"I'm afraid there is a food shortage developing in Charleston. Unglamorous as it seems, I think a couple of hogs would be appreciated more than anything else."
"Lincoln's trying to strangle the South," Philip informed him. "He's added a Gulf Squadron to the Atlantic Squadron."
Nick nodded. "The blockade is getting tighter daily. We were fired on this last time. What started as fun, has turned into a very dangerous game. I think it's about time we got you back to England, Philip, before there's no getting out."
Pamela looked alarmed, but remained silent.
"Do you think the lawyers will have made any progress?" Philip asked.
"They had better, if they want paying." Nicholas added, "By the time we get to England, they will have had over three months. We'll talk tomorrow and decide if we'll leave next week."
Nicholas declined a cigar, arose and went around the table to Amanda. He pulled back her chair and laid a possessive hand upon her shoulder."Are you ready to go up, darlin'?" he drawled.
"Actually, it's so hot, I've decided to take a long, cool bath," she said low, giving him a sidelong glance. "You don't mind amusing yourself for a couple of hours, do you Nicholas?"
He was momentarily disconcerted. Does she really expect me to mark time downstairs after conjuring up the tempting image of a nude bathing scene? He decided to give her enough time to disrobe, then he'd join her for a cozy evening at home.
In the bathroom that adjoined their bedroom, Amanda filled the tub with cool, clear water and put in a few drops of perfumed oil, whose scent always reminded her of the Far East. She climbed in and took up the huge sponge to trickle the cool water down her body. She purposely used no soap so the water would remain clear, and give Nicholas an unimpeded view of her limbs. Tonight was most important to her and she had planned every detail.
Within moments Nick came in and sat on the edge of the tub. He bent to claim her lips and she reached up to brush her lips against his, then moved away quickly to squeeze the sponge and allow the delicious cool water to cascade in rivulets down her breasts.
Already aroused and finding it uncomfortable, he moved into the bedroom, leaving the door open. He removed his boots, jacket, and shirt, then bare-chested and bare-footed he padded back to her. "How long will you be?"
"Mmm, probably hours," she murmured languidly.
He went back to the bedroom and cleaned the pistols he'd traveled with. He could see her plainly from where he sat, and he was beginning to be annoyed at her delay. He put the pistols into their case, and saw with satisfaction that she was finished her sponging.
Next however, she closed her eyes and lay back in the cool water.
Suddenly, a suspicion came to him. She was deliberately tempting him beyond his endurance. He took up her nightgown and went over to the bath. "I do believe madam, that you are teasing me. He grinned down at her, and she opened her eyes wide to show her innocence. He offered her the nightgown and whispered, "Come to bed."
She made no effort to accept his invitation, but closed her eyes and murmured, "In a while."
Suddenly she screamed and her eyes flew open. Nicholas had stripped off his breeches and joined her in the tub. As she tried to stand up and quit the water, he chuckled and pulled her into his lap. He bit her ear playfully. "You are acting very mysteriously tonight. What are you up to, my little wanton?"
"Don't you like to play games?" she teased, running her finger around the deep crevice of his navel.
"I like to play with you."
She reached for a towel and stepped from the tub. "Dry me," she invited.
He was beside her instantly, lifting her hair and applying the towel to the seductive curve of her back. He kissed her shoulders. "Tell me more about this game."
She laughed. "It involves a secret... and a prize..."
"Like a treasure hunt?" He turned her to face him and gently toweled her breasts. The nipples stood erect like hard little fruits, inviting his taste, and his mouth could not resist.
She picked up the wispy nightgown, considered for a moment, then rejected it. "I shall be naked as a true Pagan Goddess." She lifted her hair with her arms, then let it cascade about her shoulders like a silken waterfall. She stretched with feline grace, then lay down supine on top of the bedcovers.
He quickly threw aside the towel and came to her.
