River Lady Read online

  Leah, feeling a quick surge of anger, excused herself from the men near her. “Perhaps you should go ahead. My husband and I will follow you.”

  Leah planted herself in front of Wesley. “You’re making a fool of yourself!” she hissed up at him.

  He didn’t hear her at first.

  With disgust Leah used her thumb to poke him sharply in the ribs.

  “What are you doing?” he asked angrily, then as his eyes focused on Leah, they turned smoky for just a second. He recovered himself. “Trying to show the men what they missed?” he asked, one eyebrow raised as he looked at the low, low cut of her gown.

  She willed herself not to blush. “You’re looking after Kimberly as if she were a bitch in heat. If you plan to save her name I think you should exercise a little control.”

  He looked at her in speculation. “Are you always sensible?”

  “I try to be,” she answered, puzzled.

  “I thought so. Come on, let’s be the loving couple.” He took her upper arm in his hand and led her into the dining room.

  They were greeted with uplifted tankards and one toast after another.

  “To Wesley, who had the sense to look for a jewel where no one knew there was even a mine.”

  “To Leah, who agreed to put up with a cantankerous, stubborn mule who is only a little better than Travis.”

  The word Travis made them groan as Wesley pulled the chair of honor out for his wife.

  Kimberly sat directly opposite Leah and gave her a hurt look that said Leah had betrayed her. Leah felt a pang of guilt as Kim turned away to talk to the man next to her.

  For all the warning he’d been given, Wesley still watched Kim with hot eyes.

  Telling herself she was doing this to save Wesley and his beloved Kim, Leah leaned across Wesley’s arm to reach the pepper and pressed her breasts against him. Wes reacted instantly, turning surprised—and interested—eyes toward his wife. Leah smiled up at him sweetly.

  “If you would pass me the pepper I wouldn’t have to reach,” she said softly.

  His eyes flickered downward. “Reach, by all means. Reach for whatever you want.”

  “Wesley!” Kimberly said sharply, and he looked away from Leah. “I was just trying to remember when we last saw the Ellingtons. Wasn’t it at the harvest ball?”

  It was obvious to Leah that Kim was reminding Wes of some private, probably risqué, meeting.

  Didn’t Kim realize it was her reputation being saved? Leah clutched Wesley’s arm, leaned into it, and looked up at him through her lashes. “The harvest ball and moonlit nights,” she murmured. “Sometimes the moon causes people to do memorable things.”

  Wesley narrowed his eyes at Leah, then bent to put his lips near her ear. “You’d better stop this little game, or you’ll get more than you bargained for.”

  Quickly Leah moved away from him. What did she care if Wes made a fool of himself in front of his friends? Except that she had some pride, too. She didn’t want to leave Virginia with people saying that maybe a Simmons could get a man but couldn’t hold one. They’d probably never hear of her divorce unless Regan or Travis told, so there was some advantage in leaving the people with an impression that she was good enough to remain with one of the high and mighty Stanfords.

  Chastised and no longer so sure of herself, Leah gave her attention to the food, pushing it around on her plate, her head down, speaking only when she was asked a direct question. She no longer felt like competing with Kimberly. Disinterestedly, Leah watched Kim flirt with one man after another.

  As the meal progressed things began to change. The man next to Leah started talking about the new cotton gin and within minutes Leah forgot about Kimberly. From cotton the conversation went to sheep and the prevention of diseases in one’s livestock. More men joined the talk.

  Within twenty minutes, as Bess and two other women cleared the table, Leah, the ten friends of Wesley, and Wes himself were deep into a discussion of crops and animals. Steven ate, not interested in anything else, and Kimberly looked ready to cry, but Leah was oblivious to the looks directed toward her.

  “My father lost nearly everything when the tobacco market collapsed and I’ll not put everything into cotton now,” one man said.

  “I agree,” Leah answered. “We’re going to raise some sheep and I believe that someday American wool will be in demand.”

  “You’ll not compete with the English markets.”

  “I’ll hire spinners who can do as well as any Englishwoman!” Leah said vehemently.

  “Can she spin, Wes?” a man asked, laughing.

  Leah suddenly became aware of who she was and where she was and she looked down at the uneaten apple tart on her plate. “I’m afraid I’ve overstepped myself,” she said softly.

  To her surprise, Wesley put his arm around her. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t been married long enough to know whether she can spin or not.”

  Astonished, Leah looked up at her husband. His eyes were bright and he seemed almost proud of her.

  “Go ahead and kiss her, Mr. Wesley,” Bess said from across the table. “You look like you’re dyin’ to, and we’d all like a little proof that you love her. Isn’t that right, men?”

  To Leah’s anger, Wesley gave a glance to Kim.

  He was not going to humiliate her. “I don’t need much encouragement to kiss my own husband,” she said seductively as she slid her arms around Wes’s neck.

  The moment her lips touched his, she began to regret her actions. She wanted to prove something to the strangers around her, show them she really was good enough to be loved by a man of Wesley’s stature, but she forgot any sensible reasons for kissing him. For a year she’d lived with couples who loved each other passionately, and until she began to kiss Wesley she was unaware how this had affected her. She very much wanted to be touched, wanted a release for her passion.

  At first Wesley was cool, but he felt Leah’s excitement, felt the commitment in her kiss, and he responded. He forgot the people around them as he kissed her deeply, hotly, searingly. His hand covered her head, his fingers demolishing the ordered curls there.

  “Wesley,” someone said with some embarrassment, “maybe you should wait until later.”

  Leah was helpless in Wesley’s arms, as helpless as she’d been on the one other occasion when he’d touched her.

  A hand touched Wesley’s shoulder just as he was beginning to seek the soft curve of Leah’s breast. The man’s hand tightened. “Wes!”

  Gradually Wes began to surface, and when he broke away from Leah his eyes took a moment to focus.

  For seconds, Leah lay back on Wesley’s arm, her eyes closed, her dark hair streaming over his buckskins. When she opened her eyes and became aware of where she was, she sat up abruptly and her face turned several shades of red. Her one glance at Wes showed him to be looking at her with puzzlement, and a vein in his throat pulsed rapidly.

  “I…” she began, pulling away from him. A hand on her head showed her hair to have fallen. “Excuse me, I must…” she didn’t finish as she turned and fled through the room and up the stairs to her bedchamber.

  She was barely inside when Bess burst in. “I have never seen a kiss like that. Not in all my born days have I seen somebody get kissed like that. That Wesley is some man! Not only is he the best-lookin’ thing this side of the mountains, he’s also the best lover.”

  “Will you please stop talking?” Leah half cried. “How can I face any of them again? They’ll never believe I’m a lady now. I wanted to leave Virginia with the people saying I’d become a lady, but what do I do but act like a Simmons whore.” She paused, then gasped. “Oh Bess, I am sorry.”

  “You haven’t hurt my feelings, and those men down there are going to dream about you tonight.”

  “Just what I wanted,” Leah said as she sat down heavily on the bed. “Do you think I could slip out the back door and never see anyone again?”

  Bess chuckled. “Let me fix your hair and then you