Savage Deception (Liberty's Ladies)

by Lynette Vinet

  14

  The coolness of winter gave way to spring and then to a warm summer, filled with lazy days sitting on the porch and overseeing the children as they frolicked on the lawn, or hours spent on the beach where Diana and Anne watched David teach the youngsters how to swim.

  Diana was constantly amazed at the energy the children possessed. She was even more in awe of her sister who kept up with them. “Is this what I have to look forward to when I have children?” Diana laughingly asked Anne on a hot June afternoon.

  Anne toweled Jane’s hair and then waved the little girl away to join David and the others in the water again. “Yes. You’ll be nagged to death to wipe drops of water out of eyes, to dry hair, just so the scamps can get wet again and return for another drying. You shall have no peace and quiet, no time even to bathe yourself, but you’ll find that when the children aren’t bothering you, you can’t concentrate because you know that the moment you start something one of them will call you.” A satisfied smile ringed Anne’s mouth. “I’m quite happy, however.”

  “I know that. You don’t have to tell me.” Diana grew quiet and adjusted her position on the sand, rearranging the skirt of her pink and white striped dress. A caressing breeze stirred the wisps of hair she’d pulled back from her face in a matching bow. “I suppose I’ll never have children now.”

  Diana colored, realizing she’d said too much about her personal situation with Tanner. They had slept in the same bed for months, and in all that time they hadn’t touched. If by chance their hands accidentally met or their thighs brushed in the darkness, they quickly drew away. Diana was miserable. Tanner was miserable. They barely spoke. Their marriage was over.

  Anne stood up and motioned to Diana. “Follow me,” she mysteriously said. Diana found herself walking down the beach with her sister in silence until Anne halted some distance away in a place Diana had seen before. She recognized it as the spot where Tanner spent a great deal of his time … alone.

  “I apologize to you,” Anne began, “for the awful things I’ve thought about your husband. We had a talk one day, Tanner and I, and I realized how much he loves you. And he does love you, Diana. That’s why he doesn’t join us for supper too often, why he keeps to himself so much. I know it’s because he doesn’t believe he’s good enough to associate with us, that he isn’t good enough to be your husband. The few times I’ve seen him with the children convinces me he’ll be a fine father one day. Little David thinks he’s so wonderful, and the girls agree that their Uncle Tanner is the most handsome man in the world.” Anne’s eyes misted and she gulped back a sob.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you any of this, but I’ve misjudged him. No matter what he’s done, and I really don’t want to know what that might be, he saved David’s life and offered us the safety of Oak Island. Now I think you should go to him and tell him you love him. Put the war and the strife behind you both. Diana, on Oak Island there is no war. You can be Tanner’s wife and he can be a husband to you. Isn’t this what you want?”

  “Oh, yes, Anne, yes it is,” Diana admitted, her voice quivering with emotion.

  “Then go to him,” Anne urged through teary eyes. “I promise that you won’t be disturbed, even if I have to tie those hellions of mine to a tree.”

  Diana laughed, unable to picture her gentle sister rounding up the children and tying them to anything. Hugging each other, they parted.

  This part of the island was in a secluded cove-like area, surrounded by lush palmettos that blew gently and made a hushing sound. An ancient spring bubbled up from the earth to fall and trickle silently between the rocks into a shimmering, clear pool. It was in this pool that Diana saw Tanner.

  His bronzed back was turned to her and suddenly he disappeared beneath the water, only to surface at the other end. Sparkling droplets of water, resembling diamonds, dripped from his powerful torso. With his dark hair slicked back from his face, he looked so young, so carefree. This was a Tanner she had never seen. In fact, she never remembered Tanner being carefree or playing during the entire time she’d known him. Most of the time he was so serious, and during the last months he’d been less than happy. Sometimes she wondered why he stayed at Oak Island, why he didn’t just leave. She knew, however, and felt unaccountably ashamed of herself on account of it.

  “He stays because of me,” she murmured, not able to take her eyes off of him when he again dived beneath the water and swam across the pond, his powerful arms slicing through the water with ease.

