Crystal Passion

by Jo Goodman

  "Our wedding, dear," Darlene reminded him. "Ashley, you're bound to learn that month-long parties have been known to be held for occasions less appropriate than a wedding. Just wait until after the fall harvest. You and Salem will be overwhelmed with invitations to spend time with other planters."

  "Oh." Ashley's eyes grew wide. "I never thought about entertaining. Will it be expected of me?"

  "Not while you're living at the landing. The primary responsibility for that will rest with Charity, but you will find her gracious and happy to share some of the duties of chatelaine. On the matter of your wedding, however, you have no say. I'll wager guests have started arriving already."

  "You'd win," Gareth said. "The Lees and Chases arrived today. I have to say that everyone at the landing looks particularly pleased about the wedding. Everyone but Jerusalem. He doesn't seem to know what to do with himself."

  "Gareth! You've worried Ashley. She's probably thinking your brother wants to forget the entire matter."

  Ashley's guilty flush told Gareth his wife was correct in her assumption. He tried to explain. "It's just that Salem would like to have it done with."

  Darlene sighed. "Now you're making it sound as if he wants a hurried affair."

  "Salem looks as if he's lost his best friend," he said triumphantly.

  "Your brother looks that way when he hasn't been at sea for two months."

  "Well, then you explain it."

  Darlene circled the table and whispered in Ashley's ear until Ashley's blush surfaced. She calmly returned to her chair. A few minutes later Ashley excused herself from the table and Gareth confronted his wife.

  "What did you say to pinken her cheeks, Darlene?"

  "Just some girl talk, Gareth. I told her that Salem knew precisely what he wanted to do with himself, and that was to be with her, right now."

  Gareth raised an eyebrow. "And that was all?"

  "I was a little naughtier, now that I think of it."

  "I don't suppose you'd care to explain."

  "If we could retire to the bedroom, I may be able to recall my phrasing."

  "Then by all means, let us retire."

  In her room Ashley could hear their giggles and knew a shattering sense of loneliness. She hugged her pillow, wondering if Salem felt this way. She wished he was with her at this moment, doing just one of the things Darlene had whispered in her ear. Her wedding day couldn't happen a moment too soon.

  * * *

  Ashley closed her eyes and leaned her head against the rim of the tub, exposing the smooth expanse of her neck. She lifted her wet cloth and lazily dribbled a few drops of the warm scented water on the hollow of her throat. The relentless patter of rain outside her chamber window was seductively relaxing, and Ashley enjoyed the luxury of a few minutes to herself, something she had not had since Gareth and Darlene had returned her to the landing earlier in the day.

  Much against her own wishes she was secreted in her room before Salem or any of the guests knew she was in the house. Her new wardrobe, with exception of her wedding dress, was taken to the suite of rooms she would share with Salem. While Rae and Leah exclaimed over every purchase before it was carried off, Ashley sat quietly at the window seat, hoping for a glimpse of Salem in the yard. Meg pulled her away, sat her in front of the looking glass, and began experimenting with her hair. Ashley felt as if she had no voice in anything that was happening to her. Rae liked her hair up; Leah liked it down. Darlene suggested a braid, and when Charity breezed through the room she said it would look better in ringlets. Meg halted all comments and ordered everyone from the room when she saw Ashley biting her lip and looking suspiciously bright-eyed.

  "Don't be gettin' yourself in a tizzy," Meg warned her when the chamber was empty. "You'd be lookin' lovely if you was to be married in a sackcloth."

  Ashley brushed impatiently at her eyes. "Don't pay me any mind. I suppose I'm simply nervous."

  "Well, you can't be any worse than Mr. Salem. He's been snappin' at everyone this mornin'. And we all know it's because his Ma won't let him see you. Oh, that man's in a right fit temper. You'll be lucky if he don't ravish you in front of the minister and the guests."

  "Meg!"

  "Sure, and it's the truth I be speakin'. Mr. Salem has it bad for you."

  Ashley felt her skin tingle. "Couldn't I see him before the wedding?"

