by Nan Ryan
Now, as she stepped into the front foyer of Miss Longley’s mansion and smiled at the tall, rawboned woman who was giving her a thorough once-over as though she could see right through her, Suzanna’s anxiety increased.
“So you dominated all my nephew’s time while he was here on leave, did you not?”
“I…ah…yes, I suppose I’m guilty, Miss Longley,” Suzanna said, smiling weakly.
Eyebrows lifted, the older woman motioned Suzanna into the spacious drawing room. Once Suzanna was seated on a long brocade sofa and her hostess was in a rocker nearby, a deadly silence filled the room for several seconds. It was Suzanna who broke it.
She said, “You have such a lovely home, Miss Longley.”
“Yes, well, I didn’t ask you here to listen to your comments on my domicile. Let’s talk about the only thing we have in common, Miss LeGrande. My nephew, Admiral Longley.”
Suzanna felt her face turn hot. But she smiled and replied, “I know how fond you are of Mitch and—”
“No, you don’t. You have no idea. From the moment he was born, Mitchell has been like my own son. When he was twenty-one and lost both parents, he and I became even closer. I’m his only family and he’s mine, and I couldn’t love him more if he were my son. He’s all I have in this world, and the only thing I really care about is whether or not he is happy.”
“That’s very sweet of you, Miss Longley.”
“My dear child, there is nothing sweet about me. I am, admittedly, a selfish, overbearing old woman and I have no intention of changing my ways at this late date.” She waved a bony hand and said, “All this, everything I own, will belong to Mitch when I die. Not that he needs it. He is quite wealthy in his own right, as you have probably ascertained.”
“I hadn’t really given it any thought,” Suzanna said truthfully.
Edna Earl stared at Suzanna intently for a long minute, then slapped her knee and said, “By heavens, I do believe you mean that!”
“Let me assure you that I mean it.” Suzanna leaned forward and added, “I don’t give a fig how much money your nephew has, so if you’re afraid I’m a callous gold digger, you’ve badly misjudged me!”
Edna Earl Longley chuckled merrily. “I like you, Suzanna LeGrande! You speak your mind and refuse to let me intimidate you. Now accept my apologies for being rude and let’s be friends.”
“I would like that, Miss Longley.”
“So would I, child. And forgive me if I’ve been tactless, but as I said, Mitch is like my own son and I know him better than he knows himself. He’s a handsome devil and he’s had plenty of beautiful women, but he feels different about you.”
Now it was Suzanna’s turn to look surprised. “Really? How do you know?”
“Were you with Mitch last night?”
“Yes, I was,” Suzanna said without hesitation.
Edna smiled knowingly and nodded. “I knew it! He came by here bright and early this morning to say goodbye. I’ve never seen Mitch like that before. He was beaming like a smitten schoolboy. Now, come, let’s enjoy our lunch. Do you like champagne?”
The two women talked and talked, and when Suzanna finally left around three-thirty, she felt that she had been successful in gaining the elderly woman’s confidence. The two of them had spoken at length about the war, and Suzanna had played her part well. When her hostess cursed the hated Confederates, Suzanna joined in, declaring she couldn’t wait until “every Johnny Reb had been vanquished and the bloody rebellion was crushed.”
“Do come again soon, Suzanna,” Edna said as she ushered her guest to the door.
“I’d love to,” said Suzanna.
“Early next week then. My most trusted physician, Dr. Milton Ledet, is coming for dinner Monday evening.”
“Ah, we do have something other than Mitch in common. Doc Ledet has been my physician since he delivered me twenty-three years ago.”
“Then I’ll have the good doctor come round to collect you and you’ll join us for dinner.”
Again Suzanna said, “I’d love to.”
“Wonderful, wonderful,” said Edna Longley, smiling warmly.
Suzanna went away greatly relieved. The afternoon had been a success. The older woman suspected nothing.
Twenty-Four
“I learned absolutely nothing from the Yankee admiral, Mattie,” Suzanna declared disgustedly when she arrived early at the Kirkendal mansion for a soiree that same evening.
