Christie (43 page)

would be satisfaction!

Again the cold smile appeared as Lucille Baker returned her attention to her lap and carefully began to replace the heavy pieces of gold within her reticule.

It was early evening when the Randall carriage reached Stanhope Manor, and after much fussing, polite hugging, and renewed greetings, all were ushered inside the stately mansion by Christie's aunt and Cousin Belinda.

Aunt Margaret was positively effusive as she settled them in the three upstairs chambers set aside for their use. "Why, I swear, what a handsome baby! And so big! Of course, you haven't seen little Caroline yet. She'll be a beauty one day, I'll warrant, but diminutive. She must be pounds lighter than your son! And Christie, you seem to have recovered your figure wondrously well. I'm afraid Melissa's been having a harder time of it," she added in a lowered voice. "One of the reasons we've held up the ball this long was to give our little mother a chance to reshape her waistline."

"Not with any great success, I might add," came a voice from the open doorway. There stood Beau Richardson and behind him in the hallway, Cousin Melissa, frowning now at her husband's words.

"Beau! Melissa!" exclaimed Christie. "I was wondering where you two were hiding. How are you?"

Coming forward to take her hand, Beau bent to bestow an elaborate kiss on it. "I bid welcome to the lass who was always the most beautiful in Virginia," he said, "and now reigns as the foremost beauty of the

Carolinas. I swear, it's delightful to see you again, Christie." His eyes then swept eagerly over her lithe form as if to punctuate his meaning.

When Melissa came forward to hug her cousin, Christie noticed the object of Beau's caustic words about her. Her waistline, even tightly laced in confining stays, had grown considerably thicker since Christie had seen her last. Shuddering, she had a brief vision of that awful morning when she had watched Philip and his daughter depart in stormy fashion for Virginia, observing them from the windows of this very chamber. Now, as she cast an eve over the rounded proportions of the short, auburn-haired girl, Christie was overcome by a wave of pity for the creature she saw. Melissa's face, despite the added flesh, looked pinched and drawn. The coquettish sparkle was gone from her hazel eyes, replaced by a look of fearful apprehension which increased every time she glanced at Beau. Even her tone of voice was changed, robbed somehow, of that old warbling croon Christie remembered so disliking once, but which now would have been infinitely preferable to the dull listlessness she heard there.

"Hello, Cousin," said Melissa. "How well you look." Then, turning to face Garrett, who had been watching all this from a place at the windows, "And you are Garrett. I do remember you, sir. Indeed, there wasn't a person at Christie's birthday ball who could have forgotten the picture you two made as you danced together. Welcome to our home, sir," she added, extending her arm.

Garrett took her hand graciously and placed upon it a kiss in every way as gallant as the one Beau had accorded Christie's. Then he went forward and shook
hands with Beau. "Sir," said Garrett, "I remember meeting you at Windreach, so it's a double pleasure, as you and I suddenly seem to find ourselves somewhat related through the ties between our lovely wives."

Beau cast a brief but noticeable smirk in Melissa's direction at Garrett's inclusion of her in his praise, but then, smiling at Garrett and Christie, he said sincerely, "We're really glad you're here. Maybe such a visit is just what this house needs to—"

"Oh, well," interrupted Aunt Margaret, "time enough for such chatter later. Now, I'm sure these Randalls will want a chance to freshen up before dinner. And if I'm not mistaken, I hear Philip's carriage on the drive. Come, Lissy, Beau. We can renew old memories at dinner, and share recent news as well. Ah, what fun to have two babies in the house! Come along, Lula! Belinda will see that your old quarters are made ready."

She gestured at the black woman, who had been sitting in a chair near the bed holding Adam and sulkily watching the goings on.

"Excuse me, ma'am," said Garrett, "but we intend that Lula should remain with us." He gave Christie a look that said immediately he remembered what she and Lula had told him of Lula's accommodations when they were last quartered at Stanhope Manor.

"But surely, sir," said Margaret, "you cannot intend that this negress should share quarters with you and my niece!"

"But I do intend it." Garrett smiled as he moved near Christie and curled his arm about her waist. "Lula is nursemaid to our son and prefers sharing the room with him for her tenure in that capacity."

He shot a smile in Lula's direction.

"But haven't you brought along your wet nurse for that?" questioned Melissa.

"I nurse our son myself," Christie proudly answered as she looked lovingly up at Garrett.

"Nurse him your—" stammered Melissa. "But that's unheard of these days in genteel society! Everyone knows a lady's figure is spoiled by—" She cut off her own words, flushing as she beheld Christie's high breasts and tiny waist, and her hands went self-consciously to her own fleshy girth. Murmuring something about seeing them at dinner, she cast a furtive glance at Beau and hastened out of the room.

"Well," said Margaret, "it does seem you people in the country have some—er—customs peculiar and removed from those we observe here in Charleston. I'll have Lula's bags sent up from the slaves' quarters, where I already sent them." She sighed, giving Garrett a quick glance. "Come, Beau, I believe Philip said he wished to have a word with you before dinner."

