Page 45 of A Treacherous Treasure

Thomas was alone in the drawing room drinking his second brandy when he heard the carriage coming. He watched out the window as Benjamin and Caroline went to greet them and to help Rebecca and her mother and sister out of the carriage, as excited as if they were old friends who hadn’t been to visit in weeks.

Mother had confirmed his suspicions that Benjamin was developing feelings for Rebecca Heywood. But surely he knew that a seventeen-year-old, especially one who was not an heir, could have little to offer a widow like Rebecca. But a seventeen-year-old did not always use the best judgment, as he knew from experience.

When he was seventeen, he’d been in love with Priscilla Dewberry and had even asked her to marry him, vowing to love her until he died. He’d been so foolish then, so innocent and wide-eyed. It was almost unbearable to remember.

Priscilla had seemed equally eager to marry him, and he’d believed she loved him. But when Arthur discovered their engagement . . .

Thomas had himself told Arthur of it. Arthur had teased him, making a snide comment about him being eager to marry, too young to know what he wanted, getting engaged when he should be having fun, “sampling the wares,” as he put it.

Then, a few weeks later at a ball, Thomas could still remember the way his childhood friend had looked, that sneaky, malicious grin on his face when he saw them together. Soon, Arthur was asking Priscilla to dance, and by the end of the ball, Thomas could see that her attitude toward him had changed.

The next day, when Thomas went to confront Arthur, he had been even more snide, saying he would prove to Thomas that he was making a mistake, that he should be thinking about how many women he could bed, not getting engaged.

And then, a couple of weeks later, the rumors started that Arthur was courting Priscilla. She broke off her engagement to Thomas in a letter, and then, a few months after that, Priscilla disappeared.

The rumors were that she was pregnant with Arthur’s baby and had gone away to have the child in secret, since Arthur no longer wanted anything to do with her.

Furious, Thomas went to Arthur’s home and the confrontation turned into a shouting match, then an actual fight with fists, resulting in Arthur’s nose and lip dripping blood and Arthur’s mother screaming that she would have Thomas thrown in jail and tried in the King’s Court for attempted murder.

Needless to say, their friendship was over, with Mrs. Heywood vowing quite loudly to have him horsewhipped if he ever showed his face on their property again.

And now Arthur’s widow was dining again at their home, his mother, sister, and brother all happy to spend time with the widow of the man who had changed the course of Thomas’s life.

Of course, he had come to realize that Arthur had done him a favor. Though he was sorry for Priscilla and had secretly, anonymously, sent her money, he was glad he had not married a woman who might have been unfaithful to him after marriage. To be rejected before marriage was bad, but rejection and betrayal after marriage would have been infinitely worse.

How strange to think that Benjamin was the same age that Thomas had been then.

They all came inside where Mother was waiting for them. Thomas could hear her from the drawing room as she exclaimed her rapture at seeing Rebecca and meeting her mother and sister.

He could hardly blame his family for wanting to spend time with Arthur’s widow. Thomas had spent more time with Rebecca than anyone, and he’d come to enjoy nearly everything about her—her smile, her gentle voice, the way he never did anything she didn’t thank him for. He had been quite generous with her, but it was only because her life was in danger because of that ridiculous treasure that may or may not be buried on her property. Arthur’s property.

Thomas might not be seventeen anymore, but the pain of what Arthur and Priscilla had done was still fresh, when he allowed himself to think about it. Priscilla had rejected him, but Arthur had deliberately led her astray and then abandoned her, knowing he was hurting Thomas by doing so. But someone as cold and heartless as Arthur could never know just how much it had hurt.

He did believe that Rebecca had much more maturity and fortitude than other young women her age. Perhaps that was one reason why—besides the fact that his family loved her—he had let Fogg and Strader know he suspected them of murdering Arthur Heywood and shooting at Rebecca. He also made it perfectly clear that if they harmed Arthur’s widow, they would have to answer to him.

But he absolutely did not want to forget that she had loved and chosen Arthur Heywood over every other man.

He probably shouldn’t have had that second drink.

Once he was sure they had settled into the sitting room, Thomas came and greeted them all and sat down as far away from Rebecca Heywood as he could get. But that was almost worse, for he had a very good view of her, right in his line of vision. And she looked lovely, the way she was smiling happily, everyone else talking while she looked on. Then her eye caught his, and he could have sworn he could read her thoughts, and that she was wishing to ask him what had happened earlier that day when he confronted Fogg and Strader.

He still had not told his family where he had gone that morning, so he would tell them all at once.

The conversation quickly moved to the buried treasure that had become such a contentious problem, as they speculated on whether it would ever be found and how soon the would-be thief would be caught and brought to justice. Truly, they did not know how much danger they were all in, and as the only adult male between the two households, he’d have to be the one to protect them.

Where had his quiet life gone? The quiet life he’d so looked forward to when he was in the army and on the Continent, being shot at by the French? That life had been a daydream that faded as soon as he saw Arthur’s widow running toward him, being chased by a man with a gun.

As they proceeded into dinner, he noticed his mother had paired Benjamin up with Rebecca.

“You have been awfully quiet all day,” Mother whispered to him. “Has something happened?”

“Not exactly. I will tell you where I went this morning, but after dinner, when no servants are around.”

Mother raised her brows in that concerned way of hers, and he patted her hand.

Dinner was pleasant, up until he began to notice that Benjamin appeared to be trying to flirt with Rebecca, and she seemed to look uncomfortable, holding herself stiffly and avoiding eye contact with his little brother.

His heart constricted. As painful as it was to see her rejecting Benjamin, he also could see that she did not wish to cause him pain, but she was not interested in him as a suitor.