When the Splendor Falls (50 page)

“Yes, I know. Nathan?” Neil asked, and seeing the expression that crossed her face, he wasn’t certain he wanted to hear the answer.

“They sent him to Tennessee to fight. We heard this fall that he was missing in action. It’s been too long, hasn’t it?” she asked, not really expecting a response as she looked up at him. He couldn’t conceal the despair that momentarily flickered in his eyes, and she knew the answer. “Althea still believes he is alive. She has to have some hope, or I think she would give up and die.”

“She’s been ill?”

“Typhoid. She was in Richmond, waiting for Nathan, when the epidemic struck. Blythe was living with her.”

“Your sister. The dark-haired girl who was always laughing?” Neil remembered. “She married Adam, didn’t she? Just before the war.”

“Yes,” Leigh said, liking his description of Blythe, for it had captured the essence of her, like the perfume she’d worn.

“What happened?” he asked, frowning as he saw a single teardrop fall from her lashes.

“She died. She wasn’t strong enough to fight the typhoid fever she caught.”

“Adam?”

“We saw him a few months ago. He was badly wounded, and he’s been on leave recuperating. He won’t talk about how ill he was, but I think he nearly died. He tries hard, but he just hasn’t been the same since losing Blythe, he adored her so. We had a letter from him just last week, telling us he would be here any day,” Leigh said, hoping it was true.

“Julia?”

“Julia is where she always said she would be, in Europe. Only I fear she left quite a scandal in her wake. She ran off with a married man. Adam has never forgiven himself for introducing her to the Englishman. Adam says the scoundrel will never marry her, even if he could, and now that she has ruined her reputation, she’ll never have any hopes of marrying a gentleman. Nor will she ever again be able to show her face in Virginia,” Leigh said, sighing as she remembered Julia’s dreams of becoming a duchess.

“That is the only news that doesn’t shock me,” Neil said unsympathetically.

Leigh’s eyes suddenly blazed with anger. “You have no right to criticize Julia. You don’t know what might have happened to her to cause her to do what she did,” Leigh defended her friend.

“Oh, but I do know. She didn’t have the courage to stay. She was a selfish, spoiled young woman who thought of nothing but herself. I’m sure her situation was intolerable. No more balls to be the belle of, nor picnics to be pampered at. No more beaus for her to flirt with and tease into harmless indiscretion, and certainly not if they returned to her side maimed. And even had there been a ball to attend, what would she have worn? There would be no more beautiful ball gowns for her to dance in, only faded woolens to wear because the rest had gone to clothe the armies.”

“How dare you say such horrid things about her? She’s your cousin. I don’t blame her for leaving. Her home was burned to the ground. Her mother and father are gone. There was nothing left for her here.”

“But you stayed, Leigh. You’re here at Travers Hill, half-starved, scared, and at the mercy of both rebels and Yankees. Your land a battlefield, your home filled with the dying. Your father? You said he was killed by rebels?” Neil questioned relentlessly, determined to know everything.

“Looters.”

“Your mother? Dead?”

“Yes, but she died inside long before she left us. She just couldn’t accept what had happened to her family, to our way of life. To her beloved roses,” Leigh added, smiling to herself.

“Your brothers?” he asked, but Leigh remained silent, still lost in her thoughts.

“Your brothers?” he repeated harshly, reaching out and grasping her arm, gently shaking her until she met his eyes.

“Only Guy is left now, and he…well, he’s where you wished him. I can still hear your words, Neil Braedon, spoken so damningly that night. You told Guy that you would both be in hell before he ever saw your face again,” she threw the words back at him. “You’ll be pleased to know that he’s in hell, but he will never see your gloating face. He’s blind. And Palmer William and Stuart James, they’re both gone. Your brother was with Palmer William when he died. He carried him from the battlefield and saw that he was buried properly. You know about Justin?”

Neil nodded, remembering the letter from home informing him of his brother’s death.

“I wanted to ask you something about that night,” Leigh said, her eyes so bright with unshed tears that Neil felt as if he were drowning in the deep blue color.

“That night?” he questioned, but he knew what night she spoke of.

“Yes. Guy didn’t miss, did he?”

Neil smiled. “No, his shot, considering how drunk he was, was quite accurate, although not enough to cost me my life. And?” he inquired.