As she and Beau were going out the door, Garrett called after them. "Could you please have a bath made ready for Christie? The roads were extremely hot and dusty for this time of year. And I wonder if you would ask your husband if I might meet with him for a private word before we dine. It's on a matter of some importance."

"Yes, of course," answered Margaret. She had already accepted fully the authority this man engendered by his manner and Christie couldn't help noticing how her responses to his requests were delivered in exactly the same tones as when Philip
issued her orders.

When Lula and Adam had been settled in the room that was to be the temporary nursery and they were finally by themselves, Garrett suddenly grabbed his wife and threw himself with her onto the large bed. Laughing with ebullient." whisperedient mirth, they tossed and rolled merrily amid the covers there, each engrossed in the other, aching with the gladness of at last being alone together.

"I swear, I can miss you when you stand not a few feet from me," Garrett chuckled as he nuzzled her hair.

Laughing, Christie answered this as she playfully nibbled his ear. "Indeed, my lusty love, there were moments I thought you would stop our carriage and order poor Lula out on top with the babe, that you might join me inside."

"For a sweeter ride than the carriage might afford." whispered her husband in her ear.

A delighted giggle was his response before Christie pulled slightly back from his embrace and breathlessly added, "So! Now that you have me trapped in your wolf's lair, and now that you are fully aware of my own baser instincts, I fear there will be little respite for me, sir! I shall soon find myself grown to your bed, affixed there by my own lusty nature and your knowledge of its depths."

"Depths, I'll avow, I've yet to plumb," Garrett breathed as he took her lips with his.

Just then a knocking resounded at their door, and the thick accents of one of the Stanhope's slaves intruded upon their play.

"We done tote up de missus' baf, suh!"

Growling low in his throat with displeasure,
Garrett sat up, but motioned for Christie to remain where she was, answering, "Please set it up in the adjoining room, will you?"

"In—in de sittin' room, suh?" came the astonished

"Yes, in the sitting room!" shot back the reply.

There was a hushed mumbling outside in the hall and then they heard the door to the room beyond being opened and the sounds of water being poured there.

"That ought to set enough tongues a-wagging," chuckled Garrett as he pulled his wife back into his embrace. "Not only do the Stanhopes' country cousins nurse their own children, but they take baths in the strangest places."

He had Christie on his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed and his hand had slipped beneath the already opened bodice of her traveling dress.

As she felt him untie the tiny ribbons of her shift and slip his hand beneath to cup one firm breast, Christie smiled languidly up at her husband, observing his face through the sooty lashes of half-closed eyes. She saw his own smile broaden as he noted her nipple's peaking response to the teasing he gave it.

"Is my husband helping me undress for my bath?" she asked throatily.

"Undress?" came Garrett's husky response. "Obviously. For your bath? Presently, love. Presently."

Garrett whistled a soft tune as he trod down the stairs to find someone who could direct him to Philip's whereabouts. His mind was still filled with the picture of Christie as he had left her, soaking
lazily in the swan-shaped brass tub in the sitting room upstairs, her sweetly curving body all pink and glowing, and he smiled with the knowledge it was less from the steamy warmth of the water than from the afterglow her body always took on from their love play. With his head thusly occupied, he almost missed seeing the Stanhope's wizened old Negro butler at the base of the stairs and barely avoided running into the poor fellow, head-on.

Checking his impulse to laugh aloud at his own delightfully inspired carelessness, he apologized for not watching where he was going and asked where the master of the house might be found.

"In de study, suh, but y'all please t' wait here 'n ah's gwine 'nounce y'all's comin'."

Regarding such an accommodation as unnecessarily formal, Garrett brushed the offer aside, saying, "Just show me where the study is, man. I need no announcing."

"Yassuh, but de Massa, he 'quahr it."

"Then I shall take full responsibility for our not observing the proper protocol," said Garrett easily. "Now, the study, please?"

Knowing a determined man when he saw one, the old man gestured down the hallway of the mansion's left wing.

"It gwine be at de en' ob dat hallway, sho' nuff, suh."

Thanking him, Garrett walked toward the indicated chamber. Smiling, he again turned his thoughts to Christie. As she had handed him the black box containing the bracelet, she had asked if he was sure he didn't want her present when he approached Philip. At this, Garrett had drawn her

close, saying, "I'm sure, love. Among other reasons, I want to keep you, as much as possible, from being reminded of that last, desperate night you spent in this house."

At this Christie had given him that same enchanting smile he had always found irresistible, and he
had almost not made it out of their chambers to see
Philip at all.

Now, as he neared the closed door of the study, he halted. From inside came the sound of angry male voices.

"Not another penny, do you hear? I'm warning you for the last time, Beau, if you must continue gambling, you will have to do it with your own money—not mine!"

