Crimson Palace (30 page)

Jenna jumped to her feet, anger radiating from her in hot waves.

"Mother did send you, didn’t she?"

"‘Send’ is not the word. I came here because I hoped I could help. But Shinonn is concerned for you, Jenna, as well she should be. Nobody will ever love you as much as she does."

"Oh, what does she know, anyway? She expects me to marry a man who doesn’t exist. She wants a husband for me who would never choose me for his wife. And do you know why he wouldn’t? Because of her! She’s put me in a position where I will always be in a cage. Don’t you understand? Clay’s my way out!"

"Jenna, Clay will only put you in a cage worse than any you could dream of. A cage of misery. Please promise me you will at least think about what I’ve said."

"I don’t think so, Alex. Right now I’m so angry with you for coming here like this that I can’t think straight."

"I’m only here because I love you, Jenna. All I ask is that you at least think about what I’ve said. Think about the promises he has made to you, and what he’s done with his own life. Do you really believe he will be able to support you? That he will stay by you if times get tough?"

Jenna felt tears smarting behind her eyelids. Tears of anger and frustration, and deep down, where she didn’t want to look, fear. Why couldn’t anybody understand? Why couldn’t anybody be on her side for a change?

"I won’t belabor my point. I just came here hoping to perhaps show you a side of Clay that he may have kept hidden from you, to give you some enlightenment into his character that you might not have seen.

I’ve seen him treat people like I would never want you to be treated."

"But he loves me. He would never be cruel to me."

"That may be true. I don’t know. I’ve never known Clay Turner to love anyone but himself. If the truth were told, I don’t believe he loves himself all that much.

"I’ve never known anyone so full of anger and venom. He hates your mother because he believes she forced Maud into working at the bordello. But the truth is, Shinonn has never forced anyone to do anything. The fact is, she rescued Maud Turner when her husband turned his back on her and the boys."

"Oh, I’m sure mother sees it that way," she answered petulantly.

"Talk to Maud. Talk to his own mother. And not just about the past. Talk to her about Clay. She’ll set you straight."

"Oh, I have no doubt that. I’m sure that Ned is her golden child, while Clay is nothing but a burden to her. Haven’t you noticed that everybody loves Ned, but nobody is even kind to Clay? No wonder he’s so angry."

"Will you promise to at least think about what we’ve talked about today?"

Jenna knew she should be angry, but she could see the concern in Alex’s eyes. She knew that he only had her well-being at heart, even though he was mistaken about Clay.

"I’ll think about it, Uncle Alex, I promise I will. But please, don’t expect me to change my mind. I know what I feel and I know what Clay feels. I just wish everyone else would try to understand our feelings."

"Just think about it, that’s all I ask."

"I will. I promise I will." Her voice broke on the last words. "And thank you for coming. I may not agree with what you say, but I do appreciate the fact that you love me enough to be here."

She gave him a quick hug, then turned and walked quickly into the house before he could see the tears in her eyes. She nearly collided with Mei Jung in the entry hall as she rushed blindly to her room.

"You were listening to our conversation, weren’t you?" she accused. "You’re against us too! You’re all against us!"

As she ran up the stairs she failed to see the look of compassion in the Chinese woman’s eyes.

***

"You see? It’s just like I’ve been telling you all along, they’re all against me. If they had their way, I’d never have a damned thing. And they’ll do whatever it takes to keep me from having you."

Clay held Jenna in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder while he stroked the long, silken strands of her hair. He looked over her shoulder at the darkened mansion above them. All his hate and anger were momentarily directed at the occupants of the house.

"You aren’t upset that I sent you that note, are you? I know you’re supposed to be working, but I just had to see you."

"Of course I’m not angry with you, sweetheart. I’m glad you came to me. I’m just damned frustrated that we have to sneak around like this. You can damn well believe that if it was Ned you were interested in, you wouldn’t have to sneak out in the middle of the night to see him. They’d be only too happy to see you with him. But not me. Oh, no, if you want to see me you have to sneak out of the house and come down here to meet me at the river where no one can hear us."

