Twin of Fire Read online

  For a moment, Blair couldn’t understand why the man in her arms had called her by her sister’s name.

  Remembrance came to her all too swiftly. With a feeling of sheer horror, she started to pull away from Lee. “I have to go home,” she said, and her voice showed all that she felt.

  “Houston,” Lee said, “it’s not the end of the world. We’ll be married in two weeks, and then we’ll spend all our nights together.”

  “Let me up! I have to get home.”

  He looked at her for a long moment, as if he were deciding whether or not to be angry, but at last he smiled. “You can be as shy as you want, sweetheart. Here, let me help you with that.”

  Blair couldn’t even look at him. It had been the most wonderful experience of her life, but it hadn’t really belonged to her. She had cheated her sister, cheated the man she was to marry, and lied to this man who …who…

  Under her eyelashes, she looked at Lee as he helped her with her corset strings. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be back in his arms and, if he asked her, she’d probably board the next train with him and forget all about her obligations to other people.

  “You certainly seem to know your way around a woman’s underclothing,” she snapped at him.

  Lee chuckled as he held the taffeta petticoat for her to step into. “Well enough, I guess. Shall I do your garters for you?”

  Snatching her hose out of his hand, she sat on a chair and began to roll them onto her legs, trying her best to ignore him. What in the world had she done? Houston was going to hate her. And what would Lee say when he found that his bride was a virgin—again? And what would Alan say if he knew? How could she explain to him? Would anyone believe her if she said that he’d touched her and after that she’d had no more control over her own body? Maybe all the things that Duncan Gates said about her were true.

  “Houston,” Lee said, kneeling in front of her. “You look as if you’re about to cry.” He took her hands in his. “Look at me, sweetheart. I know how you’ve been raised, and I know you meant to stay a virgin until we were married, but what happened tonight was between us and it was all right. I’ll be your husband in very little time, and then we can enjoy each other as often as we want. And if you’re worried about the morality of what we did, I’m a doctor and I can tell you that many, many women who enter marriage have spent some time alone with the men they love.”

  He was making everything worse. The man she loved was not the man she’d just made love to, and the man she was to marry had not taken her virginity.

  She stood. “Please take me home,” she said, and Leander obeyed her.

  Chapter 6

  “Good morning,” Leander said with uncharacteristic jubilation to his father and sister, Nina, who sat at the breakfast table.

  Nina, twenty-one and very pretty, paused with her coffee cup on the way to her mouth. “Then it’s true what I heard,” she said.

  Lee helped himself to an enormous plateful of food from the sideboard.

  “Sarah Oakley called first thing this morning and told me that last night at the reception you and Houston couldn’t take your eyes—or hands—off each other. She said that she’d never seen two people so in love.”

  “Did she now?” Lee asked. “And just what was so unusual about that? I have asked the beautiful lady to marry me.”

  “But there have been times when you looked as though you wanted to run away rather than stay with your lovely bride.”

  Lee smiled at his sister. “When you grow up, baby sister, maybe you’ll know a little more about the birds and the bees.” As he put his plate down across from her, he reached over and kissed her on the forehead.

  Nina nearly choked on her food. “That does it,” she said, looking up at her father. “He’s either mad or he’s finally fallen in love.”

  Reed was leaning back in his chair and watching his son with great interest. When Lee looked up at him and winked, his worst fears were confirmed.

  “You sure know a lot about women, Dad,” Lee grinned and Reed burst out laughing.

  “I don’t think I want to know what that little exchange was about,” Nina said primly as she rose to leave. “I think I’ll call Houston and give her my condolences.”

  “Tell her I’ll pick her up at eleven,” Lee said with his mouth full. “And I’ll bring a picnic basket.”

  Reed stayed in his chair and lit his pipe, something he rarely did in the morning, and watched his son eat. Usually, Leander ate slowly and carefully, but today he was wolfing food as if there were no tomorrow. He seemed to be lost in a world of his own, a world of happiness and plans for the future.

  “I’ve been thinking about that women’s hospital lately,” Lee said, as he bit into a two-inch-thick biscuit. “Actually, Houston made me think of it. Maybe it’s time that I start looking into building the thing, or maybe I’ll buy that old stone warehouse at the end of Archer Avenue. With some work and some money, that place could be just what I need.”

  “Houston had this idea?” Reed asked.

  “Not really, but she helped. I have to get to the hospital, and later I’m to meet Houston. I’ll see you.” He grabbed an apple and, at the doorway, he paused to look back at his father. “Thanks, Dad,” he said, just the way he did when he was a boy, and today he reminded Reed of the boy he’d once been, before he took on the responsibility of planning marriage.

  All morning, Lee whistled at the hospital and his cheer was infectious. Before long, the entire hospital was smiling and grumbling less about the work to be done. The young prostitute who’d tried suicide the day before benefited the most from Lee’s good humor. He talked to her about the joy of being alive and then got her a position on the nursing staff at the women’s clinic, promising to watch over her and to help her in the future.

  At ten minutes to eleven, he jumped in his carriage and drove downtown to pick up a basket that he’d had Miss Emily prepare at her tea shop.

  “So it’s true,” Miss Emily said, smiling and making her pink-and-white face crinkle into tiny tissue paper wrinkles. “Nina has been talking about her lovesick brother all morning.”

  “My sister talks entirely too much,” Lee said, but he was smiling. “I don’t know what’s so unusual about my being happy, because I’m marrying the most beautiful woman in the world. I’ve got to go,” he said, as he rushed out of the shop.

  He left his horse and buggy to the care of the Gates’s stableboy, Willie, took the steps two at a time and raised his hand to knock.

  “You can go in,” came a voice from the shadowed side of the deep porch. “They’re expecting you.”

  Leander looked into the shadows and saw Blair there, her face turned away, but he could see that her hair was straggling and her face streaked. He went to her. “Has something happened? Is Houston all right?”

  “She’s fine!” Blair snapped, starting to rise.

  Lee caught her arm. “I want you to come over here and sit down so I can look at you. You don’t look well at all.”

  “Leave me alone!” she half cried, half shouted. “And don’t touch me!” She jerked away from him, ran down the stairs and out of sight around the house.

  As Lee was standing there in open-mouthed astonishment, Houston came onto the porch, pulling on gloves of white lace.

  “Was that Blair shouting? You weren’t having another one of your arguments, were you?” she asked.

  Lee turned to her with a look of pure joy, his eyes going up and down her, as if he wanted to drink in all of her. “It was Blair,” he said in answer to her question.

  “Good,” Houston said, “I was hoping you’d see her. She’s been like that all day. For some reason, I think she’s been crying. I thought you might know what was wrong with her. She won’t answer any of my questions.”

  “I’d have to examine her,” Lee said, as he helped her into the carriage, but as soon as he touched her, he couldn’t seem to let go, and held onto her waist.

  “Lee! People are watching.”