Counterfeit Lady (James River Trilogy 1)

“That was an easy time. I got more rest then.”

“Lord!” Wes said seriously. “Drink some more of this, and tell me what’s been going on.”

Wes loved Clay’s idea about kidnapping Bian

ca and then having her married to him by proxy. “So what happened when she got here?”

“She didn’t. Or at least she didn’t come in with Janie on the packet.”

“I thought you said you paid the captain for performing the service.”

“I did. He married me to someone, all right, but not to Bianca. The kidnappers took the wrong woman.”

Wes stared at his friend with wide eyes and an open mouth. It was a while before he could speak. “You mean you went to meet your bride only to find out you were married to some woman you’d never met before?” He took a deep drink when he saw Clay’s glum nod. “What’s she look like? A hag, right?”

Clay leaned his head against the tree and stared up at the sky. “She’s a little thing, French. She has black hair and big brown eyes and the most desirable mouth ever created. She’s got a figure that makes my hands sweat every time she walks across a room.”

“Sounds to me like you should be rejoicing, unless she’s stupid or mean.”

“Neither. She’s educated, intelligent, a hard worker, the twins love her, and everybody on the plantation adores her.”

Wes took another drink. “She doesn’t seem like much of a problem to me. I don’t believe she’s real. She must have some flaw.”

“There’s more to this,” Clay said and reached for the jug. “As soon as I learned about the mistaken marriage, I wrote Bianca in England and explained everything.”

“Bianca’s the woman you originally were to marry? How did she take it? I don’t guess she liked your marrying someone else.”

“I didn’t hear from her for a long time. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time with Nicole, who was legally my wife.”

“But not your wife in any other way?”

“No. We agreed to get an annulment, but there had to be a witness that the marriage had been forced, and the only one who’d testify was already on his way back to England.”

“So you forced yourself to keep company with a beautiful, charming woman. Poor man. Your life has been hell.”

Clay ignored Wes’s jibes. “After a while, I began to see what a gem Nicole was, so I decided to have a talk with her. I said that if Bianca read my letter and decided she wanted nothing more to do with me, I’d like to remain married to Nicole. After all, my first obligation was to Bianca.”

“That sounds fair enough.”

“I agree, but Nicole didn’t. She raged at me for half an hour. She said she wasn’t going to be second choice to any man, and…I don’t know what all else. It didn’t make much sense to me. All I knew was she wasn’t very happy. That night—” He stopped.

“Go on! This is the best story I’ve heard in years.”

“That night,” Clay continued, “she was sleeping in Beth’s room, and I have James’s, so when I heard her scream I went to her right away. She was scared to death of something, so I fed her a lot of liquor and got her to talk.” He put his hand over his eyes. “She’s had an awful life. The French mob carried her parents away to the guillotine and burned her house, then later they killed her grandfather and carried his head around on a pole in front of her.”

Wes grimaced in disgust. “What happened after that night?”

It wasn’t what happened after that night but during it that was so important, Clay thought. Every night, he lay awake remembering the night he’d held her in his arms and made love to her. “The next day she left me,” he said quietly. “Not really left me, but moved across the river to the old mill. She’s running the place now and doing a damn good job of it.”

“But you want her back, is that it?” When Clay didn’t answer, Wes shook his head. “You said women problems, not woman. What else has happened?”

“After Nicole got the mill going, Bianca showed up.”

“What’s she like?”

Clay didn’t know what to answer. She’d been living in his house for two weeks, but he didn’t know any more about her than when she arrived. She was asleep when he left in the morning, asleep when he returned. Once Anders had talked to him about her spending so much money, but Clay had dismissed the complaint. Surely he could afford a few garments for the woman he was to marry. “I don’t know what she’s like. I think I fell in love with her the moment I saw her in England, and nothing’s changed since then. She’s beautiful, lovely, gracious, kind.”

“It sounds to me like you know quite a lot about her. Now, let me look at the situation. You are married to one gorgeous creature and engaged to and in love with another equally gorgeous woman.”