Alana (29 page)

While she waited, Alana looked around the attractively decorated room. The brocade furniture was both expensive and tasteful. Two magnificent landscapes hung on the hand-painted wallpaper.

It was a very masculine room, and gave ample evidence of wealth.
And what of Parkins
? Alana asked herself for the tenth time since leaving his offices. He had seemed truly shocked by what she’d told him. He did not appear to be a part of Ledoque and Allison’s schemes, although only time would tell her the truth of that.

Alana believed she was becoming a better judge of people than she had been two years ago, and she sensed that Edward Parkins was a decent man, a man who might help her.

“Welcome to my home, Mrs. Landow,” Parkins said when he entered the salon.

“Thank you,” Alana replied. When he took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, she found it somewhat comforting.

“Would you care for a sherry before dinner?” he asked, motioning to the serving tray near the settee.

“I’m afraid it would go to my head. I haven’t had a chance to eat since dawn,” Alana said truthfully.

Parkins smiled. “In that case, there’s no point in delaying.” Taking her elbow lightly in his hand, he escorted her to the dining room.

Inside, Alana gazed at the room, once again feeling the masculine hand that had decorated it. The formal dining table was of red mahogany. Eight matching chairs surrounded it. A large but not ornate crystal chandelier hung over the center of the table. The dozen brightly glowing candles gave a soft illumination to the room.

Two places had been set at the table; Parkins guided her to one. On her left was a red mahogany sideboard; its glass doors revealed a magnificent set of porcelain china.

When she sat, she looked up at her host. “You have exquisite taste.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Landow.” Then he went to his seat. Soup and wine were served. When they were alone, Parkins lifted his glass to Alana.

“To a very beautiful and unexpected guest.”

Alana smiled at his compliment. She found herself warming toward the man, and she tentatively lowered her defenses. “Thank you,” she replied after sipping the light white wine.

“I want you to know, Mrs. Landow, after you left, I looked into your charges.”

“And?” Alana asked with genuine interest.

“The Marquette Company agent said he had no knowledge of this strange commission of yours, but he did say that Charles Ledoque was a principal of Marquette. When I showed him the manifest and contract, he said that they appeared to be legal. He seemed as mystified as I.”

“Is he an American?” Alana asked.

Parkins shook his head. “From England, as I am.”

Alana tasted the soup and found it delicious. “I would like to speak with him myself.”

“I shall arrange it,” Parkins promised.

They ate their soup quietly, and when they were finished, a servant appeared and took away their plates.

In the ensuing silence, Alana took the opportunity to study Edward Parkins. His handsomeness, she realized, had a lot to do with the calm maturity in his eyes. He was in excellent health and had kept himself very fit. The heavier gray at his temples gave him a warm and dignified appearance.

“Do you approve?” he asked suddenly.

Alana blushed. When she realized she was blushing, the red turned bright scarlet. “I–I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” he replied with an easy grin.

No sooner did he finish speaking than the servants appeared with the next course. Dinner consisted of rack of veal, with ample amounts of broccoli and carrots complementing the meat in both color and taste.

Another bottle of wine was served, and the white wine, although barely touched, was taken away. “I do hope you’re hungry,” Parkins said.

Alana gazed openly at him again. “I’m starved,” she replied honestly, as she picked up her silver knife and fork.

Edward Parkins laughed at her statement. “Well then, I shall not bother you with useless conversation.” Then he too picked up his utensils and began to eat. He maintained polite conversation with Alana, but never once made any inquiry that might make her uncomfortable.

An hour and a half later, they were in the salon. Alana sipped from a floral teacup while her host drank coffee.

“I think that now is the time for me to hear your story, Mrs. Landow. I do hope it will explain why you are here without your husband.”

Alana put the delicate porcelain cup down thoughtfully. “That is a part of the story,” Alana said. At her words, Edward Parkins sat back in his chair and gave her his undivided attention.

