Romancing the Rogue (152 page)

Carolina could not get back to the big house fast enough.

And, she had no desire to embarrass herself by casting up her accounts in the grass.

Which is exactly what would happen if she didn't get inside and find a chamberpot quickly.

He was working here?

That couldn't be. She could accept that he was visiting, but not working here.

Mother already held him in disdain. Now she'd have no reason to treat him better, and everyone on the plantation knew how she treated those she didn't like.

Bile rose in her throat, and her shaky hands poured the water from the floral pitcher in her room into the matching basin. She splashed water on her flushed face.
Why?
Why had he come here seeking work? Did he truly need it or was this an attempt to become better acquainted with her?

She wrung her hands together and shook her head. No, that didn't make any sense. Father was so tight with his money he wouldn't willingly pay anyone for what the hands could do without a good reason
—
and likely some convincing from Gabriel. Besides, he'd seemed just as surprised to see her here as she was to see him. Which presented the question: how did he and Gabriel know each other?

Not that it mattered. None of it really mattered except that he was here now, and she'd have to convince him he didn't have to work here in order to win her favor.

The thought dissolved in an instant, aided by Mother's ear-piercing shriek.

Carolina flew out of her room and down the oak staircase.

“This is still my home, and this bounder will not be sharing it,” Mother said with enough venom to rival a rattlesnake.

Carolina peeked around the corner to see what was going on in the room, because just hearing it didn't seem adequate.

“It's good to see you, too, Mother,” Gabriel said, folding his arms across his chest.

“Don't lie to me,” Mother snapped. “If you truly had an interest in seeing me, you'd have at least had the courtesy to come see me during your stay in Charleston. But I guess even that would have been an imposition on a son who's been away from his family for seven years.”

“As if you'd have wanted me to ruin your plans for an afternoon.”

“Of course not,” Mother said airily. “But you could have sent a note and arranged a time to come visit me when I had nothing planned.”

Gabriel stared at her; a muscle in his jaw ticking. It was no secret that Gabriel's feelings toward Mother rivaled Carolina's. In fact, it would seem that no one who bore the Ellis surname held Mother in any esteem. Instead, their love and respect went to Bethel. She'd always been the one who'd cleaned a scraped knee and kissed a wound. She'd offered the love and motherly affection her real mother had denied her and Gabriel. Given the choice between the two, she'd choose Bethel, and she was certain Gabriel would, too.

“Your disdain for your own mother is not what we're discussing. Your utter disrespect for your family by bringing a filthy wanderer here is,” Mother said.

“I don't see what the problem is,” Father intoned. “And I certainly don't see how his presence is a disrespect to this family.”

Mother pursed her lips. “I will not be made a mockery of, Calvin. If we are in need of more field hands, I'll go to the auction next month and find one. But
he—
” she said, pointing an accusing finger at John
—
“
will not be staying on my plantation.”

Father's gray eyes narrowed. “I have no idea why you have such a strong dislike for the man—”

Carolina bit her lip so not to give herself away by blurting out the answer to that.

“—but he is staying. This is still my plantation, Hazel, and I will run it how I see fit.”

Mother sucked in a sharp breath and stomped from the room.

Carolina ducked into the dining room to avoid her mother's gaze. Then, when she was certain Mother had passed, she stepped into the parlor.

“Good afternoon again, fellows,” she greeted with a bright smile, lingering for a few seconds in John's direction.

Was it her or had his cheeks just turned a bit pink?

“Come sit, Lina,” Father invited.

“I need to go repair the eastern fence,” John said abruptly.

Carolina frowned. Did he not wish to be in her presence in front of her family? Surely, he wasn't embarrassed for her family to know of the feelings they shared for one another. His fidgeting and red face suggested otherwise. “You don't have to leave,” she whispered to him.

“Yes, I do.” He cleared his throat. “I'm not being paid to sit in the parlor for afternoon tea.”

“Just so,” Father agreed. “Those fences need mending before dinnertime if you want to earn your wages; so you boys need to get after it while Lina tells me all about her favorite suitor from Charleston.”

A sound akin to a strangled grunt erupted from John's throat.

“Yes, well, we'll be out repairing that fence,” Gabriel said, clapping John on the shoulder then casting a quick wink in Carolina's direction.

She blushed. He knew! Exactly what he knew, she had yet to determine, but he most certainly knew
something
. She'd have to ask him later, right after she asked why he stayed away for so long.

“Lina, what do you think of Mr. Banks?”

Carolina's face burned, and she couldn't meet her father's eyes. “I like him well enough.”

Father chuckled. “I'm a cripple, Lina, not blind.”

“I know,” Carolina said, taking a seat on the green settee he had invited her to sit on earlier. “You don't think less of him because he's in your employ, do you?” She had to ask. She had to know. She might not care about her mother's opinion of her choice in suitors, but she did care about her father's.