  "Not with my help you can't. I like my position in this house and I'll not be sneakin' Mr. Salem in here. You only have two more hours." Meg gave Ashley's hair a few hard strokes and set the brush aside, then drew her a bath scented with fragrant oils. When Ashley was finally alone, her body soothed by the steaming water, she felt as if she hadn't a concern in the world.

  "Why didn't we have the sense to elope?"

  Ashley jerked upright at the sound of the husky voice. Salem was kneeling by her tub and the look of wicked amusement on his face sent Ashley's temperature higher than the water.

  "How did you get in here?" she whispered.

  "That's a fine greeting for a man you haven't seen in over a week."

  "Have you taken leave of your senses?"

  "That is a distinct possibility," he admitted reasonably. His voice held a calmness belied by the hungry searching of his eyes.

  "You have to leave." She held up her small washcloth to cover the swell of her breasts. It clung like a second skin and did nothing to redirect Salem's attention. "Salem, this is really too bad of you." She slipped lower in the water trying to catch his eye. "You have to go. What will everyone say if you're found in here?"

  "Nothing different than they're saying now. Everyone thinks I'm acting strangely. Sit up before you drown. I promise to look no lower than your neck." Before Ashley could protest he leaned over the tub and placed a quick kiss on her throat. "God, but you taste good."

  "You have to leave."

  "What a tiresome refrain." He lifted his head and spoke to the air above him. "Is this the same woman who was asking to see me only a few moments ago? Can my love truly be this fickle?"

  "You heard?"

  "Every word. I was listening shamelessly at the door that connects with Leah's chamber. Luckily Leah is getting ready in Rahab's room. When I heard Meg go I slipped in. You were oblivious. Dare I hope you were thinking of me?"

  "Have you been this troublesome to everyone since I've been away?" she asked, ignoring his question.

  "More so." He grinned. When the smile faded, his features were set seriously. "You don't have any doubts, do you?"

  She shook her head, her eyes grave. "No. Do you?"

  "None."

  "Is that why you sneaked in here, to ask me that?"

  "Partly. I had to be certain you weren't entering this marriage against your will."

  "Why would you think that? If you recall, I proposed."

  Salem shrugged. "I suppose I've had too much time to think while you were away. I was afraid it may have been the babe that provoked your feelings."

  "You're insulting me, Salem," she said quietly.

  He sighed, running a finger along the damp curve of her shoulder. "You know that wasn't my intention. I was just trying—"

  "To give me an opportunity to exit graciously from your life. And if I had chosen this moment to exit, what would you have done? Would you have let me leave?"

  "No," he said. "I couldn't let you go."

  A smile touched her face, embracing his heart. "And I'll never give you the chance." She took his hand that lay on her shoulder and held it to her cheek. "I do love you, you know. For all that you are impatient and immodest and impossible."

  "I think that's all I wanted to hear," he told her. "No, not the last part, Miss Lynne. The middle part, where you said you loved me."

  "I know it is. Now will you leave? This water is getting cold and if your mother walked in here I would die of embarrassment."

  Salem flicked water in her face and while she was laughing and sputtering he left the room, this time with a spring in his step that no one at the landing had
seen in days.

  Meg fluttered in from the hallway. Her orange hair was mussed and her lips were looking as if they had been very well kissed. "It's time for you to be out of that tub, Miss Ashley, or I'll be blamed for you lookin' like a crone on your wedding day."

  She helped Ashley from the bath and began patting her dry over protests that she could manage the thing herself, thank you. "I don't know what it is about weddings that makes men a little touched in the upperworks," Meg went on conversationally. "Your man comes tippy toein' out of Miss Leah's room and walks right past me as if I wasn't there. Then when I've gathered my wits and am ready to give him a piece of my mind, out jumps his lookout and says, 'There'll be none of your snippy tongue now, Meg Culgan,' and proceeds to kiss me quite senseless."

  Ashley giggled. "What did you do?"

  "I gave Shannon a good box on his ears and told him there would be no more of that until he proposed marriage."

  "And did he?"

  Meg wrapped the linen towel around Ashley then plopped herself down on the bed. "Yes," she said, stunned. She looked at Ashley, bewildered, as if she only now realized what had happened in the corridor.

