The Reluctant Debutante (16 page)

“We are not yet done
, ma petite
.” Joseph ran his hand down her cheek, wiping her tears away. “I will see you again.”

Without another word, she walked inside the cabin.

Basil turned to Joseph. “I want you to leave here, right this minute, and not return. When I get back to St. Louis, I am going to close your father’s account. The bank will cease doing business with Tall Feather Enterprises. And as for you, I never want to see you again. Do you understand?”

Joseph looked at his former friend, sadly. Basil was just a white man like any other. Already, he missed their friendship. He sighed.

“I understand. You are like all the rest. Forgive me for thinking you were someone special. I ride out now knowing it is not yet time for Ginger and me to be together.”

He saddled Midnight, untied the reins, and jumped on his back. He nudged the horse into a trot.

“It will never be time!” Basil yelled after him.

• • •

After a few minutes of pacing in the clearing, Basil returned to the cabin where Ginger was dressing. She glared at him as he entered the room.

“Well, he’s gone now, thank God, and you can forget about him.”

Ginger ran to her brother and began to pummel him with her fists as her tears of anger became sobs of remorse. Basil said nothing more and let her cry herself out.

Finally, she turned her back to him. “I need some help getting laced back into my corset. If you would, please, Basil.”

She allowed Basil to tighten the laces. Her sobs had diminished and now sounded like a kitten mewing.

Basil laid his hand on her shoulder. “Gin — ”

She cut him off and shrugged out of his grasp. “I have nothing to say to you, Basil.”

“All right then, have it your way. If you are sufficiently put back together, I’ll take you to the estate, and we can call off the search. Everyone will be so relieved.”

“Yes, I expect they will. I’m nearly ready. I want to say this while we’re alone, though. If you want to blame someone for destroying my hopes at making a proper marriage, blame yourself, Basil, not Joseph. He is the only man I want and if I can’t have him, I’ll have no one.”

“Please don’t say that, Ginger. It would break my heart if you martyr yourself because of my stupidity.”

Ginger took one last look at the room where Joseph had touched her with his scorching hand and branded himself on her heart. Where he finally declared his love for her. Tears slid down her face as she realized she had not had time to return the declaration to him. With a final sob, she turned her back on the cabin and on the life that might have been hers.

As they rode back to the Curran estate, Basil began to think of an explanation he could offer for how he managed to find Ginger — and what had become of Joseph. He needed something plausible to quell the spate of questions sure to come their way as soon as they arrived. A plan formed in his mind and, as they neared the large house, he spoke quietly.

“I know you don’t have anything to say to me, but we need to get our stories straight. I’m thinking we should tell everyone Joseph found you, got you to the cabin, and told you to stay there until daylight. He knew that staying with you would cast you in a bad light, so he went back to St. Louis, having finished the race and his work here in New York. I came upon you walking through the woods this morning, trying to find your way back to the house. Will you agree to align your story with mine?”

She thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, and then added, “So long as you say or do nothing to disparage Joseph, I will agree. But, if anyone thinks he left because of the outcome of the race, or because William was going to file a protest, or if anyone tries to otherwise blacken his name, I will tell everything as it truly has happened, family reputation notwithstanding. Unless you come to his defense.”

“Hopefully, the race is old news by now. Your disappearance and now subsequent return will surely put it out of everyone’s mind. You have had all of us quite frightened out of our wits, me especially.”

“As Joseph said, the race was a foolish and childish thing to do, an idea put forth by two foolish and childish men — you and William. It resulted in one good horse being put down, and me nearly perishing out in the forest. So once again, Joseph has proven to be the better and smarter man, even though his skin is brown. Is that what you’re saying?”

Basil groaned. “Not exactly in those terms. I can tell I’m going to have a hard time getting back into your good graces. I remember how long it took you to forgive me the last time I truly upset you.”

“What you have done in this instance does not begin to compare with the time you put all my hair ribbons in the ink well. You have broken my heart, and ripped my one true love from my arms. My life will never be the same, and I may never forgive you.”

