Page 23 of Master of Paradise

All through the following day, Nicholas found himself lusting for Amanda. It was as if he'd been denied too long and now that he'd tasted her, he knew he'd never have enough.

Amanda floated about in a trance. Never had she felt so beautiful, so special, so beloved. The great storm had broken the heatwave and there was a definite nip in the air that sent everyone scurrying to bring out their warmer clothes.

It was a busy time on the plantation. The month before Christmas was devoted to providing for the winter. Hogs that were not to be carried through the winter had to be slaughtered, and the hams smoked and cured.

Nicholas was up at first light to hunt deer so the venison could be cured in the smokehouse alongside the hams. The day seemed endless and he anticipated the evening meal all afternoon, when at last he would see Amanda.

The moment she entered the dining room the acknowledgment of what had happened between them began. He told her with his eyes that he remembered last night's splendor and longed for tonight's possibilities.

Amanda glowed with the heady knowledge that she lingered in his consciousness. It was the epilogue that made their cycle of lovemaking complete.

As Nicholas observed her delicate beauty, he noticed the smudges of fatigue beneath her eyes and his conscience smote him. Selfishly, he had robbed her of her night's sleep.

After supper when she went upstairs, she found his love note on her pillow:

My heart's desire:

Though it will be difficult for me, I will leave you to rest tonight.

Nicholas forced himself to stay in his own chamber. He held himself in check with one word: Patience! No dreams came to assuage his sorely tempted desires, but twice he awoke in a cold sweat with the familiar ache gnawing at his belly.

The next day, clothed in a velvet gown against the wind's chill, Amanda went to the stables to take Miss Louise a fall apple from the orchards. Her eyes widened as she noticed her little mare seemed to be in foal. She ran her hand down the satin belly and was thankful the filly was in superb condition. I'll ask Nicholas about it.

Outside she felt herself lifted bodily in strong arms as her husband took her up before him on Sunblood. He rode from the yard toward the cypress grove.

"My God, I had to hold you, if only for a moment."

Her arms swept up about his neck and she lifted her face for his kiss.

"I must be with you tonight,"

he said with the intensity of a man in agony.

She whispered against his mouth.

"I will come to you. Your room will be safer. By the way, did you know Miss Louise is carrying a foal?"

He nodded.

"I'm pretty sure it was Sunblood here. I saw him serve her once, months before we were married. He's as hot-blooded as I am."

The trees soon swallowed them from view, but not before Jennifer, looking from her window, saw the possessive hand Nicholas placed on her sister's breast. As she watched with jealous, vindictive eyes, she knew them for lovers.

That night Amanda suffered Mammy Lou's nightly ministrations with an impatience she was very careful to keep hidden. She yawned through her unlacing, let heavy eyelashes brush her cheeks while lying in the bathtub, and pretended to fall asleep in the middle of having her hair brushed. Then, as a worried frown creased the old woman's brow, Amanda felt a quick stab of guilt at the deceit she was practicing on her faithful nursemaid.

"Mammy, I promise I'm not coming down with anything. I'm just sleepy."

The moment the lamp was turned down and the door closed, Amanda flung back the covers, threw on her bed-robe, carefully put the bar down across her door and went out to the balcony. The night was cold as she moved silently along to the west wing. She was just about to enter when she saw through the jalousies that Samuel was opening a bottle of wine with a corkscrew.

Nicholas, wearing a robe, rubbed his damp hair with a towel. She waited long minutes, lifting a very cold foot from the floor of the gallery, until her husband was at last alone. Suddenly, she felt shy and couldn't bring herself to enter without knocking.

He had the door open in a second, drawing her into his masculine world.

"Come and be warm, love."

He sat her before the fire, and knelt to rub her feet. He grinned at her.

"Were you in such a hurry you forgot your slippers?"

"Yes,"

she admitted breathlessly, and the pretty pink color suffused her cheeks. She ran her fingers through his damp, curly hair, and he laughed softly, happy that she could not keep her hands from him. He arose and locked the door, pulled the drapes tightly shut, and poured them a goblet of delicious, smooth Chablis. He stretched his great length before the fire and pulled her down to him. They shared the loving cup, kissing between sips, tasting the sweet wine on each others' lips.

She heaved a great sigh and lay against his chest.

"I wish tonight could last forever. Nicholas, promise me all our tomorrows will be just so."