  Anne was right, she knew. On Oak Island there was no war, no reason not to be together. The politics that divided them didn’t exist here. For once, they could simply be husband and wife — Tanner and Diana Sheridan. No ghosts from the past would haunt them; the future didn’t matter. She wanted him so badly that she ached. All of those nights, lying next to him, hearing him breathe, knowing he was but scant inches away… . Well, no more torture for her. Not any longer. She must make the first move.

  Resolutely, Diana undressed. The summer wind moved lazily over her, heating her already warm flesh. She wanted him, wanted him, wanted him. Without the slightest bit of shyness, Diana came forward from the royal palmettos that hid her from view and entered the pool like a queen with her head held high. But she felt less than queenly, almost humble, when Tanner heard the gentle splash of water and turned his head to see her. Instead of waiting for him to come to her, she moved toward him like a graceful water nymph. Will he want me? she asked herself. Fear clutched at her. She knew she’d die if Tanner rejected her. But she had to take the chance. She needed him so very much.

  She stopped before him, unaware of how beautiful she looked at that moment. The afternoon light spread a golden hue across her face and naked breasts, and her hair, pulled back by the pink ribbon, caught the sun’s fire and dazzled Tanner with its brilliance. Diana didn’t know any of this, but she did know she had to touch him. She placed her palms on the wet hardness of his chest. She’d have spoken first, but Tanner only gazed at her with wonder in his eyes and said, “Diana, are you sure?”

  Her hands slipped up the slick wall before her and wrapped around his neck. “Yes.” And this was all the answer he seemed to need, because with that one word she turned herself over to him once again, body and soul.

  He took her right there in the water, their need so great that preliminaries were unnecessary. Their bodies burned with wanting; primitive fires licked at the cores of both their beings. Their mutual passion, so long denied, flowed hotly over them like an unchecked volcano. It wound within them and through them, causing such a fierce, sweet plunder of their senses that nothing and no one could have prevented their joining.

  He lifted her from her feet and entered the moist warmth of her body in one motion. Instantly she responded. Her legs wrapped around his waist, her body arched to meet his wild, sweet thrusts. “Oh, Tanner,” she cried, ecstasy claiming her in a sudden and fierce climax as Tanner shuddered, pulling her buttocks closer as he filled her.

  Afterward, both stared into each other’s eyes for long moments, not fully conscious of anything save one thing — they loved one another.

  “I’ve missed, you,” he admitted, endearing himself to Diana further with this honest admission. “I’d begun to think I’d have to enter a monastery.”

  Diana laughed and kissed him full on the lips. “What a dreadful waste that would be, besides breaking many ladies’ hearts, I’m certain.”

  “Would your heart be broken?”

  The playfulness disappeared from her blue eyes and they glazed over with renewed desire. “Mine most of all.”

  “Perhaps I should prove to you that I’m not ready for a monk’s life,” he suggested, and that’s exactly what he did.

  ~

  Over the next two months, Diana and Tanner were closer than they’d ever been. Much of their time was spent alone in their own secluded cove, the rest with Anne, David and the children, cavorting on the beach. Nights they spent in their own bed, either flushed with pa
ssion or asleep in each other’s arms. The war had ceased to exist for them, utterly and completely. They trusted one another, and finally Tanner explained about his past as Mariah, leaving out none of the highlights. She realized he didn’t tell her all of the details because she suspected some of the things he’d done in the name of the Crown were probably wicked and dark, things better left unsaid.

  He even told her about a woman named Annabelle, whom he’d come to care about at one time and thought he loved until he realized what a heartless conniver she was. “But I know now that my life was with you,” he told Diana and kissed her tenderly. “I can’t imagine not being your husband. I wanted to marry you from the moment I first saw you.”

  “I loved you, too,” Diana admitted and leaned against his naked chest. Moonlight cast soft streaks of light upon the bed, encasing their forms in silver. “That night on the bluff I knew I loved you. I told Anne so, but she wasn’t very happy about it. In fact, I believe she may have cried. But I hoped and prayed you’d come for me … but you didn’t. Kingsley told me you wouldn’t.”