  Ashley hugged her. "Oh, Meg, that's wonderful. You told him yes, didn't you?"

  "I can't remember!" she wailed. "He had me all flustered!"

  Ashley began laughing at the maid's woebegone expression and didn't stop until a hiccup brought her up short. "It isn't fair—hic—what men can do to us," she said. "They shouldn't—hic—be allowed—hic—to make us so dizzy."

  "Ashley! Meg! Have you been drinking?" Charity demanded from the doorway. She shut the door hastily as her question sent both young women into another fit of laughter.

  Meg jumped up from the bed and began gathering Ashley's lacy underthings. "No, ma'am. We haven't had a drop of anything, though a touch of sherry may be just the thing to calm the bride."

  Ashley hiccupped again. "Just some water will do."

  "No, I think Meg's right. Sherry's the thing. I'll send someone for it. Meg, when I return, please endeavor to have Ashley at least partially dressed."

  Charity was back in the room within ten minutes, and Ashley was suitably attired in her silky chemise and petticoats. Meg had her in front of the mirror again, and they were pinning her hair in a sweep of soft curls.

  "You look very lovely, Charity," Ashley told her while Meg twisted her hair. Charity was wearing a gown of rose silk cut low over her white shoulders and trimmed at the bodice with a lace fichu. At the elbows were soft white ruffles, and the hem of the gown was delicately embroidered with a tracing of flowers.

  "Thank you, m'dear." She gave Ashley the glass of sherry. "Sip it. I admit I had a small glass myself a little while ago. I don't recall being this nervous at my own wedding, though the children tell me I was not all of one piece when Gareth married."

  "Are there many guests here?"

  "Oh, no. Fewer than one hundred. Of course they all won't be staying past tonight, though I could wish for better weather to see them on their way. I wouldn't be surprised if some have to stay over that weren't expected."

  Ashley did not hear much beyond one hundred. It was an enormous number in her mind. "So many?" She choked. She quickly took a rather large sip of her sherry.

  "Never mind about it, dear. I doubt you'll notice anyone but Salem. Now, there are still a few details that must be attended to. You know that Robert is giving you away?"

  Ashley's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh, thank you. I never thought—"

  Charity brushed her thanks aside, afraid they would all get weepy if they dwelled on it. "There is no single room in this house large enough to accommodate all the guests at one time, which is why the ceremony was supposed to take place outside. However, Meg says the heavens are weepin' for joy today at the marriage of one of their angels, and—"

  "Did you say that, Meg?" Ashley was wistful "That's lovely."

  "I did, miss, and that'll be enough of the sherry. It's one thing to be an angel, quite another to float through your vows."

  "And because of that," Charity went on blithely, "you'll have to be married on the grand staircase. I'm certain most everyone can manage to see you from there."

  "On the staircase?"

  "It's quite lovely. The servants have decorated it with honeysuckle and roses. Now Robert will escort you to Jerusalem at a point halfway down the stairs."

  "What if I trip?"

  "Every bride thinks it and I haven't met one who does."

  Ashley was skeptical, though she said nothing.

  "Don't refine on it," Charity said, breezing out of the room. "You'll see, once the ceremony starts it's like magic."

  Much later Ashley reflected that Charity was not far off the mark. There was a moment when she stood at the top of the stairs, looking down on Salem and nearly one hundred guests, that she wanted to flee to the safety of her chamber. Only Robert's gentle nudge on her elbow got her started down the stairs. Then she caught Salem's intent silver gaze, and it pulled her toward him, only him, and nothing could have made her turn from her path.

  She recalled the first time she had seen him and wondered how she could have ever feared this man. There was nothing even remotely savage about Salem McClellan, yet there was a hint of some fierce passion about him that could not be confined to elegant clothes and social mores. He looked astonishingly handsome and supremely confident as he waited for her beside the minister. His waistcoat and breeches were severely cut, fitting tightly across the breadth of his shoulders and smoothly muscled thighs. The soft pewter satin accented the color of his eyes and made his hair seem darker. The snowy cravat at his throat contrasted the touch of sun in his complexion. One part of Ashley's mind noted his attire, but it was the faint look of longing touching his face that drew her to his side.