Alana had prepared herself for this moment, and she knew that if he was as decent a man as she believed him to be, she must tell him everything. So, as Alana spoke, she reached back into her memories and gave him the detailed story of her life. She faltered several times as she spoke, primarily when it was about Rafe or Jason. Parkins never interrupted her. He just sat silently while she poured out her tale.

When she spoke of Ledoque’s original treachery, her voice grew harsh with anger, but she regained control of herself, and spoke as calmly as possible.

She told him of the way Ledoque had tried to destroy the Landow Shipping Company and told him of Crystal’s help, omitting the fact that Crystal was a madam. But when she spoke of what had happened in New York, her voice trembled.

Alana, ignoring the wavering of her voice, simplified her tale, saying only that Chaco, her bodyguard, had saved her life and ended Ledoque’s.

She described the running sea battle between the Harmony and Ledoque’s ship and told of their relief when they had lost the other ship in a storm three weeks after leaving New York.

Parkins saw her sorrow when she told of the deaths of the seamen, and he applauded the way she and two other sailors had nursed the wounded men until they reached Cape Town and were able to bring a doctor to them.

When she was finished, he said nothing. He handed her a linen handkerchief so that she could wipe her tearstained cheeks.

“And you are certain,” he said at last, “that your fiancé was brought to Cape Town?”

“Yes, I’m certain it is exactly as Ledoque said.”

“Then tomorrow we shall speak to the authorities and find your Rafe Montgomery.”

Alana smiled gratefully at him then. “You are very kind, Mr. Parkins.”

“Edward, please.”

“Edward. I–I do not know how to thank you.”

“By letting me be your friend. By letting me help you,” he said honestly. Edward Parkins knew he was uncharacteristically falling in love with Alana over dinner, but he was also a gentleman, and because he had learned of her love for another, a man who could not be there to stand up for himself, he would not take advantage of her.

“All right, Edward. And please–call me Alana.”

At nine o’clock the next morning, Edward Parkins arrived at the dock to find Alana and Chaco waiting for him. He greeted her and then she introduced him to Captain Sanders.

“Everything is arranged for the unloading?” he inquired.

“Yes,” Captain Sanders replied with a happy smile.

“The injured men?  Are they being well treated?” Edward asked.

Again, Sanders nodded his head.

“The medical expenses are to be sent to my office.”

“That’s unnecessary. It is my responsibility,” Alana replied.

“Not if you are going to carry my goods to America, it isn’t,” Edward stated flatly.

“What?” Alana asked, startled by his words.

“Marquette violated their agreement with my company. Therefore, I have the legal right to cancel their contract. Will Landow Shipping be able to accept my commissions?”

For the next ten minutes, with Alana’s mind working at lightning speed, she asked every pertinent question she could. When she had digested all the answers, she looked at Captain Sanders.

Sanders inclined his head a fraction of an inch, and Alana smiled. “We shall be happy to accept your offer, Edward.”

“Excellent. Then as soon as the Harmony is unloaded, I shall have the next shipment for Charleston sent aboard. The contracts will be ready before you sail.”

Emotions welled strongly at his kindness and at the fact that with his words the future of Landow Shipping was not only salvaged but assured.

“And now I think it best we be on our way,” he told Alana.

Alana nodded and started to leave the dock with him; Chaco trailed several feet behind. When they reached the carriage, Edward paused to look at the tall ex-slave.

“Basuto?” he asked Chaco.

Chaco held Edward’s gaze for several silent seconds.

“He is mute,” Alana informed him.

Edward did not look away from Chaco. “But he can hear?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Are you Basuto?”

Chaco slowly nodded his head.

“I thought as much. You were only a boy when you left, were you not?”

Alana spoke for him. “He was taken as a slave. He was sold on the black market before the war.”

Edward sighed. “Do you remember much?”

Chaco nodded his head again.

“Then you know you must stay here for now.”

