Tender Fury (10 page)

During the following days, no matter how many hours Captain Stone was closeted with Lafitte and Lieutenant Gray, he still managed to find time for Gabby. Usually it was during the late hours of the night when they strolled the beach together. Neither Jean nor Marie failed to notice the growing friendship between them, but did not question her actions. She was their guest and they would not think of limiting her freedom. On Barataria, each was free to choose for themselves and she was no different.

One night Gabby was occupying her usual place beneath the palm trees waiting for Captain Stone when she heard a familiar crunch on the oyster shell path. With a welcoming smile she turned and was shocked to see Lieutenant Gray coming down the path instead of the captain. “What are you doing here?” she blurted out.

“Were you expecting someone else?” he asked pointedly. “A lovely evening for a tryst, Madame St. Cyr. I wondered what Captain Stone found so intriguing on the beach at this time of night and now I know.”

Gabby blanched, the use of her full name stunning her. To cover her confusion, she said with as much contempt as she could muster, “You are rude, Lieutenant Gray!” Then she turned on her heel.

“Not so fast, Madame St. Cyr,” he said silkily as he grasped her arm. “You’re not fooling anyone. Both Captain Stone and myself know who you are. Your husband had your description circulated all over New Orleans. What would he do if he found his wife living with a group of dirty smugglers and pirates and carrying on with another man?”

“My life is none of your concern,” she retorted hotly. She was deeply hurt that Captain Stone had not told her that he was aware of her identity.

“I’m making it my concern,” Lieutenant Gray countered as he ran a hand insinuatingly down her arm. Gabby shivered. “Your husband must place great value upon you. He has offered a five thousand dollar reward to anyone who brings him information concerning your whereabouts or proof of your death. What I’d like to know,” he asked thoughtfully, “is why you choose to let him believe you are dead? Surely a loving wife would fly swiftly back to her husband. It is obvious you are not being held against your will.” His eyes narrowed cunningly and his grip tightened on her arm.

Gabby cried out, alarm creasing her lovely features. What was he saying? Philippe wanted her back enough to offer a reward? She had been so certain he would be gone from New Orleans by now, but if what Lieutenant Gray said was true, then he had no intention of leaving before learning what had happened to her or gave her up for dead.

“I intend to collect that five thousand dollars, Madame St. Cyr, and I have no desire to share it with Captain Stone.”

“Did I hear my name?” Captain Stone had come quietly up behind them and sized up the situation in one glance. Immediately, Lieutenant Gray released Gabby and stepped back.

“I just informed Mademoiselle Gabrielle that we are aware of her identity and would see that she is safely returned to her husband,” Lieutenant Gray proffered.

“Did you have to manhandle her?” demanded Captain Stone when he saw Gabby rubbing her bruised arm.

“I’m sorry,” apologized the lieutenant with mock contriteness. “I guess I became excited thinking how happy St. Cyr would be to learn his wife is alive and well.”

“Leave us,” Captain Stone ordered. “I will speak with Mademoiselle… with Madame St. Cyr.” All the while they spoke Gabby remained silent. How far could she trust Captain Stone? she wondered. Why hadn’t he confronted her before now? Did he, too, want the reward offered by Philippe?

“Are you hurt?” Captain Stone asked anxiously after the lieutenant’s retreating figure disappeared through the trees.

“I… I… he did not hurt me,” she answered hesitantly.

“Gabrielle… Gabby,” he said softly as he drew her into her arms. Gabby stiffened but did not resist.

“Why, Captain Stone? Why didn’t you tell me you knew who I was before this? Did you plan on dragging me back to my husband after you had gained my confidence?”

“At first I thought to wait and see if you would confide in me.”

“Captain Stone…”

“My name is Rob.”

“Rob, then,” she agreed. “Just tell me if you intend to collect the reward offered by my husband. It is a great deal of money. More than a captain in the army would make I am sure.”

“From the first I had no intention of informing your husband that you are on Barataria. I know you must have a very good reason for not returning to him. And as I came to know you I realized that I didn’t care if you never returned to him. I find you to be a beautiful, warm-hearted woman who would not run from her husband without good reason.” His show of concern was so different from Philippe’s arrogant disregard; and yet, Rob seemed such a boy compared to Philippe.

