Petals on the River (74 page)

the pool.
 
The stream-fed pond was clear enough to allow her to see a

vague blur of their pale bodies as they clung together.
 
The sight cut

her heart to the quick, deepening her hatred for them both.
 
It was what

she had feared the first time she had laid eyes upon Shemaine. What man

could resist such beauty?
 
Certainly not Gage, she mentally jeered.
 
He

had always had an eye for beauty!
 
Victoria had once been proof of that.

Now this hussy who had lured him into marriage with her liquid eyes and

sultry ways verified the fact again that Gage Thornton would never have

considered taking a plain-faced woman to wife.
 
But she meant to have

her revenge upon them both!
 
Gage couldn't toss her aside a second time

and not feel the brunt of her rancor.

"Everyone around here knows what a vicious temper Gage has, and Victoria

fell prey to it."

It was Gage's turn to scoff harshly.
 
"Do you think anyone will listen

to your lies after you argued so vehemently that I was innocent of any

wrongdoing?
 
Besides, if you were really convinced of the readiness of

the townspeople to believe your change of story, why didn't you tell

them differently after you came out here the last time?

But as far as I know, you said nothing.
 
I don't think you expect

anything to come of this!
 
All you want to do is frighten Shemaine."

"Do you honestly think I'm going to keep quiet for another season or two

while you bed your filthy little convict?" the blonde countered sharply.

"Do you expect me to wait around until you grow tired of her like you

did Victoria?" Roxanne drew her lip up in a bitter sneer.

"Never!
 
In fact, the thing you really should be concerned about right

now is what you'll have to do to save your family once it gets out that

you killed Victoria.
 
I warned you that you wouldn't be able to hide

behind my skirts anymore, and now I'll be telling everyone what really

happened."

"Aye!
 
Do that!" Gage challenged sharply.
 
"Tell them what part you

played in my wife's death, because you were there when she fell!
 
I

wasn't!"

"Victoria was dead when I got here!" Roxanne protested.

Gage jeered.
 
"I doubt that seriously!"

"Are you saying that I was able to lift your wife over the prow and

throw her down?
 
Am I so strong?" she derided.
 
"And are you so

desperate to lay the blame on another that you're willing to toss all

reason aside and claim that I could have actually overpowered Victoria?

Don't you think she would have fought me tooth and nail to keep me from

throwing her off the prow?"

"Perhaps you were able to surprise her," Gage suggested brusquely.

"Perhaps you pushed her from behind."

"Come now, Gage," Roxanne chided.
 
"Be logical.
 
You know well enough

that Victoria would have seen me coming up the building slip. In fact,

she probably would have come down to meet me.
 
We were friends!
 
Or have

you forgotten?"

"I don't know how you could have managed such a feat, Roxanne," Gage

acknowledged.
 
"All I know is that you were driven by an unreasonable

jealousy from the first day I started courting Victoria. And L now

you're being goaded by envy once again.
 
Your unreasonable jealousy

attests to the fact that you're the only one who had a motive for

killing Victoria."

Roxanne jeered scathingly.
 
"What vile rage took hold of you that day

that made you murder the mother of your child, and Andrew barely

weaned?"

Shemaine promptly decided she had had enough of the shrew's assertions.

Perhaps her own knowledge of love and jealousy were seriously limited,

but she could not believe any woman of rational temperament would

continue to chase after a man whom she seriously suspected of murder.

Roxanne, however, had made it obvious just how desperately she had

wanted Gage and had been in such a turmoil after he had gone to the

London Pride that she had been on the verge of losing control.

Apparently she hadn't been so terrified of him that she feared rousing

the temper that she now claimed was so vicious.

Slipping a hand behind Gage's neck, Shemaine pulled his head down and,

ignoring his surprise, placed a loving kiss upon his lips.

"I'm cold, and I'm tired of listening to this woman's inane prattle,"

she announced loudly for Roxanne's benefit.
 
"I'm going back to the

cabin to take a warm bath.
 
If you'd care to join me, perhaps we'll have

some privacy there and can finish what we started before we were so

rudely interrupted."

Gage felt his jaw sagging in astonishment.
 
Of all the reactions he had

expected from his bride, he had never anticipated a fierce, unswerving

loyalty in the face of Roxanne's malicious allegations.
 
