Sea of Desire (40 page)

Merideth laughed. “Always the rogue.”

Jared shook his head, the devilish grin
deepening the radiating lines at the corners of his eyes.
“Actually, the balls and races were pleasant diversions, but I’ve
always felt more at home at Royal Oak.”

“Or on the bow of a ship.”

“That too. Ah, here’s Seth.” Jared pushed
away from the mantel and met the older man as he entered the room.
He took the large silver tray and set it on the tea table in front
of the settee. Then he settled beside Merideth, his thighs brushing
against her skirt, and indicated the chair across from them for
Seth.

“Tell me how things are,” Jared asked while
Merideth poured tea from the silver pot. “Is Mr. Guthre in?”

“No sir. He done left day ‘fore yesterday for
Royal Oak.”

“Really.” Bartrom Guthre was a distant
cousin, son of a ne’er-do-well, yet himself possessing a keen mind
for business. When John and Jared had left for France and the
English Channel, they’d put Bart in charge of the Blackstone
family’s business. He supervised the indigo plantation and saw to
the warehouses in town.

“I don’t rightly know when he’s comin’ back
to Charles Town, sir.”

“No matter. Lady Merideth and I are leaving
for Port Royal within the hour anyway.”

“Within the—” The hand bringing the delicate
china cup to her lips stilled as Merideth twisted toward him. “But
we can’t do that.”

“And why is that?”

Why indeed. Merideth could hardly say that
she needed time to speak to Daniel Wallis. That he’d promised to
see her safely back to England. That though she didn’t want to
go... to leave Jared... she couldn’t stay. Not the way things
were.

“I’m just surprised you wish to leave so
soon.” Merideth took a sip of tea to wet her suddenly dry mouth.
“We... we just arrived.”

His expression was unreadable as he leveled
his green eyes on her... waiting. Merideth swallowed. “What of
Daniel? Is he to come with us?”

“He’ll come to Royal Oak in his own good
time, I suppose.”

“Surely before he leaves for Philadelphia.”
She was revealing too much. Merideth knew that, but she didn’t seem
able to help herself.

The captain’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps you
should rest before we go.” He rang a small silver bell, and when a
round-cheeked black woman appeared at the door he introduced her as
Evy and asked her to show Merideth upstairs. With that the captain
turned back to Seth. As Merideth retreated from the room she could
hear the men discussing the British attack on Charles Town.

“Ya be wantin’ anythin’ else, ma’am?” the
young woman inquired after she’d poured water from the pitcher into
the china bowl and set out linen towels.

“No. No, thank you.” Merideth bit her lip.
“Except... When Daniel Wallis is in Charles Town he does live here,
doesn’t he?” Perhaps he would show up before they departed.

The woman’s friendly smile dissolved. She
bustled toward the door, turning the knob before answering. “That
one lives here most a the time,” was all she said before leaving
and shutting the door behind her.

Alone in the room, Merideth cupped water in
her hands and splashed it onto her hot cheeks. With her eyes closed
she leaned forward, wondering how she would ever get away from the
man she loved... the man who didn’t return that love. And worse,
who believed her a traitor.

Her one hope, that Daniel would come to the
house on Tradd Street before they left, faded as she and the
captain mounted horses at the stables to the rear of the
property.

They rode south along a sandy dirt road lined
with towering pines till they reached the Ashley River. After being
ferried across, they continued until it was nearly dark. They
stopped at a plantation house owned by the Weller family. Mrs.
Weller and her widowed daughter were the only ones at home, and
they seemed delighted to see Jared.

He quickly supplied them with news from
Charles Town, for which they seemed very eager. Merideth got the
impression that news traveled slowly in the Low Country, as the
captain referred to this area of Charles Town.

The ladies’ reception of Merideth was polite
but stilted. At first she thought this the result of her
introduction as
Lady
Merideth Banistar. The younger woman’s
husband was dead as a result of the fighting at Charles Town. Lucy
Weller, her mother, spoke often of her son-in-law’s bravery when
the English attacked the town. He had been one of Colonel
Moultrie’s officers.

