Defiant Impostor

by Miriam Minger

  His mouth seized hers, his fingers delving again and again into the hot softness of her body until she was writhing beneath him. Each time his fingertips circled and slid over that tingling nether point, she felt as if she was being thrust ever closer to the edge of some lofty precipice, until she was panting for breath, her limbs shaking uncontrollably. He spread her legs wider, applying a little more pressure, and suddenly she was flung over the side, hurtling through shimmering space …

  “Oh, Adam! Adam.”

  She couldn’t say how long it was before her heavy eyelids fluttered open. Time had lost all meaning for her in the cloud of contentment that blanketed her. All she knew was that she felt warm and safe and protected, and disinclined to leave the strong, solid embrace of the man who held her so tightly.

  “How I love you, Camille,” came a husky murmur close to her ear. “Love you.”

  Those were the last words she heard as exhaustion overcame her, her sense of satiation like a potent drug. She slept, not sure if he had spoken the words or if she had merely imagined them.

  ***

  “Lordy, Miss Camille. I always figured Mr. Thornton was a right powerful man, but just look at this door. I’ll bet the carpenters will have to make a new one from the way this whole side is busted up.”

  “I know, Corliss. I’ve seen it,” Susanna said, trying not to think about what had happened last night. She had awakened at sunrise to find herself thankfully alone in her bed. Now she hastily pulled on her traveling gloves. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yes, I am, but I don’t see what the hurry is. It’s not even eight o’clock in the morning yet.”

  Susanna tried to keep her voice calm, although she was wracked by nervousness. She had learned from Ertha, who was the earliest riser among the servants, that Adam had left for the fields well before dawn. She didn’t expect him back until that evening, but there was always the chance that he might return to the house for some reason and discover that she was leaving. He would insist on accompanying her, and she couldn’t have that. This clandestine journey was part of the urgent plan she had devised after her unsettling exchanges with him yesterday.

  “Corliss, I already told you that I want to complete our trip before nightfall. It’s a good distance to Raven’s Point—”

  “Raven’s Point, Miss Camille?” Corliss blurted, a smile flashing. “Is that where we’re going?”

  “Yes,” Susanna admitted, not sure she could trust her talkative waiting-maid with such potentially troublesome information. Yet she didn’t have much choice. Propriety demanded a chaperone. “We have to start early if I’m going to have enough time for a good visit with Mr. Spencer and then return before it begins to grow dark. We don’t want to be out on the roads at night, do we?”

  “No, I guess you’re right about that,” Corliss agreed, the damaged door forgotten as she swept an approving glance over Susanna’s apricot-colored gown. “No wonder you dressed so pretty today. Does Mr. Spencer know you’re coming to call?”

  “Of course he does. We arranged everything at the Grymes’s barbeque on Saturday,” she lied, looking in the mirror as she tied the ribbons to her matching silk hat under her chin. She thought fleetingly that she appeared a bit pale this morning, but no wonder! She still couldn’t believe she had allowed Adam to … to …

  Chasing away the vivid memories that kept leaping into her mind, she whirled to face her maid, adding firmly, “But this is a secret, Corliss. Our secret, and Elias’s, who’ll be driving the coach. I don’t want you to say anything about this journey to anyone. Not to Ertha or Prue or any of the other maids. No one.”

  “A secret?” the young woman asked, clearly confused.

  “Yes. I can’t have my other suitors knowing I’m traipsing about the Tidewater paying solitary calls on a rival. From the way all of you gossip around here, any chance visitor might overhear you, and that’s how rumors get started. I don’t want to crush anyone’s hopes, at least not yet.”

  Understanding crept into Corliss’s lively dark eyes. “I ‘spect Mr. Grymes is going to find himself mighty disappointed before too long, isn’t he, Miss Camille? A host of other young” —she put special stress on the word— “gentlemen, too.”

