He had genuine letters of credit with him, under the assumed name Richard Sutcliff, which backed his story of being a wealthy businessman, for the essayers and engineers who had finally surveyed the mine he and Caleb had discovered valued it in the millions. The bank Rafe dealt with had no qualms about giving him unlimited letters of credit under whatever name he chose.
Rafe hoped that by the time his meeting with the attorney was over, he would have made enough of an impression on the man to gain his first entry into Allison’s confidence.
Rafe finished fixing his collar, and then adjusted his vest. A moment later, he slipped into an excellently tailored jacket and left his hotel.
Outside, instead of riding, he slowly walked the fifteen blocks to the attorney’s office. As he did, he replayed and refined the story he would tell the lawyer.
~~~~~
Alana stood near the bow of the Harmony, enjoying the warm caress of the sea breezes on her skin. The five-day voyage was nearing its end, and not once had she allowed herself to let her mind ponder unwarranted worries. She knew that she had to maintain firm control of her inner emotions as well as her surface gestures. She must always play the part of a confident and strong woman used to dealing with men and business matters.
To help her pass the time, she’d asked Chaco to teach her the signing language Crystal and he used. Chaco had agreed, and although his face was always expressionless, she had sensed her request had pleased him.
For the past four days, they’d spent many hours together, Alana saying a word, Chaco slowly moving his hands in the silent translation of that word. Now, with New York drawing near, she was able to converse in short phrases with Chaco.
Each night Alana had taken dinner with Captain Sanders, whom she knew had been Jason’s friend, but was also the most valued captain of the Landow fleet. They would discuss business and the future as Alana saw it. After dinner, the captain would stroll with her on the deck, pointing out the various constellations that glittered in the sky.
When she went to sleep, Alana would hear Chaco laying out a sleeping mat at her door. On the first night, she’d told him it was unnecessary, but he had refused to accept this. Each night as she lay in her bed, she knew that Chaco was sleeping at her door and would let no one enter without her permission. Although Alana had no fears on board the Harmony, Chaco’s presence outside her door had been comforting in its own way. However, once in New York and at the hotel, Chaco would have to sleep in the servant’s room, not in the hallway.
“Mrs. Landow,” came Captain Sander’s voice from behind her. Alana turned to him. “We’ll be docking in two hours. I’ll have the first mate accompany you to the hotel.”
“Thank you, Captain.” When he left, Alana looked back at the coastline before going to her cabin to pack. Behind her, Chaco followed silently.
Three and a half hours after the Harmony docked, Alana was in her hotel suite, which comprised a sitting room, a necessary room, a bedroom, and a servant’s room. It was more luxurious accommodations than Alana would have chosen, but Crystal had insisted on using the best hotel.
“The expense of the hotel is not all that important. You must keep up the image that we are wealthy women–it impresses people. You need only stay at the hotel until you’ve found suitable living quarters. Mr. Bennet will undoubtedly already be looking for your new residence.”
After unpacking and making certain Chaco was settled in, Alana went downstairs to the dining room. Chaco, as was his habit, stood off to the side of the entrance, watching her and anyone near her. When she finished eating, Alana ordered a meal sent up to the room for Chaco.
The combination of a day spent at sea and the rush of moving into her hotel room had tired Alana sufficiently to allow her to sleep undisturbed through the night. When she awoke, the sun was well up into the sky.
Her first day in New York passed in a whirlwind of activity that left her exhausted by evening. The next two days were the same. She met with the lawyer, inspected the sites he’d chosen for the Landow office, and looked over the three residences that were available and suitable for her. And when she was in the streets traveling in the hansom that her new attorney had put at her disposal, she stared in wonder at the great city of New York, a city that made Charleston look like a small town.
In between the business meetings, Alana spent several hours each day at the dock. It had taken two days to unload the Harmony's cargo, and it would be another three days before the new cargo would be ready for loading. Because of the amount of the cargo, and because of the bulk of the mining equipment, it would take at least three more days after that before the Harmony would be ready to start its lengthy voyage to South Africa.
