Forget-Me-Not Bride (24 page)

As the evening progressed Lilli felt herself becoming pleasantly drowsy. The wine was far nicer than she had anticipated it would be and she understood for the first time why people enjoyed drinking wine so much. Leo, for all he had only had a small amount in water, was asleep at the table, his head resting on his folded hands.

‘I think it's time we broke the party up,' Lucky Jack said at last, well aware that until they did so, he couldn't resume his discussion with Kitty. ‘Don't try and wake Leo, Lilli. I'll carry him.'

Walking with Lottie along the dimly-lit corridor towards her bedroom, Lucky Jack by their side, Leo in his arms, Lilli felt truly blessed. Even though she and Jack were not yet married it was as if they were already a family.

When they got to the door of their room Lucky Jack opened it and carried Leo over to the nearest bed. ‘I'd let him sleep in his clothes tonight,' he said, amusement in his voice. ‘It won't harm for one night.'

‘I think I might sleep in mine,' Lottie said, sinking down on the truckle bed next to Leo's. ‘I can't ever remember being so tired and I can't ever remember a nicer evening. Thank you, Lucky Jack. I'll never forget it.' She began to giggle. ‘And I'll never forget the ice-worm cocktails!'

Now that Lucky Jack was free of his burden his hand reached out for Lilli's. ‘I think we'd better say our goodnights in the corridor,' he said in a low voice.

Her fingers tightened on his, a pulse beginning to beat light and fast in her throat.

Once the bedroom door was closed on Leo and Lottie he took her in his arms. This time there was no Ringan Cameron standing intrusively near to them. With a little gasp of pleasure she raised her face to his, her hands sliding up and around his neck.

‘You're a very beautiful young woman Lilli,' he said softly, his mouth skimming the silky smoothness of her hair. ‘So beautiful that I think you could change my life.'

A smile touched Lilli's mouth as he bent his head lower, his lips brushing her temple. She
was
going to change his life; just as he was going to change hers.

With expert ease he pressed her back against the walnut panelling of the wall and, holding her close against him with a strong, firm hand, slid his other hand over the primness of her high-necked shirtwaist, cupping the exquisite weight of her breast in his palm.

Lilli gasped, brought almost to insensibility by the combination of wine and the pleasure of his touch.

‘You're a very special lady, Lilli,' he said sincerely, his mouth at the corner of hers, ‘Very, very special.'

She could feel the hardness of his body through the folds of her skirt and as his mouth closed at last on hers, answering desire shot through her, shocking in its intensity.

It was an ecstasy quickly and rudely shattered.

‘It's so dark I can hardly see where I'm going,' Edie's voice said nervously from the direction of the top of the stairs. ‘You go first, Marietta. You don't get scared like I do.'

With a softly, but sincerely muttered blasphemy, Lucky Jack released his hold of Lilli, stepping a discreet foot or so away from her.

Lilli sagged against the wall, her heart pounding as if it was going to burst.

‘Sorry folks,' Marietta said apologetically, well aware of the kind of scene she and Edie had just interrrupted. ‘We're just passing through.'

Edie paused. ‘Are you all right, Lilli,' she asked solicitously. ‘You look a little out of breath. Would you like a cup of cocoa? Marietta's just going to make one for me and …'

‘Not tonight, Edie,' Marietta said firmly, tugging on Edie's hand, pulling her after her down the darkened corridor.

Jack suppressed the temptation to take Lilli in his arms again. He needed to continue his discussion with Kitty and make her see the pointlessnss of staying in Dawson, if Dawson was dying. ‘We never have much luck with our romantic trysts, do we?‘ he said, sounding suitably rueful. ‘Perhaps we'll be luckier tomorrow, at the rapids. Goodnight, Lilli. Sweet dreams.'

‘Goodnight.'

Dizzily she wondered why, with the corridor again deserted, he couldn't again take her in his arms. When she finally summoned the strength to move away from the support of the wall, she knew that whatever his reason, she was grateful for it. She couldn't, absolutely couldn't, remain upright for any longer than it was going to take her to reach her bed.

‘Did you sleep in your clothes too?' Lottie asked her eight hours later as morning sunlight flooded into their bedroom.

