Lynna's Rogue (14 page)

             
As darkness was falling over the plantation, Lynna helped Judith shuck corn for supper and
could not
resist asking about Suzanne's new gown. “Is there an occasion for the new gown or did she simply open her wardrobe and discover an empty hanger?”

             
“Oh,
there is an occasion. She is
returning to Charleston to visit Samuel, yet again. She explained to her parents
that
she wished to spend some time with her brother and her niece
,
and naturally they agreed without question. However, we both know Suzanne
cannot
long tolerate Samuel’s daughter, or any child, for that matter. You and I know the true reason for her
visit
.”

             
“Oh, yes,” Lynna gushed, affecting Suzanne's grating whine. “Captain Joshua Jordan, why how could I possibly
evah
forget him?”
Unfortunately, I will
remember the heartless scoundrel until the day I draw my final breath.

             
“Precisely.
” Judith laughed. “As you know
,
she was simply devastated last winter when she failed to add him to her collection of beaux. But I must confess, I
’
d like to meet this paragon. The first man
,
I am
sure
,
who has ever successfully resisted Suzanne's abundant charms.”

             
Lynna was confident Joshua had long since sampled whatever charms Suzanne had to offer, abundant or not. She remembered with clarity the day Suzanne had returned home from her visit to Charleston. She had sent Rose, her chambermaid, with a message for Lynna to come to her room posthaste. Once there, Lynna had been forced to listen while Suzanne had prattled on and on recounting her entire evening in vivid detail.

             
“Oh, Lynna!
He is
positively the most divine creature God ever saw fit to grace this earth with. Why, he has these sea green eyes that absolutely take your breath away. When our eyes met across the crowded room, I swear, there was an immediate attraction. I could feel it.” She
could not
sit still, pacing across the room, gesturing wildly with her hands. “And you
would not
believe how handsome he is, simply breathtaking
. And so powerfully built!
Why, I feel most certain if he were a mind to
,
he could crush a man with his bare hands. Let me assure you, however, that those same hands can also be so very gentle.”

             
Lynna wondered how anyone could talk so long without pausing to breathe.

             
“And when we danced, I declare, my feet never touched the floor once.” She closed her eyes and smiled dreamily. “He held me so sinfully close.” Then, her eyes snapped open and her hand clutched her breast. “But that isn’t even the best part. After the dance ended
,
we took a stroll through the garden. Oh Lynna, he kissed me with so much passion
that
I very nearly swooned!” She closed her eyes for a minute as if the memory overwhelmed her.

             
“Honestly, my knees went weak. I felt faint and began to tremble. And then,” here she paused dramatically, “my jackass brother comes rushing through the garden shouting my name. Heaven knows I felt the urge to cause Samuel some small degree of
physical pain at that moment.
Just when I was sure Captain Jordan was about to sweep
me off my feet and carry me…
” She was stopped abruptly by Lynna's sharp intake of breath.

             
“Joshua?” Lynna had finally found her voice and breathed the name, mortified at hearing Suzanne utter it. Captain Joshua Jordan? The same man who had stolen her virginity and taken her on a round trip journey to hell and back? It
could not
be, she thought, as several wildly fluttering butterflies took up residence in her midsection. Suzanne had been describing the same feelings she herself had felt after being kissed by the same man. Joshua and Suzanne? Inconceivable.

             
Suzanne mistook Lynna's shock as being caused by her own disgraceful behavior with Joshua. “
Do not
play the virtuous little innocent with me.
I am
not blind, as some of the others around here pretend to be, dear Lynna.
I have
seen the way my brother looks at you when he thinks no one e
lse is looking. And I have been… how I shall say this…
intimate with enough men to know that look.”

             
Lynna
could not
believe Suzanne's depths of depravity. “How dare you insinuate that Daniel and I have ever behaved in any manner that was less than proper? Just because
you are
guilty of such shameful acts, do not for one second imply that I would stoop to your level.”
Although she had with Joshua
. Her eyes flashed blue fire as she cried, “No man will ever
again…
” She stopped herself in the nick of time, holding her breath. Thankfully Suzanne, as usual, was not listening to a word she said.

             
“You little fool!” Suzanne had laughed crudely. “You have no idea what
you are
missing and you never will. For Captain Jordan would never be interested in someone with your… low station in life.”

             
Unlike you, dear Suzanne, Captain Jordan is well aware of my true station in life.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief that she had avoided a near catastrophe with her errant slip of the tongue, Lynna had ended their discussion by storming from the room.

             
Suzanne f
loated down the steps in a snug
violet traveling outfit. Her hair was swept off her neck under a matching sunbonnet
,
the brim pulled low to protect her face from the morning sun. The carriage was piled high with numerous trunks and hatboxes, more than she could possibl
y
require for a short stay in Charleston. Even given the fact
that
she changed her dress three or four times daily
,
there was still an excess of baggage strapped to the top of the equipage. It crossed Lynna's mind that Suzanne was planning an extended visit this time and scolded herself for being pleased at the thought.

