They Finally Stopped on a Corner Near the Port

Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 1

Chapter Three

Colin and his new interest, Nic, finally stopped on a corner near the port. Stepping out of the carriage, the couple drew immediate attention, not only because of Nic’s unusually striking looks, but the quality of their carriage was rarely seen in this part of town. As if she didn’t even notice the stares, Nic led him to a small, cellar-like tavern amid the tightly packed houses. It didn’t seem like the sort of place Colin would ever venture inside. He was following this strange, but beautiful girl around Portugal, without Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 2 even questioning where she was taking him. What was he thinking? Wasn’t this the way men of title were kidnapped or duped into some pre-planned scandal?

As he entered the shabby tavern, he immediately felt out of any ability to control his fate. The tavern obviously vended to a pathetic lot of working class men, mainly from the nearby port. He couldn’t imagine what the patrons thought of him, for he obviously looked as part of the British ton. His admirable tan and green suit was of the trendiest lines and cut. His finely cut black calfskin boots were highly polished. His bronze hair was cut short and neatly styled to fit his rank. All aspects of his appearance heralded his status and nationality. He felt outmatched by his surrounding and was completely ill at ease.

Nic briefly spoke with a barmaid in a language he didn’t even try to understand, and then returned to Colin who had not left the entryway. “I asked for their house meal.

Shall you choose a table, my sangue azul?”

“Only if you cease calling me that name,” he sternly replied as he lightly took her elbow to lead her to a table far from the other patrons. The innocent touch was electric between them. Nic flashed him a brilliant smiled at his irritation over her pet name for him. Why did she have to prove to him how beautiful she was? Or did she not know how presumptuously she was flirting with him? That would be just his punishment – to be with a woman so desirable whose presence consumed all around her and she did not even know it. Colin was use to being the one who charmed all around him effortlessly. Women swooned to be in the very room with him. But his charm was nothing in comparison with this siren. Her unassuming airs made it worse. He was having difficulty enough not Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 3 clearing off one of the tables in the middle of the bar and taking her right there.

Something about her was making it very difficult for him to concentrate.

The barmaid quickly followed and set two glasses of deeply colored port wine to the table. Again left alone, Nic sat motionless with her eyes closed, though her long dark lashes fluttered. She seemed to be thinking about something other than him. Colin wondered whom she dreamt of as she sat so quietly. When he seized his wine glass, her marble eyes flew open. “Now, Mr. Avenry, tell me about you.”

Colin chuckled at her formal tone of his name, but noticed that her inflection on calling him simply by Mister, as if she knew he was lying about not having a title. Had his propriety given himself away? Colin admitted to himself that simply being called Mr.

Avenry versus Sir Avenry was strange – even if it were the proper title for a second son of Baron, even one raised up like him. But Colin and his brother Elliot had been bestowed the honorific title by the crown – a courtesy for Colin who would never have his own title, since his brother would inherit the Baronship. But such prestige was not what this girl needed to know just yet – though deciding what exactly to reveal was also difficult. “Well, I’m from London.”

“What a big city.” She grinned. Her dazzling smile let on that she knew more about London than was letting on.

“Where are you from exactly? You’re English, but you speak foreign languages with native clarity.”

“Oh, not at all. I’m still learning Portuguese, though my brother taught me more than a dozen languages.”

“Ah, so I now know you have a brother. What of the rest of your family?” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 4

“Actually I have two brothers, but they are the only family I have. My parents are both gone, leaving me to the care of my brothers and myself. There’s not much more to say except that I am from here and there.” She raised her dark brow and passed off the question before taking a large mouthful of her wine.

He set down his glass in disappointment of her answer. “You like to remain mysterious, don’t you?”

“Call it an identity.” Her flirtatious tone had reappeared; it seemed to be an irrepressible tendency in her.

Colin was excited that he couldn’t charm answers from her. This was the first time he hadn’t any control over what would happen. Her beauty reached far beyond that of long lashes and alabaster skin, but appeared in all her movements and radiance. Most of all, it was the unique way she inclined her head as if she hadn’t a care in the world— it fascinated him. “Why does a beauty like yourself need to conceal an identity?”

“You’re charming, sangue azul.” She easily saw through all his flattery, almost as if she were mocking an expected ability for him to sweetly talk her.

Colin was accustomed to a girl blushing at the mention of her beauty, but it seemed that Nic was familiar with such compliments. He seemed to fight to capture her gaze, but once he did Colin refused to let go. He must reveal something about her, but how?

Nic watched Colin take another sip from his glass as she explained, “Portugal is celebrated for their port wine. It is exported to countries all over the world.”

