Bound to Be a Bride (9 page)

“But?” He touched her bottom lip with his little finger.

“But… before, I felt like I was running to something, and now I feel more like I am running from something. That we are taking the coward’s way out.”

Javier scowled at her. “Coward?” If she had been a man, he might have called her out.

She pressed her palm against his lapel. “I am not saying you are a coward, my love.” She looked again toward the bay, now in clear view after they’d walked the few blocks from the jeweler’s shop. The
Sappho
bobbed patiently, waiting for its renegade passengers. “But don’t you think it is a miracle that we found each other? Despite every impediment?”

Javier sighed with apparent impatience and dragged his hand through his black wavy hair. “Isabella. We found each other, as you say, because we both happened to be in the forest—”

“My father’s forest—”

“Your father’s forest—”

“On the very same path—”

“Stop!” He smiled quickly, then shook his head as if he did not have time for smiles just then. “My wanting to kiss you all the time is very distracting.”

“I hope that is always true,” Isabella said softly.

“I suspect it always will be. But for now, we must address a few other pressing issues. If we stay, I might be in grave danger. You do not know the extent of my… activities here in Spain and to whom I might present a threat.”

“You are strong.” She grabbed his upper arm as proof.

“Oh, dear girl. Please, always think so. But I am not stronger than a bullet.”

Her face paled. “Someone has tried to shoot you?”

“Many people, I am afraid.”

“Oh. My.”

“Yes, oh my.”

She looked around again as if someone might be about to take aim right then.

“Isabella, look at me.”

She turned to do his bidding.

“I am not going to get shot today.”

“As if you could know such a thing,” she snapped.

“It’s much more than that.” He leaned in close and she thought he was going to kiss her again. She flushed with embarrassment when she turned her lips to be kissed and he shifted her head sideways so he could speak quietly, directly into her ear, without being overheard by any passersby. “I cannot go into every detail,” he began, “but I am part of a much larger organization that is working to overthrow the invader, Napoleon. Many of us believe that victory must come from an overthrow of every layer of his empire, from the highest halls of power to the lowliest colony.” He pulled away briefly to check her eyes, to make sure she was listening.

She nodded solemnly and turned her ear back to him.

“I have been chosen to assist the revolutionary forces in Mexico that are already in place to repel the despot.” He pulled away again and spoke directly this time. “Do you understand the consequences of what I am suggesting?”

“Yes,” she answered too quickly.

“You must think, Isabella. You can take all the jewels back to Badajoz and say that I captured you in the forest, that I held you hostage until I was safely aboard the
Sappho
, and then had one of my officers escort you back to your father’s castle. You will be safe. I should make you do that, if I were a selfless man.”

She leaned into him, breathed him in. “But you are a selfless man.”

He stiffened, misconstruing the direction of her thoughts.

“In all things but me.”

He pulled her away to look into her sparkling black eyes.

“I hope you are always devilishly selfish when it comes to me,” she said, taking hold of his lapels with a fierce, possessive grip. “Because if you ever said you could live without me for even one day, I would hate you for loving me less than I love you.” She shook his jacket for emphasis.

“Then we go down together.” He gave her a quick kiss.

“Or up,” she winked.

He checked the angle of the sun. “Now that you mention it, I think we have just enough time to marry before we board the ship.”

“What?!” Isabella cried as he pulled her in the direction of the Convent of Jesus.

“Let us go visit your heroine. The tomb of Saint Joan is there, I believe. I probably have just enough coin to bribe a priest.”

“Impossible! How could you possibly bribe a priest?” Isabella asked with pure innocence.

Javi picked up the pace and tried to stifle a laugh. “Quite easily, as it turns out.”

Within fifteen minutes, they were in a shadowy back chapel of the monastery with a very cheerful and suddenly richer priest eager to formalize their union.

He licked his thumb and began flipping through the pages of the Bible. “Do you have a preference about the passage?”

Javier translated the priest’s words from Portuguese to Spanish.

