Night Winds (14 page)

Shae hadn’t, yet despite the promise kept, she’d lost her mother
. Or had her silence somehow been the cause? And had her forbidden knowledge somehow driven Shae off a dangerous precipice as well?

Now fallen, she would be a rich man’s mistress, Ethan’s whore
. In coming here, she had sold herself for safety. She had sold herself for a mirage of peace.

As she summoned the energy to look around, the tears in her lashes did little to soften the room’s stark ugliness
. Dust filmed every surface, from the soot-gray walls to the wood floors where grit crunched beneath Ethan’s feet as he moved about. Two chairs perched apologetically beside a leaning table near the cabinet and cheap woodstove that would serve her as a kitchen. Running water in a small sink was the only concession to modern convenience, as attested by the lack of gas lighting fixtures. The limp, chintz curtains that covered the windows were only slightly thicker than the dirt griming their glass. Through a doorway, she glimpsed the corner of a bed.

“I’ll see about getting some better furnishings,” he promised as he sat beside her
. “Anything you need.”

How like King he sounded, promising to buy things to appease her.

But the offer of a few possessions didn’t matter. Shae still felt how far she’d fallen from her father’s handsome town house. The flimsy wall did little to obscure a baby’s crying from the neighboring apartment, nor did it block the smell of beans boiling on a nearby stove. With all his money, Ethan had stashed her in squalor. By coming here she’d not only sold her virginity, she had sold it for a song.

Soon, too soon, he would insist upon collecting.

Ethan laid callused fingertips against her cheek with unexpected gentleness, then brushed away the moisture of her tears. He began to lower himself to the sofa, but the terrier’s low growl seemed to change his mind.

“Since when do you like dogs?” Ethan asked.

Shae reached down to stroke the silkier hair behind the the animal’s ears. “His name is Jasper. He’s mine now, and I intend to keep him.”

“We’ll talk about it later
. You know, you have blood on your face. There’s a washtub in the other room and some pans for heating water. I think she might have left some dresses, too.”

Shae stared at Ethan’s face as comprehension dawned on her
. Nothing about his expression registered shame at what he’d implied, that he had kept another woman here. At least one.

“She was gone before I met you,” he offered, though Shae could tell he didn’t care much what she thought.

“
I
I’d like some privacy,” she told him. “It’
s
it’s been an awful day. Lucius Oliver is dead.”

“Who?”

“My father’s bookkeepe
r
my friend. The one who had the dog. I need to know the details. That’s why I came to you.”

Ethan smiled with catlike self-assurance
. “And I thought it was the way I touched you. I could tell you liked it from the start.”

“Oh, please, Ethan
. My life is crumbling to pieces, and you act as if your manhood just made the morning headlines. You were right before. I had nowhere else to go.”

She stiffened as he leaned over and grabbed her shoulders with both hands, then crushed his mouth against hers
. Jasper snarled and leapt onto Shae’s lap, prompting a retreat.

“Soon, I plan to make you glad of that necessity
. Now take your bath and change clothes. I want you clean when I return. And if
he
gets in the way, he can find another place to stow his flea-bitten hide,” Ethan promised, gesturing toward the dog.

Disgusted and afraid, she wiped his saliva from her mouth
. “What about Lucius? Will you help me find out what I need to know?”

She flinched as he ran his fingers through her tangled hair.

“Can’t you see?” he asked. “That was another lifetime. I’m all that matters to you now. I’ll be back soon, very soon. I’m going to see to it that your father’s carriage is returned before he has the police on you. And then, under the circumstances, I don’t believe it’s too early to buy a whole case of champagne.”

*

Long rollers crashed on the beach, reminding Phillip of the mutterings he heard predicting stormy weather. On the bay side of the peninsula, where the fishermen were talking, nothing seemed amiss, but here, along the gulf shore, the water seemed unusually rough. Phillip had lived all his life in Port Providence. He’d seen the tropical storms of the warm months often enough to know they could be dangerous. Overflows were common in the lower portions of the city, and places near the beach, like this, could be destroyed. Even his family home, on relatively high ground, ought to be prepared, let alone the warehouses where the cotton bales were stored.

If he planned to do anything about Shae Rowan, he had to decide now
. While there was still time to prepare, and before Ethan had a chance to ruin that poor gir
l


Phillip shook his head
. For all he knew, Shae wanted Ethan. She hadn’t seemed to object to the way his hands roamed over her.

Or was that fair to say
? She’d fled Ethan earlier. Did her return, bloody and battered, signal anything but desperation? Whatever could have happened to her, and why had she not thought to come to him instead of Ethan?

Help her, Phillip
.
He could hear Justine as clearly as if she sat behind him on Cure’s back.

Before he could decide whether to dismount, Ethan left the apartment alone
. For the first time that day, Phillip smiled. He’d hoped he might have the chance to catch Ethan by himself. Phillip nudged his gelding forward with a heel.

The appearance of another man and boy both gave Phillip pause
. He asked himself again why he should risk so much for reveng
e
and a young woman that he barely knew.

He couldn’t begin to think of a satisfactory answer.

*

Shae locked the door, although she could not imagine why
. Just now, the one person she wanted most to bar from this place held the key. And even if Ethan didn’t, this close to his goal, he’d charge right through that flimsy barricade.

She rubbed the back of her forearm across her mouth, in a vain attempt to rub off the taste of him
. Imagining him kissing her, touching her, crawling on top of her sent revulsion rippling through her body. How could she ever learn to bear his lust?

