Returning to the classroom, Mariah assured herself she wouldn’t be doing anything that should prick her conscience. Besides, this was nothing like trying to eavesdrop. Assured of her pure motives, she sauntered over to Victoria’s desk and leaned down, placing her left hand strategically across the girl’s French text. “Do you need any help with pronunciation?” Slowly she swept her hand across the page.
“No, I’m— Oh! What a beautiful ring.” Tori caught Mariah’s hand. “I’ve never seen you wear this before. What kind of stone is it?” Raising her lashes, she gazed up at Mariah, her sky-blue eyes wide, curious.
“Let me see.” Heather rose and left her seat, with Amy traipsing after her as they came to look.
Amy leaned down to peer more closely. “Is it real?”
Mariah shrugged a shoulder. “I certainly hope so. Colin bought it for me when he visited my father. It’s an amethyst.”
“If it’s from your poppy, it has to be real.” Amy gave a confident nod.
Having returned her attention to the lovely ring, Victoria looked up again at Mariah. “But Colin returned home from England months ago. Did he just now give it to you?”
“Actually, no. He gave it to me just before he left for the militia.” Mariah’s heart began to beat harder. “But since he had to go away again in haste after asking me to marry him”—all three girls gasped—“he suggested that we wait to tell your family until he came back home. So I’ve been wearing it on a chain around my neck.”
“Oh, how romantic,” Heather breathed, dreamy eyed.
Tori gazed down at the amethyst again, then at Mariah. “And Tuck was so happy to see me, I just know he’ll propose soon, too.” She twisted a finger around a golden curl near her ear.
About to remind the young lady that her mother would likely refuse her consent, Mariah chose not to burst Tori’s bubble. She needed the three girls to be happy about her betrothal to their brother so they might help to further the cause.
“Hurrah!” Amy threw her arms about Mariah’s waist. “I’m so happy! You’re gonna be my big sister, and you won’t ever have to leave us again.” Abruptly letting go, she flew toward the door.
“Wait! Where are you going?” Mariah called after her.
The child didn’t even slow down as she vaulted out the door. “To see Colin!”
“No! Wait!”
But her words had no effect. By the time Mariah reached the hall, Amy was charging into her brother’s room.
Mariah dashed madly after her. What in the world had she been thinking? She should have thought things through before divulging news of her betrothal to that impulsive imp.
She hesitated only a second at Colin’s open door, determined to catch Amy before she said anything. But stopping that girl was akin to stopping a waterfall.
Already the child’s boundless energy had her jumping up and down in the middle of her brother’s quarters. “I just heard the news!”
Mariah’s heart sank. Too late. She closed her eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Amy stopped and turned around, searching the room. “Where are you, Colin?”
Thank You, Lord. Mariah clutched her chest and tried to catch her breath. Colin wasn’t in his room. She moved forward to collect his sister.
The door to the balcony swung open, and Colin came inside. “Is that you, Amy?”
Mariah halted in her tracks. She didn’t want him to know she was there.
Amy had no such concern. “Yes. It’s me. I’m real happy for you.”
He tucked his chin and frowned. “Happy that I’m blind? Why would you be happy about that?”
“No, silly. I’m sad about that. I’m happy you’re gonna marry Mariah.”
Wincing, Mariah softly back-stepped toward the door. She had to get out of there.
But Amy gushed on with nary a breath. “That’s the bestest thing I heard since…since you gave Patches to me. Isn’t that so, Mariah?”
Mariah’s heart stopped as she froze in place. She felt like a trapped rabbit and wanted nothing more than to escape and run.
His features hardening to granite, Colin raised his chin. “So my betrothed is here in the room with us.”
“Uh-huh.” Amy turned and pointed. “Right over there by the door.”
A hole, Mariah thought. If only there was a rabbit hole to drop into. Still, she knew she had to stand firm. Too much was at stake. “I’m sorry Amy burst in on you unannounced, Colin. I know you asked to be left alone today. I’ll take her back to the classroom.” She took a step forward.
