‘Is it typical for a ship like the Titanic,’ Trey asked, ‘to cruise at twenty-five knots?’
‘Yes and no,’ Buck said evasively. He grinned at the worried look on the American’s face. Should he tell him the truth? The sea was dead calm. There was no telling how fast she would go. ‘If we keep up this speed, Trey,’ he said, ‘we’ll arrive in New York late Tuesday night instead of Wednesday morning.’
‘God help me if we dock early,’ Trey said dryly. ‘I’ll never hear the end of it from Mother if she isn’t there to greet her future daughter-in-law. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s learned how to curtsy, even with her arthritis. She’s obsessed with the royals.’
It was well known among the elite that Treyton Brady received an income from a half-million-dollar trust fund. But he would lose claim to a twenty-million-dollar inheritance if he didn’t marry a peeress as per his mother’s wishes. With his bride-hunting trip to Europe coming to an end and along with it his freedom, Buck reasoned his old friend was getting cold feet.
There was something else, too. A change in both of them. They’d lost the devil-may-care attitude that had ruled their lives up to this point.
Trey, he could understand, but why him?
‘My mother is so obsessed with royalty,’ Trey mocked, ‘she sent me numerous telegrams before we left England requesting more information on the countess so she can have her watchdogs check up on her. She can’t understand why I didn’t bring home an English countess instead.’
‘I pity Fiona trying to explain to your mother why she inherited a peerage title when Englishwomen cannot,’ Buck said glibly.
‘I don’t understand you English and your inheritance laws. God knows it would have made my life easier.’ Trey shook his head in dismay. ‘Now you tell me this ship will arrive earlier than scheduled. I’d rather find myself thrashing about in the Atlantic on a raft than deal with my mother.’
Trey had been in high spirits when he’d encountered Buck in the first-class lounge on the Promenade Deck. Their earlier run-in in the countess’s stateroom had been forgotten, as usually happened with Trey. He held no grudges, especially when it was in his own best interests. Keeping Buck as his confidante achieved that goal.
The former British Army captain had no doubt his old friend was worried about the countess changing her mind about the marriage and had sought him out to make amends in the only way Trey knew how.
By acting as if nothing had happened.
He looked rather peeved at the idea of the ship arriving early, though he appeared rested. Buck smirked. Most likely the object of his late-night rendezvous in second class had found out he was affianced to the countess and thrown him out.
Who would be his next conquest?
He wondered if Trey realized his fiancée was not as reserved as she seemed.
He’d never forgotten the night Fiona tried to seduce him. Any man would have been flattered. He was embarrassed. He could never feel that way about her and that pained him because she deserved better than that. He felt guilty about avoiding her, but it was best to keep his distance from her until they arrived in New York.
Or is there another reason?
A girl with green eyes, red hair and a lovely figure.
Ava.
‘Don’t try to fool me, Buck. You’ve been carousing with that pretty Irish girl you hired to work as a lady’s maid for the countess.’
‘Be careful what you say about her, Trey,’ Buck said with authority. ‘She’s an innocent girl.’
‘That is a revelation. A woman immune to your charms.’ He looked at his old friend with an expression that made Buck wary when he asked, ‘Where did you find such a gorgeous creature?’
‘The assistant purser recommended her to me,’ Buck lied. ‘She was a lady’s maid back in Ireland.’
‘She’s a beauty all right. I have to admit I didn’t have any luck with her either. She wouldn’t give me the time of day.’ Trey shrugged. ‘Not that I didn’t try, but if you are right about the ship’s run, I have five more days to convince her a Yankee can beat an Englishman at his own game.’
Buck observed his friend with a new worry. The gambling mood had possessed them both, but it wasn’t the ship’s fast run at stake here, it was Ava’s virtue.
It was then he realized his duty as her protector was far from over.
‘I’m warning you, Trey,’ Buck said, clenching his fists at his sides and trying to remember they were in the first-class lounge of the Titanic and not a dosshouse in London’s East End. ‘The girl will bring you nothing but trouble. Keep your mind on Fiona, your future wife.’
‘I’ve tried, Buck, but the countess won’t even sup with me. God knows what a fiasco our marriage will be if she won’t have anything to do with me.’
The two men sat down in the comfortable round chairs and Buck gazed out the large bay windows at the panoramic view of the sea. The room remained at an even temperature though the marble fireplace was merely for decoration.
‘You’re not intending to call off the marriage, are you?’ Buck asked, concerned.
‘Of course not. This is one chap, as you English say, who has no desire to forfeit his lavish style of living, whatever the cost to his personal life.’
Buck’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you up to?’
‘We have a saying in America, Buck. If you can’t beat them, join them.’ Trey waved the lounge steward over and whispered something to him. The steward nodded, then returned with a big bouquet of American Beauty red roses tied up with a trailing red satin ribbon. ‘I had the ship’s florist make this arrangement for the countess.’ He grinned. ‘Do you think it will please her?’
‘Her ladyship will no doubt fall into your arms and vow undying love,’ Buck said, intending to convince the countess Trey was sincere in his efforts to woo her.
If she was still speaking to him.
The vibrant roses nearly put him in a romantic mood. He couldn’t deny the scent was intoxicating and made him think about confiscating a fresh flower for a certain Irish girl.
