The Scent of Jasmine

by Jude Deveraux

  Two days later, when they reached the settlement and saw Thankfull, Cay said, “Now I know why she’s named that. I’ve never been so thankful to see anyone in my life.”

  “I have been,” Alex said. “When we got away from those gators and I saw that you had all your beautiful body parts, I was the most thankful person on earth.”

  Cay could only sit on her horse and stare at him. It was the closest he’d come to saying he loved her.

  “If you cry you’ll make streaks in the dirt on your face,” he said.

  “Why would I cry? Over something you said? Not likely!” She went past him with her nose in the air, but she heard Alex’s laughter.

  Thankfull ran out to meet them. “He was here looking for you both,” she said breathlessly as she took the reins of Cay’s horse. “He got here two days after you left, and he would have gone after you, but a messenger came with a letter and that made him leave for New Orleans.”

  “Who was he?” Alex asked, his voice tight and strained.

  “Tally,” said the twins in unison. They had come out of the boardinghouse and were looking as though they’d been through some heavenly experience. “Tally.”

  “He’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life,” one twin said.

  “Me, too,” said the other one.

  Thankfull was watching Alex dismount. “You look somewhat better now that you’ve shaved.”

  “Is he really your brother?” a twin asked Cay without so much as a glance at Alex.

  “He’s so much more . . . well, manly than you are.” Where once the girls had thought Cay was beautiful, now they were nearly sneering at her.

  But then, Cay knew she was horrible-looking—and smelling. Her embroidered vest, once so lovely, was torn and encrusted with the blood of the alligators. Her stockings were so dirty you couldn’t see what color they were, as was her shirt.

  “Come in,” Thankfull said, “and eat. Would you like me to get you some new clothes? I have a feeling that you won’t stay here long enough to be able to wash and dry what’s left of those garments.”

  “Tally had on the most beautiful coat,” a twin said dreamily. “It was embroidered at the pockets with sunflowers entwined with vines.”

  “I liked the honeybees best.”

  “Tally said his sister embroidered it for him.”

  Alex looked at Cay in question and she gave a quick nod. It was hard to remember a time when her life was so calm that she could sit in a chair by the fire and embroider pockets for her brothers’ coats.

  “Food sounds good,” Alex said. “And new clothes. As for the cost—”

  “Mr. Harcourt left money for you,” Thankfull said as she glanced at Cay.

  She knows, Cay thought. Tally told her that I’m a girl and she’s kept the secret. “Did he tell you of Uncle T.C.?”

  Thankfull’s face lit up. “Yes, he did. In fact, he spent both his evenings here telling me all the stories he could remember about Mr. Connor. Your brother is a very kind and thoughtful young man.” Opening the door, she let them go ahead of her. “I have soft soap for your hair,” she whispered as Cay walked past her. “And jasmine oil for a bath.”

  Alex heard her, and turning, he looked at Cay. All the stress and hardship, all the fear of the last few days fell away, and they began to laugh. One second they were standing, almost too tired to move, and the next they were hanging on to each other’s arms and laughing so loud the twins came in from outside to see what was going on.

  Thankfull shooed the girls out the door and closed it. Cay and Alex were still holding on to each other, howling with laughter, and saying incomprehensible things like “downwind of you” and “robbers with their smell” and “my hair never smelled so good.”

  Smiling, Thankfull went into the kitchen to prepare them a huge meal.

  For Cay, that night at Thankfull’s boardinghouse had been lovely. She got to bathe, sleep in a clean bed—Alex secretly beside her—eat cooked food, and in the morning she’d put on new, clean clothes. That Alex had made her get up at 4 a.m. had been difficult, but Thankfull had been there with a packet of hot corn cakes to eat on the way.

  “He must want something very much,” Thankfull said softly to Cay just before she mounted her horse.

  “Yes, he does.” She didn’t intend it, but there was anger in her voice. Now that they were getting closer, the reality of Alex’s urgency was beginning to get through to her.

