The Preacher's Paramour by Kianna Alexander

Author:Kianna Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical romance, sweet romance, sweet historical romance, kianna alexander, roses of ridgeway
Publisher: Kianna Alexander

Chapter 10

As the shadows of evening darkened his cabin, Derrick lit the three lamps positioned on top of the ice-box, in the kitchen window-sill, and on his nightstand. The task completed, he sat back down in a chair at his small kitchen table.

Across from him sat his grim faced brother, Marshal Matthew Carlyle. Having been fathered by Wendell Carlyle, the slaveholder who had lain with Derrick's mother Marie, the two had grown up together. Matthew had never been anything but caring and fair toward Derrick, and he was grateful his brother's heart had not been poisoned by the racial hatred his parents carried.

Propped against the wall, just beneath the window, was the Winchester rifle they'd just purchased.

“Now that we've purchased the gun you insisted I need,” Derrick began, folding his hands atop the table's polished wood surface, “tell me why I need it.”

A heavy sigh escaped his brother's lips, followed by two simple words that fairly dripped with worry. “It's Tallulah.”

The mention of their sister's name soured his stomach. “What about Tallulah?”

“She's after revenge.” Matthew's words were just above a whisper.

Derrick could feel beads of perspiration popping up on his forehead. The hairs on his neck stood on end. “You don't mean—”

Matthew nodded, his expression solemn. “She still blames you for Pa's death, and claims she won't rest until you pay the price.”

His heart pounded in his chest like a struck drum. As anxiety coursed through him, he rested his forehead on the cool surface of the table. “She wants me to go before a judge?”

“No. She wants you dead. Says it's the only way Pa can truly be avenged.”

The words sent a cold shiver running down Derrick's spine. “My Lord.”

“When I ran into you in town, I knew I had to warn you. You may have changed your name, but she's had a man tracking you ever since you and your Mama left Salem.”

That gave him pause. “What kind of a man? A Pinkerton?”

“No. Just a former Reb with a blood lust for coloreds.”

The plain spoken words sent chills through his body, and he shivered. Eyes closed, Derrick clearly remembered the day they'd fled North Carolina. The terror of that day was still very real to him, and he feared it always would be. He could still see the look on his master's face. Derrick had never really thought of him as a father. He could hear the anguished cries of his half-sister, Tallulah. Three years older than Matthew, Tallulah was the master's legitimate daughter with his white wife, and had always thought herself better than Derrick and the other slaves. Derrick didn't know if she were truly that hateful, or just displaying an attitude common among Southern white women of her time. The events of that day, so many years ago, had only served to increase Tallulah's ire toward Derrick and his mother Marie.

His voice low, Matthew spoke. “I know it wasn't your fault, Derrick. I don't blame you for what happened to Pa.”

“But Tallulah still does.” The words were clipped and filled with the frustration he felt over the situation.

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