ROMANCE: Paranormal Romance: The Valley (Book One) (Fun, Sexy, Mature Young Adult Vampire Shape Shifter Romance) (10 page)

Chapter 3

In the weeks following, she steadily got used to her new routine. She had been correct in thinking the early morning egg and milk collection would fall to her, but she didn’t mind; she’d always loved animals, and after the first few days, waking at dawn became easier. She’d even begun to forget the dreadful Sanders, and the events that transpired there.

Tessie had been right about Sir and Madam, too. They were strict about what they wanted done and when, but relaxed about the method. They even opened up a savings account for each of their workers – every one of them got a penny a week which they could use however they please, or save up for something large,  “if this slavery business ever falls through.” Very kind, indeed. It took several days for Lucinda not to cry herself to sleep, out of gratitude as much as out of the memory of the past. Slowly, her nightmares began to fade, and try as she might to resist them, they were replaced with dreams of a slim, blonde boy with striking blue eyes.

She’d regretted only seeing him sparingly in the weeks since that first, electric moment. At breakfast-time, mostly, and always out in the yard. He seemed never to be without a book in his hand, and a look of quiet contemplation on his handsome face.

One morning, as Lucinda sat on the squat little milking stool, her mind began to wander. The rhythmic swaying of her milking allowed her to think on her most recent dream. She closed her eyes.

She had been standing at the white, plank fence surrounding the pasture, gazing dreamily at the galloping horses. With the wind in their manes, they were free to run as fast as they could, until they slowed to a trot as they reached the fence. She wondered why they didn’t just jump the fence and take off, into the wild unknown; they remained so willingly captive. He’d come up behind her, and placed a warm hand on the small of her back, and whispered in her ear, “Run away with me,” the smell of him intoxicating her as he placed kisses down her neck. A wave of goosebumps prickled her skin as she remembered how the dream continued.

“Good morning,” echoed a hearty baritone in the quiet barn. Lucinda was so startled, she missed the bucket. She turned to make reparations, only to discover the soft, considering gaze of one Jimmy Jackson. Immediately, Lucinda flushed.

“Mornin’, young Sir. I-I didn’t mean to be wasteful – you surprised me, is all,” she stammered.

He smirked, revealing a perfect dimple beneath his left eye, and replied. “I won’t tell if you won’t.” He walked toward her. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“It’s aw’right, sir,” she assured him, as her blushing deepened. “I should have been focusin’ instead of daydreamin’ – y’all have been so kind to me; ya deserve hard work, not fancy thoughts.”

              He knelt beside her, pulling up a matching stool. “What kinds of fancy thoughts are awake at this ungodly hour?” Eyes like aquamarine fire bore into her, and she needed to look anywhere else. She went back to milking, grateful for the distraction.

“Just – daydreamin’, sir,” she managed. Her mouth was suddenly very dry.

              “What’s your name?” he asked, his voice like milk and honey.

“Lucinda, sir. Lucinda Brown.”

“Well, Lucinda Brown,” he smiled. “I am James Jackson. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, sir. A pleasure,” she managed a smile. “Might I ask, sir, what you’re doing up so early? Breakfast won’t be ready for some time yet, but I can rush and fix ya somethin’, if ya like.”

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I wanted to take my horse for a ride – I didn’t sleep well last night, and riding always eases my mind.” He sighed, and rose from the stool. “Well, I better get going, then. I’ll try not to startle you on my way out.”

“Thank you very much, sir,” she smiled up at him; the grin he returned could have melted steel. She waited until he strode out of the barn before she fanned herself off with her hand. How can one person be so handsome? She wondered.

As she and Tessie tidied the lunch dishes that afternoon, she mentioned the interaction in passing.

“What!?” Tessie shrieked. “Why didn’ ya tell me sooner!?”

“I didn’ think it important,” Lucinda shrugged.

“Lucinda, it is important. Master Jimmy don’ go an’ visit just nobody. Fact, he ain’t never gone an’ visited anybody before!” an incredulous Tess gaped.

