Page 22 of Master of Paradise
The night that Jennifer was away and did not occupy her bedroom was a sore temptation for Nicholas.
At supper, he and Amanda were alone except for Aunt Billie, and Mammy Lou had cooked all Amanda's favorite dishes.
Nick was always careful of the things he said in front of Billie.
She was quick to pick up a double entendre or any words that had the slightest sexual implication.
When he looked at Amanda, he let his eyes do his talking for him, and by the end of the meal, she was left in no doubt about the degree of his desire for her.
Her blushes turned to dismay as a sudden downpour splashed against the windows, just as the last of the twilight was swallowed by the darkness.
"Oh, I was looking forward to a stroll in the garden but the rain has spoiled it."
Her eyes slid guiltily toward Aunt Billie.
She was relieved to hear Nicholas say smoothly.
"Another bourbon, Billie? It will help keep out the damp."
She gave him a grateful smile, and noticed the smoldering look he gave her held a promise. Her heart began to flutter as she wondered if he would dare to come to her room.
"I might as well do the accounts tonight,"
he said casually.
"I'll be in my office if anyone needs me."
Amanda went out to the kitchen.
"Mammy, the food was delicious tonight. Thank you for making the sweet potato pie. I hope there's enough for you to have some."
"Miz Jenny hate dat stuff like poison. It was a heaven-sent opportunity fo' me an' yo' to enjoy a treat."
"Nicholas loved it too. He told me to tell you."
Mammy Lou beamed.
She was thankful that Amanda had been married to a fine man like Nicholas.
Most of the white men she had had for masters had been good men, basically, but Nicholas was something special.
If he had any faults whatever, she hadn't uncovered them yet.
Amanda ran from the back entrance to the outdoor kitchen to avoid a soaking.
More than cooking took place in this building.
It was used in part for storage, as well as a distillery.
Cleo had been making bayberry-scented candles and the air had a spicy fragrance that hung in the dampness.
Mandy was making pot pouri.
She had taken advice from Mammy Lou and Jessie down at the quarters and concocted her own recipes.
She was making two distinctly different fragrances and was well-pleased with the results.
Other years they had always made rose pot pouri from the petals, but Amanda was experimenting with something different.
The strawberry pot pouri was a delight.
It was made up of tiny, dried wild strawberries, chopped strawberry leaves, tiny dried rosebuds and violets, clary sage, rose geraniums and half a dozen spices, including cloves.
The peach flavored concoction had a more subtle aroma, but nevertheless if you closed your eyes it certainly smelled of peaches.
It was a combination of dried rose hips, orange peel, marigolds, vetiver root, and dried chopped peaches and peach leaves.
Amanda stirred the mixtures until a delicious fragrance arose to surround her.
Smelling the garden's treasures stirred thoughts of love, and Nicholas, and their trysts.
A romantic line from A Midsummer Night's Dream drifted through her thoughts.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows.
Her pulses quickened at the very thought of her husband.
She sighed, wishing the rain had not spoiled their rendezvous, yet she felt a shy relief that she was being allowed a postponement of more serious lovemaking She trimmed some of the candles before she went back to the house and noticed with relief that the rain had stopped.
There would be no storm tonight, however everything in the garden was drenched.
Upstairs in her bedroom it was evident that the shower had brought no cool breezes with it.
If anything, the humidity made it feel hotter and more uncomfortable than ever.
On impulse she shook out her lawn nightgown and took the scissors to it.
She sheared it off so that it just skimmed her hips.
She was so delighted with the feeling of freedom it gave to her legs, she wondered why she hadn't done it long ago.
She opened wide the doors that led to the balcony and took a book of poetry back to bed with her.
It absorbed all her attention, for suddenly the love sonnets had a new meaning for her.
They evoked a depth of feeling she had never been aware of.
Dimly, in the distance she heard a night-bird singing a heartbreakingly beautiful song to its mate and she laid the book aside to listen.
It was as if it called to her.
Amanda left her bed and went out to the balcony to listen.
She leaned against the verandah railing in rapt appreciation as the small bird sang its throat out.
When it stopped, she felt its loss acutely.
Her eyes searched the shadowy trees to no avail, then as she looked along the darkened gallery, she saw her husband's cheroot glowing in the blackness.
She felt an initial panic whether he could see her or not, then realized that he must, as her lamplight through the open doors illuminated this part of the balcony.
The light started moving toward her and she knew she must prevent him from coming along to this wing of the house were Billie or Mammy Lou would overhear them.
She ran quickly along the shadowed gallery until she stood before him breathless, heedless of her state of undress.
"If only there was a moon tonight to reveal your loveliness."
"Nicholas, you must come no further,"
she whispered unevenly.
"You met me halfway, as it should be,"
he murmured softly. His voice hinted of passion, yet still he did not touch her.
They drew closer, unable to control the attraction their bodies held for each other. He opened his robe and took her inside against his body.
She gasped as the shock of his hard nakedness came against her warm, soft flesh. The wisp of material was no protection for the hot length of him pressed tightly against her delicate body.
"Sweet, sweet..."
he begged, and suddenly she felt his hard shaft rise up and begin to throb and probe against her thighs.
