by Jerri Hines
TIDES OF CHARLESTON
2-BOOK BOX-SET:
THE JUDAS KISS
&
THE PROMISE
by
Jerri Hines
WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
www.whiskeycreekpress.com
Published by
WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
www.whiskeycreekpress.com
Copyright © 2015 by Jerri Hines
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
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ISBN: 978-1-63355-772-7
Credits
Editor: Melanie Billings
Printed in the United States of America
TIDES OF CHARLESTON
BOOK 1:
THE JUDAS KISS
by
Jerri Hines
To my wonderful mother, Ramona Dotson Caveness, who inspired my love for books.
Chapter 1
A beautiful melody of orchestra music drifted in through Cathryn Blankenship’s open bedroom window. Exasperated, she pulled back the curtains.
She ignored the house ablaze with lights, the murmurs of voices, and stared into the darkened night sky. Most nights she never gave much thought to the wonderment of the sky nor the beauty of the radiant stars twinkling from far beyond her reach. Tonight was no different, except she bemoaned the fact there was no moonlight. How ever was she going to see?
She sighed. Of all things, her father, Governor John Rolf Blankenship, had sent her to her room. Her room! In the midst of the biggest dance of the year celebrating the Hampton Square Race, she had been admonished in the most humiliating fashion. She would never forgive her father. Never!
None of this would have happened if her father hadn’t decided to send her across the ocean to her mother’s family in London...for a Season. What a silly notion! She had no intention of leaving Elm Bluff. Though, she well figured being sent over to England had more to do with the ramblings within the Colonies...a call for liberty and freedom. Well, she didn’t care a twit for politics.
Cathryn glanced out her window. She was going out. Looking down, she wouldn’t have worried about the climb at all if she wasn’t wearing a ball gown, but she didn’t have time to change. Tacy would soon be within to check on her.
Without another thought, she hiked up the hem of her green taffeta, hooking it to the ribbon around her waist. She crunched over and slid through the window. Immediately, she winced. First at the sound of her tight sleeves ripping; then when she maneuvered her legs out the window, her petticoat became entangled in a nail head protruding from inside the windowsill.
She stretched her arm up, trying vainly to work the ruffle free of the nail. Her arms ached while her slippers skidded along the side of the house in an attempt to find solid footing. Her hand slapped on the windowsill.
“Now, now,” the familiar voice of her maid said, as she leaned out the window. “What I’m to do with ya’, Miss Cathryn?”
“Tacy,” Cathryn whispered frantically. “Tacy, please free my dress. Quickly. I’m going to fall.”
Cathryn stole a reluctant glance up at Tacy, who leaned over the windowsill. She watched her maid’s strawberry blonde hair fall over her face while her fingers lay on the caught material.
“There you go again, Miss Cathryn. Why it took me two hours to do your hair and fix you up just right! And here ya are hanging out your window. Next time tell me. Wasting my time when I got better things to do!”
“Tacy,” Cathryn retorted. “I don’t have time for this. Come now!”
“Governor Blankenship ain’t gonna like it. Not one bit. Here he is sending me up here checking on you. Thinkin’ ya desolate up here by yourself. Tho’ I would have wagered ya already be long gone. That temper of yours, Miss Cathryn!”
Tacy flicked the caught material over the nail. “Now, my Lady, ya need to get yourself back up here before the governor gets wind of whatcha up to.”
“I’ll send him a message when I get where I’m going. Tell him I’ll come back when the ship has sailed,” Cathryn said.
Ignoring her maid, she balanced herself on the window mount below. The next moment she leaped down on the soft grass, rolling quite unladylike before finding her feet. Cathryn took off. From behind her she heard Tacy muttering under her breath. “There will be other ships!”
The silly goose will go and tell Father! I don’t have much time. By golly William had better be where I told him to be!
To say this day had been a disappointment would have been an understatement. In no way had the day played out as she had envisioned. Cathryn undid the hem from her belted ribbon and let it fall back into place as she walked away from the house.
Chatter and laughter echoed throughout Elm Bluff. It should have been quite a celebration with Sumner’s horse winning the race once more, but she couldn’t imagine Sumner not winning whatever he set his sights upon.
In truth, Sumner was her half-brother, but that didn’t matter to her. Her family wasn’t the conventional family within Charles Town, but she loved them deeply. That was the reason for her dilemma this night. With her father’s insistence on sending her over to England to her mother’s family, she would be separated from the only people she loved and who loved her.
“It will be good for you to meet your mother’s family. It was your mother’s wish,” her father had said, although Cathryn knew well he had no real desire for her to go.
“Why can’t you come with me?” she cried.
“There is too much to attend to here. I can’t leave at this time, but I promise as soon as I get all settled, I will come over to bring you home.”
