Anna: Bride of Alabama (American Mail-Order Bride 22) (5 page)

Ten minutes later, Gabriel laughed. “That girl.” He looked to Anna. “I think we’ve be abandoned.”

Anna lifted her napkin and dabbed at her mouth. “What do you mean?”

He took a sip from his cup and shook his head. “If I had to guess, I’d say Julia was in the kitchen, eating her fill of sweet tarts and talking Ruth and Franklins ears off while hoping our being alone together will make me change my mind about your position here.”

Anna glanced at her plate. “And you still don’t want to do that?”

Her question was difficult to ask if the look on her face was any indication. She was still staring at her plate, her hands clasped in her lap. She’d traveled a long to marry him but why exactly had she agreed? Was it out of necessity or did she genuinely want a husband?

A commotion in the hall caught them both off guard and Gabriel looked to the door as the last person he wanted to see entered in a rustle of bright pink silk, followed by her brother.

Gabriel stood as they entered the room fully. “Francesca,” he said, stepping away from the table to greet them. “Nathaniel. What a surprise.”

“Its been forever, Gabriel.” Francesca crossed the room and leaned in, kissing him on the cheek, her gaze directed at Anna. “Father told me he saw Franklin in town today and that he had a lady with him so I just had to come see.” She turned fully to Anna and smiled. “This must be her.”

Gabriel glanced toward the door. Ruth was there, her face blistering red. If he had to guess, he’d say Francesca didn’t wait for an invite to come inside. The woman was brash and always had been.

“Anna, Francesca Grant and her brother, Nathaniel. This is Anna Davis, Julia’s new governess.”

“A governess?” Francesca made a clicking sound with her tongue and shook her head. “You should have called upon me, Gabriel. I’m more than capable of teaching your darling Julia all she needs to know.”

“I should have but I know how busy you are.”

Francesca smiled in a way he knew was meant to seem pleasant but wasn’t. He’d known her long enough to know the woman saw every other female as competition in some way and Anna was no different. He could only imagine the conversation when Francesca’s father told her he’d seen Franklin in town escorting Anna to Laurel Haven.

Francesca had made it no secret she’d like to be the new lady of the house and he’d told her on more than one occasion he was in no hurry to marry. With Anna being here, he supposed Francesca may have thought he’d taken a bride that wasn’t her. If Julia had had her way, he would have.

The moment he thought of his daughter, she came back into the room. She wasn’t any more pleased to see Francesca than Ruth was. Her cheeks were red and fire shined in her eyes. “Its a bit late for a social call, isn’t it?”

Never one to watch what she said, Gabriel shot Julia a look that stilled whatever she was about to say next. She stopped by Anna’s chair, her gaze locked on Francesca.

“We were about to have some dessert,” Gabriel said. “Would you like to join us?”

“Oh, I’d love to but I’m due for a fitting tomorrow and I can’t ruin my figure not even for one of Ruth’s delicious desserts. We only stopped by to invite you to Winter Place. Grandmother is hosting a summer party. Its going to be the event of the season. You must come. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Attending a party was the last thing he wanted but refusing would be more painful. He smiled and gave her a small nod of his head. “We’d be delighted to attend.”

“Marvelous!”

She dug into her bag and pulled out an invitation with all the details on it. Gabriel glanced at it briefly before laying it on the table. “Well, let me see you out.”

Francesca laughed and hooked her arm through his before turning her head in Anna’s direction. “How very sweet of you, Gabriel. Everyone knows how desperately you love to get me alone.”

Chapter Five

Anna listened to Julia complain about Francesca until the girl had worn herself out. Gabriel hadn’t come back from seeing the woman and her brother to the door and the fact he hadn’t left Julia in hysterics. Anna took her by the arm and walked her to her room, trying to reassure her that her father not returning didn’t mean anything. He could have just been engaged in conversation and couldn’t get away. Julia didn’t believe her explanation at all. To be honest, neither did she.

Perhaps Julia had been right about Francesca and her father. Gabriel hadn’t wanted to marry her so maybe there was a bit of truth in Julia’s wild assumptions about them and he just didn’t want his daughter to know because she doesn’t like Francesca. Whatever was going on would happen regardless of Julia’s interference, or hers.

Anna closed the door to her room. Fatigue had stolen most of her sympathy toward Julia and she’d have to make up for it the following day. At the moment, the only thing she could think about was that big, soft bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.

Crossing the room, she undressed down to her shift and unpinned her hair, leaving the mass of curls to fall down her back. Brushing out the tangles she walked around the room, trying to clear her mind of all that had happened since stepping off the train. She stopped beside the fireplace, staring at the porcelain figurines on the mantel.

