The Night We Kissed

Book 0: Masquerade

by Laurie Brown

Genres: Historical Romance

Synopsis

When a spirited young Southerner travels to London on a secret mission, she captures the attention--and the heart--of a Viscount who is searching for a Confederate spy.

Release date: October 15, 2013

Publisher: Zebra Books

Print pages: 320

Sample

“I missed him.” Cordelia Weston hung the old hunting rifle back on its hook over the fieldstone mantle.

“Oh, my God, you tried to kill him,” her sister Emily said, biting her thumbnail.

“If I’d wanted to kill Ernest, I wouldn’t have missed,” Cordelia said. Not that he didn’t deserve to die, but it would be just as impossible for her pregnant eighteen-year-old sister to marry a dead man as one who had fled home to England. “He wasn’t on the stage to Savannah. He must have taken another route.” She held back a comment on his apparent haste to depart. Recriminations wouldn’t help now.

All the way home, Cordelia had tried to come up with an answer to her sister’s problem. What they needed was a man. Any man without the current encumbrance of a wife would do, as far as she was concerned. An innocent babe didn’t deserve to be born with the stigma of being a bastard. Emily would have to stop her useless hand-wringing and marry someone other than Ernest. Now, all Cordelia had to do was convince her sister.

She poured a cup of coffee from the ever present pot over the fire. Not real coffee, of course. They hadn’t had that since the beginning of the war. At least the bitter chicory brew was hot. As she warmed her hands around the mug, she glanced over at Granny sitting in her rocker, winding the same ball of wool. Like Odysseus’s wife Penelope, Granny knitted the same scarf all day and unwound her progress each night. Today she seemed to be having one of her good days.

“Are you warm enough, Granny?” Cordelia asked. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you, child. I’m fine.”

Cordelia breathed an inward sigh and sank into a chair beside the plank table. When Granny had a bad day, when she had one of her spells, difficult took on new meaning. Sometimes Granny just thought she was someone else, but other times she became disoriented and wandered off.

“I’m sure Ernest will have a reasonable explanation when he returns,” Emily said. “I know his father was unwell. Maybe Ernest had to return to inherit his title. That must be it. But if that’s the case, it could be months and months before he comes back for me, and the baby is due by Thanksgiving. Oh, what am I going to do?” she wailed.

“You could always marry someone else,” Granny said.

Cordelia gave her a grateful smile, and nodded in agreement.

Emily sent her a disgusted look. “Even if I would marry someone else, who would that be? Every man from sixteen to sixty is off fighting Yankees.” She plopped down into the only other chair. “Crazy old woman,” she whispered under her breath.

“Shush,” Cordelia said, kicking at her sister under the table. If Granny behaved a bit eccentric at times, that didn’t make her crazy. She deserved their sympathy. The war had taken her husband, and she’d watched the main house of their lovely plantation home, Belle Oaks, burn to the ground.

“Why? She doesn’t care,” Emily said with a sidelong glare at Granny. “That’s why we’re stuck in this . . . this . . . shanty.” She gave an exaggerated shiver of revulsion as she looked around the room.

The small log cabin where they now lived might be rustic, but it was warm and dry on a chilly rainy evening, a fact Cordelia appreciated even if Emily didn’t.

Granny pounded her cane on the floor. “There’s Mr. Marlin at the General Store. If you marry him, he’ll give us credit.”

“That sickly old weasel?” Emily gave Granny a look of disbelieving horror. “Not if he was the last man on earth.”

“It’s a little late to be choosy,” Cordelia muttered.

Emily jumped up. “I’ll have you know I could’ve had my pick of any man in Savannah. You’re just jealous because you didn’t inherit Mama’s looks.” She flipped a golden curl back over her shoulder. Tipping her head to the side, she put one finger on her chin. “And how many beaus did you have? If my memory serves me correctly it was . . . oh, yes, one.”

Cordelia’s heart constricted at the thought of her dear friend Travis, killed recently at Shiloh. He hadn’t really been her beau. He’d just wanted someone to write chatty letters to him, so she’d given him her favorite red hair ribbon to tie on his sleeve. Poor Travis. She made a mental note to call on his mother later in the week.

Emily put her hands on her hips, accentuating her voluptuous figure, another attribute Cordelia had not inherited from their mother. Except she had her mother’s hips. Hardly a blessing when she was small and narrow everywhere else. Cordelia had inherited their father’s plain light brown hair and ordinary hazel eyes.