Governor Blankenship had long served as governor of Antigua in the West Indies before settling in Charles Town. At an early age, he had joined his Majesty’s army, a second son to the Earl of Hestershire, but Cathryn had never set foot in her father’s England. She had been born in Antigua a year after her father married her mother, Elizabeth Cavanaugh. It had been an arranged marriage, although her mother had died when Cathryn had been six, less than a year after coming to Elm Bluff.
“You are willingly sending me over,” Cathryn said in a futile attempt to reason with her father. “You talk of a Season but, Father, William said when he was there a Season was just a way for girls to be paraded about for the highest bidder. I will not be auctioned off!”
Her father gave a somber look at his only daughter. “It’s not that way. William was upset because he wasn’t invited to socialize. Granted, I will contend it’s a different way than we do here, but it is part of your life that you need to experience, my dear.”
“Father, I won’t go!” she said, indignation resounding in her voice.
“You have no choice, my dear,” her father said, pinching her cheek as he did when she had been a small child. “If you had any inclination toward any of the beaus in Charles Town I wouldn’t force you to go. But you have turned away anyone who has shown any interest in you. Do I have to remind you that I refused Maynard Fleming last week? I only want y
our happiness.”
“Sumner says they were only after Elm Bluff,” she exclaimed. “I want only to marry for love, Father!”
“I doubt you would do anything less, but you will do as I have requested. I have already made the necessary arrangements. You are to travel with the Montgomerys. They are taking their two boys to school in London. They have kindly offered to escort you to your grandparents,” Governor Blankenship informed her.
“I have no time to pack. The end of the week? How am I supposed to make ready in that short of a time?” Cathryn said, filled with her own anxieties.
“There was a purpose behind it, I can assure you, Cathryn. It gives you no time to plot your escape. Tacy will travel with you.”
Her escape! She wished only she had more time to plan! She scurried across the lawn into the garden. She knew the worn path well. Her steps slowed the closer she came to her destination. Within her sight, a light flicked and then it was gone. She blinked. No, it was a light in the garden house.
Oh! Mother of All! Had she not told William the old barn? She walked softly up to the closed entrance, but her movement stalled upon the sound of a throaty feminine moan. Then another moan emerged in the stillness. This time it was a husky, deep chuckle.
Cathryn wiped back the dusty coating over the glass pane. It was not William. Even in the dim light, she recognized her brother’s bare back glistening in sweat. His arms wrapped around a woman caught in a fervent embrace, pinned against the wall. Cathryn’s mouth fell open when her brother’s lips traveled down the woman’s throat.
Randa Landor! Cathryn recognized her instantly. Randa tilted her head back, inviting Sumner to press his open mouth against her pale skin.
Cathryn gaped. She had never seen such a sight and was certain it was not for her eyes to behold, but she was mesmerized. To Cathryn’s shock, Randa’s gown slipped well past her shoulders, but her vision was hampered as Sumner moved out of her view. Oh, Mother of All, what was her brother doing!
Cathryn released her hold, turning her head away in disgust. For a moment she stood with her back against the garden house, but the mewling gasps and moans sent her down the path again. What game was Sumner playing?
Randa Landor’s father was a highly successful businessman in Charles Town. Granted, Sumner always had a bevy of ladies vying for his attention, but Randa? Randa was considered the most beautiful girl in the county with her thick russet hair and deep brown eyes, but her father would never accept a bastard for a son-in-law, not even the bastard son of a British aristocrat.
She ran, turning down the lane to the old barn near the Ashley River. The lights from the house were completely concealed from sight by the woods. Her eyes took only a moment to adjust to see two horses waiting outside the barn.
“William,” she uttered in a low voice. “William, where are you? We don’t have much time!”
“Then keep your voice down.”
“Oh, William, you don’t know what I have been through. Why did you disappear as you did? Father was furious.”
“May I remind you, Cathryn, you gave me no notice and flung your request only hours ago,” he said, glancing over his shoulder nervously. “And it was not I who pushed Old Miss Longridge into the reflecting pool.”
“It was an accident, William. I was only trying to escape that wretched lieutenant’s reach and fell into her!”
She wanted to add if he had helped her at all she wouldn’t have found herself in such a predicament. The plan seemed so simple. Meet William on the veranda and quietly exit the party. If only she had known her father had placed a guard on her!
The moment she stepped off the veranda that infuriating Lieutenant Pennington halted her progress. If only William had stepped forward when the lieutenant detained her, she wouldn’t have reacted so.
For a moment, she paused, studying William. Attractive with a lean body of no more than twenty-two years, he had only recently returned from his studies in England, but his words irritated her to no end at the moment.
In truth, she had given him no warning and had only come up with her plan while lying in bed this morning. Her determination to stay had called to mind William.
Had her father not said if she had expressed any interest in a beau the matter would be different? And the Peyton family would be acceptable in his sight. They owned a beautiful plantation up from Elm Bluff along the river’s edge. William was the eldest son of six brothers.
