“I found the brooch you had Bree beaten for.”
“You think I care about some insignificant piece of jewelry?”
“No. You really had her beat because she was in love with the man you wanted at the time. Is that not correct?” At that moment, Circe heard a crackling and looked up to see fingerlike flames reaching across the ceiling. “The house is on fire. We must get out!” Circe yelled, because despite all of this, she did not want another person’s life on her conscience.
“Oh, I will,” Dorothea promised and charged at Circe, knocking her to the ground. She clasped her hands around Circe’s neck, trying to cut off her air supply.
Circe wanted to scream when her back hit the floor, but she could not. She refused to die at the hands of this woman. No longer in possession of the shards of glass, she cupped her hands, brought them back, and slammed them over Dorothea’s ears. The woman yelled and loosened her grip enough that Circe was able to push her backwards. Dorothea landed precariously against a table causing it to fall along with several items on top of it. Her dress was soaked in a combination of lamp oil and water.
Circe watched as she struggled to regain her feet. She took several steps back and looked around. The flames were quickly taking over the house and the rain outside was not helping to put it out. Soon they would be surrounded with no way out. Circe saw her moment and raced to the stairs only to be brought up short of her goal by Dorothea gripping her hair.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the deranged woman said, pulling her backwards.
Circe stumbled and fell, crying out at the pain. She was not given the opportunity to grab a weapon of any sort, for she was quickly tugged to her feet once more. Dorothea forced her to the balcony railing.
“You’re going to see what it’s like to fly,” Dorothea purred in her ear.
Circe stared dizzily over the rail. She did not know if it was the smoke, the heat of the fire, or the pain of her injuries, but she could feel her strength diminishing. The rose danced in front of her, first one, then two, and then one again.
“Don’t worry. Once you’re gone, I’ll take wonderful care of Reese. I can tell he is a man with a voracious sexual appetite, and I am just the woman to fulfill his needs.”
“You will not touch my husband.”
“As I see it, you will have no say in the matter. It will be difficult, him being a widower, but I myself as a widow will understand perfectly what he’s going through. I will be there to take care of him and see to all of his needs, until I tire of him, of course.”
“No!” Circe roared and pushed off the railing to ram Dorothea into the wall. She rammed her over and over until she could tell Dorothea was unsteady on her feet, but still she could not free her hair. Circe saw the knife Dorothea had dropped at some point and pulled the woman behind her in order to reach it. Circe grabbed the knife and sawed through her hair in order to free herself from the woman. Both women stood at the same time, and Dorothea threw herself at Circe, knocking her down. Circe flipped around. This time she cried out as her raw back touched the floor. For a moment, she was lost in her pain and Dorothea was gaining the upper hand, until she thought she heard Reese calling out to her.
“Circe! I’m coming!”
“No!” she yelled back. She had to save him from this evilness. She managed to kick Dorothea off of her. The leg of the broken table had caught on fire. Seizing the opportunity, Circe grabbed it and tossed it at Dorothea’s skirts. As hoped, the dress caught fire immediately. She watched, unable to look away as Dorothea windmilled perilously close to the banister until she crashed over it. Circe watched her fall, fully engulfed in flames and screaming. Then the scream stopped. Circe crawled to the edge and peeked over to see Dorothea’s lifeless, burning body in the center of the rose.
“Circe! No!” Reese yelled, falling to his knees. “I’ll kill you, you bitch,” Reese growled as he climbed back to his feet. He withdrew a pistol and climbed the stairs.
Circe wanted to call out to him, but she was growing weak. The smoke, the heat from the fire, the whipping, the gunshot, and fighting for her very life. All of it had been too much. At least she knew that Reese would be free of Dorothea. A fit of coughing wracked her body as she lay on the floor, watching the flames quickly devour her uncle’s beautiful house. No, my house, she corrected herself. For according to the will she had quickly scanned, this all belonged to her, but she did not want any part of it. It had been tainted with an evilness she wanted to be far away from. She heard the gun cock before she saw him.
“Reese!” she managed to croak before being overcome by another coughing fit.
“Circe?” Then he was pulling her into his strong arms and kissing every part of her face he could see and reach. “I love you so much! I thought that was you! I had two guns. I was going to kill her and then myself because there would be no life for me without you.”
“Oh, Reese, I love you, too!”
“Here let me help you up.” When he wrapped his arm around her back, she could not fight the pain any longer and screamed, nearly collapsing in his arms. “What is it?” He gently turned her around and said words she had never before heard in her life. “Ruth will know what to do.” He grabbed her upper arm to help her and she winced and tried to pull away. “Bloody hell, you’ve been shot, too!”
“I might have been,” Circe said. “So much has happened, I cannot remember it all. We have to get out of here.” Reese helped her downstairs as quickly as possible. Several servants were waiting for them. Circe saw the man who had been forced to whip her standing amongst the crowd. “Stop, Reese.”
