by Jackie Ivie
He watched the self-satisfied smile hovering at the edge of her mouth and cursed her soundly again. “You’ll be safe, Linna.”
“Please?”
“I’ll be back for you. Tonight. Rest. Dominique will see you’ve food and drink and even a change of clothing. She probably has your size. She keeps all sizes, don’t you?”
He looked up. She was watching their exchange. He didn’t like the look on her face. It reminded him of Simons.
“Have you been trifling through my closets again, Monsieur?” she asked, in the lovely, genteel, Southern accent he always associated with her.
“Not lately,” he answered.
“Cord?” Linna’s hand went from around his neck to caressing his cheek, and he turned back to her. “If you take me away with you, I’ll release you. I swear. Please?”
Golden hints of brown sparkled up at him, and he knew how much saying that had cost her. He smiled and slid his nose against hers. “I know you will, darling, but not right here and not because of this.”
“You...you’re going to leave me...here? With her?”
“Dominique is far too busy to see to you herself, sweet. She’ll send a maid. I’m sure she has them. I paid enough she should have them anyway.”
She sucked in a breath, and he watched her eyes dim. He wondered what he’d just said.
“You...paid? You—.” Her voice choked off.
Dominique’s trilling laugh saved him. Cord and Linna looked over at her, as she finished. “Raoul doesn’t pay for that, little one. He would get that for free. If he wanted it.” She was still chuckling as she stepped out into the hallway.
“Linna. I have to go now. Try and rest. Try not to fight anymore.”
The suspicion of tears coating her eyes made his heart stutter. Cord stared down at her with surprise as he felt it. He wasn’t supposed to feel anything like that, for anyone. His arms tightened on her before he set her onto the bed. She didn’t cling to him when he did either. That bothered him, too. “Or save your fighting to do with me. I deserve it. They don’t. Remember?”
“You take an awful long time to leave,” she whispered.
“I’ll be back.”
“I know,” she replied in a tight, little voice he’d never heard before. Cord stood and regarded her for another long moment before leaving. He met Dominique’s level look with his own, and she nodded. He trusted her as much as anyone. And she owed him. He still didn’t like the sound of a bolt being drawn on Linna’s room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Linna lay on the big brass bed that could probably accommodate four, even if they were of Cord’s dimensions and tried to send every fleeting emotion to where they’d never bother her again. She wanted to be exactly like the hollow shell she’d been back in New Orleans. Back before Cordean. She turned her head and watched the gas globes flickering. There seemed to be an air passage into her little room. That wasn’t comforting. It just meant Madame Dominique wasn’t the type to lose her merchandise due to suffocation or some other stupid quirk of fate.
Tears filled Linna’s eyes despite her every effort to keep them at bay. She watched the gas globes waver into color-imbued, watery spheres. Cord had said it for her benefit, but it hadn’t been necessary. She knew he wasn’t coming back. He knew he wasn’t coming back. Why would he? He thought she hated him.
Linna rolled onto her back and waited through several ear-pounding breaths for her eyes to focus and cease the ridiculous futility that was crying. She wasn’t going to waste another tear again in her lifetime.
She’d been accused of being heartless, callous, and cold. She hadn’t argued the reputation. She didn’t mind it. She’d actually thought, at some point, that it was what her father, Ryan Daniels, wanted. He certainly hadn’t received it with his oldest, Vincent. That man had too sunny a disposition to be thought heartless. He could charm the warts off anyone, probably even an old whore like that Dominique woman.
Ryan Daniels had been disappointed in his eldest daughter, Rhea, too. He made no secret of his displeasure at her spineless approach to everything and everyone. That left Linnette.
She’d been the heartless, callous, business-minded heir to the Daniels estate, and now look at her. Yes, take a good look, Linna thought. I’m locked in the basement cell of a whorehouse, with nothing better to do than await my fate with tears in my eyes, a heart that’s breaking, and not a speck of fight anywhere in sight.
