Clay hadn’t wanted to see her yet. First he wanted to talk to Nicole, reassure her, prevent her from worrying. He started to rise, but Wes gave him a look of warning. Clay shrugged and sat back down. Maybe Wes wanted to be alone with her.
“This must be a great shock to you,” Wes said, his voice carrying easily across to Clay.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Bianca said.
“You can be honest with me. Clay told me the whole story. You came all the way from England, expecting to marry Clay, only to find he’d married someone else. Now he openly lives with her.”
“You do understand!” Bianca cried gratefully. “Everyone seems to be against me, and I don’t understand why. They should be against that awful woman, Nicole. I’m the one who’s been wronged.”
“Tell me, Bianca, why did you want to marry Clay in the first place?”
She was silent.
“I’ve been thinking,” Wes continued. “It seems that we could help each other. You know, of course, that Clay is a man of some means.” He smiled at Bianca’s eager nod. “The last few years, my own plantation hasn’t been doing so well. If you were mistress of Arundel Hall, you could help me.”
“How?”
“Now and then a piece of livestock could stray onto my land or maybe a few bushels of wheat could disappear. Clay wouldn’t miss them.”
“I don’t know.”
“But you’d be his wife. You’d own half the plantation.”
Bianca smiled. “Of course. Could you help me get to be his wife? At first, I was sure I would be, but lately I’m not so sure.”
“Of course you’ll be his wife. If you’ll help me, I’ll help you.”
“I will. But how will you get rid of that awful Nicole? She throws herself at him and, stupid man that he is, he enjoys her harlot’s ways.”
“I’ve heard enough,” Clay said flatly from where he towered over Bianca.
She turned, her hand flying to her throat. “Clay! You gave me such a fright! I had no idea you were near.”
Clay ignored her and turned to Wes. “There was really no need for this. It took me a while, but I finally saw what you meant. She’s not Beth.”
“No,” Wes said quietly, “she’s not.” He stood up, his eyes going from Clay to Bianca. “I think you have some talking to do.”
Clay nodded, then held out his hand. “I owe you a lot.”
Wes grinned and shook his friend’s hand. “I haven’t forgotten that punch you gave me. But I’ll pick my time to repay you.”
Clay laughed. “It’ll take you and Travis both.”
Wesley snorted, then left Clay alone with Bianca.
She was beginning to understand that Clay had heard all of her conversation with Wes and that Wes had purposely planned it so he would. “How dare you eavesdrop on me?” she breathed as Clay sat opposite her.
“Your words didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Tell me, why did you come to America?” He didn’t wait for her answer. “I once thought I loved you, and I asked you to marry me. I was…haunted by you for a long time, but now I realize that I never loved you, that I never even knew you.”
“What are you trying to say? I have letters where you say you’ll marry me. It’s against the law to go back on a proposal.”
Clay looked at her in astonishment. “How could you consider a breach of promise when I’m already married? No court in the world would ask me to leave my wife to marry someone else.”
“They would when I tell them the circumstances of the marriage.”
Clay’s jaw hardened. “What do you want? Money? I’ll pay you for your time. You’ve already accumulated a sizable wardrobe.”
Bianca fought back tears. How could this crude Colonial ruffian understand what she wanted? In England, she’d not been able to mingle with the crowd of people who had once been her family’s peers because of her lack of wealth. Some of the people she knew in her reduced status laughed behind her back at her proposal from an American. They insinuated that she couldn’t get anyone else. Bianca had hinted that she’d had several proposals, but it wasn’t true.