Suzanna didn’t dare reveal to Mattie that she had allowed Mitch to make love to her, but she did tell her trusted accomplice that her kisses had not been enough to loosen the admiral’s lips.
“He wouldn’t tell me anything. Not a thing! He refuses to talk about the war, much less reveal anything that might be of help to the Cause.”
“Ah, the impatience of youth,” Mattie gently scolded. “Surely you didn’t expect a seasoned, highly intelligent officer like Admiral Longley to disclose precious secrets so soon.”
“So soon? But I was with him every waking minute for the entire week he was here on leave.”
“And that, I would say, is a phenomenal success. In case you didn’t notice, the admiral is a sinfully handsome man. And he’s a very wealthy one, as well. This city’s most beautiful women are drawn to him like moths to the flame. You should be very flattered that he picked you out of the crowd.” Mattie smiled, took Suzanna’s arm and guided her into the drawing room. “Since he spent all his time with you, my guess is the admiral is so captivated he will find a reason for being back in Washington sometime soon.”
“You think so?”
Nodding, Mattie said, “Yes, I do. And the more he’s with you, the more he will let down his guard. When he feels he can trust you completely, he will then, hopefully, be forthcoming.”
“I suppose so, but it could be weeks or months before he comes back.”
“It will be well worth the wait,” said Mattie. “Now, this evening’s guests will be arriving shortly. I’ve never seen you looking lovelier, so work your magic on the gentlemen, as usual. We never know when one of the dazzled officers might let something slip.”
* * *
Suzanna continued to regularly attend Mattie’s galas, where she danced with Union officers and kept her ears and eyes open for any fragment of information she could pass on to the Confederate commanders in the field.
She continued to flatter and flirt and press the officers for news of the war. And she suffered each time she heard of yet another Union victory. Word of late May’s Matadequin Creek battle in Hanover County had quickly spread across Washington. The elated officers, many drunk from too much liquor, bragged loudly about General Torbet’s division attacking and defeating Butler’s brigade near Old Church, a brilliant strike that had resulted in nine hundred Reb casualties.
Suzanna secretly took heart when she learned about the Battle of Cold Harbor. In early June Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant attacked Confederate forces at Cold Harbor and was soundly defeated by her old acquaintance, General Robert E. Lee.
Another June campaign that had appeared to be good news for the Confederacy turned out to be bad. Grant tried to take St. Petersburg below Richmond and then approach the capital from the south. The attempt failed, but the defeat turned into a bloody siege with no end in sight and many lives being lost daily.
As the hot, hot summer progressed, Suzanna heard the men speak of so many battles it was impossible to keep track of them all. Trevilian Station. Wilson’s Wharf. Yellow Tavern. And many many more, the majority of which were won by the mighty Union forces.
Suzanna paid special attention when she heard of a naval skirmish. And always she wondered, was Mitch in the thick of it? Had he been wounded? Killed even? She heard nothing from him, and when she called on his aunt Edna to ask if she had heard anything, the older woman told her Mitch was not the kind of man to be writing letters when on duty.
“Don’t expect a letter and don’t expect to see him anytime soon. It could be weeks, even months before he’s
back in Washington. He’ll just show up one day when we least expect it.”
* * *
Which was exactly what happened.
On the fifteenth of July, a hot, muggy morning if ever there was one, Suzanna was awakened from a deep slumber by someone knocking. Frowning, muttering to herself, she drew on a robe, pushed her hair out of her eyes and answered the door.
A young uniformed messenger stood on the stoop. He handed her a small white envelope.
“Thank you,” she said, and started to close the door.
“No, miss, I’m supposed to wait for your reply.”
“Very well.” She tore open the envelope and read the brief missive:
Suzanna,
Just arrived in Washington. Have meetings with fellow commanders at Capitol Building this morning. Can you meet me at cottage at straight-up noon?
Mitch
She looked up at the waiting youth. “Admiral Longley gave you this note?”
