“Come in my room, and I will tell you about it, while I wait for Rand to return,” she said, opening the door to her room with the key Rand had handed her.
James, looked around, and then followed her into the room. He knew it wasn’t wise to go to her room with her alone, but he needed to talk to her. Leatrisha sat in one of the chairs, and indicated James take the other chair.
“It was all a misunderstanding,” she told him, and started in on the story about the slaves, and how she ended up with Theodore. As she talked about the slaves and her feelings about how no human being should be owned by another, James reached out and grabbed her hand.
“Listen, Lettie. I shouldn’t be telling you this, since you will soon be owner of several slaves yourself, but you seem to feel the same way about slavery as I do. I’m involved with something. You might be able to help me out from time to time.”
“What?” Leatrisha said, leaning closer, as James lowered his voice.
“It’s called the underground railroad. Slaves are free in the north, and if a slave can get there without being caught, they can live their own lives how ever they wish. The underground railroad, helps slaves escape to the north. We need to find safe places to hide them along the way, though. Maybe you could find a safe place to keep them. We go through the woods, on the other side of Ravenswood,” he informed her.
“Oh James, that is very dangerous. If you ever got caught, they would hang you!”
“They would never suspect a woman, marrying a plantation owner, though,” he whispered back.
“Rand treats his slaves fairly,” Leatrisha stated.
“But many owners don’t. They beat their slaves, and keep them shackled while they work the fields. They hardly feed them enough to stay alive, and they separate families, even selling babies out of their mother’s arms, so the woman can get back to work in the fields, instead of suckling a child. They are treated like animals, Lettie. Worse than animals. If there is any way you could help. We need supplies, to feed the slaves, while in transport, and a place to keep them during the day. We can only travel at night. There are a few safe houses, but none once we get into the woods.”
“I ride my horse out there all the time,” Leatrisha breathed. “I know the woods well. There is an old abandoned shack, with a root cellar just over the rise, at the end of the cotton fields. I could leave some food in the cellar, and maybe you could hide the slaves there during the day, we have already picked that field, and it won’t be ready for planting for awhile yet, I don’t think. The overseer seldom goes out that way.”
“We would appreciate any kind of help that we can get,” James responded. “I knew I could count on you, Lettie,” he smiled, and he reached over and kissed her on the cheek.
“What in damnation is going on here?” Rand’s voice boomed at the adjoining door to their rooms. Leatrisha jumped up, and James moved away from her. “You promised, Lettie, that you would act befitting an engaged woman, and here you are, sneaking behind my back, in order to make love to that boy of yours! You know what I told you would happen if I ever caught you, so much as touching hands with any man,” he growled. “Leave this room at once,” he said, turning to James.
“Nothing was going on,” James responded. “Lettie is my old playmate. That is all she is to me.”
“Out!” Rand yelled, and James removed himself.
“Now, for you, young lady. You never seem to learn, do you? Who knows who saw you entering your room with a man, other than the man you are supposedly supposed to marry?”
“No one saw us,” Leatrisha whimpered, as she saw the anger in Rand’s eyes.
“You don’t know that!” Rand, said, grabbing up her wrist. “I can’t trust you for one moment when ever I turn my back! Turn around!” he demanded, pulling her around and undoing the buttons on her dress, tugging at the strings of her corset, and then ripping away her under things until she stood naked before him, trembling.
“Apparently the last beating I gave you was not convincing enough!” he roared. “Why do you persist on trying me so?”
Once she was undressed, he sat on the bed and pulled her over his lap, face down, bringing his hand down on her bare bottom, with a resounding slap, as he had done on the ship. Back then, she claimed she had a good excuse for kissing James, but now he wondered if he should have even believed her!
Each time his hand made contact with her tender skin, the slap became harder and more fierce than the one before. It seemed as though he was never going to stop bringing his hand down upon her, and though she didn’t cry out, she could not stop the tears from flowing.
Finally, he pulled her up, and shook her, his breath coming hard and fast.
“Don’t ever let this happen again. I told you, you would have to answer to me if you disobeyed me, like this again and this is how you shall answer to me in the future if you persist, before your indenture has expired!”
Then he threw her against the bed, and walked out of the room.
Leatrisha, crawled under the covers, laying on her stomach, as her bottom throbbed, covered in hand prints. She couldn’t believe that Rand would do such a thing. Not again, but something about her even talking to James, seemed to enrage him, and it was probably because she had allowed James to touch her, and she had touched him. Every time she ever brought it up, he seemed to get impatient with her, she realized.
He had always managed to hold his temper, when she had tested him once she arrived at his plantation. He thought his rough treatment of her on the ship was a single event that would never happen again, but now she saw that he must be more cruel than she thought him to be.
She hadn’t even been trying to test him. She had merely been talking to James, even though it was traitorous talk. But she hadn’t know James was going to solicit her help. She didn’t realize he would impulsively kiss her either. Her body shook with tears of humiliation, not only for the fact that she had disobeyed Rand, but the fact that he ripped her clothes from her and punished her with that same hand that had caressed her so lovingly at one time. She hated the man! Every time she turned around, he was treating her in unthinking ways, and while many times it was her own fault, other times he just jumped to conclusions before she could explain. Once again he had not given her a chance to explain herself.
