Master Of Paradise (14 page)

Bernard thought for the hundredth time how easy Nicholas was to talk to. There need be no pretense between them, no strain. As he left his office, his mask fell in place again as he sought Miss Caroline.

Brandon put his arm through Nick's so he would not be overheard by anyone. "Let's get a breath of air. Walk with me to the stables."

Amanda came up and took hold of Nick's other arm.

Brandon said quickly, "Run along Mandy, we're speaking of men's affairs."

"Affairs! My God, Brandon, you made a pun, and here I thought you were witless," she said cruelly, but Nick laughed in spite of the cruelty.

Nicholas frowned at her.
She knows she's overstepping the bounds of propriety, as usual. If someone doesn't put a curb on her soon, she'll be out of control.
"Mandy, go back to the house. The stable is no place for a party dress. I'll see you in a little while."

He spoke so sharply, she was hurt. Nicholas, who let her do as she pleased and say whatever she fancied was suddenly acting as strict as the others. The words 'I'll see you in a little while' stung her vanity.
That's what he thinks,
she thought savagely, needing to inflict him with the same pain he had given her.
You may make time for 'the child' later, but 'the child' won't make time for you!

Brandon grimaced at Nick. "Father fired up as if I'd set a match to gunpowder. Still, your advice was good. I feel better now that I made a clean breast of it."

"You and Mandy are a good pair. Neither of you has an ounce of discretion. Your mother overheard the accusations you hurled at Bernard.

"I'm allergic to cotton." He grinned. "Nick, all the old boys will be here tonight. Do you suppose we dare get a game going?"

"I don't think the ladies would appreciate the cursing and drunkenness that go on at one of our poker games."

"Well, perhaps it would be a mite tricky seeing it's a birthday ball, but if you think there won't be any drunkenness, you're in for a surprise. By midnight, half the men will be so liquored up, the fighting alone will be better than whatever entertainment is planned. In fact, I think I'll take bets on how many fist-fights will break out."

The carriages were starting to arrive, so Nicholas made his way back up to the house just in time to greet Dr. and Mrs. Caldwell. Their two daughters, Romeda and Lorena had come in the carriage with their parents, while Ty had ridden his new hunter. Nick eyed it closely and decided it was certainly worth a wager or two.

Jennifer Joy stood at the entrance to greet her guests. The girls squealed over Jenny's exquisite party dress. It was pale green organdy with dark green velvet ribbons.

The guests carried their dressed in large boxes and rushed upstairs to complete their toilets.

Before the long blue twilight began to dim, Nicholas had made the acquaintance of all his friends' sisters. He met so many young women of marriageable age, he couldn't keep them straight. He didn't know if he was dancing with Julia Hampden or Blanche Davis, but he did know that each belle, whether it was Laurel Beverly or Sarah Vickers appraised him as if he were a stud horse, albeit they did it with blushes and giggles from behind their fans. Obviously he met with their approval and he had a difficult time extracting himself politely from the scheming little games and verbal entanglements they used to ensnare him.

Whenever Nicholas found himself in a large company, he felt almost as if he stood aside and observed his fellowmen. It was nothing new, for in England he had found himself doing the same.

Here, people grouped together into distinct camps. The married ladies sat together exchanging gossip about children, servants, and
accouchements.
If a male had overheard their conversations, the ladies would have been mortified.

The older men gathered and discussed crops and politics; exclusive male topics that were almost forbidden to women. Only the young people mixed to flirt and dance and laugh, but even this group kept segregating-- the girls regrouping to whisper what this boy had said or what that one had done; and the young men kept going outside to indulge in everything from hundred-proof bourbon to home-brewed corn whisky.

Amanda had sworn that after Nicholas Peacock's rebuff, she would not speak to him again that evening, but all that was soon forgotten as she found herself arguing with young Clay Hampden and a tipsy Ty Caldwell over the fine points of his new hunter.

"Yes! Ten dollars. I'll race you tomorrow at seven. Our stables to yours." Mandy had a pretty shrewd idea what Ty's head would feel like at seven in the morning.