“Yes, miss,” the boy said. “Half an hour ago Admiral Longley checked in to the hotel where I work. He gave me ten dollars to bring this note to you. He awaits your reply.
“Stay right here,” Suzanna said, then turned and went inside. She plucked a pen from its inkwell and wrote across the note, “Yes, Yes, Yes.” She folded the note, stuck it into a fresh envelope, returned to the door and handed it to the young man.
“You’ll see that the admiral gets this promptly?”
The boy grinned. “He’ll have it in hand in fifteen minutes.”
Twenty-Five
He was there when she arrived.
The cottage door stood wide-open. Suzanna raised her hand, but lowered it without knocking. She drew a deep breath and walked into the foyer. She turned into the parlor, looked around and saw that it was empty. She crossed the large room, walked out the back door onto the wide veranda and saw him.
He lay comfortably sprawled in the gently swaying canvas hammock at the far end of the porch, arms folded beneath his dark head, dozing peacefully. His shirt was open down his dark chest and he was in his stockinged feet.
On the porch’s concrete floor, directly below the hammock, sat a round silver tray holding two stemmed crystal flutes, a bottle of champagne chilling in a silver bucket, and a small box wrapped in white paper with a blue bow on top.
Suzanna surveyed the scene and smugly told herself that this time she would get plenty of valuable information out of this unsuspecting Yankee. She would eagerly accept the little gift he’d obviously bought for her, and behave as though she were thrilled. She would also drink champagne with him until they were both quite giddy. And she would make love to him until at last he was putty in her hands and would tell her anything she wanted to know.
“Mitch.” She softly spoke his name.
His eyes opened. He slowly turned and looked at her. He smiled, lowered his arms and extended a hand to her.
Suzanna crossed to him, leaned down and brushed a kiss to his lips. Then squealed in shocked surprise when he pulled her into the hammock with him. At once he was kissing her passionately and telling her how much he had missed her.
When she was quite breathless from his kisses, Mitch finally took his lips from hers and said, “I bought you a little present.”
“I love presents,” she said, smiling saucily at him.
He reached down, plucked the box from the tray and held it out to her. She grabbed it and tugged on the ribbon. She tore the paper away and opened the small blue velvet box. Resting on a bed of white satin was a dazzling sapphire surrounded by diamonds and suspended from a delicate gold chain. Suzanna’s eyes widened and she was momentarily speechless. There was no need for pretense; she was genuinely thrilled to be receiving such an exquisite piece of jewelry.
When she could speak, she looked up at him and said, “Mitch, this is the most beautiful sapphire I have ever seen.”
“The exact color of your lovely eyes,” he said. “That’s why I picked it.”
“But it’s too much…too expensive. I can’t possibly accept it.”
“Of course you can accept it,” he said, lifting it out and tossing the box to the floor. “Now sit up and I’ll put it on you.”
Suzanna slowly complied. Mitch draped the chain around her neck, fastened it behind her head and drew her back down into his arms.
“Thank you so much,” she said, knowing it was unforgivably wrong to take such a valuable gift from a man she meant to betray.
“Is that all the thanks I get?” he teased.
“No, it’s not,” she replied, then turned in his arms and kissed him soundly.
As they kissed, Mitch began working the tiny buttons running down the front of Suzanna’s blue poplin dress. When it was open to her waist, he slipped his hand inside and slid long fingers down into her lace-trimmed camisole to gently caress a soft warm breast. Suzanna took her lips from his.
“We better go inside,” she said.
“It’s cooler out here,” he reasoned. “Let’s make love right here on the porch in this hammock.”
“You can’t mean that, Mitch Longley. What if someone should see us?”
“This is private property and we’re surrounded by dense woods.” He grinned then and added, “Besides, you won’t be naked. You can leave the necklace on.”
She thought that he was surely teasing. She found out he was not. While they drank champagne from the stemmed glasses and laughed and struggled to stay in the hammock as it swayed back and forth, they also managed to get undressed.