But as they sat in the huge dining room
beneath the prismed luster, Merideth suspected the thinly veiled
animosity was rooted in more than hatred of the English.

Lucinda Weller King couldn’t keep her eyes
off of Jared Blackstone.

She smiled at him constantly. She laughed,
her lower face hidden beneath the flair of her fan, whenever he
said something even remotely humorous, and she touched him at every
opportunity.

Merideth found the display disgusting.

As the evening wore on, Merideth grew more
withdrawn—not that anyone had been interested in what she’d had to
say earlier anyway. It was obvious from the conversation that the
Wellers and Blackstones had been friends forever. It was also
obvious that Lucinda had had her cap set for Jared before her
marriage.

“Oh, do you remember that New Year’s ball at
Mrs. Gordon’s Long Room? I declare, you were
so
upset when
Alexander King escorted me to dinner.

“And the Newmarket Race Track at Goose Creek.
Do you remember?” she asked as she wove her arm through his and led
the way from the dining room into the parlor. “You were so besotted
you begged for one of my ribbons to wear as your colors. Just like
a knight of old, you said. And you won. Do you remember that,
Jared?”

Merideth wasn’t close enough to hear the
captain’s reply, nor to see the way Lucinda looked up at him, but
she could imagine the lashes above the woman’s limpid brown eyes
were fluttering furiously.

It wasn’t until the ladies learned of
Merideth’s recent visit to the French capital that they showed any
interest in her. Then they couldn’t seem to hear enough. While
Lucinda sat by the captain’s side, Merideth answered questions,
giving detailed description of the gowns she saw and wore.

When she finally pleaded fatigue and was
shown to a large well-appointed room by a black servant, she had a
throbbing headache.

It was still upon her the following
morning.

They spent the night in separate rooms, and
rose early to breakfast on ham and eggs, potatoes and biscuits and
fish. Lucinda, dressed in a powder-blue gown with rows of lace
frothing from the elbow-length sleeve, suggested Jared stay another
day.

“Oh, and you too, Lady Merideth,” she added
sweetly.

But Jared declined, promising to come back
for a long visit as soon as he could. He assured them he needed to
get to Royal Oak without delay to assure himself it suffered no ill
from the war.

They were both silent as they rode side by
side along the path. The land was low and swampy in places, the
soil dark. As the day progressed, the weather grew hotter, the air
thick with moisture and droning insects.

“I imagine we’ll have a storm before long.
Hopefully we’ll make it to Royal Oak before it breaks.”

Merideth made a noncommittal noise that made
Jared twist in his saddle to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not a thing.” Merideth kept her eyes fixed
on the path ahead. For several moments they trotted along in
silence. Then the captain reached out and grabbed her horse’s
reins, bringing them both to a halt.

“I asked you a question.”

Merideth lifted her chin. “And I answered
it.” She followed the drift of his eyes till they rested on the
locket. As if it were on fire, she jerked her fingers away. “This
contention of yours that I touch my necklace when I’m lying is
nonsense. It happens to be very dear to me.”

Saying nothing, the captain continued to
watch her. Around her Merideth could hear the singing of birds and
the stirring of the wind through the grasses and trees. “Shouldn’t
we be on our way if we plan to be at your plantation before it
rains?” she said as her horse impatiently stomped his hooves.

“First tell me why you’ve been so quiet.”

“Why I’ve...” She stared at him, momentarily
at a loss for words. “What? Am I not pleasant-enough company for
you? If that’s the case, I suggest you look for someone who wasn’t
kidnapped and brought to a strange country against her wishes. She
might be more accommodating. Besides, I should think you would like
a respite from talking after last night. It must have been taxing
on you being so charming to Lucinda King.”

A grin played around the corners of Jared’s
mouth. “So you thought I was charming?”

Merideth’s lips thinned. “No, actually, I
thought you acted silly, but I’m sure the simpering Mrs. King was
impressed.”

“She always has been.”

“Has been what?”

“Easily impressed. I tried to warn Alex about
her, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Was this before or after he escorted her to
dinner?”

Jared’s brow arched. “Don’t believe
everything you hear, Merry.”

“I could say the same to you.”

