M. Donice Byrd - The Warner Saga

by No Unspoken Promises

  Before she could protest, his mouth slanted across hers in a passionate embrace. Wondrous feelings in the pit of her stomach began to stir. His hand dropped from her face to encircle her, pulling her closer until she sat across his lap.

  “Answer me,” he said against her lips.

  “Only you,” she panted breathlessly as he pressed his lips hungrily to hers cutting off anything else she might have said.

  He let his hands search out the curves and contours of her body. When he palmed her soft breast, she inhaled sharply and pushed at his chest. The break was so sudden, she nearly fell back. For a long moment her gray eyes stared out from her pale face at him. She raised her hand to her lips and pink colored her white cheeks.

  “I think I misunderstood why you wanted me to use your name. You want to pretend we’re married with all that goes with it,” she murmured in a small stumbling voice. “I think it would be best if we remained on our original terms.”

  “You didn’t misunderstand anything.”

  Her anger flared. “How dare you!” she bit out as she fought her tangle of skirts to stand up. “Until now, you have more or less been a gentleman. I had no reason to believe you would suddenly become a scoundrel. I should’ve realized your change of heart today was baseborn. I wonder now why you’d even want to bother with the divorce. Wouldn’t it be easier just to dump me on my relatives and we could go on with our lives as if we never met.”

  “No,” he said firmly. “We will divorce if it’s possible. I don’t want to worry about having you turn up on my doorstep years from now telling me you’ve changed your mind about not being married to me.”

  “How astute you are,” she said tersely. “The idea of you showing up on my doorstep in the future makes me shudder. Of course we will divorce.”

  He made no attempt to apologize. “I don’t like loose ends.”

  “I don’t like horses’ rear ends.”

  To her astonishment he began laughing. “If we met under different circumstances, I think I would have genuinely liked you.”

  She stood with her hands on her hips and shot daggers at him. “I wish I could say the same.”

  She turned on her heel and strode to her horse. She released his horse from where it was tied to Viper’s saddle and took up Viper’s reins and began walking toward town.

  What was the matter with her? she wondered as a lump rose in her throat. She didn’t even like Blake Warner, not really. He was arrogant and…rich. She couldn’t think of anything else but that was enough. His good looks blinded her to his true, questionable nature.

  When she heard his horse approaching, she mentally cringed and refused to turn her head or acknowledge him in any way. Her stride was as purposeful as ever.

  “Meredith?” When she didn’t answer, he dismounted to walk beside her. “I had no ulterior motive when I suggested you keep my name.”

  Her sideways glance clearly said she didn’t believe him. “And I suppose that kiss was just a peck between friends?”

  He took ahold of her arm to stop her and turned her to face him but she pulled her arm free of his grasp and kept walking. A moment later, he stood in front of her blocking her path, forcing her to stop. She glared at him, arms akimbo. His eyes gleamed with something akin to mischief. “That was no casual peck, treasure, but it wasn’t the premeditated act of debauchery you accused me of either.” When she tried to step around him, he wouldn’t let her pass so she swiftly ducked under Viper’s belly to walk on the horse’s other side.

  Blake looped his reins around Viper’s saddle horn and waited for the horses to pass before he went around. A crooked grin graced his face as he saw the way Meredith practically trotted to get away from him. In a few long strides, he moved in front of her again, walking backwards and making a nuisance of himself. “It won’t work, Meredith. My legs are longer than yours.” She stopped dead in her tracks making his eyes glint with mirth. “You know you’re beautiful when you’re angry,” he vexed. Of course, technically she was beautiful all the time.

  “Then I won’t be angry anymore,” she said sweetly and flashed an insincere smile at him. “I wouldn’t want to do anything you might take as encouragement – especially since you don’t seem to need any.”

  “Oh, come now,” he protested. “You act as if I’m a despoiler of young innocents.”

  She speared him with a look of pure disbelief. How could he say that when he knew he had been her first? But even as she thought it, she knew that he had been unaware she was chaste. Meredith sighed and let his comment pass without debate.

