Belle of Charleston by Jerri Hines

Author:Jerri Hines [Hines, Jerri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

A full moon shone down on the pair. Cullen had only taken time for Jo to clean the spot on her gown. One of the house girls brought out a cloth and a bowl of water. It wasn’t as bad as it seemed in the ballroom. Most of the punch had missed its intended target, but it would assuredly leave a stain.

He didn’t care. Once they were married, he would buy her a hundred gowns if she wished.

“It will dry,” he stated. “Let us take a stroll.”

She made no objection, allowing him to take a discreet path that ran between the giant live oaks and the formal garden to the river’s edge. A sultry breeze flowed along the water; gray beards of Spanish moss stirred on the trees. He caught a scent of crab apples and roses.

Behind them, the sound of the party dimmed. Instead, sounds of frogs and crickets made their own melody. She broke from him and sauntered over to a clearing under one of the large trees.

She silently stared out into the nothingness. He walked up behind her. “Plotting your escape?”

She shook her head, but made no movement to look back at him. “I fear there is none. You should have let me leave to find Papa. How could being shunned be worse than this…pretending to be something I’m not?”

“I thought we had this matter settled, Josephine,” he said. “It is becoming most bothersome.”

She turned and stared at him. “Why do you persist? Do you not know I have been told you have been released of your obligation?”

He reached for her. She pushed back. “Don’t,” she cried. “I can’t take this…I can’t pretend anymore. It would have been best if you had let me run.”

“Listen, Josephine, I have not withdrawn my offer…nor do I intend to do so.”

“Don’t do this to me, Lieutenant. I am tired of being a pawn where I don’t understand the rules of the game.” She clutched her hand to her chest. “I can’t smile another minute when all I want is the earth to open and swallow me. I have tried to do as they wanted…it is my fault for believing Wade…I accepted my punishment…but this is cruel,” she rambled, not knowing—not caring—whether her utterances made sense. “I am to laugh and smile…not to let any see my heartbreak…and still they whisper.”

“Is it…is your heart broken?” He put his hand firmly about her waist, pulled her to him. He remembered the defiant young girl drenched in the pouring rain. Those eyes…those eyes stared into his. He saw the scared little girl he had pulled from the water.

She hesitated. “What do you want me to say?” Her voice quivered. “My world has collapsed around me. I have disgraced my family…now I have to pay the price. I am no fool. I was invited here tonight to be paraded around to be ridiculed.”

She reached down and touched his hands in a vain effort to release his hold. He had no intention of letting her go.

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