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Lynette Vinet

Page 17

by Wild Eden Wicked


  Damon had to want to marry her. She hadn’t mentioned anything to him, but she thought she was pregnant, and she’d be damned if she’d tell him before they were married. A shot gun wedding was the last thing she wanted.

  “The water rights need to be resolved,” he said. It seemed he was purposely eluding a response to her earlier remark. “But Sutherland is gone away on business, I’ve heard. Just like the bastard to dodge me when he knows how eager I am to get the papers signed.”

  “The water rights are very important, aren’t they?” Eden asked, pulling the sheet across her bare breasts. “Since you aren’t getting anywhere with Jock, perhaps I could speak to him when he returns.”

  “Over my bloody dead body you will!”

  “Damon, I have a way with Jock. I know I can sway him.”

  “Aye, I’m quite aware of how Sutherland wants you to sway him, but no, Eden, you’re not to speak to him. The water rights are my concern.”

  “Have you forgotten who owns half of Thunder Mine, you arrogant bully? I care what happens to it and the miners, too, you know. And I don’t care for the way you’re treating me, like I’m some sort of silly woman without a brain in my head.”

  “It’s not your brain I’m worried about, but the rest of you. Remember what happened two weeks ago with Bert Carruthers? You couldn’t fight him off, and he was half drunk. What do you think would happen to you if Jock Sutherland takes it into his head to try something? Believe me, he won’t be drunk and you can’t rely on Tiku to help you or for me to punch the man’s face in. I’m giving you one warning: stay away from Sutherland.”

  Eden seethed with indignation. She was his partner, but he didn’t see her as that. He’d already made up his mind about the water rights, not even considering that if they approached Sutherland together the man might relent. And as far as approaching him on her own, he would have none of it. Clearly, Damon only wanted her to sate his sensual appetites, the very thing he accused Jock of wanting.

  “I can make decisions, too,” she persisted. “I don’t just run the house. The miners respect what I say, unlike some person I could name whose stubborn streak runs the length of South Island.”

  “Hmm, you’re a feisty little miss.”

  “I won’t be a miss for long, I hope, and I’m not little.”

  Damon gently tugged the sheet from her fingers and gazed at her full, rounded bosom. He grinned. “I’ll say you’re not little.” He put out his cheroot and pulled her down beneath him on the mattress to kiss and plunder her breasts with his tongue. “You’re delicious, and as intoxicating as a magnolia.”

  “I didn’t know you knew what a magnolia smelled like,” she murmured, growing dazed by his mouth moving across her body.

  “I don’t, but I’m betting they smell sweet, like you,”

  Eden knew Damon was a true Irishman by the blarney he spoke. He wanted her to forget about Sutherland and the water rights. He thought that if he made love to her, she’d be so overcome by his prowess that she’d put it all out of her head. Well, she’d forget about it for now. It was hard to concentrate on what she’d say to Jock Sutherland when Damon was kissing her entire body and driving her wild with desire. But when her head cleared and her body was satiated by his lovemaking, she’d rehearse what she was going to say when she met Jock Sutherland again.

