Surrender to the Fury

by Connie Mason

  Aimee bristled indignantly. At one time she had dressed every bit as fashionably as Nick’s fiancée. “Nothing that matters.” Her flippant remark made Nick wince.

  “Perhaps we should go inside,” Nick suggested, “where we can speak in private.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he led the way into the kitchen. Suddenly weary, he sank down heavily into the nearest chair. Aimee and Regina stood over him, glaring at each other.

  “Aimee, this is Regina Blakewell. She is—was—my fiancée.”

  Chapter 14

  Regina bristled indignantly. “This is the first I’ve heard of a broken engagement.”

  “I intended to write, Regina, though I would have preferred to tell you in person. Truth to tell, I had no idea where you were. You accompany your father on all his assignments, and I had no idea how a letter could reach you.”

  “You are breaking our engagement for this—this person?” She thrust a hand in Aimee’s direction, obviously unimpressed by what she saw.

  “Definitely not,” Aimee interjected. “There has never been any indication of love or marriage between Nick and myself. We met five years ago. I hated him then and I hate him now.”

  Regina’s brow cleared immediately. It wasn’t as bad as she had thought. Evidently Nick wasn’t enamored of the woman.

  Nick sucked in his breath and let it out slowly in a long, painful sigh.

  “Then I see no problem,” Regina proclaimed. “Are you ready to leave, darling? Father is waiting anxiously in Atlanta for us. I wouldn’t be remiss in saying there’s a promotion waiting for you.”

  Suddenly Savannah burst through the back door, the shotgun in one hand, two rabbits in another. “Who are dem Yanks, honey? What do dey want?”

  “It’s all right, Savannah,” Aimee said quietly. “They’ve come for Nick.”

  “Where’s Brand?”

  “He’s with Sergeant Jones,” Nick answered. “No harm will come to him.”

  “Who’s dat?” Savannah asked, motioning toward Regina with the gun.

  “Don’t point that thing at me,” Regina warned indignantly.

  “The lady is Nick’s financée,” Aimee said before Nick had a chance to reply.

  Savannah regarded Nick with the intensity of her black eyes. “I declare, if dat don’t beat all.” Realizing she was intruding, she said, “I’d best skin dese rabbits.” Then she turned and stomped out the door, but not before sending Nick a look that left no doubt about her opinion of him.

  Reluctantly Nick realized he had no choice but to leave Tall Oaks with Regina and the escort sent on his behalf. It was a miracle that he had been allowed to remain this long. He knew he still had many long weeks of recuperation before he was fit enough to return to duty, and he desperately wished he could have stayed at Tall Oaks with Aimee and Brand while he regained his strength. Regina’s arrival had been completely unexpected and unwelcomed. Nick knew by the stubborn set of Aimee’s chin and her unrelenting stance that she had been hurt, and he couldn’t blame her. He should have told her about Regina and explained that once he found Aimee again, he had no intention of marrying the general’s spoiled daughter. Aimee and his son were all that mattered now.

  “Regina, please wait outside; I’d like to speak to Aimee in private.”

  “There’s no need for private words, Nick,” Aimee said. Her voice was flat, her face devoid of all emotion. “We’ve already said all there is to say.”

  “Please, Aimee. There is still something between us that needs clarifying.”

  “I can’t imagine what it is.”

  “You heard her, Nick, there’s nothing more to gain by remaining here,” Regina said, placing her hand possessively on Nick’s shoulder. “There will be proper doctors where you’re going who will supervise your recovery.”

  Nick shrugged her hand away. “I asked you to wait in the carriage, Regina.” His voice was implacable, his green eyes cold and remorseless. Regina glared at Aimee, gave a careless shrug, and walked out the door.

  “That wasn’t necessary,” Aimee said in an accusatory tone. “Do you enjoy hurting women?”

  “I never meant to hurt anyone, Aimee. I realize it was remiss of me not to write Regina of my intention to break our engagement, but these are precarious times, and it isn’t always convenient to do what one wishes.”

  “You could have told me you were engaged to be married.”

  “Would it have made any difference? We were destined to be together, sweetheart; it’s as simple as that.”