Her broken heart she couldn’t fix. Time would have to accomplish that. The rest of it? Well, she wasn’t going to weep her way into it. She wasn’t going to fight it either. She was going to receive the future, live through it, and accommodate it. She wasn’t going to fold up and die. She was going to be as heartless as she knew how.
She made the vow, took several deep breaths, and held them. And the tears receded. Thank goodness. It wasn’t that hard after all. She blinked until the ceiling came into focus. Just like in New Orleans, someone had molded a fleur de leis pattern into the plastered ceiling, where so few would ever see it. That was interesting.
There was a knock on her door. Linna lifted her head. They knock on a cell door? That’s interesting, too.
“Mistress Larket?”
“Yes?” she answered, proud of the calm, cool voice that came out.
“I’ve brought your tub. May we come in?”
They asked. How sweet. “Of course,” she answered, and sat up, swinging her legs over the side to reach the floor.
Two dark-skinned girls entered, curtseying and giggling as they did so. Linna returned their smiles with a nod. There was an immense native man with them. Dominique has sent a guard, she thought, eyeing him. It was a waste of time to send him, but she couldn’t fault the woman. She knew what Dominique was trying to say. The woman was making certain of her newest property, one way or the other.
This man wasn’t as big as Cord, but he was a close second. He was also toting a very large tub. He set it in the middle of her room and bowed before leaving. A tub? She wondered it and then she remembered. Oh yes, she was being bathed and then presented. She wondered to whom.
“We was sent to help you, Ma’am,” one of the girls curtseyed again and spoke up. She was a pretty thing, not more than twelve. Linna wondered how early they started into this profession. The other girl nodded vigorously and looked at her with such wide, dark eyes, Linna smiled despite herself.
“Help me with what?” Linna asked.
“With your bath and whatever else you require. Mistress Dominique wants to make certain you receive our best hospitality.”
I’ll bet she does, Linna thought. Aloud she asked, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Becky. This is Sammy.”
“Do you girls work here too?”
“You mean with the gents? Oh no, Mistress. They’s quite off limits, even if they wanted a dark girl, they’d just have to go find one themselves. Isn’t that right, Sam?”
The big-eyed one nodded again.
“I see,” Linna said, although she didn’t. She didn’t have much time to speculate before the large man was back, bearing buckets of water. Linna watched as he dumped them into the tub and tipped his hat to her again.
“Now you go and finish up, Matthew. We don’t want Mistress Larket waiting any longer than necessary for her bath, you hear?”
“Yes Ma’am,” he said to Becky and shuffled out.
“Becky’s sweet on Matthew,” the one named Sammy said before the other girl nudged her.
“I’m sure you’ll be very happy together,” Linna said automatically.
“Oh no, Mistress! I wouldn’t dare think a thing like that. Matthew is Mistress Dominique’s personal property. I’d be skinned alive, I would!”
The dark giant was the blond woman’s personal property? She wondered what that meant and was afraid to put an answer to it. It gave her a wave of revulsion. She barely kept it from showing.
If she had to make her future and climb out of this whore’s basement, she had
to learn to conquer her reactions better. Linna smiled tightly at both girls. “In that case, you’d best keep this a secret, Sammy. I’d hate Mistress Dominique to find out.”
She looked crestfallen. Linna didn’t care. She was a hollow shell without feelings.
“You wouldn’t tell her, would you?” Sammy asked.
Linna waited as the black man entered again, dumping his buckets for the last time. She could tell, because the level of water was only going to give her body just enough room before spilling over the edge of the tub.
“Ma’am,” he said again, touching his hat before leaving. She listened as he shut the door and drew the bolt across the other side of it.
“I’m not on speaking terms with Mistress Dominique, girls. That should set both your minds to rest.”
“We saw the man what brought you,” Becky said, her eyes as wide now as Sammy’s.
Linna squelched the urge to giggle. What was the matter with her? She was a heartless shell. She didn’t giggle anymore. “You did?” she prompted.
“Oh Mistress. He’s that handsome. Oh my. That handsome.” Becky put a hand to her bosom and sighed rapturously. Linna moved to stand beside her tub.