“Then you would break my heart, Ginger.”

“I wish I could say I am sorry, but I’m not.” She slid off the horse as it came to a stop and walked into the house without waiting for him.

Her mother, father, and Elizabeth all hurried to the door when they heard Basil’s horse approach the house. Tearfully, they wrapped her in a group embrace.

“We were so frightened for you. Since Elizabeth’s last glimpse of you was as you headed into the forest, we had horrible visions of you, alone in the dark woods all night, cold and frightened. Why, anything could have happened to you! Come into the parlor and tell us what went wrong.”

Ginger smiled weakly at them. “Could I first have a bath and change clothing? And, I am a bit weary from my ordeal. I wish for a nap. I’m no worse for wear, just tired.”

Charlotte bustled around her. “Most certainly, dear. You do look pale. I’ll order a bath be drawn for you. Come with me, I’ll comb out your hair while we wait for hot bath water.”

Charlotte took Ginger’s hand and they climbed the stairs, leaving the relieved group to bombard Basil with questions. Basil followed George and Elizabeth into the parlor and helped himself to some hot tea while the other guests gathered to hear the details.

“I don’t know how the accident happened,” he began, “but, as Ginger was riding through the forest, a branch snapped off a tree and hit her. She was knocked from her horse and pinned underneath the huge fallen branch. Joseph was able to track her trail through the woods and found her, still trapped and unconscious. He freed her and took her to a small hunter’s cabin in the woods nearby and built a fire there to warm her. When she woke up, he urged her to stay in the cabin, out of the rain, until morning, and gave her directions back to the estate. I found her walking in the woods this morning.”

“How fortunate we are to have a knowledgeable tracker in our midst,” said Mrs. Curran. “I shudder to think what would have happened to poor Ginger if Joseph hadn’t found her. Where is our hero?”

“He didn’t want the acclaim he knew would come his way, so he took off sometime during the night and began the long ride back to St. Louis.”

William’s lip curled at the mention of his foe. “He left because he was going to be disqualified from the race, not because he was a hero. Who would believe such nonsense?”

“Joseph saved Ginger from a certain death in the woods last night,” Basil said angrily. “She would never have survived being out in the rain. Even if she had made it through the night, who among us would have been able to find her before she perished from cold, or from an animal attack? So, he is due the moniker of ‘hero’ although he would never admit to it.”

• • •

Charlotte brushed Ginger’s long locks. Ginger closed her eyes, enjoying the pampering her mother was bestowing on her. How long had it been since her mother brushed her hair? Tears dampened her eyes as she looked at her mother’s reflection in the mirror.

“Darling, it’s all right now,” Charlotte cooed softly to her daughter. “You’re home, you’re safe, and you can put this harrowing experience behind you.”

“That’s just it, Mother. I can’t. I’ll never be able to.” Ginger began to cry in earnest.

Charlotte put down the brush and took her daughter into her arms. “Did Joseph behave inappropriately or take advantage of you in the woods? Is this why you’re so upset? You can tell me anything, you know.”

Ginger patted her mother’s arm, and sighed in defeat. “Don’t worry, Mother. I’m still as pure as the driven snow, unfortunately. The story Basil is telling the guests is quite different from what actually happened, and I have agreed to go along with it to save our family’s reputation. But the truth is, he sent Joseph away. I love Joseph with all my heart and he loves me, and Basil can’t stand the idea I would fall in love with his best friend — his Indian friend!”

Charlotte raised her hand to her forehead. “Oh no! I was afraid from the day we started this deception something like this would happen. But, I was hoping we could get through the season playing out the ruse Basil forced us to perpetuate on our friends.”

Ginger stared at her mother in amazement. “You mean, you knew about Joseph’s heritage, too? How could you go along with this? And how could I be the only one who was unaware?”

