Echoes of Tomorrow (28 page)

She took her time opening her eyes, and when she did she encountered the penetrating heat of his.  Their steps faltered, then stopped.

Her hands moved upward, and she lassoed his neck with her arms.

"Refresh my memory, Mr. Blackwell.  Is it scandalous for a lady to kiss her dance partner?"

Reed's eyes glowed as he smiled down at her.

"It would be the ruin of her, Miss Gerard."

"Well then, darlin', isn't it wonderful I'm not a lady."

His head bent forward ever so slowly when she came up on tiptoe to meet him.  His lips felt like a butterfly against hers when he said, "I beg to differ."  Her tongue darted out to entice him closer.  He crushed her to him with a moan and kissed her deeply.  So deeply it shuddered her soul.

An all-consuming fire of need swept through her.  She pulled her arms from Reed's neck only to slip them under his coat and run her hands along the indention of his spine.  His shirt was damp, and the heat inside the jacket excited her all the more.  Traces of starched linen, sandalwood and mint mixed with the scent that was his very own essence to create an aphrodisiac more powerful to Elise than any drug.

His hands came up to cup her face, and he placed gentle, deliberate kisses on her cheeks, her eyelashes, her nose.  When his mouth returned to hers he was no longer deliberate.  The kiss had the urgency of being out of control.

With lips still touching he spoke, his breath caressing her mouth.

"I love you, little one."

Elise inhaled deeply of the sweet breath that carried those magical words.  She pulled it into her lungs, and her heart, and into every cell of her body.

"Oh, Reed, I never thought I'd hear those words again."  The last of her words were muffled as her lips covered his.  Her legs turned to spaghetti when their tongues began playing hide and seek, and she realized the only thing holding her up was the steel band of Reed's arms.

He grinned down at her, a blue spark of jealousy flashing in his eyes.

“You never thought to hear those words again?  Has someone else been telling you he loves you?"

Elise raised her eyes only far enough to peer at him through her lashes.  Her gaze was torrid - meant to burn into his mind and brand his heart.

"Only you, darlin'...in my dreams."

He groaned and crushed her to him.  She slid her hands to his neck.  Mindless of the folds in his neckcloth, she shoved it aside and placed her lips to the pulse point of his throat.

Neither heard the click click of tiny, mincing steps until the intruder was upon them.

Aunt Lil rounded the wall of ferns several seconds before the distracted couple sprang apart, exchanging looks of shock.

Lil's bouncing gait and swaying skirts gave her the appearance of the Liberty Bell run amuck.  Without ever once looking at the rumpled pair, she bustled by, singing, "Angeline is on her way downstairs.  I'll be back in a moment to escort you out of here, my dear.  Reed Blackwell, straighten your neckcloth," to a tune somewhat resembling "Yankee Doodle."

The white of Reed's teeth shone in a brilliant, indulgent smile against his rugged, tanned face, but Elise whirled and grabbed his coat sleeve.

"Angeline.  Oh heavens, Reed, what about Angeline?"

His smile only faltered for a second.

"Let me take care of it, Elise.  Angeline will probably be glad to be rid of me."

Elise couldn't stop her unladylike snort at that optimistic statement.

"You've got to be kidding.  Good heavens, Reed, she chased you with the single-mindedness of a lion after its prey.  She'll never let you..."

Lil chose that moment to reappear, less hurried but nevertheless a woman with a purpose.  She bounced up and smoothed down several sections of Elise's mussed hair.  Then she clicked her tongue and grumbled something about men's sweaty palms while she flicked the silk draping that fell from Elise's shoulders back into place.  She then slipped her arm through Elise's and patted her with her free hand.

"Now, my dear, I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed our little stroll through the gardens.  So refreshing."

Without looking back she sang again, "Neckcloth, Reed Blackwell."

*******

The high-pitched shriek and crash of breaking glass were drowned out by a lively Virginia reel and the thick walls of the library.  Reed side-stepped the brandy snifter with ease, but when the entire decanter hit the wall beside his head, droplets of the pungent liqueur sprinkled him liberally.

"Enough!" he roared when an ink holder found its way into Angeline's hands.

Angeline stood poised to hurl the ink in the direction of the decanter, but must have thought better of it.  She lowered her arm but held on to the ink.

"It's that Amazon trollop, isn't it?  First she wormed her way into your home.  You have even begun to speak in the same, vulgar way she does.  And now..."

"Angeline, you will mind your language."  Reed marched over and snatched the ink from her hand.  "Elise and I are in love.  This was not something either of us planned, but what's done is done.  I am willing to allow you to be the one to break it off.  You can say you realized you don't love me, or that I'm an insufferable cad.  Whatever you want.  Besides," he said, spreading his hands and gesturing to the ball going on outside the mahogany doors, "we never officially announced our betrothal.  Give any excuse you like - I'll back up whatever you say.  But," he nailed her with a glare, "leave Elise out of it."

Angeline returned Reed's glare as the music filtered into the library, making a mockery of the betrothal party.  She stared with narrowed eyes until Reed was about to turn and leave the room.  Suddenly she dropped onto the dark green velvet settee and buried her face in her hands.  An occasional sob broke the monotony of the high-pitched whines emanating through her fingers.

Reed stood still, uncertain of how to proceed.  Before he had time to formulate a plan, Angeline raised a blotchy, tear-stained face to him.  Red eyes looked up at him.  Her nose was pink, and crimson splotches dotted her face.

Now I see why she's never used this tactic on me before.

While he was berating himself for such a low thought, she spoke.

"You cannot marry her, Reed.  Our baby is a Blackwell, and he will be born a Blackwell."

Reed's entire body jerked, then he stopped himself from laughing out loud.

"I beg you pardon, Angeline.  I thought I heard you say ‘our baby.'"