Colin ignored her insignificant comment and eagerly asked, “Tell me, Nic, what are you running from?” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 5

“Nothing.” She took a long drink of the deep red wine. The color was starting to stain her lips.

He wanted to continue his line of questioning with the utmost gentlemanlike affability. Colin leaned forward and insisted, “How can I help you, unless I know what we are now both hiding from?”

“Not that I need your help, because it really is quite nothing.” She narrowed her eyes at his push for his assistance. “But I was just in a little skirmish at the dance square.”

“A little skirmish?”

“It really was quite nothing.”

“You’ve already said that.”

Nic yielded to his tenacity, though she kept up the appearance that he didn’t have a claim to know her affairs. “Fernando is a controlling type of man. He marked me long ago as a challenge for conquest. It’s a game to him.”

At the mention of the game, Tessa crept back into his mind. Colin was disgusted at the idea of Tessa’s game—moreover of the game that his family had set up for him in a proper match. But suddenly something more than Tessa bothered him—the implication that his new intrigue, Nic, may be already taken by a man. She could have been easily suited, with her looks and charm. But this stirred a new emotion in Colin. He couldn't warrant that he was becoming possessive of Nic after just a two hours, but he did admit wanting her for at least this night. Colin wanted to know everything that had occurred with this controlling suitor. Then he would know how to take her full attentions upon himself. He wanted to see longing in her eyes for only him.

“Does this Fernando make you happy?” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 6

“I don’t depend on others to make me happy, Mr. Avenry, just myself,” she explained with a saucy toss of her head.

“Why?”

“Because then I won’t be disappointed.”

Her answer was affirmed with such ease and sincerity that he believed her. Colin shifted in his seat as his own emotions as well as hers spurred his words. “But what about love?”

“Love? Oh no, I’m not in love with Fernando. Or any man.” Nic inhaled sharply as her delicate fingers swirled the wine in her glass. “Love isn’t meant for girls like me.

Love is meant for those who believe in it.”

There was a story there. Behind her answer she must have either been hurt or been audience to such a scene. But something in her stern and honest answer made Colin think that she wished she didn’t believed her own affirmation. As he locked her grey eyes with his once again, Colin simply stated, “I believe in love.”

Before he could continue in his investigation of this enchantress, the barmaid set down platters of shellfish before them. Colin didn’t break his gaze from Nic as the food was being laid. She never changed in her countenance. She remained detached as if his inquiries were of no consequence to her. Though Nic remained indifferent in her replies, her eyes gave him a contrary story. They continually looked as if they were trying to express something her tongue couldn’t. He was irritated that he couldn’t define her look.

Then again, she spoke so freely—without plan or agenda. No woman just speaks what is on her mind—at least that is what he had known of women thus far. The fingers of her right hand traced around the rim of wineglass. The hand was relatively slow moving Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 7 compared to how it had just been twirling in the air as she spoke. Colin had been so mesmerized by the way she moved and spoke that he had forgotten how strikingly beautiful she was and saw only her words, their meaning and her presence behind them.

She was the first woman he had ever wanted despite her beauty.

But Colin had reached the point that he was lost on what to ask of her. What was he suppose to know about Nic from their brief meeting thus far?

“You must be married, Colin.”

“No, not yet,” he conceded. Her broad statement had caught him undefended and now he regretted using the word yet. “You can certainly be forward in your questions.”

She continued without notice of his offense. “But I wager you have a beauty of a debutante in London. I wager she’s an ornament.”

“What do you mean?”

“A socialite who is always beautiful to look upon, but hollow inside.” She winked on the last part of the sentence as if to bait him. “Someone to hang upon your arm and every word you speak. You seem like the type of man who only keeps beautiful ladies near him. Am I close to the truth?”

She was too close.

But suddenly a change came over her. Her flirtatious nature was replaced by something deeper. Nic laid her palms to the table and bitterly declared, “Colin, you are fooling yourself saying that you believe in love. We both know those ladies of worth only think of one thing: more worth – whether it be title, wealth or status. Every lady in society I have come across—nay, any woman wanting to marry for that matter thinks only of these things.” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 8

Colin’s jaw clenched as she boldly spoke to him. “Does this include yourself?”

“No and to my brother’s dismay. All I’ve ever asked for is freedom, adventure, learning and imagination.” She leaned back comfortably as she brought her fingertips to her stained lips. It seemed she was finished with lecturing him about love and was trying to return to her flirtations from before; but her steely eyes narrowed as she coldly continued. “Colin, I do believe in love, but not for me. As well as, I don’t believe in loveless matches or marriages.”

