She’d later told him that she had felt nothing, again aware that he didn’t really believe her. In fact something had stirred within her, but it was something she couldn’t name and she was a bit more than sorry when he told her that the lesson was over for the night. Lying there in the huge bed with Tanner asleep beside her, she knew that only three days were left until their bet officially ended. Three more days — New Year’s Eve — and she could claim Briarhaven as her own and be free of Tanner Sheridan forever. Yet for some odd reason it was becoming more difficult to lie dispassionately beneath Tanner’s touches and kisses. He hadn’t made any effort to have his way with her again, and she knew he was waiting until she wanted him in that way. But she’d never want Tanner or any man like that, and she couldn’t explain why she felt so odd, almost frustrated, when Tanner finally gave up and fell asleep.
“It’s only three more days,” she said to her reflection, “and then I’ll never have to see him.” But that thought felt a bit discomforting and she was glad to hear Curtis’s voice and know that he’d arrived to take the trunks. Going to tell him that the trunks were in the two upstairs bedrooms, she saw that Curtis was already heading past her on the stairs and that Tanner stood nonchalantly by the bottom step, one elbow propped on the banister.
His gaze swept possessively over her figure. She was dressed in a pale blue velvet gown with long sleeves and white lace at the square neckline. Like a ninny of a schoolgirl, Diana felt high spots of color stain her cheeks.
“I’ve always liked the way you blush,” he told her and took her hand in his when she reached the first step.
Her lips were level with his, and a sudden urge to kiss him gripped her but she resisted, knowing that Tanner always managed to snare her in a sensual trap — only to destroy her.
“A gentleman wouldn’t comment on such a thing.”
A short laugh escaped from his perfectly formed lips and he slowly shook his head. “You already know I’m not a gentleman, so I can ask you straight out about what naughty thoughts are hovering in the back of your mind, because I know that some are. Admit to me that you’re beginning to feel something when I kiss and touch you. You’re thinking about what I did to you last night, just as I am.”
“I was not!”
“Liar.”
“Cammie and I have finished with the packing,” Diana muttered stiffly, eager to stop this conversation. She started to move past him, but Tanner stopped her with a slight tug on her fingers.
“The best is yet to come, Diana. I promise you.”
A thrill of something darkly pleasurable swept through her at the thought. But she’d been married for years to Kingsley and nothing remotely pleasant had happened to her in bed. Whatever it was that Tanner wanted her to feel wasn’t about to occur for her, and suddenly she felt less than a woman in his eyes. Surely, if this pleasure that Tanner told her about, this delight he’d given to many women over the years, didn’t happen to her, then she was just like Kingsley had said. Cold. Frigid. But nothing wonderful would happen to her beneath Tanner’s hands. Nothing had happened so far, had it?
She must retain some dignity if all of this tutorship came to naught. Tanner had wounded her years ago by leaving her to Kingsley’s abuse, and she could wield cutting remarks that would hurt him almost as deeply as she had been hurt. “Perhaps you’ve overestimated your prowess in the bedroom,” she said. “I remember you told me that a woman is only as good in bed as the man who teaches her, and to be truthful I’m not very good, am I?”
This time it was Tanner’s face that filled with what she assumed at first was a blush, but she quickly realized that it was red with rage. “You’d be damned good if you’d forget for a moment who I am, forget that I’m a bastard by birth. Try thinking of me as one of your fancy suitors from years back, or pretend I’m Farnsworth, the proper gentleman. Right now I wonder if your heart is made of ice or stone. Ice can melt but stone can’t.” He looked deeply into her eyes. Never before had she seen his eyes so hard and black. “I ought to forget the whole idea, Diana. It might be utterly hopeless.”
“Does this mean our bet is off?”
“Hell no! You’re a challenge to me now.” He gripped her by the upper arms and brought her against him. “I want you to mewl like a contented kitten when I touch you, to know that you want me. But more important, I want you to experience passion for yourself, to feel your womanhood blossom beneath my hands. Otherwise, you’re only going through the motions and are half a woman. I want more for you than that. I want you to experience desire.”
