Chapter 14 #2
“Excellent. I might even visit some of my neighbors this afternoon just to give them the wonderful news. I expect you’ll want to leave here within an hour or so if you wish to be home before dark. In fact, I demand that you do. I don’t want my future bride on the road after sunset.”
“Yes, I hadn’t planned to stay very long,” Susanna murmured, her thoughts skittering ahead to the hours she must still spend alone with Adam…knowing what she did now. She was scarcely aware that Dominick had drawn her closer until she felt his lips, hard and cool, cover hers.
Amazingly, she felt nothing—no desire, no passion—which surprised her considering that this man was soon to become her husband. His embrace was certainly not like those she had shared with Adam.
No, you will not compare them with each other!
she berated herself as Dominick gradually deepened the kiss, his arms almost hurting her as he clasped her tightly to his chest. He parted her lips roughly with his tongue, and his breath began to come in short, ragged spurts as he explored her mouth.
Still she felt no excitement, although she did her best to return his kiss, as an inexperienced young woman would.
As his embrace grew more demanding, she kept telling herself that in time she would feel with Dominick the way she had in Adam’s arms. In time she would know that same weakness in her limbs, that same wildness welling deep inside her, the same incredible craving for more of his touch.
She almost imagined that she was experiencing the slightest response when Dominick abruptly released her and moved away, yet in her heart she knew she hadn’t felt a thing. Discomfited because their first kiss had been so unfulfilling, she was relieved when a soft knock came at the door.
“Come in,” Dominick said, his thin, self-assured smile easing her mind. Thankfully he hadn’t noticed her lack of response during their embrace.
The door opened, revealing a stunningly beautiful black woman dressed simply in a blue linen gown and apron.
Tall and willowy, she had the proud bearing of a queen as she carried in a tray holding a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses, yet her features were strangely expressionless.
It was almost as if she had gone through a lifetime of keeping her emotions to herself.
Only her dark oval eyes gave any clue as to what she was thinking, and they were filled with pity as she glanced at Susanna while setting the tray upon a table.
“I don’t usually introduce my servants to guests,” said Dominick, “but I want you to meet Cleo, my housekeeper. She’s been at Raven’s Point since I bought her as a young girl off a slave ship from Barbados.
Cleo, this is the future Mrs. Dominick Spencer, Miss Camille Cary. She’ll soon be your new mistress.”
“Miss Cary,” the woman said with a lilting accent, dropping a slow curtsy.
“It’s a pleasure, Cleo,” Susanna murmured, wondering why the housekeeper was looking at her so oddly.
“I think you’ll be pleased with her work,” Dominick continued smoothly. “She manages the house slaves well, and she also knows how to read and write. I had her specially tutored after my wife passed away, since I needed someone who could run the household when I’m not here.”
Susanna offered Cleo a kind smile. “I’m sure we’ll get along just fine—”
“Yes, now if you’ll excuse us for a moment,” Dominick broke in, not allowing the housekeeper even a chance to respond.
He indicated by a slight touch on Cleo’s arm that she was to follow him into the hall.
The woman visibly stiffened, but her lovely face remained blank, betraying no emotion, and now neither did her ebony eyes.
Without a word, she lowered her head and left the room.
Trying not to eavesdrop, Susanna heard Dominick mention Corliss to the housekeeper, then something about having the cook prepare a light dinner.
Then they moved further into the hall and she couldn’t hear any more.
When Dominick returned, Cleo was gone. He poured them both some lemonade and handed Susanna a glass, then laced his drink with whiskey.
“Cleo will let us know when dinner is ready. It shouldn’t be long. We’ll talk until then.”
“Oh, I was hoping I might see the rest of the house and perhaps the grounds,” she said, taking a sip of lemonade.
His frown surprised her. “Another time,” he said. “There will be plenty of occasions in the weeks ahead to see everything. Today, my dearest Camille, let us simply enjoy each other’s company. Come, a toast to our happiness.”
Susanna’s disappointment eased as he raised his glass. He was right, after all. From now on, she imagined she would be spending a great deal of time at Raven’s Point.
“If she wasn’t the strangest bird I’ve ever seen,” Corliss commented as the carriage jostled along the bumpy dirt road toward Briarwood.