“I not only knew about it, I’m the one who unfortunately put us in this spot, by first suggesting you dance with Joseph. And, I’m the one who came up with the plan we’ve been playing out all season. When Basil brought Joseph to the Cotillion and all of society danced with him, we had to think of something to protect our reputations and those of the young ladies who danced with him after you did. So, we chose to ignore his Indian heritage and passed him off as a French-Canadian. You weren’t the only one who was in the dark about his true origin. How could Joseph have so abused our family’s trust by forcing his affections on you?” She cupped her daughter’s face in her hands.

Ginger pulled away angrily and stood up. “He did not take advantage of me, Mother, although I would have welcomed his advances. Did you not hear me say unfortunately I’m still as pure as the driven snow? Instead of seducing me when he had every opportunity, he saved me from a certain death! William and Richard — the two ‘suitable’ men, in your view — are the ones who have been attempting to compromise me!”

Charlotte gasped at Ginger’s claim about two of the finest men of the season. But Ginger barely slowed in her tirade.

“I literally threw myself at Joseph time and again, but he has a will of iron and would not taint my blessed reputation. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of William and Richard. I have been fighting off their advances all season. I will not listen to any criticism from you, or anyone else, when it comes to Joseph!”

She turned on her heel and stomped away to the waiting bath. Ginger divested herself of her dirty garments with the help of her maid. The she sank into the bathwater up to her chin.

“Will there be anything else, Miss Ginger?”

“No, Colleen. I’d just like to soak the coldness out of my bones. You may leave me.”

“Would you like me to heat some more water for you, to warm up the bath in a few minutes?”

Ginger smiled. “You know me well by now, don’t you? Yes, I’d like a long soak today.”

As Colleen left to tell the kitchen staff she needed even more hot water, Ginger relaxed against the high back of the slipper tub. The warm water was finally leaching the chill from her body. She sighed deeply, as her tears dropped into the warm water.

How could Basil have done such a thing to the family? Maybe his year in the West made him forget the strict conventions of society everyone in New York held. Perhaps he just needed to grow up a bit more. Whatever the reason for his idiocy, he had done one thing for which she would be forever grateful. He had introduced her to the only man she would ever love. She could be thankful for their one night together. She knew she would remember every moment of it for the rest of her life. She closed her eyes and relived the evening, from the moment she had awakened to find herself alone with Joseph in the cozy little cabin in the woods.

She had sensed his presence before she had opened her eyes, as he knelt by the bed. The love and the protection radiating from him, as he watched over her and warmed her, gave her such a strong sense of safety. When she realized she was naked, and he had gazed upon her nude body without her knowledge, powerful and previously unknown feelings washed over her. She knew she would die happy if she could just see and touch his naked body, too.

But those thoughts came before Joseph finally gave in to his feelings and climbed into bed with her. His caress had aroused flames of torment within her that she had not realized her body was capable of. She closed her eyes and remembered.

Ginger inhaled sharply as she recalled the feel of his mouth on her breast and how his touch seared her heart. She knew at that fateful moment only Joseph would ever be able to claim it. Her fingers had roamed over his clothed body greedily. She wanted him to be as naked as she was so she could caress his tawny skin. Her nightly dreams of being close to him were finally coming true. She sensed his hardness pressing up against the core of her being and was pleased she had such a profound effect on him.

She changed her mind about dying happily if she could just touch his naked body. As his hands roamed over her, she realized there was much more to lovemaking and she wanted to experience it all. When he put his leg between her thighs and began to press against her, it took her breath away. The explosion within her was more potent than any emotion she had ever had. All thoughts left her except the realization that she was more alive than she had ever been, and she wanted to live forever if she could have Joseph by her side. Her tears began afresh as she remembered how the heat had risen within her at his touch. To never have those feelings again was too heartbreaking to contemplate.

Colleen knocked on the door, and then entered before Ginger could splash water on her face. The maid rushed to Ginger’s side when she spied the tears streaming down her face.

“Why, you’re crying as if the world has just come to an end, miss.”

“For me, it has.”

“Nonsense, missy. You’ve just had a scare, ’tis all. It must have been so frightening to be alone in the woods, and unable to free yourself from those branches. I hate the forest.”