Liberty Hill (Western Tide Series) Read Online Free Page B

.”
                “He would have had you on the streets the night your father died!”
                Shocked, Evelyn’s mouth dropped.
                Lucius continued, wishing he didn’t have to.
                “You are nothing but a piece of property to him, Evelyn, and he has waited all these long years to hold the deed. He has wanted you for your money since before you were born. Your father was a wealthy man with a wealthy history. Much wealthier than mine. If not for your fortune, my da would have found some other way to make a profit off you. Everything my father owns is an asset to him, Evelyn. Even me.”
                He was silent a moment, as the truth of what he had said settled upon his betrothed. Evelyn recalled the morning Lucius went to the docks with his father for the first time, the way she had missed him all that day, the exhaustion he had exuded that night as he sat at her father’s supper table, spent from the day’s work.
                Lucius was immensely valuable to his father, and not only because he was his son; just as Evelyn was immensely valuable to Lucius, and not simply because she was going to be his wife. They were both of them useful, their intrinsic worth dispensable in light of their monetary merit. They were pawns; a fate Lucius could change, a fate Evelyn could not.
                “I see,” she replied presently, resignedly.
                They were silent a moment. Lucius sensed the disenchantment that had settled upon her, and he immediately grew sober. He did not wish to cause her pain. He merely wished to convince her of the benefits of his scheme.
                “This is for the best,” he said, adopting a tone of gentility. “I understand you want to go back to Ireland. It is my home as well. But we cannot go back. Not now. The people are hungry and there is unrest. If word spreads that I have returned, our lives will be in danger. I still have English blood in me, and the English are still out of favor. You and I will go to California, make a fortune of gold, wait out the potato blight, and return to Ireland when all has been put to right.”
                The mention of home gave Evelyn an idea.
                “Who’s to say I cannot return of my own accord?” she asked. “You may go on to California without me. No one need know we are not together.”
                “What, send you back to Ireland to starve? I know we’ve had our differences, Evelyn, but I’m not that heartless.”
                Evelyn was incredulous.
                “And you think the journey to California will be less dangerous than going home?” she wondered.
    Lucius smirked in reply and pulled two papers from his pocket. He smoothed them out and handed them to Evelyn.
    The name “ Steam Rose” was decoratively printed on the face. “For Panama” it read. “Sails 20 March 1849” .
    Evelyn’s eyes darted to Lucius’ face, for the twentieth of March was tomorrow.
                “You cannot be serious,” she whispered.
                “Oh, I am entirely serious,” he whispered back.
                “Lucius, there must be months of preparation needed for this kind of journey.”
                “I’ve taken care of everything. We’ll make berth in Central America, then find a ship bound for San Francisco. The Panama route is the quickest to California. I’ve told my father that I am taking you to New Orleans to look into trading slaves. A Flynn’s idea for a honeymoon, I daresay. He hasn’t a clue that tomorrow morning, we’ll be sailing towards a whole new world of possibility. Stupid man, to have wasted his time in this drab city while other merchants are snatching up gold left and right in Coloma and Centerville! Men of my father’s caliber are making triple his profits in San Francisco.” He