Panic seized her.
"No, please don't do that."
His hands slid beneath the shortened nightgown to hold her hips against him, and now he brought his mouth down on hers to silence her protests.
She struggled to free herself, and her sharp little teeth sank into his lip.
When his hand left her body and went to his injured mouth, she pulled her trembling body away from his demanding torso and fled back to the sanctuary of her room and locked the balcony doors.
After what seemed an eternity, her heart beneath her breasts slowed its tumult and she was able to catch her breath.
She slid beneath the covers and the tears slipped down her cheeks and fell onto her pillow.
Amanda examined her feelings for him.
She was sure she loved him, trusted him, but tonight had frightened her.
He was such a big man, so mature, with an age gap of almost ten years between them.
It made her feel timid, and shy, like a child.
Just thinking of the physical demands his body made on hers caused her to tremble.
The following day, Amanda avoided her husband, and when they did chance to meet on the stairs, her lashes swept her cheeks and she dare not meet his eyes.
That night, he waited in the gazebo, but she did not come, and he knew their idyll in the garden had come to an end.
Every day Jennifer asked Brandon if his slaves had arrived from Blackville. It wasn't until the end of the week that he confirmed they had arrived at the Jackson Plantation, and he was expecting the slave buyer from Charleston the next afternoon.
The following morning, Jennifer arose early and gathered together five of the house servants her mother had left her in the will.
"Cleo, Fanny, and Aphrodite, I want you over at the Jackson Plantation today. Charles and Porter too. As soon as you're finished morning chores, we'll all go over there together."
"Yass Miz Jennifer,"
they chorused, not really curious about why they were needed back at the other house, and glad really that they would be reunited for a gossip with the Jackson servants who hadn't been brought to Paradise.
When Jennifer arrived, Brandon raised his eyebrows when he saw the group of servants she had brought with her. A suspicion crossed his mind that he could hardly credit.
"Could I speak with you in private, Brandon?"
Jenny asked at her very sweetest, and his suspicions were instantly confirmed.
Alone, outside the house, Jennifer said.
"I'm selling them. The buyer can take them on consignment and when they're sold you can collect my money for me and pay him his commission."
"But Jen... they served Mother... you can't do this!"
"I can and I will, Brandon. Paradise has dozens of servants. Why should Nicholas Peacock have the use of my slaves, pray tell me? I'm not a Simon-pure fool, Brandon. Here are their papers. Take care of it for me."
"And if I refuse?"
he demanded, still outraged.
"Why then I'd have to tell Daddy about you takin' me to that terrible place, and how you took your pleasure on a wench in the very next room where my poor ears were exposed to every vile thing that went on."
Brandon's mouth tightened as he took the ownership papers from her.
Jim, Brandon's body servant grasped what was happening.
A great fear took hold of him.
If they were selling Cleo and Porter, who had carried ol' Miz Caroline about so faithfully, then perhaps he would be next.
He followed Miz Jennifer back to Paradise, making sure he kept a healthy distance between them.
He hung about the back door of the house until he spotted Samuel.
"Hello Jim. Mast' Brandon wid yo' today?"
Samuel asked.
"Naw sir, Sam. Ah wants t'tell y'all sumpin, but ah don't wants to be in no trouble."
"Spit it out boy,"
Samuel ordered. He was a man not easily disobeyed and Jim spilled out his fears to the older man.
"You tellin' me de trufe boy? Git home before anybody see yo'. Ah'll take care o' dis."
When Samuel found Nicholas he was supervising the digging of drainage ditches on his low-lying land.
As soon as the field hands spotted Samuel, there was good-hearted kidding that the house servant would get dirty if he'd come to help them dig.
Nicholas stopped laughing when he saw the distress evident in Samuel's face.
He took him aside and asked him what was amiss.
Before Samuel finished his tale, Nicholas looked haggard. A white-hot searing anger took hold of him.
"Jesus Christ," he swore.
"the treacherous bitch!"
He glanced quickly toward the black men in the ditch.
"Don't breathe a word of this to Brute. I don't want any killing around here. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Nicholas ran all the way to the stables and grabbed Sunblood.
He didn't wait to saddle up, but rode him bareback, his strong brown hands threaded through the horse's mane.
He pulled the magnificent beast to a halt on the driveway at the Jackson Plantation, sending gravel flying in every direction.
"Where are they?"
he demanded the moment he laid eyes on Brandon.
Brandon stepped back in alarm at the look of pure hatred on Nick's face.
"They've left, but they can't be more than a couple of miles down the road. Ma's house slaves were dragging their feet all the way."
He hesitated a second, then tried desperately to excuse himself.
"Thank God you've got the guts to go after them, Nicholas. I told Jenny she had no right to do it, but she wouldn't listen."
Nicholas looked at him with contempt.
"By Christ, Brandon, don't you think it's time you learned to handle your womenfolk?"
He didn't wait for an answer, but urged Sunblood forward, and before he reached the end of the driveway, he was riding at full gallop.
It didn't take long to overtake the mules pulling the slave buyer's wagon.