Chaco lifted his hands and signed to Alana.
He is right. But I should stay with you
.

“I trust him,” she told Chaco.

I trust no one.

“Wait here, please,” she asked Chaco.

Chaco met her gaze.
I wait. Have him explain about my people.

“I will,” Alana promised. Then she turned to Edward. “Shall we go?”

Edward helped her into the open carriage. After he sat next to Alana, he turned back to Chaco. “She will be safe with me,” he said..

Alana’s
day with Edward Parkins went smoothly. First, they spoke with the Marquette agent, who Alana realized knew nothing. Then, as she and Edward went to the various government offices, Alana learned a good deal about the English colony of Cape Town. She discovered that the colonial British bureaucracy was a hopeless maze that grew more confusing the longer one walked through it. Yet despite her inability to gain further word about Rafe’s whereabouts, she persisted in keeping up her hopes.

As the day wore on, Edward continued to be a staunch supporter, all the while giving her a history lesson of Cape Town and all of South Africa. But the most important thing he told her was his words of caution about Chaco.

He explained the taboos and restrictions of South Africa concerning the “colored,” as they the blacks. After he finished, Alana turned to him with a look of disgust on her face.

“Our nation fought a terrible war because of slavery. Is your system any better?”

Edward replied in a calm voice, “It is the way in which this country has developed. Prejudice is something that, once entrenched, cannot easily be rooted out.”

“I will not have Chaco treated in that manner!”

“Nor do you have to,” Edward said. “But be careful that someone does not harm him because of the way you treat him. It is unusual, to say the least, for a white woman to have a black manservant.”

“I care nothing for what others think,” she stated bluntly.

“I’m just telling you how life is in South Africa. Chaco knows this, too. He is a Basuto.” For the next twenty minutes, while they went from one government clerk to the next, he explained about the Basuto, the largest tribe in South Africa and the only one that had the British crown as protector.

When their day ended, Alana and Edward returned to his home, where they ate a light dinner. Afterward, they talked about what Alana’s next step might be.

“Are you sure there are no more places where he might be listed?” Alana asked after a short silence.

Edward shook his head. His eyes searched her face, and he knew he must tell her the truth. “If Ledoque was telling the truth, then perhaps he had Rafe smuggled into a prison camp. It would be the simplest way. Once there, without having a name on the official roster, they can work him to death with impunity. Alana,” Edward added gently, “although it may have only been a week or two since his arrival, I cannot in good conscience offer you much hope of finding Mr. Montgomery. The interior is not a kind place to those who do not know it. And the new diamond mines are even crueler.”

No longer shocked by the callousness of the country, Alana just stared at Edward. “Then I shall go to each mine and look for him.”

Edward shook his head sharply. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“Do you think I care about danger after what I’ve been through?”

“Perhaps you don’t, but I do.” The moment his words were out, she saw him stiffen, and she realized what he had just admitted had not been well thought out.

“Edward,” she whispered, “you are very kind.”

“No, Alana, but that doesn’t matter. There is another alternative.”

“Yes?” she asked hopefully.

“I own–my company owns several large mines. Seven, to be exact. I have a man whom I trust implicitly who will be leaving shortly on an inspection tour of the mines. I can have him check not only our mines but all the others in the vicinity.”

“But that will take so long,” she whispered.

“No longer than what you propose–if you were to make it past the first mine.”

Her brows knit together in puzzlement.

Edward looked at the beautiful yet innocent expression on her face and knew he could never allow her to go to the mines. “There are not many women near the mines–some prostitutes and the occasional wife of an administrator. A woman alone…” Edward let his words trail off.

“I see,” Alana responded. “Then there really is no choice?”

“My way will work,” he said. “Your way might, but it’s doubtful. If he is being held in a mine, do you think you could free him? Will your words carry any authority?”

Alana had no answer.

