Things became increasingly focused, at least until several twittering ladies approached from down the hall and entered the bedroom next door, where they eagerly praised the changes that had been made to the house in recent years. Frozen on the threshold of erotic rapture, the couple clung to each other as they listened in waiting apprehension. Before the ball, the draperies had been drawn closed over the French doors of the master’s chambers, but the glass portals had been left standing open to catch the wafting breezes. As a result, no one could predict what curious soul might decide to venture out onto the veranda or even dare to enter the private quarters.
Discomfited by their guests’ proximity, Raelynn pressed a trembling hand against her husband’s chest and looked up at him pleadingly. “Later,” she whispered as her palm stroked the furred expanse. “When we have more privacy.”
Jeff pressed his lips near her ear. “Then come downstairs and let me hold you in a waltz until my blood cools.”
“As if it would,” she replied and started to laugh, then hurriedly buried her face in his shoulder until she could subdue her amusement. She glanced back at the mantel clock as it began to chime. “Ten o’clock. Not much longer now. Then we can be alone together.”
“You’d better leave first,” Jeff murmured huskily, withdrawing from her. “If I go down now, I’ll shock our guests.”
Rising with him, Raelynn snatched a kiss from his lips and, with an admiring glance downward, stepped away from him with a grin.
8
IN GRACIOUS COMPLIANCE WITH THE DUTIES OF a hostess, Raelynn smilingly accepted every invitation to dance and, in the lulls between, conversed with many of the ladies. She quickly discovered that Heather was a radiant, vivacious beacon to which she and others were irresistibly drawn. Thus, when she was unsure of herself, it seemed only natural to seek out the fortifying presence of her sister-in-law. Aware that she had aroused a fair amount of curiosity by marrying one of the choicest bachelors in the area, Raelynn tried to answer all the probing questions as pleasantly and as accurately as possible. Yet, through it all, she began to sense that a small collection of ladies were resentful of her. Never mind that they hid their malice behind brittle smiles and subtle innuendoes, they made her feel very much like an outsider, as they no doubt hoped to do. She was, after all, a foreigner who had usurped a highly coveted commodity in the form of one, Jeffrey Lawrence Birmingham.
Yet, even as she struggled to dismiss their cattiness, Raelynn became increasingly aware of her own rising euphoria. After despairing of even surviving the sea voyage across the Atlantic, she had not only been rescued from the enslavement that Gustav had intended for her, but she had been whisked into a marriage with an extraordinary gentleman who was every bit the man she had once aspired to have in a long-dormant fantasy. Yet Jeff was no dreamy illusion, but flesh and blood. And he was hers, not theirs. He was immensely charming, delightful to be with, and much more of a courtly gentleman than she had realistically imagined she would ever find in the wilds of the Carolinas. Not only that, he seemed a perfect match for her. Where she was weak, he was strong; where she was gentle and submissive, he was firm and aggressive; where she was clever at managing the house, the servants and a host of other things, he was astute at his many business affairs, his horse operation, and running the plantation. In a variety of different ways they complemented each other. Yet above all, they were lovers thoroughly enthralled with each other. The only nagging fear came from the fact that everything seemed too perfect. There just had to be a flaw somewhere.
If she were living in the midst of some fairy tale, her existence could not have been more captivating. The spacious ballroom, now aglow with twinkling crystal candelabra and costly chandeliers and aswirl with gracious people, seemed a place of enchantment. Even the rain pattering down upon the roof and the walks twining through the gardens provided a fresh, sweet essence that enlivened her spirit and made her feel a bit giddy, as if she were actually soaring on gossamer wings, like a tiny fairy in an unseen world. It was all too magical and beautiful, yet very, very real, she kept telling herself. She was here! Alive! And this was no fantasy, no child’s illusion.
Once again, Raelynn made an effort to devote her attention to the elderly gentleman with whom she was presently dancing. She smiled at his muttered statement, hardly cognizant of what he had said, and hoped fervently that it didn’t require an answer. Her mind wandered irresistibly to that fervently anticipated moment wherein she and Jeffrey would be free to return to the privacy of their bedroom. A warm blush swept upward from her breasts as she thought of Jeff’s long, muscular form moving with slow, rhythmic passion upon her own, but in allowing herself such delectable fantasies, she missed a sweeping turn and trod upon her partner’s toe. His wrinkled face briefly registered a painful grimace before he recovered a somewhat strained aplomb.