He saw that the man held a long buggy whip, and it was obvious he had used it on the reluctant house servants.
The abject misery on the black faces changed to hope as they saw Nicholas thunder up on the huge red stallion.
The anger in his eyes was terrible to behold.
Though he dismounted, he still towered over the man in charge of the slaves.
Nicholas spoke with such total authority, the man found it impossible to put up more than a token protest about having legal papers in his possession.
Nicholas fixed him with a steely eye.
"The papers are worthless forgeries. My people's papers are locked in my safe, where they will remain. You will give me the papers before I ride for the patrol and have charges brought against you."
He turned to the five house servants. "Go home."
They hesitated only an instant, then they lifted their heels and took off for Paradise like the devil himself was after them.
Nicholas dared the man to use the whip on him, but the buyer shifted his eyes and mumbled.
"What about these others?"
"They have nothing whatever to do with me, thank God."
Sunblood, untethered, had danced off a distance when Nicholas raised his voice in anger, but now he obediently answered his master's whistle and came trotting up.
"Good boy."
Nicholas rubbed his hand down the satin flank and remounted. He lost no time getting back to the house, and as he rode past the five servants, he called.
"I want to speak to you in my office when you get back."
He slammed the door of Paradise so hard, it shook the very foundations.
Jennifer Joy was going upstairs with Mammy Lou who was carrying two freshly ironed gowns.
"Get down here!"
Nicholas ordered in a harsh voice that brooked no refusal.
Jennifer, appalled at being spoken to in such a manner, whirled about and she came down furiously to face this uncouth lout-of-a-man who came into the house with the grime and sweat of the field still upon him.
His eyes blazed into hers.
"I may have tainted myself buying human flesh, but by Christ I will never commit the sin of selling a human being. Hear me well, for I will only say this once. No slave will ever be sold from Paradise."
She dared to defy him.
"They are my slaves to sell if I wish."
"Yes-- your obedient slaves who have served you well and faithfully all your life. You are a mercenary bitch who will do anything for money. I will buy them from you for you are not fit to own them. I will give you two thousand dollars. I have some Confederate money in my cash box I've been looking to get rid of.
"You will rue this day,"
Jennifer vowed venomously.
"I'll write to Daddy and tell him you have been molesting me,"
she said triumphantly.
His large hand shot out and slapped her across the face. Her head snapped back on the impact, nearly knocking her to the carpet.
"I am not a Southern gentleman, Jennifer. Never forget it,"
he said with deadly calm.
Her hand covered the left side of her rapidly swelling face as she stared at him in shocked disbelief.
"If your lies about our having a sexual relationship ever reach my wife's ears, I will destroy you."
His threat was made in such a quiet voice, it was more deadly than if he'd shouted it from the rooftop.
Jennifer fled upstairs, past Mammy Lou whose eyes stared out of her head.
Amanda, who had been up in her room with the door closed, had dimly heard the shouts from below and was coming to investigate.
"Jenny, whatever's the matter?"
She was alarmed at the state of her sister.
Jennifer shook her head, ran into her room, and locked the door.
Amanda looked at Mammy Lou.
"Someone struck her,"
she said with disbelief.
"My God, it wasn't Nicholas, was it?"
She rushed down the staircase past Mammy and ran along to her husband's office where she saw Cleo, Dite, and Fanny sitting down, and Charles and Porter standing behind them. She disregarded their presence and asked Nicholas in an incredulous voice, "Did you strike Jennifer?"
She watched a muscle clench in his jaw and saw his lips were white with suppressed fury.
He pointed to the door and uttered one word. "Go!"
Mandy's mouth fell open with surprise. As she was about to protest, he said.
"Obey me madam, or I will not be responsible for my actions."
This was a Nicholas Amanda had never seen before and she was relieved to put a safe distance between them.
"Mammy, get in here and tell me what's happening in my own house."
Amanda took the dresses from her arms and sat her down in a bedroom chair.
"Ah don't know, Miz Mandy."
"Mammy, you stop that prevaricating this minute. You even know when somebody takes a pee!"
"You' stop dat trashy talk an' ah tells yo'. Miz Jennifer dun sold de house servants yore momma left her to de slave buyer, and Masta Nick dun got 'em back."
"Great balls of fire, Mother will be spinning in her grave."
"Sumpin' happen to Miz Jennifer up at dat Blackville place dat turn her mind."
"Thank God Nicholas got them back. Cleo is having a baby. Didn't Jennifer stop to think what Brute might do to her if she sold his wife and baby?"
Amanda shuddered.
Downstairs, Nicholas was doing his best to convince the servants that it was all a terrible mistake.
"Miss Jennifer did sell you all, but she sold you to me,"
he said firmly.
"The slave buyer got you mixed up with some others. I want to assure you that you will never be sold from Paradise."
He would have immediately given them their papers and freed them, if he hadn't known from experience that it would fill them with apprehension. They needed the security of Paradise.
"Go to the kitchen and tell Samuel to feed you, and I'll lock your papers in the safe where nobody but me can ever get to them again."
