on his best, bored aristocratic expression Alex said mockingly, “He’s an earl. Where do you think his estate is?”
The man cursed roundly, turned away and stalked off down the marble steps without another word. He met with three others a few doors down. Alex smiled as the detective gave his cohorts the news. “You’re welcome, you vulture,” he said under his breath and stepped back inside.
Now to find out if Mrs. Patience Wexler Gorham was brave enough to consider starting over in Texas.
Patience returned to the study, responding to a summons from Alexander Reynolds. Her nerves were still jittery after hearing the lies her father was willing to tell about her. Contrary to her previous belief, a heart could break more than once. But she had no time to nurse it.
Alexander stood as she entered the room. Heddie Winston trailed after her and surprisingly joined her husband on the divan. Having servants party to a meeting was an oddity but Alexander seemed quite at home with the situation. She rather liked that about him. Actually she liked a great deal about the man Amber had told her about. She wondered if he was really the man she saw and if his kindness was not just a facade, as her husband’s had been.
He gestured to the high-back chair where he’d sat during their earlier interview. Patience sank into it gratefully, her knees still a bit weak.
“Thank you for cooperating earlier, Mrs. Gorham,” Alexander said and leaned against the desk.
“As you pointed out, doing as you asked was for my benefit. What is it you wished to tell me? Does it appear I can successfully flee?”
“I may have managed to shift your father’s search from this neighborhood and, in fact, from these shores for a while. Right now they believe you arrived here in time to escape to Britain as part of the earl’s entourage. But that will last only so long.”
Patience felt suddenly a bit lighter. “That means it may be safer for me to sell my jewelry to use for train fare.”
“Safer but not entirely safe,” he cautioned. “The Pinkertons are wily and may still question New York’s pawnbrokers. Besides which, it isn’t right that you should be forced to sell that jewelry. I assume it’s all you have left of your mother.”
Patience nodded, any elation gone at the prospect of selling the pieces to ensure her safety as she had promised her mother. In its place flowed memories and pain at the thought of letting them go.
On nights when her husband’s cruelty had been nearly too great to bear, she’d crept to her closet to finger her grandmother’s emerald-and-ruby set. She’d close her eyes and remember the Christmases around the tree at her grandparents’ home. Nana had always worn the jewels on Christmas, their vibrant colors just right for the occasion.
Standing in her closet, Patience had held tight to her mother’s diamond necklace, the one Mama had given her that fateful morning they’d set off for home. “If you need to get away before I can convince your father to intervene, you must use these,” Penelope Wexler had begged.
“This isn’t about sentiment. It is about survival,” Patience said now, repeating her mother’s last private words to her.
“Yes, it is about your survival,” Alexander agreed. “I have an idea how to accomplish that and more. First you should know there is a part of your situation I am afraid you don’t know. Your betrothal was announced in the Times this morning.”
Patience gasped then had trouble forcing the air back out. “I refused. How could he do that?” She shook her head. “Mr. Bedlow is going to be furious when he learns I ran away. He is a man who cherishes his pride. This will make him a laughingstock. He will never give up. Never!”
“If you’re willing to take a chance, this additional information may not matter but I felt you had a right to know if you didn’t—which you clearly did not. My idea is why I’ve asked the Winstons to sit in on this talk. I’ve purchased a ranch in Texas Hill Country. The Rocking R is near a small town called Tierra del Verde. I am to leave for the Newark, New Jersey, train station in less than two hours. From there I am to go to Philadelphia where I will board the earl’s private car to travel from Philadelphia as far as San Antonio, Texas. You are welcome to join me.”
Patience stared at him—elation warring with fear. Alexander Reynolds, she knew from Amber’s letters, had lived most of his life in the pursuit of one thing—seeing to his cousin’s safety. But Alexander was also a man. Patience couldn’t ignore that basic fact. How could she travel from New York to Texas in a train car alone with a man? Any man? Even Alexander Reynolds?
Mr. Gorham had seemed all that was kind and gentle until their wedding night, when he’d been unable to perform and had blamed her. That night and all the nights after. He’d tortured her nightly, squeezing and pinching her breasts till they’d been bruised purple. Men, once alone with a woman, became animals.
Alexander cleared his throat, drawing her attention. “I know this idea is a shock, but I must urge you think on it. If you traveled alone, you would be at the mercy of any number of strangers.
Strangers you would know nothing about and there would be no one with you to assure your safety. Even if you were lucky enough to travel unmolested, you would be in plain view. You are a lovely young woman and will draw the eye of everyone you encounter. That would make you extremely easy to track.
“The Pinkertons are very good at what they do. You will never elude them on your own. And that your father is powerful enough to hire them is even more of a worry for your chances alone. The betrothal announcement speaks to his confidence in finding you and bringing you to heel.”
As her heart pounded with fear, Alexander looked toward the Winstons. “And I have a proposition for both of you. It may come to light eventually that we three have aided Mrs. Gorham in her flight. Lionel Wexler, Mrs. Gorham’s father, is a powerful man used to getting his own way—as is her betrothed. Neither man will be happy with anyone who has aided her. If Jamie decides not to return to New York from Adair, you will both be released from his employ. I fear you might have difficulty obtaining new employment here in the East.”
“The day I let something like that stop me from doing what’s right is the day I’ll cease to be a good Christian woman,” Heddie Winston blustered. “Isn’t that right, Jordie?” she said to her husband. Apparently a man of few words, Winston merely nodded. “San Francisco was good to us. We’ll just go on back there.”
Patience blinked back tears of gratitude to these three strangers. “Please know I am grateful for all your kindnesses to me. But at the same time I am so sorry to have brought this trouble to your doorstep.”
Alexander spoke again. “It may be of no consequence to any of us. I have an idea to avoid any and all backlash from this.” Still looking at the Winstons he said, “I wondered if you two would consider accompanying Mrs. Gorham and me to Texas to work for me there. We would all travel in the earl’s private train car. There is plenty of room. And I think Mrs. Gorham would feel more comfortable with chaperones along. I’m told the car has two staterooms, four berths, a comfortable sitting room and a small dining area. But it is some distance by coach from San Antonio. There is no Indian activity in the area so you needn’t fear attack on the way. Still, I will see that men from the ranch are there to act as outriders for us on the rest of trip.
“Before any of you answer, let me tell you what awaits you at journey’s end. Tierra del Verde is a small town by any standard we are used to but it is quaint with Spanish influences