Despite their reduced circumstances, Emily had dressed for dinner in a pink ruffled confection, stylish at the outbreak of the war. Cordelia wiped her palms on the dark brown cotton of her day dress. Not fashionable, but practical for chores and chasing recalcitrant bridegrooms.

“Time to set the table,” Granny said, and because it was one of the few tasks Emily was willing to do without an argument, Cordelia didn’t offer to help.

“When I marry Ernest and we’re living in London, I won’t be forced to perform menial labor. I’ll have an army of servants catering to my every whim,” Emily said dreamily as she placed the chipped stoneware on the table.

“In that case, you should go to England,” Granny said.

Emily whirled around. “What a wonderful idea.” She ran over to Granny and gave her a hug. “Granny, I adore you.” With loving care, Emily helped the older woman to the table.

Cordelia tried to ignore the insincere gushing, and spooned a serving of rabbit stew into her bowl. Of course Emily would listen to advice that echoed what she wanted to hear, but why did her sister have to be so impractical?

“There’s only one problem,” Cordelia said around a bite of cornbread.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Granny said.

“Please,” Emily added with a delicate shudder. She gracefully took her seat. “Did you leave your manners in the barn?”

Cordelia waved her spoon in the air just to aggravate her sister. “A more appropriate question would be, how do you expect to get to England in the middle of a war?”

“Oh, you’ll think of something,” Emily said, as if such mundane matters were beneath her consideration. “You always manage somehow.”

Cordelia propped her elbows on the table and rested her forehead in her hands, her ravenous appetite suddenly gone. She’d done her best to take care of her family in a world turned upside down, but Emily expected a miracle. Didn’t she realize the Yankees had all but closed the harbors? Passage on one of the daring blockade runners cost a small fortune, and money was one of the many things they no longer had.

“Maybe Granny will remember where she buried the family silver and her jewels,” Emily said. “There’s bound to be lots of cash. Not Confederate dollars, either.”

“Shush,” Cordelia said, peeking at Granny. Mentioning the silver or jewels usually set off one of her bad spells. Beneath the table, she crossed her fingers.

“Do you remember . . .” Granny said.

Cordelia relaxed and settled into a more comfortable position for one of the older woman’s interminable stories.

“Do you remember Jebidiah Cosley of Aspen Hill?” Granny asked.

“Of course, I do,” Emily said, clasping her hands under her chin in rapturous delight. “I especially recall the last cotillion at Aspen Hill. I wore my silver blue moiré silk with the ecru lace panels in the skirt and sleeves.” She heaved a deep sigh. “Forrest Lee was the handsomest man there, so dashing in his uniform he literally stole my breath away. He waltzed with me three times. A sure sign of his intentions.”

Cordelia snorted. Where was Forrest Lee now when they needed him? Gallivanting across Georgia in pursuit of honor and glory like all the other men, while the womenfolk dug sweet potatoes to keep from starving.

Granny pounded her cane on the floor to get attention. “I was speaking.”

“Yes ma’am,” Emily and Cordelia mumbled in unison.

“As I was about to say, Jebidiah Cosley is home on furlough. I hear he plans to ship his daughter and his prize stallion to safety.”

If Cordelia had to guess, it would be a toss-up which mattered more to Jeb Cosley, his spoiled, willful sixteen-year-old daughter with the unfortunate nickname of Precious, or the fractious stallion. Her money was on Thunderation.

“What does that have to do with us?” Emily asked.

Granny shrugged. “Just making polite dinner conversation.”

They ate in silence for several minutes. Cordelia pushed the few pieces of unsavory meat and overcooked vegetables around her bowl. Let Emily fantasize about ballrooms and stupid dresses, she daydreamed about food. Roast beef, rare and sliced thin with horseradish sauce. White bread soft as a cloud and spread with strawberry jam. And ice cream. She licked her lips. Creamy, smooth—

“That’s it.” Emily jumped up and twirled around in the center of the small room, hugging herself. “I have the most marvelous idea. I’ll accompany Precious and Thunderation.”

“How do you know they’re going to England?” Cordelia asked.

“Jeb has relatives in London. A cousin, or a brother, right, Granny?”

“An uncle. Theodore.”

