Remember Me - Regency Brides 03 (19 page)

As the sky began to brighten her path, Helen grew so weary that she plopped down tiredly on a log to rest a bit. Three times she slapped at the same mosquito as she considered she should have come up with a better plan than just running away. If only North hadn't decided to go to his cousins' plantation, then she might have done better, but as it was, there was simply no time to think much less plan.

"Does this mean you've changed your mind?" a voice spoke behind her, startling Helen so much she screamed.

Whirling around, she saw Sam standing there, laughing at her reaction, and that made her mad. "It's impolite to sneak up on someone like that! You nearly scared me to death!" she charged as she placed a hand on her chest as if to steady her racing heart.

Sam raised a black brow as he pretended to check her over. "You look alive enough to me," he teased. With his calm expression, it was quite hard to tel . "So does this mean you want to marry me?" he tried again, this time his expression changing to a hopeful smile.

Helen sighed. "Sam, you know I can't marry you. I don't love you, and I'l bet you don't love me, either."

Sam looked at her as if she were crazy. "A man doesn't choose a wife because of some sil y emotion like love! If she's a good woman, hard worker, and likes children as you do, that's al I need." He shrugged. "It's hard to find a good wife with those qualities, you know."

Helen shook her head, needing to get to the point of why she had come looking for him. "Sam, enough about that. I came because I need your help."

He immediately became concerned. "What has happened? Are the Baumgartners al right? That preacher hasn't done anything to hurt you, has he?"

"No!" she quickly assured him. "It's me, Sam. I've done something very bad, and I need your help to get away from here before everyone finds out."

Sam clearly did not believe her. "Helen Nichols, what could you have possibly done that was so bad? You're a good woman."

She quickly blurted out her story, giving him the basic facts and not painting herself as anything but a deceiver and liar. "So you see, Sam, once North arrives at the Kent plantation, he'l know the truth, and then he'l hate me for what I've done not only to him but also the church! The people wil be crushed to find out he's not real y their preacher."

Sam threw up his hands. "So marry me, and it won't matter if they are upset with you. In time they wil forget, and we can have a happy life together." Helen covered her ears in frustration. "Sam, wil you please stop with the proposals! I cannot marry you, for I love North!"

Sam shook his head as if he didn't understand her words. "But since he won't marry you after this, why not me? I may be your only chance to marry once everyone finds out."

She glowered at him. "You're not making me feel better, Sam. Wil you help me get back home or not? I'm not even sure I have enough money to get home."

Sam let out a resigning sigh. "I'l help you, Helen Nichols. My cousin is captain of a merchant ship that makes regular trips to France. He doesn't sail, however, until tomorrow. You might as wel come home and stay with us until then."

Helen looked at him, confused. "Us?"

"
My
elder sister, Leah, has a house next to mine. You can stay with her."

"You have a sister?" she asked, a little too surprised, for Sam scowled at her.

"Yes, and I have a mother, father, and two brothers. Did you think I was raised by wolves?" Helen thankful y didn't have to answer that question, because Sam bent down and grabbed her bag. "Fol ow me," he said gruffly.

By the time they reached Sam's and Leah's houses, she'd apologized for everything from turning Sam down to thinking he was so barbaric. He final y accepted her apology, but she could tel he was stil miffed that he had been unable to talk her into marrying him.

The cleared area where the two very English-looking cottages were set was surprisingly beautiful and unlike any of the homes she'd seen in the area. They were placed side by side and faced the bayou. There was even a path that led down to a large pier and a swing hanging from a large, shady oak. The houses were painted yel ow and blue with white trim and shutters. Rosebushes surrounded both residences, along with various other flowers that Helen knew must be tended to every day, for they were so perfectly groomed.

"What a lovely place you have," Helen complimented as he walked her to the yel ow cottage. Before knocking at the door, Sam threw her a glance that said al this could have been hers, too.

A tal , very beautiful woman with golden skin and long, black, shiny hair answered the door. She might have looked like any number of Indians in the area except for her startling blue eyes. "Hel o," she said hesitantly as she looked from her brother to Helen with a quizzical expression.

