The Scent of Jasmine (24 page)

“Except what?”

“Lilith had this little mole on the side of her neck, just where it meets her shoulder, and it was heart shaped. You’re too young to know what I mean, but I can tell you that all of us men used to fantasize about that mole.”

“And this woman in New Orleans had this mole?”

“She sure did. It’s what made me notice her. Everything else about her seemed to be different. Her hair was pulled back, and she wasn’t as pretty as she had been. Don’t get me wrong, she was still beautiful, but she looked, well, almost frightened. When she saw me, I thought she was going to scream. Her eyes looked like some wild animal’s. I felt sorry for her. Why didn’t she marry Alex? They have a fight?”

“I don’t know,” Cay said, and her voice was little more than a whisper. “I don’t know anything about anything anymore.”

“I thought I was the only one who felt like that. I came out here hoping that if my father didn’t see me for a while he’d forget about what I did in New Orleans, but from what he said in his last letter, I may have to spend the rest of my life here.”

Feeling as though she were in a daze, Cay slid off the stool. She couldn’t help but look at Alex in the shadows behind the cabinet. When he motioned to her with his hand, it took her a moment to figure out what he meant. He wanted her to get George to leave the store. She looked back at the trader. “Was that someone at the back door?”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Oh. Maybe it was just some alligators. You know how they are. Tim nearly had his leg bitten off by one of them, but I hit the thing on the head with a paddle and killed it with one blow. I tell you, if I hadn’t been there, that boy would have died. I think Mr. Grady is glad of the day when he hired
me.
”

George looked Cay’s slim form up and down in disbelief.

“What’s more, I—”

“I think I better check that door,” George said as he hurried out.

Alex slipped out from behind the cabinet. “And you said you weren’t good at being a liar.”

She ignored his remark. “What do we do now?”

“
You
don’t do anything different. You’re to stay here with the others and go south, just as planned.” Turning, he left the store. Cay was about two inches away from his heels.

“And what do
you
plan to do?” she asked him.

“Go to New Orleans, of course.”

Cay wasn’t sure, but there seemed to be a different step to his walk, a quickness that hadn’t been there before. “I’m going with you.” She had to nearly run to keep up with him.

“No you’re not.”

She stopped walking and glared at the back of him. “Good! Then I’ll have weeks and weeks alone with Jamie Armitage.”

Alex halted in his tracks, stood still for a moment, then turned around to glare at her.

She smiled sweetly at him.

“Meet me back here in one hour.” He walked ahead too fast for her to catch up with him.

“You leave without me and I’ll send you an invitation to my wedding,” she called after him. He raised his hand, but he didn’t look back at her.

Cay stood still for a moment. Lilith might still be alive. Alex’s
wife
might be alive and living in New Orleans. The woman he loved more than life itself could possibly be waiting for him just a few days’ hard ride from where they were.

Cay’s hands made into fists. “I hope she’s not too big,” she said under her breath. “I don’t want to have to take too much trouble to kill her.” That said, she felt better, and in the next second, she was running. She had to get ready to travel, this time on horseback, and alone with Alex. She’d heard of worse ideas.

Twenty-three

New Orleans, 1799

“How in the world are we going to find your brother?” Alex asked. The two of them were dirty, sweaty, and tired beyond imagining. But as he looked across his horse at her, he couldn’t help but give a one-sided grin.

“I’m glad you see something amusing because I don’t. I want to take a bath and sleep for about three days.”

“I was just remembering the first trip we took together. You were exhausted after just a couple of hours on a horse.”

“Couple of hours?” She rubbed her itchy nose with her sleeve. “You mean when you made me ride without stopping for a day and a half, and you left me under a tree at the mercy of whatever scalawags came by?
That
trip?”

“Aye,” Alex said. “That’s the one I mean. You’ve ridden much harder this time.”

“Had to, didn’t I?” Cay mumbled as she followed him into the outskirts of the city. Even though it was well after midnight, she could see lights and hear music in the distance.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” What she’d meant was that he was so determined to find the woman he loved, that he would have ridden all the way without sleep if it were possible. As it was, that’s nearly what they’d done. From the trading post, they’d hitched a ride upriver on a boat, but it went too slow for Alex’s taste, so they’d stopped at a plantation and used the last of the money T.C. had given them to pay an exorbitant price for two horses. Alex had ridden hard along the shore of the river, always heading north, and Cay was right behind him. They’d only stopped every other night, and one time they’d had what Alex called an “unfortunate” encounter with a bunch of alligators that were hiding in the sand.

Cay would have loved to have climbed a tree to safety, but that would have left Alex alone. He shot one with a rifle, tossed a loaded pistol to her, and Cay shot another one. There was no time to reload, so they’d had to use knives. Running, they did what they could to escape the creatures that were chasing them. In one of Eli’s stories he’d said that alligators couldn’t run in a zigzag pattern, so Alex and Cay went back and forth as they sought higher ground.