  Susanna forced a conspiratorial smile. “Perhaps. After turning around for a last glimpse at herself in the mirror, she picked up her fan and gracefully opened it, giving it an expert flutter. She had been practicing over the past few weeks. Feeling a much-needed boost of confidence, she snapped the fan shut and walked to the door, her wide skirt rustling.

  “Now, if anyone asks, Corliss, just say we’re going into Yorktown to do some more shopping.”

  “I hear you, Miss Camille.” Glancing at the damaged door as she passed it, the maid shook her head. “You better start drinking some of Prue’s special chamomile and peppermint tea before bedtime if you want to stop those nightmares from coming,” she suggested, following Susanna into the hallway. “It’ll help you sleep nice and peaceful. That way Mr. Thornton won’t have to wear out any more doors like he did to that one.”

  Susanna made no comment, but she did make a mental note to try some of that tea tonight. She certainly didn’t want a repeat of last eve—

  No, she wasn’t going to think about it! It was bad enough that she could almost feel the warm weight of Adam’s hands upon her body, his fingers teasing her intimately. And those words she had dreamed he had said … I love you, Camille. That was the last thing she wanted to hear him say to her! How could she have ever dreamt such nonsense?

  Heaving a sigh, Susanna stopped outside his room. “I forgot something, Corliss. Why don’t you go on ahead and see that Elias is ready with the coach.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Waiting until the maid had disappeared down the stairs, she drew from her bodice a note she had hastily written to Adam in case he came back to the house and she still hadn’t returned from Raven’s Point. He had become so possessive of her, she imagined he would be upset when he learned she had left without his knowledge. She hoped the short missive explaining that she had enjoyed shopping so much that she had gone into town to do some more would appease him, especially since she had signed it Yours always, Camille.

  This was the first time she had signed anything with that name. She had been intending to write Lady Redmayne a letter to inform her that all was well, as Camille would have done weeks ago. But she still didn’t trust her imitation of Camille’s signature. She needed more time to practice, using as a guide a letter Camille had written to her father.

  During a visit to Briarwood a few days after Susanna’s arrival, William Booth, the family attorney, had given her a key to James Cary’s strongbox in which his personal papers were kept. She had immediately destroyed Camille’s letters, save for one, and as soon as she felt confident enough writing the signature, she would have to dispose of it, too, however reluctantly.

  Sighing, Susanna opened the note and briefly reread it, lingering on the neatly inscribed closing.

  Yours always, Camille.

  Frustrated anew by the same niggling regret that had plagued her since the night she and Adam had first kissed, she defiantly refolded the paper and entered his room. She had no fears that he would discover the ruse. If he had ever seen Camille’s letters, he’d hardly remember a signature, and even if he did, it would be passable enough to fool him.

  “Now, where shall I put this?” she said to herself, thinking how much neater his chamber was now than the first time she had ventured into it. The room’s decidedly masculine appearance hadn’t changed, however, with its dark, heavy furnishings and his personal belongings placed here and there.

  Idly touching the pages of a book that had been left open upon the bedside table, Homer’s Iliad, Susanna suddenly had the strangest sensation that she could feel Adam’s presence all around her—compelling, warm, and powerful, like the flesh-and-blood man himself. Becoming flustered, she quickly propped the note against a silver candlestick and hastened from t
he room. She could not help wondering as she hurried down the stairs if Adam Thornton would haunt her memory long after he had left Briarwood.

  Chapter 14

  From Susanna’s window, as the carriage rumbled toward the distant brick house along a wide, oak-lined avenue, Raven’s Point looked every bit as magnificent as Dominick had described to her. Four huge columns fronted the formal entrance, giving his home an elegant classical appearance, and its size certainly seemed to rival that of Briarwood.

  The plantation also appeared to be bustling with activity. She could see slaves—men, women, and even children—toiling in the tobacco fields, which she had been told stretched for hundreds of acres from both sides of the road, and riding on horseback among them were overseers who occasionally cracked their whips high in the air. As the coach turned onto the circular driveway a few moments later, she noted more slaves busily going about their work among the many outbuildings, set a much farther distance away from the house than the arrangement at Briarwood.

