The Reinvention Of Rudd Carter. A Western Action Adventure Novel (7 page)

Dismounting, he tied the horses to a tree and helped ease her down from her saddle. When her feet touched the ground, he put his arms around her. He brushed her ear and cheek with his lips, and then his mouth met hers. She responded with a deep sigh.

“I’ve wanted to bring you to this place for weeks, but until last night, I wasn’t sure how you would react.”

“I love it,” she said, reaching up and placing her hands on each side of his face, kissing his lips again and again. “Dearest Rudd, please know that I am yours. I would follow you anywhere, go anywhere, do anything with you.”

“I feel exactly the same. This is our paradise, ours to share alone.” He retrieved a blanket from his horse, and together they spread it on the ground. Then he took her by the hand and led her to the edge of the lake where they stood together transfixed in the moment.

Reaching down, Elizabeth touched the water. “It’s quite warm. Warm enough to swim,” she said.

“I know. I swim here every summer. I have for years.”

“Alone, I hope?” she teased.

“Of course. You’re the first girl I’ve brought here.” He laughed feeling light-hearted and happy. Carefree and high-spirited, she wasn’t like anyone he had ever known.

Taking his hand, she said, “I’d like to wade in the shallow part of the lake before we eat. Do you mind?”

Removing their riding boots and stockings, they rolled their riding breeches up to their knees, held hands, and walked into the lake. For a few minutes, they moved around in the water, enjoying the warmth on their feet and ankles. Suddenly, they were in each other’s arms, locked in a deep embrace. The warm water helped enhance feelings that Rudd had never experienced before. Elizabeth responded by pushing herself against him. They stood molded against each other, undulating slowly in a primal dance, neither one apparently wanting to break the passion surging between them. Abruptly, Rudd stepped back, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to go this far. I love you, but I want you to know that I respect you. Please don’t be angry with me. I’ll be more careful in the future. I apologize.”

“I’m not angry about anything,” she said breathlessly, “but I am disappointed that what we were doing ended so quickly. And please,” she teased, “in the future, dear Rudd, don’t try to be so careful with me!” She laughed, stepped forward, and hugged him. “I have never felt anything so intense in my whole life as having your body pressed so close to mine. I can’t wait to experience it again, so don’t be so careful.” Giggling, she said, “But now I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

They sat on the blanket and tried to eat their lunch, but neither had much of an appetite for food. Rudd, in a pensive mood, though responsive to Elizabeth’s lips softly probing his ears, and her fingers stroking the inside of his wrists and hands, knew this afternoon had opened a door that neither of them could resist for very long. Overwhelmed with longing, his strong desire for her frightened him.

When they rode back to the stables and dismounted, she embraced him and whispered, “I love you more than you could ever imagine. I want to return to our lake and swim with you tomorrow.”

He started to speak, but she put her finger to his mouth. “Don’t. I know how much you want to be there with me.” She laughed in that delightful way, kissed him on the cheek, and walked away. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring proper swimming attire.”

The next day they stayed indoors because of rainy weather. They contented themselves with secret glances and stolen touches. When at dinner with their parents, they played the part of two cousins who were enjoying their time together. All the while, their families were pleased that the two of them were getting along so well.

Finally the weather broke, making it possible for them to ride once again to their lake.

Meeting at the stables early in the morning for the first time in two days, Elizabeth greeted Rudd with a kiss on the cheek. “At last we’re alone together again. I’ve been going crazy not being able to touch you or tell you I love you.”

They rode into the forest, occasionally reaching across to touch one another. When they came to the clearing by the lake, she quickly dismounted and tied her horse. “I’ll help you set up lunch later if you’ll swim with me now.”

He came to her and put his arms around her. “I’d be more than delighted to swim with you whenever you want. If you want to swim now, let’s swim. First, help me spread the blanket, all right?”

She ran to her horse, retrieved the blanket from the saddlebag, and they spread it on the ground.

He could see that she was happy, and that heightened his desire. Now that they were unaccompanied in their own paradise, his fears and trepidations that had escalated over the last three days disappeared.

“Dear, will you go to the water’s edge and turn your back to me while I change into my swimming attire?” she asked.