  “And you believed him.”

  Diana shook her head. “At first I didn’t. It wasn’t until he told me about you and your wanting to have your way with me that I began to doubt. Just a tiny bit, mind you, but I did doubt you. I’m sorry.”

  “What happened then?” Tanner’s voice sounded oddly strained.

  “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “What did you tell Harlan and Kingsley about when I kissed you?”

  “I didn’t tell Harlan anything. I did try to tell Kingsley that I was responsible for what happened. I told him I wanted you to kiss me, but he said I was too innocent to know what I was talking about.”

  Tanner took a deep breath and hugged her tightly. “And then?”

  Diana glanced up at him, seeing that his eyes were hooded. “I waited for you to come for me. I thought you would, and I’d have gladly gone, but you didn’t … and I married Kingsley.” Her voice started to quiver. “You know, Tanner, I hated you for my marriage and decided that Kingsley had been right about your wanting to avenge yourself against him because of me. Now I know he was wrong. Kingsley lied to me and I was silly enough to believe him.”

  Tanner shook his head in a gesture of regret. “We were both silly, both of us believed a lie.”

  “What lie did you believe?”

  “It isn’t important any longer, but I have a great deal to make up to you.”

  “No, you don’t,” Diana insisted, not caring for the contrite kiss he placed upon her lips. She didn’t understand all of these questions, or why Tanner felt he’d wronged her. They were truly in love now; the past was gone. Still, she felt the need to unburden herself about her dual identity, now that he’d told her all about Mariah and his retirement from spying. “I should apologize to you for sneaking through the secret tunnel to meet Clay Sinclair and pass on information about Farnsworth. I could have put you in great danger, and Harlan and Hattie, too.”

  Tanner had been nibbling at her ear while she spoke, but now he stopped, apparently interested. “There’s a tunnel beneath Briarhaven?” Diana yawned and explained that the entrance was in the wine cellar. “And Clay Sinclair, is he related to the Sinclair family who lived five miles from Briarhaven?”

  “Hmm, hmm,” Diana mumbled, growing sleepy and burrowing within the crook of Tanner’s arm.

  “Sinclair was your informant.”

  “Hmm, hmm.”

  Tanner was silent for a few minutes. Diana was nearly asleep when she heard him speak again, his voice sounding far away, “If you needed to get in touch with Clay Sinclair again, how would you do it?”

  She very nearly didn’t answer him as sleep began to overtake her, but he asked the question once more. “Put … a … rib … bon … on tree limb…” In seconds she was sound asleep.

  But Tanner wasn’t. He lay with Diana in his arms until nearly dawn. He kissed her mouth, and even while she slept he felt her respond. He knew he could easily wake her and arouse her to passion. However, he didn’t. Instead he watched her while she slept and memorized her face.

  Getting up, he hurriedly dressed and packed a few belongings before he went to the desk in the parlor and scribbled a note of farewell. He went outside and plucked a rose from the garden beside the house, a rose that was as pink and lovely as Diana’s lips. Returning inside, he placed the rose and the note beside Diana’s beautiful face on the pillow. “It’s better like this, my love,” he whispered to her sleeping form. “Maybe one day you’ll forgive me.”

  Then he left.

  ~

  Diana lay in bed, her hand clasping the note and the rose. She was too stunned to move. Not even Anne’s insistent knock on the door could rouse her.

  “Diana! Diana! Answer me,” Anne cried.

  “Go away!” came Diana’s half sob.

  “I’m coming in,” Anne said, which is exactly what she did. She stood by the side of Diana’s bed, looking down at her younger sister with pity in her eyes. “You can’t stay in bed forever. Some time or other you’ll have to get up.”

  “What difference does it make if I get up or not? I’ve lost my husband, Anne. Don’t you understand? Tanner’s left me. Left me,” Diana reiterated.

  “He’ll be back. I’m certain of it. He loves you. Most probably he has business to attend to at Briarhaven. Tanner saw David before he left this morning, and he told him he’d try to return soon. For the life of me I don’t understand why you’re taking on so, Diana.”