             
Hugging Lynna excitedly
,
Suzanne whispered in her ear, “Wish me luck!” and was in the carriage before Lynna could summon a reply. She stood with a tearful Mary and Silas, waving as the coach pulled away in a cloud of dust. A gunman was perched beside the driver should the need for protection of Silas’s most precious cargo arise.

             
“
There now,” Silas was consoling his wife, who was near prostrate with grief. “She
will
return home before you know it.”

             
“Not if Suzanne has her way,” Daniel
, Suzanne’s younger brother,
remarked to Lynna as he took her elbow and walked her toward her cottage. “My brother will be forced to chase our little sister home with a stick to pry her from the clutches of the magnanimous Captain Jordan.”

             
Oh, please,
don’t
let Daniel start listing the man’s finer attributes!
With Suzanne gone
,
she had
hoped to never hear Joshua’s name mentioned again. “I see Suzanne has been filling your head wi
th tales of the handsome
sea captain as well.”

             
“Let me assure you,
there is
not a person on the entire plantation who
has
been spared my sister's comments pertaining to him. Why, I even heard her one morning in the infirmary
,
conversing with the newborns. No wonder they were bawling so loud.” He grinned when Lynna shoved his shoulder playfully. “But on a more serious note, I pray you never meet the man or you might dismiss me completely from mind.”

             
“Daniel, I assure you that
you have nothing to fear.” She eased his mind, even as her traitorous heart raced at the mere thought of her path ever crossing Joshua’s again. Had he changed? Was
he still as handsome as before?

             
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Lynna.”

             
Lynna was lost in thought
,
remembering Suzanne's parting words. “Oh, Lynna, this is going to be the most memorable trip of my entire life. Joshua is coming home
,
you see. His father had that awful accident
;
well
,
actually it was a rather fortuitous mishap for me, since Joshua is returning to oversee the plantation. In fact, he should already have returned to Sea Grove by now.”

             
How could Suzanne be pleased over the fact
that
a man had lost both his legs? Her appalling lack of compassion for anyone other than
herself never failed to astonish
Lynna. “Give my love to Samuel.” Lynna had tried to change the subject, hoping to distract Suzanne from her never-ending discourse about Joshua. Her ploy failed.

             
“Lynna, I have a confession to make. For the first time in my life
,
I am
truly in love. I inte
nd to become Mrs. Suzanne Jordan,
wife of the esteemed Captain Joshua Jordan
,
in the not too distant future. I
cannot
wait to see your face when you meet him.
He is
positively too handsome for words and filthy rich as well.”

             
He will
marry you only if he has to. And, rest assured, he knows me… intimately!

             
With Suzanne in Charleston, Judith and Lynna's workload was cut drastically. They
had
kept late hours in order to complete several day dresses and a ball gown for Suzanne’s trip and now found themselves with rare free time on their hands. Lynna recalled Mary’s stunned expression when questioning her daughter about the new dresses and extravagant gown
she had
requested from Judith.

             
“Mother, I
could not
possibly be seen in the same dress twice while in Charleston. Whatever would people say? And would you have Captain Jordan think us penniless and all but destitute? The horror!” As she said the words
,
she clutched her chest as though she were on the verge of succumbing to one of her frequent attacks of vapors. “Why, I could never show my humiliated face in the finer homes of Charleston again!”

             
Mary had left the room
,
mumbling to herself
,
but Judith
did not
complain. Suzanne was her livelihood.

             
Lynna and Judith quickly adapted to the much slower pace. They often took long strolls by the
river, stopping to have a quiet
picnic lunch, or just sit on the front porch
,
listening to the birds sing, bees buzz around the flowerbeds, bullfrogs croak from the pond, and crickets chirp. The entire plantation seemed to breathe a
deep
sigh of relief during Suzanne’s absence.

             
On a
warm summer morning
,
Lynna and Judith accompanied Mary to the infirmary on her daily rounds through the slave quarters. The cabins were sturdy structures
,
well
-
built to keep out the cold winter wind and bone
-
chilling rain, unlike on some plantation
s
where the boards were spaced so far apart as to provide hardly any shelter at all.

             
“Mary, have you received any letters fr
om Suzanne?” Judith was shooing irritating flies from
a
couple of
newborn
s
whose mother
s
had already returned to the fields.

             
“Yes, as a matter of fact
,
I received a missive just this morning. She seems to be having a marvelous time
,
and needless to say
,
there was no mention as to when, or if, she might be returning home,” Mary answered dejectedly. “I fear, if left to her own devices
,
the child would pack up
and move to Charleston permanently
.”