  A half smile crossed his countenance. “After our first kiss, I knew you were not as unschooled as you would have me now believe. You have been kissed before and more, I suspect. Don’t try to deny it.”

  She opened her mouth and then shut it. What good would it do to deny it? She put her hands on her hips and looked at him straight in the eye. “I admit it. You were right all along. For years now, I have waited by the road for unwary strangers to pass so I could carelessly trample them with my horse. And I have never fainted when any of the other hundreds kissed me. Only your kiss has the distinction of repulsing me into a dead faint!”

  Her taunt only widened his grin. “Be careful… I might have to punish you for that remark with another of my repulsive kisses.”

  She raised her chin, not to accept his kiss but in defiance.

  “Ah, but that’s how I fell into your bad graces and I intend to redeem myself.”

  “Good luck.”

  His shoulders lifted in a casual shrug as he moved to walk beside her. “I had no base motives.” His head cocked to one side as he looked at her. “The kiss was completely unplanned.”

  “I’m not stupid. You think because I slept with you once that I’m lacking in morals. Maybe if I had such a blatant disregard for decorum once, perhaps your attention towards me hasn’t been directed in the right pursuits.”

  “It was just a kiss,” he protested with a sigh.

  “This time. What about the next time?”

  “Next time? Who says I’m ever going to kiss you again?” he asked in a serious tone that didn’t reflect the humor in his eyes. “Had I known you’d turn into such a harpy fishwife, I wouldn’t have kissed you in the first place.”

  “I hope you’ve learned your lesson, then.” She looked away so he couldn’t see the smile that threatened her stern expression.

  “I don’t know. I’m pretty thickheaded.”

  “So I’ve noticed.”

  They continued their walk toward town in silence for a few minutes until Blake asked, “Are you afraid you’ll fall off your horse again?”

  There was a momentary pause in her step. “No.”

  “Then why are you walking back to town?”

  With a wide sweeping motion she indicated the grassy plains surrounding them. “Do you see anything for me to step on so I can get my foot in the stirrup?”

  “You’d rather walk all the way back to the hotel than asked me for a leg up?” he asked incredulously.

  Color rose in her cheeks and Blake noticed a slight quickening in her step. “I wasn’t speaking to you at the time.”

  He repressed his chuckle knowing it could only undermine what little headway he had made thus far. “May I offer my assistance, madam?” She acquiesced with a nod, knowing unless she really wanted to walk the remainder of the way, she had to swallow her pride. “Are you willing to pay the price?”

  She eyed him warily. “I’m afraid I’m further in debt to you than I can afford.”

  “It’s not steep.”

  12

  The man knows no limits – his nerve no bounds. Of this Meredith was certain. Dinner. The man wanted her to join him out on the town to prove he could be a gentleman. She had agreed – what choice did she have?

  Meredith paced the floor of her hotel room, too agitated to rest as she knew she should. “Wear something nice,” he said as if she’d wear Cinderella’s tattered rags. Maybe she would. That wo
uld be a lesson to him.

  As Meredith took a step closer to her valise, a knock came at the door. “Oh, what now,” she mumbled aloud. “Planning on picking out my dress for me?”

  She flung the door open intent on berating him only to find herself face to face with Rick Henry.

  “Dr. Henry! This is a surprise.”

  “Good afternoon, Miss Vande Linde.”

  She took a step back allowing him into the room. As he passed, she noticed Blake was standing behind the doctor, a large parcel in his hand, a black frock coat over his arm and a top hat in his other hand. With a smug grin, she tried to close the door before he could enter but he easily pushed his way in and crossed the room to the adjoining door where he rid himself of the hat and coat.

  “This is not a shortcut to your room, Blake.”

  She made a face at his back and turned back to the doctor.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure, doctor?”

  “I understand you fainted.”

