted me after my heart was broken by Mary.”

Ben turned to Mel, his eyes glittering with malice. “As for those trinkets, they were all gifts from lady friends. No need for me to steal. Mary gave what she had freely.”

“Liar!” The word burst out of Mary's mouth as she forgot all decorum. “I saw the contents of your satchel the day we were supposed to have run off together. Jewelry and money, all things you shouldn't have had, if your claims of poverty were true.”

“It was a friend's.” Ben's answer was so smooth, Mary again doubted how anyone would believe her over him.

But then Mel stepped in again. “Even if you were given the jewelry as gifts, as you say, how does a respectable man come into your line of work?”

She turned her attention back on Rose. “Think about it. Do you truly believe that he intends to make you his wife? I can introduce you to at least a dozen girls in this place who were tricked into thinking that Ben loved them.”

Mel didn't sound bitter. In fact, she sounded more factual than anything else. As if she was reading from one of the newspapers.

“You're just jealous,” Rose cried. “Just like Ben said. You've been replaced.”

Mel laughed. “I made my choice, and it wasn't for the love of a man. I chose the life I did to give my sister a better life. If not Ben, there's a dozen other places I could go. Miss Betty's been trying to get me to move to her establishment ever since I got here.”

Mel chose her life for the love of her sister. Perhaps it wasn't the life Mary would have chosen for herself, but in the end, both women were doing the same thing. Mary nodded at the other woman. A look of respect, or what seemed to be such, passed between them. And there, in Mel's eyes, Mary saw something else. Sadness. Mel had sacrificed for her sister, only to have it all be for nothing. Daisy was shut away on a ranch somewhere, carrying Ben's child.

Mary's own sister would not suffer the same fate.

* * *

All this bickering was getting them nowhere. Will examined Ben's face. Why was he tolerating this going on for so long? True, he seemed to enjoy watching the women arguing over him, but he bore the look of a man expecting something more.

Will glanced over Ben's shoulder toward the window. The lace curtains were sheer enough that he could see out the window and into the alley. The two guards had been joined by several other men, likely members of Ben's gang. They appeared to be waiting for some kind of signal.

Stepping between the women and facing Ben, Will pushed the other man's gun aside. “What's your game here? You haven't shot anyone, and you act like you're at the theater for the evening. This isn't a show. Let Rose go, and we'll be on our way.”

Ben chuckled. “Rose is free to go anytime she wants. But you don't want to, do you, Rosie?” He twirled his fingers in her hair, but Rose looked slightly uncomfortable.

“Why haven't you found someone to marry us yet?” Rose pulled from his grasp and stared at him. “You said we'd be here only for one night, and then we'd stay in respectable lodgings.”

“Now, Rosie...” Ben reached for her, but she stepped away.

“Don't ‘Rosie' me.” When Rose put her hands on her hips, Will knew exactly why the two sisters never got along. They were too much alike. Sure, Rose was the flightier of the two, and definitely pettier, but they were as their last names suggested—stones.

He stole a glance at Mary. Perhaps he was too quick to leap to conclusions in his comparison to Daisy. Daisy was like the flower, weak and easily wilted. Not so with Mary. Mary might have admitted to a few lies, but she was no liar.

Rose strode toward her sister, pulling up the bodice of the revealing dress as best as she could. “If you truly want to marry me, then you will do it right now, or you will take the time to court me properly. I'm not going to let you take advantage of me.”

For a moment, Will almost thought that Ben was going to give in. He looked at Rose with such a calculated expression that it was almost easy to believe that Ben had genuine feelings for her. But then his lips curled into a sneer, and Ben threw back his head and laughed.

“Do you think it will be so easy for Rose to walk away? Even if she hadn't given up her virtue, her reputation is in tatters. No honorable man would be willing to have anything to do with her.”

And then with a look that was typical Ben, he grinned. “Except buy her for a night.”

Jasper glared at him. “Not all men are bothered by such trivialities.”

“Says the man forced to marry a shrew.”

“Emma Jane is a decent and kind woman. I'm proud to call her my wife.”

“So proud that you're spending your wedding night in this establishment.”

“To save another good woman from ruin.”

“She's already ruined.” Ben's tone couldn't be mistaken. Especially as he grabbed Rose and pulled her back into his lap. “You've got nowhere else to go.”

Will knew this was how a lot of women got trapped into this life. Until today, he couldn't say that he understood ministries like Pastor Lassiter's. But seeing an innocent girl like Rose being given no options, he knew.

How many people fought for girls like Rose? How many simply turned their backs the second they left home?

He looked over at Jasper, who held his hand out to Rose. “For now. But it won't be forever. Don't let his lies get to you. Yes, people will talk for a time. But then some other scandal will hit town and yours will be forgotten.”

Will was glad his friend could be here to help Rose see reason.

Tears streamed down Rose's face. “You don't understand. I am truly ruined. No man will take me for a wife.”

But she slid off Ben's lap and took a step in Jasper's direction.

Jasper reached forward and wiped at the tears on Rose's face. “A man worth having would.”

“It's true, Rose,” Will added. “I've met many respectable women who once had unsavory pasts.”

As the single man in the bunch, the right thing to do would be to say that he'd be honored to have a woman like Rose for a wife. But he couldn't hint at a promise he'd never be able to make. Marrying Will meant taking dishonor for a name, and he wouldn't do that to anyone, not even to salvage the kind of damage Ben wrought.

He glanced over at Mary. How could he consider offering to marry someone else when he knew that she was the only one who could make him happy?

“My family will never take me back.” Despite her words, Rose took another step toward them.

Mary took her sister by the hand and led her to the rest of the group. “Why do you think we're here? Of course we want you back. Frank is beside himself, wondering what he could have done wrong.”

As Will watched Mary put her arm around her sister, Jasper indicated the direction of the window. Will realized that several more gunmen were approaching the building.

“If we're free to go, then why do you have so many hired guns surrounding the place?”

“I said Rose was free to go.” Ben's eyes glittered in the moonlight. “As for you, well, I have other plans.”

“Me?” Will could easily guess what they were. Fine by him. He could take Ben before Ben's men entered the room. As long as he could ensure the safety of Jasper, Mary and Mel. “What about the others?”

Will looked over at Jasper, who nodded slowly in the direction of the window. Sharpshooters were getting into place as though they were waiting to take a shot. Ben had no intention of letting any of them leave the place alive.

“I haven't decided yet—I have a score to settle with Miss Mary Quite Contrary.”

Mary didn't flinch. Instead she stared directly at him. “I'm not afraid of you.”

“No, you aren't, are you?” Ben looked at her intently. “That's all right. You will be.”

Will turned his attention to Rose. “This is the sort of man you fall in love with and want to marry?”

Rose blanched. “I didn't mean what I said about hurting Mary, Ben. I was angry. She's my sister. The fact that she came here for me and said that the family is willing to take me back... Don't hurt her.”

“We all know Mary is a liar,” Ben said, so smoothly it would have been easy for anyone to believe him if they didn't know any better.

And it seemed Rose did. Was she really such a fool to believe in Ben even after all the evidence to the contrary had been presented?

“We're supposed to forgive one another's sins, and Mary is my sister.” Rose's voice wavered.

“I thought you said you weren't sure you believed all that Pastor Lassiter taught you.”

Couldn't Rose see what Ben was doing? Twisting her words to turn them into what he wanted? Was it any wonder no one believed Will when he said he was innocent? Will glanced at Mary. Now more than ever, he was convinced that there had to be a reasonable explanation behind Ben's accusations—one that had been twisted into something that made Mary look bad.