“No, a lady alligator wrestler. If anyone needs to be taught what passion is, it’s my brother.”
“Like I taught you about it?” Alex’s eyes turned warm.
“Ha! I’m the creative one. I taught you most of what you know about everything.”
“Aye, that you did, my love,” Alex said softly as his arms tightened around her. “I’m going to miss you. No matter how long I’m gone, even if it’s just ten minutes, I’m going to miss you every second of that time.” Gently, he kissed her, and when she tried to turn it into more, he drew back and took her arms from around his neck. “I must go.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed her nose. “Tonight I’ll have a story to tell you about why a woman faked her own death.” He kissed her chin. “And I’ll hold you in my arms and tell you all of it.”
“You promise?”
“On my honor.” He went to the door. “And when this is all over, I’ll tell you in detail what I feel about you.”
“Swear it?”
“I swear it.” Smiling, he opened the door and looked out into the hall. “I’m surprised that one of your brothers isn’t here watching your door.” When he looked back at her, there was such longing in his eyes that for a moment she thought he was going to change his mind. But in the next second he stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
Cay collapsed on the pillow and began to cry. But five minutes later, she sat up. She was going to follow him. She was going to see for herself that Alex was no longer in love with the woman he’d married. If she saw that that was true, then she knew she could return to Virginia and wait forever for him. She thought about calling for a bath to be brought to her, but there wasn’t time. She was going as the dirty boy people thought she was.
Silently, she slipped out of the room and went down the hall.
Twenty-five
“What the hell are you doing here?” Tally asked as he pulled Cay in through the hotel window. “And how the hell did you get up here to the third floor?”
“If you don’t stop cursing I’m going to tell Father about that fat woman you had on your lap. Did you know that the whole family thinks you’re a virgin?” She stood up in the room, noting its elegant furnishings. “This place costs a lot. Who’s paying for it?”
“What do you know about virginity?” Tally asked. “And since when have you cared anything about money except how much of it you could spend?”
“As we go through life, we learn things.” She dusted off the seat of her pants. To get into the room, she’d had to scoot along an iron balcony so the people in the room next door wouldn’t see her.
“You sound like you’re on a pulpit. And when are you going to put on some clean clothes?”
“When I feel like it, Mr. Priss.” She gave Tally a look up and down and saw that he was dressed in his finest. She was glad to see that he was wearing the jacket she’d embroidered. “The twins liked your coat.”
“They kept putting their hands in my pockets. Why can’t other girls be like them?”
“The rest of us have brains. So where are they now?”
On a marble-topped table was a bowl of fruit and a basket of bread. There was also a pot of lukewarm tea. “I’m starving.”
“After what you ate last night, I’d think you wouldn’t want to eat for the rest of the week.” Sitting down across from her, Tally stretched his long legs out. “How did you find us?”
Cay gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It wasn’t difficult. I want to go to Charleston with Alex.”
“It seems to me that you want to be with that man every minute of every day.”
Cay motioned that her mouth was full so she couldn’t answer him.
“They won’t let you stay here in this room, you know. Adam will send you away.”
“Not if he doesn’t know I’m here.” She gave a look around the pretty sitting room. On the far side was a tall cabinet set about a foot from the corner wall. There was just enough space beside it for her to hide. She looked at Tally.
“Oh, no, you don’t. If you hide and you’re found out, Adam will blame me.”
Cay broke a piece of bread in half and buttered it. “Might I remind you of all the things I know about you that I could use for blackmail?”
“I think I know some things about you, too,” he said slyly.
“I’m so glad. I do hope you tell Father that I’ve been sleeping with Alex McDowell for weeks now so he’ll make us get married.”