River Lady

by Jude Deveraux

  They ate in silence and Kim came out of the wagon to sit, leaning against a tree while Wes hovered over her.

  With seeming disgust, Justin threw the last of his coffee into the fire. “We all need a rest. There’s a waterfall a few miles from here and I thought maybe tomorrow Leah and I could ride over there.” He smiled at her across the fire. “Maybe do some washing.”

  Leah looked down at her cup. “I do need to do some washing,” she murmured.

  Before the morning was fully awake, Justin was standing over Leah, wanting her to hurry up so they could go.

  “But what about breakfast?” she asked, gathering dirty clothes into a bundle.

  “Let the duchess fend for herself for a day.”

  Leah suppressed a giggle. “I’m ready.”

  “Leah!” Kim called and came running to them. She was very pretty in the early light. She held out a couple of dresses and some underwear to Leah, “Would you mind? It looks like I have all the camp work to do today since you’re going off to have fun, so could you do this little thing for me?”

  “Of course,” Leah answered, but Justin grabbed the clothes.

  “You can do your own laundry,” he began.

  Leah put her hand on his arm and took Kim’s clothes. “Of course I’ll wash them.”

  “Come on,” Justin said in disgust, half-pulling Leah to his saddled horse. “Why do you let her take so much from you? You’re worth fifty of her.” He mounted the horse then pulled her up behind him.

  “No I’m not,” Leah whispered, but she didn’t think Justin heard her.

  They traveled north for over an hour, away from the houses that dotted the countryside, away from sight of other wagons that traveled westward. After another hour, Justin dismounted and lifted his arms up for Leah. When he held her aloft, hands on her waist, he lowered her slowly and kissed her gently.

  Leah felt no sparks, but it was a pleasant kiss. She looked away when he set her on the ground.

  He looked at her, a puzzled frown on his brow. “Who’s hurt you, Leah?” he asked softly. “I’ve never met a woman as pretty as you who hung her head all the time and thought she was another woman’s slave.”

  “There are things about me you don’t know,” she said, pulling away from him, but she kept her chin up. “And I’m no one’s slave.”

  “Then why are you so frightened of Wes?”

  “Frightened?” She gasped. “I’m not afraid of him—or any man!” She lowered her voice. “But there are things between Wes and me, things you know nothing about.” She could feel the anger in her growing. “I’d better get started with the washing.”

  “Forget the washing!” Justin said fiercely, grabbing the bundle from her. “What’s between you and Stanford?”

  “Not what you mean,” she flashed at him, eyes bright with anger. “Wesley Stanford hates me, just as I hate him and all his kind who let my family starve while they spent money on fine clothes and horses. Wesley’s horse cost more than what all nine of us lived on for over a year.”

  She moved away from him, knowing she’d disgusted him. He wouldn’t care about her now that he knew who she was—and she wasn’t going to let him see how his change hurt her. “You and your fine manners,” she said, seething. “All of you men are alike. You think because we’re poor you can get what you want from us. But let me tell you that only one of us Simmonses is a whore.”

  “Is that what you think of me?” Justin gasped. “That I think you’re a…a…”

  “Go on and say it!” she shouted at him. “I’ve certainly heard the word enough times from men and women like you. Pretty clothes on the outside and filth inside.”

  Justin stood still for a moment, looking as if he were in shock. “Is that what you think I am? Some rich dandy that grew up in a big house with servants to wait on me?” Quickly he turned around, and when he looked back he was grinning. “I wish the people of Sweetbriar could hear this. One of the Stark boys accused of having manners and riches. Oh Leah,” he said, beginning to laugh. “I don’t know how poor you grew up but you’ll have to go some to beat me. Sit down here and let me tell you the true story of my family.”

  Bewildered, Leah sat beside him on the ground and listened to the true version of Justin’s life. It wasn’t that he’d lied when he’d told her of his family earlier, but he’d left out all the bad—because he thought Leah was a lady born and raised, and he didn’t want to shock her with the tales of his life.