As he gazed down at her, his heart constricted as he knew at his heart-root their time could be short.

"Sweetheart, we must enjoy this moment. Is it not enough that we've tasted the forbidden fruit?"

he teased.

"Don't say that, Nicholas. Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. That couldn't happen to us, could it?"

"Enough fantasy."

He laughed to lighten the mood.

"This moment is very real. A fire like ours cannot go out, as I'll prove to you more than once tonight."

He undressed them both and they lay naked in the fire's glow.

Amanda lay pliant to his hands and mouth, eager and willing to be taught what would give them pleasure.

Every inch of him responded to her delicate beauty inviting him to slake all his senses. Whenever she blushed, he almost melted with tenderness for her.

"Come, straddle me. Ride me," he urged.

"You are so big."

She reached out curious fingers to encircle him.

He groaned aloud at her touch.

"When you mount me, you can take as much of me, or as little as you desire. You can control it."

Her tawny hair cascaded onto his chest, and her breasts lifted and fell with her movements. The firelight turned the color of her skin to golden flame as they performed what seemed a pagan rite.

Spent, she lay prone on his muscular body, her lips pressed to the column of his neck.

Nicholas swept her into his arms and carried her to his bed, knowing all her strength had been expended in the loving. For a time they slumbered, each secure in the knowledge that she was there in his arms.

Later she awoke to find his lips brushing her eyelids, kissing away the sleep.

The corners of her mouth went up in delight as she knew the power she had over him. She sprang up like a savage lioness and crouched above him, taunting him with her tawny beauty, and he responded wildly, as she wished him to. She playfully bit and scratched him until he mastered her in sweet submission.

Before dawn streaked the sky, he carried her back along the balcony to her own room. He left her with a lingering kiss that must suffice until the next time they could steal a night together.

Christmas was almost upon them. Paradise was decorated with holly and mistletoe, and although their holiday festivities would be at a minimum this year, there would still be a great deal of visiting and visitors.

Rafe Collins stepped off the paddle wheeler at the newly built water steps of Paradise. Although he had crossed and recrossed the Atlantic in record time, he was not smiling. He told Nicholas the grim tidings.

"South Carolina has just seceded from the Union. The Ordinance of Secession was signed at Institute Hall in Charleston, yesterday, December 20th."

"Jesus Christ it's begun,"

Nick swore.

"Come and have something to eat, then we'll ride out to the other plantations and give them the news."

"Everybody in Charleston's acting like crazies, as if they were celebrating a holiday or a great victory."

Rafe shook his head.

"What cargo did you bring back from England?"

"Furniture, silk, tea, and champagne for weddings."

"Damn! Next shipload must be gunpowder, rifles, cannon, any medical supplies like quinine and chloroform."

"You think it'll come to war?"

Rafe asked.

"I know it'll come to war,"

Nicholas said grimly.

The reaction Nicholas got at each plantation was identical and it greatly surprised him. The young men almost lusted for war. They needed only sword and horse, to hear them talk, to teach the damn Yankees a lesson they'd never forget. The older men were not much different. They thought they could stop the North from swarming over the South, freeing the slaves.

By the time Nicholas arrived at the Vickers, he expected Duke and King to become instantly intoxicated with the excitement of war.

"It will give them targets to shoot at other than themselves,"

he told Rafe.

Nick was slightly alarmed when Beau Hampden's father, Wade, started to draw up plans for a cavalry unit.

"Each man will provide his own horse, equipment, uniform, and body servant,"

Wade declared.

"Arms will consist of a pair of pistols, a saber, and a Bowie knife."

Back at Paradise, Nicholas told Rafe about plans he'd been considering to start up a brick and tile yard. He realized the time was right. Up river toward Columbia, he'd spotted the perfect red clay along the riverbank.

"I've decided to buy the land and set up Jason and Solange in what should prove to be a profitable business."

The men made plans to sail their two vessels up to New York to trade wood and tobacco for guns, woolen goods, leather, and medical supplies.

"The North is filled with factories, foundries, mills, and tanneries,"

Rafe remarked.

"All the South has is cotton and slaves,"

Nick declared.

"You captain the Hornet, and I'll command the Rattlesnake."

The State of Mississippi followed South Carolina's lead, and seceded on the ninth day of January, 1861, and Florida seceded the very next day. Then came Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Christmas had slipped past almost forgotten in all the hoopla.