But, under the circumstances, it took quite a while.
A lovely, lively hour had passed by the time all their clothes lay discarded on the porch and they were totally naked. Then Mitch, telling Suzanna it would be safer if he were on the bottom to control the movement of the hammock, clasped her narrow waist and sat her astride his hips.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” asked the pleasantly tipsy Suzanna as she thirstily drained her glass. “I have no idea how to…”
“I’ll show you, sweetheart,” he said, enraptured by the knowledge that this lovely naked Venus had never sat astride any other man. “It’s easy, you’ll see.” He reached down to grab the bottle and refill Suzanna’s glass. “My task will be to keep us from falling out. Yours will be to make love to me.”
Suzanna took another sip of the fizzing drink, wrinkled her nose at the tickling bubbles and nodded merrily. “You can count on me, darling,” then she hesitated, awaiting his instruction, wondering what would happen next, eager to find out.
He said, “Dip your fingers in the champagne, Suzanna.” She gave him a questioning look, but complied. He said, “Now, spread the wine up and down my…”
“Why?” she asked, giggling. “Is it thirsty?”
He grinned. “Just do it, baby.”
“As you wish.” She took her wet fingers from the glass and carefully spread champagne over the smooth tip of his throbbing erection. Then, with him urging her to take it slowly and not hurt herself, she balanced her half-full glass in one hand. With the other, she wrapped slender fingers around him and carefully guided him up inside her, as if she had done just such a maneuver a hundred times before.
“You learn quickly, sweetheart,” Mitch praised as he set his own glass down on the floor and placed his hands on her shapely thighs.
While she carefully slid the rest of the way down upon him, Mitch flexed the cheeks of his lean buttocks and surged up into her, filling her, stretching her.
Suzanna sighed and took another drink of champagne as she began the slow, rhythmic rolls of her hips. The movement set the hammock to swaying, and Mitch had to use both hands to cling to the sides and keep it from throwing them out.
It was crazy. It was fun. It was hedonistic heaven.
On his back, holding on to the hammock for dear life, a highly aroused Mitch was looking up, watching his naked Venus erotically ride him. What a sight to behold!
Her flaming red hair was whipping around her head. Her full breas
ts were bouncing with her swaying movements. Her soft bottom was slapping up and down against his lifting pelvis. And the sparkling sapphire necklace, dancing at her throat, was catching the rays of the noonday sun and blinding him with its flawless blue brilliance.
“Mitch, I…” she murmured, rolling her pelvis forward to meet his deep surging thrust. “My glass. My champagne glass. I can’t…”
“Toss it away,” he instructed.
Suzanna immediately threw it off the porch onto the grass. Then she placed both hands on Mitch’s shoulders, leaned down and kissed him, licking at his lips, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. When she raised her head, her wild red hair fell into his face. Mitch shifted her upward a little and captured a nipple with his mouth.
“Ooh,” she murmured. Then, realizing that both his hands were now on her—one at her waist, the other clasping her bottom—Suzanna quickly gripped both sides of the swinging hammock to keep them from spilling out.
The blazing July sun had marched across the cloudless sky, its harsh rays now striking the covered porch and the joined pair making passionate love in the swinging hammock. Both were covered with a sheen of perspiration, and their dampened bodies slipped and slid sensuously together.
Searing summertime sex at its wicked best! Too splendid to end anytime soon. Too thrilling to last very long. Neither could stop the inevitable. They were coming and there was nothing they could do about it.
Their shared orgasm was intensely potent, exploding like Fourth of July fireworks and causing Suzanna to cry out while Mitch groaned aloud.
In their sexual frenzy, neither remembered to hold on. Miraculously, they didn’t fall out onto the hard porch despite the wildly swinging hammock. When they regained their breath they found the situation to be hysterically funny, and began to laugh uncontrollably.
For a long time they lay there naked in the swaying hammock, laughing and teasing each other about their behavior. When they had calmed they continued to lazily lie there, reluctant to get up.