Sudden tears of tenderness sprang to her eyes for Tanner. He truly wanted her to be a whole woman, but she doubted she’d ever experience this indefinable something he claimed existed. This thought prompted tears of impending defeat to mingle with the other ones until she could barely speak. Why did he have to reenter her life and churn up emotions she’d thought she’d buried years ago? She hated losing control.
Tanner wiped away her tears somewhat clumsily with the pads of his thumbs. “Don’t cry. It will happen for you, Diana, I swear it will.”
“I’d like to go home now,” she told him, unable to say anything else. For some odd reason she hoped Tanner was right, but if he was then she’d lose Briarhaven and the chance to be free of him. She didn’t relish being at any man’s mercy, especially this man’s. There was a great possibility that if she won the wager she’d never see him again and could go back to the same dull life she’d led up until a few weeks ago. This was what she wanted, why she willed herself not to enjoy Tanner’s lovemaking, but the dull aching pain that wrapped around her heart like iron fingers at such a thought surprised her.
~
The carriage ride home was silent and took longer than Diana had anticipated because Tanner had business on the outskirts of Charlestown. She had no idea where they were headed until the small, squalid settlement known as Rawdontown came into view. When they stopped, she looked at Tanner in perplexity. “What are we doing here?”
“Helping out a few friends. Come along.” Holding out his hand to her, Diana automatically took it and stepped from the carriage to find herself surrounded by dozens of dirty and ill-kempt people who seemed to materialize out of their primitive lean-tos like foxes out of their lairs. Dressed in her elegant and very warm sable cloak, Diana felt terribly out of place. She was all too aware of the envious looks thrown her way by women warmed by shawls that had seen better days.
Children of all ages ran hither and yon, shouting in excitement. A few pulled on Tanner’s coat tails. “What you got for us today, suh?” a little boy of about five asked as he wiped his runny nose with the back of a dirty hand.
Tanner stooped down and smiled warmly at the lad and ruffled his sandy hair. “Andy, my boy, you’ve grown since last month. Your coat no longer fits you.”
Diana saw that the child wore a coat that was two sizes too small and was riddled with gaping holes. But it seemed that Andy was one of the luckier children to have any coat at all. Most of the boys and girls didn’t even have that.
Andy grinned. “I know. My mudder says I’m gonna be big like my papa.” The child’s smile died. “He was killed by those bad patriots, you know.”
“I know,” was Tanner’s solemn reply. Motioning to Curtis, who immediately began pulling down the trunks that Diana had spent packing all afternoon at her sister’s house, Tanner helped drag them from the top of the carriage to the ground.
“What are you doing with those trunks?” Diana asked as he placed one on the ground and began opening it.
“Distributing goods to the needy,” he replied without looking up at her.
He couldn’t mean to give these people her family’s clothes. It was inconceivable that he’d do this, not when her sister, David, and the children might have need of them. She told him so and wasn’t prepared for the disdainful curve of his lips or the condemnation in his eyes. “Your family is well cared for, Diana. They’re warm and clothed, fed three times a day. I doubt if t
hey’d mind sharing their goods with those less fortunate.”
“But these people are Tories,” Diana whispered, horrified to even consider giving aid to those whom she secretly fought against. It was treasonous.
Tanner stood up and considered her for a long moment, oblivious to the excited people who waited with eager hands. “I had no idea you were such a staunch little patriot, but if that’s the way you feel then so be it. We’ll close the trunks and haul them back home where they’ll sit in the attic, doing little good for anyone. You do surprise me, however. I would have thought you’d be quite willing to help your fellow man in times of trouble, whether he be Tory or rebel. But the decision is yours, Diana. I’ll abide by whatever you decide, and I do apologize for taking liberties with your family’s possessions. That was wrong of me. I should have asked you first.”