She’d been such an idiot to come here
. Ethan had made it very clear he couldn’t care less about her concerns regarding Lucius. He had no intention of helping he
r
only himself.

Roused from her lethargy, she stripped off her filthy clothing, then filled the sink with cool water
. As quickly as she could, she scrubbed the sweat and grime off her body. Without taking the time to dry, she strode toward the bedroom.

As she stood in the doorway, Shae felt the warm breeze pass from window to window through the prison cell of an apartment
. The bedroom looked no less forlorn than the other rooms. Cobwebs fuzzed the angle formed by one bed leg and the frame. A washstand with a chipped bowl stood empty not far from the door, and beside it towered a tall wardrobe, which had inexplicably been painted a dim blue. Now that error of judgment had peeled and bubbled, perhaps with this past summer’s heat.

Besides the dilapidated wardrobe, the only measure of brightness in the bedroom was the quilt on the old bed
. Its cheerful pattern drew Shae nearer, made her lean over it to take in the blue and red triangles that seemed to tumble across a three-dimensional field of artfully puffed white. Someone’s grandmother had sewn this, Shae imagined as she fingered careful stitching. Someone must have loved it once. Whatever young woman Ethan had last kept here must have left in a terrible hurry, to abandon such a lovely piece of work.

Nausea roiled in her stomach as Shae thought of Ethan sweeping aside this same quilt to take her on this bed
. How many other women had he soiled in this place?

Hurriedly, she crossed the floor to the blue wardrobe and flung open the doors
. As Ethan had predicted, several dresses hung inside. She rooted through a box and found some underthings as well. Though the apparel looked too large, she thought she’d just as well make do as pull on her soiled garments. Or worse yet, let Ethan catch her naked.

She shuddered, then donned the clothes as quickly as possible
. She had no intention of being here when he returned. The underclothing posed no problem she could not correct by adjusting ties and lacings, but the pale beige summer dress hung loose as a slack sail. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror inside the wardrobe door, Shae decided she looked like a child playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes. Even the lace neckline hung limp at her chest.

The metallic scraping of a key in the front door reminded her of a far more pressing worry
. Ethan had returne
d
and all too soon!

Shae grabbed an old shoe from the bottom of the wardrobe and wedged it beneath the closed bedroom door. Glancing at her own shoes, she decided not to even take the time to put them on
. Instead, she rushed to the bedroom window and tried to force it farther open. Like everything else about this damnable apartment, the window sash was in poor repair. The window stuck tight; only about six inches of open space remaine
d
far short of what she needed to escape. Outside, she could see the empty street and the sand dunes beyond it. Below her loomed a drop of perhaps twenty feet to the hard-packed sand where Delilah and the phaeton had been earlier.

She wondered if she could jump from the window without further injuring herself
. A broken ankle or arm seemed all too possible. A broken neck was not out of the question.

Outside the bedroom, the front lock turned with a rusty clacking
. The door creaked, and she made her decision. She would risk the fall.

“Shae
? I paid a boy to take back the carriag
e
and no tales. I decided the champagne could wait for now.” Ethan’s voice was jovial. No doubt he thought she was happily preparing herself to be deflowered.

Her knees nearly unhinged at the thought of what he’d do.

“I’m trying to find a dress that I can wear,” she called, stalling for more time. “I won’t be long.”

His laughter raised the fine hairs on her arms
. “Why bother?” he asked. “You won’t be in it but a minute. Then I’ll buy you the finest dresses this city has to offer.”

Shae put her right shoulder beneath the open window and used her knees along with both hands to push up
. With bruising pressure, the window squealed two inches higher before sticking fast.

The bedroom doorknob rattled.

“Shae? What are you doing?”

“I just need a little air
. It’s so hot in here.” The words sounded weak and false, even to her ears.

She struggled to get more leverage against the stubborn window, then looked around for something she might use to break it out
. Beside her, Jasper whined insistently.

With a crash the bedroom door flew open
. Ethan’s face shone red with fury, reminding her of King.

“What in God’s name are you doing?” he demanded.

Shaking from head to toe, Shae forced herself to stand straight, to look him in the eye.

“I’m leaving
. I’ve made a terrible mistake. I came to you for help, and it’s obvious that I won’t find it here.”

Ethan’s handsome features twisted into ugliness
. “You little slut! I’m through playing pretty games. You’re no better than that whoring mother of yours, yet you taunt me like a scheming debutante. I wanted you enough to marry you,
you
, a filthy immigrant’s child, but were you grateful? Even after you humiliated me, I offered to keep you, and now you have the nerve to say you’ve changed your mind?”

She shrieked as he strode toward her, but the bed blocked her escape
. In an instant, he grabbed her by the hair and flung her to the quilt. Straddling her with both knees, he tried to pin her by the shoulders. Jasper barked ferociously, then yelped.

Heart hammering with terror, Shae flailed her arms at her attacker
. Her first blows bounced harmlessly off Ethan’s chest, so she clawed at his eyes until he howled with pain. As he brought his hands up to protect his eyes, the heel of Shae’s hand caught his nose. She felt a crunching, and his blood erupted instantly to spatter her tan dress.

“You bitch!” Ethan wailed as he toppled off the bed.

At the front door, Shae heard someone pounding. Ignoring the sound, Ethan stood and leapt at her. But by this time, Shae had darted off the bed and was racing toward the front door and the hope of safety.

She had nearly reached it when he tackled her
. Shae slammed to the bare floor and grunted as the impact of Ethan’s body atop hers forced the air out of her lungs.