Before he reached her, she took the goblet of wine and drank from it. She knew he would be able to detect there was something in it, so in a flash of brilliance she slowly, erotically tipped the goblet and let the wine trickle over her breasts.
His tongue and his mouth licked and sucked the red rivulets as they ran lower and lower, filling her navel, then spilling over her belly down to the triangle below. He groaned as he drank every last drop of the powerful aphrodisiac. The wine left a burning sensation in his mouth, but he was too far gone with desire to take special notice.
As he murmured love words, his voice was thick with his great need. His blood coursed along his veins like liquid fire, pulsing in his neck, his chest, and his groin until he was light-headed. His cock felt swollen to the limit; its head ready to burst if any more blood rushed into it.
Nicholas ceased to think, only to feel-- to enjoy to the full the unbelievable pleasure Amanda's body gave him. He plunged into her tightness, hearing her cry of pleasure only dimly.
She wrapped her legs about him tightly and locked them behind his back, then opened her mouth to receive his tongue. She also had drunk a little of the aphrodisiac and was feelings the effects of the unholy passion it had aroused.
He plunged deeper and she adjusted her body to his to accommodate his engorged sex.
She gashed his back with her nails, and then it happened. She felt him lose complete control as he stiffened, then plunged and thrust as he spilled his seed into her.
He lay sprawled on her, totally spent, fighting for his breath, then he lay still and as his senses returned he said, "My God, what did you put in the wine?"
She whispered, "That's the secret."
He sat up and stared at her as his suspicions took hold "Have you been down to the cabins again? To that damned voodoo woman?" he demanded.
She made a pouting little moue with her lips. "'Twas only a love potion."
"Do you realize you've drugged us both?" he shouted in frustration. "I've probably just given you a child!"
"That's the prize," she whispered.
The fire was already returning to his loins. "Amanda, you are the most willful... maddening... tempting... sensual creature in the world." She ran her finger over his lips and down his neck, then traced it all the way down his body. "Purely and absolutely," he said with a groan.
In Charleston, Virginia threw open her house for the Charity Ball to raise money for the war. The city had completely run out of foodstuffs that were imported. There was no coffee, tea, wine, beef, lamb, cheese, but anything homegrown was still available.
The South had no shortage of flowers, so Virginia's house was filled with them. Confederate banners and flags decorated the rooms. The affair was well-attended by military men of every rank. Sabers glittered and banged against shining boots; spurs jangled along the waxed floors, and the gray uniforms were immaculate.
Virginia served bourbon made from mash and home-made rye whisky, and fruit punch for the ladies. No new clothes for either men or women were available in the shops, so many establishments had already closed their doors. Each woman attending had refurbished a gown she had worn before, and wore it proudly as a banner for the cause.
Jennifer was glowing. She was on the arm of Beau Hampden, already an officer, and she passed from one group to another showing off her engagement ring.
Amanda was amazed at how many people Nicholas knew. Of course they were all business connections, as he'd been in the import/export business in Charleston for five years. Every person he passed seemed to want to engage him in conversation, so Philip became Amanda's partner in the dancing, and her escort to supper and the ch
arity auction.
As Amanda glimpsed Nicholas across the room, she reflected that she had never been happier. In spite of the fact that the times were frightening, the future uncertain, and the blockade running in which Nicholas was involved was deadly dangerous, the two of them were falling more deeply in love each day. In her heart's center she was almost certain that she was carrying his child, and it filled her with joy to believe she was so close to achieving her hearts desire. Nicholas, their baby, and Paradise. What more could any woman want, ever?
Philip was dancing with his mother when Jennifer spied Mandy standing alone. Jennifer's color was high and she tossed her blonde curls indignantly. "I'm surprised at Aunt Virginia being so insensitive to your feelings, Amanda."
Amanda's fan paused. She looked an inquiry at Jennifer and waited for her to explain.
"It's considered shocking form to invite a man's wife and mistress to the same affair. It's an open insult!" fumed Jennifer.