Tanner should have asked her permission, but that wasn’t the point. He wanted her to decide what to do with the clothes. From what she’d packed, Diana knew that Anne had warm and serviceable gowns, that David had perhaps as many as four topcoats and woolen undergarments, plus shirts and pants. The children’s’ apparel was so abundant that they filled three trunks and would easily clothe all of the dirty urchins here. But these people were Tories, driven from their homes by the very enemy she spied for. How could she ever explain any of this to Tanner without giving away her secret? But how could she not distribute the clothes to people who were needy and cold? No matter what side they were on, they were still South Carolinians, the same as she. Just ordinary people. Wouldn’t she hope someone did the same for her family?
Her decision was expressed in the sweet smile she sent in little Andy’s direction as she began rummaging through one of the children’s trunks. Tanner joined in helping her, and before the hour was out, all of the clothes were gone.
~
“Mr. Sheridan is a fine man.” Mike Candy expressed his sentiments by stroking the brown topcoat that had belonged to David Richmond and was now warming Mike’s burly frame. He sat in his lean-to with another man who drank from a cracked bowl containing an unappetizing, watery gruel. “You should have come out and gotten something from his pretty wife. Did you happen to see her?”
“I saw her,” the man blurted out and threw aside the bowl, causing the contents to splash on Mike’s new garment.
“Hey, you ain’t got no cause to act so mean, Mr. King. You seem to forget that I was the one who nursed you back to health last year. I took you in and I’ve gotten only rudeness and nastiness for my trouble. I may not be as grand a fellow as you think you are but I got my pride.” Mike sniffed haughtily and dabbed at the stain with a dirty rag. “If you don’t like it here, well you can just leave.”
“I’d do it, too, if I could,” the man snapped. “But my leg hasn’t mended properly yet.”
Mike stroked his chin in thought and craftily observed, “Yea, mighty funny about that leg. Always seemed odd to me that a British soldier would be wounded by his own men. I mean that musket ball I dug out of you was English made, but you don’t strike me like a Brit.”
“Shut up, Candy. I’m tired and want to get some sleep. I’m sorry for being unkind to you, for staining your coat.”
This sudden turn of face from a man who could be mean one moment and civil the next appeased Mike Candy. Candy had no real desire to know anything about this uncommunicative stranger whom he’d helped last year and taken in. He wanted to live his life with as little discord as possible because he was tired of wars, sick of fighting. “That’s all right, son. Get your rest, you need it to make you strong again. Maybe next time Mr. Sheridan and his wife come you’ll be hearty enough to hobble out and get something.”
For the first time since Mike had met this Mr. King, the man threw back his head and laughed. He clutched at his frayed jacket and lay back on the pallet, covering himself with a ragged blanket. “Oh, I’ll come out and get something, Mike Candy, I promise you I will. The high and mighty Tanner Sheridan and his pretty wife owe me, and I intend to collect.”
Mike didn’t say anything else to the man, who every so often would grunt in his sleep. If the truth be known, Mr. King frightened Mike a bit. Sometimes he’d have nightmares and would call out a lady’s name, followed by foul curses that even made an experienced old sea captain like Mike Candy blush. Mike never asked Mr. King about his dreams, but he felt sorry for the lady and wondered what she might have done to cause Mr. King to hate her so much.
But she had a pretty sounding name, a name that reminded Mike Candy of happier times before the war, for he’d once had a sweetheart with that same name — Diana.
~
Diana hugged her arms close against her thin wrapper to ward off the chill in the drafty hallway. She wished she’d worn slippers to pad downstairs in search of a book, but in the bedroom the fireplace had provided more than adequate warmth, causing her to be unaware of how cold the rest of the house could be on a dark December night.
Entering the small study at the back of the house, she saw a blazing fire in the hearth and smelled the sweet scent of burning pine logs as she neared the bookshelves. She thought it odd that Cammie would keep a fire burning down here when Tanner had gone out earlier — no doubt to visit Gabriella Fox, Diana decided dismally and reached for a book.
“Can’t sleep?”
Tanner’s voice startled her and she whipped around to discover that he was sitting in a large cushioned chair near the fireplace. An empty wine glass stood on the end table.
“I didn’t see you there. I thought you’d gone.” She gave a relieved giggle to find him home.
