sheâd been traveling through. After checking every lodging house in the area, he knew she must live there, but he could find no trace of her. She seemed to have materialized on that dark night near the docks.
âYouâre a runaway,â he said quietly, watching when her expression confirmed his thoughts. âOnly I canât figure out who youâre running from and why no one is moving heaven and earth to find you.â
Turning away, Regan tried not to think that it was because the people she thought loved her didnât care where she was.
âThe only thing I can figure,â he continued slowly, âis that you did something to make your people pretty damned angry at you. I know for a fact you werenât caught in bed with the gardenerâs boy, so maybe you refused to do something they wanted you to do. Did you refuse to marry some rich old duffer?â
âNot even close,â she said smugly.
Travis only laughed because her eyes told him he wasnât too far wrong. But his laughter covered his true feelings. It made him very angry to think that anyone could just toss out a pure young girl into the streets, wearing only her nightgown. Perhaps in the heat of passion it could have happened, but how could they have let days go by and not searched for her?
âI was thinking that, since there doesnât seem to be any reason for you to stay in England, maybe you should go with me to America.â
Chapter 4
âW HAT!â R EGAN GASPED, ALMOST STAGGERED BY HIS words. âAmerica is full of boorish, illiterate people who live in log cabins. What is there besides wild Indians and terrible animals, not to mention great, savage people? No, I will not under any circumstances go to that backward place.â
The humor quickly left Travisâs eyes as he rose to come toward her. âYou damned Englishwoman! I get this all day from your âgentlemanlyâ countrymen. I get snubbed because they donât like the way I talk or dress, or they had a relative killed in a war that happened when I was a boy. Iâm getting damned tired of being looked at like something unclean, and Iâll sure as hell not take it from you.â
Backing away from him, Regan lifted her hand to her throat as if to protect herself.
âIâve tiptoed around you enough, and from now on youâre going to do what I say. If I left a child like you alone here, when itâs quite clear you havenât a friend in the world, Iâd never sleep again. I wonât bore you with what America is when you have such clear ideas of your own, but at least in my country we donât toss young girls out just because theyâre disobedient. When we get to Virginia youâll have choices of what you can doâsomething more suitable for an English âladyâ ââhe sneered the wordââthan walking the streets as would be your only alternative if I left you here.â
Narrowing his eyes, he glared down at her, pressed against the wall. âIs that clear?â He didnât give her a chance to answer before he slammed from the room, locking the door after him.
âYes, Travis,â she whispered to the still echoing emptiness.
She was glad when he was gone, since it was quite impossible to think when Travis was around. At least, perhaps, if she made him angry enough, he wouldnât force her to do those horrible things in bed, and he just might possibly release her if she provoked him. Smiling, she sat down and began to imagine her escape, how good it would be to get away from this boorish American. Imagine! she thought. The very idea of her going to America!
Snuggling in the chair, a quilt around her, she fantasized about what a dreadful place America must be, remembered every tale that had been told to her by a maid whose brother had traveled there and returned with horrible, treacherous stories, all of which the maid had told Regan in gory detail.