Chapter 10
Animosity filled every word Zaira spoke.
Bellamy tried to see through the darkness and study her face. But her hood only added shadows, making it impossible to see anything. Which was actually good. Because if any man of low character caught sight of her beauty, she wouldn’t be safe.
“I’ll not be taking no for an answer.” He clamped his fingers tighter around her arm so she couldn’t break loose again. “I’m walking you home.”
“And I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m walking alone.” The animosity was still there, along with frustration.
Was she frustrated because he’d turned down her offer again at having a fake relationship?
She wiggled in an attempt to free herself from him once more.
“You’re a stubborn lass.” He didn’t let go. “Do you know that?”
“It takes a stubborn person to recognize one.”
He supposed he was being stubborn too. After another night of listening to Oscar bargain with at least half a dozen more men, Bellamy should have been eager to accept her proposal, especially because he’d been more than a little annoyed after the last customer finally left.
When he’d stepped out of the pub a few moments ago, he’d been hoping to paint and relieve some of his stress.
But at the sight of the light in the shed, he hadn’t been surprised to open the door and find Zaira.
He should have guessed she wouldn’t accept his silent denial of her proposal, that she’d be back to get an answer.
“I’m sorry you had to come out tonight,” he said softly. “I should have called on you earlier in the day instead.”
“It’s of no consequence to me.” Her tone still held a bite to it.
“The truth is . . .” He drew in a deep breath and cast his gaze to the sky, as if that could somehow make it easier to say what needed to be said. “I’ll accept your plan for the pretend match.”
She stopped struggling against him and held herself motionless.
“’Tis the sound and reasonable way forward.
” All along, he’d known he couldn’t deny her this, not if it would help salvage her reputation.
Even so, he’d tried to put it off, tried to think of another way, tried to figure out something else, primarily because he was afraid—afraid of his own attraction to her and afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep it locked away, especially if he had to spend any extended time with her.
However, that was his problem. Not hers.
If she only wanted a temporary relationship and truly wasn’t interested in him as a suitor, he would have his own ardor to worry about and not hers.
The solution was to stay in control and not let down his guard when he was around her. He could do that, couldn’t he?
“Are you sure?” she whispered back. “If you agree to it, then you can’t keep fighting with me.”
“I’m not keen on agreeing to it.”
She snorted. “That’s obvious.”
“But I’ll do it.”
She hesitated for several heartbeats. “All right.”
“All right.” He breathed out the tension that had been building inside him since the night of the kiss and Oscar’s pronouncement that he was seeking a match for Bellamy.
This arrangement with Zaira would buy him a little more time. Hopefully when they parted ways, he would have gained back the trust of the Irish community as a competent matchmaker. Then he wouldn’t need to rush into marriage, and he could continue to wait for the right woman to come along.
Zaira seemed to relax even more, as if her worries had been alleviated too. “What comes next, Bellamy?”
He wasn’t exactly sure. But he supposed if they hoped to prove to everyone that they were sincere, they would have to move forward with the same plans any other matched couple would make.
“I’ll tell Oscar first thing tomorrow morn. Then we’ll arrange a meeting with your da to pluck the gander.” He didn’t exactly like the idea of lying to James Shanahan. He didn’t like the idea of lying to anyone. But what other option did they have?
“Do we need all of the formal steps?”
“I can suggest to everyone that we’d simply like to court for a while without signing papers.”
“That would be better, don’t you think?”
“Oh aye. But I have the feeling Oscar will be pushing for everything to be just so.” Oscar would indeed want the traditional meeting—the plucking of the gander—to talk about the details of the match and what each family would be offering the other through the marriage union.
He would also want the traditional meal—the eating of the gander—to celebrate the union.
“Then let’s tell them we’re only courting for now.” Zaira’s voice was suddenly hesitant. Was she also considering the seriousness of lying to everyone they knew? “We’ll tell them we’re not ready to be engaged, but we’d like to get to know each other better by spending some time together.”
Would that work? Would such an agreement satisfy Oscar? Satisfy the Shanahans?
“A courtship wouldn’t be as serious as an actual match,” she continued, “and we wouldn’t have to lie so badly, would we?”