  “Did you see that, Miss Camille?” Corliss asked, her expression showing shock and dismay as she turned from craning her neck out the opposite window. “They’ve got little children, no more than six years old, working out in them tobo fields. Babies! And in this hot sun!”

  “Yes, I did,” Susanna replied, surprised that Dominick would allow such a thing. At Briarwood, children younger than thirteen were given tasks suitable for their age or left under the watchful eye of motherly attendants to frolic and play near their cabins.

  “Those overseers were using whips, too,” the maid added, her tone subdued. “I wonder if they did that when Mr. Thornton worked here. He never said nothing about it. I ‘spect he wouldn’t be too happy to see how things have changed, if that’s the case. He doesn’t tolerate no whips at Briarwood.”

  Recalling Adam’s tight-lipped exchange with Josiah Skinner about the overseer who had dared to raise a whip against some Cary slaves and been summarily dismissed for it, Susanna could just imagine his response. As the carriage came to a halt before the front door and a footman in modest livery rushed out to assist her, she resolved to discuss these matters with Dominick. She didn’t like slavery in the first place, and there was no reason to make these people’s burden any more difficult than it already was.

  “Corliss, would you mind waiting in the carriage for just a few moments? I’d like to greet Mr. Spencer alone.”

  Susanna was surprised when Corliss failed to tease her about her interest in the widowed planter. Instead, the maid appeared willing to remain inside the coach during the visit, no matter that it was stuffy and warm. She was clearly upset about what she had just seen out in the fields.

  Thinking that things weren’t getting off to the best start, Susanna disembarked and climbed the broad front steps to the door. She couldn’t ask the footman within earshot of Corliss if Dominick was at home since this meeting was supposed to have been prearranged, but when she was ushered inside the sparsely furnished hall, she turned to him and said, “My name is Miss Camille Cary. I’ve come to pay a call on Mr. Spencer—”

  “My dear Camille, this is indeed a pleasant surprise.”

  Susanna’s pulse raced as Dominick, dressed more plainly than she had ever seen him, in a white full-sleeved shirt, unadorned waistcoat, and dark breeches, strode from a room which she could see was the library. Realizing that he must have observed her arrival from the tall windows which looked out onto the front lawn, she wondered why he hadn’t come out at once to greet her. As he curtly waved away the footman, she murmured, “Dominick.”

  “Forgive me for not escorting you myself into my home,” he explained as if reading her thoughts, “but I took a moment to ask my housekeeper to prepare us some refreshment. I am delighted to see you, my dear, but I must admit that I’m startled by your unexpected visit. Have you come alone?”

  “No, Corliss is with me.”

  “Ah, yes, your talkative little maid. Where is she?”

  “Still in the carriage. I … I didn’t know if you were home so I asked her to wait until …” Susanna sighed, deciding she might as well tell him the truth, or at least some of it. She had no intention of revealing that Adam had played any part in her journey. “Actually, she thinks we arranged at the Grymes’s barbeque to meet here today. I told her and the coachman that my coming to Raven’s Point was a secret. I didn’t think my other suitors should know—”

  “I understand,” Dominick broke in smoothly. “Propriety.”

  “Yes,” she agreed with a small smile, thankful that she didn’t have to explain further.

  “Don’t trouble yourself, my dear. I’ll explain the situation to my housekeeper when she returns from the kitchen and then have her fetch your maid from the carriage. Corliss can wait in the hall while we talk in the drawing room.” He took her arm. “Now, enough of that. As you can well imagine, I am most anxious to discover the reason behind your sudden visit. I hadn’t expected to see you until the horse races tomorrow at the Tates’.”

  He led her into an adjoining room which was comfortably furnished, although not in the luxury Susanna might have expected. She was beginning to suspect that Dominick must have simple tastes other than his penchant for wearing very fine clothes whenever he visited his fellow planters. His house might be very grand on the outside, but from what she had seen so far, the interior was almost spartan. Or perhaps it was because he had been a widower for fifteen years, with no wife to decorate the rooms properly and no time to attend to such domestic matters himself.