“Trust me, Alana. If he is at a mine, I will find out. When we know for certain, I can have him freed. I am a man of no small power in Cape Town,” he told her.

Alana smiled hesitantly. She knew he had not spoken in boast; rather, they were a statement of truth.

“All right, Edward; we shall try it your way.”

“It will be several months before we learn anything. It’s not easy getting word from the interior. But the moment I hear something, I shall act upon it. If he’s there, I shall free him and send him to you in America.”

“No.”

By now, he should have known Alana was unpredictable, but her response caught Edward off guard. He stared at her.

“I am staying here until Rafe is found.”

“Where will you stay? How will–”

“It doesn’t matter how or where. All that matters is that I find Rafe.”

Edward continued to stare at her. “Your love is strong, Alana; a wonderful thing to behold. I envy your Rafe Montgomery.”

For another hour, Alana and Edward argued. Edward tried to convince Alana to return with her ship, while at the same time hoping selfishly that she would stay. If Rafe Montgomery were in a prison mine, he would not live very long. Most didn’t.

Perhaps that was why, in the end, he gave in. He’d known since the moment she had stormed into his office that he was hopelessly in love with Alana and would accept just having her near, if nothing else.

Alana repeatedly refused to do anything other than stay in Cape Town and wait. When Edward unexpectedly offered to have her stay with him, she was more thankful and appreciative than shocked.

“What will your friends think?” she asked a moment later.

“What does that matter? We are not lovers. You shall have your own rooms, quite separate from mine.”

“I don’t want to harm your social standing,” she told him.

“And you shan’t, Alana, for you are now a business associate from America, and as such there can be no impropriety. Stay. This house has been empty for too long.”

Alana heard the warmth in his words and the offer of refuge he so gallantly proffered. “All right, Edward. When the Harmony leaves, I will accept your kind offer.”

“Thank you,” he said.

Ten days later, Alana stood on the deck of the Harmony and handed Captain Sanders a letter addressed to Crystal. He stared at her for several seconds before he spoke.

“I would be remiss in my obligations to you and to Landow Shipping if I allowed you to stay here, Mrs. Landow.”

“Captain, I appreciate your concern, but I am staying in Cape Town. I have things to do before I return home. You know this well.”

“It’s too dangerous. You’re not like the people of this country. You’re an outsider. You don’t know their ways. And what of your home, Mrs. Landow?”

His words brought out the memories she had held in abeyance. She thought of all the sacrifices she’d already made for Riverbend, and slowly she shook her head. “I have no home without him, Captain.”

Sanders knew exactly what Alana meant, and he could not find it in his heart to argue any further.

“Make sure that Crystal gets this and the new contracts. With luck, I shall be ready to come home when you return.”

Sanders took a deep breath. His weathered face broke into a smile. “Take care of yourself, Mrs. Landow.”

“I shall, Captain. And, Captain, thank you for helping me.”

Sanders nodded, and then escorted Alana back to the dock, where Chaco, her trunks, and Edward Parkins waited. Turning again, she looked into Sanders’s face. “A swift, safe voyage, Captain. I shall eagerly await your return.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Stepping back, he favored Alana with a bow. Without further words, Sanders returned to the deck of the Harmony. Orders soon rang out, and men swarmed the masts.