When they reached safety, Cay looked at Alex, and in the next minute she was in his arms and crying from fear. He held her so tightly she thought her ribs might break, but she didn’t care. She clung to him just as hard.

They didn’t sleep much that night, and the next morning, Alex had to find their horses. Cay didn’t think he’d be able to, but he did. When he returned, she ran to him and kissed his face in such relief that they ended up taking a hour to make love, then they were off again, this time staying farther from the shore.

That evening they’d had to stop early because both of them were asleep on their horses, and their animals were too tired to go any farther. Alex built a fire, so they could eat and drink before bedding down together. Cay had been thinking about her brother Nate all day, wondering what he’d found out about the murder accusation. As she and Alex snuggled together after making love, and just as they were going to sleep, she told him the story of her brother Nate corresponding with someone in Scotland for most of his life. “My brother thinks we don’t know anything about it, but we all know. We’re pretty sure it’s our cousin Lachlan. He’s only a few years older than Nate and they get along well when we visit. Want to hear a big secret?”

Alex hoped she wasn’t feeling how hard his heart was beating. “Aye, lass, I would like to hear a secret. Just so it’s something good.”

“It is to us, but I doubt if you’ll think so. Nate calls his pen pal Merlin.”

“Does he?” Alex asked, trying to sound disinterested and sleepy. “And why does he call him that?”

“I don’t know. If anyone were called by a magician’s name, I’d think it would be Nate.” She could feel herself drifting into sleep. “I wonder what Merlin calls my scientific brother?”

When Alex felt Cay’s breath calm and knew she was asleep, he whispered, “Archimedes.”

Two days later, when they reached the settlement and saw Thankfull, Cay said, “
Now
I know why she’s named that. I’ve never been so thankful to see anyone in my life.”

“I have been,” Alex said. “When we got away from those gators and I saw that you had all your beautiful body parts, I was the most thankful person on earth.”

Cay could only sit on her horse and stare at him. It was the closest he’d come to saying he loved her.

“If you cry you’ll make streaks in the dirt on your face,” he said.

“Why would I cry? Over something
you
said? Not likely!” She went past him with her nose in the air, but she heard Alex’s laughter.

Thankfull ran out to meet them. “He was here looking for you both,” she said breathlessly as she took the reins of Cay’s horse. “He got here two days after you left, and he would have gone after you, but a messenger came with a letter and that made him leave for New Orleans.”

“Who was he?” Alex asked, his voice tight and strained.

“Tally,” said the twins in unison. They had come out of the boardinghouse and were looking as though they’d been through some heavenly experience. “Tally.”

“He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life,” one twin said.

“Me, too,” said the other one.

Thankfull was watching Alex dismount. “You look somewhat better now that you’ve shaved.”

“Is he really your brother?” a twin asked Cay without so much as a glance at Alex.

“He’s so much more . . . well, manly than you are.” Where once the girls had thought Cay was beautiful, now they were nearly sneering at her.

But then, Cay knew she was horrible-looking—and smelling. Her embroidered vest, once so lovely, was torn and encrusted with the blood of the alligators. Her stockings were so dirty you couldn’t see what color they were, as was her shirt.

“Come in,” Thankfull said, “and eat. Would you like me to get you some new clothes? I have a feeling that you won’t stay here long enough to be able to wash and dry what’s left of those garments.”

“Tally had on the most beautiful coat,” a twin said dreamily. “It was embroidered at the pockets with sunflowers entwined with vines.”

“I liked the honeybees best.”

“Tally said his sister embroidered it for him.”

Alex looked at Cay in question and she gave a quick nod. It was hard to remember a time when her life was so calm that she could sit in a chair by the fire and embroider pockets for her brothers’ coats.

“Food sounds good,” Alex said. “And new clothes. As for the cost—”

“Mr. Harcourt left money for you,” Thankfull said as she glanced at Cay.

She knows, Cay thought. Tally told her that I’m a girl and she’s kept the secret. “Did he tell you of Uncle T.C.?”

Thankfull’s face lit up. “Yes, he did. In fact, he spent both his evenings here telling me all the stories he could remember about Mr. Connor. Your brother is a very kind and thoughtful young man.” Opening the door, she let them go ahead of her. “I have soft soap for your hair,” she whispered as Cay walked past her. “And jasmine oil for a bath.”

Alex heard her, and turning, he looked at Cay. All the stress and hardship, all the fear of the last few days fell away, and they began to laugh. One second they were standing, almost too tired to move, and the next they were hanging on to each other’s arms and laughing so loud the twins came in from outside to see what was going on.

Thankfull shooed the girls out the door and closed it. Cay and Alex were still holding on to each other, howling with laughter, and saying incomprehensible things like “downwind of you” and “robbers with their smell” and “my hair never smelled so good.”

Smiling, Thankfull went into the kitchen to prepare them a huge meal.