Lucinda carried on with the washing, her back to her friend, a warm feeling rising from her belly and settling on her face as a wide, indulgent smile.

Chapter 4

The next thirty mornings followed the same pattern: Lucinda carried on about her milking, and the young Master Jimmy came to talk with her before his morning ride. She couldn’t reason out why, but he said he found her “interesting,” and “unlike any other girl he’d met.” Lucinda stamped down her excitement when she realized he’d said “girl,” and not “slave.” They talked and laughed on all sorts of topics; from animals to summertime, to what the young Master Jackson was studying in university – psychology – even though he dearly loved to draw. His manner of speech became more relaxed, familiar; even friendly. He even began bringing his sketchbook with him, doodling as they spoke, and showing her some of his older works. Each morning she learned a little more about him, his favorite things, and his hopes and dreams, and each morning Lucinda fell a little more in love with the young Master Jimmy.

Each afternoon, Tessie warned her, “Sir and Madam wouldn’ like to find out that the new Negro may took a likin’ to they Jimmy,” but Lucinda couldn’t help herself. After everything she had been through, everything she had been forced into, she was painfully and irrevocably fond of Master Jimmy Jackson.

Tessie’s cautioning got through to her, however, and on that thirty-first morning, she made up her mind – she couldn’t go through that again – and resolved to put a stop to this, once and for all.

There were rarely any lulls in conversation between herself and Master Jimmy – something she treasured profoundly – but she waited patiently for her opportunity.

She peered over at him as she milked, charcoal smeared on his jaw as he considered the page, and she steeled herself. Stay strong, Lucinda, she told herself.

“Master Jimmy, sir,” she began. She was petrified.

“Yes, Lucinda, darlin’,” he murmured, blending and shading with his thumb, his words washing over her like a warm caress. She quivered.

“I wonder, Master Jimmy, why you have not gone to the doctor if you been sleepin’ so terrible for so long. It’s been more’n a month, now – that is a long time to be so tired.” She focused intently on the milking, afraid to meet his gaze.

He stopped the blending and considered her for a moment that lasted a month. Never in the history of chatting had there been a silence this long – Lucinda thought she might burst into flame!

He took a deep breath and she released the one she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“Do you remember your first day on our plantation, Lucinda?” he asked. Confused, she nodded. Of course she remembered. His sapphire stare had run through her dreams every night since she arrived.

“I had been sittin’ under the tree, studyin’, when that idiot Sanders brought you up to the front.” She bit her cheek so as not to smile, glad of their shared opinion of her tormentor.

“You were unlike anything I’d ever seen. I mean to say, I wasn’t unused to Negro women, certainly – but you have a womanly quality that I haven’t seen in anyone that’s come to work here. They are normally scrawny, and very resigned and obliging.

“That Sanders man made such a ruckus when you arrived, it caught my attention. I didn’t see what happened, but when I first saw you, you were pickin’ yourself up off the ground. And when you were lookin’ at him dead in his eyes, I could see there was a fierceness in you, and, at the same time, a delicateness. Like you had been broken beyond repair, but were challenging him to do his worst, anyway, because you had already been through hell, and could do it again.

“It was… fascinatin’. I stood up to get a better view of the situation, and that’s when you noticed me, I think. And there we stood, assessin’ one another. Then Aunt Minnie came out, and I thought I’d take my leave – she’s always on me to study harder. Anyway, I didn’t think much more on it, but as the days passed, I found myself wonderin’ about you, and your story. I’d watch you durin’ breakfast, and get more and more curious. The mornin’ we met, in the barn, I had woken from a dream I found to be mighty perplexin’. A dream about you.”

Lucinda heard him rustling his pages, felt him moving closer; felt tears trickle down her cheek. Since when did I start cryin’ so much?