Lilli opened her eyes cautiously, wondering if her headache would eventually disappear or if she was going to have it for life. ‘I must have done. I was so tired. It was such a long day. Skagway. The train journey …'

‘You drank too much wine,' Lottie said baldly. ‘I don't know what people do when they've drunk too much wine, but whatever it is you'd better do it. We're going to the rapids with Lucky Jack this morning.'

With a super-human effort Lilli forced herself up off the bed. There was a pitcher of cold water on the washstand and with an unsteady hand she poured it into its matching porcelain bowl.

‘Edie and Marietta are going to the rapids with Susan and the Reverend Mr Jenkinson,' Lottie said informatively. ‘Kate is going to see them with Lord Lister.'

‘And Lettie is coming with us,' Lilli finished for her. ‘It's alright, Lottie. I hadn't forgotten.'

‘Then you'd better get a move on,' Lottie said mercilessly. ‘We have to be there
and back
by lunch-time, because that's when the steamer leaves for Dawson.'

‘Another boat?' Leo asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. ‘Are we going on another boat?'

‘Yes, but it won't be as big as the
Senator
.' Lilli divested herself of her crumpled shirtwaist and skirt. ‘It will be a riverboat.'

‘And will it take us down the Yukon to Dawson?' Leo asked, hoping Lilli wasn't going to expect him to take off the clothes he had slept in. The best thing about sleeping in your clothes was the time it saved getting ready for breakfast next morning.

Lilli took her toffee coloured blouse and cream serge skirt from out of her travel-bag and shook them vigorously to rid them of creases. ‘All the way. There's water in the bowl for you to have a wash, Leo. And take those clothes off and put on fresh ones. You can't possibly go down to breakfast like that. You look worse than a shovel-stiff!'

‘Bye!' Kate called from the buggy she was sharing with Lord Lister. ‘See you at the rapids!'

‘Bye!' Marietta and Edie chorused as the carriage they were sharing with Susan and the Reverend Mr Jenkinson bowled away in the buggy's wake.

Lilli, Lottie, Leo and Lettie remained standing in the dust at the foot of the hotel's steps. There was much to-ing and fro-ing going on all around them. Buggy's arriving. Buggy's leaving. But there was no sign of Lucky Jack.

Fifteen minutes later there was still no sign of him.

‘He's forgotten,' Lottie said flatly, her sailor-hat rammed straight on top of her head.

‘He's delayed,' Lilli corrected, fiercely hoping she would be proved to be right.

Half an hour later Lettie echoed Lottie. ‘He's forgotten,' she said, no surprise in her voice. ‘Shall I take Leo and Lottie for a walk somewhere? We won't be able to get as far as the rapids but we could at least have a short walk by the river.'

‘But I wanted to see the rapids!' Leo protested, his bottom lip beginning to tremble.

‘Don't be a baby, Leo.' Fighting her own disappointment Lottie took hold of his hand. ‘We're going to have a nice walk with Lettie. Are you coming as well, Lilli?'

Lilli shook her head. ‘No. I want to be here when Lucky Jack arrives to explain what has delayed him. He's bound to be upset.'

Lettie gave her a long, penetrating look. So penetrating that Lilli turned her head away. ‘I expect it was business,' she said, her voice full of a confidence she didn't truly feel. ‘He had a business meeting with someone yesterday afternoon when we arrived.'

No-one said anything. Leo wiped his nose on the back of his hand. Lilli didn't have the heart to reprimand him. She knew how much he had been looking forward to seeing the rapids and, if only Lucky Jack had been able to get word to them that he was going to be unable to take them, he could have gone with Kate and Lord Lister, or with the Reverend Mr Jenkinson's party. Desultorily he set off with Lottie and Lettie.

Lilli remained standing at the foot of the hotel steps. Lucky Jack would come eventually. And when he came he would apologise and explain.

It was Kitty Dufresne who walked briskly down the hotel steps towards her and who apologised and explained. ‘I'm sorry, Miss Stullen. If you're waiting for Jack you're wasting your time. He's in no state to go to the rapids.

Lilli stared at her. ‘What on earth do you mean? Is he ill?'

‘No, drunk,' Kitty said succinctly. She was wearing the emerald-green, astrakhan-trimmed travelling-costume she had worn the previous day. Near to, and in the brutal light of day, the light web of lines around her eyes were clearly visible beneath her face powder.

‘
Drunk
? But he wasn't drunk when he said goodnight to me last night! And it's only ten o'clock in the morning!'