“No!” Amy stomped her foot and crossed her arms. “I want to talk to Colin. I want to tell him about me and Patches and all the things we did while he was away.”
“Come, dear.” Mariah tugged on the child’s arm.
But Amy jerked free and turned a beseeching look up at her brother. “Colin, you were gone such a long time. Too long. Me and the horses missed you somethin’ awful.”
“Amy…” His demeanor softened a bit as he moved cautiously toward a wing chair to his right and ran a hand down its side, as if assuring himself it was positioned properly. Then he eased himself down to the cushioned seat. “I missed you a lot, too, squirt.”
Hearing a gentleness in his tone that hadn’t been there since his return, Mariah felt a ray of hope. Until he spoke again.
“Come give your brother a big hug, then run along. I’d like a private word with Mariah.”
Amy glanced from him to Mariah and back and shrugged her thin shoulders. “Oh, sure.” She ran into his open arms. After a sweet moment or two, she eased from his embrace and stepped back. “I reckon now you to want to hug and kiss and all that stuff, huh?”
He gave a small grunt and lightly swatted her bottom to hurry her on her way. “Somethin’ like that. Oh, and Amy, please close the door on your way out.”
She giggled and ran to do his bidding.
As the door slammed behind Amy, Mariah felt like a condemned person with a noose around her neck, waiting for the trapdoor to collapse.
Colin released a slow breath. “Seems you’ve been mighty busy this morning, haven’t you?”
She cringed at the clipped syllables.
“Mighty busy.” He wagged his head, a droll smirk tightening his mouth.
Moistening her dry lips, she shrugged a shoulder. “The girls noticed my ring.” It was a lame excuse, and she knew it. For a second she had the impression that Colin could see, the way his glower bored into her.
He did not respond, just rubbed a hand across his chin.
Lowering her gaze from what she reminded herself was an unseeing stare, she noticed that both of her hands clutched handfuls of her skirt, crushing the muslin fabric. She tried for a casual tone. “Well, I really should get back to your sisters.”
“Not so fast.” He paused momentarily, as if gathering his thoughts. “Obviously I did not make myself clear when we spoke last night, so I’ll repeat what I said. There will be no wedding, no matter how many members of my family you rally. Your brother-in-law told me you’d always been considered the clever one among your siblings, and I see you’ve proven him right.”
Chagrined by the statement, Mariah did her best to sound appalled. “The man has scarcely set eyes on me. He knows nothing about me.”
Colin tipped his head. “It doesn’t really matter.” He stretched his long legs out before him and relaxed against the chair. “My decision wouldn’t be any different if you were the queen of kindness itself. But if you will leave my home without any further protest, I’ll give you a choice. If you don’t wish to go live with your sister, I’ll pay your passage back to England and give you a goodly sum to jingle in your purse, besides.”
Mariah’s hackles rose with each word. She could not believe he thought so little of her. Nevertheless, she composed herself and spoke evenly. “I understand that, at the moment, you believe your world has come to an end. But as time goes by, you’ll come to realize life hasn’t really changed so very much. And when that time comes, and you regain your senses, I plan to be here.”
“My senses?” He scoffed. “All of them? Except, of course, for that particularly crucial one…my sight.”
Mariah regretted her bad choice of words. She sought another tack. Oh yes, Rose. Say what Rose would say. “I can see I’ve upset you again. For that I am truly sorry.” At a loss to say more, she backed toward the door, until her fingers grasped the handle. “I really must return to the girls. Perhaps we can talk again later.”
“Wait!”
But Mariah whirled out the door and closed it behind her, ignoring his voice. She hurried away as fast as she could.
That had not gone well at all. She had to stop trying to manipulate the situation. If only she’d remembered her decision to act like her older sister before allowing herself to become so vexed. After all, when had anyone ever railed so vehemently at Rose—except for the night she informed the family she’d sold most of their prized possessions out from under them.