  Salem could not remember breathing from the time he saw Ashley at the top of the stairs until she was safely in hand. She didn't seem quite real to him, more ethereal than of his world. When she stood poised on the first step looking like a delicate porcelain doll, he was afraid she would never reach him. But she had looked at him then and what he saw in her eyes belied her fragile air. Her emerald eyes glistened with the strength of the love she bore him.

  He watched her descent solemnly and heard the faint whisper of her brocaded white silk gown against the carpet. As she drew closer he saw that the embroidered folds of her gown were a delicate shade of pink that exactly matched the slippers she wore. A lace handkerchief covered the soft curves of her shoulders bared by the gown's neckline and fastened in the front with a large bow of white satin ribbon and pink rosebuds. Salem's fingers itched to unfasten the ribbon, but he suspected his mother had left a thorn or two on those rosebuds. Ashley's hair, arranged on her head in a fall of loose curls, looked especially inviting until he spied rosebuds there also.

  He forgot about rosebuds altogether as his father kissed Ashley's cheek and gave over her hand.

  The ceremony was completed without pause or hesitation. Ashley remembered Salem's voice, clear and deep, repeating his marriage vows with a sureness that would have shattered lingering doubts if she had had any. Salem knew that Ashley spoke her vows quietly and carefully, as if she were engraving each one on her heart. They both exchanged sidelong glances and secret smiles when they overheard Charity's whispered plea for a handkerchief and Robert's indulgent sigh. When Salem slipped a simple gold band on Ashley's finger, his hand stilled her faint trembling, and the gentle squeeze he gave warmed her. Neither Ashley nor Salem would ever remember the moment they were pronounced husband and wife, but neither would forget the moment Salem was permitted to kiss his bride.

  His eyes danced as he took Ashley's hands in his own. "They're waiting," he whispered to tease her. "But not nearly as anxiously as I am."

  For the first time in twenty minutes Ashley became aware of the guests that looked on from the foyer and hallway below. Unfamiliar faces stared up at her from the opened doorways to the parlor, library, and music room. Vaguely
she realized the squeeze of people no longer bothered her and, undaunted by their expectant looks or Salem's wicked expression, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him very soundly indeed.

  When it became Salem's kiss she wasn't sure, but at some point she felt herself surrender to his practiced loving. As though from a great distance she heard the minister clear his throat, yet she was powerless to pull away from her husband. She heard Leah's exaggerated sigh and Rae's delightful giggle. Noah coughed to cover his laughter. Gareth's chuckle was cut short by Darlene's elbow in his ribs, though a smile tugged at her lips. Robert's glance at his wife said clearly that she had asked for this display by separating the two lovers for so long. Charity looked dutifully chastened then hid her smile while she pretended to dab at her eyes.

  When Salem finally broke the kiss a collective shout of celebration greeted the newlyweds. He turned Ashley to face her guests and noted with some satisfaction that her cheeks had pinkened to the exact shade of her slippers. He bent his head and whispered in her ear. "When you begin a kiss such as you did, you must bear the consequences."

  "Perhaps you'll instruct me later," she answered.

  "My pleasure."

  "And mine."

  Salem's eyebrows shot up at Ashley's husky response. He planned to spend a lifetime with her, but he doubted he would ever understand how she could blush so innocently one moment then tease him so boldly the next. He didn't have time to consider it now as he was drawn into the receiving line and given congratulations from his friends and family. He watched Ashley with loving pride as she graciously accepted best wishes and strove to put a name to every face that greeted her.

  By the time the introductions were complete many of the guests had already helped themselves to the wide selection of food available in the dining room. When Salem escorted her to the oak table, heavily ladened with food, Ashley saw Tildy and the kitchen maids had outdone themselves preparing the feast. There were at least thirty dishes, attractively presented and in such a quantity that it made Ashley blink. She recognized squab, crabmeat, sugar-glazed ham, and several kinds of fish. There was rice and sweet potatoes, honey-coated dinner rolls and biscuits, fresh fruit in a watermelon basket, a colorful variety of vegetables, and more sauces than Ashley knew existed. At the end of the table were an assortment of warm and cold pies and tiny chocolates.