“My colt?” she demanded, and he knew what it must have cost her pride to have asked him that.

“When I left Riovado, Capitaine had already shown promise of becoming a magnificent stallion.”

“
Capitaine?
” Leigh repeated the name in surprise. “You kept the name.”

“No other name seemed to fit as well.”

“Fast as the wind?”

“Faster.”

Leigh surprised Neil by her soft, unexpected laughter. “I never thought to be grateful to you for taking him from me, but I am thankful.”

Neil’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Grateful to me? I thought you would still be cursing my name.”

“Oh, I still do,” she said, smiling up at him, her blue eyes glinting now with wicked amusement. “Every night with my prayers.”

Neil moved closer. Leigh tried to step back, but his hand tightened its grip around her upper arm, holding her just within inches of his body. Raising her chin, she stared up at him defiantly.

“Why should you wish to thank me? I hurt you that night,” he reminded her, wanting to see if he could still hurt her, if she still cared enough to give him that power.

“You saw his dam when you came into the kitchens, didn’t you?”

Neil’s eyes widened with revelation, remembering now the sad-looking menagerie in the first room he’d entered before finding the passage into the kitchens. A sick nag, a grizzled pony, and a cud-chewing cow had eyed him when he’d entered.

“Your mare, the chestnut?” he asked, incredulous.

“Yes, a fine, upstanding member of the Confederate cavalry stole, no, forgive me, requisitioned her, from our stables one day. She returned a month later, looking far worse than she does now, but she was luckier than her rider, for all that was left of him were his boots, still in the stirrups. As you may have noticed, we no longer have Thoroughbreds at Travers Hill. If you hadn’t taken—”

“Don’t you mean received? The terms were agreed upon. No one forced you to make the decision you did. You, apparently, valued quite highly your brother’s profligate life,” Neil interrupted, reminding her of the circumstances, despite the fact that he wasn’t proud of what he had done that night.

“My mistake,” she said silkily. “I was trying to spare you the embarrassment of reminding you of your threat to murder my brother if I didn’t give you Capitaine,” Leigh said, trying to free her arm and step away from him, but she was drawn even closer against him.

“I seem to recall it was my shot, and since your brother had already wounded me, I believe I was being extremely lenient with him. He needed to be taught a lesson.”

“Yes, he learned his lesson well, and he may have forgiven you, but I haven’t.”

“Forgiven me, your brother, the hotheaded Guy Travers?”

“He’s changed. He says you had every right to do what you did. He blames himself for the loss of my colt, not you.”

“Amazing,” Neil murmured, genuinely surprised. “But you, of course, have not forgiven me?”

The half smile tantalized Neil as he watched it slowly appear, a challenging look in her eye. “Yes, I have forgiven you,” she surprised him even further by declaring. “If you hadn’t stolen Capitaine from me, he would probably have met an agonizing death on the battlefield. I would rather see him belong even to the likes of you than have him die so horribly,” she told him, the quietness of her voice adding to its angry intensity. “So, I owe you a debt of gratitude,” she taunted. “You thought to hurt me that night, to steal something precious from me, but, you see, you actually did me a favor. Now let me go, and take your men and leave us in peace,” she told him, struggling to get away from him and the blazing anger that had flared in his pale eyes.

Suddenly, she was free, and she stepped away triumphantly, too late realizing he now held possession of the quilt, and he pulled it from her, letting it drop to the floor as he bared her nakedness to him.

Standing so close to her, he had breathed the sweet scent of lavender and roses, mingling with the heady fragrance of jessamine, rising from her warm bare flesh, the velvety smoothness of her pale shoulders curving enticingly above the scalloped edge of the quilt. Her unbound, silken hair, bronzed with firelight dancing in it, moved sensuously around her, one golden-brown strand veiling part of her heart-shaped face, outlining the delicate line of cheek and jaw, and drawing his gaze to her eyes, darkened into indigo with her anger, and never more mysterious to him than now behind their thick fringe of long, golden-tipped dark brown lashes.