Mandy looked across the room at Nicholas and for the first time became aware of the woman who engaged him in animated conversation at the buffet table. As Jennifer's words penetrated her consciousness and their meaning became clear, she noticed the woman reach up her hand in a familiar way to adjust Nicholas's cravat.
Amanda felt as if a large, ugly hand were trying to pluck her heart from her breast; as though the sun had gone out and left the world cold and bleak. Is this what the end of the world feels like?
"Who is she?" she heard herself ask, low.
"Lady Margo Stafford." Jennifer was unable to keep the note of satisfaction from her voice.
Amanda's pride was mauled and hung in shreds. She stood transfixed for a moment as anger, jealousy, and pain raged within her for supremacy. Anger won, hands down.
She closed her fan with a snap and walked a direct path through the crowded ballroom to Lady Margo. In a voice raised high enough to cause a stir in any crowd, Amanda said, "Stay away from my husband!"
Maggie looked at the young beauty before her and wanted to strike her, but the golden fury that blazed in her eyes made her afraid. She said between her teeth, "American bitch!"
The wild streak in Amanda was immediately unleashed. She drew her hand back and crashed it into Maggie's face. "English whore!" she shouted.
A shocked gasp went around the room and people moved back away from them. Never had they heard such a bad word from the mouth of a lady.
Nicholas, at such a disadvantage, was unsure of himself for the first time in his life.
Virginia rushed forward, appalled at the behavior of her niece. She was almost incoherent. "How dare you offer Lady Margot such an insult? How could you deliberately ruin such an important evening? You are a wicked girl! You have always been uncivilized."
Mandy, seething now, her eyes shooting off golden sparks like an erupting firecracker, cried, "Uncivilized? I'll show you uncivilized!" She took hold of the banquet tablecloth in front of the enormous crystal punchbowl and smashed everything to the floor in an ecstasy of magnificent waste.
Virginia was speechless and on the point of collapse. She could only fling her arm out at Nicholas to get his wife out.
Nicholas propelled Amanda through the door. "Very pretty behavior."
She met the remark with stony silence as she sailed down the front steps and along the Battery.
He had to quicken his pace to keep up with her. "Where are you off to Miss High and Mighty? Do you propose to walk all the way back to Paradise?
Silence.
He made an impatient noise and hailed an open carriage. When it stopped for them, she ignored it and kept on walking.
Nicholas slipped one arm across her back and the other beneath her knees and neatly lifted her into the carriage.
"Don't touch me!" she spat.
He ignored the venom and told the driver to take them to the Planter's Inn. When they arrived the sidewalk outside and the lobby were filled with attachés of the army, each escorting what looked to be a loose woman. Drunken mirth mixed with arguments created an atmosphere of disorder, so the couple at odds with each other went almost unnoticed as Nicholas procured a key for the largest chamber. A soldier offered Amanda a ribald suggestion, and she swept past him with her chin in the air.
As Nicholas locked the door, Amanda threw her fan and reticule onto the bed, then went over to the window, presenting her back to him.
"Amanda, let me explain," he began.
"Don't speak to me," she hissed.
He went up behind her and gently cupped her shoulders in his hands. "Mandy..."
"Don't touch me! Ever!" she added emphatically.
"Damn it, it was before we were ever married. You were just a young girl when I visited Maggie. You can't punish me for something that happened then. The moment we exchanged vows, I ended it."
She turned to face him, hands on hips, eyes blazing. "I forgave you Solange, but you forgot to mention this one. How many more are there Nicholas?"
"Obviously you have not forgiven me or you wouldn't throw it in my face," he said quietly.
"My God, men are beasts. I shall pay you back and see how you like it. I shall find myself another man and be unfaithful to you!" she threatened wildly.
He was angry now and mocked, "Go down to the lobby and pick one up. I seem to recall you got an offer while you were flaunting yourself down there."