“See? Where else would Jeb send his daughter?”

“All right,” Cordelia said, “I’ll concede London is a logical assumption, but you don’t have any money for passage.”

“That’s the genius of my plan. I’ll volunteer to be the dear girl’s companion, and Jeb will pay my fare.”

“More than likely, he’d ask Cordelia to chaperone Precious,” Granny said.

“He only likes her best because that stupid horse of his adores her,” Emily said, sticking out her bottom lip. “Did you know she goes to Aspen Hill to visit that beast?” she addressed Granny.

Cordelia could have argued that. She didn’t actually go there to just to see Thunderation, but if she was there on other errands, she always made time to stop in and bring him a bit of apple or carrot.

“I should think the fact that Cordelia is a respectable spinster would weigh more in her favor than the regard of a horse,” Granny said.

Cordelia cringed inwardly at the term spinster, but at twenty-five she was definitely on the shelf. When she had been the age that most young women attended balls and were courted, she was helping her grandmother run the plantation, nursing her ailing mother, and taking care of her younger sister.

“I’ve got it,” Emily said to Cordelia. “You can volunteer to tend the horse on the journey, keep him calm and that sort of thing. Jeb will be thrilled. Once we get to England, we’ll stay with Uncle Theodore until we find Ernest, a few days at most. He’ll get a special license, we’ll get married, and then we won’t have to worry about money ever again. You can stay with us, Cordelia, for . . . a while, and then I’ll pay your fare home. See? Pure genius.”

Her sister looked genuinely happy for the first time in weeks, but Cordelia couldn’t go running off to England. She had obligations, commitments. People depended on her. However, she couldn’t explain that to her sister without betraying her secret activities.

“We don’t know whether Jeb Cosley needs a chaperone for his daughter and a companion for his horse, or not,” Cordelia said. “And I can’t up and leave everything on a moment’s notice.”

“You can convince him,” Emily wheedled. “I know you can.” Tears filled her eyes, her expression forlorn. “If you don’t help me, I don’t know what I’ll do. You’ll go with me, won’t you? I’ll just die if I have to marry anyone other than Ernest.”

“There are other people we have to consider,” Cordelia said, jerking her head toward Granny. They both turned to look at their grandmother, who had emptied her bowl of stew and now wore it on her head like a cap.

Cordelia stifled a groan. Stressful situations usually set Granny off on one of her bad spells. Obviously, she couldn’t be left alone to fend for herself.

Somehow Cordelia would have to convince Jeb that Emily would be a suitable companion and chaperone for his sixteen-year-old daughter. Not an easy task. If it turned out that Cordelia had to go with Emily, they would have to take Granny with them. Cordelia rubbed her temples. Stay or go, both offered the prospect of disaster.

When her family was finally asleep, Cordelia slipped out into the night, the covered kettle of leftover stew in one hand and a bundle of old clothes under the other arm. Without needing the benefit of a lantern, she made her way to their ramshackle barn. She opened the door just wide enough to squeeze through, set her burden to one side, and pulled the door shut, the soft scratch of wood on dirt ominously loud in the still darkness.

She pulled a candle stub and a match from her pocket and set the light on the rail of an empty stall. From the far corner, four pairs of eyes blinked up at her. A man, woman, and two children hunkered in the dark, fearfully watchful.

Keeping her voice low, yet friendly, Cordelia picked up the food and clothing, and carried it to the little group. “Please, eat,” Cordelia said. “It’s not much, but there’s cornbread and stew.” The words were barely out of her mouth before they tucked in, the father making sure his wife and children ate first.

Cordelia retreated and stood watch by the door, waiting for the subtle scratching she hoped would come soon. When it did, she opened the door to let Madame Lavonne slip inside.

“I contacted Mockingbird,” Cordelia whispered, using the code name even though they both knew his real identity. This way, if the runaways were caught, they wouldn’t be able to reveal any information, even inadvertently. “The Quaker will be waiting across the river at one hour before dawn.”

Madame Lavonne nodded. “I’ll take them across as soon as the moon sets. Rufus says two shipments next week.”

Cordelia motioned for the older woman to follow her outside. They found a dry spot under the oak tree and sat. She pulled a napkin-wrapped slice of cornbread out of her pocket and handed it to her friend.

Madame Lavonne broke the golden square into two pieces.