  Justin told about his father, Doll Stark, who, it was rumored, was the laziest man east of the Mississippi. It might have been a joke to others, but to the rest of the family it was a constant battle to survive. Doll would spend his days in the Macalister trading post, laughing, enjoying himself, while his wife and children tried to feed themselves from a few acres of overworked land. Justin, the oldest boy, grew up hating his father. Doll would eat a massive breakfast, for which the family had worked, disappear until nightfall, come home, eat more, then spend hours trying to impregnate his wife. Justin would lie awake and hear the quiet sounds and hate his father even more. As for Doll, he never asked how his family fared or how Justin worked long, long hours to keep meat on the table.

  And the town merely joked about Doll’s laziness. The only time they interfered was when Justin’s oldest sister, Corinne, told some lies and caused some trouble with the town’s precious Macalisters.

  “Is this the Macalister with the pretty daughter?” Leah was beginning to understand that Justin was one of her kind, not Wesley’s. Maybe Justin wouldn’t hate her, as Wes did, because of where she came from.

  “The same one,” Justin said. “Now tell me of your family.”

  Leah hesitated. At least Justin’s lazy father was liked by the townspeople. What good could she say about her own family? A glance at Justin showed her that he was prepared to wait until doomsday for her to speak.

  She began slowly, watching for signs of revulsion from him, but when she saw only interest and concern on his face, she launched into her story rapidly. She told of her eldest brother kidnapping a woman, of her sister’s prostitution, of her father’s insanity, the way he beat his wife and children. And last of all, she told of the constant, backbreaking work she’d always had to do.

  The forest seemed especially quiet when she finished and she held her breath for Justin’s reaction, afraid to look at him.

  “And even though you were Stanford’s cousin, he let you suffer through that? He’s never said, but isn’t he rich?”

  “Massively,” Leah murmured, still not looking at him.

  “What made him finally rescue you? Or did he hire you to wait on his princess Kimberly?”

  Leah took a deep breath. “My father died and the children were adopted by other planters. I…wanted to come west, to go where no one knew me, so Wesley’s sister-in-law gave me money to start a weaving shop and Wesley allowed me to travel with him.”

  Justin was silent for a while and Leah wondered if he believed the last part of her story. “Where did you learn your pretty manners?” she asked tentatively.

  “Macalister’s wife. An English lady. And you?”

  Leah began to smile as she briefly told of Regan and Nicole’s transformation of her. It was beginning to sink in that this man didn’t mind that she was a Simmons. Perhaps not all men were like Wesley. Perhaps in this new state she wouldn’t be judged by who her father had been.

  “They sure did a good job.” Justin laughed as he stood. “Now that’s enough seriousness for today. Come on and see the waterfall.” He grabbed her hand and led her up the steep, rocky hillside. There at the top was a pool and a short, hidden waterfall.

  “Not the biggest I’ve ever seen but one of the most private. How about a bath?”

  Instantly Leah’s eyes narrowed at him.

  He ignored her obvious suspicion. “You go first while I wait down the hill for you and when you’re finished, give me a call.” With that, he turned and left her alone.

  Leah hesitated onl
y seconds before removing her clothes and climbing into the pool. Using soap she’d brought for the laundry, she shampooed her hair and used the waterfall for rinsing. The pressure of the water nearly pushed her under. When she emerged, a long time later, she felt better than she had in months. She was no longer burdened by a secret past; a handsome man waited for her; she was on her way to a new land, new people; she had her weaving—and now she had clean hair. What more could a woman want in life?

  She was laughing when she reached the bottom of the hill and Justin.

  “I won’t be but a minute,” he said, racing up the hill to the pool for his own bath.

  With energy Leah knelt on a rock and began the laundry, and a very short time later Justin joined her. With a grimace he started to help her rinse the clothes.

  “And does this little frilly nothing belong to princess Kimberly?” Justin asked, holding up a nearly sheer chemise trimmed with tiny silk ruffles.