Despite her own anger at Jack's behaviour a slight smile tugged at the corner of Kitty's carmine-red mouth. ‘You don't know an awful lot about men, Miss Stullen. But, to be fair to Jack, he didn't start on a bender this morning. He started last night.'

‘I'm sorry. I don't understand. Could you explain a little more?' Lilli could feel her headache returning. In the distance, in the direction of the river, a tall, broad-shouldered, red-haired figure had stopped to talk to Lettie and Leo and Lottie. Lilli's nails dug deep into her palms. Ringan Cameron would be asking why Leo and Lottie weren't at the rapids. Someone, Leo or Lottie, or even Lettie, would be bound to tell him it was because Lucky Jack had let them down.

‘I like you, Miss Stullen,' Kitty said sincerely. ‘But you're very young and inexperienced to be dealing with a man like Jack.' She paused, as if making up her mind about something, and then said, ‘Last night Jack and I continued our discussion about Nome. I told him that I wouldn't, under any circumstances, uproot myself from Dawson in order to open saloons there. He didn't like my decision and so he did what he always does when things aren't going his way. He kept company with a whiskey bottle all night.'

‘I … see.' Lilli said unsteadily, not really seeing at all. ‘He must have forgotten, before he started drinking, that he had promised Leo he would take him to the rapids this morning.'

Kitty laid a kid-gloved hand lightly on her arm. ‘You're deluding yourself, my dear,' she said gently.' Jack's a charmer. But that's all he is. He isn't trustworthy or honourable or, if being kind clashes with his own wants and desires, even kind. He does have one redeeming feature though.'

‘What is it?' The pain behind her eyes was blinding. In the distance she could see that Ringan Cameron had said his goodbyes to Leo and Lottie and Lettie and that he was again walking in the direction of the hotel.

‘He doesn't kid himself he's anything that he's not. He knows he's a selfish, self-centred bastard. And …' she paused slightly, a wry smile again touching her mouth. ‘He knows he's a damned handsome devil.'

Lilli didn't say anything. There seemed suddenly to be nothing to say. Ringan Cameron was drawing swiftly nearer and only the realization that he would soon be within eye-contact distance prompted her into speech. ‘I have a headache, Miss Dufresne. I think I'd better lay down for a while. Thank you for taking the trouble to come and explain things to me.'

‘That's all right,' Kitty shrugged the thanks away. ‘Goodbye, Miss Stullen.'

‘Goodbye,' Lilli responded, turning towards the steps in order to mount them and be in the lobby before Ringan Cameron reached their foot.

Kitty's eyes darkened. Lucky Jack had done it again, God damn him. He'd captured a heart he had no intention of cherishing. A heart she knew quite well he was already in the process of breaking.

Miss Nettlesham was in the hotel lobby. As usual she was alone and, as usual, Lilli felt a spasm of guilt. Where Miss Nettlesham was concerned she really had to make an effort. This morning, however, with Ringan Cameron hard on her heels, was not the time to start.

‘Good morning, Miss Nettlesham,' she said, making a bee-line for the stairs. ‘Only another day or so and we'll be in Dawson.'

What Miss Nettlesham's response was, Lilli had no idea. Like a bullet from a gun she made straight for the sanctuary of her room. She needed rest and quiet. She needed to be able to think over Kitty Dufresne's disturbing revelations where Lucky Jack was concerned. And when she had thought them over, she needed to come to terms with them.

The room was north facing and gloomy. It wasn't, however, gloomy enough. With the pain behind her eyes now almost unbearable she drew the drapes, plunging the room into Stygian darkness. Then, wearily, she sat down on the edge of her bed and unlaced her high-button boots.

Drunk. She didn't for a moment doubt the truthfulness of what Kitty Dufresne had told her. The problem was, how did she feel about it?

She lay down, her fingers pressed to her throbbing temples. In certain circumstances she was quite sure she wouldn't have minded at all. She hadn't spent large wodges of her childhood living amongst ranch-hands without becoming accustomed to drunkenness. Even her Pa had been riotously drunk at times. It wasn't the drunkenness, then. It was the fact that he had become drunk knowing he would then be unable to keep his promise to take Leo to see the rapids.

Was it so great a crime? She thought of the intensity of Leo's disappointment. It was a crime her father would never have committed, but then fathers fell into a special category. Before she could be comforted by this realization another thought sprang unbidden. Ringan Cameron would never have committed such a crime either.