“Well,” Isabella began, “I have always been fond of the Song of Solomon but there is also that—”

“Please ignore her and get on with it,” Javier told the priest in Portuguese.

“Javier! Really! I may not speak the language, but I understood
that.
”

“I meant that in the most respectful way, Isabella,” he continued in soft Spanish. “Please. We might be under attack shortly and I need to be able to present you as my lawful wife if any of us are going to survive.”

She screwed up her mouth for a few seconds. “Oh, fine. Just marry us any old way.”

The priest stared at them. “Are you really wanting to get married, then?”

“
Sí!
” they both cried simultaneously.

“All right then…” The priest deepened his voice for the occasion. “My dear friends, you have come together in this church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of the Church’s minister…”

Isabella knew the words in Spanish and followed along well enough. The priest spoke at a rapid clip, racing to complete the words of the ceremony with an unintelligible garble that seemed to suit Javier just fine. When the breathless man finally finished, maybe fifteen minutes after he had started, Javier pulled Isabella into his arms and bent her backward at the waist, one strong arm supporting her lower back. He kissed her soundly, then pulled her just as swiftly back to a standing position.

“A good afternoon to you, Doña de la Mina,” he said with more than a hint of mischief.

She was reeling from that kiss, especially with a man of the cloth in such close proximity, but she found her voice. “It doesn’t sound nearly as bad as I thought it would. In fact, it is quite a sturdy, reliable name.”

***

Within a few minutes, the silhouettes of Marco and Sebastián were clear against the crystalline blue of the sea. When the two men made out that Javier was not alone, Isabella watched as Sebastián tore his cap off and whipped it against his thigh in outrage.

“It’s all right. I will talk to him.” Javier pulled her closer.

They were all standing together a few minutes later. The calls and shouts of fishermen, dockworkers, and sailors flew around them.

Sebastián was furious.

“Isabella and I are married,” Javier declared.

Marco’s mouth flew open, then shut just as quickly.

Sebastián spoke to Javier as if Isabella were not there. “Is she with child?”

Javier slapped him across the face before Isabella realized what Sebastián had said. Several dockworkers slowed in their labors to see if a brawl was about to be served up as the afternoon’s entertainment.

Marco looked at his two best friends. “That is quite enough.”

Neither man looked away from the other’s glare. Javier had removed his glove and was slapping it with taunting menace against the palm of his other hand.

“Are you going to keep slapping it or throw it down, you bastard?” Sebastián baited.

Javier lunged at him, but Marco was able to step between them before either could connect a blow.

“
Basta!
” It was Isabella’s voice that stopped them all. “That is enough. I hardly have any honor left for you to defend, Javi. Back away from your friend.” She pulled at her husband’s arm, squeezing the strong muscles to pull him back to his senses. He turned to look at her with blind eyes. “Please,” she added softly.

He took two steps away from Marco and Sebastián. “Either she comes or I don’t go.”

Sebastián answered quickly, “Well, that’s easy enough. Fare thee well.” He turned on his heel and made to leave them.

“Sebastián!” Isabella called.

He stopped but did not grant her the courtesy of turning around.

“Damn him,” Javier growled. “I will kill him.”

“No, you won’t!” Isabella chided in a harsh whisper. She left Javier where he stood, motioning for Marco to keep him in place, then walked the few yards to where Sebastián stood with his back to her. She circled around to face him and began speaking, too softly for Javier and Marco to hear. After a few moments, he slapped his hat against his thigh again, but Javier could tell it was with resignation this time. After Isabella was apparently finished, Sebastián remained still for a long moment, then swept into a low bow of courtly obedience. Javier stared in disbelief. Isabella offered him her hand, then smiled when he kissed her gloved knuckles and she told him to rise.

She came back to her husband’s side with a smug set to her luscious lips.

“What was that?” Javier asked, jutting his chin toward Sebastián in revulsion.

Isabella was beginning to enjoy the soothing (or agitating) effect she had on her husband. It was a thrilling sort of power, to unnerve such a powerful man. She looped her arm through his and smiled. “Are we not expected aboard the
Sappho
?”