Slowing as she neared the schoolroom door, Mariah paused. The single reason the family had yelled at Rose was because, for once, she’d uncharacteristically taken matters into her own hands. She’d done the sort of rash thing Mariah might have done under those circumstances.
A grimace flattened Mariah’s lips. Possibly she wouldn’t have been quite as self-sacrificing as Rose had been, even selling herself. But for now, this situation required self-sacrifice. Colin needed that.
From now on, she’d stop trying to be clever, as Colin had so rudely put it. She would step inside Rose’s very skin, martyr herself for the cause of Colin’s ultimate happiness.
And hers.
Hearing the door to his chamber close and Mariah’s footsteps receding down the hall, Colin closed his eyes in disgust. Some homecoming. He’d been positive that Mariah would gladly accept her release. Apparently, he’d underestimated her greed.
This added torment was more than anyone should have to endure. After weeks of travel in a bumpy wagon, listening hour after hour to the groans of other wounded men, he couldn’t wait to leave the terrible defeat behind and return to familiar surroundings.
The defeat. The surrender. His only saving grace was that he’d been unconscious when Washington signed the surrender document and hadn’t had to witness that humiliation. From the reports he’d heard, a heavy rain had started after he’d been shot and never ceased through the night. Because of their too hasty efforts to construct the fort, the gunpowder had little protection from the elements, and only a few able soldiers remained after the first barrage to fend off the surrounding horde of French and Indians. The situation had been hopeless from the start.
Nate said it was only by the grace of God that the French commander had even offered the militia the opportunity to surrender, and only then because one of his Indian scouts had reported hearing marching drums coming from the east.
Even now, Colin couldn’t hold back a sarcastic chuckle. As if any of the other colonies would have come to their assistance. Knowing that their fellow English colonies refused to lift a finger to prevent the French from taking over their territories was indeed bitter medicine to swallow.
With a ragged sigh, he rose from the chair. Hands outstretched, he made his way to the bedstead, then edged around it to the night table for a drink of water. Soon, he vowed, he’d have this room memorized, then the rest of the house, and even down to the stables. He was determined not to stumble around much longer.
Finding the glass, Colin lifted it and took several swallows, enjoying the sensation of the cool liquid coursing down his throat. Somehow, with God’s help, he’d survive being blind. His thirst sated, he set down the glass and sank onto the bed he could feel behind his legs. Yes, somehow he’d eke out a life for himself—just not the one he’d expected.
At that deflating thought, he lay back on the pillows and tried to blot from his mind the well-laid plans he’d always had for himself.
Sleep. He needed more sleep.
But as he lay there in the unending darkness, his anger refused to let go. Anger at the French, the heedless colonial governors, and a fate that would change a man’s life forever. But mostly he was angry at that arrogant, selfish Englishwoman, Mariah Harwood.
Why had he never noticed her true nature before? In reality, the two of them had spent very little actual time together. Mostly he’d just thought about her, created in his mind the woman he believed her to be…and for no other reason than her beauty. She was the most beautiful, most alluring woman he’d ever seen in his life. The siren who lured sailors to their deaths on a jagged reef. The Delilah to his Samson. She was a liar.
Only after he told her to leave did she say she loved him. Not when it would have meant something, like the last time he’d feasted his eyes on her and held her in his arms and asked her to marry him. He might have believed her then.
But not now.
From what Nate Kinyon had told him, Mariah had not come to America with Rose out of a desire to help her sister or the rest of her family. She had come with all her superior ways with but one goal in mind—to catch a rich husband. And the mere fact that her catch ended up blind would not stand in the way of a fortune hunter like her. He frowned. Mother had seen through her from the very start. Oh, how he wished he’d listened to her.
A niggling thought crept in, and his gaze gravitated naturally toward the faint light streaming from the balcony’s open door. If Mother had seen through Mariah to her devious, selfish nature, why had she so readily agreed with Father this morning to allow the pretender to stay?