“That's only temporary.” The softness in his tone and the gentleness she glimpsed in his gray eyes gave her pause. There was something he wasn't saying, but what?

“Do you not think it's temporary?”

He twisted his lips and turned his head to the side a fraction. “No. I'm fairly certain that it's temporary. When he arrived the other day, he explained that he needed only enough funds for passage back to England.”

Carolina's heart sped up. England. She'd never been to England. It was thousands of miles away. She'd never see her family again if they went there. Not that she minded his desire to return to his homeland, but she wouldn't deny she was a bit displeased he hadn't seen fit to ask her opinion on where they'd live.

“Well, I suppose it's not the literal end of the world,” Carolina said a moment later.

Father blinked at her. “What's that?”

“Moving to England.”

“Moving to England,” he repeated slowly.

“After we marry.”

“Marry? That boy asked you to marry him?” Father asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the window.

“Well, no,” she said cautiously. It had been a long time since she'd seen her father's face quite so dark, she thought as she chose her next words with extra care. “But he will.”

Father stared at her for a minute. A long minute. “I'm not sure I want to know the answer to this, but I feel compelled to ask: have the two of you done something to ensure that there will be a marriage?”

Carolina stared at her father, dumbfounded; then blinked; then shrieked in surprise. “No! Nothing of the sort,” she rushed to assure him. “See, we met at the Brown's annual ball
—
where he stole everyone's attention by coming dressed as a 'defeated Englishman'
—
and we danced. Then he stuck by my side until he was ready to leave,” never mind that his departure that night was a result of Mother driving him off, “then the next day, we spent part of the afternoon together.”

“You did?”

“As a matter of speaking, yes.”

He sighed. “Lina, I don't intend to upset you, but talking to the man on two occasions does not mean he plans to ask you to marry him. You're an intelligent girl; you should know that.”

Carolina sucked in a harsh breath. “When stated that way, it does sound ridiculous. But I'm not wrong.” She cleared her throat. “You have to believe me. In those first moments we spoke
—
I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That he'd be my husband,” she said easily. “And if that is not enough to convince you. We ran into each other the next day, and now he's working here. See, it's fate's plan that we're to marry.”

“And does he know of fate's destiny for his life?”

He should. It seemed pretty obvious, it should be to him, too. “I think so, yes.”

Father looked doubtful. “Then perhaps you'd do well to remind him.”

“John?”

The muscles in John's arm tensed. Slowly, he turned his head around to meet Carolina's soft brown eyes. “Yesh?” he asked around the two nails he was holding between his teeth.

“I was hoping to talk to you.”

He turned his attention back to the fence post and board in front of him, then took one of the nails from between his teeth and put it into position. “It'll have to wait,” he said, driving a nail into the board he was holding.

She didn't leave. “Why can't we talk now?”

Why did she always ask him questions when he was working? Wait. He knew the answer to that. Because, other than the night of the ball, that was the only time she'd ever seen him. He took the other nail from his lips. “How about if we talk later?” he suggested.

“No,” she said, stepping closer to him. “I need to talk to you now. It's important.”

He cast her a sidelong glance. What could she possibly have to say to him that was that important? He shook off the thought. Females, he'd learned, thought
everything
was of the utmost importance. He lifted the nail to the board and tightened his grip on his hammer, ready to swing. “And you're sure it cannot wait until a more opportune time?”

She shook her head so vehemently that two tendrils of her curly hair came loose. “It's about our wedding,” she said just as he gave his hammer a hearty swing.

John's hammer collided with his nail.

Unfortunately, not the metal one that would attach the two boards; no, his hammer hit
his
nail, his thumbnail to be exact.

“Confound it all!”
he burst out, tucking his thumb against his palm and curling his fingers around it.

“Are you all right?” she asked, her small hands reaching for his.

He pulled his hand away. “I'm fine,” he replied, but only if fine meant being in severe pain from hitting oneself with two pounds of solid metal.

She didn't seem a bit put off by his reaction and reached for his hand again. “Let me see.”

“No,” he bit off. “I think you've done enough.”

“I don't recall hitting you with the hammer.”

“You might as well have,” he muttered to himself, squeezing his thumb as tightly as he could.

“What's that to mean?”

He gritted his teeth. “Nothing; just go, so I can get back to work.”

“But I need to talk to you.”

He stared at her and suddenly the discomfort in his thumb was quickly being replaced with another sort of discomfort, the one that had caused him to hit himself with the hammer in the first place.

“When did you plan to return to England?”

“As soon as possible.”

Her cheeks grew pink, and the smile that spread her lips was enough to make a man's heart stop. “Well, not too soon. Weddings take time to plan, don't you know?”

