Southern Seduction (26 page)

Ah hell
, he swore silently. Much against his better judgment, he loved the woman. He had fallen into her spell whether he wanted to or not.

That truth had been dredged from a place beyond logic and reason, but he didn’t care.
Somehow, love had sneaked up on him when he wasn’t paying attention.

“You feel so good, my love.
I could make love to you all night,” he told her as he plunged into her. She answered by arching to meet his thrust.

Travis felt as though he were riding a wave in the ocean -- building and building, higher and higher until he reached the pinnacle, then he crested into oblivion until he crashed down on shore, shuddering with his release.

Glancing down at Brooke, he saw the love and contentment in her eyes. Tomorrow at dinner he’d tell her he didn’t want their marriage to be a business deal. He wanted Brooke for the rest of his life.

But tonight, he wanted to enjoy this joyous contentment he’d found in her arms.
He rolled to his side, enfolded Brooke next to him, and slept like he’d never slept before.

Chapter Fifteen

The
Natchez
had made a swift run the night before. Word had gone out that they would dock for a very short time in Memphis to unload cargo and pick up a few passengers. However, the
Annie Johnston
was not doing its regular run. Nevertheless, the
Natchez
had already begun to catch her. Captain Leathers believed that a captain should keep his normal operations and then race.

Brooke hurried to the railing to watch the morning’s docking activity as she waited for Travis to return.
Today he’d opened his gold case to find it empty. Needing some cigars, he had left the ship, heading for one of the stores that fronted the shore. He promised Brooke he’d return well before the boat was ready to shove off.

Brooke had actually experienced a twinge of loss as she watched him leave the ship.
She realized it was silly. After last night, she knew he was coming right back, but she felt nervous when Travis wasn’t near her. She’d finally found that mysterious thing called love, and she felt like shouting to everyone that she was normal after all.

Hoping that the fresh air would help her piece her thoughts together, she pondered her new feelings.
This was uncharted territory for Brooke, and she didn’t know how to deal with it. She’d always felt so sure and confident before.

Could love be a miserable uncertainty?

Travis hadn’t told her that he loved her, but Brooke had felt it in the way he held her and looked at her. It was wonderful. In the past, whenever she found happiness something always seemed to come along to take it away. She wondered what it would be this time.

Brooke watched Captain Leathers from where she stood on the hurricane deck.
He was snapping orders to his crew. George Devol, one of the gamblers Travis had played cards with, strode over to speak with the captain. It appeared Devol was carrying a stovepipe hat full of bank notes and silver coins.

"Captain,” Devol said to get the man’s attention.
“There is a poor widow lady down there with six children. She told me she had tried to board the
Annie Johnston
. When Captain Blake found out she had no money, well sir, he kicked her and her children off his boat. So, I’ve passed this hat among the passengers and officers, and I think we have enough to buy the family passage."

Captain Leathers waved aside the hat.
"Give the money to the woman. She needs it more than I do. I'll instruct one of the crew to find her a room for her,” he spat. “Sounds like something Captain Blake would do."

Brooke smiled.
She had thought the captain was a good man. Now, she had the proof. Brooke turned her attention back to the wharf to see if Travis was on his way back. She didn’t see him, only the passengers waiting to board. They would take on fourteen passengers beside the widow and her children, as well as loading cargo.

Captain Leathers was very efficient in unloading cargo and passengers quickly.
By now, everyone knew that they were in a race, so they cooperated by boarding quickly. However, there was an older woman and a young lady, accompanied by their maids, who seemed to be arguing with a crew member about their luggage. Evidently, the crew must have satisfied the woman because she eventually nodded, and several men rushed down to lug all of the bags aboard, which was so much more than what the normal passenger carried.

Brooke spotted Travis out of the corner of her
eye as he walked briskly down the wharf toward the boat. Travis made the turn and started up the gangplank. As he hurried by the passengers, a woman squealed and threw herself into his arms. Not only that, but the hussy kissed him -– full on the lips -- which Brooke didn't care for at all. The woman had some nerve.

Brooke watched as Travis tried to disengage the young woman's arms from around his neck.
Then the older woman moved over and kissed Travis on the cheek. That was when Brooke realized this had to be Travis's mother and Hesione.
Of all the rotten luck
, Brooke thought. She had wanted to have a little time with Travis before they returned home and had to untangle the ugly mess made by him marrying someone else. She’d expected to have at least another month before Hesione and Travis’s mother returned.

Evidently, that wasn’t to be.
Brooke sighed. She wouldn't have to wait any longer to meet them.

The trio marched up the gangplank, Hesione's arm linked with Travis’s.
His mother was beside him, happily chatting away.

Once they were aboard, Brooke heard Travis introduce them to Captain Leathers who was his gracious self.

Captain Leathers excused himself so that he could greet the other boarding passengers and get the boat moving. Now he was only an hour behind the
Annie Johnson
.

“Cut the lines,” the captain barked his order to a roustabout.

Travis glanced around until he spotted Brooke. When he saw her, he motioned her to come to him.

Brooke straightened her rich brown skirt and started his way.
Before she reached him, he disengaged himself from Hesione and strode over to Brooke.

“I think you know who they are,” Travis nodded toward his mother.
“Are you ready?"

Brooke took a deep breath before nodding.
Travis grasped her elbow, and quickly closed the distance between them and his mother.

"Mother," Travis said to gain her attention.