She was so angry, she wanted to punish him, in the same way he had punished her, only she knew she could never physically punish him. She would have to emotionally punish him, she told herself, not only by her treatment of him, but by her actions which she would flaunt at him when the time came.
Leatrisha, put her dress back on, not bothering to put any of her underclothes on. She cautiously opened the door to her room, and then hurried out the front door.
“Where is the Livery stable?” she asked the first person that she met. He pointed her in the direction, and Leatrisha, ran down the street towards it, her heart pounding at what she was about to do.
When she came inside, she saw James sitting in a chair in the corner.
“Lettie!” he exclaimed when she came up to him. “You have been crying!” he murmured, when she got closer.
“Are you here alone?” she asked.
“The place is full for now, so we are closed for the weekend. But I have to remain here for a few more hours,” he told her. “What did he do to you?” he demanded.
“Come into our carriage, and I will show you,” she told him.
“What do you mean, show me?” he asked, as she took his hand and lead him to Rand’s carriage.
When the door was closed, Leatrisha, lifted her skirt, turning her exposed bottom to him so he could view the hand welts on her white skin.
“Heavens Lettie. How could you marry a man like that?” he asked.
“I am going to tell you a secret, James,” she said, while she started unfastening the buttons of her dress as she talked. “I am not marrying Rand. I was never going to marry him. I am his indentured servant, and must pretend to be engaged to him, in order to pay for my passage t
o America. It is necessary to keep a certain woman he knows at bay. As soon as my debt is paid, I shall be free to leave him.”
“How long will that be?” he asked.
“Four to six years. By then I will have my inheritance and can do as I please. But I shall not stand for his abusive treatment of me in the future. I would insist he send me back home, but now he has only made me want to rebel against him. So I am going to stay, and help you with freeing slaves. What we were doing was innocent, and he punished me for what he imagined I was going to do with you. Therefore, since I have already received my punishment, I might as well make it worth what he dished out.”
When she said the words, she let the top of her dress fall, as she finished unfastening the buttons, and James just stared at her breasts which had filled out a lot more from the last time he had seen her.
“Take your clothes of, James, and we shall pick up from where we left off the last time we were together like this.”
“You sure, Lettie?”
“I am never going to marry him, James. I want you to be the one to have my virginity, and no one else.”
“Do you love me, Lettie?” he asked pulling his eyes from her breasts to her face.
“I have missed you, James. You don’t know how much I have missed you.” She reached out and started unbuttoning his shirt. “You deserve to have me, not him.”
“Then he hasn’t ever taken you?” James breathed.
“I said I was still a virgin, didn’t I? I want to end that right now,” she whispered, as she pushed his shirt from his arms, and started working on the fastens to his trousers.
“Oh, Lettie. I thought I had lost you forever,” he breathed, as he leaned over her.
She felt him pushing into her, and she started to squirm, but she was determined, so she didn’t whimper at the first feeling of discomfort. Instead, she pulled James’s head down to her, and begin to kiss him as he continued with what he was doing. She would do it right here in Rand’s carriage, and every time she rode in it, she would remember, she told herself, as she found herself starting to move against James. It wasn’t as awful as she had thought it would be, and she remembered how the woman had cried out in pleasure, beneath Sam, and now she realized she was the woman crying out in pleasure.
Eventually, she got dressed, kissing James, as though she did not want to leave him.
“How will I know when you are going to bring runaway slaves?” she asked.
“Ride up to the woods every day. When you see a red bandana tied to the tree by the trail, you will know we are coming the next morning,” he told her. “I love you, Lettie.”
“I know, James. Good-bye for now,” she said, removing herself from the carriage.
She didn’t know if she loved James the same way he loved her or not. But it didn’t matter. She was no longer a virgin, so Rand couldn’t protect her from that any longer, she told herself. He would rue the day he ever decided to lay a hand on her, she told herself, as she found her way back to the hotel.
Just as she removed her dress, and crawled back under the covers, there was a tap on the door, and Rand came in.
“It is time to get ready for the play,” he said softly.
“I don’t believe I can sit through a play,” she said hotly. “My birthday has been ruined, Rand. Therefore, I wish you to return me back to the plantation in the morning.”
Rand walked over to the bed.
“Lettie, can you forgive me? My temper just took over, seeing James kissing you. I was beside myself with…with…”
“You punished me for something I hadn’t even done,” Leatrisha said evenly. Then she threw the covers back, exposing her nude body to him. “But I made up for it, Rand. You are now looking at a woman who has just lost her virginity. I left the hotel, and met James. I let him take my virginity from me as a birthday present to him, and to me! We did it right in your very carriage. Now when you ride in it you can think of me with James there! You don’t have to worry about me saving myself for my future husband, because when I leave your service, I shall be marrying James!”