Jennifer Joy realized that she had underestimated Nicholas Peacock. After withdrawing from the family for a couple of days, she emerged as she always did, her sweet, smiling self, as if nothing had happened. But the days she had spent in her room had hardened her resolve to get Beau Hampden to propose marriage. I intend to be mistress over a plantation that is even larger and finer than Paradise.
When Beau arrived the next afternoon with his sister, Julia, they were full of news of a visit to Charleston that they made every year at this time, when the Winter Season of entertaining got underway as a prelude to the glittering Christmas festivities.
Jennifer knew that in spite of their mourning it was absolutely essential for her to be in Charleston for some of the parties that Beau would be attending. That night she wrote a letter to her Aunt Virginia that carried just the right note of appeal. She drew a picture of lonely plantation life where mourning had isolated them from their friends and neighbors. She spoke longingly of the happy visits she'd always had at her aunt's house and conveyed it all with a tone of wistfulness. With her mother dead and her father in Richmond, Jenny knew Virginia's guilty conscience would prompt an invitation.
When the reply came, it invited both Amanda and Jennifer to stay until the middle of November. Jenny was over the moon and began packing at once. Amanda wasn't averse to spending a couple of weeks in Charleston, since the atmosphere between herself and Nicholas had become strained since the night on the gallery. Amanda brought Virginia's letter to the dinner table that night and offered it to Nicholas, wondering what his reaction would be.
He glanced down the page, then raised his eyes to her face.
"I think it a splendid idea. You'll be able to go shopping for the new clothes I promised you for your birthday."
His eyes played with hers until her lashes lowered to her cheeks and a rosy-hued blush crept over features.
"I have business in Charleston. We can travel down together in the carriage. I won't stay with you at Virginia's, but I'll keep in touch and when you are ready to come home, we'll travel back together."
"Promise you'll visit on the day I turn seventeen?"
"Sweetheart, as if I would miss your birthday,"
he assured her.
Jennifer Joy spoke up graciously as if there had been no bad blood between her and her brother-in-law.
"Thank you, for allowing us to visit Charleston, Nicholas. You are very generous. I have to put my money in the bank, that is if there's any left after I go shopping."
Nicholas said smoothly.
"Just charge the things to me Jennifer. I'm sure the Jackson sisters' extravagances won't put too big a strain on my pockets."
The next two days were taken up with preparations for the trip and packing. Amanda urged Mammy to help Jennifer, and she chose Cleo to assist with her own clothes. When they were alone, Amanda asked.
"Does Brutus know that you were almost sold, Cleo?"
"No Miz Mandy. Ah don't think deres nobody brave enough t'tell him. Ah gets a misery in ma heart just thinkin' 'bout bein' separated from him. Yo' shore got yoself one good man."
Amanda hesitated.
"Cleo, is Brute good to you? I mean... aren't you afraid of him?"
Cleo laughed happily.
"Ah's afraid o' him, but dat's what makes it thrillin'. He sure can be fierce, but like a lot o' big men, he can be gentle too."
Nicholas was so vividly with her as Cleo spoke of her man, that she could feel his hands on her and smell his exciting male scent. Amanda felt a compulsion to ask her next question, and felt this was the only woman she could speak of these things with.
"Cleo, tell me... is it very painful when a man... when he demands his rights?"
Cleo patted her arm.
"Honey, yo' got nuthin' t'worry about 'till yore all growd up."
"Cleo, I think... I know... he wants me now,"
she whispered.
"and sometimes... sometimes I want him."
"Nuthin wrong wid dat. When yo' in love, yo' go crazy if'n yo' don't lie together."
"Does it hurt?"
"Furst time, it hurts if'n he a big man. Ah ain't gonna lie to yo'."
"And after that?"
Amanda prompted
"Sometime it hurt. Sometime yo' like it to hurt,"
Cleo said with a grin.
"but mostly it so wonnerful it like nuthin' else in de whole world. Yo' hasta find out for yoself, it ain't nuthin' nobody else can tell yo' about."
Amanda was embarrassed at her own ignorance and busied herself with her packing. Both girls decided to forgo taking personal maids since Aunt Virginia's household was run like clockwork and she had six upstairs personal lady's maids to take care of herself and two daughters.
The large enclosed carriage stood at the front door of Paradise awaiting its passengers. Jason, who'd been chosen to drive wore a smart new suit of clothes, since Nicholas did not care for livery. Jason had been up since dawn polishing the large black vehicle and currying the coats of the four matching carriage horses. Servants from the house had brought out what seemed a ton of baggage and strapped it to the roof of the carriage.
Jennifer, on time for once, stepped into the carriage and took the seat that would ensure she face the direction in which the coach would be traveling. Amanda followed and sat opposite her sister. Mammy Lou stood outside the carriage, issuing last minute instructions on how to conduct themselves at the fine homes they would be visiting in Charleston.
"Remember, Amanda Virginia, don't toss yore head an' put up yore chin in dat willful way when somebody say somethin' yo' disagrees wid."
Without taking a breath she turned to the elder girl.
"An Jennifer Joy, don't yo' dast to wear nothin' but mourning colors, elsewise folks gonna talk somethin' scandalous!"