"That is exactly what I said, Reed.  I did not think I would have to spell out that I am
enceinte
."

Reed did laugh at that.

"No, my dear, not under normal circumstances.  But you see, one has to have been, shall we say...exposed...in order to achieve that delicate condition.  And we have not been...exposed to each other in that manner."

"Oh no?  What do you call what you did to me the night of your last ball?"

He froze.  His heart began to hammer.

"What are you talking about?"

"I am talking about the night of your last ball, when you climbed into my bedroom window, foxed out of your head, and forced yourself on me!"

"You're lying!"

"You forced yourself on me, saying we would be married and you had no desire to wait.  You had not even asked for my hand, yet you forced your attentions on me.  Now you are going to be a father, and I will not stand aside and bear a bastard while you marry that trollop.  I tried to get you to stop but you refused.  You forced me, Reed Blackwell.  And it was horrible!"

Her face was once again covered by her hands, but Reed took no notice.  His heart thundered in his chest, and he fought to keep his stomach from turning.

The night of his last ball.  Dear God, that was when he'd woke the next morning in a field by the river.  He'd been wearing strange breeches and shoes but was naked from the waist up.  He had no idea how he'd gotten there, where he'd been, or where those articles of clothing had come from.  He still didn't know.  And now Angeline was accusing him of...impossible.

"You had on strange clothes," she continued, as if reading his mind, "and when you staggered home you were so drunk you left your shirt and coat behind.  I was so furious with you I threw them in the fire.  The next day when you came to Mon Coeur and proposed I decided to forgive you."

Reed felt as though his thoughts were struggling through thick, black mud.  Nothing made sense.  He knew he hadn't been drunk that night.  He very seldom drank at all, and when he did he held his liquor like a gentleman.  Could he have had some type of seizure?  Could he have been sleepwalking?  Could he have been drugged?

Angeline was crying again, but now one hand lay protectively against her stomach.

Bile rose in his throat and he swallowed it back.  He took a step toward her and forced himself to speak, his voice not much more than a gravelly whisper.

"Make yourself presentable, Angeline.  We have a betrothal to announce."

*******

Elise alternately paced the floor or stared out the window of her bedroom, as she had been doing since Reed had gone into the library with Angeline.  She couldn't fake an interest in the ball or the guests.  Not until she knew the outcome of this meeting.

She saw a movement behind her in the mirrored blackness of the window and spun around, running to Reed when he stepped into the room.  Something was wrong.  She knew it.  She stopped herself from flying into his arms, alarm bells  going off in her head like a cockpit with an engine fire.

Hollow eyes stared out at her from a ghostly white face.  His hair tumbled across his brow, the victim of repeated abuse from his fingers.  As she watched he raked a handful of hair back into place, then clenched his fist as if to pull it out.

A pain started growing in the very center of her chest even before he spoke.

"I have to marry her, Elise."

His voice was hoarse and barely audible.  She knew she couldn't have heard him right, even though her breathing had stopped and her lungs were beginning to burn.

"What?"  Her own voice was nothing more than a whisper.

"Marry her.  I have to marry her."

After what seemed like hours, she began to breathe again.

"What do you mean you have to marry her?  Is she holding a gun to your head?  You don't have to do anything.  You're a grown man and no one can make you..."

Realization struck her like a kick to the stomach.  All breathing stopped again, and she fumbled blindly for a chair.  She had to sit down.

"She's pregnant.  That's it, isn't it?  She's pregnant."

Jealousy knifed through Elise with such force it staggered her.  The thought of Reed sleeping with another woman, even if he didn't remember he had a wife, caused a pain she could hardly bear.  She raised hope-filled eyes, praying that he would deny it and say it was all a joke.  His look of abject misery shattered her hope into sharp, jagged slivers that pierced her heart.

*******

Elise stood with her fingernails digging into her palms, watching people all around toast the couple's happiness.  It was sheer force of will, and a good deal of self-inflicted pain that kept the tears from pooling in her eyes. 

She would have preferred to stay in her room, locking the door and locking out the world and all its misery, but she learned long ago to face life with her chin up and her shoulders back.  There was no way she would allow Angeline to see her upset.

The toasting mercifully ended when Obiah announced that dinner was served.  Elise moved with forced nonchalance to the edge of the crowd.  She didn't want to be herded too close to the "happy couple."  Several more hours of this torture, and she could escape to her room and then...what?  She didn't know if she could last that long.

A hand cupped her elbow and guided her toward the dining room.  Jeff was grinning down at her with a sardonic look, and one sandy eyebrow raised when she glared at him.

"You did not think it would happen, did you?"

Elise stiffened at his words and removed her elbow from his grasp with a yank.  She tried to walk away from him, but he stayed close on her heels.  Ignoring him didn't work, so she finally spoke over her shoulder.

"I have no idea what you're talking about.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm starved, and I see Lil waving for me."

Before she could make her escape, Jeff's hand shot out and grabbed her arm again.

"If you find yourself in need of consolation, my shoulder is yours for the taking."  He was such a good actor, his sympathy sounded almost real.

Elise refused to dignify his comment.  She simply jerked her arm free and wound her way through the crowd to Lil.

The magnificent array of food only caused her stomach to turn.  She wasn't sure if she'd ever want to eat again, let alone eat any of the feast before her.

Her stomach lurched at the mountains of sliced ham, turkey and beef.  Whole roasted chickens were surrounded by steamed, fried or raw vegetables.  There was pickled watermelon rind, corn relish, potato salad, fluffy, pungent yeast rolls and baking powder biscuits.  Dozens of raw fruits and vegetables were cut to look like flowers or birds.  The dessert table held an array of confections, from airy meringues, custards and cookies, to heavy cakes soaked in rum.