For Cay, that night at Thankfull’s boardinghouse had been lovely. She got to bathe, sleep in a clean bed—Alex secretly beside her—eat cooked food, and in the morning she’d put on new, clean clothes. That Alex had made her get up at 4
a.m.
had been difficult, but Thankfull had been there with a packet of hot corn cakes to eat on the way.

“He must want something very much,” Thankfull said softly to Cay just before she mounted her horse.

“Yes, he does.” She didn’t intend it, but there was anger in her voice. Now that they were getting closer, the reality of Alex’s urgency was beginning to get through to her.

“I heard some things about him,” Thankfull said, her voice so low Cay could hardly hear her. “But I don’t believe them. I don’t think he could do what people say he’s done.”

“He didn’t, and we’re going to prove it.”

“Your brother—” Thankfull began, then stopped because she was giving away the secret.

“It’s all right. Alex says I’m the worst at being a boy he’s ever seen.”

“That’s not true. When you were here before, I thought you were male.”

“Thank you,” Cay said. “I think.” On impulse, she kissed Thankfull’s cheek. “I’ll do what I can to plead your case with Uncle T.C., but he’s a stubborn man. Mother says he’d rather mourn a woman than have to deal with a real one.”

“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”

“She is, and I miss her very much.”

“You’d better go,” Thankfull said. “Alex is giving us hard looks.” She leaned toward Cay. “Who would have thought he was so handsome under all that hair?”

“I didn’t guess.”

“But you seem to have made up for lost time.”

“We, uh . . . ,” Cay stammered.

“The walls in this place are very thin. Now go, so you can do what you need to. And tell Mr. Connor that . . . that . . .”

Cay swung up onto her horse. “I’ll get you two together and let
you
tell him.” She looked at Alex. “Are you going to stand there all day?”

Alex reined his horse away. “So are you matchmaking again? First Eli and T.C.’s daughter, and now you’re finding a wife for T.C. himself. Did it ever occur to you that those people can find their own mates?”

“No, I can’t say that it did. Think one of the twins would do for Tally?”

Alex set his horse to a trot.

It was days before they reached New Orleans, and by that time they were exhausted, but reaching their destination made new energy run through them.

“So where do you think your brother would be? Asleep in some rich hotel?” Alex raised an eyebrow at her. “Alone or with someone?”

“I’m sure Tally is a virgin. Adam and Father keep a close watch on him.”

“As they do you?”

Cay grimaced. “I was allowed out by myself because I was believed to be the sane and sensible one.”

“I proved them wrong,” Alex said, and there was such pride in his voice that she laughed.

“I’ve never been in this city before, so I don’t know where the best hotels are.”

Alex looked at her. Her thick auburn hair had grown in some during the last weeks, and it had escaped the tie at the back. It was curling about her shoulders in a way that made him want to pull her off her horse and onto his saddle.

“We don’t have time for that now,” Cay said at his look, but she was smiling. “I think you’ve corrupted me.”

“I did my best.” His eyes were blinking innocently.

“I’m glad it’s only Tally here, because if Adam saw you looking at me like that . . .”

“What would he do?” Alex asked, amusement in his voice. “Slap me with one of his gloves and challenge me to a duel at dawn? Do you think he brought his father’s dueling pistols?”

Cay gave him a smug little smile. “Obviously, you don’t have the right impression of Adam. But I’m glad he’s not here.”

“Then who sent the letter to your little brother?”

“Nate,” Cay said quickly. “I think Nate might be here, but he’s no problem. If I told him I’d spent the whole time in bed with you, Nate would just ask me to explain why I had wasted my time in such an unproductive manner when I could have been learning something.”

Alex couldn’t laugh too hard at what she said for fear she’d figure out that he knew more than he was telling. But she’d sounded exactly like his friend. “Bourbon Street,” he said. “Let’s try there first.”

“You’ve been here before?”

“Cay, my sweet, I’ve won thousands upon thousands of dollars in this city. Follow me.”

All the way through the old, twisted streets of the city, she smiled at his endearment. They went through the sleepy outskirts toward the light and noise that she could hear from far away. As the noise became music and grew louder, she found herself sitting straighter on the horse and her tiredness falling away. Through the entire journey she’d not allowed herself to think about what it would mean if they found Alex’s wife alive. In a second he’d go from being an available bachelor to a married man. No, she liked to think about the fact that if they found his wife alive, that meant Alex’s conviction for murder could be overturned. He’d at last be free. He could . . . What? she thought. What would he want to do? Settle down? Travel more? Explore more unknown places? They hadn’t really gone into the part of Florida that hadn’t been explored, so maybe Alex would want to go back there.

Or would he want to stay with his wife and raise their children?

If that were the case, what would Cay do? The idea of returning to Edilean to the three men she’d contemplated marrying was now so absurd that all she could do was laugh at it. Right now she couldn’t imagine that she’d ever been that young, naive, and innocent. A couple of times on the trip, she’d thought about what her life would have been like if she really had married one of those men. Dull, duller, and dullest, she’d concluded.