On the evening of the fifth day, the day before the Harmony was to take on its new cargo, Alana was leaving the hotel’s dining room after having enjoyed a light dinner. Crossing the elegantly appointed lobby, its deep carpeting like a cushioning cloud beneath her tired feet, Alana moved toward the stairs. Not been overly entranced by the hotel’s use of that strange new invention, the mechanical elevator, she preferred to walk up the three flights of stairs. Halfway to the steps, she sensed eyes on her. Turning her head slightly, she saw a dark-haired, bearded man staring at her.
Within the recesses of her mind, a tantalizing sense of recognition stirred, but Alana knew no one with a beard. Not wanting to be caught staring at a strange man, Alana turned away. So, when she reached the stairs, she did not see the bearded man’s startled look nor hear his sharp intake of breath as he stared at her retreating back.
~~~~~
Rafe, feeling very pleased with himself at this day’s business, had sauntered into the lobby of the hotel, his mind reviewing what he’d already accomplished. He was confident that in an-other week he would become a full-fledged member of the consortium.
Today he had spent the afternoon with James Allison and the lawyer. The men had hinted of their plans and power they would one day wield.
Rafe had sensed that Allison had already judged him and approved him. All that remained was for him to meet and gain acceptance by the three other important men in the consortium. Rafe had learned that Caruthers and Murdock were junior members and would not be present at any meetings.
When Rafe was twenty feet inside the lobby, he caught sight of a woman whose long raven hair reminded him of Alana’s. But when she suddenly turned toward him, he paused in midstep. In the half second he’d had to look at her face, his heart had almost stopped.
Impossible! he told himself. Yet he continued to look at Alana’s unforgettable profile.
He started forward, but then stopped. Why is she here? he asked himself. Was it really Alana? Then he saw the tall, lanky black man who followed close behind her. He noticed the way the man’s eyes watched everything. The moment Rafe had started toward her; the black man’s face had gone tight. When he’d stopped, the man relaxed.
Before he could take action, he spotted a man across the lobby whom he’d met the other day. This man knew him not as Rafe Montgomery, but as Richard Sutcliff of San Francisco. If the woman was Alana and she called him by name, it might prove fatal.
Instead of following her, Rafe went to the front desk and asked the clerk if there was a Mrs. Landow registered at the hotel.
“Why, yes, Mr. Sutcliff,” the clerk replied cheerfully, “she’s been staying with us for several days now.”
Thinking quickly, Rafe nodded his head. “I’ve done a lot of business with her husband. I must pay my respects immediately. What room is she in?”
“Suite three seventeen,” the clerk stated.
“Thank you.” Rafe left the desk and went to the stairs, his mind reeling with the knowledge that Alana was here. Even though his blood pulsed through his body in the madding way he had not felt since that long-ago morning when Alana had left his bedroom, he wondered why she was here. And Jason? he asked himself.
~~~~
Alana had not yet started to undress. Chaco was in his room, eating th
e meal that had been waiting for him when they’d returned a few moments before.
Alana poured a glass of water from a leaded crystal pitcher. She stared at the water, and as she did, she thought about the strange feeling she’d had when she’d seen the man in the lobby.
She realized that he had resembled Rafe. He was as tall as Rafe, and the silver in his dark hair had sparkled in the same way. His resemblance to Rafe was tantalizing.
“Oh, Rafe,” she whispered. Abruptly, she cut off her thoughts. Raising the glass to her lips, Alana started to take a sip. Before she could, there was a knock at her door.
Putting the glass down, she went to the door. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Landow?” came the muffled voice.
“Yes?”
“I must speak with you.”
Alana opened the door, and when she did, she found herself looking into the same bearded face she’d seen downstairs. Again, that familiar tickle teased her mind.
“Yes?” she repeated as the tall man stepped into the room without being invited.
