Master Of Paradise (21 page)

Mandy looked across her father to Nicholas and her eyes sparkled with mischief as he said, "You will maintain entirely separate households. Do you understand, Amanda?"

She turned an innocent face toward him and said, "Oh purely and absolutely!"

When the young bucks of the county gathered at Paradise for their weekly indulgence of gambling, Brandon waited until a game with high stakes was underway, then he raised his glass. "Nicholas here is about to become my brother-in-law."

Ty Caldwell looked furious. "That's a damned underhanded trick, Peacock, to steal her from the cradle. Hell, I've been waiting for Amanda to grow up for years."

Kingsley Vickers challenged Ty immediately. "You lyin' son-of-a-bitch, Caldwell. Well hell, everyone in these parts knew I had her marked out for myself. Ask Duke here, he'll tell you. Why, we only spoke of it recently."

"Was that before or after you shot him?" Nickolas inquired blandly.

King had the decency to grin sheepishly.

Stuart Beverly was the only one with enough moral courage to say with conviction, "Well, personally, I think she's too young to be anyone's wife."

Nicholas spoke casually, as if these things were a common occurrence, "She won't actually become my wife until she's eighteen. The marriage is to be in name only.

The young men looked at Brandon for verification, and he nodded in confirmation.

Clay Hampden, who had only just been included in gambling nights, said, "Shee-it, that will put a stop to these weekly sessions here at Paradise."

Nicholas, the only one who'd paid attention to the cards, laid down his winning hand. "Don't be ridiculous. We'll play every week as we always have. 'Though why you all come is beyond me."

"We don't come to win Nick, we come for the company and the freedom you allow us. You're the only bachelor who has a house of his own."

"She is," Nicholas confirmed. "She will live under my protection while her father resides in Richmond, and I'm a very strict guardian, so you'd better mend your ways."

Beau knew what Nicholas warned him about, but it went over the heads of the others.

Brandon arrived home at two in the morning to find Jennifer pacing up and down his bedroom. Brandon, feeling no pain after imbibing Nick's bourbon, bowed. "This is indeed an honor. Haven't you been locked in your room for twenty-four hours so we wouldn't contaminate you?"

"Hush up, Brandon, this is serious. What did Mr. High and Mighty have to say for himself?"

"Why nothing whatsoever that was remotely connected with you, Jennifer."

"How in the world am I ever going to hold my head up when word gets about that he's marrying her instead of me? I am actually expected to go and live there like some poor relation! And come to think of it, brother, that is exactly what I am! Damn and blast all men to hellfire! I hate every last one of them. We are made to depend upon men for everything because we have no money of our own!"

Brandon sobered in a hurry when he saw the state she was in. "Honey, don't take on so."

"How I envy you! You're a man. You can do as you please. If I were in your shoes, I'd take over the place and run it so it turned twice the profit Daddy ever made!"

"That's exactly what Nicholas Peacock will do. Damnation, it makes me fatigued just thinking about it."

"Brandon for God's sake, doesn't it make you angry to think that Daddy is passing you over for Nicholas Peacock?"

"We are both being passed over, aren't we Jenny? The only difference is that the world won't get a chance to laugh at me because I'll never let them see my hurt. I'll laugh first and I'll laugh loudest."

"Well, I'll just die if they laugh at me!" she cried passionately.

"Jennifer, I'd feel a mite sorry for you if your heart was involved, but you know damn well it isn't. It's the house you want, not the man."

"Nicholas Peacock is the finest specimen of a man that's been in these parts in years," she shouted.

"Oh, I agree with you, honey. But if you will just think for one moment-- a man like that wouldn't let you get away with anything. Wouldn't it be more pleasant for you if you married a man you could wrap around your little finger? One you could easily manipulate?"

"What shall I do then? What shall I tell people?"

"Don't tell them a damn thing. They'll think as they please no matter what you tell them. Let your actions speak for you. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die! Besides, who in the world knows but you and I that you set your cap for him, other than Nicholas of course?"

Bernard was relieved that the hysterical outcry he was expecting from his favorite child did not materialize. After locking herself in her room for twenty-four hours, Jennifer emerged her sweet, laughing self and joined in the preparations for the coming wedding with sisterly anticipation and devotion.

All their friends and neighbors were agog with the news. The rumors were rife. None linked Jennifer Joy's name with at of Nicholas, rather they ran along the lines that Bernard Jackson had paid Nicholas Peacock to marry the child. After all, they had had enough hints from the bride's own sister that it was not a love match, and it was to be a marriage in name only. The whole thing was a mysticication.

Chapter Twelve

As Nicholas Peacock lay in bed on the morning of his wedding, he laughed at himself.
I've fallen into a trap of my own making.
He was mad in love with his exquisite bride-to-be, but in order to get her, he'd had to agree to a marriage in name only.
How long will I last before that little promise is broken?
The constant denial had turned his dreams into orgies of lust that did nothing to relieve the sexual tension that was relentlessly building within his body.
I promised two years. Judas, it will be a miracle if I last two days!