A lie was a lie, no matter how big or little.
“Actually, what if we really do court each other?” she asked. “Just temporarily. We’ll know it won’t last forever, but we won’t tell them that.”
“It’s still deceptive.”
“Not if we act like a courting couple.”
He stiffened. He hadn’t liked the original plan to form a pretend match, and he didn’t like the direction this new scheme was taking. “What exactly do courting couples act like?”
“If you need me to explain that to you, then you should abdicate your role as the matchmaker right here and now.”
“I know how couples should act when they’re in love with each other. But we’re not.”
“We don’t need to be in love, not if we’re telling everyone we just want to get to know one another better. But we have to make a show of acting interested in each other.”
He palmed the back of his neck and the tightening muscles there. “Let’s set some rules for what ‘acting interested’ looks like.”
“You’ll need to come visit me on occasion.”
Fine. He could do that. They would have a chaperone, and he wouldn’t have to stay long. “Anything else?”
“You’ll have to be nice to me around other people.”
“I’m nice to you already.”
“No, you make it obvious you don’t like me.”
“If everyone assumes I don’t like you, then whyever would they believe we want to start courting?”
“Because we kissed, and we want to explore if we have feelings for each other after all.”
“That’s a reasonable excuse.” And it made sense.
“You’ll have to talk to me without sounding irritated.”
Was he really that much of a cad whenever he was with her? “’Twill be difficult”—he tried for humor—“but I’ll try a wee bit.”
“And maybe a gift or two?” This time her voice hinted at humor.
“That may be asking too much,” he teased back. “But I’ll see what I can do.”
“See that you compliment me often.”
“The same goes for you.”
She paused. “Depending on how long this transpires, we may need another kiss—”
“I draw the line there.” His heartbeat tumbled over itself at just the thought of sharing another kiss. As tempting as the idea was, he couldn’t let himself get carried away.
“Very well. I prohibit you from kissing me again.”
Prohibit? Once more, he tried to see through the darkness to read her expression, but that pretty face of hers was too shadowed. Was she serious? Surely not. She couldn’t go from suggesting it one moment and then objecting to it the next. But did that mean she’d liked the kiss and wanted another?
He gave a curt shake of his head. It didn’t matter. “We won’t be having any physical contact during our courtship.”
“Good.” She seemed almost relieved by his declaration. “Hopefully you can stick to that.”
“Hopefully you can too.”
“I’ll have no trouble.”
“Neither will I.” Oh aye, he would have lots of trouble keeping his hands off her, and that was precisely the problem with their pretense. But now that he’d agreed to be in a temporary relationship, he had to follow through or he would look like a coward.
She started forward down the alley. This time she didn’t protest when he fell into step beside her.
He might not know exactly how to put their plan into action, but one thing was certain. He owed her an apology. “I’m sorry if I haven’t been nice to you. I suppose I didn’t like that you found out my . . . secret, and I’ve been reacting.”
“That’s what I figured.” She turned onto a short gravel path that led to the next alley, then halted to look both ways before staying in the dark shadows.
Maybe she would have been fine returning home on her own after all.
He didn’t think any of the gangs would be out stirring up trouble tonight, especially because Shaw and several other leaders of the Farrell gang had just been arrested for instigating destruction at Kiernan’s brickyard.
The arrest had hopefully sent a message that the rising gang violence wouldn’t be tolerated.
But just because the gangs weren’t acting up didn’t mean the crime in St. Louis had gone away.
If anything, it was worse, mainly because the police force was lacking.
Budget cuts earlier in the year had depleted the already floundering St. Louis City Guard, which was now down from forty men to only thirty.
The small force was responsible for patrolling the city twenty-four hours a day, but usually only one lieutenant and six patrolmen were out walking their beats at any given time.
In a city whose population had grown by the thousands over recent years, the police were certainly outnumbered and underpaid.
As a result, the number of bank robberies had increased that year. Just back in March, the great Nisbet Robbery had occurred. William Nisbet & Company, a banking and lending institution, had been robbed of nearly thirty thousand dollars.