She’d traveled nearly the entire length of the east coast to meet her new family and she has nothing more now than she did when she left Massachusetts. No husband, no daughter and no chance of future children. She’d given all of that away for a large room in a beautiful home that would never be hers.

Sighing, she turned and leaned against the wall. Was the trade-off worth it? Was living in Gabriel’s home but not having him worth it?

The wall behind her creaked and Anna felt herself falling before she could figure out what was happening. One moment she was in her room, the next she was flat on the floor looking up at Gabriel.

“My God, are you all right?” Gabriel reached down to help her up, his strong arms lifting her as if she weighed nothing at all.

Anna blinked and tried to get her bearings. She looked toward the wall. A small section of it was turned and she could see into her room. “A hidden door?”

“Yes. The rooms are adjoining.”

Anna didn’t know how long the house had been standing but there were still married couples who didn’t share a room. She imaged the former occupants of the house using that door to meet with whoever slept on the other side of the wall, be it a spouse or guest.

It took several minutes before Anna realized just how close Gabriel still held her. His hands still gripped her upper arms and he stood so close she could smell the soap on his skin from where he’d washed. A glance up at him and her neck and face heated. He was naked from the waist up, his muscled chest lightly covered in dark hair. She should have pulled away but found she didn’t want to. She’d wanted nothing more than to know this man since she first saw him on the train. Being in his house as a guest was fine for now but she knew it wouldn’t satisfy her for long. She’d want more.

Gabriel raised his hand and pushed a stray curl behind her ear. “You’re trembling.”

She smiled to try and cover her nervousness. “I’ve never been alone with a half-naked man before.”

“Well, had Julia had her way, this would have been our wedding night and you’d be seeing a whole lot more of me than this.”

She blushed so hard she knew her face was bright red. Gabriel laughed and let go of her, crossing the room to pick up a shirt. Anna watched him dress, the muscles in his back moving underneath skin tanned from the sun. He was beautifully made and he should have been hers.

When he was decent, he turned back to face her. “How much trouble was Julia after Francesca and Nathaniel left?”

“She was quite furious so I let her vent then saw her off to bed.”

Gabriel kept his distance and sat on the edge of his bed. Seeing him there didn’t help distract her thoughts. If anything, it caused them to run wild with visions of them there. It was their wedding night, after all.

 She cleared her throat and turned back to the hidden door separating their room. “I’ll leave you to finish getting ready for bed.” She was in-between their rooms when he called out to her.

“Will you attend the party at Winter Place with Julia and I?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “Would that be appropriate?”

“You’re a guest in my home. Its my place to decide what's appropriate and what isn’t. Besides, Julia will want to go and I don’t trust her to stay out of trouble given her dislike of Francesca.”

Anna smiled but she felt no joy. He wanted her to tag along to watch over his daughter, nothing more. She nodded her head and said, “I’d be happy to watch her for you. That’s why I’m here.”

She entered her room and pushed on the door, surprised to find it slid easily back into place. She stood staring at the panel, one palm flat against the cool wallpaper.

Could she make Gabriel love her? She knew so little about the affairs of the heart. How did she make Gabriel fall in love with her when he was so set against another marriage? And was she really willing to risk her own broken heart for a chance at love?

* * * *

Gabrielle laid a hand against the wall, willing himself not to push the hidden door open and follow Anna into her room. He was starting to believe James was right. That he was a fool for not taking Anna up on her offer of marriage, regardless of his feelings about it.

It had only been a day and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wasn’t sure why he thought he could. He’d spent the entirety of the train ride from South Carolina watching her. Memorizing the way the curls at the nape of her neck brushed against her skin. How she blushed when she looked back at him and caught him staring at her.

If she were the type of women to bed a man whether she were married or not, this little arrangement they had would be the closest thing to heaven he could imagine. He’d have her in every way a man could and not be tied down to any sort of rules but he knew without asking she wasn’t that type of woman. She didn’t look as if she were willing to be a man’s mistress.

He turned, pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the chair next to the fireplace. Anna finding him in nothing but his trousers had taken them both by surprise. One moment he was undressing, trying to figure out a way to make the profits higher, the next, an angel fell at his feet wearing nothing but a thin shift he could see clean through and chestnut locks that tumbled down her back in curls he wanted to sink his fingers in.

What he wouldn’t give to have slipped that shift off her shoulders and kissed every inch of exposed skin he could find.

He passed the bed and opened the double doors to the balcony. The summer heat was made bearable by a breeze blowing in from the river. The trees had grown so tall he couldn’t see it from his room now but he knew it was there. It had been ages since he’d sat on the banks. The last time being when Evelyn was still part of their family and Julia was learning how to swim.