"Well, mother never actually came right out and said that I wasn’t allowed to see you, she knows better than to do that. But every time we meet, she puts more and more pressure on me to forget you. I just don’t know how much more of this I can take."

Clay pulled her even closer. The thin rays of the moon illuminated a gleam of pleasure in his eyes as he lowered his head and began nuzzling her neck.

"Then come away with me, Jenna. Don’t let them run your life for you. Come with me to San Francisco," his voice crooned seductively.

She groaned with pleasure at the feel of his lips on her throat. Warm, exciting sensations spread throughout her body as his hands cupped her breasts.

"When?" she managed to ask, her voice husky with desire.

A triumphant smile illuminated his face.

Chapter 22

Jenna stood in the railway station attempting to look inconspicuous, an impossible feat for such a lovely young woman. The statuesque brunette looked quite striking in her navy blue and white striped dress.

The snugly fitting high necked bodice came to a figure trimming V at the waist and was edged with navy blue piping, which added a crispness to the outfit.

Her large full-brimmed straw hat balanced precariously atop the softly twisted knot of hair she had laboriously fashioned at the crown of her head. White silk roses crowded for space on its brim. In her hand she carried a white shawl made of the sheerest wool, that she could drape over the hat to help fend off the soot from the train.

With nervous fingers she smoothed away imagined wrinkles from her skirt. She stood alone, frantically searching the crowd for her first sight of Clay. He had been adamant in his insistence that they must not be seen together at the station for fear that someone who knew Shinonn would report sighting them and they would be stopped.

She glanced around the busy station, terrified she would be recognized. But as the moments passed and Clay had still Clay not appeared, a new fear niggled its way into her consciousness. What would she do if Clay didn’t come? Could he have changed his mind?

The moment of the train’s departure grew closer and closer. Would he never arrive? Would she be left standing in the station like an idiot, watching the train pull away without them?

She clutched her ticket in a sweaty hand, unconsciously turning it this way and that. Where could he be?

Why wasn’t he here? Surely he should be here by now! Against her will she thought back to Alex’s warning. Could this all be a cruel, heartless joke?

She had done just as he had instructed. She had told Mei Jung that she would be in town shopping and not to expect her back for several hours. As she had several items she wished to purchase she would not be back in time for lunch.

Shinonn had worked late the night before, so she was still asleep when Jenna left the house. Hopefully, the train would be well on its way to San Francisco before her mother awoke. If all went well, no one would be concerned about her absence until much later in the day.

Before taking her leave, she had stood in the middle of the room gazing at the possessions she must leave behind. She hated that she must leave them, but Clay had insisted that she come with only the clothes on her back and whatever she could carry in her handbag. She must give no clue that she was going anywhere but to town for a day of shopping.

In her handbag she carried all she had left of the money she had earned at the library, along with the few jewels she possessed. Other than that, she carried absolutely nothing to remind her of her life in Reno, Nevada.

Ah, finally, just as the train began to make the huffing and puffing noises of imminent departure, Clay pushed his way through the milling throng. He barely glanced her way as he passed her and boarded the train. She sighed a huge sigh of relief as she too boarded the train, choosing a separate car from that which Clay had entered.

Her heart pounded with excitement as she found a seat next to the window. As she glanced out at the passing people, a man, rushing past in his haste to board the train looked directly into her eyes. She quickly averted her face, suddenly feeling totally exposed. How stupid could she have been to sit where she could be seen so easily? What if someone who knew her mother happened to glance in and recognize her? Panic washed over her, nearly causing her to bolt from her seat.

She wondered frantically whether she should move, but decided that to do so now would only attract more attention to herself. Instead, she forced herself to pull her frazzled nerves together and turned her head away from the window. Although the words were nothing but a blur, she pretended to read the small book she had carried in her handbag.