For just an instant, Leigh stood as if rooted to the floor, stunned with embarrassment, especially when she glanced up to see his gaze moving over her lingeringly, caressingly. Indignation and anger warred with her initial embarrassment as she took a step to retrieve the quilt, but before she could reach it, Neil Braedon’s hands had closed over her shoulders, then his arm was like a vise around her waist, his other arm sliding behind her shoulders, his hand resting lightly against her ribs, just touching the curve of her breast.

She stood so slender and pliant in his arms. He bent her back over his arm, staring down into her face for a long moment before he lowered his mouth to hers, finding it even as she turned her head away, easily claiming her slightly parted lips as she tried to catch her breath. They molded to his as his kiss deepened, his tongue finding hers and touching it, feeling and tasting its softness. Lifting his mouth from hers, her lips seemed to cling to his for an instant, then he pressed her even further over his arm, holding her so her hips and thighs were pressed against him and the aching hardness in his loins. He stared down at her soft breasts, the rose-tinted nipples hardened and erect with desire. He lowered his lips and touched one of her nipples, his lips brushing against the taut bud, teasing it, his tongue licking it and the paler pink areola surrounding it. He could feel her heart pounding beneath her ribs, the slender cage that stood guard over her heart outlined delicately beneath her flesh.

She seemed so defenseless in his arms, he thought, his hand moving from her waist and over the soft roundness of her buttocks, pressing the smooth flesh against him, feeling the roughness of his buckskins rubbing against her bare skin, and heightening his awareness of her nakedness.

He found her mouth again, tasting of its sweetness, his breath becoming hers as the kiss deepened while his hand fondled her hip. Moving intimately lower, sliding into the curling hair between her thighs, his fingers were gentle against the vulnerable curve of soft warm flesh hidden there.

He felt her body briefly stiffen at his intrusion, her hand on his, trying to protect herself as if she were still a virgin unused to a man’s sexual intimacies with her body. Then she surrendered, her fragrant warmth melting against him. The throbbing hardness of his manhood pressed against his breeches, seeking the exquisite release that only spilling his seed deep inside of her would bring. He wanted to feel himself embedded within her soft body, to hear her cry out as he took her to the heights of passion, knowing that he had made her forget the touch of any man but himself. And he would make her forget. He had not imagined the softness of her lips quivering beneath his, returning his caress. He knew not what game of seduction she played, but she had responded and she would again, he promised, pulling her closer…

“Captain! Captain! You in there, sir?”

As if through a haze, Neil heard the voice he recognized as one of his men’s calling his name from the far end of the narrow hallway. He shook his head, clearing it.

Releasing Leigh, he bent down and picked up the quilt, wrapping it around her quivering body. For a brief second he stared down into her lovely face, her lips reddened from his kisses, her dark blue eyes drowsy with passion, and he knew that there would be another time for them.

He would find a way to come back for her, to make her his. He wasn’t going to lose her again, he vowed as he walked away from her for the second time in his life.

Sixteen

Oft in the stilly night,

Ere Slumber’s chain has bound me,

Fond memory brings the light

Of other days around me;

The smiles, the tears,

Of boyhood’s years,

The words of love then spoken;

The eyes that shone

Now dimmed and gone,

The cheerful hearts now broken.

Thomas Moore

“Still can’t believe you goin’ after the cap’n like that. Got the nerve, you do, when he told everyone to stay put.”

“He was gone too long,” the man in question defended himself. “Figured that lil’ reb could’ve stuck them scissors in him and buried him out back with them rebs if she was of a mind to. Never know ’bout a woman, ’specially one as pretty as her. Be as sweet as an’ angel one minute, then spittin’ an’ scratchin’ like a wildcat the next. Get you when you least expect it. Reckon the cap’n fell fer them blue eyes of hers, ’cause the way the cap’n was watchin’ her he wouldn’t have been thinkin’ straight. Never seen the cap’n so hot fer a woman before. Could almost see the sparks flyin’ between them. Thought he was goin’ to catch fire and take her right there in the stables. Reckon they had some unfinished business between them, the cap’n sayin’ they was old friends. Wouldn’t mind bein’ that kind of friend myself. Wonder how they met in the first place. Figure the cap’n’s got family ’round these parts? Sure knows the land, so he must, though he don’t talk like no Virginian I ever heard. Besides, thought I’d better find him, ’cause swear I heard hounds barkin’.”