  She turned an exasperated glare on Blake who stood in the doorframe holding the paper-wrapped parcel. “Bragging?” then turned back to the doctor before he could answer. “It was nothing. I just overdid it.”

  “I’m sure that’s all it was, however, no sense in taking chances. Let’s have a look at you if for no other reason than alleviating Mr. Warner’s concern,” Dr. Henry said reaching for her wrist and his watch simultaneously.

  Knowing it was useless to argue, Meredith stood motionless shooting daggers at Blake with her eyes, as the doctor took her pulse. As a slow grin appeared on Blake’s face, the doctor noted a gradual increase in his patient’s pulse, suddenly racing when Blake winked at her.

  Trying not to grin himself, Rick Henry released her arm and went to his bag for his stethoscope.

  “What were you doing when you fainted?” he asked pulling the instrument from the bag. He set one end against her chest and put his ear against the other end. Getting no response, he was about to repeat his question when he noticed the heightened color in her cheeks. She was looking directly at Warner who mockingly had one eyebrow raised as if taunting her to answer.

  “I-I was….”

  “We had been out riding,” Blake interrupted suddenly. “She had been feeling tired so we stopped. It was just after we dismounted that she fainted.”

  The doctor hesitated suspecting he was not hearing the complete truth. The blush on her cheek and the gratitude that flashed in her eyes persuaded him not to pursue the matter.

  He cleared his throat. “Please, unfasten the top buttons of your blouse.”

  Meredith glanced momentarily between the two men, then turning her back to Blake, complied with the doctor’s instruction.

  While listening to her heart, Rick Henry lifted his eyes and met the scowling countenance of Blake Warner over her shoulder. The dark look hadn’t surprised him. He had yet to understand their relationship. What he first thought was an affair, appeared later like a platonic friendship but now he wasn’t sure even that was correct.

  When he finished listening to her heart, he asked her if she’d experienced any more dizziness, nausea or headaches. He checked her pupils and asked her about her vision. Her answers seemed to satisfy him.

  “Perhaps I should not go out tonight,” she suggested hopefully when he recommended she rest and not overexert herself.

  “We planned a quiet dinner and perhaps whatever entertainments your city has to offer,” Blake explained.

  The doctor sized up the couple. Deciding their relationship was none of his concern, he gave his objective medical judgment. “I see no problem with that, Miss Vande Linde.”

  “Mrs. Warner,” Blake corrected.

  The doctor’s eyebrows shot up with surprise and Blake followed the doctor to the door but didn’t follow him out. Instead, he closed the door behind him.

  “I brought you something,” he said before she could tell him to get out. “A peace offering.”

  “Indeed.”

  He held it out to her. “I said I’d replace the dresses you had to leave behind.”

  As he continued to hold the parcel out to her, Meredith’s mouth tightened. He had come to pick out her dress! When she made no move to take it, he set it on the bed and untied the string. She took a tentative step closer.

  Carefully, Meredith unfolded the tissue paper to reveal the rich, forest green gown. Her fingers reverently caressed the cool, smooth silk as she lifted it from the box.

  “I’ll come for you in an hour.” When she began to protest it was not enough time, his mouth captured hers in a light, quick kiss. “I’m not a man who likes to be kept waiting,” he warned and strode out of the room.

  Speechless, Meredith stared at the closed door, her fingers unwittingly at her parted lips.

  Blake paused in his pacing long enough to check his pocket watch and stepped to the window to see if the hostler had brought his horse and the rented buggy around. Perhaps he should go down to the livery and get it himself, he thought only a moment before he spotted the buggy pulling up in front of the hotel.

  He looked again at his watch actually seeing the time. He had waited long enough he decided as he took a few purposeful steps toward the door. What the hell was the matter with him? He acted as if he’d never stepped out with a woman before. The only thing his impatience would get him, would be an embarrassingly long wait in the corridor.

  To hell with it, if she wasn’t ready, he'd just go downstairs and have a drink.

  He found himself knocking on her door before he was conscious of having made his decision.

