Capture The Night by Geralyn Dawson Read Free Book Online Page B

Réunion is doomed to failure. I think a good example is the position they take on a woman’s place in society. Come on, now, Maddie, equality for women?”
    Madeline sucked on her lower lip. Of the myriad points he could have argued, he had to pick the one nearest to her heart. She put the chill of the North Sea into her voice as she said, “Why is it that I am not surprised by your attitude? I suppose you don’t believe that women are as intelligent as men?”
    Brazos shook his head. “I’m not saying some women aren’t clever about some things—I’ve never known a man who could bake a cake worth a damn— and I’m not claiming they don’t have their uses. But as smart as men? Don’t be ridiculous!”
    A fencing foil, she thought, right through the heart. Or perhaps the liver, he mightn’t have a heart. Monsieur Rejebian was a fencing master surely he could furnish her a weapon. Lifting her chin, she said, “What about Cleopatra and Catherine the Great? Queen Elizabeth? Now, there was an intelligent woman for you. She never married!”
    Brazos blew a slow whistle. “Ooh, Maddie. You could slice beef jerky with that tongue of yours. Look, you can’t count those women—they’re royalty, freaks of nature. They don’t have anything to do with a normal female.”
    Madeline breathed deeply to maintain the tenuous hold on her anger. “Mr. Sinclair, La Réunion will succeed, and much of that success will be due to the respect the men of the society have for the female members.”
    “Yeah, that same respect that caused you to propose marriage to a total stranger, right?” He folded his arms and waited, a victorious grin on his face.
    Lightning slashed the sky in the distance. It could just as easily have been coming from her eyes. Her voice was tight as she said, “A woman at La Réunion will have the freedom to choose her occupation. If she has an idea for a piece of machinery or a suggestion on where to build what, she’ll be listened to, and she’ll be the one doing the creating and building.”
    Ignoring Brazos’s snort, she continued, “At La Réunion, a woman can earn and keep her own money, separate from her husband.” She flashed her own winning grin right back at him. “And at La Réunion, women will have the vote.”
    “No!”
    “Yes.”
    “Now, there’s a scary thought.” Brazos grimaced. “I can see it now, they’d vote to make gingham curtains mandatory on every window in America.”
    “Pink ones, probably.”
    “Hell, I’d have to emigrate myself if that happened. Yellow I could abide, maybe blue. Never pink.”
    Madeline shrugged.
    Brazos, with a penitent expression on his face, took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m not sayin’ women are dumb, Maddie. I want you to understand that. They just don’t think like men.”
    “Thank heaven for that.”
    This time Brazos did the ignoring. “Women simply don’t think logically,” he said. “They lack common sense.” Madeline snatched her hand away from his as he continued, “I think it must have something to do with the size of their brains. A man’s is bigger, so he’s just naturally smarter and ladies get shorted a bit on horse sense. Instead, they think with their emotions, and I, for one, can’t think of a better way to end up in trouble.”
    Madeline sputtered indignantly. The foolish man actually believed this nonsense! Why was she even listening to him. Be honest , a voice inside her whispered. Isn’t that what most men think of women? Isn’t that why you are so intrigued by the Fourierist philosophy? The thought of living in a society that judged women as equal to men was seductive. Listening to Brazos Sinclair made the idea irresistible. “Mr. Sinclair,” she said, her voice dripping sarcasm, “your logic leaves me speechless. It must be that emotional part of me, wouldn’t you say?”
    “I imagine so.”
    She lifted her gaze to the heavens, and frustration added a sharp edge to her voice as she said,