“Hello, my love,” he said in a low voice.
Her breath caught. When she looked into his eyes and saw her own feelings reflected within their brilliant green depths, she knew it really was Rafe.
Then he reached into his collar and withdrew a gold chain. Alana’s eyes widened further, when she saw her mother’s thin golden wedding band hanging from it.
The world spun frighteningly around her. Her legs turned to rubber; her eyes blinked at the sight before her. She reached out to him, her fingers going to his face. She ignored the short hair on his cheeks as she traced his features.
“Rafe,” she whispered. “Oh my God, Rafe, it is you.…”
Rafe reached out. His arms went around her, bringing her to him, holding her tightly as his mouth met hers. Then their lips touched for the first time in almost two years.
But even as they kissed deeply, Rafe saw from the comer of his eye a dark blur charge toward him. Before he could release Alana and turn, a hand caught his hair and jerked his head back. The tip of a knife rested on his jugular vein.
“No! Chaco!” Alana shouted. “He is a friend.”
Chaco slowly withdrew the knife from Rafe’s throat and released his hair. Turning, Rafe gazed into the ebony eyes of the man that had been following Alana in the lobby.
The men stared silently at each other until Alana, her breasts rising and falling with a combination of fear and love, spoke to Chaco.
“This is Rafe Montgomery, Chaco. He is–” Alana paused then and squared her shoulders. “He is much, much more than a friend.” Using her hands, she gave Chaco a private message.
To Rafe’s surprise, Alana made several motions with her hands. The tension flowed out of the lanky black man’s body, and Chaco favored Rafe with a nod of his head.
A quick flash of memory struck Rafe. He remembered how proud his sister had been when she’d learned the signing language and had started to teach children who could not speak with words. he thrust that thought aside as he watched Chaco leave the room.
“Just who is he?” Rafe asked after the door closed behind Chaco.
“Chaco is my bodyguard,” she said, using the term for the first time.
“I see,” Rafe replied doubtfully. “What did you tell him?” he asked while his eyes feasted on Alana’s beauty.
“That you are the man I love. Oh, Rafe, did you never receive my letter?”
Rafe’s features tightened. He stepped closer to Alana. Looking deeply into her eyes, he lifted one hand and stroked the silkiness of her cheek.
“When I returned home, I found…everything had changed. My business and my home were gone. My sister, Elizabeth, had died. There was no place for your letter to be delivered. In fact, only few people know I’m alive.”
18
Alana closed her eyes to this news. “I’m so sorry,” she began, but Rafe cut her off, unwilling to go into that now.
“What happened to you, Alana? Where is Jason?”
“He died last summer,” she replied. Before he could ask any more questions, she pressed his hand tighter against her cheek.
“Later, Rafe,” she whispered. “Oh, my love, we’ll have time to talk later.”
The boldness of her words and the hunger in her eyes spoke a thousand words to him, and Rafe knew her desire was reflected by his.
Alana rose upward on tiptoe. Their lips met, and fire blazed from their kiss. The kiss lasted a long, long time, and the endless months of separation were put aside as their love, too long denied, burst forth in a passionate rebirth that left them both too shaken to speak when their mouths reluctantly parted.
With her heart pounding and her stomach deliciously tight, Alana grasped Rafe’s hand in hers. She took him through the sitting room and into the bedroom. Then, strangely, Alana became self-conscious. It had been so long since she’d seen him, since they had loved.
Rafe sensed Alana’s hesitation, yet the desire and love that were so suddenly reborn would not let him hold back. He drew her to him, his arms going around her as he looked deeply into her eyes.
“We’ve been apart too long, Alana.”
Alana closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she slowly nodded her head. “Love me, Rafe. I need you to love me.”
With their eyes feasting upon each other, they stepped apart and slowly undressed.
When she stood naked before him, her long hair spilling over one shoulder and reaching below one perfectly formed breast, she spoke. “How I have missed you, Rafael, with all my heart and soul.”
