to dance,” replied Miranda smoothly.
“You are so thoughtful, my dear, but I insist that you rest.”
“I will be taking her home to rest, Lord Hammil,” piped in Davy as he placed his arm around Miranda’s waist and removed her from the dance floor. Lord Hammil smiled at his guests as he followed the pair. He then caught up with Davy and Miranda near the entranceway and grabbed Davy’s arm to stop him.
“Don’t ever take Miranda away from me again. You have made me look inconsiderate and foolish in front of my peers,” spouted Lord Hammil as quietly as possible. Davy knocked Lord Hammil’s hand away from his arm and glared at him as he told Miranda to go to the carriage. He waited a few seconds before he glanced and saw her step inside. He then turned on Lord Hammil and bore down on him like a fierce storm on a ship.
“You don’t need me for that. You should have been more considerate toward her when forcing her to stand on her feet for most of the night just to please your peers. She’s a woman, not a doll. If you wish to put her on display to impress everyone, that is your right, but I will not allow such careless treatment of her. I think only of Miranda’s welfare, Lord Hammil. As her guardian I love her as my daughter, so forgive me when I say that I could care less for your pride and agenda.” Lord Hammil stood fuming as he watched Davy walk the rest of the way to the carriage. He then stormed off as he heard it roll away.
CHAPTER 3
“Lord Hammil wasn’t pleased with our leaving so abruptly, but I could tell that you wanted to go.” Davy whispered those words as he took off Miranda’s shoes and rubbed her feet one by one in the carriage as they left Lord Hammil’s estate. Miranda pressed her back forcefully into the seat as she stretched her legs out to lay them upon Davy’s knees, his muscular hands massaging from her toes to her heels and ankles. A sigh of pleasure escaped her lips as she rested her head against the seat.
“I made a mistake, Davy, a big one. I told Lord Hammil that father had accepted his proposal of marriage.” Davy paused for only a moment while his eyes bore into Miranda’s.
“If you recall, I heard the announcement of your engagement earlier in the evening. Do you feel that it was wise to speak for your father?” Was all that Davy had said as he resumed massaging Miranda’s feet.
“You know as well as I that Father would accept the match, you have admitted as much to me.” Davy didn’t answer, he only glanced at her periodically, disapproval in his eyes. “Don’t look at me that way, you know I’m right. Anyway, I took Lord Hammil for a wealthy fool, but now I’ve realized that he is much smarter than what I thought. You know how we talked about letting Lord Hammil show me affection? Well, I let him and I won’t be ashamed to tell you that I wasn’t at all impressed with his kisses. He grabbed me by the shoulders passionately but the kiss didn’t show how excited he was to touch me, not that I have much experience in the matter. I will admit that it was pleasant, but I didn’t feel anything in my heart and I thought I would. I am mildly disappointed with my first experience. He lacks emotion, I think. He shows no passion in the art of love, and yet he shows passion for other things.” Davy raised his eyebrows at Miranda’s words.
“Is this why you almost broke into tears when we were alone earlier?” His curiosity overcame him as he saw the look of sadness in her eyes.
“Yes and no, I felt overwhelmed. I would have duties, as Lord Hammil’s wife, in taking care of his large estate and then having to deal with his abnormal expectations of me. He asks too much from me and I don’t think I could live up to his demands. Also, he has asked me to go to the Caribbean with him so we can marry at his estate in New Providence, at least that request I would do eagerly.” Davy stopped what he was doing and looked up at Miranda.
“Are you serious? What did you say to such a proposal?”
“What do you think I said? I said I would go, of course. He knows nothing of Father’s identity, and I figure that if he can take us to New Providence then it wouldn’t take much for us to go to Eleuthera in secret to check on Father, if he is there.” Davy pushed her feet abruptly off of his knees. Miranda almost fell forward from the action, a look of surprise in her eyes.
“Lord Hammil is not a fool. You cannot treat him as such.”
“Since when do you care for his feelings?” Miranda’s eyes narrowed into slits.
“Watch your tongue with me child, he’s a smart man. I know that you do not love him and I think deep down you fear him. Why? What did he do or say to make you distrust him?” Davy folded his arms in front of his chest awaiting his answer.
“What makes you say such things?” Miranda lowered her eyes, knowing that what Davy said to her was true.
“Lord Hammil is soon to be your husband, and yet you feel that you can dupe him to get what you want. Not a good way to start a trusting relationship. If you cared for him at all, you would never use him like you are planning to do. I was the one who told you not to share with him the truth about you and your father because the connection could be deadly, and I still feel that is the correct decision. But you can’t honestly believe that we would be able to hide from him the truth of your desires to see your father. We don’t know if he is even at Eleuthera. You are assuming he is because that is where you want him to be.” Miranda gazed out the carriage window, a single tear falling from her eyes. She never liked it when Davy raised his voice to her. She always felt like she was wrong or had made a bad decision, even when she thought she was making the right one. It hurt her feelings when Davy yelled at her.
Davy saw the lonesome tear fall down Miranda’s cheek and changed his sharp tone to one less angry. He knew how sensitive Miranda was and yet he often forgot. She had been this way since she was a little girl. It was because of this that she was rarely punished. When she did misbehave, Stratton and/or Davy had to be careful when yelling at her. The tears she would cry would bring more torment to them than they ever would her. Davy took a deep breath before continuing.
“You regret your decision, lying about your father’s approval, which you never should have given without his permission. You know better, but you regret your decision now because Lord Hammil isn’t the man you thought him to be. You thought he was a man you could control, who had a weak will you could convince to do your bidding. Now, because he has shown to you his true self, you have decided that you do not love him, which is not uncommon. He has wealth and power, which is both encouraged, and yet when he speaks to you of demands, your faith falters. Talk to me, Miry, what has he said for you to change your mind so quickly?” Miranda raised her soft brown eyes to meet Davy’s blue ones and blurted out her answer.
“Lord Hammil can be very demanding. He told me that he expects me to act a certain way, to be trustworthy, honest and faithful. Faithful he said to me as if I was going to go and have an affair as soon as we were married. He tells me that he is a jealous man and that he will kill anyone if they touch his property and that includes me. His hands shook with his words. Yes, his actions scared me very much.” Miranda intertwined her fingers together and placed them in her lap, her eyes looking at the folds of her dress.
“Then, after I saw you in the Hall and you explained to me where that room was where I could fix my appearance, I still could not find it and walked into the wrong room. I was about to leave when I noticed something on a chair. It was a piece of parchment that had a picture of my crystal on it and Lord Hammil had written a list of information on the right side of the picture. Davy, he wrote that Father was missing in the Caribbean and that a man of his crew was captured in Port Royal. It seems that Lord Hammil is going down there, not only to marry me at his estate in New Providence, but to take care of business for the queen in Port Royal. The business of finding
