Alex grimaced.
“But it was a good try,” she said. “Really, I almost believed you.”
Alex laughed. “Then it was worth it.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go, little brother, and see what awaits me.”
“You, not me,” Cay said gloomily. “You saw in the dining room what’s waiting for me.”
“Those girls aren’t bad, brother. Maybe when I get back I’ll be invited to your wedding.”
“You are not funny.”
Laughing, Alex tightened his arm around her shoulder, but she twisted away.
“I hope an alligator eats your leg.”
“Now, lass, you don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. I—” She broke off because they’d reached the dock and standing amid the many boxes and crates was a tall man wearing a snowy white shirt, with a dark green vest, and fawn-colored breeches. On his head was a big felt hat with a wide brim. His face was turned away from them, but she could see that he was young and had a horseman’s muscular thighs.
“Is that him?”
When Alex looked at her, he frowned at her expression. “I guess so. Why?”
“He reminds me of someone I know, that’s all.”
“I think you should go back to the boardinghouse. If Grady recognizes you, we’re sunk. I promise that I’ll come to say good-bye to you this afternoon.”
She moved away from Alex when he again tried to put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m not going back to that place until I have to. I wish he’d turn around so I could see his face.”
Alex stepped in front of her to block her view. “I don’t like this. If you think you know this man, then he’ll know you. He won’t think you’re a boy.”
“If he’s who I think he is, he won’t recognize me, since the only time I saw him, I was eight years old.”
“I still think—” Alex began.
“Are you Yates?” came a voice from behind them.
Reluctantly, Alex took his eyes off Cay and turned around, and when he heard her gasp from behind him, he realized that this was the man she knew.
James Grady was a very handsome man. He looked to be in his early thirties, was as tall as Alex, but heavier built, as he hadn’t spent weeks in near starvation. He had dark hair and gray eyes, and there were long dimples in his cheeks.
As soon as Alex saw the man, he knew things about him. Like Cay, Grady seemed to exude an air of money. When you looked at the man, you saw a drawing room with port in crystal glasses and cigar smoke. You saw women in dresses so elegant they looked to have been created on Mount Olympus.
Without a doubt, Alex knew that James Grady was an older version of the rich plantation boys Alex had beaten in the horse races in Charleston. In other words, he was of the same class and education as Cay. He was of her crowd, her social station in life. He was her equal.
Alex told himself he had no reason to hate the man, but he could feel the emotion coursing through his veins.
“Are you Yates?” the man asked again.
“Yes,” Alex finally managed to say. “I’m Alex Yates.”
“And you’re the friend T.C. wrote me about, the one who can handle any animal?”
“Ah dunnae kinn abit ’at, but I’ll dae th’ best Ah can.
“I beg your pardon?”
During this exchange, Alex had managed to keep Cay behind him. She’d tried to escape his grasp on her, but he’d held on tight. At last, she dug her elbows into his back and he had to let go.