He watched in

awe as Shemaine turned and slowly waded out of the pool, making no

effort to cover her nakedness as she emerged from the water. Climbing on

the rock where she had left her robe, his wife picked it up, laid it

with deliberate care over her arm, and then turned to face him in all

the glory of her naked beauty.
 
It was a bold, proud statement she made

to the other woman as she smiled at him invitingly.

"Coming, my love?"

Gage felt his heart soar, and in a voice fraught with emotion, he

answered, "Aye, love, as soon as our visitor leaves .
 
.
 
.
 
unless

you'd rather I come now...."

"Nay, husband," Shemaine replied emphatically.
 
"I would not share even

a glimpse of what is mine with another woman.
 
Come when you can. I'll

be waiting for you."

Though Gage could not resist admiring her nakedness as she strolled up

the trail to the cabin, he cast a glance askance at Roxanne and felt

jubilation rise up within him when he found her gaping in slackjawed

astonishment at his wife's departing form.

"Would you mind leaving now?" he invited sharply, folding his hands

deliberately over his manhood.
 
He couldn't be sure just what Roxanne

was able to see through the water, but he'd be damned before allowing

her even an obscure glimpse of what Shemaine had claimed as hers.
 
"I'm

cold, and my wife is waiting for me."

Roxanne faced him with gnashing teeth.
 
'You haven't heard the last of

this, Gage Thornton!
 
You'll be sorry you tossed me aside and married

that bitch!"

"I don't think so," Gage said with a calm assurance that had settled

over him only a few moments ago, after his wife had declared her trust

in him.
 
"In fact, the more I'm around Shemaine, the more I believe I've

found an exceptional woman.
 
Indeed, if I could accurately discern the

feelings I have for her right now, I'd say that I have come to love her

very much."

"Aaarrrghh!" Roxanne's snarl of rage seemed to fill every hollow and

rill around them with deafening sound, startling shrieks and
 
squawks

from nesting birds and sending them flying chaotically into the air.

Amid the confusion of their darting flights, Roxanne whirled and

scrambled back toward the riverbank from whence she had come.

Gage waited until he heard the oars bump against her father's boat

before he waded to shore.
 
After donning his breeches, he picked up his

boots and meandered barefoot up the trail to the cabin and quietly made

his entrance.
 
Shemaine had garbed herself in a robe, which she clutched

closed at her throat with one hand as she hastened toward the new

bathing chamber with a bucket of hot water.
 
She cast him a shivering

smile of greeting.

"If y-you help me carry the w-water," she said through chattering teeth,

"we'll be able t-to get w-warm sooner."

"I'll get the water," Gage said, tossing aside his boots.
 
"You'd better

stand by the fire until I fill the tub for us."

His wife halted and looked at him as if he had taken leave of his

senses.
 
"A-aren't y-you c-cold, too?"

A smile curved his lips.
 
"I'm used to it." He shrugged. "Perhaps you're

not as cold, Shemaine, as you are upset."

"Roxanne upset me, all right!" Shemaine affirmed testily.
 
"The gall of

that woman, thinking I'd believe her!" Her anger dwindled rapidly,

replaced by a painful chagrin.
 
Her face threatened to crumple as tears

brightened her eyes.
 
She made an earnest effort to bolster her mettle,

but as her husband stepped near and took her in his arms, she began to

weep in embarrassment against his chest.
 
"I disgraced myself!
 
And I

disgraced you, Gage!
 
I allowed that woman to provoke me until I

dismissed everything I had been taught about common decency and

propriety!
 
The way I flaunted my nakedness before you both, I'm sure

Roxanne has no doubts about me being a trollop now!"

"Whoa!" Gage chuckled.
 
Pulling away from her, he searched her teary

eyes.
 
"What are you more upset about, Shemaine?
 
The accusations

Roxanne made against me?
 
Or the fact that you pranced up here stark

naked?"

New tears sprang forth at his candid question, and in renewed agony

Shemaine muttered a question.
 
"Did I embarrass you terribly?"

"Good heavens, woman!
 
Banish the thought!" Gage urged with hearty

laughter.
 
"I nearly hooted with glee!" He clasped his wife to him again

and rested his cheek against the top of her head.
 
"Shemaine, do you not

realize what pleasure it gave me when you declared your trust in me?
 
It

was like heaven opening up and shining down upon me. Truly, my love, I