Forgotten Truths (The Forgotten Truths Series) (5 page)

It took me more than a few seconds to realize that
I was nodding. I quickly snapped out of it and shook my head instead. “I can’t.”

“Why? What’s wrong with wearing a dress?”

“I just can’t.”

“Can you at least try it on? Would that really be a problem?”

I tried to step back, but I was up against the bench. I sat down instead and leaned back against the wall. “Yes, it would be a problem.”

“Please?” He sat down in the chair.

“What is it with you? I won’t wear it. I can’t wear it! Stop asking me.”

He sighed again. He seemed to do t
hat a lot. He still wasn’t frustrated though, which made me think that maybe that was his way of avoiding it. “You won’t give me a valid reason. I can’t stop until you agree with something.”

“If I agree, but don’t put it on, will that stop you?”

His lip twitched, and I knew he was trying to hide a grin. “I have to see you in it.”

“That isn’t part of this bargaining. You never said you had to see me in it.”

He put his head in his hands. “You’re head is going to start hurting.”

“I don’t care!”

“If you faint, you will wake up with the dress on. So either way, you are going to be getting off this ship in a dress.”

“Why do you want me in that dress so much?”

He lifted his head and sat for a moment. Then he stood up and came over to me again. “Captain Brown will not tolerate a female who isn’t in a dress. If you come with me dressed in that,” he pointed to my outfit, “he won’t let you in the house. And you need to stay with me if you want your father to find you.”

So he had figured it out. He was smarter than I gave him credit for. I wasn’t sure what to say to it though. He took one step closer. “I’m helping you if you help me. Please just put it on.”

Chapter III

I stepped out on the deck and found James waiting for me. He was fiddling with his fingers and didn’t see me. I took this quick opportunity to check myself. I refused the shoes, preferring to stay barefoot. The dress was a little too small around my body and too long, which surprised me since I had always considered myself to be tall. It flowed down past my feet onto the deck. There was a little black lace around the cuffs of my sleeves, which itched, as did my neck where the high collar scratched me. I’d never worn anything that was this tight to my body. I was not comfortable by any means, but I still cleared my throat to get his attention.

He looked up and his hands froze in position. He blinked a couple times. I shifted from foot to foot under his gaze. I’d been used to the new guys on the ship looking me over, but this was more severe. I cleared my throat again and took a step back. He looked me in the eye for a moment and then shook his head.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I’m uncomfortable enough in this dress without feeling your eyes judging every aspect of my body.”

“I said I was sorry. I’m completely honest when I say I didn’t expect the dress to look so good on you.”

I looked away and shifted my feet again. “It’s too tight and I’m very uncomfortable in it. How long do I have to wear this again?”

“Today. Then we’ll figure something else out. We want to give Captain Brown a good impression of you.”

“Because it’s so important to me,” I said sarcastically.

“Maybe not now, but you’ll want to make a good impression with him.”

“What’s he like?”

He came over to me and started to play with my hair. I took a step back out of his reach.

“We need to fix your hair so it fits the dress.”

“I asked you a question.” I ruffled my hair. It may have been longer than his hair cut, but it was still too short to style in any way.

“He’s a very nice man. He has a strict way of handling things. But he’s very giving if the situation calls for it. You being in a dress can only help your status under his eye.”

“Will it? How much will it benefit me?” I looked down at the dress again. “Is it really worth all of this?”

He sighed. “Right after you meet him, I’ll escort you to my room and give you some of my clothes.”

I nodded. “Are we ready to go now?”

He looked over at the side where some men were still carting stuff off. “A few more minutes.”

“Good.”

We waited a little while longer until most of the men seemed to be off the ship. I wasn’t sure if this was to benefit me or James, but I wasn’t going to ask. I was just glad that fewer people would see me in this monstrosity.

I did notice that he kept glancing at me but when I’d turn my head toward him, he’d quickly look away. I wasn’t sure how I felt about how he was having trouble keeping his eyes off me. Sure I was uncomfortable, but I was used to being looked at. I just hadn’t been in a tight dress those times, which I knew was the reason for the discomfort. But the fact that he was struggling to keep his attention elsewhere, and failing, meant that I must have looked decent, maybe even pretty. I looked down at myself again. It didn’t matter. I wanted to get out of this thing and into baggy clothes again.