Gathering up page after page of sketches, he set them on her lap in the stool. Each one was of the same, dark-skinned girl on a milking stool: this one of her affectionately stroking the animal’s udder; that one of her rolling on the straw-covered barn floor, laughing to the point of tears. One in particular, of her milking the cow, eyes closed, with a look of pure serenity on her face, was dated August 18. The day he scared her in the barn.

At long last, she looked at him, tears glistening in her eyes.

“That first day, I did come to ride and clear my thoughts, but that second day I came because I wanted to know you better. After that, I didn’t mind so much if you were in my dreams – I looked forward to ‘em.”

She blinked back the looming tears, and sniffed, her head spinning. Pinch yo’self, girl, you are dreamin’ again. She didn’t know what to say.

“Surely, the young Master Jimmy don’ know what he’s sayin,” Lucinda mumbled.

“I made no mistake, Lucinda,” he said, simply. The way he looked at her, as though he was dying of thirst and she was a glass of ice water, made her heart race. He took her weathered hands in his, pale and smooth, as he leaned ever closer. She began to pull them away, but he squeezed them gently, his gaze softening as he looked at her, drinking her in. He took one finger beneath her chin and tilted her head up to meet his, tenderly. Slowly, too slowly yet still too quickly, he leaned closer and closer, his face now inches from hers. Her heart was thundering like a summer storm – how had no one else awoken from it? She tried to pull away but her body screamed in defiance. Reluctantly, and willingly at the same time, she closed her eyes and gave in, ready to meet his kiss.

At that moment, the barn door burst open as a fiery young white man of an age with Master Jimmy exclaimed, “Why, James Jackson, you sonofabitch, what in the Hell are you doin’ up before dawn? Does your backward, backwoods Uncle have you milkin’ cows now, too?”

In the commotion, Abigail, Lucinda’s favorite of the Holsteins, upset the milking stool and bucket; Lucinda, herself, ducked down for cover in the milk-and-straw-covered barn floor as Master Jimmy spun up and around to greet his old friend.

“Now, just what in the name of the good and Holy Father is goin’ on in here?” the man inquired, looking around. Lucinda followed the man’s gaze and cried out when she noticed the now sodden sketches scattered about the ground. Whimpering, she knelt to retrieve them, the smile on the jovial man’s face replaced by a look of increasing concern.

“Charlie Davis, you scoundrel, I thought you were due to arrive next week! What happened to your family holiday to Europe?” Master Jimmy shouted, louder than he need bother.

“I came back early.” There was no longer any room for lightheartedness. Mister Davis shot an accusatory look at Lucinda, before he continued. “I wanted to spend some time with my best friend before we were sent off to opposite sides of the country, again.”

“Well I’m mighty flattered you’d do that for me,” Master Jimmy replied. “Why don’t you and I head inside for a nice breakfast – you must be weary from your travels. Miss Lucinda,” he shot her a meaningful glance, but the warmth in his voice was gone. “You best carry on with your chores, now. Don’t worry none over that milk – I’ll explain what happened so Miss Dinah won’t whoop you none.”

Fresh tears rose anew as Master Jimmy took his friend by the shoulders and redirected him out of the barn, never looking back. She knew she had a lot of work left to do, disposing of the drawings and cleaning up the debris, but she allowed herself all of two minutes to sit, and weep, and feel sorry for herself, and her stolen kiss.

Chapter 5

At breakfast, Lucinda did every subtle thing she could to get Master Jimmy’s attention, but he paid her no mind. He was too caught up in Mister Charlie Davis’ stories of his time abroad, and his times “with a broad.” His rejection stung, but not more than her foolishness. She had known better, had planned to reject him first, before anything could go too far. I knew I was just a body to ’im, she thought. I knew he on’y wanted one thin’.

She resigned to be indifferent in the day, only feeling at night when she was alone, on her cot. For three days she feigned disinterest, heedless of him or his whereabouts; for three days, she ignored her feelings, and went about her life as though the spark of hope hadn’t been struck within her. She constantly whispered her gratitudes, and that helped immensely; after all, she had her friend Tessie, and momma Dinah’s decadent cooking. She had a job in the Big House, when she could be back at the Sanders’ Ranch, clinging to life but begging for death. She had it good, and that helped some.

