Elizabeth Drake

Chapter Seven 2

Elizabeth did not question him. His eyes told her that he was serious. The more that she thought about the man before her, the more she realized that he was useless to her.

“Go on then,” she said boldly. “I am no better or worse off without you.” Her words were spoken with a controlled rage. “You and my brother have done very little to help me.” Even though she felt completely responsible for her brother’s condition, it was not entirely her fault. “I am standing two miles away from where this all began. In one week, I have made little progress in getting to Oswald Roshire.” Her anger had built considerably as Ryan stood silent. However, she did not seem close to stopping. “I have suffered the loss of my father and the loss of my home. I have no need of your constant bullying!”

With every word that she said her eyes began to betray her. She hated the obvious sadness in her voice. Elizabeth was simply angrier than she had ever been before. The more she stared at him, the more her tears embarrassed her.

“Go back to Burdery, Mr. Hawke.” Turning in the thick mud, Elizabeth held up the white bottom of her new dress and crossed the road to the pub.

Ryan expected her to go inside the pub, but Elizabeth stepped onto the stone path and continued walking toward the corner of the street. He thought about calling to her. It was a dead ringer that Vincent was going to be furious, but once again Ryan was incapable of feeling guilt or empathy. Shaking his head, he started off for the carriage.

He could not see her shoulders slump forward, and he was not aware of her crying again. All he could think of was the information gained from the factory. However, Ryan became acutely aware that Elizabeth had called his name. The soul of his boot was just placed on the step of the carriage, and he knew that he should not turn around. Sighing heavily, he set his boot back in the mud.

The grayish blue dress seemed to blend in with the fog that surrounded the small town. Although he could not see the details of her face perfectly, he knew that she was still crying. Ryan stayed where he was and gave a lot of thought to his actions. If he ignored her and continued his way, he would have been better off. However, before he could reach a decision Elizabeth began to walk slowly toward him.

It was his only opportunity to turn away from her. If Elizabeth were to reach him, he would have no choice but to help her. If he stepped up onto the driver seat, he may be lucky enough to never see her again. Another heavy sigh escaped Ryan’s chest as his boots remained in the mud.

“Mr. Hawke,” she said as she came close enough to talk softly. Elizabeth had no idea what to say. Up until that moment, her only plan was to get him to stop. “Those men are going to come looking for me, aren’t they?” Even though she waited, Ryan was not going to answer the rhetorical question. “If you will take me to my friend’s house first, I will give you the letter when we leave.”

“I don’t want the letter.” His voice was harsh even though she had done a rather good job of ending her emotional breakdown. “I just want you to know that this is serious.” Ryan watched her continuously as she tried to divert her eyes from his. “I know Gatler very well. If Andrew wants you, Gatler will do what he can to get you, even if that means killing Vincent, me, or anyone else that stands in his way.” Elizabeth stared down at the mud. So, Ryan lifted her chin to force her attention. “I can slow him down, but I don’t know that I can stop him.” Once her stunning blue eyes looked up to him, Ryan wished that he had let her stare at the ground. “If getting that letter to Oswald can save you and your brother, then we need to hurry.” Instead of answering him or nodding her head, Elizabeth was stunned by the gentle touch of his hand. “The only thing that waits for you at your home is more pain and suffering. There will be time for that later.”

“I just want to…” Elizabeth wanted to argue.

“Later,” Ryan released her chin but held her gaze. “I will take you to your friend’s house, but we have to hurry.” He waited for just a moment until she nodded her head in agreement. “Alright, get in.”

She wanted to move, but there was something that kept her still. The moment seemed to last longer than she wanted it too. Elizabeth tried to look at the carriage, but she could not take her eyes off Ryan.

“Miss Drake,” Ryan said as he brought her out of her thoughts. Elizabeth shook her head slightly and looked toward the carriage. Without a word she hid her moment of embarrassment by turning to the carriage quickly and reaching for the door. “Why don’t you ride up front? That way you can show me where your friend lives.”

The way to Fanny’s house was simple. She did not need to ride up front. There was one road to the north of town. Her house was just over a mile down that road. However, Elizabeth took the suggestion with ease.

“Alright,” she whispered as she moved toward the driver’s seat of the carriage.