  As she sat in a chair with worn brocade upholstery, Susanna decided that whatever the reason, once they were married she would convince him to furnish this house more in the fashion to which his wealth demanded. She imagined they would divide their time between Briarwood and here, and no doubt they would be entertaining a lot, so both homes would have to be equally splendid. She certainly didn’t expect that they might sell one of them, especially when there would one day be children to consider who would need homes of their own—

  “So, Camille, to what do I owe the honor of your beautiful presence today?” Dominick queried from where he stood leaning against the bare mantelpiece, his ice-blue eyes moving over her appreciatively.

  Embarrassed that her thoughts were running on about having children and they weren’t even formally engaged yet, Susanna felt her face grow warm. She didn’t know how else to broach the matter for which she had come to Raven’s Point other than to get right to the heart of it. She cleared her throat delicately, staring at her hands, clasped nervously in her lap.

  “Dominick, you’ve made it clear to me since my welcome ball that you would like to become my …” She paused, concerned by how forward she would surely appear to him.

  “Your husband. Yes, I want that very much. I’ve wanted it since I heard the news last winter that you were returning to Virginia. I knew that we were perfectly suited to each other.”

  Relieved and grateful that he had been the one to say it first, she met his suddenly intent gaze. Now that the subject was opened, there would be no turning back. She rushed on, eager to have done with it.

  “I’m so glad to hear you say that because—well… I came to Raven’s Point to tell you that you’ve made a very favorable impression upon me during the past few weeks, more so than any other gentleman I’ve met.” Unwittingly she thought of Adam, but she quickly forced his stirring image from her mind. “And I’ve decided that I would be willing to consider announcing a … announcing a—”

  “Betrothal?”

  “Yes, between you and me.” Blushing at the bluntness of her announcement, Susanna was so overwhelmed by the import of what she had just done that she blurted out, “I know these things aren’t usually handled like this … it’s so bold of me, but I didn’t know when we would find the time alone to discuss the matter. I’ve been rushing here and there, hardly ever at home, and there’s always been someone to interrupt us—Matthew Grymes, one of the Carter boys, Thomas Dandridge. I thought if I
came to you instead—”

  Susanna fell abruptly silent when he cupped her chin, his fingers cool and smooth against her skin. There was tension in his touch, but his expression was not one of displeasure. He looked … triumphant.

  “I can’t tell you how happy you’ve made me today, Camille,” he said, his gaze boring into hers. “Your method may be unconventional, but I respect you for being a young woman who knows what she wants and doesn’t hesitate to go after it. We are much alike in that respect.” Grasping her hands, he drew her up in front of him but made no move to embrace her. “If I may have your consent, I would like to announce our betrothal as soon as possible. I haven’t relished the constant competition, nor will I tolerate it now that we’ve reached an understanding.”

  “Whatever you like, Dominick,” Susanna heard herself say, numbed by how easily her troubling situation was being resolved.

  “Tomorrow at the Tates’, then.”

  Her thoughts flashed to Adam. Dear God, what would he say when he heard the news? What would he do?

  “Is something wrong, my dear? If that is too soon, we could wait another day or two—”

  “No, no, tomorrow will be fine,” she said, feeling strangely sick inside, although by rights she should be overjoyed that everything was working out to her satisfaction. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t care one whit about Adam’s reaction. She had, after all, been waiting for the chance to set him in his place!

  “Excellent. I might even visit some of my neighbors this afternoon just to give them the wonderful news. I expect you’ll want to leave here within an hour or so if you wish to be home before dark. In fact, I demand that you do. I don’t want my future bride on the road after sunset.”

  “Yes, I hadn’t planned to stay very long,” Susanna murmured, her thoughts skittering ahead to the hours she must still spend alone with Adam … knowing what she did now. She was scarcely aware that Dominick had drawn her closer until she felt his lips, hard and cool, cover hers.