Although from her father’s reaction, she doubted now if he wanted her married at all here in Charles Town. Clearly, he wanted her gone. She wished she knew the reason.
As for love, she knew little about the subject. She had never experienced the throes of love in the way she had read about, but William she liked. He had intelligence about him. He had hinted to Cathryn many times upon his return that he would like to court her. Now he stood like a buffoon, unsure whether to help her or not.
“Well, if you’re not willing, at least help me out to Tome Plain. I can hide out there until well after the ship departs.”
“I could well take offense. Let me remind you, Cathryn, you proposed to me.”
“William, I asked only that you ask for my hand. So in theory I haven’t done so. It wouldn’t be proper.”
He laughed. “You do have a way of twisting words to your advantage, Cathryn. But why the hurry? I mean, your father quite insisted that I not give you aid in your harebrained scheme.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because,” he said simply, “it may give me what I desire most.”
“I’m to take it that I’m what you desire most?”
“Would I be here otherwise? You do realize once we ride away there will be no going back.”
“Do you not trust me, William? Have I not explained to you why I must stay? I cannot for the life of me understand why father wants to send me away from him, especially when disaster looms on the horizon,” she said in the most dramatic fashion.
“Most romantic concept in an elopement, my dear Cathryn, to worry about staying with one’s family, not leaving them,” he said and chuckled, extending his hand to help her mount.
Cathryn ignored his comment and his hand. She swung her legs across her horse, giving no thought to modesty, nor had she thought of the consequences of her actions, only of staying at Elm Bluff.
Suddenly, her head jerked to the sound of rustling in the woods. Out from the darkness a figured emerged. And here she thought her day couldn’t get any worse. It was him again, that insolent officer!
When she had first seen him earlier in the evening she thought him tall and handsome in his red dress coat, but that was before he revealed his assignment: to see her safely on board the Victoria. Through the faint light, he met her with a smile, a slow arrogant smile...that was accentuated by the whiteness of his wig.
He had a square jaw, about which her father always said showed strong character. His eyes caught hers, bold, dark eyes that Cathryn couldn’t read, but they showed no sign of weakness.
“I can see that neither of you listened to Governor Blankenship’s request,” he said as a fact. No question lay in his tone.
“I believe you said your name was Pennington...Lieutenant Pennington, if I’m not mistaken. This isn’t your concern...you don’t know Miss Blankenship well enough to understand...” William stumbled over his words.
“I know her father, well, Mr. Peyton. My advice to you would be to leave immediately or face the consequences of your actions. A gentleman would never encourage such behavior.”
Cathryn stared in disbelief as William hesitated, glancing apprehensively at Cathryn and back at the lieutenant.
“It is your call, Mr. Peyton. My patience has worn thin this night. I thought I had made myself perfectly clear earlier, but if you want me to fulfill my threat, I assure you I will have no issue.”
Lieutenant Pennington stepped only once toward William before he mounted up and tethered back his horse.
“You can tell your father
, Cathryn, I will make my presence known first thing in the morning to clear up this misunderstanding.”
Before Cathryn could utter a retort, he galloped down the road.
“William! William Peyton!” she cried. Her eyes flamed at his desertion. “Coward!”
The sound of the horse’s hooves clattering fast away slowly waned in the distance. She sat frozen upon her mount, refusing to look down at the impertinent man. How dare he, not once but twice, interfere with her plans!
Frustration surged. She yanked her reins to take off down the lane herself, but the lieutenant’s hands were quicker. He gripped tight to her reins and in one quick motion with his other hand pulled Cathryn down off her horse straight into his arms.
“Let go of me, you horrid beast!” she uttered, trying to catch her breath. She twisted in his hold. “I will scream.”
“I have no control of such an action,” he said. “If you want to cause another spectacle, it isn’t in my power to stop you.”
She struggled against him. She hit back his hand, but his grip didn’t ease; she didn’t stop. Finally, he whipped her around, pulling her to his face, so close she could feel his breath against her skin.
For a brief moment, her thoughts fell back to the scene she had stumbled upon only minutes before. She wondered what it was like to be in an ardent embrace. She had never been in such close proximity to a man. His face, his lips so near.
His thoughts, though, seemed far away from hers. His chest heaved as if trying to restrain his annoyance with the situation.
“Your plan, I am afraid, Miss Blankenship, has been foiled. Can you not behave for one moment? Your father only asked if I could watch over your safety upon your voyage, since I was returning to England upon the Victoria. Nothing more.
“Tonight was requested because he feared you would try something reckless which it seems was warranted. In truth, Miss Blankenship, I have found your maneuvers rival some battle-worn generals I have served under.”
“Then I would have to assume you have served under some extremely deficient generals, Lieutenant, for I haven’t been very successful. Pray, let me go!”
