Southern Beauty

by Lucia, Julie

  Malcolm couldn’t wait to meet the woman his commander told him so much about. He was 21 and ready to start a family. The barmaid approached him and asked him his order. Malcolm decided to order a drink to calm his nerves.

  Malcolm didn’t realize how much rum he had until he stood up to walk out towards his horse. His head began to spin. He squinted as he scanned the town and noticed a small inn across the road. He decided that it would be best if he met Johanna in the morning. He felt so good that he began to whistle as he staggered toward the inn. He was interrupted by a sweet voice from behind.

  “Hello handsome, are you a soldier here to protect little ole me?” the lady asked.

  Malcolm turned to see a beautiful sultry woman in a pastel green dress, lace from head to toe, and his heart began to pound. He smirked as his eyes traced her perfect body. He could see the outline of her full breasts through her dress and was immediately smitten.

  “Why, ma’m, you’re going to need someone to protect you from me,” he smiled. The woman blushed as her hungry eyes inspected the handsome soldier.

  “Are you going to stay the night there?” she motioned in the direction he was heading. “You must not be from around here. Why don’t you come with me, I know where you can find more comfortable accommodations.”

  “No thank you, Miss.” Malcolm declined.

  “Well, no self respecting gentleman should stay there, my family owns the mansion on the next street over. Let me escort you there.”

  He leaned over and kissed her hand, and grinned. “No thank you. I must leave early in the morning. I have a mission to accomplish. Now what is a beautiful lady like you doing here without an escort?”

  “Oh, I am shopping for a new bonnet. There are so many now that we receive shipments from London. I always get the newest in fashion. It’s a way for me to feel pretty and of course to be the envy of all my dear friends,” she giggled.

  “Well, I am sure even without the new bonnet you are envied,’ he said.

  She smiled a strange shy yet seductive smile at him. “Are you flirting with me?”

  “Of course not, just observing,” his head seemed in a cloud. He thought to himself that he definitely shouldn’t have had that last drink. He had no idea where this was heading and wasn’t sure if he should find out. “I’ve never met a lady like you before.”

  “And you never will.” She said with her seductive smile and slipped her hand into his as they made there way toward the inn. It was now dark, but the inn lit up before them, a welcoming sight especially for Malcolm whose thoughts were getting fuzzier by the minute.

  “Thank you ma’am,” Malcolm was going to kiss her cheek, but she pressed her body to his and kissed him gently on the mouth.

  His lips tasted of alcohol, but they were warm, and her skin tingled as they made their way towards her bare shoulders.

  Chapter 3

  E

  arly in the morning, the fatigued David, Preston, and Jacob came to an opening in the woods. There lay a vast plantation and a Confederate’s home. Jacob and Preston, who fought over the harmonica and the chewing tobacco throughout their trip, were speechless now. Fascinated by the scenery, they deeply inhaled the exhilarating country’s fresh air. David, confused at the sight, motioned the men to halt.

  “What’s the problem McPherson?” asked Jacob.

  “There’s no one here. It’s desolate. No slaves, no soldiers, it’s not right,” he replied in a hushed tone.

  “Do you think it’s a trap? Do they know we’re coming?” Preston asked with concern.

  “Well, if it’s a trap, we’re going to be the mice. Let’s go get our cheese.” David said digging his heels into his horse. Preston and Jacob followed behind.

  The men vigorously bolted through the front gate.

  “Let’s split up,” David ordered.

  Each of the men entered from opposite sides of the house. Jacob opened the servants’ entrance door in the back of the mansion. He stepped into the kitchen and found stairs to the cellar and headed down. Preston stepped through the front door with David and made his way toward the stairs to investigate the second floor, while David continued his search on the main floor.

  Suddenly, a woman’s scream echoed through the halls. David darted upstairs from where the shriek of terror had come. He grasped the oak railing with clenched fingers to pull himself up the stairs faster.