  Her face red, Leah snatched it from him. “That one happens to be mine.”

  “Oh?” he asked, one eyebrow raised. “Then this is her ladyship’s.” He lifted a pair of drawers that were faded yellow and torn at the waistband. “She may be a lady on the outside but not where it counts. We ought to do her a favor and lose these.”

  Before Leah could blink, Justin tossed the worn-out drawers into the river.

  “No!” Leah gasped, laughing as she hitched her skirt to her knees and walked into the river, following the underwear, which was rapidly heading downstream.

  Justin came wading in behind her, grabbed the drawers, and caught Leah’s arm at the same time, purposefully nearly causing her to fall. “Watch yourself.” He smiled as Leah clung to him. In an instant his arms were around her and he was kissing her, and Leah liked this so much better than the first time he’d kissed her.

  Neither of them heard Wesley plowing through the brook until he’d grabbed Justin’s shoulder and shoved him into the water. “Is this how you’re to be trusted?” Wesley bellowed. “Do you always attack the women you’re supposed to be caring for?”

  Justin came out of the water in a rage and Leah knew this was the beginning of a brawl. She put herself between the two men. “You have no right to interfere in my life,” she yelled up at Wesley.

  “Interfere?” he spat back at her. “You’re my…You’re in my care,” he finished. “Damn you, Justin, what if you caught a man behaving like this with your sister?”

  “I’d demand he marry her,” Justin said calmly. “I’m leaving, Wes, because I don’t want this to become a fight. I don’t want there to be hatred between a woman’s husband and her relatives.” With that he walked out of the water toward his waiting horse.

  Wesley didn’t speak until he heard Justin’s horse moving away. “Who does he mean by ‘husband’?” he asked accusingly.

  Leah snatched Kim’s underwear from the driftwood where it had caught and started out of the river. There was no need to lift her skirt since it was soaked.

  “I asked you a question,” Wes demanded once they were on the bank.

  “I didn’t tell him about us if that’s what you mean,” she snapped. “You can relax. Your pure Stanford name wasn’t sullied by me. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to rewash a garment of your fiancée’s.”

  Wesley’s mouth hardened. “Is that what you two were talking about so long? Kim?”

  She threw Kim’s wet drawers on his boots. “It may surprise you to know that we lower class people have things to talk about other than our betters.”

  “It didn’t look to me like you were doing much talking when I arrived. Both of you were wet. Did you go swimming together? Did you let him take your clothes off again?” He took her shoulders and pulled her to him. “When he kissed you,” he whispered, “did he make you feel like you do when I kiss you?”

  Leah would have given a great deal not to react when Wesley touched her, but she was utterly powerless. It wasn’t the same as kissing Justin; this was surrender. His body crushed next to hers, his lips touched hers, and she felt or saw nothing else. She remembered no hate, had no thoughts at all.

  When he released her, she was dazed, barely able to stand upright.

  “It didn’t look as if you were feeling like that in Justin’s arms,” Wes said so smugly that Leah’s eyes flew open.

  She knew with every fiber of her body that she had to wipe that look off his face. Without thought, she used a trick her brother had taught her. She brought her knee up between Wesley’s legs.

  Immediately he crumpled, and Leah ran to his horse, mounted quickly, and started back to camp. As she rode, knowing he’d have to walk back, she laughed with pleasure, but after a few minutes she halted the horse. Maybe she’d injured Wesley. She had a right to be angry, but she didn’t feel right in hurting him.

  She was still hesitating when Wesley dropped from a tree above her, catching the horse’s reins.

  “How—?” she began.

  He didn’t answer her but began to lead the horse back to the waterfall. She didn’t like the look of blind anger in his eyes and she dared not speak to him. Would he beat her?

  At the river he stopped. “Get down and get the clothes,” he said in a steely voice.

  Leah obeyed him.

  He mounted his horse, took the wet laundry from her, and offered his hand to help her behind him. She was afraid of the look on his face, scared to refuse him, and when seated she tried to keep from touching him, not wanting him to remember she was there.

