Master Of Paradise

by Virginia Henley

  "By the way, your presence is going to be explained by saying you're transferring to Charleston."

  "Like hell, I am," Brandon laughed.

  "Then you'll learn to be a planter?" Nick asked.

  "I'm allergic to cotton." He grinned. "Nick, all the old boys will be here tonight. Do you suppose we dare get a game going?"

  "I don't think the ladies would appreciate the cursing and drunkenness that go on at one of our poker games."

  "Well, perhaps it would be a mite tricky seeing it's a birthday ball, but if you think there won't be any drunkenness, you're in for a surprise. By midnight, half the men will be so liquored up, the fighting alone will be better than whatever entertainment is planned. In fact, I think I'll take bets on how many fist-fights will break out."

  The carriages were starting to arrive, so Nicholas made his way back up to the house just in time to greet Dr. and Mrs. Caldwell. Their two daughters, Romeda and Lorena had come in the carriage with their parents, while Ty had ridden his new hunter. Nick eyed it closely and decided it was certainly worth a wager or two.

  Jennifer Joy stood at the entrance to greet her guests. The girls squealed over Jenny's exquisite party dress. It was pale green organdy with dark green velvet ribbons.

  The guests carried their dressed in large boxes and rushed upstairs to complete their toilets.

  Before the long blue twilight began to dim, Nicholas had made the acquaintance of all his friends' sisters. He met so many young women of marriageable age, he couldn't keep them straight. He didn't know if he was dancing with Julia Hampden or Blanche Davis, but he did know that each belle, whether it was Laurel Beverly or Sarah Vickers appraised him as if he were a stud horse, albeit they did it with blushes and giggles from behind their fans. Obviously he met with their approval and he had a difficult time extracting himself politely from the scheming little games and verbal entanglements they used to ensnare him.

  Whenever Nicholas found himself in a large company, he felt almost as if he stood aside and observed his fellowmen. It was nothing new, for in England he had found himself doing the same.

  Here, people grouped together into distinct camps. The married ladies sat together exchanging gossip about children, servants, and accouchements. If a male had overheard their conversations, the ladies would have been mortified.

  The older men gathered and discussed crops and politics; exclusive male topics that were almost forbidden to women. Only the young people mixed to flirt and dance and laugh, but even this group kept segregating-- the girls regrouping to whisper what this boy had said or what that one had done; and the young men kept going outside to indulge in everything from hundred-proof bourbon to home-brewed corn whisky.

  Amanda had sworn that after Nicholas Peacock's rebuff, she would not speak to him again that evening, but all that was soon forgotten as she found herself arguing with young Clay Hampden and a tipsy Ty Caldwell over the fine points of his new hunter.

  "Well hell, it'll beat anything in the Jackson stables," Clay argued.

  "Hah! Brandon's hunter would make it look like dog meat," Mandy boasted.

  "Would you like to put money on it?" demanded Ty, his pride stung.

  "Yes! Ten dollars. I'll race you tomorrow at seven. Our stables to yours." Mandy had a pretty shrewd idea what Ty's head would feel like at seven in the morning.

  Clay held out his hand. "I'll hold the bets. Where's your money Amanda Jackson?"

  "Wait right there," she ordered, and made a beeline for Nicholas.

  "Hello brat, are you enjoying yourself?"

  "Let me have ten dollars, Nicholas. You're the only one I can ask," she stated bluntly.

  "Am I allowed to ask what you want it for?"

  "No!" she said emphatically.

  "How can I resist when you sweet-talk me so?" he said sarcastically, reaching into his pocket. He was alerted and intended to find out what she was up to.

  Jennifer Joy whirled past in a daring waltz, and Mandy saw Nick's eyes follow her sister. "She's stolen my favorite green. She did it on purpose because she knows I have a passion for it, and they've stuck me with this damned white again."

  "You look divine in white." He touched her cheek tenderly. "Like a goddess."

  "Goddesses don't wear all these silly frills."