  “Keep your dirty Yankee hands off of me!” Johanna cried recognizing the uniform as she fought to loosen Preston’s tight grip. A glimpse of a handsome figure standing in the room’s doorway made her tremble, not with fear, more of delight that made her tender skin tingle. Preston’s strong hold began to suffocate her; she gasped for air.

  “Sure looks like you have your hands full, Preston,” David grinned as he began to approach the defenseless Johanna. Pulling her away from Preston, he drew her close to him, pressing her flawless texture next to his. Her emerald eyes gleamed at him and filled his insides with a strong burning flame that ignited as he took a deep breath. His mind helplessly searched for a sense of reality. He could smell her sweet perfumed skin. He felt a desire to taste her red lips upon his own.

  “Where’s Lieutenant Colonel Lee?” Jacob interrupted. “I’ve searched the whole premises, he’s not here, but I did find this nice aged wine in the cellar. Anyone care to share it with me?” Jacob asked as he held up the wine bottle.

  McPherson looked back down at Johanna and pushed her away from him, keeping a tight grip around her arm. Furious with himself for desiring Johanna, he stepped back away from her and stared her down.

  “Where’s the Lieutenant Colonel, Miss?” Preston asked her as he undressed her with his provocative eyes.

  Johanna stood her ground, “Well, let me think, he could be milking our cow, having tea at Miss Patricia’s, or he might be at Fort Moultrie planning to kick your a…”

  “That will be enough,” David interrupted her. Johanna smiled sarcastically.

  “What’s your name, beauty?” McPherson asked as she once again stood next to him.

  “And wouldn’t you like to know?” Johanna boldly asked, surprised by her lack of fear. She made her way to the door.

  David grabbed her arm, pulling her fragile body once again to his muscular one. “Yes, I would,” he said in a soothing monotone that made her whole body quiver.

  Johanna couldn’t shake the force he had over her. Her heart pounding against his chest made her feel weak. As she pressed her lips together, she slowly broke the silence that awaited her words. “It’s Johanna, Johanna Lee.”

  “What is this?” Preston asked as he scanned a letter that had been sitting on her dresser.

  “That is mine, give it to me!” Johanna insisted, horrified that she could be so foolish to leave her uncle’s letter sitting out since she had packed her things earlier, including secretly hiding Lee’s map.

  “She’s got the map! Where is it?” Preston asked with authority. Johanna was silent. David grabbed the letter to read it himself.

  “Do you have the plans, the map?” David questioned her.

  “I don’t know what he was talking about, I couldn’t find anything,” Johanna lied.

  “She’s lying,” Jacob chimed in.

  “Well, let’s see,” Preston grabbed her belongings she stuffed in a trunk that sat on floor next to the bed. He pulled out clothes, a photograph of her parents, the Blackwood’s Magazine and a Harper’s Weekly. “You read this rubbish?” He held up the Blackwood’s Magazine.

  “Where is this inn?” David asked her.

  “I will never tell you,” Johanna stared at David. She knew that her uncle was talking about the cottage her uncle and father came upon when they were playing hide and seek when they were children.

  It was a special place for the Lees. Her parents and she would go there on retreat to get away from the daily life of the high society stresses that came from being a Lee. She remembered just sitting by the fireplace and reading to her parents. Johanna an
d her uncle dubbed it Otter’s Cottage because Johanna had been reading a book on otters and became so fascinated with them she asked her uncle if she could have one for a pet. She remembered him laughing at her question. The cottage was a desolate location by the river. A perfect place she thought, no one even knows it exists. Not until now.

  “I think we should search this entire place until we find the map,” Jacob said.

  “We don’t have time. Jacob, do a thorough search of this place. Report back here in five minutes,” David ordered with out taking his eyes off of Johanna.

  “Look at these,” Preston whistled as he held up Johanna’s undergarments. David watched Johanna’s face turn red.