  “It isn’t simple at all, Nick,” Aimee returned shortly. “You’ve just proven that my original opinion of you was correct. You’re a cheat, a liar, and a womanizer. The sooner you get out of my life, the better off I’ll be.”

  Nick paled. “You don’t mean that.”

  “Every word. I suggest you not keep your fiancée waiting.”

  Nick rose painfully to his feet. “What about Brand?”

  “What about him?”

  “It’s time you admitted he’s my son.”

  “I can’t admit something that’s not true.”

  “Dammit to hell! I know Brand is my son. I can feel it in my gut. I want him, Aimee; I want to raise my son. I want him to know his real father. He’s at an impressionable age where he needs a man’s influence.”

  “Perhaps one day I’ll remarry,” Aimee said, hoping to hurt Nick in the same way he had hurt her. “And Brand will have a father. But if I do marry, it will be to a man nothing like you.”

  Nick leaped to his feet, groaning as shards of pain stabbed through his body. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he struggled to control his body’s weakness. Aimee’s first inclination was to rush to him and offer comfort, but she held her ground, refusing to fall victim to his wiles again. He was slick and practiced in the art of seduction; she had learned that the hard way. Not once in all these weeks had he mentioned a fiancée.

  “You’re mine, Aimee; you were always mine,” Nick gasped as he fought the remorseless pain. “Since I never intended to marry Regina once I came to care about you, I saw no need to mention her.”

  “Your lack of consideration appalls me. Please leave, Nick; your escort awaits.”

  He grasped her arm before she could turn away, his grip strong despite his obvious physical limitations. “I won’t leave like this, Aimee.”

  “You have no choice.”

  “Damn you!”

  “No, Nick, damn you! You never wanted me. I was just a means to an end. You’d do anything to get me to admit Brand is your son. Well, you can’t have him. Brand is mine. I’m sure Regina will give you several sons, so you don’t need mine.”

  Nick shook his head sadly, wearily. Fatigue etched deep lines around his eyes and mouth, but Aimee hardened her heart.

  “You’re mistaken if you think all I want is Brand. It’s true I’ve come to love the boy, but what I feel for you is—”

  “Lust.”

  She tried to shake free of his grip, but he was too strong for her. He pulled her closer, closer still, until their faces were inches apart. “Perhaps that was true at first, but lust has nothing to do with my feelings now. I have to leave whether I want to or not, but you’ve not seen the last of me. I’ll make Regina understand that marriage between us is out of the question.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Oh, Nick, why couldn’t you have confided in me? Why couldn’t you have loved me?

  Then he was kissing her, his mouth slanting over hers in almost desperate need. He kissed her long and deep, trying to convey all that she had come to mean to him in that one last kiss. He forced his tongue past the barrier of her teeth, savoring her taste, her scent, her warmth, stroking her back and hips, painfully aware of the fragile bones beneath her thinness. When he broke off the kiss, they were both panting. Aimee backed away, wiping her lips with the back of her hand, but it didn’t help; the special essence that was Nick was etched upon her brain forever.

  “Are you ready yet?”
Regina appeared in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently. “Father has a room reserved especially for you at the hospital. You’ll remain until you are fit to travel and can be sent north to recuperate properly. I took the liberty of sending Sergeant Jones upstairs for your belongings. He said he knew which room was yours.”

  His face contorted in pain and anguish, Nick nodded. He took a step, faltered, and Regina rushed to his side. “Oh, you poor dear, let me help you.”

  Aimee turned away, unable to watch the possessive way in which Nick’s fiancée took control, as if the right were hers alone. How fortunate for Nick that his fiancée just happened to be the daughter of a general. In Aimee’s opinion, Nick Drummond was an opportunist who took unfair advantage of every situation. Nick hesitated at the doorway, turned as if to speak to Aimee, thought better of it, and continued through the door.

  Nick, Regina, and their escort were gone a full ten minutes before Aimee moved. It might have been longer if Brand and Savannah hadn’t come into the kitchen. As usual, Brand was full of questions.

  “Why did Nick leave, Mama?”