“The house—”
“This will not take long.” She pulled out the pouch, untied it, and reached inside for the two dolls. She handed one to Reese and one to the other man. “You are both free of her. You are all free of her. I am the new owner of this house and plantation and you are all free now. If you wish to leave, I will help you do that as well.” Circe addressed the group at large. “Now, go, seek shelter. Let nature do what it will to this cursed house. Be safe.”
“Thank ye, miss,” the big man said with tears running down his cheeks, for he knew he had been far luckier than others had been, luckier than poor Samson.
“Now, can we leave?” Reese asked.
She nodded and was led outside. A young boy held the horse’s bridle. Reese mounted the horse and then pulled Circe in front of him. It was painful being held by Reese but it was what she most wanted at the moment. Silent tears streamed down her face.
“Why is it so still?” Reese asked.
“We are in the eye of the storm. In an hour or so, it will begin again,” one of the servants explained.
Reese saw movement inside the house. The people that Circe had addressed were taking things of value before it was all completely destroyed. He relayed to Circe what was happening.
“They deserve it for what she put them through. Take me home, Reese.”
“Yes, love.” And that is just what he did.
Epilogue
The English Countryside, Outside of Yorkshire, 10 Years Later
Circe had gone for a walk along the windswept hills that surrounded the school she and Reese had built together. It had been a struggle in the beginning. At first they had begun with two pupils, Tally and a young Irish lad named Ryan Donovan who had been orphaned in that terrible storm. They may have only started with two students, but slowly their numbers were growing, if for no other reason than the O’Connor’s and Reese’s extended family. Thankfully, there were others that had seen the need for a school such as theirs, and even now they were building a second boys’ and girls’ dormitory.
Yes, Ruth and Sean had been persuaded to join them in England, and their friendship continued to blossom over the years, as did their families. They finally had their wedding on the trip to England. It seemed shipboard weddings were becoming quite the on dit, at least for their little group. Sean and Ruth had six children now, three boys and three girls in all. We a
re quickly catching up to them, Circe thought with a mischievous smile and patted her stomach. Reese was not aware that he was going to be a Papa again, but she was going to break the news to him this afternoon.
She looked upwards and saw ten kites bobbing on the wind. She wondered who all she would find up here on the hill along with her husband and what the lesson was. Sean had several of the boys out looking at some of Reese’s brother’s tenant farms. As she approached the group, she saw girls and boys alike. The older ones had firm grips on the kites while the younger ones were trying to be helpful as best they could.
“Mama!” her almost nine-year-old daughter, Poppy, was the oldest of their four children. She feared that she would never stop being Tally’s shadow, but then again, Tally did not seem too concerned. “Look at how high our kite is!”
“That’s wonderful, Poppy!”
“Mama, ours is higher!” Iris, their second oldest at seven yelled out.
Not to be outdone, Violet, their five-year-old pointed at her kite. She was partnered with Ryan, and if Circe was forced to be truthful, their kite was, by far, flying the highest.
And then there was Ivy who was barely just two. She had given up on the kites and sat plucking the flowers around her. She did not care where she was or what she was doing as long as she was with her much loved Papa. Ivy gathered a bunch of flowers, ripped them from the ground, and toddled her way to Circe. She held them out to her mother, including the dirt clods clinging to the roots.
“For me?”
“Yes,” the little girl nodded. Circe took them as if they were the most precious gift she had ever received. She picked up her daughter and swung her around until she giggled, and then she held her close and blew raspberries along her neck, making her giggle even more. She carried her to a blanket that was spread out and sat with her. They played games and Circe told her stories until Ivy started yawning and rubbing her eyes. Then she pulled her daughter into her lap, hummed softly, and rocked her until she fell asleep.
“Reese, the clouds,” Circe commented, knowing that once he got involved in a lesson, everything else became unimportant.
“Hmm? Oh, right,” he said as he looked up at the sky. “All right, everyone bring in your kites and head back to the school.”
“Tally, will you take Ivy back?”
“Yes, Sissy.” Yes, the name had stuck amongst Sean and Ruth’s children and all because of this one precious girl. Tally quickly rolled in her kite and handed it over to Poppy. Tally approached Circe and took the sleeping child from her, receiving a grateful smile for her effort. She then helped Ryan herd the children back down the hill.
“I suppose we should be going back as well,” Reese said, pulling his wife to her feet.
“I was thinking we could stop by the hut on the way back,” she said as she gathered up the blanket.
“Oh?”
“Yes. Ruth, Penelope, and Mama have promised to help supervise the children. I think they’ve even coerced Papa into helping.”
“Penelope? She and Duncan are here?”
“Yes. They’ve brought the children and are going to stay for a few days.”
“There’s some things I’ve been wanting to discuss with him,” Reese murmured.