Laughing, he walked to the edge of the lake and turned his back.

“Rudd,” she called, “I want you to know that I wouldn’t be here with you if I didn’t love you more than anything in the world.” In the next instant, he felt her lips on the back of his neck, her arms reaching around him. She giggled. “Don’t look, not yet.” She placed her hands over his eyes. “Just turn around slowly while I slip into the water, then you can get ready to join me.” He turned and heard the splash as she entered the water uttering a bubbly laugh.

He quickly stripped down to his under drawers. In the past, he always swam in the nude since he was either alone or with male friends. He walked toward her wearing only the drawers.

“That’s not swimming attire,” she said, teasingly. “Come in here, and I’ll show you what is.”

He ran, jumped into the water, and swam to her.

She pulled him against her, and to his shock and thrill, he felt her nakedness. She was naked for him! As their bodies touched, she said, “I want to feel you.” She tugged down on his drawers, and he removed them. They kissed long and passionately, and he ground against her. She took his hands and placed them on her breasts. “I want to feel your hands on me,” she said breathlessly, and then she reached below the water.

He carried her to the shore and laid her on the blanket. He straddled her and eagerly drank in her body with hungry eyes. “My god, Elizabeth, you’re so beautiful,” he said, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

“My body is for you only, my love,” she promised, her chest heaving from passion.

He moved over her and lowered himself. He heard her gasp, and a guilty pang ran through him as he realized he had just taken her maidenhood. In seconds, she relaxed, and they moved into the rhythm of first love. The two of them discovered each other and reached bliss as they became lovers that afternoon in their very own paradise.

Every day before Elizabeth’s departure, weather permitting, they returned to the lake to swim and make love.

Lying in each other’s arms after swimming on their last day before her departure, Elizabeth began to weep.

He gazed at her for a moment and then kissed her shoulder.

She snuggled closer to him. “This is almost over. In two days, I’ll be going back to Canada. I won’t be able to feel you with me, as part of me, as we have been since that first day. I love you and will never love another as I love you now. You will always be in my heart. I can’t bear the thought of not seeing you every day.”

Tears flowed down her cheeks. Rudd held her strongly and kissed her salty tears. He, too, began to cry as they lay entwined in each other’s arms.

“This is not the end for us,” he promised. “We’ll be together again. You are burned into my soul. You will always be with me. No one will ever be as close to me as you are. Next summer we’ll share this again, I promise.”

The next day it rained. Early the day after, Elizabeth and her parents departed, but not until Rudd and Elizabeth stole a moment alone to declare their love for one another and promise to write every week.

For months, they exchanged letters weekly, and then one week, the letters stopped. Returning from his morning ride, Lady Carter met him at the door of his room. Her eyes were red from crying. She put her arms around him and kissed him. “Your father wants to talk to you. Please know that I love you, son. Be a man, be brave.”

Not knowing what to expect, Rudd entered his father’s study to find him pacing back and forth behind his desk with an open letter in his left hand. Lord Carter stopped, regarded him with an angry glare, and directed him to a chair. Rudd could see that his father was in a terrible mood.

Lord Carter sat down at his desk, brushed his graying hair from his eyes and spoke. “This morning I received this letter from your uncle informing me that your cousin Elizabeth is with child, and she has admitted that you are the father. Is this true?”

Shocked and stunned, Rudd felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. Instead of shame, all he could think of was Elizabeth’s plight.

“How is… Elizabeth? Is she well?” he stammered.

His father stood and pounded on his desk. “‘How is Elizabeth?’” he yelled. “‘How is Elizabeth?’ Do you know what you have done? You have possibly created the biggest scandal this family has ever known, and all you can ask is, ‘how is Elizabeth?’”

“I love her—she is everything to me,” Rudd said, locking eyes with his father. “I want to be with her for the rest of my life. I know she feels the same about me.”

“Rudd, you can’t be serious. She is your first cousin,” he growled. Your first cousin and only sixteen!” His voice rose in anger. “Do you understand? You don’t diddle your sixteen-year-old cousin, and you most assuredly do not conceive a child with her! What were the two of you thinking? As for spending the rest of your life with her, you will never see her again. Do you understand the position you have put this family in?”