“I love you, Gabby,” confessed Rob, his sincerity warming Gabby’s heart.

“Captain Stone…Rob… you don’t know what you are saying! You do not really know me,” Gabby protested as she gently disengaged herself from his embrace.

“I know all I need to know about you.”

“I am a married woman.”

“Yes, but one who obviously docs not love her husband.” Rob said with conviction. He pulled her into the circle of his arms once more. “Gabby, darling, come back to New Orleans with me.”

“Rob, I can’t!” Gabby protested. “Philippe will find me.”

“He will find you here, also. You can be certain that Lieutenant Gray will go directly to him the minute we are back in the city. But if I leave Barataria before the lieutenant perhaps I can arrange for you to leave with me without his knowledge. By the time he informs your husband we will be long gone. Trust me, Gabby. I will take care of you.”

He was so good, so gentle that Gabby almost believed he could protect her from Philippe. But in the end she knew Rob would only be hurt. “No matter where you hide me, Philippe will find me. You don’t know him,” she despaired.

“Then I shall send you to my parents in South Carolina, I will tell them that you are my wife and no one will ever doubt it.”

“But I can never be your wife!”

“To me you would be my wife and when the battle for New Orleans is over we will live in South Carolina as husband and wife. St. Cyr would never think to look for you there.” In his own mind it was all settled.

“Cheri,”
Gabby whispered, touched by his feelings for her, “I cannot do that to you. You deserve a wife who could be legally yours. Our children would not even be legitimate.”

“To me they would be,” he insisted stubbornly.

Gabby raised her head to caress his strong, boyish face and to push back the hank of hair that had fallen across his forehead. That simple act seemed to unleash a furor in him as he molded her slender form against his own hardening body, capturing her lips in a fierce kiss while his hand cupped the soft underside of a breast. When he released her lips she was breathless and her heart pounded wildly against her ribcage. He, too, appeared thoroughly shaken by the experience as he lowered his head to nuzzle the hollow between the base of her neck and tops of her breasts.

“No, Rob,” Gabby cried, feeling her resistance ebbing. “I am still married and I have always held that marriage vows were sacred. I am not ready to break them and go against everything I have been taught.”

“And I will not force you to, Gabby,” Rob answered, reluctantly releasing her. “But think about what I said. I don’t know why you refuse to return to your husband but when he comes for you Jean Lafitte can do nothing to prevent him from taking you. You are his legal wife.”

Gabby did think about Rob’s words. All that week, in fact. She didn’t see Jean alone during that time but she did confide to Marie that her identity was known to the Americans and that lieutenant Gray intended to collect the reward offered by Philippe. Marie promised to speak to Jean about her problem.

To Gabby’s chagrin, Jean told Marie that if Philippe came to Barataria, he would have no choice but to release her into her husband’s custody. Evidently Philippe had General Jackson on his side and Jean would do nothing to hinder the fragile negotiations taking place between him and the Americans. Marie pitied her friend but Jean’s word was law. Getting his men released from jail and the defense of New Orleans were more important than problems between husband and wife. In the end Gabby had no choice but to allow Rob to help her.

Rob was ecstatic when she told him she would accompany him to New Orleans even though she insisted she would make her own way in the city once Philippe returned to Martinique. It seemed that while she was making up her mind on whether or not to accompany him, he had worked out a feasible plan for their departure.

In two days he would return to New Orleans leaving Lieutenant Gray behind for yet another week on a final inspection of ships anchored in the bay. Gabby would accompany him disguised as a boy. They would leave at night using the darkness as a cover. If Lieutenant Gray became suspicious of her absence the next day Marie was to tell him she was ill. Later, Rob would find different lodgings so Philippe could not easily trace them.

Marie proved a willing accomplice to Rob’s plan, thinking it all very romantic. She provided Gabby with boy’s clothing and even secured Jean’s promise to delay Lieutenant Gray on Barataria as long as possible.

“If you do not love your husband you could do worse than Captain Stone,” Marie giggled. “He is quite handsome. Not so handsome as my Jean, but nonetheless virile and rugged. I have watched how he worships you with his eyes.”

“I am still married,” Gabby answered somewhat primly.