Javier knew he was being played, but she had the advantage of being right. The four of them walked down the dock to the north, where they had arranged to get a launch to take them out to the
Sappho
.

After a few minutes, Isabella began speaking. “I have been trying to recall why Sebastián’s name sounded so familiar, and then it came to me this morning when we barreled down that hill into this beautiful city.”

“Go on,” Javier said, his anger finally beginning to cool.

“He yelled the battle cry of his family and I realized we are related. Our great-grandmothers were sisters, and the de Montizóns were forced to declare fealty to the de la Vegas ever since the two sisters married arch rivals.” Isabella smiled up at Javier with a look of pitiless victory. “Is that not delicious? He is my sworn servant!”

“I believe we all are, my dear, lady wife.”

“Oh, he might be”—she blushed—”but I think you are my master, are you not?”

“I might have thought so, but now I am not convinced. If you continue to look at me with that invitation in your eyes, I believe I will do anything you ask.” His voice had grown husky.

Her blush deepened. “Javi. Stop that.”

He smiled and patted her hand over his arm. “You will not be saying that again anytime soon.”

She swallowed her gasp at his impertinence and allowed herself to enjoy the hot flow of desire that those words caused in her.

Before they reached the launch at the north end of the docks, the clatter of hooves and shouts of a large crowd could be heard behind them.

“Oh, look, it must be a parade!” Isabella pointed with childish enthusiasm.

The three men froze.

“Marco! Your spyglass,” Javier asked with deadly calm.

Marco hesitated for a split second.

“Quickly! Damn your eyes!” Javier barked.

“Here,” Marco said with a sullen expression. “Why don’t you carry your own spyglass if you are so keen to use mine, eh?”

“Quiet!” Javier said.

Sebastián looked briefly at Isabella, then shook his head slowly from right to left. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“That’s enough!” Javier was angry, but Isabella could tell he was also calculating something in his mind.

“What is it?” Isabella asked, sensing the rising tension among the men. “Someone, tell me!”

Marco looked at the approaching mob. “They’re coming for you, Isabella.”

“What?! No! Hide me! Do something!” She pulled at Javier’s sleeve. “Do something, Javi!”

He narrowed his eyes one last time, gauging the distance and the time before they would be upon them.

“Very well.” He handed the spyglass back to Marco. “Sebastián. Marco. You still have time to make the launch. You should go.”

“We are staying,” they both answered.

“Fine. Are you ready?”

All three men pulled their swords simultaneously and formed a human shield around Isabella.

“Stay behind us, no matter what, Isabella,” Javier ordered. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she complied.

A few tense minutes later when the men and horses and carriages were nearly upon them, Javier took a deep breath and dipped his chin over his shoulder so only Isabella could hear him. “Ready to face them, my lady.”

“With you, I will always be ready.”

Almost immediately, Isabella recognized her father’s booming, angry voice and tried to dash from behind Javier. He held her in place. “No! Isabella, stay. He sounds out of his head.”

“Come here and face your just reward, you cretinous whelp! How dare you shame my daughter’s purity—”

“Oh, he has no idea how soon that’s going to happen,” Javier mumbled as he reached behind his back and grabbed her hand in his. Her eyes slid shut.

“You come here like a man and I will give you what’s coming to you—”

“Mmm, better and better,” Javier said as he pulled Isabella tighter against his back.

“You are terrible,” she finally managed to whisper. “He is your father-in-law. You must show him respect.”

“No. I mustn’t. But if you insist,” he whispered, then raised his voice and resheathed his sword. “Your Excellency—” he began, addressing his irate father-in-law. He realized within a few seconds that he was also facing his own father and mother.

The Duke of Feria spoke. “There is nothing you can possibly say to restore your honor. You have defamed the de la Mina name and insulted my daughter in every possible way. Not that I care in the least, but do you have anything to say for your lily-livered self?”

Javier turned toward the crowd of men that surrounded them, reached for his sword again out of habit, then heard the pull of swords and the cocking of guns as he did so. He quickly raised his empty hands in the air.