“Yes...I suppose he is,” she answered.
Sammy moved to help her shed the black wool. Linna didn’t need help but it was soothing. She knew better than to ignore what pleasantries she got. They were going to be few and far between, she suspected.
“Mistress, how did you find a man like that?”
“Are you thinking to try it on our good Matthew out there?” Linna asked.
Becky colored. “I wouldn’t dare! He’s—.
“I know,” Linna interrupted her, “Dominique’s property. Did she send another gown down for me?”
“Oh, just wait until you see it. I swear were I to wear something so fine, I’d just faint!” Sammy pulled the jacket off and stood holding it while she pantomimed swooning.
Linna smiled tightly. She was obviously being groomed for something, or someone. Her lips twisted. She stepped out of her skirt, undid her blouse, and then shed her pantaloons, handing each article to the waiting arms of Sammy so it could be taken away. She didn’t hesitate. She knew she wasn’t going to get her own clothes back when she’d finished. They weren’t the right type to entice a man....except maybe Cord Larket. This morning.
Linna’s cheeks warmed at the instant memory. She set it aside. He’d used her response to get what he wanted. That was all. He’d made her cling to him all the way to her newest prison, and she’d actually done it willingly! That chafed, she thought.
“You’re expecting a baby,” Sammy said, as if it was something unheard of. Linna supposed in this particular household it probably was. The ladies that worked here most likely knew things to keep oneself out of such a predicament.
“Yes, I am,” Linna answered, smiling to herself. That would certainly upset Dominque’s plans. It might be amusing to watch it play out. “It’s quite all right, girls. I am married.”
“You are?” they chorused.
“Yes. To the man I came with.”
That reply got her squeals of little girl voices. Linnet looked away.
“You far along?” Becky asked.
“Three, almost four months.” Linna undid the laces of her chemise and slid it over her abdomen to the floor.
“You’re going to have an enormous baby, Mistress.”
Linna smiled. If she had to stay imprisoned all day, at least they’d sent an amusing and entertaining pair to aid her.
“Well...” she began, drawing the word out, “you did see my husband, didn’t you? Does he look like he’s going to sire a small babe?”
“Ooh, I feel that sorry for you, Mistress. That sorry!” Once again Becky put her hand to her bosom, although this time her eyes weren’t remotely rapturous.
“Are there any soaps or creams for me to use?” Linna asked, stepping into the tub and immersing herself to the shoulders.
“Madame Dominique sent her best. English lavender. All the way from London.”
Sammy was holding it like it was jewelry as she carried it over to the tub. Linna sank beneath the water, and all she could think of was laughing her head off.
~ ~ ~
The water was cold. It was dank and dark, too. It was also difficult to breathe. Linna watched as a gangway shimmered into sight, looming from the black fog-like matter until it was almost upon her. She opened her mouth to scream and bolted upright in the bed, holding both hands to her mouth to squelch it.
“Having nightmares?” a calm, feminine, slightly southern-sounding voice asked.
Linna turned her head. She was still in her over-rich prison, settled atop that huge bed, and wearing the high-necked nightgown sent for that purpose. It didn’t surprise her to see that Madame Dominique was watching over her, although her pose was interesting. The other woman was sitting primly on a settee, holding a dainty square of needlework in one hand and the threaded needle in the other. Linna waited for her heartbeat to calm as they regarded each other.
“What do you want?” she asked, finally.
The woman shrugged and looked back to her sewing. “Nothing much, I guess. Just some answers.”
Linna turned and plumped up some pillows behind her. Answers? She wondered. To what? “What time is it?” she asked.
“Late,” came the reply.
“How late?”
“Late enough,” the woman shrugged and spent time putting a French knot upon her embroidery. Back in her previous lifetime, as Ryan Daniels’ daughter, Linna had been forced to do them, too. She wasn’t an expert at it. The other woman obviously was.
“He isn’t coming?” Linna asked in a level tone.
“I didn’t say that. I only said it was late.”