We stood in awkward silence for what seemed like years when he finally stepped out of the shadows and looked around the deck.

“Come on. We can’t wait any longer if we expect the carriage to wait for us.”

“How far is it to walk?” I asked as I followed him over to the side where the ramp was.

“Several miles. You can see the town from the house, but you can’t see the house from the town.”

We walked down the ramp and found the carriage he had mentioned waiting for us. James nodded at the driver before turning to me with his hand held out. I just looked at it.

“Play the part, Andrea.”

“I have to hold your hand?”

“It’s out of courtesy. I know you can make it up yourself. But you need to act like you’re just a regular female if you’re going to avoid being the center of attention.”

I looked at his hand again. It was only a hand. And maybe it would be different if it was me touching him. He wasn’t about to try anything. I looked around to see how many people would notice me if I didn’t do what James suggested. For all I knew, it would have made a big scene if I didn’t put my hand in his. And I didn’t want that, not in this dress. If word got out to my father that I had been making a scene in a dress, I’m sure he would have been laughing at me. So maybe making a little bit of a scene really wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. But this dress... I just wanted to get out of it. There were several people around, but no one was paying attention to us. I glanced at his hand again and then at his face. He was waiting patiently, still no sign of anger or frustration. He knew that I’d do what I wanted to do no matter what he said.

I placed my hand in his and looked him in the eye. “Don’t call me Andrea.”

He bowed slightly but otherwise didn’t do or say anything. I stepped up into the carriage and moved back against the side. It was covered, which was nice. Fewer people would see me than in an open carriage. I looked out the window at the trees, glad to have my hand back. My heart wasn’t racing, which was different, but I assumed it was because I had willingly put my hand in his. I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead and in my palm. I rubbed it against the seat trying to get it off just as James stepped in. He sat down next to me and hit his hand against the outside. We started moving and he relaxed beside me. I sat as close to the side as I could to avoid any more contact.

I snuck a peek at him once after he had been quiet for some time and saw his eyes closed. I tried to relax and went back to looking out the window. There was forest on my side of the carriage, which was pretty bland but still a nice change in scenery. I turned my attention to the other window and saw the ocea
n. The sun was starting to set which made the ripples in the water catch the sun when they peaked. It was a sea of sparkles. It was so mesmerizing that it took me a few minutes to realize that James had opened his eyes and was staring at me. I tried not to notice, but the longer I felt his eyes on me, the more I noticed how close he was to me. I shifted a little, meaning to move away, but it brought me a little closer to him. He didn’t move.

Now I was really uncomfortable and wasn’t even focused on the water anymore. I tried
not to show it as I moved again. I leaned back at an odd angle against the back of the carriage. I closed my eyes and let the relief of having some distance between us come over me.

I felt the seat shift and dared to open my eyes. James was leaning a little closer with his hand poised above my face. He kept it hanging for a moment before he slowly lowered
it onto my forehead. “Are you all right?”

“What?” I felt my pulse racing but couldn’t move. I wanted his hand off me, but I couldn’t feel my hands. Then I realized that I was sitting on them. When had I done that?

“You’re sweating bullets.” He moved his hand a little. “And you’re turning red.”

“I’m fine.” I managed to get one of my hands free
and placed it around his wrist to move it away from me. I wasn’t forceful by any means, not how I normally was.

He took the hint and started to pull his hand back himself. He looked at it, and then at me. “Are you sure?”

“Does anyone else live with you and Captain Brown?” I tried to change the subject to distract him.

He
glanced at his wrist again and then back at me. “He has a son my age. You won’t see him much though. I rarely do.”

“Why is that?”

“He works at night.” He gently placed his free hand over mine, which I hadn’t realized was still on his wrist, and loosened the grip. I’d been squeezing it and I noticed a slight red spot where my hand had been. I pulled it back to me and put my other hand over my wrist where he’d touched me. He watched me closely. “Are you really sure you’re all right?”

