Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Madeline felt the color drain from her face like slow, painful torture. Still, no one spoke. There was only the uncomfortable rustle of skirts behind her, the sound of a knife whittling wood somewhere off to the side, then Adam finally spoke.
“Is she here?” he asked, sounding hopeful.
Madeline’s body went numb.
Mrs. Ripley struggled for a reply. She knew that Madeline had first met Adam when he was courting her older sister Diana, many years ago, so Mrs. Ripley must have understood that a mistake had been made.
“I am afraid Madeline’s sister did not accompany her.” It was a tactful, clever response, and Madeline was thankful for it.
Adam turned his gaze toward her again and she knew the precise instant that he recognized her. His disappointment was clear in the depths of his eyes and in the set of his shoulders. The color drained from his face as well.
“I’m sorry, I—” He stumbled over words. “You’re Diana’s sister? What was your name again?”
Madeline squared her shoulders against the stinging humiliation and labored to speak in a steady, dignified voice. “My name is Madeline.”
Adam stared at her for another few seconds. “Yes, I remember you now.” He paused again. “Was there a problem? Why did you come?”
This couldn’t be happening. She felt as if she were going to be ill. “I…I was told that you wished it.”
“No.” He paused. “Well, this is awkward, indeed.”
“Awkward for whom, sir?” Madeline replied sternly. “For you? Or for me? Or for these people standing behind me?”
Thankfully, the others recognized the hint and casually dispersed, including Mrs. Ripley, who gave Madeline a sympathetic pat on the arm before turning away.
She was now standing alone, face-to-face with Adam Coates, not knowing what in the world to say to him—to this man who, only a moment ago, she had imagined was her husband-to-be.
“Who told you I wished for you to come?” he asked directly.
“My father. He said you wrote him a letter.”
Adam’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “I did write to him, and to Diana, as well. Did he not deliver my note to her?”
“Not to my knowledge. She was away in London when your proposal arrived. I never saw the letter and I never even said goodbye to her. I barely had time to write and tell her where I was going.”
The muscles in Adam’s jaw clenched visibly as his anger took root and burst forth. He began to pace in front of Madeline. “I was more than clear about wanting to marry Diana. Your father had no right to send you instead. What was he thinking of?”
Madeline had to work hard to maintain her dignity, when her whole being was winding tight with rage at her father.
At Adam, as well, for humiliating her like this in front of everyone. Not to mention for crushing her dreams without even noticing, or taking the time to consider the fact that she, too, might be disappointed.
“My apologies for the misunderstanding, sir,” she said. “My father has a tendency to manipulate things to his liking.”
“Manipulate? He sent me the wrong bride!”
Madeline gritted her teeth together, unable to hide her fury any longer.
“Sir, you are not the only one who has been inconvenienced by this, I assure you. I have just spent forty-six days on a damp, creaky ship eating dry oatmeal and drinking stale water, and now you tell me in front of everyone that I am not the one you ordered, and I shouldn’t have bothered.
I believe I’ve had quite enough insults and frustrations for one day. ”
He stopped pacing and looked at her—really looked at her—as if for the first time.
“Did you not think it strange that I would ask for your hand? Didn’t you question what your father was telling you?
Diana and I have a history together, a past, and you were just a child then. You’re still a child now.”
“I am six and twenty, sir.” She was quite unable at this point to keep the ire out of her tone.
“Ah, I see. Six and twenty, and wanting marriage so badly, you were willing to deceive a man to achieve it.”
“It was my father who deceived you, not I!” she shouted, while her blood burned hotter and hotter through her veins.
Clearly, Adam did not accept her declaration of innocence, for he continued to pace back and forth in front of her.
“Whether you knew the truth or not, you played a part in it. Diana was the obvious choice. Lord in heaven, what were you thinking?”
Heaven help her. What was she to tell him?
That she had been thinking with her foolish, lovesick heart?
That she had dreamed of marrying him since she was a child, and had spent the past six weeks fantasizing about their wedding day?
That she’d believed he wanted to marry her, too, simply because she’d wanted to believe it?
What a fantasy it had been! The man in her dreams was full of mirth and adoration. This rude, unfeeling man was nothing like the charming young prince she remembered.
“My father assured me that you asked for my hand. I had no reason to question the truth of it.”