  For the moment she reveled in Damon’s hot need, eagerly welcoming him when he slid inside her. Tomorrow she’d worry about Jock and the water rights. Tonight she belonged only to Damon.

  ~~~

  Jock waited in a hired carriage near Littleton Harbor, observing the house that stood near the waterfront. It was in disgraceful condition and he couldn’t help but wonder if its outside mirrored the person who inhabited it. It was imperative in Tessa’s line of work for her to be attractive, but he didn’t hold much hope. Being a whore probably had taken its toll upon her looks.

  He grew alert when the front door opened. A young, robust man was leaving. His eyes followed him down the street. He decided it was finally time to call on Tessa Alexander but was thwarted when another man coming from the opposite direction went up to the house and knocked. Immediately he was admitted inside.

  “Damn!” Jock’s disgruntled curse echoed in the carriage. He threw himself against the cushioned seat. How many men was she going to entertain before the night was over? This was the third one to arrive in the last two hours. He remembered Tessa as being insatiable. She was well suited to whoring, but he was tired of sitting here and waiting to catch her in between customers.

  Jock sighed heavily. There was nothing to do but wait. He’d arrived in Christ Church some days ago, believing Tessa would be easy to find again, but he’d been wrong. The man she’d run away with, one Jacob Shelton, a wealthy local businessman, was no longer available to give Jock her address. Shelton had died almost two years ago, Jock learned from the firm he’d owned. No one there knew anything about Tessa Alexander, who’d been his mistress. But fate intervened in the form of Shelton’s widow, who happened to be at the firm the day Jock made inquiries. Mrs. Shelton had informed him coldly that on the death of Mr. Shelton, his wife and children had evicted the whore, as Mrs. Shelton called Tessa. Since Shelton’s will made no provisions for Tessa, she had to make her way the best she could.

  Apparently a dingy, dilapidated house in one of the worst sections of Christ Church was the best Tessa could do for herself. Jock was shocked. He’d have thought she’d have latched on to another wealthy man by now.

  Stupid bitch. She could have been Mrs. Jock Sutherland; but she’d stupidly chosen to marry Damon Alexander instead. Jock remembered being enraged beyond belief when he learned she’d decided to marry Damon. Only the night before had he held the deceitful tart in his arms. He loved her beyond caring that she was poor and uneducated, the daughter of a drunken miner. He’d have given her anything she wanted to hear her whisper she loved him. Instead, she wanted Alexander because the mine was unbelievably prosperous at the time, and Jock was just a sheepman. He’d found Tessa in town with Damon, shortly before their wedding. Damon and he had fought each other like bucks over a doe. Jock lost, the scar on his cheek a tangible reminder of how much he hated Alexander and Tessa. But he’d kept up with her, even after she’d run off with Shelton. And now he was going to put his knowledge of her whereabouts to good use.

  Soon he’d wreak his vengeance on both of them.

  Half an hour later the third man departed Tessa’s house. Without waiting a second longer, Jock sprinted from the carriage and went to the door. He clearly heard Tessa’s less than melodious cry at his knock. “Hey now, I’m finished for the night. Go on your way!”

  “Open up, Tessa. It’s Jock Sutherland. I want to see you.”

  It took her a long time to come to the door. When it opened a crack, she peered at him. “Jock, is it really you?”

  “Yes, and I’ve got the scar to prove it. Now let me in.”

  He moved to enter, but Tessa pushed her weight against the door. “I don’t think I should. How do I know what you’re about? I don’t trust you, Jock.”

  He flashed her a less-than-pleasant smile. “Well, I doubt I’m about the same thing as the three men who have just left your most picturesque residence. But I think when I tell you I’m here about your most beloved husband, you’ll let me in.”

  “Damon? What about him?” she asked in concern. “He ain’t been hurt, has he?”

  “Let me inside and we’ll discuss it. I’m not telling you anything out here, Tessa. I have a reputation to protect. If anyone should recognize me—”

  “Oh, all right,” she said grudgingly. “Get your bloody hide inside and shut up.”

  Jock laughed out loud. Same old Tessa. She always did have a way with words.

  The house’s interior was as grim as the outside. Paint peeled off the walls and was so faded he couldn’t discern what color it had been originally. The parlor was a hodgepodge of unmatched furniture. Torn doilies hung over the backs of two shabb
y chairs and a couch. A small wood table stood in the center of the room. From the doorway he saw a bed, the dirty sheets on it looking less than inviting. He shivered to imagine the vermin which must inhabit it. How low Tessa had fallen.