  Once, the horse stepped sideways and Leah nearly fell off.

  “If you can’t bear to touch me at least hold onto the damn saddle,” he said with a growl, and again Leah obeyed.

  They were silent the rest of the way to the camp and Leah might have thought Wes hated her before, but now his anger was like a hot red cape encircling him—a cape that would burn one’s fingers if one dared touch it. She was careful to avoid him.

  Chapter 10

  Two days later they met the Greenwoods: Hank and Sadie and their three little boys. Leah was the one who suggested they travel together. For the last two days it had been very unpleasant traveling with Kim, Wes, and Justin. Wesley kept watching, staring at her with dark eyes, while Justin treated her as if she might break at any moment, and Leah was beginning to find his hovering an annoyance. Kim seemed oblivious to the tension and just kept demanding more and more from Wes.

  The Greenwoods and their noisy, active children were exactly what was needed to take away some of the tension within the group. There were many travelers on the road heading for Kentucky and even farther west. They were drawn by the enticement of riches beyond belief, of fertile, virgin land that was theirs for the asking. There was no longer an Indian problem and Kentucky was a state, so they felt safe, protected from hardship. Some of the travelers were well prepared, their wagons loaded with goods. They’d sold their farms and had money to buy new land in the west. But too many others had merely walked away from where they’d lived, their families trailing behind them with no more than the clothes on their backs and a sackful of food.

  All along the way were inns, and although the majority of them were too filthy to consider, they charged much for their services and received whatever they asked.

  Leah was reminded of her own childhood when she’d see a family of children dressed in rags, looking gaunt and worn-out but trudging westward, dutifully following their parents. At first secretly, she began to feed some of these children, not letting Wesley see her because it was, after all, his food. The evening of the day they met the Greenwoods, while everyone was sitting around the campfire she’d tentatively suggested that they offer food to some people with several children who were camped not too far away.

  It was one of the few times Kim expressed a strong opinion. “Aren’t you being awfully free with someone else’s goods?” Kim asked. “People should learn to take care of themselves. If we start giving them things they’ll never learn to depend on themselves. They’ll always expect us to
take care of them.”

  For a while no one said a word and when someone did speak, it was about something else.

  That night Leah stayed awake for a long time, and when she thought everyone else was asleep she threw back her blankets, crept silently to the wagon to get the bag of food she’d secretly prepared earlier, and made her way through the darkness toward the people camped nearby. They had four young children and nothing but a handcart of goods. Silently she set the bundle of food near the cart and started back toward her own wagon.

  She’d gone only a few yards when a voice made her jump in surprise.

  “Quiet or you’ll wake them,” Wes whispered, motioning for her to follow him further into the trees.

  Leah swallowed hard, knowing he’d caught her stealing from his supplies. She prayed he wouldn’t return her to Virginia. She stopped when he did, but she couldn’t meet his eyes.

  “What did you give them?” he asked.

  “Bacon, flour, p…potatoes,” she stammered, then looked up at him beseechingly. “I’ll pay you back. I didn’t mean to steal the food. It’s just that the people looked so hungry and—.”

  “Ssh,” he said, and she could see in the moonlight that he was smiling. “Look there.” He pointed.

  Through the trees she could see the people’s banked fire. By the cart was her bundle and near it was another bundle just like hers. She looked up at him quickly. “Yours?” she asked, astonished.

  He grinned. “Mine. I couldn’t stand to see them hungry either.”

  They were silent a moment, sharing their secret. “How long have you been…?” Wes began.

  Leah looked at her bare feet. “Since we started. That’s why I haven’t minded being in charge of the food. No one else looks at it but me so I know how much I can afford to give away and not be discovered. I didn’t mean to steal,” she began again, looking up at him.

  “I can afford a few potatoes,” Wes said. “I’ll bet we’re pretty low on supplies.”

  Leah looked guilty. “Very low. I was planning to tell you soon but…”