  "Perhaps not. I should love to see you in a white silk Grecian style gown."

  "The kind that leaves one shoulder bare? Your imagination is as dramatic as mine." She put her head on one side, "Perhaps worse?"

  "It knows no bounds," he said wickedly.

  She took the money and whispered, "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

  He decided that next time Ty Caldwell stepped outside, he would go and have a quiet word with him.

  Suddenly, Jennifer was in front of him, and he knew that she also wanted something from him.

  "I thought I'd rescue you from my baby sister. She can be such a pest, Nicholas."

  "You only come to me when you want something. You are more alike than you think. You both want all your own way," he said with a grin.

  "You are ungallant, sir." She slapped his arm playfully with her fan. "How can you compare me with the little horror of the county?"

  "The only difference between you is that you use sugar to get what you want. Mandy uses vinegar."

  "I see you are far too clever for me to cozen, so I'll ask straight out. Come with me while I ask Daddy if we can go on dancing past midnight."

  He offered her his arm and escorted her over to Bernard.

  "Why darlin' that's up to your mother. I think we can carry on 'till about two o'clock, if your mother is up to it," he beamed.

  She turned to Nicholas. "I could have done that part myself. It's Mother I need your influence with."

  "And as soon as you've used me, you'll be off in Beau Hamden's arms without a backward glance," he teased.

  "You, Nicholas Peacock, know far too much of what goes on in a female's head."

  After Miss Caroline reluctantly agreed to let the dancing carry on until two o'clock, Nick whispered, "You owe me one dance now. I'll be back to collect it presently."

  He followed Ty outside and allowed himself to be persuaded into sharing a drink with him. He took a gamble and said, "Mandy shared your secret with me."

  "About the horse race tomorrow morning?" Ty was swaying on his feet.

  Nicholas was furious. He guessed instantly that she herself would race Ty. "She won't be there, Ty. Just having you on for a joke."

  "Little minx."

  Brandon ran up from the stables. "Nick, come quick. King Vickers and his brother are having a hell of a fight. You know what King's like when he's liquored up!"

  Nicholas arrived in time to hear Duke Vickers say, "You son-of-a-bitch, King. You knew I was saving that little Dulcie for my next bed wench, and now she's knocked up an' you did it deliberate!"

  "Christ Almighty, it wasn't me. You're blind as a bat, Duke. Your body servant, Nate's been screwin' her for weeks," King shouted.

  "That true, Nate?" Duke Vickers shouted into the shadows under the trees.

  "Naw suh, Marse Duke Ah knowed yo' had yo' eye on Dulcie."

  "She was virgin, King, 'til you busted her, you son-of-a-bitch. Now ah'm going' to kill you!"

  King's temper flared out of control and before anyone could prevent it, he'd pulled a pistol and shot his brother. The ball went into Duke's shoulder.

  "Go get Doc Caldwell," Brandon said to Nicholas. "I told you this would be a fun night, didn't I?"

  Nicholas tried to be as quick and discreet as possible as he spoke to the doctor. But every lady present knew there was trouble and that probably someone had been wounded. Parties meant liquor, and liquor meant fighting and often shooting.

  "Take him upstairs to your garconnier. I'll have to dig the ball out and I'll need good light and clean dressings," directed Dr. Caldwell.

  "I'll take you up the back way." Brandon half lifted the fainting Duke Vickers. "Nick, go back inside and assure the ladie
s that all is well."

  All anxiously scanned Nick's face when he returned to the house, so he smiled reassuringly and asked Jennifer for the dance she had promised him.

  "I made no such promise," she told him archly, "but if you'll tell me what happened out there..."

  "That will cost you more than a dance, my sweet."

  Her lashes swept down at his words, but she went willingly enough into his arms. "Someone said it was the Vickers' boys," she whispered. "What were they fighting over?"

  "Can't you guess?" He stalled as his mind sought desperately for a topic that was far removed from bed wenches.