"How can I resist when you sweet-talk me so?" he said sarcastically, reaching into his pocket. He was alerted and intended to find out what she was up to.

Jennifer Joy whirled past in a daring waltz, and Mandy saw Nick's eyes follow her sister. "She's stolen my favorite green. She did it on purpose because she knows I have a passion for it, and they've stuck me with this damned white again."

"The kind that leaves one shoulder bare? Your imagination is as dramatic as mine." She put her head on one side, "Perhaps worse?"

"You only come to me when you want something. You are more alike than you think. You both want all your own way," he said with a grin.

"You are ungallant, sir." She slapped his arm playfully with her fan. "How can you compare me with the little horror of the county?"

"The only difference between you is that you use sugar to get what you want. Mandy uses vinegar."

"I see you are far too clever for me to cozen, so I'll ask straight out. Come with me while I ask Daddy if we can go on dancing past midnight."

He offered her his arm and escorted her over to Bernard.

"Why darlin' that's up to your mother. I think we can carry on 'till about two o'clock, if your mother is up to it," he beamed.

After Miss Caroline reluctantly agreed to let the dancing carry on until two o'clock, Nick whispered, "You owe me one dance now. I'll be back to collect it presently."

He followed Ty outside and allowed himself to be persuaded into sharing a drink with him. He took a gamble and said, "Mandy shared your secret with me."

"About the horse race tomorrow morning?" Ty was swaying on his feet.

Nicholas was furious. He guessed instantly that she herself would race Ty. "She won't be there, Ty. Just having you on for a joke."

"Little minx."

Brandon ran up from the stables. "Nick, come quick. King Vickers and his brother are having a hell of a fight. You know what King's like when he's liquored up!"

Nicholas arrived in time to hear Duke Vickers say, "You son-of-a-bitch, King. You knew I was saving that little Dulcie for my next bed wench, and now she's knocked up an' you did it deliberate!"

"Christ Almighty, it wasn't me. You're blind as a bat, Duke. Your body servant, Nate's been screwin' her for weeks," King shouted.

King's temper flared out of control and before anyone could prevent it, he'd pulled a pistol and shot his brother. The ball went into Duke's shoulder.

"Go get Doc Caldwell," Brandon said to Nicholas. "I told you this would be a fun night, didn't I?"

Nicholas tried to be as quick and discreet as possible as he spoke to the doctor. But every lady present knew there was trouble and that probably someone had been wounded. Parties meant liquor, and liquor meant fighting and often shooting.

"Take him upstairs to your
garconnier.
I'll have to dig the ball out and I'll need good light and clean dressings," directed Dr. Caldwell.

"I'll take you up the back way." Brandon half lifted the fainting Duke Vickers. "Nick, go back inside and assure the ladies that all is well."

All anxiously scanned Nick's face when he returned to the house, so he smiled reassuringly and asked Jennifer for the dance she had promised him.

"I made no such promise," she told him archly, "but if you'll tell me what happened out there..."

"That will cost you more than a dance, my sweet."

Her lashes swept down at his words, but she went willingly enough into his arms. "Someone said it was the Vickers' boys," she whispered. "What were they fighting over?"

He stopped dancing and looked down at her eager, upturned face. He decided to give her something else to think about. With his arms still holding her, he lifted her up and bent his head to capture her lips. He held her against his body's hardness while his lips explored the pink mouth he held captive. He set her back down on her feet and dared her to slap him.

She did better than that. She verbally cut him down to size. "Why Nicky dear, I've been kissed by a dozen other men tonight and I thought I was saving the best 'till last. What a disappointment!"

"You are a little bitch," he growled. He took her roughly in his arms and kissed her savagely.

Unknown to them, Amanda saw them and fled from the party, blinded by quick, hot tears.

As the party was breaking up around two o'clock, Mammy Lou approached Nicholas reluctantly. "Marse Nick, ah's worried sick. Ma baby gone off somewheres an' ah can't find her."

"Did she go up to bed?"

"Naw suh. Ah's searched everywhich room. Ah had Cleo search too, an' Charles searched outside. Ah can't tell Miz Caroline her baby run off in de middle of de night. It kill her certain sure."