Lynna's Rogue (33 page)

             
“Joshua Jordan, shame on you for attempting to keep Lynna all to yourself,” Malinda teased. “I have
no
t had a chance to speak two words to her since she arrived.”

             
“Then you two go ahead and critique the costume of e
very other female in the county
while I return to the tables for a second helping.”

             
“
I will
have you know I do not gossip!” Malinda insisted.

             
“Then please, excuse my grievous error in judgment.” Joshua laughed. “C
ould I get you anything else, Lynna?”
he asked, before glancing to find her plate untouched and recalling their earlier conversation concerning her apparent lack of appetite when they were together. “Judith, does your niece always peck at her food like a sparrow?”

             
“Oh no, Lynna usually ha
s
a robust
appetite,” she said, going along with his playful ribbing. “A blackberry cobbler does
not stand a chance against her
.”

             
Lynna’s blush was most becoming under his steady gaze. While he exchanged pleasantries with a group of men at a nearby table and she could no longer see him, she tore into her food with gusto, cleaning her plate in record time. After the meal, she chatted with the ladies while the men discussed their politics, plantations, and the foolhardy notion of freeing slaves in the South.

             
Lynna
did
no
t
have a chance to talk to Joshua alone before she and the other young ladies were dispatched to their rooms to rest before the Ball. But she was not the least bit tired and much to
o
excited to sleep, so she sat on the edge of the bed
,
twiddling her thumbs
and
wondering about Suzanne’s uncommon absence from the morning festivities. It was very unlike her to miss being the focus of a social function. When Lynna had questioned Mary earlier,
she had
been told Suzanne had a stomach malady and had decided to spend the day in bed
,
so as to be well rested for the Ball later that night.

             
Deciding she should
try
to rest, Lynna removed her shoes and was about to slip out of her dress when the door creaked open
,
admitting a young slave girl
she had
never seen. The girl hurriedly handed her a slip of paper and then left as quickly as she had come. The note read:
Meet me out back as soon as the others are asleep.
Her entire body turned to a mass of quivering flesh. She would never do that! It was most improper! What if they were caught? It would be scandalous! No, it was out of the question! Where were her shoes?

             
Thankfully, she had
no trouble slipping unnoticed
out of the house. She went through the backyard, but
did not
see him. Wh
ere could
he
be
? Then, another thought struck her? Maybe the note had
no
t been from Joshua after all. Could Malcolm be at the barbecue? She had been foolish to come out here alone. The note could have been from anybody, even the kidnappers!

             
“I knew you
would
come.” Joshua stepped out from behind the branches of a weeping willow
,
flashing a smile tha
t left her greatly relieved, yet
never failed to turn her knees to jelly.

             
“You knew no such thing,” she admonished with a grin.

             
Taking her hand
,
he led her through a path in the woods to a bubbling, moss
-
edged stream
,
where he stopped and turned her to face him. Drawing her into his arms, Lynna drank in the smell and sight of him as his lips lowered to hers. His kisses were so tender, so sweet, as he kissed her lower lip and eyelids before his mouth closed over hers. His breath was warm on her ear and smelled of tobacco as he whispered, “
I have
dreamed of this moment for so long, Lynna. I
do not
want us to ever be separated again. I have been bereft without you.” He held her face and looked with deep longing into her eyes. “Lynna, darling, will you
—
”

             
“There they are!” Bethany
Breanne
shrieked. “We found you.” A chorus of whoops arose from the group of children surrounding them with purple stained mouths.

             
“I see you have been sucking sugar tits,” Joshua said, reluctantly releasing Lynna.
“Aw…sweet memories.”

             
“A sugar tit is a handful of blackberries bundled in small clean, white linen, sprinkled with sugar and tied at the end. You bite it and suck until all the juice has been either swallowed, or dribbled down onto your clothes, and nothing remains but a violet cloth filled with seeds,” a girl of about 10 volunteered
,
thinking the beautiful woman with the accent wasn’t from these parts.

             
“Do you want one? We found a patch of ripe blackberries this morning,” Bethany
Breanne
asked, furiously scratching her stomach.

             
“And briars,” one of the little boys grumbled
,
amid seri
ous scratching of his groin
.

             
A glance at
the other children proved
they were clawing at their skin as well.

             
“I fear you youngsters have a host of chiggers,” Joshua sympathized, remembering well the intense itching caused by the tiny redbugs. “We should get you all back to the house for hot baths. That will kill the larvae feeding on your tender flesh for now, but I fear
you will
be beset by a terribl
e itch for a few
days.”

             
Jo
shua grinned at Lynna and asked,
  “Did you ever partake of the delectable sweetness to be found in a sugar tit?”