  “Because he had to. You knew he would leave one day.”

  “Did he want to leave?”

  “He needed proper care by a proper doctor.”

  “Who was that lady?”

  Silence.

  “Mama, I didn’t like her; who was she?”

  “The woman Nick is going to marry, darling.”

  Brand chewed on that for a while, then said with the innocence of a five-year-old, “Nick likes you better. Why can’t he marry you? Then he would be my father.”

  Aimee tried to speak past the lump in her throat. How do you tell a child that the man he adores is a liar and a scoundrel? The answer was simple. You don’t.

  “Nick and I … well, Regina Blakewell is more suited to him.”

  “Nick said he would come back. Do you think he will?”

  “No, son, I don’t,” Aimee said, not wishing to give hope where none existed.

  “I’m sorry, Mama.”

  “So am I, darling, so am I.” Subdued, Brand left the kitchen.

  “I ain’t gonna say nothin’, honey,” Savannah said. “You’re already sufferin’ enough. I thought dat man truly cared for you.”

  “Nick had no choice; he had to go with Regina. He had orders stating he was to report to the hospital in Atlanta.” Why was she defending him?

  “Uh huh, but he shoulda told you he was gonna marry up with another woman.”

  “I had no hold on him.”

  “What about Brand? De man suspects he’s Brand’s papa.”

  “He can speculate all he wants. No one will ever know Brand isn’t Beauregard Trevor’s child.”

  Nick dozed most of the way to Atlanta. He was exhausted both emotionally and physically. No explanation he had offered seemed to placate Aimee. How easily she had reverted back to her old opinion of him, he thought bitterly. The fact that they had come to care for each other during these past months seemed to make little difference to her. His small omission concerning Regina had all but destroyed what he’d accomplished thus far with Aimee. Though she had little reason to trust him after the disaster of their first meeting, he had brought her to a place in their relationship where he thought she had forgiven him. He had intended to ask her to marry him once he’d broken his engagement to Regina.

  And he wasn’t proposing because he suspected Brand was his son. No, indeed. He wanted Aimee even if Brand were Beauregard Trevor’s son. When had he fallen in love with Aimee? he wondered bleakly. The answer came to him in a flash. He’d always loved Aimee. He loved her the moment he saw her seated at the poker table, he loved her when he went back later to search for her, and he loved her all those years when he thought he’d never see her again. He’d only proposed marriage to Regina to save his career—and no hope existed of ever finding Aimee again.

  “We’re almost there, Nick,” Regina said, nudging him gently. “I know you’re in pain now, but Father has arranged for you to have the best care available. I’ll even accompany you north when you’re well enough to travel.”

  “Regina, we must talk. There isn’t going to be a marriage. We should have never become engaged. When your father discovered us, I took the coward’s way out and proposed. I realized that one word from him could make or break my career. I wasn’t marrying you out of love. Someday you’ll find a man who truly loves you.”

  “You’re talking nonsense,” Regina scolded. She sounded annoyed but not overly concerned, which puzzled Nick.

  “Don’t you understand what I’m telling you? Our engagement is off. It wouldn’t be honest to marry a woman I don’t love.”

  “Oh, pooh, Nick, I’m not taking anything you say seriously. I know the strain and stress you’ve been under since being wounded in battle, but in time you’ll recover and realize it’s in your best interest for us to marry. I’ll make a wonderful wife, and Father can do wonders for your career.”

  “Of course you’ll make a wonderful wife, Regina, but not my wife.”

  The carriage made slow progress down streets strewn with rubble, and Nick’s attention strayed to the terrible destruction wrought by the war.

  “I had no idea it was this bad,” Nick said when he noted how few civilians remained in the devastated city.

  “Food is scarce,” Regina revealed, “but Father said trains are arriving sporadically with supplies to feed our troops left behind to hold the city.”

  The carriage ground to a halt before a large building. “We’re here at the hospital,” Regina said. Then the door opened and Sergeant Jones helped Nick down from the carriage. “I’ll see you inside, darling.”

  “No need, Regina. Thanks for your trouble, but I’ll be all right now.”