There she went again talking about a wedding. “What wedding?” he burst out, his stomach knotting in anticipation of her answer.

“Ours.”

“Yes, I heard that the first time.” He sighed and leaned back against the fence post. “Carolina,” he started. For some reason he couldn't name or place, he preferred to use her full name. And it had nothing to do with her preferring it; at least, that's what he told himself. “I don't know what I might have said or done to make you think there would be a wedding taking place where I would be your bridegroom, but I'm returning to England
—
alone
—
as soon as I earn enough for my passage.” To be quite blunt, she'd have better luck waiting for her mother to grow a heart than for him to exchange vows with her.

It wasn't that he didn't like her; he did, well, in a way. She was as annoying as his older brothers used to claim him to be. But still, there was something about her... Something fresh and unique; something intriguing and intoxicating; something he didn't want
—
nay, didn't
need
—
to discover.

“Mmmmhmmm,” she hummed in a sing-song tone, stealing his attention. “That's what I thought.”

He scowled. “What's what you thought?”

She gave a sigh worthy of an actress who'd spent her whole life on Drury Lane. “Your pride and your heart are at war, John.”

He knit his brow. What was she talking about? Nonsense, if he had to describe it. “Listen to me, please. I have no intention of marrying you.”

She looked unmoved.

Praying she wouldn't ask him to elaborate further than what he planned to tell her, he said, “Carolina, for the majority of my life, I've been practicing what my brother Edward calls near honesty and haven't knowingly told a lie for nearly ten years.”

She grinned at him. “See, you haven't
knowingly
told a lie, which is why you're lying to me now; you just don't know it's a lie.”

John groaned. “No. I'm not. Carolina, we're from two entirely different worlds. We cannot marry.”

“That doesn't matter. Just put aside your pride about accepting work from my father and then we'll get married.”

John's jaw dropped. “What, pray tell, has transpired between us in the last four days that has made you certain I planned to ask you to marry me?” he asked, matching her blunt tone.

She shrugged. “It's your eyes.”

“Pardon? My eyes?” he asked, blinking.

“They told me so,” she said simply.

“I wasn't aware eyes could speak.”

“Normally, they don't. But yours do.” She grinned at the blank look he must have on his face. “See, I'm not one who puts a lot of credit in someone's words. To me, their facial expressions
—
including eyes
—
say far more. It's a gift, really. And your eyes, John Banks, say you want to marry me.”

“Really? And why have I never before heard of this—this—” he made a rolling gesture with his hand in hopes he'd think of
a better word than preposterous.
“
—
unusual phenomenon of my eyes telling a young lady of my feelings for her?”

“Because you've never been in love before,” she said matter-of-factly.

John took a deep breath and closed his eyes, lest they tell her of the annoyance he felt toward her at the moment. He pinched the bridge of his nose then rubbed his closed eyelids. He hated the thought of saying something cruel to her; she might be an annoyance, but she didn't deserve cruelty. Unfortunately, he didn't know how he could explain what he was thinking without being cruel. “Carolina,” he said uneasily, forcing himself to meet her eyes again. “I think you're a fine young lady, but I'm not ready to get married.”

“That's all right,” she said airily. “Mother would never agree to a short engagement anyway.”

“No, your mother doesn't seem the sort who would agree to
any
engagement between the two of us.” He sighed. “But that's not the point.” Swallowing hard, he took her hands in his. “Do you remember when you told Mr. Cale you'd make a fine wife for someone, just not him? The same could be said for me.”

She recoiled as if he'd slapped her.

His eyes widened. “Wait, that's not how I meant it,” he said with a ragged breath. “I think you'll be a wonderful wife, but I'm not the husband you need. You need someone who—” He racked his brain for a positive adjective that didn't fit him, but couldn't be considered an insult to her—sadly, no such adjective came to mind. He sighed in frustration at his lack of finding the right words. Her brown eyes were still penetrating his and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Right now you think you're attracted to me because I'm somewhat of a curiosity. But that will pass. In a week or two, you'll wake up and realize that I was nothing more to you than a passing fascination.”

She didn't respond, and that bothered him more than if she had. The workings of her mind were a puzzle he doubted even Edward could solve. He nearly snorted. That wasn't much of a stretch. Edward had the hardest time determining his own wife's feelings and desires. In fact, it was John who had to help him. But, as easy as it was to recognize what did and didn't interest Regina, where Carolina was concerned, he was at a loss. The only thing he knew for certain was that while she was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on, she was also the most willful and brazen. How fortunate for him she had somehow taken into that unusual mind of hers the notion that one day, presumably in the not-so-distant future, they would be wed.

Her hands squeezed his a fraction tighter. “Very well. I'll let you get back to that fence.”

Then, before he could have a chance to question her motives and talk her out of trying anything foolish, she fled.