Nicholas gave last minute instructions to Samuel, then climbed into the coach and deliberately sat down beside Jennifer. She had to gather up her traveling dress that was spread across the velvet coach seat to accommodate him.
Nick's glance roamed with pleasure over his wife, who felt shy under his admiring glances. She looked out the window pretending an interest in the passing scene, yet she could feel his eyes upon her all the while, and it made her breathless as if a hundred butterfly wings fluttered beneath her breasts.
"I declare there is nothing so fatiguing as travel, and no matter what, you always arrive hot and rumpled,"
Jennifer declared. Amanda murmured a reply, and Jennifer chatted on, yet her younger sister could not have repeated one word of her conversation. Nicholas silently overwhelmed her with his presence and whenever she dared to steal a glimpse of him, he was caressing her with his eyes.
Now he fastened them on her mouth and, try as she might, all she could think of was the taste and feel of his lips on hers. His glance traveled to her breasts, so prettily displayed in the demure gray traveling dress, then he raised his eyes to hers and enjoyed her blush.
Then he had the audacity to wink at her, and she felt the corners of her mouth go up, and he knew the elusive dimples would appear.
Nicholas was filled with some kind of mischievous devilry today and he flirted outrageously with her under her sister's very nose, without Jenny being the least aware of what was going on.
After about an hour, when Jennifer lapsed into a cat nap, Nicholas stretched out his long legs, slid down slightly against the squabs, his hat tipped down over his eyes.
Gradually, Amanda relaxed and breathed easier. After a little while she got up enough courage to observe her husband. How handsome he is when he's dressed up. That navy blue coat shows off his shoulders that are surely wider than any man's I've ever seen. The pleated shirt with its snowy stock contrasted sharply with his deeply tanned skin and crisp black hair curling against his neck. His elegant boots shone so you could see your face in them, and above the boots, his thighs encased in cream-colored breeches were hard as whipcord with saddle muscles.
Her eyes lifted from the swell in the skintight breeches, and she was appalled to see that he was not asleep after all, but had been watching her appraisal from beneath the brim of his hat. He removed the hat and grinned wickedly.
A smal.
"Oh"
escaped her, and Jennifer opened her eyes and yawned prettily.
"How much further do you reckon?"
"We'll stop at the River Inn for lunch, that will break up the journey. It's still a couple of hours to Charleston."
After the lunch stop, the girls climbed back into the carriage and took the same seats they had occupied before. This time, however, Nicholas chose to sit next to Amanda instead of facing her.
She was relieved that his eyes would not be boldly teasing her for the rest of the journey, however she soon realized that he could make his presence felt in a way that could not be ignored. She tried to ease away from his large form, but to her dismay found herself anchored firmly close as he was sitting on the folds of her dress. She glanced up at him and his lips twitched in amusement at her plight.
Their bodies were so close she could feel the heat of him clean through the fine material of her gown. The coach jostled them together as it careened down the river road on its journey to Charleston. His arm brushed against the swell of her breast, but when she raised pleading eyes to his, he pressed himself even closer. His long thigh, hard and well-muscled, lay against hers and when he flexed that muscle, it sent a sensation through the flesh of her own soft thigh.
He was enjoying himself and there was nothing she could do without alerting Jennifer. When she relaxed a little and he knew she had accepted his attentions, he slipped her small hand into his, undercover of her voluminous skirt. His thumb stroked her wrist and felt the wildly beating pulse, and he knew without a doubt how much her heart was involved.
"Would you mind dropping me off at my friend, Sue Ann Winwood's house? She lives at the northernmost part of town and Lord knows if I'll get up here again once I get to Aunt Virginia's. You can tell her I'll get Sue Ann's coachman to drive me to the Battery in a couple of hours.
"I'll tell Jason, if you'll give me the address."
Nicholas for once did not object to Jennifer's plans.
"It's the third, no I believe the fourth house on Rutledge Avenue, if you'd be so kind. Mandy, if Aunt Virginia makes any kind of fuss, tell her I'll be there in time for supper."
When the smart equipage drew up in front of the large house on Rutledge, Nicholas jumped out and handed Jennifer from the coach. She told Jason to take her baggage along to Aunt Virginia's, and Nicholas escorted her up to the door to make sure the young woman she wanted to visit was at home, then he returned to the carriage with all speed.
He did not take the empty seat, but threw his weight down beside Amanda and said huskily.
"Alone at last. My God madam, the world conspires against us so we are never private."
He scooped her up and sat her firmly on his knee before she could voice any protest, then his arms slipped about her and his head bent to steal a kiss.
As she gasped and turned her face from him, he leisurely enjoyed the soft blush on her creamy cheek. His closeness prevented her from breathing, and she feared that observers from the busy streets would see the carryings-on inside the coach.
"Nicholas you mustn't,"
she whispered desperately.
"People will see."
"You are my wife, Amanda. I don't really gave a damn if the world sees."
The dark, gold-tipped lashes self-consciously fluttered to her cheeks.
His hand came up to cup her chin and its firm pressure slowly turned her face to his.