"It's over!" she shouted. "I'll never sleep with you again."
"You are behaving like a child."
She drew herself up to her full height. Then in a perfectly controlled voice she said, "That's your own fault. You shouldn't have married a child."
He stiffened at the insult, turned on his heel and left. He procured another bedchamber for himself and left her alone to stew in her own juice.
The atmosphere was subdued the next day as everyone traveled back to Paradise. The silence was only broken by Philip and Nicholas occasionally. The women sat in stony silence.
At home, Nicholas half-expected Amanda to remove herself to her old bedchamber, but she liked the privacy of the West wing and requested in a cool voice that he chose another room until he sailed for England.
"Well, I'll be damned," he said hotly. "Amanda, you will discover that a woman who demands all her own way ends up being miserable. I'd like to put an end to this silly nonsense before I sail, but obviously you are too willful and spoiled to forgive and forget."
Amanda was glad he was going away. It would give her a chance to sort out her chaotic feelings.
She turned away from him, and hurt, he ground out, "Apparently Paradise isn't big enough for both of us. I'll leave as soon as possible."
Lady Pamela gave every excuse in the book for not wanting to return to England. Finally she swallowed her pride and asked Nicholas if he would let her stay at Paradise for the time being.
He gave his permission. She'll go back soon enough once Philip's wealth has been restored, he thought cynically.
Amanda and Philip walked down by the reflecting lake to say their goodbyes. Finally, Philip took both her hands and swung her toward him. "I know you and Nicholas have had a rift, and if I thought for one minute it was permanent between you two, I'd stay here and try to win you. I'd say to hell with England, the title, everything."
Mandy's smile was both sweet and sad. "Dearest Philip, you must return and I must stay here. We both know that."
"At least promise me that someday you'll come to England for a visit?" he pressed.
She looked at him closely, observing the golden lashes and the earnest turquoise eyes that showed so clearly the tenderness he felt toward her. She placed her hand on his arm and pressed it warmly. "I will promise you that much, Philip, but I don't know when it will be. You must promise me that you'll be the finest Lord Peacock that England has ever had."
Philip grinned at her, then pulled her to him and kissed her.
"Goodbye and God bless," she whispered against his lips, before she slipped away from him beneath the shadows of the magnolia tre
es.
Hidden from his view she leaned against the bole of a tree and listened as the trees sighed and murmur to one another. In that calm, leafy solitude she felt melancholy. She had a pain in her throat from holding back her tears. For days she had wanted to cry to ease the pain of Nicholas's philandering, but she knew that once the tears started, they would be torrential.
She felt as if she could literally cry her heart out, but she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing that she was a poor defeated female with hideously swollen, red eyes. When he was on the high seas, let him remember her anger or her cool indifference. A man had no patience with a weeping woman. One tear slipped down her cheek to fall upon her hand. Angrily, she picked up her skirts and ran toward the house.
In the morning she was not there to see the travelers on their way. From the driveway Nicholas glanced up and scanned the gallery of the West wing hopefully. When she did not appear, the muscle in his jaw clenched tightly. Philip joined him and they departed.
If Amanda had wanted to bid farewell to her husband, she could not have done so. At the moment of his leave-taking she lay with her head over the edge of the bed being violently sick. The nausea had consumed her the moment she tried to rise from bed, and it seemed the vomiting and retching would never cease.
Mammy Lou shook her head and pressed her lips together. "Mandy, honeychile, looks like yo' done got yoself in a fix."
Mandy groaned. "Go away."
"Ma lambie-pie, let Mammy do for yo'." She bathed Amanda's face with cool water and brought a clean, lavender-scented nightgown. Then she brought her some chamomile tea and a warm brick for her feet. Mandy felt considerably better now that Mammy had taken over and coddled her a little.
Amanda spent her evenings alone in the West wing, and Mammy moved into the room next to hers to keep a close watch on the young mother-to-be.