He shook his head. “I’ve been here all evening.”
He’d been home all the time! He hadn’t gone to see Gabriella Fox. “Do you often sit down here by yourself in the dark?”
“Yes, the dark can be quite comforting.”
Diana drew nearer to him. “I wanted something to read.”
“I see that.”
She suddenly felt quite ill at ease as she stood before him dressed in her thin white wrapper with lacy inserts at the breasts. She wore nothing underneath because she’d recently stepped out of the tub and didn’t believe Tanner was home. After all, he’d have to be made of stern stuff to want to stay with a woman whom he couldn’t inflame with his lovemaking skills, not when Gabriella or any other woman would melt willingly in his arms.
“Well, I’ll go upstairs now.” She wouldn’t ask him if he’d join her, she was frightened he’d refuse.
“Diana, wait.”
Half turning, she clutched the book in her arms, stupidly attempting to cover her breasts, which seemed to strain toward the sound of his voice. “I want to thank you for helping today. Many people are grateful to you,” she heard him say.
“I really didn’t have much choice,” she admitted. “But you were right to want to help them.”
Tanner’s gaze skimmed over her thin attire. “You’re shivering. Are you cold?”
“Just a bit, but once I’m upstairs I’m certain I’ll warm up.”
“Why wait so long? Sit beside me. I’ve plenty of room in this chair.”
Diana saw that the chair was quite large, even filled with Tanner’s broad frame. In the flickering firelight he looked so handsome as he sat there with an earnest appeal on his face that the will to refuse him never reached her lips. She found herself magnetically drawn to him, barely aware that she’d stepped across the floor until she found herself huddled against him with his arm around her waist.
His right hand reached out and gently brushed aside the wispy tendrils of her hair from her neck. “You have the most beautiful hair,” Tanner praised. “I remember when you first came to Briarhaven how I’d watch you, how when the sunlight touched your hair the strands would gleam red-gold until the color was no longer dark brown but a burnished copper. That day when you were with Kingsley in the carriage on the river bank and he kissed you, your hair was that same unusual color. I wanted to be the one kissing you, touching your hair.
It was at that moment I decided to take you away from him.”
Her heart jumped in her chest as his fingers stroked through the thick tresses to slide sensuously past her neckline and hover at the base of her collarbone. “I was very young then,” she muttered thickly.
“And so pretty that I couldn’t think straight when I looked at you. Of course, you’re no longer pretty.”
“I’m not?”
Tanner’s features relaxed into a teasing grin. “You’re beautiful now.”
This time her heart seemed to slam into her ribcage with such force that she heaved a deep, shuddering sigh. How could he think she was beautiful, even passably comely, when she was still so thin? She’d gained a few pounds since marrying Tanner, but not enough to tempt a man who was able to have any woman he wanted. At least that’s what Diana thought.
His index finger traced the shape of her mouth. “You don’t believe you are beautiful, do you, Diana?”
“Not really.” Not beautiful enough for a man like you.
“Believe that you are.”
Whenever he looked at her with those black eyes, eyes that at this moment danced with amber fire, she could imagine that she was. It seemed that that fire singed her soul, melting it within her. She knew he was going to kiss her, in fact she was already opening for him like a rosebud in the sun, welcoming the consuming heat. The book plopped to the floor as her arms voluntarily wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer to her.
Their mouths met first in a gentle kiss that tasted like sweet wine. Tanner’s lips tasted hers, moving across them with feather-light strokes. Diana moaned under his tender assault, vaguely aware that she was the one who began to deepen the kiss. She expected an immediate response, but Tanner surprised her by not participating. Accustomed to Tanner’s instant arousal, she now realized she was going to have to work for it. This was probably part of his lesson for her, she decided, but she also knew she was up to the challenge.
With the skills he’d taught her and her own inborn sensuality, Diana proceeded to tease and taunt his tongue with hers until Tanner moaned and ended the resistance. “You’re like wildfire, love,” he whispered against her mouth. “Your heat is scorching me alive.”
Savage Deception (Liberty's Ladies) Page 14