‘I’m going to leave the roses in her cabin with a note,’ Trey said, standing up. ‘Then I’m off to send Mother a wireless, telling her we’re arriving in New York early. She’ll be thrilled and will probably have a band playing when the ship docks,’ he said with confidence in his ability to diffuse his mother’s anger and get what he wanted – control of his father’s fortune – by his charming subterfuge.
‘Do you wish to make a wager on that?’ Buck asked, baiting him.
‘Don’t waste your money, old boy,’ Trey said with the total assurance of a schemer who knew the only way to get on in this world was to use his boyish appeal. ‘That’s one bet I can’t lose.’
Buck was worried. He wondered if he’d set Ava up for a fall by hiding her with the countess and making her vulnerable to Trey’s advances.
He wasn’t a bad sort, Buck thought. Trey could be quite likeable when he wasn’t trying to live up to his wild reputation as a millionaire’s son.
It was time to speak to Ava about what would happen if she believed anything Trey might say to convince her it was his aim in life to help a working-class girl overcome the social barriers. His American friend had used that same ploy to find his way into the boudoir of many a chambermaid.
No time like the present to perform his duty as grand protector, he decided. He pulled out his gold pocket watch and checked the hour. Ava would most likely be taking tea in her cabin.
He never imagined the countess would thwart his mission.
‘You haven’t been to see me, Buck,’ Fiona said with a lightness in her voice he wouldn’t have expected.
He hadn’t heard her come up behind him and, when he turned around, he was surprised to see this lovely woman smiling at him through her black veil. The tiny pinpoints of lace added a flair of mystery any man would find appealing.
Buck kissed her gloved hand, guarding his feelings. There was something regal in the way she held her head and the sway of her body. Coy, but ladylike. Trey would find her a most delightful companion if he was wise enough not to see her as a deterrent to his wandering ways.
‘Trey intends to make up for the misunderstanding between you two yesterday.’
‘That should prove very timely.’
‘What’s going on in that female mind of yours, Fiona?’
‘I intend to make this marriage work, Buck.’ She paused, thinking. ‘I’ve decided to give Trey every opportunity to make me fall in love with him.’
‘I regret things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, Fiona,’ Buck said, doing his best to sound sincere. ‘I’m not the marrying kind.’
‘Does Ava know that?’
‘Ava?’ he asked, taken aback. ‘What does she have to do with it?’
‘She’s fallen head over heels for you, Buck. Oh, it’s not the same deep love I have for you, but it could be over time. She’s got a big heart and an inquisitive mind and needs a man to guide her.’ She placed her hand on his forearm. ‘Don’t hurt her, Buck. She’s a good girl.’
‘She’s the reason I’ve stayed away.’
‘Funny, isn’t it?’ she said, trying to explain. ‘You live by your wits and your courage, yet you don’t believe that’s enough to offer a woman. You’re wrong, Buck. Someday you’ll find out, and when you do, I pray it won’t be too late.’
‘Fiona, you don’t understand. I—’
‘But I do, Buck. It’s been drummed into your head since boyhood that because you’re the second son of a duke, you’re destined to walk a tightrope in this twilight world of upper-class values and rules. That you don’t fit in anywhere. I thought I was the woman who could change that. I wasn’t. Is it Ava? I don’t know. She’s wild, brash and filled with mischief. Which makes me wonder about her.’
Curious, Buck asked, ‘What do you mean, Fiona?’
‘She has a way about her that speaks more of a girl from the hinterlands than a great house. I will tell you this, Buck, if she’s a lady’s maid, I’m Lady Godiva,’ she added with a secret smile all to herself.
‘I shouldn’t have tried to fool you,’ Buck admitted.
She smiled at the compliment. ‘I don’t know her background and I don’t care. Whatever your reasons for bringing her to me, be careful. You may be the one hurt this time.’
‘I’m surprised at you, Fiona,’ Buck said, not trying to be discreet, ‘being jealous of a servant girl.’
‘Who said I was jealous?’ she said with not a hint of the demure demeanor he expected of her. ‘I’m just being practical.’
‘Would you rather I dismiss the girl?’
She threw her head back and laughed. ‘You couldn’t if I wanted you to. She’s taken it upon herself to prove to me she’s a lady’s maid as if her life depended upon it. She’s even taken over my bathroom and is enjoying a soaking in my tub.’
‘Ava’s taking a bath?’ Buck asked carefully.
‘Yes. Would you believe the child has never bathed in a private bathroom before?’ she said. ‘She looked so delighted when I told her to take the afternoon off and enjoy a hot bath.’
With her book under her arm, Fiona wandered over to the pantry, where afternoon tea had been set up with a tempting display of finger sandwiches. She didn’t notice the worried look on Buck’s face as he followed her.
He felt his gut tighten. This can’t be happening.
Trey was headed to the countess’s stateroom with a big bouquet of roses, hell bent on leaving the flowers in the cabin. If he got the key from the stewardess and opened the connecting door and saw Ava naked in the tub—
Good God, he couldn’t let that happen.
Trey was a man with little willpower and Ava was a woman no man could resist.
He prayed he got there before Trey did.