“
Mon dieu,
but you are an innocent,” shrugged Marie. “You must follow your heart,
cherie
,” she advised in a rare moment of insight.

The night of their departure arrived and Rob informed Lieutenant Gray, who seethed angrily at having to stay behind, that Lafitte wanted it that way. Even though Rob assured the lieutenant that he would not claim the $ 5000 reward from Philippe St. Cyr, he did not trust his superior. He wanted to be the first to reach New Orleans. He was so agitated that he was absent when Rob departed aboard the pirogue with the important letters from Lafitte tucked snugly beneath his belt. If he had been present he might have seen a slim, boyish figure wearing a cap pulled low and carrying a bundle slip noiselessly into the pirogue just minutes before it slid silently into the dark waters.

“These small boats tip easily so be very still and hang onto the sides,” advised Rob when they were well out into the narrow stream. “But they can go where large ones cannot, through hummocks and across mud bars, even.”

Gabby watched fearfully as one of Lafitte’s men poled the narrow, shallow boat. Rob held a lantern high to guide their way. “Do not panic if an alligator rises nearby, for they hunt at night.” The water was lapping at her hands as she clung to the sides and the tiny boat rocked alarmingly but soon settled down to an easy glide.

In places the water was shallow and dotted with many marsh islands, sometimes turning and twisting into many false channels. Gabby knew now why they needed a guide. Only Lafitte’s people could find their way, others would become hopelessly lost in the myriad swamps.

Damp, chill air penetrated Gabby’s thin clothing and she flinched when an owl shrieked close by. She was sure she could hear the swish of heavy tails in the water and huddled close to Rob as their guide deftly poled the small craft first into one channel between hummocks, then into another. Gabby nearly screamed when a ghostly flutter of moss caressed her face. Rob put his arm around her and held her close until she stopped shivering.

They seemed to have been in the boat for hours when a small light winked in the distance. As they drew closer, Gabby saw that it was a campfire. She breathed a sigh of relief when the pirogue slid silently to a stop against solid ground. Rob helped her out and she stood trembling in the darkness as their guide spoke rapidly to five men gathered around the campfire. One of them disappeared into the darkness and returned leading a beautiful black horse with a distinctive star on its forehead.

Rob approached the horse and spoke to it gently before coming back for Gabby. Then he placed her on the horse’s back, handed her her bundle of clothing and lifted himself up behind her. With a salute to the men around the campfire they rode into the blackness. It seemed to Gabby that they followed a winding trail forever before finally coming onto a road. Only then did Rob speak to her.

“Are you cold, darling?” he asked solicitously, pulling her body snugly against him.

“A little,” Gabby admitted, welcoming the warmth his arms offered.

“Thunder will get us to New Orleans soon,” he said, affectionately patting the animal’s sleek flanks. “By the way,” he added, eyes twinkling mischievously, “you make a fetching boy.” Gabby blushed furiously but was grateful for his light-hearted mood.

“Is Thunder your horse?” she asked.

“Yes, Lafitte’s men cared for him while I was on Barataria.”

They rode in silence for a while longer before Gabby asked, “How much farther to New Orleans?”

“Not too far now. My rooms are in the
vieux carre
on Rue Royal. We’ll spend the rest of the night there. I’ll sneak you up the back stairs, then tomorrow look for different lodgings after I deliver Lafitte’s letters to General Jackson.”

“Will Lafitte join the Americans?”

“I am convinced of Lafitte’s sincerity in his desire to aid us. He asks only that his men be released from jail as well as a full pardon tendered for him and his men.”

“Will General Jackson go along with that?”

“I’m sure of it after he gets my full report and reads Lafitte’s letters.”

Lights of the city soon guided their way as they rode through the silent streets. They entered a gate into an inner courtyard and Rob walked Thunder to a stable where he dismounted, lifting Gabby to the ground. Putting a finger to his lips, he took her hand and guided her from the stable to an iron stairway that took them to a second floor of a two storied building where Rob stopped before a door and produced a key, pulling Gabby inside the moment it was unlocked.

Rob lit a lamp and Gabby gazed around with interest. The room was immaculate, but sparsely furnished. She looked with longing at the bed, it had been a long night, but quickly turned her eyes from it when she caught Rob staring at her with a strange look on his face.