"Leah, this is Helen, the woman I've been tel ing you about," Sam told her in his straightforward way.

Helen, so fascinated by the woman's eyes and the fact she was wearing a pretty morning dress instead of leather, blurted out,
"You
are not completely Indian!" As soon as the words left her mouth, she started to apologize, but Sam interrupted her.

"I never told you, but my father is an Englishman. He and my mother live in Brighton, England. So you see, I'm not a complete barbarian," he told her wryly.

Helen was trying to digest that startling piece of news when Leah said with excitement, "You are to marry my brother then?"

"No!" Helen said a little forcibly. When she saw Leah's smile turn to a confused frown, she quickly added, "I mean, I've come to ask Sam to help me get back to England," she told her briefly.

"Why don't you brew us some tea, Leah? We wil fil you in on the predicament Helen Nichols has made for herself"

Sam certainly has a way with words,
Helen thought morosely, as she stepped into the charming cottage and began to tel her story once again.

~

When North rode from the reunion with his cousins the next morning, he couldn't help humming a happy tune as his borrowed barouche rol ed steadily back toward the Golden Bay plantation and back to Helen. The Kents had been so relieved to see he was alive and had tried hard to get him to stay a few more days with them, but he told them that he must get back to settle his affairs and to make the truth known of who he real y was.

He was ready to tel Helen that he knew the truth. They'd played games with one another long enough, and he so wanted everything to final y be in the open with no more secrets between them.

When he final y pul ed into the front of the plantation, however, North knew right away that something was wrong. Several neighbors were gathered on horses around Mr. Baumgartner, and he seemed to be instructing them to do something for him.

He looked to the front porch and noticed Mrs. Baumgartner hugging Josie, and both seemed to be very worried about something.

And where was Helen? Why wasn't she outside with them?

As he climbed down from his vehicle, Josie spotted him and ran down from the porch, with Imogene fol owing closely behind her. "Reverend North!" Josie cried as she ran straight into his arms. She mumbled something about Helen into his coat, but she was talking too fast for him to understand.

As his arms came around her to try to comfort the hysterical little girl, he looked

'worriedly at Imogene. "Where's Helen? Has something happened to her?"

"She's gone, North," Imogene told him, using the nickname she'd probably heard Helen speak so often. "She told Josie about your memory loss, but she also told her something else that might come as a big shock to you." She paused, seemingly having a hard time getting the words out.

"I know, Imogene. I know I'm not Hamish Campbel ," he supplied for her, and he watched her let go a breath of relief.

"Then you know that you're ...uh..."

"Trevor Kent, the Duke of Northingshire. Yes, I do know that."

"Helen's real y sorry she lied to you, Reverend ...." She was cut off when her mother whispered something in her ear. "I mean ...Your Grace?" she cal ed him, wrinkling up her nose in question as if it didn't sound right. "Anyway, she was crying and saying you would hate her after you found out, so she's decided to go away," Josie explained in one breath.

North's heart felt as though it had dropped to his toes. "Gone? Where could she have gone?"

Imogene shook her head. "She told Josie she was going to sail back to England.

I suppose she's found a way to get to the port. We're about to send some men down to look there for her."

"You don't hate her, do you? She didn't mean for al this to happen. She was just trying to get you to like her," Josie pleaded, grabbing hold of his coat.

North took the time to comfort the young girl by putting his hands over hers. "I don't hate her, Josie. I know she loves me, and I stil love her. But I need to go look for her." He looked at Imogene. "Tel your husband to keep looking around the area just in case she's lost in the swamps or forest. I'l ride down and see if she was able to get aboard a vessel."

"Take a horse from the stables," Imogene offered, pointing to where one of their stable boys was standing. "Tel him to saddle one for you."

In a matter of minutes, North was on a horse and riding as fast as he could toward the port. He prayed he could remember the directions that had been given to him as the horse darted along the unfamiliar wooded path.