When Nicholas returned from New York he found a letter awaiting him from Bernard Jackson. It informed him that though Congress in Richmond, Virginia was holding out against secession, events were going forward at breakneck speed, and war looked inevitable.

He wrote that a Confederate Provisional Congress had formed in Montgomery, Alabama and they were determined to name Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States before Lincoln was inaugurated as President of the United States on February 11th.

Bernard promised he would make a speedy journey home the moment he knew war was to be declared.

A Confederate flag was raised at Montgomery, Alabama, and the South went wild with patriotism. Wade Hampden's South Carolina Cavalry was attracting young men from the area, all of whom were ripe for adventure.

When the usual group gathered at Paradise for their weekly poker game, Wesley Davis and Stuart Beverly were both wearing their brand new cavalry uniforms. This produced such a degree of envy in the Vickers boys that the very next morning they, along with their friend Ty Caldwell, joined Hampden's Legion without even talking it over with their fathers.

Amanda's heart was filled with dread. Just as she and Nicholas had begun to explore their love for each other, she feared he would recklessly join the army and thrust himself to the forefront of the danger."

Brandon came to talk with Nicholas, and before half-an-hour had gone by, Beau Hampden arrived on the scene and the talk was all about which regiment they would join. War was men's business and they tried to shield their womenfolk from talk of it. Nicholas however realized that whispers and secrets would cause more terror than openly discussing things and letting the ladies voice an opinion.

All were gathered in the comfortable living room at Paradise. Samuel splashed bourbon into glasses for the men and poured sherry for Amanda and Jennifer.

Brandon downed his in one gulp.

"I've decided to join you and your daddy's cavalry troupe, Beau."

Beau swirled the liquor around his glass.

"I'm not joining the South Carolina Cavalry. With Father in command, I thought it might be awkward for both of us. I've decided to serve under my namesake, General Beauregard. I'm going tomorrow."

Jennifer gasped.

"Oh Beau, I'm so proud of you, but I'll just die if anything happens to you."

"Jenny, we got the finest horsemen in the country. We were all born with guns in our hands. Every plantation in the county has at least one son whose attended West Point, or the Citadel, or like Brandon, to the Virginia Military Institute. All the North has is immigrants from Europe, fresh off the boats!"

Nicholas cautioned.

"They have immigrants by the thousand, don't forget, and all poor. They'll be willing to fight in return for food and a few dollars."

"God Almighty Nick, you're not afraid of the Yankees are you?"

Brandon laughed.

"I'm afraid of war. I'm afraid of the North-- it's filled with factories that can turn out cannon. The Federal Government has a navy that can soon convert to warships. The North also controls the wheat supply."

Jennifer looked ashamed that she was related to him. She moved over to stand beside Beau.

"A Southern gentleman would never admit to fear."

Amanda flushed darkly at the implication. Nicholas ignored Jennifer's words, but Beau Hampden's chest swelled as she cast him an admiring glance.

"Have you written to your father about joining the South Carolina Legion?"

Nick asked Brandon.

"No, but I know he'd expect it of me. You intend to join up, don't you Nick?"

Fear caught in Amanda's throat as she looked at her husband.

"Well, we're not at war yet, and I hope to God it doesn't come to that. I've two plantations and a shipping business to run."

All eyes were on him now, expecting him to commit himself as they had done, but Nicholas cared little for the opinion of two rash boys.

Jennifer smiled at Beau.

"Your sister Julia must be the envy of everyone with her daddy at the head of the South Carolina Cavalry and her brother going to join General Beauregard."

Beau grinned.

"I'll tell you a secret. She's getting engaged to Ty Caldwell."

Jennifer's mouth fell open.

"Why, that's mighty sudden."

Beau nodded.

"They want to get married before Ty rides off to war in Virginia."

"Oh, how romantic!"

Jenny cried, pea-green with envy.

"I suppose just everyone will be marrying their sweetheart before they go off to war, then they'll have someone at home waiting for them."

She gave Beau a speculative look.

"You must stay for dinner Beau. Samuel, I hope we're having something delicious tonight."

Beau shook his head.

"Sorry ma'am, can't tonight. Have to make an early start in the morning. But soon as I enlist with Beauregard and get my uniform fitted in Charleston, I'll come to dinner."

"Now that's a promise I shall hold you to."

Jennifer took his arm and walked him to the door. As soon as he'd gone, Jenny turned to her brother.