“Let us not speak about it any further.” Colin sharply moved his attentions to his glass of wine. He had caught her. He was unsure if she knew it, but she had let so much slip about her without truly saying the words. The way she spoke about women of society meant that her family must have served such society. Did her family come from a class of valets or manservants? But she had also spoken of her brother’s wish for her to be interested in fineries. What did that mean for her? That her brother tried to match her above her family’s station to a man she could not love. This must be it. Unless her brother instead sought to buy her an education to prepare her for a better life. Though she spoke as if she had already been schooled. Perhaps she was the daughter of a scholar. He was lost on this last set of questions.

She widened her eyes, which were round enough before. A spark flashed in her face and Nic seemed now completely fascinated by his anxiety. “Then tell me of your family.”

“That is also an uncomfortable subject.” Colin finished his wine in one large swig and motioned for the barmaid to bring another. He couldn’t look at her, though he felt her hot stare continuously on him. Though her heat was now all around him, Colin Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 9 was pulling himself back from her, but the lure of such a conquest pressed him. It could be a quick, but enjoyable love affair. The idea of a romance with this mysterious woman had already taken possession of him. Then why was he pulling himself from charming her completely as he had done so many women? Something about her tugged at him beyond taking her to his bed.

“Well, no wonder.” She sat back in her seat with a satisfied smirk, as if she completed the mystery.

“What?”

“That you are here in Lisbon.”

“What do you mean?” Colin narrowed his gaze.

“I mean look at you,” she motioned to his tense posture. “You are worn by stress.

Is it because of my words about love or your family?”

“Neither…both.” He didn’t know how to answer her and was becoming quite agitated that she understood him completely, though they had just met and that he was still confused by her.

“Oh, I see. It’s the game.” Nic’s stormy eyes widened, as if lightening had struck.

She was waiting for his answer, but his silence was the only explanation he could give.

He knew what she was about to say. Nic was speaking of the game in society as if she herself knew it personally. Her now wondrously tender gaze seemed to understand all he refused to tell her. She detailed her perception to him with precise accuracy. “Yes, I know, Colin. You are so plagued by the constant stress of being an elite member of society that I wager you don’t sleep. I bet it constantly harasses your thoughts and Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 10 actions. All aspects of your life appropriate from duty and family. Others in that charmed circle scrutinize your every breath. But you remain a member, though you hate it—”

“Yes, but I’m so good at it!”

“Are you?” she flatly asked. She had found his weakness.

“Yes, I know how to play like no other.” Colin responded without thought. He only briefly looked to her face to see her studying his explanation. There was an unwavering concentration in her grey eyes; as if she was memorizing every word he spoke about his family. “I haven’t the hunger for the game as my brother and father, but they always push me to it. I am to be as my father and brother—to brush opponents in my business, to marry into another notable family and to never be a failure or cause a scandal. You could never understand. My father’s principle in life is that ‘anyone in this society will betray you, so what should you do?’”

“‘Betray him first,’” she interrupted.

His father’s words fell from her lips with sharp accuracy. She knew, but how?

Colin suddenly stopped his fervent description. How did he erupt with all these feelings that he had long buried? She was a stranger, but somehow had led him straight to admitting all his worries and fears in life. No one had ever read him so well, let alone so quickly. Was it because he had never been attracted to a woman as much as her? No, Nic knew the exact things to say to him to get him to open his heart.

Wait, how did she know those things? How could she know his father’s brutal philosophy? In his eyes, Colin’s father was unmatched in unscrupulous customs. It was implausible that another could share the twisted beliefs of Oliver Avenry. It didn’t make sense. From the beginning, she seemed to know him so well, and then she understood his Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 11 father’s base aphorism. He was confounded by the insight she held of him. In his gut he felt that something was amiss. Colin locked her eyes, earnestly searching for an explanation.

Nic tore her gaze from his and stood from the table. Without giving a reason, she began to leave the tavern. Colin chased after her, but remembered they hadn’t paid for their meal. Neither had eaten, but he couldn’t leave the already scanty public house with giving free meals. He quickly turned and dropped a few paper réis on the table, more than was sufficient. He directly ran after his foreign charmer, though she was already in the street.

As he dashed from the tavern, he saw her standing on the curb watching the street ahead. Colin hadn’t even noticed at first that there was music thundering from a passing crowd. A group of dancers and musicians were heading into town. The rhythmic music was new to Colin’s ears. His pace slowed as he watched the mob, though he soon caught up to Nic.