Jared shifted in the saddle. The leather
creaked, but his attention remained on Merideth. “Besides,”
Merideth said, folding her hands over the reins to keep herself
from touching her locket, “I don’t care in the least what Mrs. King
had to say.”

With that she gave the reins a tug. The
captain let them slip through his fingers and they continued on
their way.

By afternoon, mountainous clouds billowed up
to the east, darkening the sky. The wind picked up and Merideth
snatched at her hat—the same flannel one she’d worn on the
Carolina
—and tried to keep up with the captain’s hurried
pace.

They made it to Royal Oak just as the storm
sent its first streaks of lightning shooting across the sky. They
raced the raindrops up the crushed-shell drive lined by two rows of
moss-draped oaks. Merideth was too concerned with controlling the
frightened horse and keeping her seat to notice the house until she
was nearly upon it.

Then it loomed up on her, large, with a
sweeping veranda across the front. As soon as they reached the
brick stairs, Jared jumped from his horse and grabbed Merideth from
hers.

They pushed through the front door, shaking
raindrops off them like puppies.

“What the...” A rotund woman with a bright
kerchief around her head came barreling down the curved staircase.
She paused near the bottom as Jared glanced toward her. “Why,
Mastah Jared, is that you?”

“In the flesh,” Jared said, and rushed toward
his old nanny. She squealed when he lifted her up.

“Now you stop that,” she protested, but her
laughter kept the words from being an admonishment. “Where’ve ya
been for so long?”

“England, France. Just about all over the
world. But I missed you all the while.”

“Oh, you shush that silly talk.” The woman
straightened her kerchief. “Who’s this child you brought me?”

After the introductions, the black woman,
whose name was Belle—because Mastah Jared couldn’t say Isabel when
he was little—took Merideth upstairs.

“Ain’t had no chance to air out this room,”
she said, bustling around, flitting dust around the bureau with her
bunched-up apron.

“This is fine, really.” The room was lovely,
with pale-yellow curtains and a high tester bed draped in silk of
the same color. “I’m just glad to be out of the wet.”

While the storm raged outside, Merideth
munched on cold chicken and rice from the tray brought to the room
by another servant. Belle shook out the gown Merideth had managed
to pack in the saddlebag. Her trunk had arrived at the Tradd Street
house just as they were planning to leave, and she’d hurriedly
scrambled through it, packing some clean shifts and the gown. It
seemed she was always being forced to go here and there with the
captain without a change of clothes.

Merideth napped through the afternoon and
awoke refreshed, without any sign of the pesky headache. The storm
was over, the air fresher after the drenching. When a young woman
named Lily came in to light the candles, she told Merideth the
captain had ridden off to look over the fields after the rain had
stopped.

“He said ta go on and eat without ‘im, ‘cause
he won’t be back ta late.”

The evening darkened into night, and despite
her nap, Merideth was tired. She hadn’t seen the captain, though
she did meet the distant cousin of his, Bartrom Guthre. He was a
pleasant dinner companion, talking mostly of his wife and young
son, who were presently back in Charles Town. Merideth was sorry
she hadn’t seen them at Jared’s house so she could bring Bartrom
some word from his family.

He showed her around the house, which was
indeed large and lovely, with intricate carvings in the ceiling and
walls. Merideth liked it immediately, and wished... She couldn’t
decide what she wished. That she could stay. That the captain
wanted her for more than a name she couldn’t give him.

That he loved her.

But for now, at least, there was nothing she
could do. Being at Royal Oak was almost like being on board the
Carolina
. There was no way she could escape. She fell asleep
in a bed draped with mosquito netting, wondering if she didn’t
prefer it that way.

It was late when he came to her, softly, like
a whisper in the night. Before, she had dreaded the shadows, the
darkness. But this, the dip of the mattress as he slipped in beside
her, the strength of his arms as they enfolded her, was an
extension of her sensual dream.

His lips brushed hers, tasting of brandy and
him. Still groggy from sleep, Merideth lifted her hands to his
hair, catching the ribbon that held it back and freeing the rough
silk strands. Droplets of water showered onto her neck.