Yet every morning, she feared a chance encounter with the young Master Jimmy. She indulged her imagination, however briefly, and rehearsed just what she’d say if he dared disturb her milking again. I don’t know why you botha’ comin’ here, she’d think angrily. I wouldn’t want them pretty hands of yours to get dirty.

And try as she might to avoid it, every once in a while, that vengeful fantasy would turn into her last memories of him in the barn. The way he held her hands tighter when she tried to pull away; the way he brought her mouth closer to his, a hair’s width away, less. Sometimes, her imagination got the best of her, and fabricated what might have happened next.

Such a treachery occurred on the morning a week after the explosive dismissal. Methodically, Lucinda sat milking the very same Abigail, her vicious mind spinning tales of what might have been. Felt a phantom hand move from her chin to her bosom; felt a strong, smooth jaw beneath his kiss; felt his perfect nose brush her ear as he kissed his way up her cheek. She felt a grin spread across her face, that warm ripple throughout her body.

“Good morning,” a familiar baritone rumbled through the reverie. Again, Lucinda missed the bucket, and nearly lost her breakfast from fright.

He stood in the doorway, watching her milk his family’s cows – for how long, she couldn’t say. All the sadness and shame she felt in the week prior, the rejection and abandonment she felt yet again, puffed out her chest as she went back to milking, yet all she could think of was how well he looked.

“Lucinda,” he began, but trailed off. Damn right, she thought. The nerve o’ him botherin’ me, again.

“Young Sir,” Lucinda piped up, coldly. “You best be gettin’ outta here. Wouldn’ wanna be caught fraternisin’ with a Negro housekeeper.” It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she hoped it would be.

“Lucinda, listen; I want to apologize. I didn’t meant to hurt you --” he started.

“Ain’t nothin’ to ‘pologize for, young Sir,” Lucinda interrupted. That’s it, girl, protect ya heart. Don’ fall victim to ya’ own stupid feelin’s again. “You did nothin’ wrong. I’ve already forgotten all about it.” There, she thought. That was betta.

“Now, listen here Lucinda, I’ve got somethin’ to say and your bruised pride ain’t gonna get in the way,” he near enough shouted at her.

Astonished, Lucinda’s mouth hung agape. “Yessir,” she whispered.

“I have been thinkin’ on that day last week ever since it happened,” Master Jimmy explained. “I am so sorry – I wish there was something I could do to erase it from that pretty head of yours, but there isn’t. I thought pretending like nothing happened would get Charlie off my case, but he wouldn’t give it up. Kept hintin’ that somethin’ was goin’ on with me and you, he pert’near beat it outta me.” It was then that Lucinda noticed a diminishing bruise on his milky left cheek, just below the dimple. He was grinning nervously.

“Your cheek,” she crooned, rising from the stool.

He touched it unconsciously, but pressed on. “Don’t worry about that,” he paused. “I told him everything, Lucinda. I had to. About what was goin’ on when he burst in on us, and about how I feel,” he blushed. “He threatened to tell my aunt and uncle. The beatin’ they’d give me would be nothin’ compared to what they’d do to you. I couldn’t let that happen.”

He crossed the distance between them in two strides, caressed her cheek on the third.

“So, what’s happened then?” Lucinda breathed, the memory of her daydream surging through her.

“He’s agreed not to say a word,” Master Jimmy said, his hesitation increasing with every syllable.

“Well that’s grand, ain’t it?” Lucinda couldn’t understand why he was behaving so – this was great news!

“He just had one stipulation,” he paused. His eyes became glossy, and he flushed. Closing his eyes, he spat it out. “He ain’t ever been with a black girl before.”