An hour later, the Harmony was no longer in sight, and Alana turned to Edward. “I’m ready to go now,” she told him.

~~~~~

December 1867

Crystal looked out the large window and watched the falling snow. Although it was warm in the room, she shivered at the thought of going outside.

She hated New York, hated the weather, most of the people, and the very reason she was there. But she would stay until she either succeeded or was found out.

She arrived in New York three months ago, and in that time, had made more progress than she had in four years.

She was as close to James Allison as possible and had worked hard to get there. Again, Crystal shivered, but this time it was the thought of Allison that chilled her to the bone.

Four months ago, when she’d received Alana’s letter, she had almost gone insane with anger and grief. She and Alana had indeed fallen into Ledoque’s trap, which had almost destroyed them. Yet there was hope. Alana must have reached South Africa, as Crystal had heard no word to the contrary.

And the brother she thought dead, was alive. How could that be? she asked herself, as she had every day since she’d read the letter. How could Rafe have been Alana’s secret lover? How could she not have realized that? And why had she not learned of the fact that he was alive?

Realistically, Crystal accepted the truth: she was as much to blame as Alana for what had happened. She had never once mentioned her brother’s name, or even her own true one. “How stupid,” she berated herself aloud. “How damned stupid I was!”

After reading Alana’s letter, she had put together all the information she’d gathered and deduced that the powerful shipping baron, James Allison, was the mysterious leading figure behind the consortium.

When she’d read of her brother’s abduction and Alana’s decision to go to South Africa to find him, Crystal knew what she had to do.

She’d wanted to go to Cape Town and help Alana search for Rafe, but instead Crystal had gone to Carlton DuPont and explained the situation. DuPont himself had received a letter from Nathan Bennet in New York. DuPont had wanted to go to New York and join Bennet in destroying Allison, but Crystal had talked him out of it, knowing just how powerful Allison was. Instead, she’d convinced him to stay in Charleston and to look after Landow Shipping and Riverbend while she went to New York to take over where Rafe had left off.

After explaining her plan of attack against Allison, she’d returned to Riverbend and appointed Lilith Dupre, her second in command, to take her place as madam.

A month after receiving Alana’s letter, Crystal had said good-bye to Riverbend and had come to New York via the second Landow ship. She had arrived with a bank draft for fifty thousand dollars.

She had registered at the elegant and exclusive Parktown Hotel, then gone to the bank Carlton DuPont had arranged to handle her account.

Finally, she’d gone to see Nathan Bennet, whom DuPont had already contacted. Bennet, who had been prepared to meet Crystal Revanche, had been startled when Crystal told him that she was Rafael Montgomery’s sister. She had seen his face fill with doubt, but his skepticism fled upon her complete explanation.

When she’d begun to question him about what he’d learned of Allison, he’d stopped her with a shake of his head. “What you are planning could be very dangerous,” Bennet had cautioned.

“No more dangerous than what Alana is doing. Obviously we must fight them in the manner in which they have fought us,” Crystal stated.

“I’ve uncovered a great deal about James Allison, Miss, ah–Revanche?”

“That is the only name I will use until Allison is taken care of,” Crystal had replied to his unasked question.

“Very well,” Bennet had said. Then he’d gone on to detail all he’d learned, which was quite a lot. He had determined, among other things, that James Allison’s passion was power and money, not women. Allison did have his women friends, but, Bennet’s informants had said, he had no one single woman that he cared for or kept. It was, Bennet had learned, one of Allison’s more unyielding characteristics. He believed that power was his mistress, not a woman.

“Then we will have to change his mind, won’t we?” Crystal had asked. Crystal knew there was always a weakness. She would have to find Allison’s weakness.

“I still don’t understand how meeting Allison, and possibly seducing him, can help your brother or Alana,” Bennet had questioned honestly.

“It’s the only way I can help them. If I’m successful, I will find out where Allison sent Rafe.”

“But to risk yourself so–”

“Is nothing more than I’ve been doing. Mr. Bennet, are you going to help us?”

Their eyes met in challenge. “Of course. I have already arranged for your introduction to a man who is in Allison’s social circle. But that’s all I can do,” he’d said.

“That will be enough,” Crystal had declared confidently.

It had been. Five days later, she’d attended an elegant affair with the gentleman Bennet had arranged for her to meet.

The man had thought he was escorting the wealthy widow of a southwestern mining magnate. Crystal’s reason for being in New York, she had shyly admitted, was to find someone she could trust to become her financial adviser. She had sooo much money, she had explained, and she wasn’t quite sure she knew what to do with it.