“Oh,” Linna replied. There wasn’t any way to tell time in that room. It could be midnight. It could also be morning. She stretched, pulling the nightgown tight across her midriff as she did so. She watched Madame Dominique look to it, then back to her face.
“Your baby? Is it his?”
Linna looked side-long at her. “Why wouldn’t it be?” she asked.
“He wasn’t wed when he left three weeks ago.”
“True. He is now though.”
“I know. How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Catch him.”
Catch him? Linna wondered. Good Lord, I wasn’t even consulted, that’s how. He’d been paid to do it! She wasn’t saying a word of that, so she said nothing.
“So, is the baby his?”
“Yes,” Linna answered.
“You’re sure?”
Linna’s eyebrows raised at that. Dominique didn’t stop her sewing to see it though. “Unfortunately,” she answered evenly.
Dominique looked over at her at that. Her expression changed to one of pain. Linna wondered what that meant.
“I never could give him one,” she whispered, then looked back at her sewing.
Linna sucked in on the shock. She didn’t have the right to feel shock anymore. I’m an empty shell! She played the words through her head until they worked. She’d suspected Cord and this woman were past lovers. It didn’t bear thinking of, but he was hardly accountable to her. He didn’t even like her.
“Did he wed you because of the child?”
Linna watched a tear drop onto the woman’s sewing and narrowed her eyes to it. If a woman wept because of a former lover, what was it to her? I’m heartless, remember? she counseled herself.
“We were affianced almost four months ago. I gave myself to him that eve. It was foolish. I was a virgin. He knew it. He barely arrived in time to avoid the scandal. Is that what you want to know?”
“Do you love him?”
Linna pursed her lips and waited for Dominique to look up at her. Did she love him? That wasn’t a question she was answering. She waited long moments before speaking again, while the other woman continued making little French knots.
“Wha
t were you planning on doing with me?” she finally asked.
Dominique finally looked up. “Nothing.”
“Right. I believe that. Try again.”
The other woman stiffened. “You’re using his mannerisms.”
“What if I am?” Linna replied. “I am married to him. I’ve been with him, and I’m carrying his child. Why shouldn’t I pick up a bit of his speech?” Damn you, Cordean! “So what were you going to do with me?”
“I thought....”
“You thought he wasn’t coming back for me.”
Dominique nodded.
“And...I could be put to use?”
The woman shrugged. “You’re pretty. You’ve a passable shape. Cord brought you.”
“And now?”
“Now that I know you’re carrying his child, the question is moot, non?”
“Why?” Linna asked.
“He’ll return for you. I should have known this day would come. I’ve been dreading it for years. I thought....”
“Yes?” Linna prompted.
“I met him at Nassau. You don’t have to be jealous. It was years ago. He was different. He is different. Men would come into my establishment wanting release. But not Cord. Never him.”
“He didn’t want a woman? You expect me to believe that?”
The woman looked across at her levelly and returned to her embroidery. “It doesn’t matter what you believe. Impressed men into the British Navy are hard. Ruthless. Savage. He was nothing like that.”
“Right.” Linna said when the woman waited.
The woman huffed. “If Cordean Larket wants a woman he doesn’t have to pay. All he has to do is crook a finger.”
She stopped for a moment, as if expecting an answer. Linna wasn’t about to give her one. She didn’t even know if her voice would work. Dominique returned to her sewing and her monologue, carried on in with such little inflection, as if what she said wasn’t interesting, no one would bother listening.
“I’ve carried a torch for him for years. We all have.”
We? Linna wondered. Who’s we? And I’m not jealous.
“I know who he really is. It’s a well-guarded secret, but I know. That’s when I knew I could never have him, but I still hoped. I’m not the only one either. Your husband is quite a man. There isn’t a woman alive that probably doesn’t envy you. You see, every woman in sighting distance has tried to catch his fancy at one time or another, but none of us could catch his hand in wedlock. No one. Not me, none of my other girls, no island girl, not even a rich society girl. No one. I find myself curious - damnably curious - pardon my language, about what it is that makes you so different.”