When his lips captured hers in a thrilling kiss, it ignited a tiny spark of desire to be his. She reached up to caress his neck where the crisp hair curled darkly, and he pressed her back until she was lying on the seat.
As his weight came down to hold her captive, she realized what was happening and pressed both hands against his broad chest.
"My darling love, how you've enjoyed teasing me this long journey, now when I have the opportunity to make a little love to you, you would deny me and say me nay,"
he teased. His lips came down on hers in a searing, crushing kiss, demanding that she say yea.
She gave herself up to the pleasure of his arms and without hesitation he reached up her skirts, allowing his hand to caress the bare flesh of her upper thigh that stretched above her stocking. She struggled, but it was in vain. She begged him to stop, but he laughed at her.
With a deft movement, he pulled down her stocking and slipped it from her leg.
In desperation she realized the big carriage had drawn up before Aunt Virginia's house.
Nicholas kissed the filmy stocking and tucked it into his breast pocket.
"You wouldn't deny me a keepsake, would you?"
he whispered.
Amanda was scandalized.
"I can't go in wearing only one stocking."
"Of course you can. No one will see, and every step you take will remind you of me."
The corners of her mouth went up at his outrageous behavior. He is a bold man to undress me in a carriage.
Nicholas did not simply drop her off on Virginia's doorstep, but suffered politely through afternoon tea, while the baggage was unloaded from the carriage and taken upstairs.
All the while Amanda sipped her tea and listened to her husband exchange pleasantries with her aunt and her daughters, she was acutely aware of her bared leg beneath her gown. Her blush would not subside and whenever she glanced at him, he gave her a knowing wink.
As he rose to leave he said.
"Remember if you should need to get a message to me, I'll be at the Planters Inn."
Amanda spent the rest of the day dreamy-eyed, while her cousins pumped her for details of her devastatingly handsome husband.
No entertainments were planned for their first evening in Charleston, as it was rightly assumed they would need to rest from the rigors of the journey. The following day however was given up to the pleasure of shopping, so while Aunt Virginia planned the details of the party she was giving that evening, her daughters escorted Jennifer and Amanda on a tour of some of the delightful shops.
Amanda bought with Nicholas in mind. She wanted dresses that would not only flatter her tawny coloring, but would also please a man's eye. She bought a pretty creation with a low, square neckline and the barest hint of a sleeve. The color was delightful. Above the waist it was butter-cream, then the skirt deepened into a golden yellow. The other was a ball gown. It was the subtlest shade of peach with the bustline petal-shaped to cup and flatter the breasts; a most eye-catching detail of design.
She bought slippers and underpinnings to match, and then the party moved along to Church Street to a very fashionable milliner's shop that sold the prettiest bonnets in town. The girls sat in front of mirrors trying on one chapeau after another. Amanda had seen one in the window that was very elegant. She moved toward the display, and there in the street was her husband.
"Nicholas just went past the shop, I wonder if he's looking for us?"
she remarked to Jennifer. She darted out the door just in time to see him turn the corner onto Tradd Street. When she reached the corner, he was entering the third house from the corner.
She called.
"Nicholas!"
but he did not hear her, and she felt rather self-conscious shouting down the street. She quickened her steps, wondering whose house it was, as she climbed the brick steps and tapped timidly on the door.
A young black woman opened it and held it wide. There stood Nicholas in the entrance way with a child in his arms. The beautiful little girl between two and three years old was laughing excitedly.
Amanda stepped forward with a puzzled look on her face, then as the light from the open doorway fell upon the man and child, Amanda saw that the little girl had aqua-colored eyes, the same unusual shade as her husband.
For one unreal moment the world swung upside down for Amanda. She backed away from him, then turned and ran blindly back toward the shop or anywhere that would get her away from him.
Nicholas, alarmed, quickly handed the child back to Solange and strode after his wife.
The moment Amanda entered the milliner's shop, the walls swam together and the floor came up to hit her in the face.
Nicholas had her in his arms instantly. He said shortly to Jennifer.
"She's unwell, I'm taking her back to the Planters Inn."
He strode out into the street and hailed a carriage to carry them the short distance.
When Amanda opened her eyes, the pain in them was hard for Nicholas to bear. They burned with accusation, and her face had gone so deathly pale, he feared for her.
He did not carry her, but he assisted her upstairs to his room. He could feel her small back was rigid and unyielding to his arm that tried to give her support. Quickly, he poured a small amount of brandy into a glass and held it to her lips.
With one sweeping gesture Amanda knocked the glass away and it shattered into a thousand shards. She flew at him, and with clenched fists that hammered into his chest, cried.
"Damn you, damn you, damn you!"
He caught her hands firmly and said sharply.
"Amanda, stop it. It happened before I ever met you."
"My God,"
she cried aghast.
"you don't even attempt to deny it!"
"That would be rather gutless of me."
"I thought you were different, but you're the same as all the other men. Exactly the same! You have the morals of a libertine."
She struggled fiercely until he freed her.
"You were a hero to me. I've worshipped you for over four years,since I was thirteen, and this is how you repay me."
He tried to take hold of her arms in an effort to calm her.
"Don't touch me!"
she cried passionately, her fury growing along with the volume of her voice.