"Brandon, I wonder if we could have a little talk in private?"

"Sure honey. I'm stayin' for supper, so I'd better go up to the stables and see that my horse is fed and watered. Why don't you walk with me?"

Outside, Jennifer was blind to the beauty of the dogwood and budding magnolias.

"Brandon, those slaves up at Blackville will bring nothing if that lunatic Lincoln gets his way. I think you should sell them off for cash before you go running off to Virginia, fightin' some silly war that hasn't even happened yet."

"Well honey, I should have known where your priorities would lie. Just to show you my heart is in the right place, I'm going to make out my will and leave that place to you, if anything should happen to me."

"Why Bran, I'm much obliged, I'm sure. Where are their papers?"

He chuckled.

"Always practical. No tears for my demise?"

"Bran, don't be silly, nothing will happen to you. Where are their papers?"

"In the safe at my house. There's something I want in exchange Jenny. There's a pair of twins I had sent from the breeding farm. I've taken a fancy to them, and when I go up to Virginia, I want you to bring them over here and take care of them for me."

"Was that one of them I saw you with that night?"

"You guessed it. I'll skin you alive if you sell them on me. You can sell any of the others you want to, you don't have to wait and see if anything happens to me. I trust your instincts where money is concerned."

When Nicholas and Amanda were alone, he saw that her thoughts were in turmoil.

"What is it, sweetheart?"

She hesitated, then took a deep breath.

"Nicholas, I'm so confused. I've been frightened to death that you would go running off to war, but now I see how reluctant you are, I'm frightened you won't go."

He put a finger under her chin and raised it so she looked him in the eye.

"Be thankful I don't join the Union. Slavery is wrong, when all's said and done."

Amanda's eyes were wide and she didn't know whether to take him seriously or not. She'd already learned Nicholas was not like other men. She pulled away from him, piqued at his attitude, and he chuckled at her reaction.

He could have sat her down and explained that his ships would be needed to import military supplies. The Confederacy would need specie and credit to finance a war, and exporting cotton was the only means of doing it. I've only got half the planting finished. I must get the rest of the fields in, then I'll be free to sail the merchant ships.

At dinner it seemed that lines had already been drawn with the brother and sisters on one side, and Nicholas on the other.

Beau Hampden had chosen to join General Beauregard at an auspicious moment. On the night of April 12th the Yankees fired the first shots of the Civil War when they took over Fort Sumpter in Charleston Harbor. Immediately, General Beauregard with his newest officer, First Lieutenant Beau Hampden, proceeded to shell the Fort until the offending Yankees were removed.

Beau returned home briefly before they rode North to lick the enemy. He was already a full-fledged hero, complete with a nasty powder burn on his cheek. He arrived at Paradise the same afternoon as Bernard Jackson. Beau was almost drunk with the glory of it all, while Bernard was grave-faced with fatigue.

Nicholas sat Bernard on the shaded verandah with a pony of bourbon.

"Virginia's about to secede. It's been passed and will be signed any day. Lincoln has called for 75,000 volunteers, and we have secret information that he has already seized Southern ships in Northern ports, and we know it won't stop there. He is about to proclaim a blockade of all Southern ports to prevent cotton going out and war supplies and food coming in."

Nicholas whistled.

"By God, blockade runners will make fortunes, but of course the United States could charge us under Federal piracy laws."

"You have a ship?"

Bernard inquired.

"I own two with Rafe Collins. We converted them to steam, thank God."

"Well, I'm on my way to Charleston to raise money to help finance this war. Price of cotton hereabouts will drop drastically as soon as the blockade is announced. I intend to open a blockade office and buy it dirt cheap. I know some planters hereabouts still got two year's crops in their storage barns."

"I just bought gunpowder and medical supplies from New York. I'll sell to the army at a reasonable price. I was planning to make another trip, but now you've brought news of a blockade, we'd do better to get that cotton to Liverpool immediately."

"It might be dangerous,"

Bernard warned.

"We've painted the ships gray, and they sit so low in the water they're almost invisible. Fast too, but just in case, we'll carry all flags then if we can't outrun a vessel we'll strike whatever colors suit our purpose."

"We plan to set up a Confederate Navy,"

Bernard said.

"but it will all take time. The ironclad warships will have to be built in England. If you're sailing within a week, I'll send a message to Captain James Bullock. He plans to contract a ship-builder in Birkenhead for six stern-propeller ships capable of high speed and long cruise."