Patting her hand soothingly, he shushed her worried apologies. “No need to fret yourself, girl. No harm has been done.”
Raelynn chided herself for allowing herself to get so caught up in unrestrained musings about her husband that she’d act like a mindless chit. She just hoped the elderly gentleman hadn’t somehow connected her preoccupation with her flushed cheeks and bated breath, or, if he had, would merely lay it to some other cause rather than her lustful reflections.
“My dear girl, you must rest yourself,” the elder urged solicitously, finally taking note of her distress. His concern deepened as he considered her flushed face. “Surely you’ll be fainting from fatigue if you continue dancing as you have been.”
Seizing upon the excuse, Raelynn graciously accepted his assistance from the dance floor. “You’re very kind, sir.”
Her relief was immeasurable when Jeff met her with a glass of fruited wine. “Here, love, you look as if you need this more than I do. Besides, I don’t think I can take another sip until I find some relief.”
“Relief from what?”
Jeff grinned at her, bringing into play the handsome grooves in his cheeks before he leaned near to whisper. “Your naiveté comes into play most fetchingly, madam, but right now, I’m sorely pressed, for the privy beckons, you see.”
“It’s raining outside,” she warned, her lips curving enticingly. She was hardly aware of her warmly glowing eyes caressing the face above her own. Admiring her husband had become almost second nature to her, and she had ceased to take account of all the times her gaze was inclined to shift in his direction and then linger for lengthy moments.
“Actually, my love, it stopped some moments ago. In any case, I have to go. It has become a dire necessity.”
“Don’t be long.” She felt her heart trip as he winked at her in his all-too-magical way. As he hastened off, she sought to turn aside, but grimaced suddenly as a sharp pain shot through her heel. No doubt it had become blistered from all the dancing she had done. She cast a glance toward the clock and decided she had just enough time to go upstairs and slip into a more comfortable pair of shoes before she could expect Jeffrey to return.
“May I have this dance, madam?” a deep voice inquired from behind her.
Raelynn turned to find Farrell Ives grinning down at her.
“Elizabeth has deserted me to dance with your brother-in-law,” the couturier explained, escorting her back onto the dance floor. “She’s trying to soothe his qualms about Heather’s upcoming ordeal, but I don’t think it’s doing much good. I experienced that same sort of trauma only once in my life, but it left a lasting impression upon me. The memory certainly allows me to feel a great empathy for Brandon.”
Raelynn canted her head curiously. “I didn’t realize you were married, Farrell.”
“I’m not. Never have been.”
“Oh, then you must have sisters . . .”
“Nary a one. I was born the last of seven brothers.”
“Goodness, your father must have been very proud to have so many sons.”
His bearded mouth twitched with amusement. “Aye, that he was, but as handsome as we al
l were, we went through some hard times just the same.”
She laughed at his wit. “You know, Farrell, if I thought you were really as conceited as you make yourself out to be, I’d make an earnest effort to warn women away from you, for surely none would be able to hold a candle to you.”
His eyes gleamed puckishly. “I knew my looks were impressive, but I never realized before that they also put the women to shame, too.”
“You’re hopeless,” she warbled through her laughter.
He feigned a sigh of lament. “That’s what everybody tells me.”
“You should be careful,” she warned, making no attempt to curb her grin. “One of these days someone is going to take you seriously and think you’re really caught on yourself.”
He chortled. “Only a fool would be so foolish.”
After another lengthy sweep around the ballroom, Raelynn peered up at him again, her brows gathered in a baffled frown. “You’ve made me curious, Farrell.”
“How so, madam?”
“If you haven’t ever been married and don’t have any sisters, would you kindly explain what you meant when you said you’ve experienced the kind of tension that Brandon is presently going through? Are you saying you were present when a baby was born? Or are you talking about something else entirely?”