Brooke noticed that his mother was small with a medium complexion and dark brown hair, but she didn't have Travis's eyes. Her eyes were green and cold though she wore a smile at the moment.

"A lot has happened since you've been away.
I'd like you to meet Brooke Montgomery, my wife. This is my mother Margaret deLobel."

Travis's mother started to nod, but stopped as her son’s words apparently sunk in.
Hesione, a puzzled look on her face, stood before them dumbfounded. "What did you just say?" Margaret asked, as though she hadn’t quite understood him.

"We were married three days ago,” he replied confidently.
Then he looked at his former fiancée. “I'm sorry, Hesione."

"How could you!" Hesione screamed, apparently over her shock.
Tears of rage ran down her lovely face. “What about me?”

"Have you lost your mind?" Margaret asked her son.
"You know that we were shopping for Hesione's trousseau. Did you forget that you already had a fiancée?"

"No, Mother, I didn’t forget, but a few things have changed."

"Look how upset you've made Hesione.” Margaret put an arm around the sobbing girl. “There has to be some mistake," Margaret insisted as she swayed as if to faint. Travis had to reach out and steady her. She glared at Brooke, utter contempt on her face. "After all, this woman is English."

"Perhaps I should take you to your room," Travis suggested, looking around at the curious passersby.
“You’ll feel better once you’re rested.”

"Is there something wrong with being English?" Brooke finally found her voice after watching the spectacle in front of her.

"You are not Creole!" Margaret snapped, her eyes filled with loathing.

Brooke sighed, wondering how many times she’d heard that statement.
"Well, we cannot all be so fortunate as to be Creole. I assure you I do come from a good bloodline, however."

"Now you are insulting me with your sharp tongue," Margaret spat, not looking quite as sick as she had a moment ago, Brooke noticed.
She must have been using a ploy she’d developed over the years to control Travis. Apparently, he had finally learned to ignore it.

Margaret turned to her son.
"I'd like to see you alone."

"If you don't mind.” Travis glanced at Brooke.
“I'm going to escort Hesione and Mother to their rooms. I'll see you back in our room."

Brooke nodded as she watched Travis grasp
the woman's elbow. What choice did she have? His mother wasn't taking the news well at all, not that Brooke had expected she would. However, she hadn’t expected the women to make such a scene, especially in public.

Perhaps the Creoles didn’t have the manner of the English, Brooke smiled.

She really didn’t want to go to her room where she’d have nothing to do but worry about the situation, so she turned to watch the last passenger board.

"Oh my, God," Brooke said under her breath.
Could her day get much worse? She watched as a man strode up the ramp. Not just any man, but the Earl of Whatsbury.

A man who could identify Brooke and her past.

Quickly, she turned away from the rail and started for her room.
What was she going to do? The boat wasn’t that big. It would be impossible to avoid him. Thank God, she had never slept with the Earl, but she’d attended several parties that he had attended.

She remembered Whatsbury at one of the soirees where he’d been very much in his cups.
He had propositioned her, telling Brooke he’d treat her like a queen. She’d been so repulsed by his behavior that she’d cut him off, telling him he didn’t have enough money to afford her.

Whatsbury had gotten so angry he’d grabbed her arm, gripping it painfully, but the duke she was keeping company with at the time stepped in and rescued her, making Whatsbury apologize.
He never bothered her after that.

Now she would have to face him again.
Would he have forgotten her? She could only hope.

As soon as Travis delivered the hysterical Hesione to her room and his mother to hers, he tried to excuse himself.
He had no desire to be around either of them, but he knew he wouldn't get away from his mother so easily.

"How could you have married a stranger?"
Margaret rounded on him, her face a mask of fury.

"My father died.”

Margaret stopped short and gasped, her hand coming to her mouth. “How do you know?”

Travis folded his arms and leaned against the door.
“His solicitor, Mr. Jeffries, came to see me.”

“Did your father leave you anything?”

Travis nodded. “Yes, he did. He left me half of Moss Grove.”

His mother gave him a questioning look.
“Half?”

“That’s correct.
The other half was left to Brooke.”

“Well, I’ve never!” Margaret protested, and then she began to pace.
“Jackson told me, himself, that you were the only child he had. Who was this woman to Jackson? And why did you marry her?”

“There was a stipulation that if I married Brooke, Jackson’s money would go toward the plantation.
The sugarcane crop was ruined by a storm, leaving me virtually penniless. I had no choice.”

"I see now.
You did it for the money,” Margaret concluded, the wheels spinning in her head. “But if you had married Hesione, you would have had money, too,” she pointed out. “This other woman isn't one of us.” Margaret stopped pacing and faced her son. “You know that by marring Hesione we would have finally received my father's approval. I can well imagine what he thinks with you marrying that little tramp."

"Do not call my wife names," Travis warned.

"She means nothing to you,” Margaret stated as if she knew with certainty. Then she began pacing again. “And she won't be your wife for long. You can have the marriage annulled and then you can marry Hesione."

"I don't want an
annulment,” Travis told her in a terse voice. “And I most definitely don't want to marry Hesione any longer. I do not love Hesione, so I see no reason to undo what I have done. She can find somebody else.

“Mother, you might as well get used to the fact that I don't give a damn whether Grandfather approves of me or my wife. The only people I need to please are myself and Brooke.
This marriage started out as a business arrangement, but it has become more than that now."