  Johanna grabbed her clothes out of Preston’s hands, “You are a foul creature, a protégé of the Union no doubt.” She made David smile. Something he hadn’t done in a long while.

  Jacob returned, “I couldn’t find anything. She had to have taken it already. Did you search her?”

  “I will do that,” Preston licked his lips as he neared her.

  “That is not necessary,” David halted Preston with his arm. “We’ll just have to take this Southern beauty with us instead.” Frustrated for blurting out such a thing he shoved her on the bed.

  “Over my dead body!” Johanna exclaimed as she tightened her fists, to pull herself up off the bed.

  “That’s okay with me,” David teased her with a half smile forming on his tanned face, pushing her back down. Slowly she pulled her long golden curls out of her face so she could see once more the vile men who stood above her. She tightly gripped the ends of her vivid yellow dress that matched her hair preventing it from lifting up.

  David pulled out his revolver and pointed it at Johanna. Everyone in the room stood in shock by David’s harsh actions.

  “Okay, Miss Johanna Lee, pack your things, you’re coming with us,” said David.

  “What? This is mad! What will we gain by taking her?” Jacob questioned David’s sanity.

  “If she wants to live she will show us how to get to this inn,” David looked at his men. “As soon as we get what we came for, we will release her, but for now she is detrimental to our mission.”

  “Are you sure you know what you are doing?” asked Jacob in a whisper.

  Preston laughed at David’s irrational behavior in making his brazen decision, “now he is thinking like a soldier.”

  David eyed both men without answering Jacob. He was unsure if he had made the right decision but refused to acknowledge it. He had just set their course in motion and wasn’t about to turn back now.

  David stared down Johanna who now looked frightened. “Miss, you are now a prisoner of the U.S. Army.”

  Chapter 4

  P

  rivate Malcolm Graystone was eating breakfast in the common room of the inn he stayed the night before. Waking up he couldn’t remember when he last said goodbye to the beautiful woman from the night before. He looked around his room and was pleased he didn’t see any signs of her presence. Thankful he was smart enough to end the tête-à-tête with the captivating woman before it even began. He had no idea of her name and was glad he would not have to explain his intentions after their steamy kiss. Although it would not help him in winning Johanna over, her kiss seemed to be entrenched in his mind. He still was glad, he didn’t need any more complications than he had already encountered.

  Malcolm walked out to his horse, petting him as he watched the morning sun rise. He was ready to take Johanna to Arlington, and if everything went according to plan, he would court her, and maybe eventually take her hand in marriage. This would make his life much easier, getting closer to his ultimate goal, personally and financially. He needed a break and making her happy and his commander ever so proud, would change things for him. Taking the reigns on the horse, he lifted himself up, and began to ride.

  # # #

  While Johanna grabbed her trunk and repacked the things that Preston had taken out Jacob took David aside.

  “What about the map?” Jacob whispered.

  “I know she has it. Before this trip is over, we will have everything we have come for,” David answered.

  “What do you think is in these papers that are so important?” asked Jacob.

  “I believe they are military strategies and maps planned out by Lee himself,” said David.

  “I thought that was just a story, the plans I mean,” said Jacob.

  “No, he made them. It’s just whoever gets to them first. If the Confederates get their hands on it, we will lose more than Fort Sumter,” said David.

  Johanna silently went along with them, knowing there was no one around even if she did scream. She wasn’t worried about her uncle’s map that she strategically placed in her mother’s locket she wore hidden around her neck, but if they found it, they would capture him for his betrayal to the Union. She had to keep it hidden, but when the soldier pulled out his weapon on her she was frightened, and she decided to lead them to Otter’s Cottage even if it meant her uncle would be in danger.

  She needed time to think. Maybe she would delay their trip and give her uncle time to flee and then wait for the opportunity to escape, or if she was sly enough, she could learn what they were planning and notify the Confederate Army as soon as they released her. Either way her life was now in danger and she was on the edge of a cliff she wasn’t sure she was going to have to jump or be pushed off.