Circe wrapped her arm through her husband’s as they walked along the path. He had gray hair at his temples and lightly sprinkled through his hair, but it did not deter his handsomeness. She loved watching him when he was lost in thought and believed no one was looking. That is when she saw the true Reese Taggart. That was the man that had given her glimpses of himself from the time he boarded the ship. That was the man she had fallen hopelessly in love with. When they reached the hut, she pulled the key from her pocket and unlocked the door.
“Someone started a fire,” Reese said, as if just noticing.
“I did, before I found you all flying your kites. What was the lesson today?”
“Wind and how things fly.” The look he bestowed on her said she was silly for thinking it could have been anything else.
“Of course.”
“Something smells good.”
“I brought food, as well.”
“Food and a fire? Why, what exactly are you planning, Lady Taggart?”
“Perhaps a seduction of my husband.”
“Seduce away.”
* * *
Much later, and completely sated, they lay curled in one another’s arms. The scars on Circe’s back were pulling and she shifted, trying to get comfortable.
“Roll onto your stomach,” Reese ordered and slipped free of her hold. He kissed her back before he opened a jar of lavender scented ointment. He took some out, warmed it in his hands, then massaged it into her back. “Sometimes I still can’t believe what you went through for me, for us.”
“I did not plan for the whipping to happen. I just knew that one way or the other she would no longer control our lives. I also knew that Granny Mabel had told me she feared what I would do to her.”
“You were still extraordinarily brave.”
“I could have gotten us all killed.”
“But you didn’t.”
“That storm was awful,” she said, shuddering at the memory of it. “Seventeen people dead because of it.”
“Eighteen,” he corrected.
On the way back to Windcrest Plantation, he had gingerly held her as she had cried. He had told her they would claim the storm had taken Dorothea’s life, if asked. And they had been asked, especially when Circe had presented the will stating she was, in truth, the owner of her uncle’s estate. The authorities had even questioned the slaves who had quickly said they saw the lightning hit the house, and it was in flames before anyone could do anything about it, which was partly true. After the servants had taken what they wanted, they helped spread the flames then stood guard so that if Dorothea had survived the fall she would not escape the inferno.
Once the storm season had passed, they left the two plantations in the hands of the men and women who wanted to stay behind and wished them the best of luck. They had heard there was a slave rebellion three years after they left, but it had been squashed by the owners who still controlled out of fear. She would never forget the men and women she had met there and left behind, but that chapter of their lives had been closed for years.
She sighed as she let Reese’s ministrations take over her thoughts. The combination of the ointment and Reese’s hands were so soothing and relaxing, she felt herself drifting, not quite asleep and not quite awake.
“And to think, I had made myself a promise to never again touch a married woman,” he mused aloud.
“You did? Why?”
“After the situation with Isabelle.”
“Oh, well, as long as I am the only married woman you are touching, I think all can be forgiven. Besides we did not know each other when you met Isabelle, otherwise your life would have been much different.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. You would have taken one look at me and forget she even existed.”
“I can happily admit you have truly ruined me for any other woman.”
“That is exactly what I want to hear,” she murmured, enjoying his soothing touch. “However, Governor Beckwith would be highly disappointed to know we are still very much in love.”
“Beckwith be damned,” Reese said. “How did you know I needed this interlude?”
“A woman’s intuition.”
“We made some wonderful memories here,” Reese said as he continued to massage her back.
“We did,” Circe agreed. The hut was their quickly erected, yet sturdy, house they lived in while their house and the school were being built. It was just one large room with a bed in one corner, a kitchen in another, a table, a desk, and a small settee. It was small and they had had some rows in it, but they had also had some wonderful make up sessions. Ruth and Sean had tried to do the same thing, but with two children and a third on the way, it had been futile. Reese had sent them, along with Ryan, to stay at
Taggart Hall until their house was ready. “Remember the argument we had about the weather hampering the building of the school and the house?”
“Argument? That was a declaration of war,” Circe said.
“I was frustrated. Everything was happening so much slower than what I had expected.”
“I remember asking you if you wanted me to wave my arms and make the rain and wind go away and the sun come out.”
“And I said yes, and then I realized how absurd it sounded and started laughing until I couldn’t stop.”
“And then we made up. Perhaps part of the stress was your impending fatherhood.”
“And the fact that you would not go to Taggart Hall.” He brushed the hair back off her neck and kissed it.
“I promised you I would be with you no matter where you were or what you were doing. I was not about to go back on my word, besides I did just fine having Poppy here.”
He slipped his slick palm beneath her and cupped her breast, toying with a nipple. “How would you like to make another one?” he whispered at her ear.
“Too late,” she said, gasping as he tweaked her sensitive nipple.
He leaned back on his heels and flipped her over. “What are you saying?”
“You are going to be a Papa again,” she said with a beatific smile that lit up the room. “Perhaps this time it will be a son.”
“I love my daughters, for they remind me of their fiery, passionate mother,” he said and kissed her with love and passion.
“Do you not find it the least bit funny that a rake of your magnitude has all daughters?”
Wild Lord Taggart Page 37