Cordelia refused the offer to share. “I had plenty at supper.”

Madame Lavonne ate one piece, her lean, wrinkled brown fingers catching every crumb. She rewrapped the remaining half in the napkin, and Cordelia knew it would find its way into one of the children’s pockets before the night was over.

“We might have a problem,” Cordelia said. “Emily—”

“I know all about Emily, and the plan to go to London.”

“But how? She just—”

“Madame knows many things.” The old woman cackled at her own thoughts. She tapped her forehead, indicating the mysterious all-seeing third eye. “Many things.”

Madame Lavonne had grown up in New Orleans, daughter of a voodoo priestess. After coming to Savannah, Madame had earned enough money making charms and potions to buy her freedom. Since then she’d helped others along the path of freedom in any way she could. Madame Lavonne always seemed to know what was going to happen before the event took place.

Cordelia shook her head. “I can’t go. Hopefully, Jeb will send Emily with Precious, and I’ll stay with Granny.”

“Fate is opening a door for you.” Madame Lavonne smiled, her teeth a slash of white across her mocha complexion.

“I can be of more use here than in London,” Cordelia said.

“Maybe you should not be so certain. Maybe Fate has provided a way to contact . . .”

“Go on.”

“Never mind,” Madame said. “There are too many Confederates in London just now, lobbying for support for their cause. It could be dangerous.”

“And this isn’t?”

“Here, you have friends who would help you.”

“Tell me what you were thinking. At least let me make up my own mind.”

Madame Lavonne hesitated before she nodded. “I have corresponded with several people in London, abolitionists who have donated most generously. I call them our angels. However, the war has made the transfer of funds difficult.”

“If I went to England, I could contact your friends, and bring back any donations.” Cordelia jumped up, excited by the opportunity to make a major difference. They would have money to buy blankets, and shoes, and . . .”

Cordelia’s shoulders slumped. “Unfortunately, everything depends on Jeb Cosley.”

Madame Lavonne rose from her sitting position with an ease that belied her advanced years. “I will have a chat with Mr. Cosley.” She chuckled. “A bit of clay, a few feathers, and voila, you are packing your bags.”

Cordelia shivered in the sudden cool breeze.

“I won’t share a bed with you.” Emily stuck out her bottom lip. “You smell awful.”

Cordelia had returned to the ship’s only passenger cabin after settling the horse in his stall below decks, and had walked into the middle of an argument between her sister and grandmother.

She took a deep breath before dealing with the latest in her sister’s long litany of complaints. However, in this case, Emily was somewhat justified. Before Granny would get on the ship, she’d insisted on stopping at Madame Lavonne’s for a travel charm, which she wore around her neck and which did emit an unpleasant odor. Granny had traded all their household goods, what little they had left, for a number of magical knickknacks.

Cordelia wasn’t sure what the other charms were for, or against, because Granny had locked everything in her old travel trunk for safekeeping. Supposedly, anyone who disturbed the lid would be cursed with painful boils. Cordelia didn’t believe that, but she suspected the trunk would smell even worse than Granny.

Madame Lavonne had slipped Cordelia three letters and given instructions as to their delivery. Strange directions, but Cordelia hadn’t had time for questions.

Emily and Granny traded glares. Too bad Cordelia hadn’t thought to ask for a charm to make Emily more pleasant. A very long journey loomed ahead.

“I don’t want to share with her, either,” Granny said, crossing her arms. “She snores and hogs the covers.”

Emily stuck out her tongue before pulling her white cotton nightgown over her head.

“Fine. You and I can share the trundle bed, and Emily can share with Precious.” Cordelia looked around the small cabin. “Where is that girl?”

Emily crawled into the larger regular bed and pulled the coverlet up to her chin. “I think she went up on deck to watch.”

“Watch what?” Cordelia asked. “The whole point of sailing at midnight on a moonless night is that nothing can be seen.”

The ship lurched into motion, and Cordelia doused the lights in accordance with the captain’s instructions. No lights. No noise. No passengers on deck.

Sitting on her bed in the darkness, Cordelia expected Precious to return any moment, and she intended to give the girl a stern talking to. She took her duties as chaperone seriously. In the dark, the passage of time was hard to judge, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. “I’m going to look for her,” she said, standing. She groped blindly toward the door.

“You won’t find her,” Granny said.