“They must be going to a festival in one of the squares. Every night in Lisbon brings such excitement in what lies ahead. It is as if the people are trying to prove that they do not care that the French now hold the city. That they will continue in their ways.

I’ve grown so accustomed to the sound of music once it’s dark.” Her tone gave him no clarification as to why she had left him without an explanation. She had kept her eyes fastened on the crowd, but suddenly split her attention and tugged at his arm. “Let’s join them. Or does your ornament not know you are out in the street dancing with a strange woman?” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 12

Colin stumbled with her pull. “She’s not an ornament and she’s not even in

Lisbon.”

“Well, that’s all the better for me then.” She flashed a mischievous smile and continued to tug at his suit jacket. “Hurry or we shall lose the group!”

He found her expression priceless and fought not to follow her every command.

But his stride halted with her insinuation. Colin clasped her tiny hand into his and pulled her to him instead. He hadn’t meant to pull her that close, as her tiny body was now firmly pressed up the length of him. She seemed to have lost her breath in his abrupt action and was waiting for his next move. Her heaving chest pushed further against him.

Colin could not seem to get his fill of her. Though his hand still clasped her wrist, his other hand had instinctively held strongly at the small of her back to keep her within his grasps.

With his hold on her, Colin felt her breath grow quicker and warmer, as if she was also lost in the moment. Colin could not help but move his fingers, noticing that she was not wearing a corset or any proper attire under her tightly laced burgundy dress. How easy it would be to move his hands beneath the fabric to continue his exploration.

Remembering that they were still in the middle of the street, he leaned his mouth to her ear and slowly whispered, “why don’t we take a quiet stroll instead?”

She smiled at his return of insinuations and gave way to his scheme. She commented slyly, “I wager you charm many girls with that innocent smile.”

“Did it charm you?”

“It must have, for I’m still with you. But that doesn’t mean that I trust you, Mr.

Avenry.” Nic pulled her wrist from his grasp, but didn’t leave his arms. Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 13

“Who jumped into whose carriage?”

She leaned further against him, allowing for him to feel her lean body against his hard muscled frame. Whispering now in his ear, she continued on with their banter. “I suppose tonight was just a lucky night for you.”

Colin found that he enjoyed her flirtations. He was accustomed to the innocent giggles and whispers of the debutantes, but she seemed honest and forward in her teases.

Colin noticed that Nic looked upon him differently than he was accustomed to. For when

Tessa looked upon him, she never seemed focused. Instead, her eyes constantly darted about the people around them, as if she were looking for anyone watching them. It was a typical habit for the majority of society girls he knew. But Nic’s eyes fell upon him, it was as if all she could see was him. This set about a strange churning inside of him. Why did she affect him in such a way? Colin wanted more to know everything about her, than to make her his conquest—though that could all wait until after she was in his bed tonight. He knew it would be just about them. That she would be wholly focused on him as much under the sheets as she was on this road.

As they passed down near the docks, they looked at the water. Tonight’s sea held a soft lilac hue with an ivory streak from the moon that reached towards them. Colin thought to himself of how it was going to be an exquisite evening. Nic clung tightly to his arm, warming herself against him in the chilly winter air as they strolled nearer to the water. He liked her presence near him. He felt safe with her, though he still knew nothing about her. Colin kept reminding himself that he only held a name from her. He was impatient to solve the puzzle that she hid. Her face had struck him as none before and was indenting more than beauty on his mind, which made her even more extraordinary. Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 14

She held an immense pride and an intense passion. Nic’s nature beamed through her glittering eyes with a hint of mischief. He looked over to her a small smile that curled across her luscious lips as the thoughts raced through her head. Colin tried to compose himself, for he must find out something more. “Well, I offered the last confession, now it’s your turn.”

“I have nothing to tell.”

“You must have something to tell, for it's not everyday a beautiful, British girl who speaks impeccable Portuguese, Spanish and a dozen other languages is running from a jealous man in Lisbon.”

“It happens quite often,” she said laughing.

“Nic!” Colin held her from walking any further by stepping in front of her step and sincerely asked, “What are you hiding from?”

She paused only momentarily as to further his curiosity. She continued to avoid his questions and returned the subject to him. “You are hiding as well, Colin. You wouldn’t tell me about your ornament or your family, except that you are under an extreme amount of pressure.”

“Don’t change the argument.”

She stood motionless for a moment, remaining in his embrace. At one moment her breast would heave and at the other she seemed to be holding her breath. Nic suddenly broke from him and walked down the docks where it met with the sand of the beach. Before she stepped off the dock, she removed her small satin slippers and held them in one hand. Her small feet were sinking in the sand, but she seemed conscious that

Colin was close behind her, which kept her moving. She did though continually change Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 15 her pace in order to attempt to divert him. Finally, Nic looked out over the water as she casually inquired, “Have you seen the skeletal arches of Igreja do Carmo or the

Jeronimos Monastery?”