I went back to looking out my window, not that the trees had changed at all. However, the road was starting to turn. I knew there was no reason to get nervous. I’d lived with men my entire life, how was this any different? It was different because these men were very proper and had rules, different ones than I was used to. I knew I could handle it, but what was I to expect?

“Is there anyone else?”

“No, just the three of us. Look, we’ll be there in a few minutes, and then I’ll take you right upstairs. We can skip meeting Captain Brown for right now.”

“No. No. I don’t want to be in this dress any longer than I have to be.”

“Is it your head? I mean, I can tell the driver to go faster, but-“

“I’m fine, all right? It’s not my head or anything. I just wanted to know what I was going to have to live with. I just want to get there and get it over with.” I shifted again so that I was comfortable and not facing him anymore.

It was a small success because no sooner had I turned when the carriage stopped. I heard James get up and open the door. I turned my head he stepped down the steps. He turned around and looked at me. When I didn’t move, he held his hand out to me
with a patient expression on his face. I closed my eyes for a moment before I reluctantly stood. I put my hand on the top of the door, and as I started to step out, I looked up at the house.

Enormous would have been an understatement to describe it. It was made entirely of white stone except for the porch that wrapped around the front. I couldn’t imagine what kind of work had gone into
building this house. There was ivy climbing up the sides along with some around the porch railing. There were windows everywhere with the same type of ivy detail, but some of it was carved in stone. Off to the right was a garden of some sort with trees that were slightly different than the ones in the forest. There were so many different colors coming from that area that it didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the house, but it still somehow fit just like the porch did. A black-iron fence with a tall gate enclosed it. The building itself sat on a stretch of beach with the sun setting just off to the left. There were no other houses to the right, but I could see the town. To the left there was a building that was made in the same style as the house, but there was a patch of grass around it, and it was fenced in. Off in the distance there was another building, possibly a house, but other than that, there was nothing.

I looked back up at the house and didn’t realize I was about to miss the first step that I had been slowly lowering myself to. I fell forward but James caught me
before I hit the ground. My head was against his chest, and his arms were around me as he slowly set me on my feet. I felt the slight scare from falling start to evaporate. My breathing slowed and then picked back up when I realized that his arms were around me. That slight fact hadn’t registered when I was thinking about getting my breathing and heart back to normal.

I straightened up quickly. I smacked
my head on the underside of his chin and grimaced. I took a step back as he touched his lip. A small drop of blood came off on his fingertip. He looked at me and then at his finger again. The finger was on the same hand with the bandage. I shouldn’t have cared because it had never bothered me when I would beat up a man. However, this was unintentional, and when I looked at his black eye, and then at his hand in the wrap, I was overcome with an emotion I wasn’t used to. It wasn’t exactly regret or feeling guilty, because he did kidnap me, and I tried to fight back. But he still hadn’t acknowledged any angry feelings toward me, which made me wonder if that’s why I started to feel like this.

He wiped his hand on his pants and motioned for me to come toward him. I did, very slowly
since I didn’t know what to expect, and he put his hand on my back. I shifted, but then his hand was on my shoulder. He turned me so that I could look at his face.

“You’re going to have to live here, and it’s proper for a man to put his hand on female’s back out of courtesy. I promise, whatever you think I’m going to do to you, I won’t.” His eyes scanned my face as he said this.

“You’ll only put your hand on my back, nothing else?”

“I can’t guarantee that. But whatever it is that you’re thinking I’m going to do to you whenever I touch you, I’m not going to do it.”

“Look, it’s nothing personal. I just have a problem with anyone touching me.” I looked down at the ground.

“But see, in this lifestyle, you’ll have to get used to it. I’ll try to give you plenty of warning before I touch you.”

“Warning?” I looked at him skeptically.

“Yes, like on the ship when I kept clearing my throat to get you to open your eyes before I felt your forehead. It’s pretty obvious that you don’t like it when people touch you, but sometimes it can’t be helped. All I can do is give you a warning.”

So he was more observant than I had originally thought as well. I turned to the house. I still would not be comfortable, but maybe if he gave me warning, I could at least deal with it. If nothing else, we could discuss it later. I turned back to him. “It’ll only be when you absolutely have to?”