"Keep your voice down, Amanda, you're becoming hysterical,"
he ordered.
"I have every right to be hysterical, and I shall not keep my voice down. I want everyone to know you've betrayed me with a black woman, and that you have a yard child."
"Don't you dare to call Nicole a yard child,"
he shouted, his anger rising rapidly.
"Nicole? Nicole by God! The name that should have been reserved for our child. How could you?"
She dashed the tears from her eyes with angry fists, and Nicholas decided that enough was enough.
He lifted her feet off the floor and sat her upon the high bed that stood in the center of the room.
"You will be silent while I explain the situation to you. I seldom explain myself Amanda, but for you I will make an exception, this once."
She set her chin at a very aggressive angle and glared at him.
"I bought the female slave Solange and freed her the same day. She came to my bed one time only, and much to my shame I got her with child. I do not love Solange, I have never loved Solange, but I do love my child. I have accepted the unfortunate situation, and you will have to do the same."
She jumped down from the bed.
"Are you finished, sir?"
she demanded, showing that her anger had not lessened by one jot.
"When I married you, in name only,"
she emphasized sarcastically, "you assured me that if I was not happy, and changed my mind, I could get the marriage... annulled... I believe the word was. I shall write to my father and tell him I wish the marriage dissolved."
I have no choice now. I will have to consummate the marriage so that an annulment will be impossible. The intensity of her anger showed him clearly how deeply she felt for him, and he was elated that she loved him and could not conceal it from him.
He decided his best course of action would be to divert her. If he gave her something else to worry about, her temper would cool over the other matter. He took off his coat and turned down the bed.
She eyed him with suspicion.
"What are you doing?"
"My dear, you fainted on the street. The only place for you is in bed. You need to be coddled. I'll send down for some chamomile tea. Come, let me undo your gown."
"I'm perfectly well. I just had a shock... a shock I might add that will last the rest of my life!"
He removed his cravat and began to unbutton his shirt, then in his most persuasive voice invited.
"Come, I'll lie down with you."
She put the width of the bed between them and warned.
"Stay away from me, Nicholas Peacock."
He shrugged.
"You may as well get used to it-- we will be sharing the bed tonight."
"Are you mad?"
she cried.
"I shall go back to Aunt Virginia's of course."
"Not, of course, Mandy. Only if I choose to let you."
He was around the bed in a flash and she was enveloped in his arms. He took her down to the bed with him, half rolled her onto her back and commenced to kiss her thoroughly and deeply. She fought him, but his strength pitted against her prevented her from freeing her body in any way. While he had her under his control he caressed and stroked her breasts until her nipples stood out like hard little spears.
"Please, Nicholas, don't."
"Ah, so it's 'please Nicholas' now, is it?"
He looked deeply into her eyes and saw that in spite of her protests, her eyes were dilated because her body was receiving pleasure.
"If I only wanted you physically, I could have taken you any night in the garden, but I want more than that Amanda."
Her lashes swept down and she refused to look at him.
"You know, don't you, that if I choose, you will have to join me in this bed?"
She raised pleading eyes to his and nodded.
He lifted his weight from her and pulled her to her feet.
"I'll leave you to freshen up, then I'll take you back to Virginia's,"
he said, not unkindly.
Charleston, in the grip of election fever, already reeling from social surfeit, was almost felled with the stunning news of Lincoln's victory.
Amanda bade Jennifer and her Aunt Virginia a reluctant goodbye after her two week's stay
The drive home to Paradise Plantation was a sombre one, with Nicholas much preoccupied, yet he was well aware of Amanda's coolness toward him. The quality of her silence told him she would have none of him.
The heat still held, then turned so sultry and oppressive with low, bruise-colored clouds, that even the animals became restless and bad-tempered.
Nicholas stayed in the garden until after midnight thinking Amanda must come outdoors for a breath of air, but when she did not come, he reluctantly sought his room. He put off retiring as long as he could. The last thing he wanted tonight was another dream.
Amanda had known for two days a storm was coming. It took so long to build, she knew it would be a bad one, and she dreaded it with all her heart. By the time bedtime arrived, her nerve endings were tingling with the old anticipated fear to the point where she was ready to scream. She lay rigid in the bed, waiting, waiting. Then the first streak of lightning flashed across the sky and with a cry she flew to the window and tightly closed her jalousies. The thunder rumbled in the distance, and her limbs began to tremble uncontrollably as she heard the next rumble come unmistakably closer.
Nicholas had just drifted off to sleep when the first crash came. He sat up and murmured under his breath.
"Mandy!"
He knew how very real her fear was. He covered his nakedness with a robe and moved quickly out of his wing and along to his wife's room.
Her bed was empty and she was nowhere to be seen. On impulse he took up the hurricane lamp and opened her closet door. He saw Amanda huddled on the floor with her arms wrapped protectively over her head.
"My love, don't be afraid,"
he soothed gently. He quickly set down the lamp and reached to lift Amanda from the darkened niche. She clung to him desperately, and his name came out on a half-whisper, half-sob.
"Nicholas."