“No.” He followed her out into the cold sand. A smirk threatened his lips at the sight of her unconsciously holding her ruffled skirt in her other hand despite the chill in the air, to keep it from becoming soiled by the beach. In holding it up, he could see her thin shapely tanned legs and he began to wonder how the sun reached the skin of her legs.

Did she sunbath without any coverings? He had heard of such a thing in foreign countries. Colin almost commented on her improper movement, but before he could, she continued in her explanation.

“Well, that is why I am in Portugal.”

“To look at architecture?”

“Yes… and every other reason to be in Portugal. Why does there have to be a reason to be anywhere? Why can’t I just go to a foreign place for no reason and look for something new without knowing what it was I was looking for?”

This was the longest rant he had heard her on yet. He was not sure what to make of it. Colin closely moved behind her, sliding his hands over her arms. Colin kept to her conversation, while keeping to his own intentions. “If you’re interested in architecture, why not go to Italy or Greece?”

She turned within his grasp and faced him. Her raven hair was softly being lifted by the ocean’s breeze. Nic earnestly replied, “Because they don’t have a good port wine like Portugal.” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 16

Colin laughed at her reply, leaning his face close to hers. “Nic, now I’m even more confused about you.”

Her steel eyes relentlessly flickered under the lights from the docks. Her eyes held so much sensual promise for him, more than he’d ever anticipated. Colin knew that if he could only kiss her, then he could unleash all the passion she guarded. But she slyly slipped from his grasp and walked away from him and towards the line of houses on the shore. “Good, I can’t have you knowing all my secrets. We’ve only just met.”

Colin watched her walk from him, exhausted in his efforts to interpret this new challenge. He called after her, “Are you saying we’ll meet again?”

“Perhaps,” she said loudly in response over the sound of the waves.

Colin ran after her, sinking in the sand with every stride with his heavy boots.

She was nearing the street, when something new caught her attention. Nic quickly slipped her shoes back on and dashed over to a large stone house of an old Moorish architecture, which stood completely unlit and serene on the shore. “Oh, look at that house! I wonder who could live in such a grand place?” She peered through the iron gate’s door. “Look at the gardens, too. I must get a closer glimpse!”

“What do you mean a closer glimpse?”

With his question, she opened the gate and began to enter the gardens.

“Nic, what are you doing?”

She turned back to hush him with a wave of her hand and whispered, “I’m going to get a closer look at the gardens, then at the house.”

“How?”

“Through this gate.” Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 17

“Nic, you can’t! You don’t know who lives there.”

She flashed him a challenging grin and asked, “Are you coming?”

He was appalled by the notion of breaking into a stranger’s home. “Certainly not!”

“Why not?” Nic leaned closely to him and baited, “Are you scared?”

“No!”

With his rejection of her daring plan, she moved towards him. Pulling him towards her with both her hands on either side of his face, she kissed him. Her soft lips unexpectedly crushed his, but he quickly regrouped and took control of her kiss. Her fingers lost control of holding his face and her fingers slipped into his chestnut hair as she sighed into his mouth. He took advantage of her open lips to delve his tongue between them. Startling her, she immediately pulled back from him, releasing her hold on him.

Before he could pull her back, Nic said, “thank you for dinner, sangue azul.”

“What?” He couldn’t lose her, for his plans were just beginning.

She continued her withdrawal. “The main road to the center of town is to your left, then straight ahead.”

“Wait, you can’t leave now.” he appealingly urged.

“Colin, as you will see, I’m not very good at remaining in one place or with one person.”

“But—”

“It’s been a pleasure, Mr. Colin Avenry.” With the final farewell, the iron gate clanked closed behind her. Goodrich/ Sordid Secrets/ Chapter 3/ Page 18

Colin shook the steel bars, but it had tightly locked after her. He called out her name, but never with a reply. She seemed to vanish from him so quickly. Colin walked down the stone wall looking for another entrance without success. Then he saw a large, sturdy tree on the opposite side of the house, which hung over the fence as if also looking for the strange beauty. Colin jumped to catch the lowest branch, but just dangled from the lofty height unable to climb any higher. He pulled his legs up to the branch to lift himself, but suddenly lost his grip and fell. Colin lay on the ground, stained from his drop and completely depleted from his efforts. He had lost her so easily. Colin thought to himself that he had never been so humbled by a woman before.