LAVENDER BLUE (historical romance) by Bonds Parris Afton

Author:Bonds, Parris Afton [Bonds, Parris Afton]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Paradise Publishing
Published: 2013-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

Mark Thompson took Jeanette’s hand as a farewell, his lips lingering far too long on the fingertips of a married woman. But then everyone knew the Cavazos’ marriage to be one of convenience—eccentricity on the lovely Jeanette’s part, greed on the buffoon Cristobal’s end. “A splendid party,” he said, more for her than the husband at her side.

Cristobal, seeming oblivious to the amorous messages Mark’s hazel eyes flashed at his hostess, sported with Laurie Eubanks. The pale, thin girl blushed shyly at some lazy quip of his. Jeanette privately thought the lawyer’s daughter wore too many hairpieces. The girl was much too young for Cristobal; was most unlike the brazen whores he preferred. Did he never take anything seriously? Her chagrin shortened her words of good-bye to the special agent more than she intended, and she hastily bestowed a simpering smile at the vexed gentleman.

When everyone had departed, she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, leaving Cristobal in the parlor to pour himself a drink from the well-supplied sideboard. Mentally she ticked off the successes of the evening as she prepared for bed. She had learned that in addition to Brownsville, the Federal Expeditionary Forces had captured the Texas ports of Corpus Christi and Aransas Pass, as well as effectively blockading Galveston; worse, the whole of Mississippi was now in the possession of the Union Army and Navy.

That did not concern her. What did were the words she had wormed from the special agent earlier that evening. What was it he had said? “The entire Confederate Government has been sustained by resources from Brownsville—feeding and clothing the rebellion . . . arming and equipping it . . . furnishing materiel of war.” She was swelling with pride at her part in the effort when the agent added, “But we’re here to put a stop to it.”

With a little more pumping she had learned that General Morgan was intending to send forces up the Rio Grande in order to block any further cotton trade. And then Mark inadvertently revealed that the previous day the Confederate companies of Sloss and Spencer at Rio Grande City had disappeared.

That news was coupled with what Trinidad had learned—that the renegade Mexican, Cortina, had seized Governor Ruiz in Matamoros, holding him a prisoner, and that bands of robbers were prowling both sides of the Rio Grande—and suggested that a state of anarchy existed in the Rio Grande Valley. Now was not the best time to run the cotton. But she had little choice if Morgan intended to march up the river. His soldiers would confiscate everything in sight.

She did know soldiers were everywhere on the Brownsville streets. They had commandeered quarters while they rebuilt the fort the retreating General Bee had burned. Cristobal had mentioned peevishly that they had even taken over his own apartments and commandeered Henri as the officers’ valet. It would be only a matter of days or weeks before Morgan’s advancing troops marched past Columbia and discovered the cotton in the chapel.

She had to move the bales.

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