“And I missed you no less,” Rafe whispered gently, catching her to him. His lips were demanding; his hands held her willing prisoner against his bare flesh. Their breathing grew ragged, and when Rafe drew back, Alana’s closed eyes snapped open.
A moment later, she was in his strong arms and floating four feet above the floor. Her long raven hair trailed toward the carpet as he carried her to the bed and placed her in its center. Rafe joined her there, his lips devouring her mouth, her neck, luxuriating in the fullness of her breasts.
His lips were burning embers that scorched a pathway along her breasts. Her hands gripped his hair and pressed his face more tightly to her when he took a desire-stiffened nipple into the heated embrace of his mouth.
Her ecstasy was so intense that her low, throaty cries grew louder in the room. When she could take no more of his mouth on her breasts and nipples, she drew his head up to hers and met his mouth avidly.
Their tongues danced, and their skin glowed hotly upon each other. When the passion and love that filled them could not be held back any longer, they joined together and became one.
With Rafe above her, holding her, filling her with himself, their eyes remained open and locked together. Alana’s eyes misted and Rafe’s handsome face became a ghostly vision of shimmering beauty above her as tears of happiness spilled from her eyes. Yet even then, Alana would not close her eyes, for fear Rafe might be gone when she opened them again and she would find herself in nothing but a dream.
But he didn’t disappear; rather, he guided her along their journey to that very special place in the universe that they had created for themselves almost two years before. Once there, the very fabric of the world shattered with the exploding climax of their love.
Later, after their breathing returned to normal and they lay quietly, still under the influence of the magic that they had created, Alana gazed at him, her finger tracing the full curve of his lips. At last she spoke.
“I have dreamed of you so often, but I was afraid that my dreams would never come true,” she said truthfully, not at all embarrassed by her admission to the man she loved so deeply.
“Never has a day passed when I did not think of you. I had hoped that you would find happiness, even as I hoped that one day we would be together again.”
“And now we shall stay together!” Alana declared vehemently. “I will never, never lose you again.”
“Y
es,” Rafe replied, his voice as determined as Alana’s. Then he shifted and sat up, drawing Alana with him, his arm around her, her head resting on his chest.
He bent, pressing his lips to the top of her head and breathing in the special fragrance of her hair. When he took his mouth from her silky raven strands, he exhaled slowly. “Alana, talk to me. Tell me why you’re here.”
Alana closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw the silhouetted shadows of their bodies flickering on the wall across from the bed, projected by the low cast of the brass oil lamps.
As she luxuriated within the heady scent that clung to Rafe’s skin, she took a deep, preparatory breath. Without lifting her head from the comforting feel of his chest, she spoke.
She told Rafe everything that had happened between Jason and herself, sparing nothing. When she finished the first part of her story, she listened to the steady beat of Rafe’s heart. Then she went on, detailing the troubles with the shipping company and the losses she’d suffered at Ledoque’s hands. Finally, she told him about her new partnership with the notorious madam, Crystal Revanche, and outlined everything at Riverbend. She did not explain all of Crystal’s background, but simply noted that Crystal, too, suffered at Charles Ledoque’s hands, and wished to see him ruined.
After she had finished, she paused for a moment in thought. When she spoke again, her voice was low, her words distinct. “She saved my life, Rafe, and even if she is a whore, she’s the only person who helped me. Does it bother you that I am in business with a–a prostitute?”
Only after she fell silent did she look up at Rafe. She saw the lines of tension around his eyes, but a moment later, she felt the reassuring pressure of his hand on her arm.
“Yes, for a moment,” Rafe admitted truthfully. “But I was thousands of miles away and of no help to you. You did what was necessary. Moreover, you kept your integrity at a time when it would have been easier to give in. No, Alana, what you did was necessary, I’m bothered only because I could not help. Besides,” he said with a full smile, “this Crystal Revanche seems more angel than whore, at least from the way you describe her.”
Alana Page 21
