Natchez Flame by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: mom 02/14/14
ISBN: 9780307574923
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1994-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

They camped for the night and rode into Corpus Christi just two hours after dawn the next morning. The streets were as vacant as she remembered, with an eerie, depressing quality that deepened her already somber mood.

Though she tried her best not to, her eyes searched the buildings for the sheriff’s office, but she didn’t see it. Instead they rode straight to the hotel, such as it was, where Stuart obtained a large suite of rooms.

He was cordial—always so maddeningly cordial.

What was he thinking? she wondered. She guessed she would probably never know.

“As soon as we can signal a passing ship, we’ll be leaving for Galveston,” he told her. “From there we’ll go on to New Orleans and up the Mississippi to Natchez.”

Natchez. Just the name sent a shiver down her spine.

She had once called it home, but that had been years ago, a lifetime ago, when she was only a child.

“What about … what about Brendan?” She had to ask, though she already knew the answer. “Maybe if I stayed for the trial—”

Stuart’s shoulders grew taut. “There is nothing you can do, Priscilla. The man is being tried for a crime you know nothing about.” Standing beside the sofa in their suite, his hard glance fixed on her face. “If anything, your testimony could wind up hurting him. After all, you did see him gun down Barker Hennessey.”

“B-but I didn’t. Not really.” If only there was some way to help him. “I know it upsets you, but I owe him my life.”

Stuart’s fingers tightened on the back of the horsehair sofa. “And he was more than compensated for that help by the time he spent in your bed.”

Priscilla’s face went hot.

“We’re leaving here, Priscilla, as soon as we can find a means of transportation. The fewer people who know about you and Trask, the better off we’ll both be.”

Priscilla didn’t argue. Once more, there was nothing she could say. Confined to her room, she found the hours passed with agonizing slowness. Her mind clouded with thoughts of Brendan but she forced the thoughts away. By nightfall of the second day, a lantern on the point had signaled a ship into the harbor. First thing the following morning, they boarded a small dinghy and made their way to where the boat stood at anchor.

All the way to the ship, Priscilla stared at the shoreline. She tried not to think of the man she was leaving behind, but his handsome face constantly intruded. Still, there was nothing she could do to help him. It appeared her life had taken another unalterable course, and if she meant to survive this new course, she would have to forget him.

While Stuart saw to their cabin accommodations and made arrangements with the captain for their passage, Priscilla stood at the rail, watching the landscape slip from view. It was nothing more than a brown speck on the horizon, smaller even than the sea gulls circling above them, when Stuart’s presence beside her penetrated her gloom.

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