A man, dressed in a cheap, salesman’s suit came toward her down the isle. He paused as if he might sit in the unoccupied seat next to her. She looked up, giving him a withering look of contempt. One glance into her cold, disapproving eyes was all he needed to send him on his way.

Next came a woman with two small, noisy children. They chose the seats directly in front of Jenna. With the two children fighting over who would sit by the window and who had stolen who’s toy, it took them an eternity to settle down.

A moment of silence settled over the trio in front of her when suddenly up popped the head of the eldest child, a boy of about seven. He peered at her intently from across the back of his seat. The last thing she intended to do was to become involved with a brat of a boy! She studiously ignored his attention, pretending to be completely involved in reading her book.

Nerves stretched to the absolute breaking point, her stomach began to roil,... churning, churning. She wasn’t certain which emotion was the greater, fear or excitement. For just the briefest moment she questioned whether the fear that held her in its tight grip was brought on by the thought of being stopped, or of not being stopped.

Quite suddenly her stomach lurched uncomfortably. She prayed frantically that the train would leave quickly, before her taut nerves caused her to be sick. Just when she felt she could not stand the tension one more moment, the train lurched forward and then stopped. It lurched again. Slowly, it began to edge out of the station, picking up speed as it rolled through the outskirts of Reno, heading west.

She was light-headed with relief. They were on their way! She was putting Reno behind her forever. San Francisco lured her with its siren song. Her heart began beating wildly. She wanted to laugh aloud.

The train was climbing the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas before Clay finally dropped into the empty seat beside her. Without saying a word, they exchanged grins. He reached over for her hand, giving it a squeeze.

He carefully placed a large leather satchel on the floor between his feet, taking great care to place it just so, handling it almost reverently. A slight frown crossed Jenna’s face as she recalled how insistent he had been that she bring nothing with her. Why did he get to bring his things with him while she had to leave hers behind?

"I thought we weren’t going to bring any of our belongings with us," Jenna said as her eyes rested pointedly on the valise.

Clay’s answering look chilled her. She couldn’t remember ever seeing his eyes look so cold.

"You’d better be real happy I brought this along. Without it, we wouldn’t stand a chance of making it in San Francisco. From here on out, you just let me do the thinking for the both of us, all right?"

She was more than a little put off by Clay’s attitude, but attributed it to the tension they were both experiencing. She eyed the satchel with curiosity. What could be so important, she wondered? She contemplated various possibilities, finally deciding that it must contain important papers he would need in his new position in San Francisco.

Even though she realized that the contents were of vast importance to Clay, Jenna was still amazed when he actually took it with him when he went to the washroom. Surely he could trust her to guard it for those brief moments! When they went to the dining car he carried the valise, holding it with a vise-like grip.

And when he closed his eyes to nap, he cradled the valise on his lap, wrapping his arms around it securely.

She was dying for just one glimpse into the infernal thing! With each turning of the wheels her curiosity increased, until she could think of nothing else. But her frustration would know no relief. As much as she wanted to see its contents, it was very obvious Clay had no intention of allowing it.

***

Because they still faced a ferry ride across the San Francisco bay at the end of the railroad line, she was not all that surprised that no one had come to greet them when they stepped off the train. But she was somewhat disappointed to find that there was no greeting party at the ferry terminus in San Franciso. As important as Clay’s new position must be, you would think that his employers would have sent someone to meet them!

She looked at Clay, expecting him to be upset by such an obvious breech of etiquette, but his face showed no emotion. Absorbed in his own thoughts, he not only appeared unaware that they had been slighted, he barely seemed to notice that she stood waiting expectantly beside him.

Shrugging off her disappointment, she felt her pulse race with excitement at the thought of their impending marriage. She wondered how soon the ceremony could be performed and where they would live. Would they stay at one of the sumptuous hotels he had described so eloquently? Would they marry today, or would Clay insist on waiting until a proper ceremony could be planned?