"That should cost a pretty penny."

"A million. I'll get that message straight off. Will you travel to Charleston with me tomorrow?"

he asked Nicholas hopefully.

"I'll take you in the boat. Be there in just over an hour if we catch the ebb tide. You can use my house on Tradd Street. I'll tell Charles to be ready to go to the Charleston house for a spell. There are no servants there at the present."

Jennifer totally monopolized Beau Hampden, luring him to the summer house with sidelong glances that promised whatever he desired.

He came up against her back and wrapped his arms about her breasts. She could feel his hardness rubbing against her buttocks and her mouth curved into a satisfied little smile.

"Beau, has your daddy made out his will?"

Beau, his mouth nuzzling her neck, protested.

"Ah didn't come out here to talk about my daddy."

Firmly, Jenny removed his hands from her breasts and turned to him.

"We must talk about it. Do you realize with your daddy at the head of the South Carolina Cavalry you could become the owner overnight of the largest plantation in four counties, if anything happened to him?"

His mind was blurred by his sexual arousal, and he groaned because she was not about to fill his needs. Somehow the battle he'd been involved in had given him an insatiable need for a woman. He could think of nothing else.

"Why, even Brandon has left me the breeding farm in his will. He's leaving those black twins in my care when he goes to Virginia."

"Twins?"

he said thickly.

"You got those twins here?"

Jennifer heard the eagerness in his voice and pressed home her trump card.

"He'll probably give them to me for a wedding present."

"You want to get married?"

he puzzled.

"Why Beau, darlin', I'd love to! Let's ask Daddy right now."

She pulled him along by sheer force of will back to the house.

"Listen everybody."

She blushed happily.

"Beau Hampden has just asked me to marry him and I told him I'd be honored to be his wife."

"Now hold on a minute, Jennifer Joy,"

admonished her father.

"I know you young people are in love and war changes all the rules, but I think it would be best if you were just engaged for the present. Let us all get used to the idea for a spell."

Beau shook Bernard's hand vigorously and agreed with him that they would be content to become engaged. The Hampdens shouldn't put up any objections since they were allowing Julia to marry Ty Caldwell.

Nicholas opened champagne to toast the flushed couple and even poured enough for Samuel and Mammy Lou to be included in the toasting.

Nick's eyes met Amanda's with such intensity that she realized he had been watching her for some time. As he stared across the room at her, there was a naked hunger in his eyes, and she feared that anyone who saw would know them for lovers. He might as well have shouted it across the room.

He lifted a dark brow in invitation and mouthed silently.

"The maze."

After a moment Amanda put her glass aside and stepped into the garden.

Inside the high labyrinth of the maze, she took a flower into her hands and smelled its fragrance. Then he was beside her. As she had done with the flower, he cupped her face and gazed down at her.

"Amanda, I love you so much, and I must leave again tomorrow. Let me come to you, tonight?"

"Nicholas we can't, not with Father here,"

she protested.

He looked deeply into her eyes.

"My love, let me tell him. I want you in my room, not in another wing."

"No, no, Nicholas. He looks so tired and so worried. I don't want to upset him when he's got so much on his mind. Besides, he confides in you so easily, I don't want your relationship to be strained.

He kissed the tip of her nose.

"By God, our relationship is strained,"

he teased.

"You'll be back from Charleston in a few days,"

she assured him.

He hesitated, then confessed.

"Yes, but then I've decided to take the Rattlesnake to England."

Her face fell.

"But that's as long a separation as if you joined the army, except...

"her voice trailed off and she didn't say the rest.

"Except, no honors, no glory? Well if your pride demands it of me, I'm on Confederate business. I'm likely taking Captain Bullock of the Navy, among other things."

"I'm sorry, Nicholas. I should know you have enough pride and honor for three men."

He lifted her and kissed her deeply, then arms entwined, they made their way to the heart of the maze where the fountain splashed so invitingly. He whispered.

"On my first night back from England, I'm going to bring you here and we'll bathe in this secluded spot."

She smiled her secret smile.

"Mmm, that sounds very wanton and sybaritic."

"And what do you know madam of wantons and Sybarites?"

"Wait until you return and I'll show you."

He sat down on the ornamental iron seat and pulled her into his arms.

"But in the meantime, my love, in the meantime..."