  Yet in the lamplight, she didn’t look as awful as he feared she would. Granted, she wasn’t beautiful as she’d been when she left Thunder Mine, but with a good bath and some proper clothes she might pass muster. Her hair was still as black as a bat’s wings, and her face was unmarked. Thank God she hadn’t caught the pox. And the figure beneath her tattered lace robe was still shapely—a bit of extra poundage on it but not overblown. Tessa would do nicely once he took over.

  Suspicious brown eyes glared at him as Tessa sat on one of the chairs. Spirited still, he realized. A good sign. She’d need spirit for the coming weeks, and fortitude. He’d brook no disobedience from the tart, and Tessa had better understand the rules before she returned to Thunder Mine.

  “Tell me about Damon,” she said, wasting no time.

  “Ah, Tessa, how pained I am that you haven’t asked about my health, and after all the years we’ve known each other.”

  “I know how you’ve been. I read the papers, and more than once I’ve read about the great Jock Sutherland and his high and mighty Wellington post.”

  “You make it sound as if I hold but a lowly government job. I’m a member of Parliament, my dear.”

  “I ain’t your dear. I never was.”

  Jock flushed. God, this woman could still get under his skin, but now his dislike for her was intense. How dare she belittle his position in the New Zealand Parliament, this whore who opened her legs to any fellow who’d pay her price. And from the looks of her and her pitiful surroundings, Tessa didn’t charge very much. The place was a horror and he thought he heard a rat scratching in the wall. “When did you learn to read?” he asked, remembering her as almost illiterate.

  “Jacob taught me.”

  “Oh, yes, your erstwhile lover. Too bad about his death.”

  Tessa shifted her position and leaned her elbows on her knees. “Yeah, too bad for me ‘cause his hoighty-toighty family threw me out of the place Jacob had put me. Just came and threw me out into the cold like an old boot, not caring if I lived or died. And this is where I ended up, broke and flat on me backside … But then, I was always good on me back. You remember how good, don’t you, Jock?”

  He didn’t say anything; he couldn’t. Some of those times he’d spent making love to Tessa had been the most wonderful in his life. He didn’t want to remember them, didn’t want to connect this hardened and coarse creature with the young and ignorant Tessa whom he’d adored. Instead, he could only stare at her.

  Tessa pierced him with a malevolent glare. “I think you’re glad things turned out bad for me. You hated me after I married Damon. But you hated me worse ‘cause the man I ran off with wasn’t you. I’m right, ain’t I? You sit there in your fancy clothes and look down at me. You’re just tickled to death at how things turned out for me.”

  “Yes,” he admitted softly, so softly that Tessa cringed. “I’m pleased you’ve sunk so low, damned glad to find you in a rat-infested hole, living with vermin and sleeping with them. You deserve every rotten, awful thing that’s befallen you. I loved you, Tessa, loved you more than my own life. And, hell, I don’t even know why. You were an ignorant little tart who slept with me, with Alexander—and who knows how many other men. But I believed you loved me until I found out you were going to marry Alexander. I’d be willing to bet he thought you’d been a virgin, too, when he first had you. You sure as hell fooled me. Do you still have that ability, Tessa? Is that how you keep all your men happy and coming back for more?”

  She jumped out of her chair and tore across the room toward him. She went for his face, but Jock grabbed her wrists before she could do any damage. “Get out of me house! Get out of here or I’ll call the constable on you!”

  With very little effort, Jock pushed her down upon the sofa. His weight held her in place. “Listen to me, you screeching harpy, I’m not leaving and you’re not telling me what to do. I told you I was here about Alexander, and you’re going to listen to me if I have to tie you up. Or maybe the likes of you would enjoy being tied up?”

  Tessa’s eyes burned like torches. “Let me up.”

  “Will you behave and listen to me?”

  “Yeah,” she relented.

  Jock released her from under him. She sat on the far corner of the sofa rubbing her bruised wrists. Tessa would be easy to dominate, he decided. She’d do as he wanted with little trouble. “Now, my dear, I’ll tell you why I’m here. I think you should know that an investigator from a law firm is looking for you. I wanted to find you before he could present you with the necessary papers.”

  “What papers?”

  “Why, the petition from your husband to divorce you.”

  “Divorce me?” Tessa’s face turned deathly pale. “Damon would never divorce me. He loves me.”

  “You can’t believe that he still loves you. God, woman, you ran away with another man. Don’t you know he’s convinced everyone that you’re dead?”

  “No…”