Someone nearby split a log with an ax. The sharp crack caused Madeline to jump. She felt as if someone were taking an ax to her heart as well.
Adam’s chest heaved with a sigh. “No reason to question it? Do you not have a mind of your own?”
Oh, this was too much. “To tell you the truth, Mr. Coates, I do have a mind of my own—a mind to poke my father in the ribs with a knitting needle, and if I may say so, you could use a poke in the ribs yourself.”
His dark eyes narrowed. She wasn’t certain if he was furious with her, or just plain shocked out of his shiny black boots that she should challenge him so.
The man with the ax swung again and the sound of splitting wood cut through the silence. Madeline kept her eyes on Adam.
“What are we to do, then?” he asked, his tone finally softening a bit.
“I do not know, Mr. Coates. As you said earlier, this is awkward indeed.”
He let out a breath. “Well, I can’t just leave you here.”
Good God, if he thought he was going to make her feel like a helpless orphan who had been flung upon him against his will, and deceived him, he was sadly mistaken.
She was a grown woman and she was innocent in all this.
She had not asked him to write that letter to her father, and she would find her own way out of this. With or without his help.
“Your father entrusted me with your safety,” he added, “and I know for a fact that this schooner isn’t returning to England. It’s heading to Boston, and God knows when the next ship will arrive.” He turned away, and she heard him whisper, “What a bloody mess.”
Madeline inhaled deeply and counted to ten, while fighting the urge to poke Adam not just with a knitting needle, but with anything she could get her hands on.
“You needn’t worry about me, Mr. Coates. I am sure the Ripleys would be pleased to have me stay with them. I have been teaching their children to read the past few weeks.”
He considered that for a moment. “Do they have land yet?”
“No, but Mr. Ripley plans to purchase something as soon as he finds a—”
“It will take the man some time to familiarize himself with the area. A few weeks at least before he finds what he’s looking for.”
A tattered-looking tradesman walked by, the barrel of his musket resting on his shoulder. He tipped his hat and smiled admiringly at Madeline. Adam watched the man’s back as he crossed the courtyard.
“Well, there it is. You cannot possibly stay here,” he said flatly, turning to face her again.
“Why not?”
“Because you are practically a child and you are alone. It would be unthinkable for me to abandon you here.”
“I am not a child,” she reminded him again.
He sighed and shook his head at her argument, and once more, she felt like a burden. An insolent one, too, this time around. She had thought, when she’d said goodbye to her father, that she was finally escaping those wretched feelings.
“You will come and stay in my home until we decide what to do. You will be good company for my daughter-in-law, as she is nearing the end of her confinement.”
All this was happening too fast—the confusion, the humiliation, the collapse of Madeline’s dreams. She wasn’t about to be shuffled off anywhere before she had a chance to think about what she wanted.
“No,” she said. “I will not come with you, Mr. Coates.”
“Why ever not?” he asked, as if her refusal were completely inconceivable to him.
“Because…because I don’t want to.”
Oh, why couldn’t she have come up with something better than that? She sounded like the child he believed her to be.
“What we want isn’t always what is best for us,” he told her. “Or what we get.”
Madeline bristled at his paternal tone. He sounded just like her father—lecturing her, pointing out her constant rebellion. She hadn’t liked hearing it from her father and she certainly didn’t wish to hear it from the man who had just publicly rejected her.
Then she wondered if there was a double meaning to Adam’s words. Perhaps he was referring to Diana breaking his heart all those years ago, to marry a baronet.
Madeline wet her parched lips. “As I said before, I will remain with the Ripleys.”
“You will do no such thing,” Adam argued. “You are my responsibility now. And you are Diana’s sister, for pity’s sake. I will not leave you here.”
Madeline felt frustration build up inside of her like a rising tide about to overflow.
All at once, an image of Adam’s first visit to her home in Yorkshire years ago came flooding back. She remembered how he had ruffled her hair like a puppy and shown her a magic trick.
Lord help her, what had she been dreaming of? He was four times her age then, and he was twice her age now. She had been so foolish!
She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling rankled all over again. She didn’t want to spend any more time with Adam Coates. She didn’t want to look at his irritatingly handsome face and relive this embarrassing stupidity over and over in her mind.
“Where are your belongings?” he asked.
“My belongings?” He had caught her off guard.