The firm grip of his arm made her nervous when he helped her up to the seat. The horses pulled the carriage forward through the mud, and they rode in silence to the edge of town. The wound on his hand remained caked with dry blood. She tried to ignore it, but before Elizabeth could remind herself of her manners, she looked over at the man next to her.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“New York.” Ryan glanced at her for a moment before he watched the road ahead.

“Did you fight for money there?” Her question was innocent, but pushy.

 “See the thing about New York is, you’re either rich or you’re not.” Adjusting his grip on the reins, Ryan shifted his foot a little before he continued. “I was not rich.” He noticed her looking at his hand again as he spoke. “I fought to survive.”

“But did you get paid for it?” She asked. “My father heard that some folks were so poor there, that men had to fight for money.” A quick smile flashed across Ryan’s face before he turned to her.

“No, I did not fight for money. Well, at least not like what you heard. I was more of a free agent.”

“What is that?” She asked as her interest grew.

“Does it really matter?” Ryan looked away from her as he tried to bring the subject to a close.

“Well, how do you know Gatler then?” Elizabeth did not take his hint. Ryan let his head fall forward a little, before looking back.

“Why am I so interesting to you suddenly? I don’t know if you have noticed at all, but I like to keep to myself.”

“Humor me.” Elizabeth ignored his attempt at privacy. She was not at all secure with him. However, she feared him less. The tone of his voice and the blank emotionless stare had become more comfortable to her. Glancing at her before shaking his head, Ryan wondered if it was too late to put her back inside the carriage.

“You are annoying. Do you know that?”

“And you are rude, thoughtless, and arrogant.” Elizabeth tried to brush the mud off her skirt with little success. “So, how do you know Gatler?” His smile was not pleasant, but she ignored it rather well.

“You are not going to stop, are you?” There was no answer for a few seconds, and when she turned to face him, Ryan decided to give up the information. “We came over together from New York. We had never actually met there, but we found out that we had a lot in common one night when he tried to cheat me out of a card game.”

“How did he try to cheat you?”

“He pulled out the same Ace that I had slid up my sleeve.” Even though Elizabeth did not see the humor right away, Ryan chuckled at the memory. “After a few struggles on the ship, we decided that we had better work together in Burdery.” The road curved to the right while it eased up the hill. “Within a month we had made a name for ourselves.” One of the horses exhaled loudly, making a huffing sound as it raised its head. “Gatler met Andrew and started to make more money. I met another business opportunity.” When Ryan stopped talking, Elizabeth did not know whether she should ask anything more, or if she had pried enough.

“How did you meet my brother?”

“The same way I meet all Burdery’s high society. I collect on their debts.” The answer did not bother him as much as it seemed to bother her. Elizabeth gave him her full attention.

“My brother does not have any debts.”

Lowering his head Ryan realized his mistake. It would have been easy for him to tell her the simple truth. However, the truth did not matter to her. The woman had been through quite a bit already. There did not seem to be any point in telling her what happened. With a heavy sigh he changed his story.

“Fine, we met for tea after church.”

“You’re a liar.”

“Of course, I am, and you keep asking me questions!” Every moment that went by made him wish that he had left when the opportunity arose.

Elizabeth was nearly irate. Ryan had insinuated that her brother had a dark history, when she had seen his success at the bank.

“I asked how you knew the man that helped kill my father. Had I known that you were about to affront my brother as well, I would have refrained,” she stated.

“No, you wouldn’t,” he pointed out, “You are the one who wanted to ask me everything that popped into that little head of yours.”

“How dare you?”

“See there you go again, asking questions that you don’t want to know the answer too.”

“How on earth my brother tolerates working with such an egotistical man is beyond me!” Raising her hand to motion toward Fanny’s house, Elizabeth avoided looking at him. “There, just drive to the house.” Ryan could not believe the tone of her voice. Before she knew what happened he pulled the horses to a stop.

“Are you ordering me around?”

“What are you doing? We are nearly there?” Her look of shock was more enjoyable to Ryan than he could have ever imagined.

“I am not accustomed to taking orders, little Miss Priss. So, if you want to get to that house in this cart, I suggest you find a nice way of asking.” The blank expression had returned with the darkness in his eyes.

“I’d rather walk,” Elizabeth smiled sweetly.

Ryan let the reins fall to his feet as he looked at her with a devious grin. “Then get down.”