             
“Quite often.” S
he giggled, then shivered
,
remembering the bugs favored choice of residence were armpits and straddles and the acute itch that ensued when they moved in. “Aunt Judith would pick the redbugs out with her sewing needle.”

             
“As would my mother. But alas, I fear our secret is out,” he whispered, pretending to be alarmed.

             
“
Do not
worry,” Bethany
Breanne
announced, very maturely for her four years. “We
will not
tell
.
Then she reached up her pudgy little arms to be lifted to Joshua’s shoulders, as was her usual mode of transportation in his presence.

             
“I fear not, my darling,” he hastened to inform her with a gentle smile. “Only after a hot bath and a change of clothes will you be allowed back on your favorite perch.” Instead
,
he took her hand and led her toward the house with Lynna
,
the other furiously scratching children following close behind.

             
He laughed
when Bethany
Breanne
gestured for him to bend over and whispered in his ear. “Uncle Joshua, what is it that we
a
re not supposed to tell?”

             
“Lynna wake up, sleepyhead.
It is
time to get dressed for the Ball.”

             
Rubbing her eyes, Lynna slowly became aware of her aunt standing over her and grinning from ear to ear. “I simply
cannot
keep this secret a second longer.
I have
being dying to give this to you. Here
,
open it.”

             
Sitting up sleepily
,
Lynna opened the box her aunt had placed on the bed and suddenly came fully awake. “Oh, Aunt Judith!” A sob escaped as she lifted ruffle after ruffle of soft silky material and
held it before her
. It was the most exquisite ball gown her eyes had ever beheld. “
It is
….
it is
….I have no words to describe it,” she marveled, fingering the expensive silk. “But, where did you get the fabric and when did you find time to make it
?
Y
ou were so
busy with Suzanne’s.”
Tears of love and immense gratitude glistened in her eyes.

             
Judith had promised Joshua she
would not
tell Lynna
that he had
purchased the material for the gown when he and Silas had ridden into town, along with a bolt of green silk for herself, and slipped it to their cottage undetected. Now she had to admit that Lynna’s gown was her best work to date
,
far surpassing any of Suzanne’s. “I stitched it
in between Suzanne’s gowns,
when you
weren’t looking.
The gown has love sewn in every stitch, my darling.”

             
“Oh, Aunt Judith, you are simply too wonderful for words and I love you so much!” Lynna wept, hugging he
r fiercely. The gown was creamy
yellow silk
, off the shoulder, with
row upon row of the ruffles sewn into the full, flowing skirt. Yellow satin formed a bow around the tiny waist. “Thank you, Aunt Judith. You will never know how much this means to me.”

Chapter Fifteen

             
M
any sighs
were heard as Lynna descended the curving stairs
,
looking the part of a regal queen arriving at her court. Joshua
did not
need to look
,
for he knew only Lynna could draw such a chorus of murmured responses. Sauntering toward the stairs
,
he glanced up and stopped dead
in his tracks, once again mesmerized
by he
r dazzling
beauty. When he purchased the material, he had imagined her slim figure sheathed in the yellow silk, but his imagination had failed to do her justice. She was breathtaking.

             
He was afraid if he move
d
or even
took a breath,
the vision moving toward him would disappear. Jealousy surged through him when he observed the eyes of every other man in the room gazing at her with undisguised lust. The powerful emotion urged him forward to take her arm possessively, letting them know to keep their distance. She was his. “I always know when you enter a room, and as always
,
you are ravishing.”

             
“Thank you, sir.” She beamed, returning his smile. “You cut quite a dashing figure yourself.”

             
“Would you care to dance, my love?”

             
“Only with you.”

             
Leading her
onto the
flo
or, they danced a lively
reel, then he took her into his arms during the next slower tune and breathed in the lavender fragrance of her hair. The heat radiating from his body warmed her so
that
she wished desperately to be alone with him
;
t
o leave her sumptuous gown discarded on the floor and once again feel nothing save his arms encircling her.

             
“You make every female envious and leave men awestruck by your beauty.” He was gazing into her sultry azure eyes, glazed with her longing for him when he said, “Let’s step outside, Lynna. There is something I would ask you.” He took her elbow and steered her toward the open side doors, but as he turned
,
he noticed Daniel bounding towards them.

             
“Joshua, my father would like a word with you, in private
.
” Daniel said this in an uncommonly crisp tone, catching them before they could make their exit.

             
“Can it wait, Daniel?
I have
been attempting to have a word with this fair lady all day, however we seem to be constantly interrupted.”

             
“No, Joshua,
I’m
sorry. It
cannot
wait. My father insists.” Daniel’s words wer
e solemn, however his eyes
danced with excitement.