“I was there when Elizabeth gave birth to Jake. At one time, her husband was my closest friend, and after he was killed, I took his body home to bury. That same night Elizabeth’s labor started. I was as worked up as a fish on a hook until the midwife came out to the porch and showed me the baby. Elizabeth never once cried out through the whole of it, but I could hear other little noises that affirmed the fact that she was in pain. By the time it was all over, my knees were as weak as water.”
“Then you’ve known Elizabeth for some time,” Raelynn concluded.
“I met her late husband, Emory, in my earlier boxing days. We became friends. He went to Georgia to work for a while, and when he came back, he introduced me to his fiancée, who had come with her parents to visit him. I thought Elizabeth was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life, but, of course, she was already spoken for. I provided the ring as best man at their wedding. The rest is a long story. Before her husband was killed, he gambled away all their money, leaving Elizabeth in dire straits. After his death, she came to work for me and has helped my business to become what it is today. Even with what she now earns, Elizabeth still scrimps and saves for the boy’s future. She says she wants him to have a better start in life than his father had.”
“I’m sure Elizabeth was grateful that you were there when she needed you. Since then you’ve probably proven yourself a friend in many other ways.”
Farrell made no comment. What could he say when he was not at all sure where he stood with the raven-haired beauty?
THE GUESTS STAYED MUCH LATER THAN RAELYNN HAD ever expected, and when finally they began to make their departures, it was past midnight. She stood beside her husband at the front door of the plantation house and graciously extended her appreciation of their attendance. More often than not she took advantage of her husband’s supporting arm and leaned against his sturdy frame. It had been a long and exhausting day, and though she had entertained recurring fantasies about the night ahead, she wasn’t at all sure that she would stay awake long enough to even get undressed.
In the night sky, a slender shaft of moonlight seemed to struggle for survival amid the gathering clouds. The beam of light finally disappeared altogether behind a turbulently roiling mass as strengthening breezes, bearing the scent of an approaching rain, set tree limbs to swaying overhead and open French doors crashing against their jambs. Servants rushed to close them as guests hurriedly waved and scurried to their carriages. The mischievous wind seemed bent on sending top hats cartwheeling down the drive and cloaks flapping almost vertically out behind their owners.
Brandon and Heather were among the last to leave, and as the elder Birmingham escorted his wife to the door, Raelynn smilingly observed his tender solicitations. Since becoming Jeffrey’s wife, so much had happened that she had had little time to consider how truly fortunate she was to be a member of the Birmingham clan. The realization had first dawned on her at the church social when Brandon’s delightful family had captured her heart. Brandon, himself, had accepted her with gentle courtesy, for which she would always be grateful. As for Heather, that lovely lady was already becoming as near and dear to her as a sister.
“You were enchanting, my dear,” Heather whispered as they embraced fondly.
“Thank you for being here when I most needed you,” Raelynn murmured with a gentle smile. “It seems there are still a few maidens who simply loathe the idea that I’m now Jeffrey’s wife.”
“Oh, yes, indeed!” Heather waved a graceful hand after the line of carriages vanishing off into the darkness. “I can practically see frustration blazing a trail behind at least a half dozen of them as they try to accept the fact that my brother-in-law is forever lost to them.”
Jeff tightened his arm about Raelynn’s slender shoulders, bringing her closer against him. “Our hasty marriage has given Charleston society something to chew on ‘til well past Christmas.”
“Take my word for it, Brother,” Brandon observed with a muted chuckle. “It won’t stop nearly that soon.”
“I know,” Jeff acknowledged, heaving an exaggerated sigh, “not until we’re old and gray.”
“Now that’s more the truth of it,” Brandon affirmed and clapped a hand upon his brother’s shoulder. “Sorry as I am to tell you this, Jeffrey, but the gossips will flay us with their tongues until we’re laid low in our graves, and just maybe, they won’t even relent then.”
“Thanks for your heartening words of encouragement, Bran,” Jeff replied tongue in cheek, making much of his dejection. “I could’ve gone a score of years without hearing that.”
“You’re welcome,” the elder rejoined with a chipper grin.