“I know it’s dark, but—”

“Ask Emily.”

“What is going on?” Cordelia returned to the bed, stubbing her toe on the trundle. “What does Granny mean?”

When her sister didn’t answer her question, Cordelia patted the bed until she found her sister’s arm and shook her. “I know you’re still awake, Emily, because you’re not snoring. What is Granny talking about?”

“Granny’s crazy,” Emily muttered, jerking her arm free and turning on her side to face the wall. “I’m going to sleep.”

Something in her manner told Cordelia that Emily was evading the question. “Where’s Precious?”

“Emily knows,” Granny said, her tone smug.

Cordelia grabbed her sister’s shoulder and flipped her on her back. “Whatever it is, you’d better tell me, and right this minute.”

Emily sat up. “Oh, all right. Precious doesn’t want to go to England.”

“She’s just a child. Now, where is she?”

“Precious will be seventeen in four months. I think that’s old enough to know her own mind.”

“Where is she?” Cordelia asked through gritted teeth.

“She got off the ship before we sailed. She’s staying in Savannah with Susan Higdon, a dear friend of ours from school, who, for your information, is already putting up her hair and wearing long dresses and she won’t be seventeen for eight months. Tomorrow Precious is meeting her fiancé, and they’re going to be married, and go to Venice for their honeymoon.”

“Who would even think of marrying an underage girl?”

“Lance Daugherty would.”

“Lance is a bounder and a cad,” Cordelia said as she headed for the door. Poor naive Precious had fallen for the lies of a man known for despoiling virgins and leaving them stranded far from home.

“Where are you going?” Emily asked.

“To find the captain and tell him to turn this ship around.”

Cordelia felt her way down the short hall to the half-flight of steps which led up to the main deck. Suddenly a loud screech ripped through the still night. Footsteps pounded across the deck. Were they under attack?

As she popped her head above the deck, a belch of fire flared off to her left. A moment later, the boom of a cannon reached her ears, and the ball whizzed by and plopped into the water ahead of the ship. The Yankees were firing across their bow, the signal to heave to and stand by to be boarded.

Sailors, obviously ignoring the warning shot, rushed to pile on every stitch of canvas available. Someone grabbed her arm and yelled in her ear to get below. She shook him off, but then she was grabbed from behind.

“We’re gonna die,” Emily yelled in her ear. “The Yankees are going to sink us. I’m too young to die. I—”

Cordelia turned and took her sister by the shoulders and shook her until she stopped ranting.

“Go stay with Granny. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Where are you going?” Emily clutched at Cordelia’s sleeve. “Don’t leave me. I don’t want to die alone.”

“We’re not going to die.” She didn’t have time to argue. Each second put them farther away. Cordelia turned Emily around and pushed her toward the cabin. “Now go stay with Granny.”

On deck, Cordelia made her way past bales of cotton and kegs of molasses. Every inch of space was crammed with trade goods that would bring a premium price outside the Confederacy. Even so fully laden the small ship seemed to fly over the waves. The booming cannon of the Yankee gunboat receded in their wake. She caught up with Captain Moss in the stern of the ship.

“You must turn the ship around,” Cordelia said.

“Afraid I can’t oblige, Miss. If the Yankees catch us, they’ll confiscate my ship and everything on it.”

“A young woman’s life is at stake.” She pulled from her pocket her father’s two-shot derringer that she always carried and aimed right between his eyes. “Now give the order to turn around.”

The captain’s eyes widened, but he quickly recovered his swaggering attitude and laughed in her face. “Even if I did, the crew would mutiny. Not a man here wants to hang as a traitor.”

She realized too late the caliber of men she’d trusted with their lives. Captain Moss was known for his daring and maritime skill, but obviously his morals were lacking. With a swift move, he snatched the pistol out of her hand.

“Give that back.”

The captain shrugged, smiled a gap-toothed grin. “I’ll return your weapon when we reach the Bahamas.”

“You, sir, are not a gentleman,” she said.

He motioned to one of his men. “Take this woman below and lock her in her cabin.” He doffed his hat in a mocking bow. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some Yankees to outrun.”

Cordelia looked back over her shoulder as the sailor practically dragged her across the deck. The Yankee blockade faded into the distance. She said a silent prayer for poor Precious, and for what lay ahead. Fate had swu. . .