  “I heard some things about him,” Thankfull said, her voice so low Cay could hardly hear her. “But I don’t believe them. I don’t think he could do what people say he’s done.”

  “He didn’t, and we’re going to prove it.”

  “Your brother—” Thankfull began, then stopped because she was giving away the secret.

  “It’s all right. Alex says I’m the worst at being a boy he’s ever seen.”

  “That’s not true. When you were here before, I thought you were male.”

  “Thank you,” Cay said. “I think.” On impulse, she kissed Thankfull’s cheek. “I’ll do what I can to plead your case with Uncle T.C., but he’s a stubborn man. Mother says he’d rather mourn a woman than have to deal with a real one.”

  “Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”

  “She is, and I miss her very much.”

  “You’d better go,” Thankfull said. “Alex is giving us hard looks.” She leaned toward Cay. “Who would have thought he was so handsome under all that hair?”

  “I didn’t guess.”

  “But you seem to have made up for lost time.”

  “We, uh . . . ,” Cay stammered.

  “The walls in this place are very thin. Now go, so you can do what you need to. And tell Mr. Connor that . . . that . . .”

  Cay swung up onto her horse. “I’ll get you two together and let you tell him.” She looked at Alex. “Are you going to stand there all day?”

  Alex reined his horse away. “So are you matchmaking again? First Eli and T.C.’s daughter, and now you’re finding a wife for T.C. himself. Did it ever occur to you that those people can find their own mates?”

  “No, I can’t say that it did. Think one of the twins would do for Tally?”

  Alex set his horse to a trot.

  It was days before they reached New Orleans, and by that time they were exhausted, but reaching their destination made new energy run through them.

  “So where do you think your brother would be? Asleep in some rich hotel?” Alex raised an eyebrow at her. “Alone or with someone?”

  “I’m sure Tally is a virgin. Adam and Father keep a close watch on him.”

  “As they do you?”

  Cay grimaced. “I was allowed out by myself because I was believed to be the sane and sensible one.”

  “I proved them wrong,” Alex said, and there was such pride in his voice that she laughed.

  “I’ve never been in this city before, so I don’t know where the best hotels are.”

  Alex looked at her. Her thick auburn hair had grown in some during the last weeks, and it had escaped the tie at the back. It was curling about her shoulders in a way that made him want to pull her off her horse and onto his saddle.

  “We don’t have time for that now,” Cay said at his look, but she was smiling. “I think you’ve corrupted me.”

  “I did my best.” His eyes were blinking innocently.

  “I’m glad it’s only Tally here, because if Adam saw you looking at me like that . . .”

  “What would he do?” Alex asked, amusement in his voice. “Slap me with one of his gloves and challenge me to a duel at dawn? Do you think he brought his father’s dueling pistols?”

  Cay gave him a smug little smile. “Obviously, you don’t have the right impression of Adam. But I’m glad he’s not here.”

  “Then who sent the letter to your little brother?”

  “Nate,” Cay said quickly. “I think Nate might be here, but he’s no problem. If I told him I’d spent the whole time in bed wit
h you, Nate would just ask me to explain why I had wasted my time in such an unproductive manner when I could have been learning something.”

  Alex couldn’t laugh too hard at what she said for fear she’d figure out that he knew more than he was telling. But she’d sounded exactly like his friend. “Bourbon Street,” he said. “Let’s try there first.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “Cay, my sweet, I’ve won thousands upon thousands of dollars in this city. Follow me.”

  All the way through the old, twisted streets of the city, she smiled at his endearment. They went through the sleepy outskirts toward the light and noise that she could hear from far away. As the noise became music and grew louder, she found herself sitting straighter on the horse and her tiredness falling away. Through the entire journey she’d not allowed herself to think about what it would mean if they found Alex’s wife alive. In a second he’d go from being an available bachelor to a married man. No, she liked to think about the fact that if they found his wife alive, that meant Alex’s conviction for murder could be overturned. He’d at last be free. He could . . . What? she thought. What would he want to do? Settle down? Travel more? Explore more unknown places? They hadn’t really gone into the part of Florida that hadn’t been explored, so maybe Alex would want to go back there.