He knew better than to start reasoning with her to dispel the fear. Instead, he held her very tightly so that she would feel secure. His lips brushed her temples, and he murmured gentle words to comfort her.
"Don't leave me,"
she begged.
"I'll hold you all night,"
he promised softly. Her closeness was playing hell with his senses. She'd never been more desirable than at this moment with her tawny hair in wild disarray and her golden eyes wide with fear. She was the classic maiden in distress and he felt a surge of strength arise within him to protect her always.
In the middle of the room she clung to him desperately, quick intakes of breath punctuating each crack of thunder.
Whether by deliberate design or by pure physical instinct, afterward he was never sure, he began to intrude himself upon her consciousness. He would fill her with his essence to the point where there was no room for fear or storms or any other thing. He would merge his body with hers until they became one, not only in body, but in mind and soul.
With deft fingers Nicholas undid her nightgown and slipped it from her shoulders. His head dipped to kiss the high curves of her breasts that swelled so temptingly, all velvet cream tipped with rosebuds.
For Amanda the fear of the storm began to recede as she became aware of her body and the pleasurable sensations Nicholas was provoking.
He shrugged off his robe and lifted her onto him so that his cock was between her legs and the filmy material of her nightgown fluttered down to cover their intimate parts.
She gasped with pleasure as the first little bit entered and caressed her woman's center. As he lowered her until her feet touched the carpet, his hands slipped down her body, taking the nightgown from her limbs so that it fell into a silken pool at their feet.
His mouth sought hers, and he tasted a tear, then a sigh, then the honeyed sweetness for which he'd thirsted so long. His kisses, gentle at first, deepened and began to take, then they plundered her mouth, and she thought she might die from the taste and the feel of him. His wide, bronzed shoulders blotted out everything in the room, everything in her mind, everything in the world, until there was just his aqua eyes blazing their desire for her, and his whipcord arms possessively holding her captive.
He went on his knees to her in an attitude of worship, and he drew her thighs gently toward his mouth. As his tongue began to trace the soft folds between her legs, she cried out in protest, but it was drowned by the tumult above them.
She gave herself up to Nicholas's demanding mouth, arching her neck backwards at the exquisite pulsations he aroused, and her fingers threaded wildly through his crisp, dark hair.
Nicholas withdrew, stood erect and drew her up beside him. She leaned against him drained of strength, her eyes closed and her rosy breasts quivering with each breath. He lifted her with infinite care and carried her to the bed.
When he stretched his body on the bed and drew her toward him, the contrast of their skin was erotically arousing. Hers gleamed like a pearl dusted with translucent powder, while his was burnished bronze.
She was aware of how she affected him by the way his hungry eyes ate her.
"My God, you are delicious as sin."
His hands stroked her, arousing her until she thought she would scream from the bliss of it all. Then he was towering above her, unwilling to wait one moment longer to make her his.
A moment of apprehension rose up, but she forced herself to trust him totally. Then she felt his hard boldness as the fire in his loins raged out of control, and he slid deeply into her tight, scalding body.
They both cried out from the pleasure-pain. They were so hot, they almost burned each other. Then the heated waves of pleasure began to build and build, washing over them until they lost all sense of time and place. Their kisses became savage and wild, so that the storm that raged without paled in comparison as the lovers were consumed by a mutual passion.
Then came such a melting, flooding, overflowing sensation, Amanda thought she might drown. She clung to Nicholas and felt the pounding of his heartbeat against her naked breasts. She felt as if they were fused into one being that wished never to be separated.
Though he couldn't bear to withdraw from her, he relieved her of his weight and rolled until she was on top of him. He was exultant that she had responded to him so richly in their first sexual encounter. Her eyes gazed down into his with wonder.
"Golden witch,"
he murmured.
"I'm mad in love with you."
You're more woman than I ever dreamed. His breath came raggedly as his senses returned.
"God help me for this night's work."
Mandy traced a loving finger along the strong line of his jaw.
"Whatever are we to do?"
she whispered.
"My love, I shouldn't have let it happen, but I did, and you know I have no regrets."
He lifted a curl that brushed his chest and brought it to his lips.
"Amanda, what has happened between us is totally private. No one will know, until you are ready to tell them."
"We broke our promises,"
she whispered.
"We mustn't let it happen again."
"Too late,"
he said hoarsely.
"it's already happening again."
He pulled her beneath him and silenced her protests with his lips.
This time he made love to her slowly, tenderly, drawing out each moment and savoring it to the full. Every inch of her silken skin received his worshipful caress, and his lips played on hers until she was floating in a warm, sensual lotus lagoon on the shores of Paradise.
Long after, as she slept dreamlessly, Nicholas slipped from the warm bed and left by way of the gallery.
At dawn's first rays she was awakened by Cleo's presence in the room. As she came fully awake and realized that Nicholas was gone, she threw back the covers and retrieved her nightgown from its silken pool on the carpet.
Cleo said low.
"Ah'll change yore bed linen, Miz Mandy, fore Mammy Lou come wid yore breakfast."
Amanda's eyes flew to the sheets with their tell-tale smears on the pristine whiteness.
"Thank you, Cleo."