Rudd dropped his head into his hands, weeping as his father continued his tirade. “You and Elizabeth were being groomed for a wonderful life. The two of you were being prepared to marry into families of title and social position to advance our political and social aims.” Lord Carter paced for a moment and then stopped in front of Rudd with his hands clasped behind him. “Until you created this mess, you were going to enter Cambridge next fall and hopefully follow in my footsteps.” He stood silently for a moment, regarding his son coldly. “I am a member of the House of Lords, and I like to think that someday I could become Prime Minister… but after this, I don’t know.”

Returning to his desk, Lord Carter sat down and began to read silently from a sheet of paper. Looking up, he said in a controlled tone, “For this irresponsible act, I’m going to send you out of the country. My cousin Roger is first vice president of our bank in Hong Kong. It would be beneficial for all concerned if we sent you out there for a few years to learn the banking business, at least until things are more settled here.”

Rudd stared at his father. “What is to happen to Elizabeth, Father? What will they do with her?”

“What happens to her is not my concern,” his father snapped. “I’m certain that her family will take care of this situation properly, as we will.” Becoming silent, Lord Carter stood glaring at his son.

Rudd realized that the concern he expressed for Elizabeth’s well-being angered his father greatly, causing him to glare back defiantly.

“You may be excused,” Lord Carter said coldly. “I do not wish to see you at the dinner table tonight. I know that I don’t have to tell you not to speak to another soul about this. I want you in this room tomorrow at two in the afternoon.” Turning his back on Rudd, he finalized by saying, “Think long and hard about the situation you have created for this family.”

Rudd spent the rest of the day and night in his room thinking about Elizabeth. He could feel her touch, her body against his, the scent of her all around him. When he could bear it no longer, he wept quietly for minutes on end. Remembering her teasing whisper, he would break into tears again. She was his whole life, and the families were not going to allow them to be together. Why? Because it wasn’t politically and socially convenient for their families, even though it was legal for first cousins to marry? Especially not cousins their age. They were supposed to play games and have picnics with the family, not ride off into the forest and make love day after day. Most assuredly, cousins did not fall in love with each other and have a baby. Nevertheless, he ached for her and resolved to be with her again someday, somehow.

The next morning, Rudd awoke feeling rebellious and determined instead of remorseful and full of the sorrow he had gone to sleep with. He would welcome going abroad. He would welcome the opportunity to break away from his father’s on going effort to package him as if he were some kind of commodity being developed for the benefit of his family’s political ambitions. He would find Elizabeth and create a life for them under his own terms.

That afternoon, he entered his father’s study to find both his parents waiting for him. Lord Carter motioned for him to sit down. Rudd chose to stand.

“Very well, if you prefer to take what I have to say standing up, then I admire your grit,” his father said, “but before I continue, your mother has something to say to you. Margaret?”

Lady Carter moved close to her son, placing the palm of her hand against his cheek as she often did when she expressed affection for him. He visibly relaxed under her touch.

“Yesterday, you showed much concern for Elizabeth, and I am moved by that, for I know you must love her deeply. I can honestly say that I do not know what will happen to her, but I imagine she will live with relatives in another province in Canada until the baby is born. Then she will be placed in a religious girls’ school until she is eighteen. Don’t worry, she will be well taken care of by her family, but the two of you must not communicate with each other,” she cautioned.

His eyes moistened. “Father, Mother, I want to apologize for any scandal I have caused. I am ready to accept any decision you make regarding my future. If you want to send me to Hong Kong, then to Hong Kong I shall go.”

As he listened to his son’s apology, his father’s face softened. “I must admit, I’m very impressed with your attitude, taking your medicine like a man. This situation will pass in time, and if all goes well, in a few years you’ll be able to return as if nothing had happened.” He gave Rudd a more compassionate look. “It will take a week or two for me to make arrangements for your passage to Hong Kong. In the meantime, you may return to your normal everyday activities until you depart. Make no attempt to write to Elizabeth, as your letters will be intercepted, and it will appear to my brother that I have made no effort to discipline you for your part in this mess. You may go now.”