Chapter 23 #2
“It appears you’ve been sorely fooled, my dear.
You thought this common scum married you out of love, but you can plainly see what he’s been doing with your money.
You’re nothing but the instrument of his petty vengeance.
You would do well to remember that along with everything else I told you the other night. ”
Suddenly loathing this man with every ounce of her being, Susanna lifted her chin and met his eyes.
“Is it any worse, Dominick, than what you would have done to me had I married you? Sold my estate to pay your debts and then wantonly gambled away whatever of my fortune remained? That would certainly have been an interesting way to demonstrate your own professed love. No, if I have been used for revenge against a lying monster like you, I consider the money very well spent.”
As the planter’s perfect features contorted with incredulity and rage, Susanna felt the warmth of Adam’s gaze upon her.
Overcome anew by the anguish she had suffered since Saturday night, she desperately hoped her words had finally convinced him that she would never have plotted with Dominick against him.
“Get off my land, all of you!” the planter commanded, his eyes ablaze.
“We’ll see whose side the court takes tomorrow afternoon—because you’re not going to get a shilling from me, Adam Thornton.
You’ll discover instead that Virginia law looks more favorably upon a well-respected member of the council than a former indentured servant who believes himself to be a gentleman simply because his fortuitous marriage has given him wealth! ”
Glancing at Adam, Susanna was relieved to see that Dominick’s insult hadn’t affected him. His expression was as hard and resolute as ever.
“If you find comfort in lying to yourself,” he replied in a low voice, “then enjoy it while you can. Mr. Booth and I will await you eagerly before the magistrate in Williamsburg.” Taking Susanna’s arm, he began to steer her back toward the carriage, but he paused to add sarcastically, “If you decide not to appear, honorable councilor, believe me, there will be guards sent to Raven’s Point to accompany you to court. ”
“How dare you threaten me on my property! Leave or by God, I’ll take a whip to you and no one would fault me for it!” Dominick ranted at them, shaking his fists.
Glancing at the planter over her shoulder, his mottled face made ugly with rage, Susanna shuddered, silently thanking Adam again for saving her from this brutal man.
She spied a movement at an opened upstairs window and was startled to see Cleo, wearing a silk dressing gown, also staring down at them.
Though Susanna couldn’t read the expression in the beautiful slave’s eyes, her tight, close-mouthed smile held sheer triumph.
“Here are the documents, Mr. Spencer,” William Booth said tersely, clearly disgusted by Dominick’s foul display of temper. He set the papers on the step below the planter and brushed past Susanna and Adam on his way to the carriage.
“You son of a bitch, take your papers with you!” Dominick shouted. “I swear you won’t have a legal practice when this is done! I have influence! I—”
“Mr. Spencer!”
The planter’s tirade was checked as one of his overseers rode up and reined in his snorting, lathered mount at the foot of the steps.
“Three convicts…just tried to escape,” the man rasped, out of breath, sweat dripping down his face.
“We had unlocked their leg chains so they could work…and they bolted across the field. We caught two” — he jerked his head over his shoulder as another overseer rode toward them, half-dragging behind him two bedraggled prisoners bound around their upper chests by ropes which were tied to the man’s saddle— “and I’m going to set the dogs after the last one.
I think…he’s hiding somewhere in the field. The tobo’s so high we can’t find him.”
“Do it, then!” Dominick shouted. “What are you waiting for?” As the man kicked his mount and rode away, the planter rushed down the steps to meet the other overseer, his unwanted guests clearly forgotten. “Give me your whip!”
“Get into the carriage, Camille. You don’t want to see this,” Adam firmly bade Susanna, but she scarcely heard him, staring in horror as the two unlucky convicts collapsed in exhaustion on the ground a short distance away.
One of the men was russet-haired and slight, and he screamed piteously as Dominick lit into him with a vengeance, the snapping whip cutting viciously across his bony shoulders.
The other convict, dark-bearded and of stockier build, gasped for breath on all fours, then he raised his head, his narrowed amber gaze fixing upon her.
Recognition flitted across his pocked features, but it faded into an agonized grimace when the whip slashed into his flesh. Yet his eyes never left her face.
Susanna inhaled sharply, her heart hammering, her blood roaring in her ears. No, it couldn’t be him…It wasn’t possible…
“I said to get in! Now!” Adam repeated, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her inside, where Mr. Booth was already waiting for them.
“Drive, Elias!” he shouted, slamming the door behind him before turning on her.
“Good God, Camille, what were you thinking? Dominick is furious enough to flay those poor bastards alive and you were standing there like a statue, watching! I can tell you from long experience that it’s not a sight you would have enjoyed. ”
“I—I’m sorry, Adam. It was so awful…I didn’t mean to stare…”
He immediately softened his tone, as if sensing the depth of her shock, and switched his seat to sit beside her. “I know, Camille, I know. Everything happened so fast. It’s understandable. Forgive me for being so harsh with you, my love.”
Thoroughly shaken, Susanna was scarcely aware of the special emphasis Adam had given his apology, or his endearment, as her mind raced over and over the last few moments.
She tried to tell herself that she had only imagined she had just seen Keefer Dunn, but some deep inner instinct screamed that it had been him.
No, no, no, it wasn’t him! she countered desperately. Such a coincidence simply wasn’t possible. Any number of men might bear such marks from the pox and possess those same amber-colored eyes!
She flinched when Adam’s arm encircled her waist and he drew her against him.
“There’s no need to tremble, Camille. It’s over. Dominick has lost, no matter what he says. By tomorrow afternoon, he’ll be on his way to a debtors’ prison. Isn’t that correct, Mr. Booth?”
“I have every reason to believe that will be the case. The enormity of his debt will sway the magistrate. Mr. Spencer will have many long years to regret the cruelty of his ways.”
“As he so justly deserves.”
At the harsh satisfaction in Adam’s voice, Susanna knew she should be elated. Maybe now there was some hope for them. Maybe now he might set aside his suspicion and begin to trust her. Yet any joy she might have felt was bitterly tempered by what she had seen at Raven’s Point.
Laying her head against his shoulder, she closed her eyes and tried to shut out the horrifying image of Keefer Dunn.
She should tell Adam about him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
At least not here, not now, and especially not with the lawyer present.
To wrest away Adam’s revenge when it was so freshly won? No, she just couldn’t do it!
“That’s it, my love, just rest. It’s been a trying morning for all of us. I’ll wake you when we arrive at Briarwood. “
But Susanna wasn’t resting. She was praying, a terrible, brutally urgent, selfish prayer that the one man who could yet destroy the happiness for which she longed so desperately would not survive Dominick’s whip.
Oh, please, God, please let Keefer Dunn die…