The realization of the situation hit her harder than any whippings she’d ever suffered, took the wind from her harder than any punch to the gut. The early morning air became as thick as Momma Dinah’s molasses, making it hard to breathe. I can’t do it again, she thought frantically. I very well may love this fool white boy, but I ain’t goin’ through that again. My heart won’ make it. Not again.

Not even to keep this fancy job o’yours? she rationalized. I am so tired of strugglin’, girl. So damn tired. If doin’ this will keep him quiet, then why not just bite the bullet?

              After what felt like an age, she spoke.

“If you trust that it will keep ‘im quiet, then I trust you. Besides, it ain’t like I have any choice in the matter,” she conceded.

“I am mighty glad to hear you say so,” came a voice from outside the barn. “It’s grand to hear a ni--” Charlie stopped himself, shooting a glare at Jimmy as he sauntered into the barn. “Grand to hear a housekeeper knows her place.” He leaned against the frame of the barn door, blazer slung across his shoulder, his suspenders hanging down past his hips.

She looked at Jimmy, her Master Jimmy, dumbstruck with understanding, and he looked back with immense sadness, and something else. A knuckle cracked as he clenched his fists. Tears sprung to her eyes, and she nodded.

“Well, don’t be scared, girl, I won’t hurt ya’,” Charlie’s words rang out, echoing in the empty stalls. He shut the barn door, latching it behind him. “And ain’t nobody gonna disturb us this time.”

Lucinda closed her eyes, and breathed in one long, deep breath. Be strong, girl. Be strong. It will be worth it. Jimmy is worth it. She approached this Mister Davis.

She stood in front of him as he put his clumsy hands on her, feeling her curves through her smock; he seemed surprisingly nervous. He took a sharp breath, and calmed down a bit.

Mister Charlie took a hand and stroked her face, brushing a curl out of the way, and brought a fingertip to her chin. He pulled her face toward his, slowly leaning in for a kiss. Lucinda’s heart pounded in her chest, not believing for a second that it was her beloved Jimmy there, before her.

As lips were about to meet, a cough sounded by the door. Both Charlie and Lucinda looked over at Jimmy, standing very still with his arms crossed.

“I can’t let you do this,” he whispered, clenching his jaw.

“This is no time for gallantry, Jimmy,” Charlie laughed, and turned back to Lucinda.

“I said, “No,” Charlie,” Jimmy repeated, louder.

“Jim, you and me made a deal. You don’t want a beatin’, surely, and I know you want her to get beat even less. Just turn away, if it bothers you so much. It will be over before ya’ know it.” Charlie moved to kiss Lucinda, once more.

Master Jimmy covered the space between him and Charlie in an instant, and with everything he had, threw his comrade to the ground. The force of the impact left Charlie struggling for breath.

“We in big trouble now, ain’t we, Master Jimmy?” Lucinda worried.

“No more of that ‘Master’ nonsense. I will not respond to anything besides ‘my love’ or ‘my dear’ or the like from now on, do you hear me?”

Despite herself, Lucinda smiled.

“Boy, I know you know you can’t take me in a fight. Just what do you think is gonna happen, here?” Charlie slurred, cracking his knuckles as he rose. Jimmy moved between his friend and his love.

“Why can’t we make a different deal? Money, anything, I’ll give it – just not her.”

“What do you get a man who has everything he wants? Something he wants and doesn’t have,” Charlie said simply. “I have money, connections, all the same things that you do – all but one.”

For a moment, the pair stared at each other, the tension palpable. Time stopped during the standoff, and Lucinda held her breath. Charlie took a step forward.

“Don’t be an idiot about this, Jim,” Mister Charlie began, walking toward his friend. “We’ been best friends since we were boys. We fought before, sure, but always made right. You gonna throw all that away? And for what – a filthy ni--”

Charlie didn’t have a chance to finish. In a blur, he was laying splayed out on the dusty ground, blood from his broken nose soaking his collared shirt. Jimmy rubbed his bloodied fist, and spat on his ex-best friend.

