Free Bonds of Matrimony by Carrigan Fox Page B

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competition?”
                “Latch
on to you?   I am hardly
latched.   I enjoy playing cards and
having an occasional drink.   You
apparently enjoy the same things.   I wasn’t latching, I assure you.”
                “Playing
cards and the occasional drink?   You’re a woman, for Christ’s sake!”  
                Throughout
this civil discussion, their voices grew louder and louder.   This last exclamation was the loudest
of all.   The silence that followed
was deafening.   Her pulse thundered
in her ears.   She was infuriated by
his paranoia and arrogance.   And at
the same time, she had never found him more attractive.   His brown eyes were nearly black.   And he was standing too near for her to
ignore his masculine scent.
                “For
the safety of my sister and me, I would appreciate it if you would keep your
voice down.”
                “If
the men on this ship knew that you’d been playing them all this time, you would
be in more danger than you think,” he threatened.
                “I
haven’t been playing anyone.”
                “You
sure seemed to enjoy yourself.   It
looks like it was a game to me.”
                “It
was never a game.   But I won’t deny
that I have enjoyed myself.   No
frilly dresses with petticoats that get in the way.   No restrictions on what I choose to do with my day.   No undermining my decisions.   Being a woman, in some ways, is like
being in a perpetual prison.   We’re
not free to do as we see fit.”
                He
narrowed his eyes and yanked the hat off her head.   “You sound ridiculous ranting about the woes of women while
you’re dressed in a hat and a pair of trousers.   Take your hair down.   You look ridiculous to me like that.”
                “You
haven’t thought so for the past five days,” Chase reminded him, refusing to
look away from his mocking eyes.   She
did untie the band around her short hair and shook it free.   The curls bounced around her face and
shoulders, and she wished—for the first time in her life—that she
had not cut her long and feminine hair.
                He
sneered at her then and said with a straight face, “I think you looked better
as a boy.”
                At
first, she was insulted.   But then,
she took a step closer to him, bringing her face within inches of his face as
he hovered over her.   “I think,” she
sneered back, “that you’re afraid of me now that you know I’m a woman.”
                He
threw his head back and laughed.   “Very few things scare me, lady.   And I’ve never met a woman who made me afraid.”
                She
stuck out her hand, fingertips grazing his flat stomach.   “Chase Fairfax,” she greeted.  
                He
shook her hand with a slightly confused look on his face.
                “One
morning, Webb, when you wake up and realize your life has been turned upside
down, I want you to remember this very moment.”
                He
grinned cockily, his face still only a few inches from hers.   “Why’s that?” he asked.
                Without
thinking, she stretched up onto her tiptoes.   At the same time, Chase grabbed the back of his neck with
both hands and brought his lips down to meet her own.   He pulled back as though her lips had scalded his.   His eyes widened in bewilderment as he
breathed heavily.
                “Because
this, Colton Webb, this is the beginning.”
    ***
                By
the time he turned, she had already walked out of his cabin and closed the door
behind her.   This is the
beginning?   Of what?
                It
occurred to him that she was probably plotting with her brother.   She had probably known all along who he
was.   She had followed him around
like a puppy dog, lapping up