  “Trouble? Since when is it trouble to help someone you love? I’ll be by to see you tomorrow.”

  Too weary to argue, Nick merely nodded.

  General Blakewell beamed down at Nick. “I hope you didn’t mind Regina going along with the escort yesterday. Women in love and all that nonsense. You know how it is. But seriously, Captain, we’re just glad to have you among the living. Dr. Bellows tells me your wound was one of the most serious he’s ever seen. Thank God you were treated promptly.”

  “Thank God and a woman named Aimee,” Nick muttered.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing, sir, I was just agreeing with you.”

  “Harumph. In any case, you’ll be traveling north soon to recuperate. There is an excellent hospital in Washington; does that suit you?”

  “As well as any.”

  “Good, good. I’m due back in Washington myself soon. Regina and I plan to travel with you. I don’t suppose it will come as any shock that you’ve been promoted to major. No one deserves it more. Regina couldn’t be happier.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “About Regina, sir. I don’t believe marriage—”

  “Now, now, Cap—er—Major, Regina told me about your little stubborn spell. You’ll feel differently once you’re hale and hearty again. Illness is a damn bore, especially for a man like you. Well, I must be off now. It’s nearly time for my conference with Colonel Watson.”

  Dismayed, Nick fell back against the pillow. The journey from Tall Oaks to Atlanta had sapped his meager strength, and he had barely moved from his hospital bed since arriving yesterday. Though his body was weak, his mind worked overtime fretting over how Aimee and Brand would fare in his absence. Aimee had the money he had given her before he left, but how long would that last? Nick had no idea when he could return to Tall Oaks, and any number of things might happen to a beautiful woman all alone but for a small boy and an elderly black woman.

  Owing to General Blakewell’s personal interest in his welfare, Nick was scheduled to be sent north for convalescent leave in a few days. He would ride aboard the special train taking General Blakewell back to Washington. To Nick’s chagrin, Regina made plans to travel with them, but he had little say in the matter. In any case,
Nick hoped that during the train ride, he would be able to persuade Regina that breaking their engagement was in her best interest.

  “Honey, we gots to go to Atlanta to buy food.” Savannah had been trying to rouse Aimee from her lethargy since Nick had left several days ago. “Now dat we gots money, dere ain’t nothin’ stoppin’ us. I’ll go first thing in the mornin’.”

  Her words barely made an impression.

  “If dere ain’t no food for Brand, he’ll starve to death.”

  That did rouse her.

  “What did you say?”

  “Captain Drummond left money, didn’t he? I’ll drive de wagon into town tomorrow and see what’s available.”

  Aimee nodded her approval and slipped back into her dark thoughts. The thought that Nick only wanted her to satisfy his lust did little for her self-esteem. Perversely she wondered if he had thought about his lovely financée when he had made love to her. She felt that his suspicions that Brand was his son prompted him to tell her that he cared for her. She should have listened to her conscience and never let him breach her heart.

  The next day Savannah was unable to rise from bed. She’d always had a touch of rheumatism, and the cooler weather they were having these past few days played havoc with her poor old joints. The medicine the doctor had given her for the ailment had been used long ago, but now that they had a bit of money, Aimee decided to replenish the supply at an apothecary in Atlanta. Of course, that meant she must now make the trip to Atlanta herself.

  Aimee left early the following morning. Since she feared leaving Brand with an ailing Savannah, she took him along. The old nag plodded along at a snail’s pace, but eventually they reached the city, this time without mishap. Aimee prayed the nag wouldn’t collapse before they made it back to Tall Oaks that evening. When they passed by the railroad station, Brand let out a shriek and pointed to a group of passengers boarding the train.

  “Mama, look!” Aimee slowed the nag and looked in the direction Brand pointed. “It’s Nick, Mama! He’s getting on the train with that woman.”

  Aimee’s heart lurched painfully. It was indeed Nick. He still looked pale and somewhat shaky, but he was navigating on his own two feet—with the help of his flame-haired fiancée. So much for his insistence that Regina Blakewell meant nothing to him, Aimee thought furiously. She had known him for a liar and cheat for more years than she cared to count; why did she expect him to change now?