Lucinda shrieked, and covered her eyes. She felt Jimmy take her wrists in his hands to remove them from her beautiful face. He placed them around his neck, and pulled her in for a warm, tight embrace. It felt so good to be held, and to be held by him.

“Lucinda --” he breathed. “I need you to know, I love you very much.”

“I love you, too, Jimmy. My dear, Jimmy,” Lucinda giggled. She felt his heart beat faster behind her own, and felt his love grow beneath her, as well. At first, she pulled away; she couldn’t do this. It could lead to so many heartaches.

No, she thought. This time’s diff’rent. I am willingly givin’ my body to the man that I love, sharin’ my heart and soul with him. More important, I know he feels the same.

She placed her hand between her bottom and his trousers, massaging gently until she felt him respond.

“Lucinda,” he began. “You really don’t need to--”

“I know I don’t need to,” she breathed. “I want to.” And for the first time, she placed a kiss on Jimmy’s supple lips.

His kiss was everything she dreamed it would be, and more; tender and strong, dangerous and safe. He kissed her back, passionately, lowering her down on his ex-comrade’s blazer. As though from a long-lost dream, he kissed the spot just below her ear, the trail leading to her shoulder left ablaze. She wanted all of him, every inch of him, under her hands at once. She lost her fingers in his mess of blonde hair, her urgency found relief in his fingers. He slid them in, one at a time, teasing the tender bud at the top, waves of pleasure rippled through her body. Beneath her layers of uniform, he disappeared, flicking his tongue across and around the bead, her body dancing to his tempo. She had never known a love like this: nurtured from an emotional seedling into a colossal, physical tree, her need of him growing with each tickle. Placing both of her hands on the back of his beautiful head, she pulled him up to kiss him, deep, once more.

“I’m ready,” she gasped, and he grinned, his slightly bruised dimple crinkling his eyes. When Jimmy made love to her, it was quiet and ecstatic, not sharp and assaulting. He caressed her curly black hair, he didn’t tug it, awkwardly grasping for leverage. He pressed his delightful endowment in sensuously; torturously slow, getting her used to his impressive size inch by inch.

Her head lolled back, and she gave in to everything she had been trying to deny herself: her gratitude for the Jackson plantation but mostly her love of Jimmy. She felt full to the brim with love, both physical and emotional, and as Jimmy’s pace quickened, so did her breathing. Shallow, at first, they began escaping her lips as moans. Jimmy picked up on the cues, and maintained his pace, steadily increasing until she could bear it no longer. Her volume picked up, back arching, and her fingers dug into his lean, muscular arms. Her climax began slowly, dear Jimmy increasing speed and ferocity as it intensified. She looked up at him, his crystalline blue eyes looking back at hers with pure ecstasy. His rhythm increased, and the bliss was replaced with a hunger for her, and Lucinda felt him throb within her, his manhood responding to her orgasm.

For a moment, they lay in each other’s arms amidst the cattle, simply happy to be with one another. Then came a soft rustling from their side: Charlie was stirring.

Panic sprouted in her briefly contented heart, and Lucinda rushed to straighten her dress. She began a search for some kind of weapon when Jimmy caught her hand, and smiled.

              “What are you doing, dearest?” he smirked.

“Mister Charlie is wakin’, and he’s gon’ be right furious with us when he does. I reckon’ we knock’im out again.”

He took her by the hands, and turned her to face him. A wide, gorgeous smile spread across his face. “Run away with me.”

She was certain she was dreaming, again. “What did you jus’ say?” she asked, shaking her head.

“Run away with me, Lucinda. We’ll make a new life, together, up north. I can draw, and you can find whatever it is that makes you happy.”

“Well, you make me happy,” she stammered.

“Well, besides me, you silly,” he whispered, kissing her forehead.

Lucinda thought about it for a moment, trying her best to ignore the steadily increasing frequency in the noises made by Mister Charlie. Then she realized what she’d always wanted.