  "Was it a girl?" she asked breathlessly.

  He danced her out into the verandah where their conversation couldn't be overheard.

  "Was it me?" she asked hopefully.

  He stopped dancing and looked down at her eager, upturned face. He decided to give her something else to think about. With his arms still holding her, he lifted her up and bent his head to capture her lips. He held her against his body's hardness while his lips explored the pink mouth he held captive. He set her back down on her feet and dared her to slap him.

  She did better than that. She verbally cut him down to size. "Why Nicky dear, I've been kissed by a dozen other men tonight and I thought I was saving the best 'till last. What a disappointment!"

  "You are a little bitch," he growled. He took her roughly in his arms and kissed her savagely.

  Unknown to them, Amanda saw them and fled from the party, blinded by quick, hot tears.

  As the party was breaking up around two o'clock, Mammy Lou approached Nicholas reluctantly. "Marse Nick, ah's worried sick. Ma baby gone off somewheres an' ah can't find her."

  "Did she go up to bed?"

  "Naw suh. Ah's searched everywhich room. Ah had Cleo search too, an' Charles searched outside. Ah can't tell Miz Caroline her baby run off in de middle of de night. It kill her certain sure."

  "I'll find her, Lou. Don't you worry. You look after Miss Caroline and don't let on about Mandy."

  "Lawd Gawd, what happen now?" cried Mammy as she saw a small knot of people gathered about Miss Caroline.

  "She's had a bad spell," Bernard said. See if Dr. Caldwell has left yet."

  The doctor returned from his carriage to the house. After a quick examination, he said briskly, "Let's get her upstairs to bed. It's all been to much for her, I'm afraid."

  Bernard picked his wife up out of her chair and carried her carefully up the stairs. Jennifer followed, pale as death, and Mammy panted after, wringing her hands with alarm.

  Nicholas went outside and made a quick search of the stables and the out-buildings. He called Mandy's name, but there was no answering response. He knew then she had gone to her favorite place on Paradise Hill, and he set out with grim determination to find her, and shake some sense into her silly head. Running off in the middle of the night is such a dangerous, childish thing to do.

  His footsteps quickened as he left Jackson land behind for his own acres. He called her name, but there was no response. Nicholas was filled with apprehension, a feeling quite alien to him. Where in hell would he begin to look, he wondered wildly. Then he saw the white dress in the purple shadows of the trees. She was on the edge of the riverbank, her knees drawn up under her chin, one hand trailing in the black water.

  He knew without a doubt that she had heard him calling and had chosen to ignore him. Anger flared within him, while at the same time the relief he felt at finding her safe, almost overwhelmed him.

  "God damn it, you deserve a beating for this!" he exploded.

  She didn't move. She acted as if she hadn't heard him, which only goaded him to a fresh outburst.

  "Look at me, Mandy! This running wild without thought or care for others must cease. What an irresponsible, childish thing to do. Don't you have any comprehension of what could happen to you going off alone in the dark?" he demanded. When he still received no response from her, he grasped her by the shoulders and roughly lifted her to her feet.

  As she lifted a tear-stained face to him, her plight pierced his heart. He gathered her to him. "My honeysuckle, my little lamb, what is it?" he soothed.

  "Nicholas," she whispered, heartbroken, "why do you treat me like a child?"

  Very gently he took her chin in his fingers and lifted her face so they could look into each other's eyes. "Listen to me very carefully and I will explain. I treat you as a little girl because you are a little girl in everyone's eyes, save mine. To me you are ageless, wiser and older than time, but in reality you are fifteen. Try to understand that my only salvation is in treating you as a child. If I did not, I would be lost. You know how I feel about you without my putting it into words."

  "But if you love me, why did you kiss Jennifer?"

  He said lightly, "Men kiss lots of girls they don't love. Come now, your mother has been taken ill, and we must get you home."

  She was stricken. "Oh, God no! What have I done?" Her body began to tremble with fear for her mother. "I don't mean to be wicked-- why do I always hurt her?"