  Or would he want to stay with his wife and raise their children?

  If that were the case, what would Cay do? The idea of returning to Edilean to the three men she’d contemplated marrying was now so absurd that all she could do was laugh at it. Right now she couldn’t imagine that she’d ever been that young, naive, and innocent. A couple of times on the trip, she’d thought about what her life would have been like if she really had married one of those men. Dull, duller, and dullest, she’d concluded.

  Alex had told her that she needed passion to marry someone, and now she knew what he meant. It was true that he’d done a bad thing in falsifying his appearance, and that he’d laughed at her for weeks. He’d even encouraged her to think of him in a way that wasn’t true, but she’d forgiven him. She knew without a doubt that if Micah, Ephraim, or Ben had done something half as bad, she’d never have forgiven them.

  She well remembered what he’d told her once. “You should look at a man and feel that you’ll die if you don’t spend the rest of your life with him. Your heart needs to leap into your throat and stay there.” At the time, she’d thought she could never feel that way about anyone.

  And, too, now she knew about making love. Even the thought of it made her warm all over. Who could have imagined that something so basic could be so exciting, so fulfilling? Alex’s hands all over her! She thought of the positions that the two of them sometimes got into and her face turned red. If someone had told her she’d someday be stark naked with her ankles wrapped around a man’s neck, she would have told them that was impossible. She would never do such a vulgar, disgusting, primitive thing! Never!

  But she had, and she’d loved it. She had to suppress a giggle when she thought of doing something like that with Micah. Alex had told her that some couples only did one position, and she’d laughed. Now that she thought about it, Micah would probably have done only one way and that one very quickly.

  “If you don’t get that look off your face, we’ll have to stop and rent one of these hotel rooms,” Alex said from beside her, his voice low and husky.

  “Actually, I was thinking about Micah.”

  “You have more brothers? Or is he one of your cousins?”

  “As if you don’t remember! There! Look at that hotel. It looks like a place Tally would stay.” She was pointing to a conservative, well-kept smaller hotel just on the outskirts of the noise ahead of them.

  “That place for a rich young man alone in New Orleans? I don’t think so. From what you’ve told me, I think it’s more likely that he’d stay there.” Alex pointed down the street to the three-story building that seemed to be the source of the noise. The windows and open doors blazed with light that fell out into the street. Men with garishly dressed women on their arms strolled about, their laughter drifting on the night breeze.

  “You’re wrong,” Cay said. “For all that Tally sometimes lacks mature judgment, he is a good boy. He would never go to such a place.”

  “How about if we ride around the back and take a look in a window? If we don’t see him, I vote that we get a hotel room, and tomorrow we’ll get cleaned up and look for him. Or for both of them if your other brother is here, too.” Alex had to work to keep the enthusiasm out of his voice when he thought of at last getting to meet his childhood friend. Other than his father, Nate had been the most important person in Alex’s life. The frequent letters they’d exchanged had helped him through everything.

  “All right,” Cay said. “But we just look through the window. We do not go inside. I’ll walk through a swamp full of alligators with you, Alexander McDowell, but I’ll not go into a disgusting, immoral place like that one.”

  “Me, neither,” he said seriously. “Never have been in one and never will be.” He turned his horse away.

  “Is it me, or are you getting worse at lying?”

  Alex’s laugh came back to her, and she shook her head at him.

  Twenty minutes later, they were at the back of the big building, and the music from inside covered any sounds that they made. The high-pitched, excited laughter of women was underscored by the throaty, suggestive sounds from the men. Cay gave Alex a look that told him she’d been right about the place.

  “He’s not in there!” she hissed at Alex as they moved under the tall windows. Alex had to half crouch to keep his head from being seen.