Rand felt his heart hit the floor at her words. She had begged him to touch her as a birthday present to her, and he had turned her down, then in one moment of jealousy, he had destroyed any chance of ever having her as his own. He had pushed her into James arms without realizing it. He had no one to blame but himself. Why had he ever laid a hand on her? She was right to go to someone else for the love she craved. By right, he should just release her, only she had no way of supporting herself, and he didn’t think James had the means to keep her the way she should be kept. Besides something inside of him would not let her go, even now that he had alienated her from him. It would be six years before she could ever marry James. At least he would have her for that amount of time.
“Very well,” he choked “I shall see you in the morning.”
The door shut soundly, and Leatrisha burst out into fresh tears. She hated, Rand, for ruining any hope that she would ever really be his, and she hated herself for going to James and giving him hope that she loved him. It was her way of getting back at Rand for not wanting to marry her, for not wanting to touch her, for not being the man she was going to marry. She wished she were dead, but then she couldn’t help the slaves escape, or teach Theodore how to read, or ever ride Black Magic again if she were dead. Somehow she would have to find the fortitude to continue on.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“What is that?” Theodore asked as he pointed to the red bandana tied to the tree on the trail in the woods.
“Someone must have lost it when it snagged the tree,” Leatrisha said.
“But it is tied, not snagged,” Theodore pointed out.
“Maybe someone put it there so they wouldn’t get lost,” Leatrisha suggested. “Come on, Theodore, who ever it belongs to, will probably come back and claim it. Let’s go back for lunch.”
Leatrisha, turned Black Magic back towards the plantation, her heart pounding. She had almost forgotten about the underground railroad. It had been two weeks since her birthday trip to Huntsville, and during those two weeks, she had stayed as far away from Rand as she could. From time to time, she could see him watching her, but she tried to ignore him. She ate with the slaves, and spent her free time with Theodore, teaching him how to read, and helping sissy in the cotton field. In the evening she would go and sit with the slaves when they gathered around a fire, to sing and talk, and tell stories of their tribal ways, by those who could remember them.
When she went to bed at night, she was always tired, and went right to sleep, so she wouldn’t have to think about anything, but getting through the next six years.
“Lettie!” She raised her head to see Rand coming out to where she was sliding down from Black Magic’s back. “You need to get cleaned up and get dressed. We are expected for dinner tonight at the Huffington’s. Didn’t you hear me tell you earlier today?”
She seldom ever listened to what Rand said to her any more. She didn’t want to talk to him or listen to him, and now she looked crossly at him. She could not leave tonight. She had to sneak supplies out to the abandoned shack.
“How long are we going to be gone?” she asked.
“We should be home before midnight,” he told her. “Unless you would rather stay in town.”
“No. I would rather come back here,” she insisted. That would still give her time to put something in the cellar of the shack, before dawn, she told herself.
“Very well, if you insist. I hope you are up to acting your part tonight,” he smiled, hoping she would not become rebellious and embarrass him.”
“I do not go back on my word, like some people I know,” she hissed.
“Lettie. Please forgive me for my treatment of you. I promise I will never lay a hand on you again. I…I just hadn’t expected to see you with James. I knew you loved James. It is probably not fair for me to keep you from him, but you agreed from the beginning. You have to serve out your time. And in the meantime
, I would appreciate it if you did not meet with James where someone might notice you. If I am forced to publicly release you, I will have to send you back to England, and you will never see James again. If you keep defying me, I may have no other choice.”
“What will happen after the conventional year?” she asked. “Then what?”
“We have a year to figure that out,” he told her. “Now go get dressed.”
Rand did not want to think about sending Leatrisha back to England. He did not want to think about her meeting James, ever. She was right about his envisioning the two of them together, every time he sat in his carriage. It was almost more than he could deal with, realizing that James had been the first one to ever touch her, and then to ever have her completely. He would never have that same pleasure, he realized. He just had to get over it, he scolded himself.
As he sat next to Leatrisha in his carriage, those were the thoughts that wandered through his head, but he was envisioning himself with her in the carriage, not James. He hoped James fulfilled her in the way she deserved to be treated. He was young and inexperienced. He may not know what a woman desired intimately.
“Stop looking at me,” Leatrisha, murmured. “I know what you are thinking!”
“And what might that be?” he drawled.
She turned her head away from him, and he chuckled.
“I was thinking about when you asked me to touch you on your birthday, as a present. I wish now I had agreed,” he told her quietly. “Maybe then you wouldn’t have gone to James.”
Leatrisha turned and looked at him. “You had first choice, but the only way you wanted to touch me, was in punishment, and then you are upset because you know James was the one who touched me instead,” she accused.
“Yes. That is the very reason. I hope he made you feel the way you were hoping you would,” he responded.
“Strange you should be concerned, considering the way you touched me was not what I was hoping for. But what James did is between him and me,” she said, thinking that James really did not touch her much at all. All he did was enter her, and just as it was starting to feel good to her, he had finished, and pulled away from her.
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