He could hear Samuel filling his bath, and the delicious aroma coming from the kitchens told him that preparations for the special wedding dinner were already underway. It seemed strange for him to have a day off work. He was always busy from sunup to well after sundown, if the workload demanded it, so he was at a loss to fill the hours until the wedding party arrived.

Things were not so quiet over at the Jackson Plantation. It could be said without exaggeration that everything was in a state of chaotic flux. Packing had been going on for three days, and an outside observer would have supposed a journey of a thousand miles was being undertaken.

The pecking-order of impatience began with the head of the household, as it should. Bernard Jackson's temper flayed the house servants who were readying him not only for the wedding, but for his extended trip to Richmond.

Mammy Lou, trotting between Jennifer Joy and Aunt Billie tried to delegate responsibility to the house servants. They suddenly turned stubborn as field mules because they were receiving too many orders from too many directions.

When Jennifer threw a tantrum bordering on hysterics because the slippers she planned to wear had been packed, there was nothing for it but to unpack all her boxes until the missing fugitives were discovered.

Amanda Virginia took in the scene philosophically and proceeded to pack her own things, and ready herself for her wedding. She was glad of the respite from the chattering horde. She needed a quiet time to herself, and was relieved that while they were driving each other to distraction, they were leaving her to her solitude.

Mandy lay supine across the bed with her head hanging over the edge so that her hair flowed like a waterfall to the carpet. Today had an unreality to it. She couldn't quite grasp that this was her wedding day and Nicholas Peacock was to be her husband.

She recalled their first meeting as if it had been yesterday.
I remember I thought him a god, and upon reflection I wasn't too far off the mark. What Nicholas has accomplished in the years he's been here is superhuman. If this is the measure of a man, most other males compared and measured against him are woefully lacking. He is taller, broader, stronger; his skin more tan, his laugh deeper, and his patience more forbearing. He's also kind, tolerant, and understanding. The great mystery is that he wants me, and wants me now.

Mandy examined her feelings for him closely in this hour left to her before she committed herself to him with vows that would bind her for the rest of her life.
There has always been an unspoken understanding between us, but that was for some far-off, almost mythical future that has suddenly materialized into the here and now.
Its immediacy frightened her. If she was being truthful, Nicholas Peacock frightened her. On the surface they had been friends, but underneath that surface lay depths she was afraid to plumb. He was different than other men. Clay Hampden and Wes Beverly were such everyday, uncomplicated boys, familiar to her and her way of life since childhood.

Nicholas is a man from another world. He has qualities that set him apart; qualities that are perhaps dangerous.
She finally admitted to herself that the thrilling, forbidden aspect of the whole adventure was what lured her irresistibly. She was ready for any dare, any challenge. She loved to shock, and anticipated with relish being shocked in return.

In the drawing room at Paradise, the minister from the church in Summerville stood ready. Only the family were present. Brandon was groomsman. Nicholas would have preferred to ask Rafe Collins, but deferred to the family's state of mourning.

Aunt Billie was rigged out in a retching shade of puce, while Mammy Lou stood by with tears in her eyes, wringing her hands.

Samuel had turned the drawing room into a bower, filling it with pink and white blossoms. The fireplace opening was filled with a mass of peonies in varying shades from shell pink to deepest fuchsia.

Standing beside her sister, Jennifer held her head unnaturally high. She smiled so long and so brightly that her top lip stuck to her teeth. She felt nauseated, and knew she would loathe the heady smell of peonies for the rest of her life.

Nicholas came forward to meet his bride. He looked down at her and noticed her pallor. Never had he seen a female look more innocent and pure. A wave of guilt washed over him as he contemplated Amanda's vulnerability.

She whispered low, "They've stuck me with this damn white again."

Nicholas laughed with relief as he recognized the impish Mandy he loved.

As soon as the minister began the ceremony, and realization came that she was actually being married to this man, Amanda's heart began to thud uncontrollably until she could hardly breathe.

"Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?"

"I will."

As his clear response came to her, a look of awe etched her delicate features. Then she was being asked:

"Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live"

When her father spoke, surprise that he was actually going through with it arched Mandy's brow. Then Nicholas took her right hand in his. A momentary worry clouded her face because her palm was slightly damp, while his hand was firm, warm, and dry. She saw a smile begin at the corners of his eyes as he looked down at her, and her worries melted away.

She heard him repeat, "I, Nicholas Peacock, take thee Amanda Virginia Jackson to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth."

She knew she also made the vow, but all she could remember saying was
to love and to cherish
and
I plight thee my troth.
She watched Brandon step forward to place a golden wedding band upon the prayer book. The minister gave it to Nicholas, who lifted her left hand and slipped the ring halfway down her fourth finger. Then his deep voice washed over her.

"With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee honor, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow."

Jennifer Joy flinched at the words and hoped it would soon be over.

Many prayers followed before the couple was finally pronounced man and wife. When the minister concluded by saying, "You may now kiss the bride," Mandy had a moment of panic, but Nicholas bent down and placed a chaste kiss upon her brow, and they moved over to a side table to sign the certificate.