  When they got close to the front, he stopped and stood upright. “I’ll look and save your delicate sensibilities.”

  “Having morals doesn’t mean I’m delicate. I’ve had enough strength to save your ungrateful life about a dozen times now.”

  Alex didn’t bother to answer her as he looked in the tall, brightly lit window.

  When several minutes passed and he said nothing, Cay looked up at him. The bottom of the window was above her eye level, so she was leaning against the wall. “What do you see?”

  “Several old friends. How do you think you’d look in a red dress?”

  “Will you keep your mind on the business at hand? Do you see my brother?”

  Alex pulled himself away from the window to look down at her. “How would I know? I’ve never seen your brother before.”

  “Why didn’t you say—?” She cut herself off from saying what she should have thought of herself. “Lift me up.”

  Alex made no expression, but she knew he was laughing at her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. A sweet, innocent boy-girl like you would be shocked by what’s in there. Why, there’s one young man with a woman on his lap and he has his face buried in her . . .” Alex made a gesture to indicate a prodigious bosom. “Someone who is as innocent as you are couldn’t possibly see something as immoral as— Ouch!”

  Alex held his arm where she’d hit him.

  “Lift me up so I can see, and stop making fun of me.”

  “If I did that, I’d have to give up talking. All right, lass, just don’t hit me again. With all the alligators you’ve been wrestling, your punches are beginning to hurt.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him as he put his hands about her waist and lifted her. She put her feet on his bent thigh and stood still to get her bearings.

  The first thing she saw—the only thing she saw—was her brother Tally sitting at a gaming table, one hand full of cards, the other around the waist of a woman who Cay thought was fat. Or she would be when she removed her corset. The middle of her was pulled into a small circle while the top and bottom bulged out in a truly vulgar way.

  “Anybody you recognize?” Alex asked, his arms around her, his face pressed against her side.

  She could tell by the laughter in his voice that, somehow, he knew exactly who the young man was. “I don’t know anyone
in that place,” she said firmly.

  “Are you sure? I could swear that I saw a resemblance between you and one of the young men in there. But I guess it was my imagination.”

  “Let me down!” she hissed, but he still held her up. Bending, she tried to get below the level of the window, but Alex’s strong hands on her waist kept her standing on his thigh. “So help me, if you don’t let me get down, I’ll make you sorry.”

  “And what would you plan to do to me?” he asked suggestively.

  “Not whatever it is you have in your tiny brain. Let go of me!” She struggled against him for a moment, then realized she was still standing in front of the window. When she glanced back inside, Tally was staring at her. At first she thought he couldn’t possibly see her, but when he unceremoniously dumped the woman off his lap, put down the cards, and got up, all while his eyes were glued to Cay’s, she knew he’d seen her and recognized her.

  She bent down so she was out of the window. “Tally saw me, and he’s coming out here.”

  Alex immediately put her down. “What do you want to do? We could hide tonight and see him tomorrow.”

  “Hide? From Tally? Not in this lifetime. I want you to . . .” She looked around. “I want you to help me get on top of that roof.”

  “You want what?” He looked to the small building that ran along half of the back of the hotel. It was low, only one story, and the roof slanted sharply. “If you’re afraid of him, I’ll talk to him first.”

  “I’m not afraid of him and I don’t want to hide from him. If you won’t help me up, I’ll have to do it myself.” She threw her leg up to get on top of a rain barrel, but it was too tall and her legs were too short.

  Alex had no idea what she was up to, but curiosity overcame his common sense. She shouldn’t be walking on a roof in the middle of the night, but he wanted to see what was going to happen. Putting one hand under her round little fanny, he pushed her upward. He had to climb onto the barrel to help her up to the roof, then he went back to the ground just in time to see her brother come out the back door.

  Standing in the shadows, Alex watched. Since he’d met Cay, she’d complained incessantly about this brother, and he wanted to see them together.