“Don’t look so proud of yourself,” Heather chided her husband with her laughter as she slipped an arm through his. “We’re just as susceptible.”
“How well I know,” Brandon conceded and settled a large hand upon her distended belly. “At least with this baby there hasn’t been as many tongues wagging as there was with Beau.”
Heather giggled. “That’s because Jeff and Raelynn have recently garnered most of the attention.”
Accepting his wife’s cloak from a servant, Brandon spread it about her shoulders and fastened the silken frogs beneath her chin. Heather looked up into his glowing eyes with a winsomely mutinous pout, drawing a chuckle from him as he gently chucked her beneath the chin. “Indulge me, my sweet. I feel a pressing need to take care of you.”
Casting a wry glance down at her own belly, his wife sighed forlornly. “By the time this baby is born, you’re not going to even allow me to walk.”
Scarcely had the words crossed her lips than her husband swept her up into his arms. Ignoring her startled squeal, he queried, “Why should I wait till then, madam? You scarcely weigh more than a mite even now. Besides, I find you much easier to control when you’re safely within my arms.”
Whatever reply Heather might have made was lost as Brandon laughingly bade his own farewells and bore her swiftly down the steps to their waiting carriage. Raelynn’s last glimpse of her sister-in-law was when Heather leaned out the carriage window and waved farewell amid a flurry of giggles spurred on by Brandon’s attempts to drag her back into his arms.
As a chuckling servant closed the front door, Jeff followed his brother’s lead by swooping Raelynn up into his arms and whisking her to their bedroom, leaving Cora and Kingston grinning and shaking their heads.
“Yassuh, somebody’s always puttin’ somethin’ fermented in de punch,” Kingston observed, his shoulders shaking with his erupting chuckles.
The master’s suite offered a sweet respite for the couple after the tumult of the party, but tonight it was even more refreshing as the
scent of rain still lingered in the rooms. The bedchamber was a private retreat that no servant, unless summoned, would dare enter while the master or mistress was there. Now, after the last of the guests had gone, the couple’s seclusion was deemed secure.
As much as Raelynn had fantasized about how the evening would end, she now felt completely drained. When her husband laid her upon the bed, she sighed contentedly as she kicked off her slippers and smiled up at him. Earlier in the evening, the bed linens had been folded down by a servant, and she stretched luxuriously upon the freshly scented sheets, content to be able just to relax.
“You’ll have to undress me,” she cajoled charmingly, walking a pair of fingers up her husband’s sleeve. “Otherwise, I shall have to call for Tizzy.”
“No need to do that, madam, when I’m here and eager to be of service.” Jeff’s leering grin bested anything that Gustav could have ever managed. Unceremoniously he flipped her onto her stomach, drawing an exaggerated “oomph” from her, and proceeded to unfasten the placket that trailed downward from the top of her gown to well below her waist.
Once Jeff had loosened her gown enough to allow her to free herself from the bodice and the top of the satin chemise, Raelynn slid both garments off her shoulders and pushed them down to her waist. Gathering a pillow within her arms, she snuggled her chin contentedly upon it. “You know, sir, if you please me well enough, I just might keep you on as my lady’s maid.”
For that, Jeff gave her a lusty slap on the posterior.
“Beast!” she cried in feigned outrage.
“Beast, is it?” He slid the shimmering sheath down her body in one fell swoop, this time eliciting a genuine gasp of surprise from his wife.
“On second thought, I’ll keep Tizzy,” she concluded with a giggle.
Since Elizabeth had complained during a fitting session that his wife’s pantalettes created unsightly bulges beneath the ball gown, Raelynn had elected not to wear anything other than stockings and the lace-trimmed satin chemise under the dress. As a result Jeff was wont to admire with more than just his eyes the way the undergarment cleaved to her buttocks, and for a lengthy moment he caressed her fetching derriere through the soft satin. Lending himself totally to the task of stripping the shift from her, he took advantage of every curve and vale within immediate range, sliding his right hand beneath a soft breast as his left followed the gentle curve of her back down to her buttocks and thighs, in the process pushing the chemise lower. Once he dragged the garment free, he turned her over again and proceeded to strip away her stockings.