  Anne wouldn’t understand, and Diana couldn’t tell her sister that the man she suddenly and so hotly defended was a British spy, and not only a former spy, as Tanner had led her to believe, but a very active one. God, she wanted to die! Because of her stupidity and her own need to unburden herself she’d revealed too much. She’d told Tanner about the tunnel, about Clay Sinclair, even about the ribbon on the tree branch.

  Diana groaned and faced the wall, ignoring Anne. Getting no further response to her prodding, Anne finally left Diana alone.

  Tears fell from Diana’s eyes onto the pillow. What a fool she’d been to imagine for a moment that she could trust Tanner Sheridan. And what an even better spy he was. No wonder countless patriots had spilled information to him. He could seem so trustworthy, especially when he led one to believe that he was actually being honest, revealing his own dark secrets.

  What appalled her more than her own foolish heart was that Clay, the Swamp Fox, and his rebels were now in danger because of her unthinking tongue. No doubt Tanner would rush to Farnsworth with his news and collect a large sum of money for the information and the rebels’ subsequent capture. And all because she had fallen in love with a man whose low birth and mercenary heart prevented him from loving. And he hadn’t loved her, didn’t love her, could never love her. Otherwise, Tanner wouldn’t hurt her like this.

  “You are a bastard, Tanner Sheridan,” she whispered, choking on her tears. “I never want to see you again, never. You’ll never see your own child. I’ll make certain that when my baby is born, you know nothing about her.”

  Somehow Diana knew that the child she carried beneath her heart, the child she had so desperately ached to give to Tanner Sheridan, was a girl.

  ~

  “Why didn’t Diana return with you?” inquired Harlan of Tanner. The old man pulled the lap robe around his legs. “I miss her.”

  Tanner hedged. “The island is quite pleasant now. Besides, I don’t think her being here is a good idea anyway.” Sipping his brandy, Tanner surveyed his father. “Why didn’t you tell me about what she’d been doing for the patriots?”

  Harlan shot a glance at the bedroom door in confirmation that it was tightly closed and grinned at Tanner. “Old men like to have some secrets. Farnsworth treats me like an imbecile. My body may be going, but my mind is quite active. Those redcoats are a bunch of pansies. The girl sneaked away from the house right under their very noses and passed information to the Swamp Fox. She re
ally kept things hopping around here.” Harlan leaned back against the pillows, a congratulating smile on his face. “Diana’s quite a woman.”

  Tanner’s own face hardened. “Why didn’t you talk her out of it, old man? She could have been captured or killed.”

  “Well, she wasn’t.”

  “Stubborn old coot. Don’t you care about her?”

  “I love Diana like my own daughter,” Harlan insisted, much affronted by this personal attack against him.

  “Yes, I know how you love your children. I’ve been a recipient of your own special fatherly love in the past, and it’s a wonder Diana is still alive at all.”

  Harlan’s trembling hands held onto the lap robe. “I … did my best.”

  “Liar.”

  “Get out,” Harlan ordered, his voice breaking. “I’m an old, sick man. I don’t need this… .”

  “Tanner,” came Naomi’s curt tones from the doorway. “Please let your father rest.”

  Tanner strode from the room, too angry to speak to his mother who followed after him. Finally she grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Make peace with your father. He has little time left on this earth.”

  “He could make peace with me. Why should I be the first?”

  Naomi’s features softened. “Because he has done wrong by you and he knows it. Harlan can’t say the words to ask your forgiveness. He is very much like a child who has harmed a parent and wants to say he is sorry but yet doesn’t wish to speak for fear that he’ll be rejected for his misdeed. Go to him, Tanner. Call him father. That’s all he wants.”

  “He asks too much, Mother.”

  “Ah, you are hardhearted, my son.”

  “No just thick-skinned. Otherwise, the night he allowed Kingsley to beat me would have killed me.” Breaking from his mother’s hold, Tanner ran down the stairs and into the bright sunshine of the afternoon.