  "Mandy, no. Get these ideas out of your head. It was a debacle from the start. Brandon being expelled, Jennifer insisting on this birthday ball, King Vickers shooting his brother, as well as certain things between your parents you know nothing of. These brought on your mother's collapse. Only Mammy Lou knows you were missing, and she had enough good sense to come to me about it."

  A single tear slipped down her cheek, and he brushed it away with his thumb. His lips brushed her temple. "Come, we'll hold hands around the dark corners then your fears and apprehensions will scatter before our courage."

  She gave him a tremulous smile and put her hand trustingly in his.

  In a quiet, firm voice he added, "One more thing. I forbid you to race Ty Caldwell."

  She gave him a swift, guilty glance, then the dimples peeped out.

  Caroline Jackson had suffered a stroke that summer night, and during the next year her condition deteriorated monthly. Her sister Virginia, who had married into one of the wealthiest families in Charleston, came to stay for a lengthy visit, then took her nieces back home with her for a month in an effort to lighten the burden the Jacksons were experiencing. Virginia was married to a man whose famous ancestor had signed the Declaration of Independence, but more importantly to Virginia, had built the beautiful Greek revival mansion in which she was now fortunate enough to reside.

  Amanda Virginia had been named after this aunt, much to the older woman's chagrin. She was a social snob of the first water, who pushed her own daughters relentlessly to cultivate only those who had 'connections'. Mandy's unconventional behavior appalled her and after a month she was relieved to pack the girl off home. Jennifer Joy was another matter altogether. Why had they named the wrong child after her?

  Chapter Eight

  Nicholas Peacock and Rafe Collins made such rich profits from the fine furnishings they imported, they immediately filled two ships with lumber and tobacco and dispatched them to England so they could bring back more luxuries for the lucrative Charlestonion market. The cotton crop was harvested, and though Nick found it impossible to sail for England as he had promised himself, he and Rafe decided not to let the cotton go for less than twenty cents a pound, even if they had to store it in Liverpool warehouses.

  At last Nicholas had the money he needed to finish the house on Paradise Hill. It began to take shape from the plans that had been meticulously drawn up. Two sweeping wings rose from a center hall. The outside was completely white with four gracefully fluted columns rising to the second story, supporting a lower and an upper balcony.

  The gardens had been going in bit by bit for almost two years before the house was started. A cathedral-like avenue of live-oak trees marked where the driveway would be laid down, and the flowers and shrubs had been chosen so that some of them would always be in bloom, no matter the season. Hundreds of camellias came into their full glory during the short winter and kept blooming through spring. Then came the a
zaleas, which burst into a riot of color beneath the stately moss-hung oaks. Summer brought forth roses, fragrant mimosa, and hibiscus so exotic in color and size, they looked transplanted from some tropical jungle.

  Amanda found the building of the house fascinating. She had watched it from the moment the foundation went in and she marveled each time she saw it change and grow. She could not keep herself from falling in love with it, and she coveted it with a passion.

  Mandy rode into the stables at Paradise, quickly stripped Miss Louise of the saddle she had borrowed and replaced it with her own side-saddle. "Oh, Nicholas, there's a pair of blue herons in the cypress swamp. I think they're nesting. Do saddle up, and I'll show you where."

  He smiled at her enthusiasm. "I've been saving a surprise for you. Back here." He indicated a large wooden box. "I didn't want to uncrate them until you were here." He unfastened the lid to reveal a pair of birds. The hen was plain brown and unremarkable, but the cock was magnificent.

  "Ooh peacocks! I've never seen any before."

  "Careful Mandy, they can be bad-tempered devils."

  "They're lovely Nicholas. Do they really scream?"

  "Make enough racket to raise the dead. Terrific watchdogs. The place wouldn't be complete without peacocks, would it?" He threw them a handful of corn and they left the crate and made themselves at home as if they'd been born on the place.