The moon was bright, its light bouncing across the cotton fields and reminding him how dire things were. He needed to think of something to help increase profits this year or they would all suffer. It wasn’t just him and Julia, it was the share croppers who owned the pieces of land they farmed. Some of them had worked this land their whole life. Letting them down wasn’t an option.

Gabriel left the doors open but went back inside. He looked toward the hidden door separating the two master bedrooms. He’d let Anna down and Julia and he didn’t even flinch. Why was it so easy to disappoint family but not friends? He’d have to find a way to make it up to them both.

* * * *

Anna entered the kitchen to find Julia and Ruth in a heated conversation. Franklin sat at the small work table eating a plate of eggs fried with onions and small pieces of bacon. He looked up at her and motioned her into the chair across from him. “Have a seat, Anna. Ruth will whip you up something to eat as soon as she sees things Julia’s way.”

“I most certainly will not!” Ruth shook a chubby finger his way. “She needs to learn she can’t have everything she wants and you need to stop encouraging her.”

Franklin laughed. “Simmer down, woman. I’m too old to be fighting this early in the morning.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you promised to take this one with you to Camden. She has chores to do, not to mention a new governess to occupy her time.”

Julia rounded the table and stopped beside Anna. “She can go with us,” she said, smiling while looking between the three adults in the room.

“And what will you father say about you taking off all day?”

She shrugged. “If I’m with Anna, it shouldn’t matter.”

“Oh no, please don’t drag me into this.”

“Please, Anna. I never get to go and if you’re here, father may just let me.”

Anna looked to where Ruth stood by the stove. The woman’s lips were pressed closed so tight they were nothing but a white slash across her face and she was shaking her head emphatically. Anna didn’t know what the trip was about but from the look on Ruth’s face, Julia didn’t need to go.

She smiled up at Julia and reached out to lay her hand against her arm. “As much as I’d love to see more of Alabama, I’ll admit I’m still rather tired from the trip. Could we go another day, perhaps?”

Julia opened her mouth to argue no doubt, but shut it with a snap. She wasn’t happy but she didn’t try to persuade her any longer either. “Fine.” She blew out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I have the sweet tarts ready,” Ruth said. “Why don’t you deliver them for me. You can show Anna around the plantation and introduce her to the tenants.”

Julia pulled one of the empty chairs away from the table and flung herself into as if the world were ending.

Ruth sat a cup of tea in front of Anna and she picked it up, hiding a smile behind the white porcelain.

Breakfast wasn’t the formal affair the meal the night before was and Anna was a bit disappointed to learn Gabriel had already eaten and was out in the field with James. Apparently, the older man still thought he was young enough to put in a full days work like a man half his age and if someone didn’t watch him, he’d wear himself out and end up sick.

Ruth packed a basket as they finished their meal and by the time they were ready to go, Anna was actually excited. She’d never seen a working cotton plantation before. She’d worked with thread and cloth for longer than she wanted to remember but had never once wondered how all those fine fabrics started.

She’d put on one of her nicer dresses before coming downstairs and ran up to change into something more appropriate. Walking cotton field and dirt roads called for more rugged attire. She dressed in a plain brown skirt and white shirtwaist and pulled her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck and headed down the back stairs to the kitchen. Julia stood by the door swinging the basket of sweet tarts back and forth when she rejoined them.

“Ready to go?”

Anna smiled. “Lead the way.”

They headed across the yard behind the house and Anna had a chance to get her first real look at the property. It wasn’t as opulent a view as you received when traveling the road up to the front of the house but it was no less spectacular. There were several outbuildings, barns and stables and the fields ran for what seemed like miles.

They took the road that ran along one of the fields and headed towards the cabins she could see in the distance. There were people everywhere doing various things and Anna couldn’t help but ask what everyone was doing.

Julia lost patience with her after the tenth question and Anna laughed, then apologized. “I’ve never even seen a real farm. Well, nothing of this size. Its just not something you’d see in the city.”

“Get used to it. There’s nothing in this part of the country but farms.”

“You don’t sound as if you enjoy it here.”

She shrugged. “I love Laurel Haven but it gets a bit lonely. There’s children in the tenant cabins but they won’t play with me much. Something about social classes or some such nonsense.”

Anna could only imagine how difficult it was living in the south now. The war was long over but she was sure tensions still rose on occasion. She looked toward the fields. There were as many white men and women working the crops as there were black and Ruth had said the cabins belonged to tenants. Did they purchase the land from Gabriel, then work it? Or did they work the land in order to live in the cabins? She was about to ask but the look on Julia’s face halted her words.

They were halfway to the cabins when Julia yelled out to her father. They stopped and Anna raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Gabriel was headed their way, an older gentleman close behind.

“What are you two up to?”

Julia lifted the basket for him to see. “We’re headed to the cabins. Ruth made more sweet tarts.”