He could hardly believe his eyes when a man suddenly stepped into the path of his horse. He barely had time to recognize the man as being Sam, when his horse reared up in fear and promptly knocked him on his back.

After he final y got his wits
and
his breath back from the hard fal , North pul ed himself from the dirt and glared at the Indian, who just stood there staring at him with narrowed eyes. North had been under the impression they had become friends. They'd gotten along famously during their target practice, which had turned into a competitive yet enjoyable archery match.

"What is wrong with you, man?" North yel ed at him as he tried to shake the dirt off his coat and britches. "You could have been trampled!"

"I just wanted to save you the trouble of looking for Helen," Sam answered calmly. North was surprised when Sam mentioned her.

"What do mean? Do you know where she is?"

"She's decided to accept my offer of marriage, and I even get to keep my horses." He spoke again with the same even voice. He could have been talking about the weather; he seemed so nonchalant. Didn't he know North was insane with worry?

' You're lying! What have you done with her?" Sam's eyes flared at the implied accusation.

"If you're asking if I'm holding her against her wil , wel , think again. She came to me, white man!"

North didn't know what to believe. Surely he wasn't tel ing the truth, he thought, starting to doubt. Surely she couldn't decide to marry Sam just because she thought North would be upset with her?

"Listen, Sam. I am out of my mind with worry for her. If you can drum up any compassion within your heart at al , you'l take me to her. I have to see her," he told him, trying a different approach with the Indian.

Sam seemed to take an exceptional y long time to study him, as if looking for the truth. "You're not going to hurt her, are you? She seems to think that you hate her now."

North shook his head, growing irritated by the long wait. "I love her! And when I find her,
I'm
going to be the one who marries her," he stressed. "Now, please, take me to where she is!"

Sam had the audacity to laugh. "You were a lot calmer before you remembered you were a duke," he told him, then turned his head toward the woods and whistled. One of his prized black stal ions he'd been trying to trade for Helen came trotting out to him. Sam hopped into the saddle, motioned for North to fol ow, and took off at a run.

North snapped his reins and rode with the Indian until they arrived at two pretty cottages in a clearing. North didn't wait for Sam to show him which one Helen was in. He jumped off the horse and began to cal her name. He stopped short when a beautiful Indian woman walked out of the yel ow cottage, her bril iant blue eyes studying him curiously. North found himself just standing there for a moment looking at her. She had the face and hair of an Indian and the eyes and dress of an English woman.
Very odd and yet very striking, indeed!

"You are North? The English duke?" she asked m a soft American accent. He nodded. "Yes. Can you tel me where I may find Helen?" He got to his point right away. . .

She didn't answer him at first but leaned her head to the Side in a thoughtful, contemplative sort of manner. "You won't hurt her, wil you? Helen said you would be very upset with her."

North frowned with incredulity. "Why does everyone suppose I am a violent man?

I just want to take her back to the plantation.”

"I've told him that I'm to marry Helen," Sam said loudly, as he walked to stand by his sister. North saw the twinkle of laughter in his eyes, but he was in no mood to play games with the Indian.

The striking woman merely sighed at Sam s words and told North, My name is Leah, North...or should I cal you Your Grace?" She shook her head. "Anyway, wait right here and I'l cal for Helen."

North saw her open her door and stick her head in as if to talk to someone. The door opened wider, and Helen reluctantly walked out. Her face was a mask of guilt, and she only glanced once at him before looking back to the ground. Was it guilt for what she'd done, or bad she truly agreed to marry Sam instead of him?

He didn't wait to find out!

He stormed right up to Helen and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her eyes flashed at him with surprise.. "Tel me that you are not marrying Sam," he demanded, not caring that he might sound like a lunatic.

Confusion creased Helen's brow as she shook her head. "Is this why you are here? You are upset because you believe that I am marrying someone else?

Aren't you even upset that I lied to you and made you think you were Hamish Campbel ?"

North moved his hands down her arms to link his fingers with hers. “I already knew that Helen." He brushed her concerns aside, not noticing Helen's fiery reaction to that statement. "Are you or are you not marrying Sam?” he asked again.