  “Who is it?” she asked in a singsong voice.

  His eyes shot heavenward. “Who the hell else are you expecting?”

  “It hasn’t been an hour yet, has it?”

  “It most certainly has,” he snapped, knowing it had only been about forty-five minutes.

  “Just a moment.” Less than minute later she swore. “Blake, are there any ladies about – a maid perhaps?”

  “Criminy, what’s the matter?”

  “I can’t get my gown fastened. Be nice and fetch a maid for me.”

  “For goodness sake!” he said.

  Impatiently, he grabbed the doorknob and turned. He didn’t know who was more startled when it opened. “You really should keep your door locked.”

  “It’s not a mistake I’ll make again, I assure you.”

  Ignoring her wide-eyed stare, he closed the door behind him and took over her task. Meredith could feel the heat creeping into her cheeks. She tried to convince herself that she should not be embarrassed; after all they had been intimate. There was only three or four inches left to hook, all he would see was a small amount of her upper back.

  His warm hands occasionally came in contact with her flesh as he deftly fastened her dress.

  “What…?” he said as he finished. “Who taught you how to fasten your dress? You have two hooks left over.” He ran his finger down the line of fastened hooks and eyes. Stopping in the middle of her back he added, “You missed one here and…” He continued his downward path and stopped in the small of her back, pressing his finger into the second spot. “And the other here.”

  As she reached around to the spots indicated, he began undoing the hooks. “No!”

  He held firmly to her dress as she tried to pull away. “You’ll rip it,” he warned and ignored her further protests and struggles to pull away. “I’m not going to ravage you, if that’s what you’re afraid of. It’s not as if I haven’t seen you in your unmentionables before.” But even as he said it, his fingers slowed in their task. Already halfway down her back he had yet to encounter her chemise or corset. She clutched the front of her gown tightly as her upper arms firmly locked against her sides. With effort he forced himself to be oblivious to the bare, creamy skin of her back. To spare her any more embarrassment than he was already, undoubtedly causing her, he refrained from saying anything and preceded as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a woman to wear nothing und
er her gown – well, not nothing exactly – at least at her waist he encountered her crinolines and drawers.

  Blake felt the heat rising up his neck. The dress was low-cut and off her shoulders requiring a special chemise. She had no underthings to wear with it in her meager wardrobe and he had not thought to provide her with any.

  When he finished, he placed his hands on her bare shoulders, running his hands over the curve until he reached the puffed, off-the-shoulder sleeve. Towering over from behind her as he did, he could see the swell of her youthful breasts, the hint of cleavage above the draped forest green silk décolletage of her low-cut dress. She looked incredible. Her waist was so naturally narrow, no one would ever suspect she was uncorseted.

  Suddenly, she pulled away and whirled on her heel to face him, accusingly.

  “You had no right!”

  “I told you I didn’t like to be kept waiting. You should have been ready.”

  “You were early.”

  He opened his mouth to defend himself though he knew she was right. “You look beautiful,” came out instead.

  And she did. Her face wore a healthy glow he suspected was as much anger and embarrassment as it was her own natural coloring for she wore no makeup at all. The dark forest shade of the cool water silk seemed to heighten the redness of her hair yet made her eyes a startlingly pale shade of gray. His eyes swept downward taking in every detail of the stylish gown, lingering momentarily on the pointed bodice and her tiny uncorseted waist.

  “Well, you look like the dandy I always suspected you were.”

  “I’m glad not to have disappointed you,” he said as he swept off his top hat and gave her a mockingly low bow.

  Had Blake looked up when he was bent over, he would’ve seen her grinning at him from ear-to-ear. Meredith knew she would be the envy of every woman they encountered. He was unbelievably handsome in his black frock coat, gray trousers and gray and white checked, double-breasted shirtwaist worn over a stiff collared shirt made of white linen.

  “Who taught you to put on a tie?” she fussed as she straightened his tie, though in truth it was perfect.