Not feeling comfortable in the role of eavesdropper, Garrett was about to turn and retreat, but at the sound of Beau Richardson's voice just inside the door and his hand on its handle, he felt he would be unable to disappear down the long hallway before he was discovered and so decided to stay his ground, making it appear, as the door opened, that he had just reached it and had heard nothing.

Beau's voice sounded bitter as he replied to his father-in-law, and Garrett noted the syllables of his words to be voiced with that unmistakable thickness imparted by the consumption of too much alcohol.

"You know damned well I can't put my hands on my own funds. The minute I announced I'd have to marry your daughter, my daddy locked up my inheritance from my mother's estate tighter than an old maid's—"

"Well, borrow against it, then, if you must!" thundered Philip. "But only to settle those debts!

And take a piece of advice from an old gambling man, my fine, besotted son-in-law! If you're not any good at it, stay away from the tables. Now, get out! I'm expecting my niece's husband."

The door opened, and Beau found Garrett with his hand raised, as if he were about to knock at it.

"You're expected," was the whiskey-breathed comment Beau made as he brushed past Garrett with a heavy frown.

"Ah, Mr. Randall, do come in. I'm afraid I wasn't expecting you without an announcement. I'll have to speak to old Sam. Seems even the best trained nigras cannot be counted on," said Philip as he came forward to shake Garrett's hand.

"It's my fault, sir," said Garrett. "I insisted on coming unannounced. No, thank you, I'll stand," he added as Philip gestured at the large wing chair near his desk.

"Suit yourself." Philip smiled. "But I hope you won't mind if I sit. These old bones aren't as young as they once were." He chuckled as he picked up a pair of spectacles. "Nor are these eyes! I found out only a few days ago I require lenses." He set them on the bridge of his nose meticulously and then took a careful look at his guest.

"There, that's better! I suppose it will take me awhile to grow accustomed to wearing them. Now, tell me, how is that lovely niece of mine? And what of your son? I tell you, sir, it came as quite a start to discover Christie had borne a child. In March, wasn't it? Why, that means she was already carrying when she stayed here with us last year!"'

"Yes, "sir," said Garrett. "Uh—Christie's fine, as you'll see for yourself at dinner. But I'd like to

comment, if I may, on the business of her being pregnant when she left Charleston last. It ties in with my reason for this meeting, you see."

"Go on," said Philip, offering Garrett a cheroot. The younger man took it before crossing to the marble mantel of the fireplace and leaning against it. From the way the lighting was arranged in the room, it gave him an excellent and unobstructed view of Philip's face as he sat in the Chippendale chair at his desk.

On the way to the fireplace Garrett's eye caught the delicate colors of a piece of Meissen porcelain and he smiled to himself, making a mental note to compliment Christie on the accuracy and precision of her descriptions.

"My wife," Garrett continued, "only discovered she v/as carrying our child on the last day she spent here. And because we, in our own relationship, were somewhat—estranged at the time, she felt herself caught up in a terrifying panic at the discovery. She was upset and worried over her family's assessment of the situation when they found out. Now, of course, we may all smile over the unnecessary response she had at the time, but to Christie, caught up as she was in an extremely emotional set of circumstances, the fears she had were very real. As a result, as I said, she panicked and sought to flee. In the course of her urgency to get away without becoming a further burden to anyone, she took it upon herself to do a thing contrary to the principles with which she was raised."

Garrett removed the small black case he had been carrying inside his jacket and opened it, displaying its sparkling contents for Philip to see.

"Fortunately, she never found it necessary to sell this to finance her flight. But she begs me to inform you of her regret at having taken it from your desk."

Philip smiled a thin-lipped response as he observed his guest from behind the new spectacles. "It's quite forgotten already, sir. I never regarded my niece as a thief, you know." He held out his hand as if expecting Garrett to place the bracelet in it.

"Just a moment, sir," said Garrett. "There's more."

From time to time drawing calmly on the cigar which had been burning in an ashtray on his desk, Philip listened passively as Garrett related the rest of his story. He remained fixed in his chair, even when his guest produced from the other side of his jacket a larger black case and opened it to display the necklace which matched the bracelet that now rested on a small stand near the fireplace.

"And so you see, sir, why it is extremely important that you think carefully before you answer me. How was it you came by that bracelet?" The green eyes held no emotion as they rested on Philip's face, but they remained on it, unblinking and steady, as their owner waited for his answer.

Philip was silent for a moment. Then he pushed back his chair and rose from the desk, walking casually toward the windows at the far side of the room. There he paused and looked out, hands clasped behind a narrow back which was turned toward Garrett.

"Well, my friend, you must allow me a moment to think. It has been a number of years since I acquired the piece. Tell me, did my niece happen to mention to you anything about my—ah—trophies—the

various documents and other prized objects you see about this chamber?"

"She did." The reply was clipped and dispassionate.

"Well, then, you are aware of my fancy for an occasional wager, are you not?"