  “Of course you know that. Why haven’t you returned to him if you thought he still loved you? Tell me. Go on.” When Tessa didn’t say anything, only stared in mute disbelief, he continued. “Allow me to refresh your memory then. I was at the mine the day you told Damon you were leaving. I heard what he screamed at you. I know you remember what he said. What was it, Tessa? What did your beloved, betrayed husband promise to do to you if you ever got within two hundred feet of him? Tell me. You know what it was. And you know he meant it.”

  Tessa’s hands trembled and she clutched them in her lap. “He promised he’d kill me.”

  “That’s right. But now you’re going to have to face his wrath if you hope to keep any portion of Damon’s wealth. And from the looks of things, you need to claim your share. You are still his wife—for the time being.”

  “I’ll fight the divorce. Damon will back down when he realizes I still love him, that I’ve always loved him. I was weak—”

  “And greedy. Something you still are, my dear, but not an unadmirable trait if used to your advantage. I advise you to return home immediately and get on your knees to Alexander, beg him to take you back. I forgot to mention that he’s met a woman, a very beautiful woman, and intends to marry her once the divorce is final. In fact, this woman is living with him in the mansion Shamus Flynn built before his death.”

  Tessa shook her head in disbelief. “That was going to be our house. Damon wouldn’t let another woman live there with him.”

  “But he has,” Jock finished on a triumphant note. He had her now. Damon was Tessa’s weak spot, something he’d detested once but relished now. “And Eden Flynn is no ordinary woman, Tessa. Not ordinary at all. She was married to Shamus Flynn and is Damon’s partner.”

  “She’s old then?” she asked in a hopeful voice.

  “Sorry to disappoint you. No, Eden is young and quite beautiful. She’s gently reared, an American southerner whose family owned a vast plantation. Well educated and well read, very bright, a true aristocrat.”

  “In other words, she’s everything I’m not.”

  “Exactly.”

  Tessa stood up and paced the room. In the waning candlelight the outline of her body beneath the thin wrapper was visible. The sight was strangely stirring to Jock. He remembered what beauty the robe covered. Was Tessa’s body still lovely to behold even after all the hard living and the men who’d touched her? Did he dare find out?

  She turned to him, her face a frozen mask. “I’m not going to let Damon marry this woman. I’m going to fight for him and win him back. Maybe I don’t have fancy ways like she does, but I know what pleases him. And this time I’ll be a good wife to him. I will.”

  Jock smiled sourly. “I’m glad, my dear.” He walked to her and parted the wrapper. Tessa’s breasts lay bare to his hot gaze, her nipples were p
ink like tiny rosebuds, and he sighed with joy. Tessa always did have the most beautiful, full breasts. He looked closely at the rest of her. She was still lovely. No wonder she could make her way through life as a whore. It wasn’t often that a man came across a pretty one, so he guessed Tessa was kept quite busy. Perversely, he was aroused by the thought of Tessa with many men. But his lust didn’t spring from his desire for Tessa but for Eden, who at the moment was unattainable. Ironic that it was Tessa who was going to make Eden his.

  His arms encircled Tessa’s waist and he kissed her moist red lips. “Don’t be making promises to be a good wife yet,” he told her. “I have something else in mind first.”

  Tessa moaned and succumbed to his kisses. She followed after him and lay down on the table in the parlor when he gestured for her to do so. The wrapper she wore was open and revealed her entire body to him, and for the first time since she left Damon, she felt a true surge of desire. Her legs dangled over the table’s edge, and when Jock touched her between her thighs she was already wet and slick. “You whore,” he said viciously, though he was smiling at her. He quickly took off his pants and her heart lurched when he entered her. She sheathed him eagerly and wantonly, driving him deep into her. The sheer bliss of their joining nearly drove her insane. She writhed beneath him, arching toward his every thrust until the moment came when her whole body shuddered with pleasure.

  Jock climaxed seconds later.

  “God, but you’re a hot treat,” he moaned. “I don’t know when I’ve ever had better.”

  Tessa winced, her fondness for Jock dissolved. He was treating her like a whore, assuming she was this passionate and unreserved with all the men she serviced. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting that this was the first real pleasure she’d had since she left Damon. Even with Jacob, she hadn’t felt very much; she was too guilty over hurting her husband. And none of her customers gave her any fun, though some had tried. She’d begun to believe herself incapable of pleasure, but thanks to Jock, she knew she wasn’t. But now she was suspicious of his visit to her.

 

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