  # # #

  A day of difficult riding made Johanna exhausted and her insides ache. Her fingers were linked together around David’s waist. He hadn’t spoken to her or shown any kind of compassion towards her since the first time they met. When he did speak to her, he only spoke in short words that were cold and unsympathetic. Though she knew she was in danger and so was her uncle, her curiosity increased as they rode. David intrigued her and this won out over her feelings of fear. She knew they had felt some kind of connection the first time they met. Her impetuous thoughts burned within her. She then tightened the grip she had on him, bringing his muscular back toward the warmth of her body.

  “Let go, you’re holding on too tight.” David coughed.

  Johanna had been the only thing on his mind since he first laid eyes on her. Her gentle touch made his heart flutter like a school kid in his first crush. Passion interfered with his normal thought process. David was angry with himself, for he had no time for romance and no interest in marriage. Since Johanna had been around, he seemed to have forgotten what his general mission was.

  “It’s Johanna’s fault for being so beautiful and smelling so-damn her,” he whispered to himself, he was furious with her for being so irresistibly lovely. He had no idea why he had not listened to Jacob who tried to convince him not to take the naïve Johanna. But, as soon as they retrieved the letter from her he knew she had to show them how to get to her family’s cottage. It sounded absurd at first, but it was the only way to complete their mission and besides no harm would come to her. They needed the Lieutenant Colonel’s papers and they would do anything to get them, the map and his military plans.

  Thoughts of her sweet love clouded his mind. She held him more tightly as if she could read it.

  “She must stay away,” David whispered under his steamy breath, so only he could hear.

  “Did you say something,” Johanna questioned his murmur.

  Her voice was that of an angel’s. “You can ride with Preston tomorrow I don’t need a Southern whore riding with me,” David brutally forced himself to say as he bit his tender lip, waiting for her reaction to his chilling accusation.

  Stunned by his harsh words, she remained silent, which was very difficult for her. She let go of the tight hold she had on him and then turned her head away in frustration and shame. Although her eyes were filled with tears, she refused to let him affect her again.

  Johanna had shown the men the way to her family’s special place, and it hurt her to share it with anyone other than her parents and her uncle. She had pointed out to Jacob that it was
beyond the trees near the river. Preston went ahead to scout it out. He returned with a look of distress.

  “The cottage is ahead, it’s completely deserted, but oddly enough, it’s fully stocked with food and supplies. I think someone was here, but left in a hurry,” said Preston.

  “We can stay there for the night until we decide what to do,” David insisted. “We will keep our eyes open for any visitors.”

  David looked behind him to see the confused look on Johanna’s face. Then he stopped the horse in front of the cottage and jumped off, taking the hand of Johanna to help her down.

  Johanna couldn’t keep her eyes off the little house that had fallen into disrepair. She hadn’t been here in over a decade. She felt a flicker of sadness as she thought about being with her family here enjoying the simple life they never had time for, and no longer could enjoy. Her thoughts switched back to the ghastly man before her who was trying to take her hand and help her down off the horse.

  Taking his hand briefly, they both felt a bolt of lightning strike their unsuspecting hearts, although their reactions differed. David held his breath surprised by the strong connection he felt when they touched hands. Johanna too angry, ignored the shock, and stepped down. She came face to face with him and with a blunt slap, she reddened his unshaven face.

  “I am sure you are quite familiar with ladies of the evening, being in the military and all. Here in the South we are much more than ladies. Just because the women in the North are easy, never mistake me for one of your harlots again. I am above you in manners and in class and you, my sir, will never have the fortune to love a lady like me, in body and in heart.”

  David was taken back by her slap and her harsh words toward him. He knew he deserved it, but still felt the shock of being scolded. He realized he was still holding her other hand. Her words were sharp as a knife, but her hand was so soft it pierced his heart and as she let go, her touch lingered.