“Who?” Susanna asked.
“Mr. Spencer’s housekeeper, Cleo.”
“Now, why would you say such a thing? I didn’t find her strange, only a bit quiet. And she is certainly beautiful.”
“She’s all of that, Miss Camille, but a whole lot more, too.
I don’t think she’s happy at Raven’s Point.
I’ve never seen such empty eyes. I got chills just looking at her.
After she brought me into the house, she seemed about to tell me something, then another servant walked by and she got this odd, fearful look on her face.
She didn’t say another word after that. Not another word. ”
“I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t be happy there,” Susanna replied, remembering the pity she had seen in the woman’s eyes. She shrugged, not understanding. “Dominick is the most charming and generous gentleman I’ve ever met.”
“Well, I hate to be saying this to you, seeing as you’re growing so fond of him and all, but nobody I saw in that house, or outside while I was sitting by myself in the coach looked very happy.
” Corliss shook her head, her pretty face unusually solemn.
“There were people working everywhere, but no one was laughing or talking like we do at Briarwood to lighten the day. I saw some poor folk heading to the tobo fields who were dressed in the dirtiest, shabbiest clothes I’ve ever seen.
They looked half-starved too.” She sighed heavily.
“I just don’t know what to think, Miss Camille.
I always heard such fine things about Mr. Spencer. ”
Susanna didn’t know either. She hadn’t seen any of this, and although she didn’t believe Corliss was exaggerating, she wondered if perhaps her maid’s impressions had been colored by what they had observed earlier in the tobacco fields.
She had attempted to discuss with Dominick her concerns about the use of young children as field laborers and overseers possessing whips, but he had evaded her questions, saying that they would talk about those issues at a later date.
Now she wondered if she should have persisted, at least enough to receive some assurance from him that he would be willing to alter such practices once they were wed.
She didn’t want her workers at Briarwood worrying that their lives might change for the worse once she became Mrs. Dominick Spencer.
“Corliss, I’m sure things weren’t as bad as they might have seemed,” she said. “Now please cheer up. I can’t have you returning to Briarwood with such a sad face. Everyone will think you’ve been to a funeral instead of shopping in Yorktown. Remember our secret?”
The young woman attempted a smile, but from the uncertainty in her eyes, something was obviously still troubling her. “You know what else I saw while I was waiting in the carriage, Miss Camille?” she said, then rushed on before Susanna could reply. “Convicts.”
“What?”
“Convicts, a whole line of them walking to the fields. They were chained to one another at the ankles, and they weren’t dressed no better than those other folk.
” Corliss shuddered. “They were a sorry-looking bunch, all bearded and dirty. I’d heard before that some planters use such wretches in the fields, working them until they drop, but I never saw any before today. ”
So now she had something else to discuss with Dominick, Susanna thought with exasperation, holding tightly onto the strap as the carriage swayed and pitched across a particularly bad patch of road.
She didn’t like that such desperate and hopeless men were being used as slaves, if only for the danger they presented to everyone else, and she would tell Dominick that she wouldn’t allow them at Briarwood.
Oh, why was this day turning into more of a frustration than the blessed end to her problems that she had envisioned?
“We’re almost home, Miss Camille,” Elias boomed in his deep baritone above the horses’ pounding hooves.
“Just in time,” she breathed to herself, noting with some apprehension that the sun had already set low behind the trees.
The journey had taken longer than she had anticipated. It must be past six o’clock. She wondered if Adam was back from the fields and hoped he wasn’t. She wanted to tear up her note. It had been haunting her all day, along with the knowledge that tomorrow he would receive the shock of his life.
“How long will I have to keep quiet about what we did today?” Corliss asked, leading Susanna to believe that their secret was already chafing her chatterbox of a waiting-maid.
“Not long,” she replied, her breath jamming in her throat when she spied Adam standing at the foot of the walkway, his arms crossed over his broad chest. As the carriage lurched around the drive, her heart began to pound. From the dark frown on his handsome face, she could tell he wasn’t pleased.
“Oh bloody hell,” she muttered before she could catch herself.
“Miss Camille!” Corliss exclaimed.
Ignoring her maid and forcing a bright smile, Susanna prepared herself for Adam’s displeasure.