Each Time We Love (45 page)

Stiffly she replied, "If our marriage was sudden, I think
that's our business, don't you?"

"Oh, my! I've offended you, haven't I?" Betsey said with some
distress. "Forgive me! I didn't mean to! It is just that Adam and I
have
always
been so close, and to suddenly have
an utter stranger presented as his wife…" Betsey laughed ruefully. "My
wretched tongue! Do forgive me!"

What could Savanna do? Graciously she pushed aside Betsey's
polite apologies, but any enthusiasm she might have had for her company
had vanished, and she wished she had immediately declined the
invitation. Savanna might not, until now, have moved in the highest
circles, but instinct told her that Miss Asher was up to no good…

The limited conversation with Savanna had answered several
questions that had been burning in Betsey's breast all morning, and she
had been able to deduce much more from what Savanna
hadn't
said than from what she had said. It was apparent that the marriage had
not been a love match; it had been sudden, and from her reading of
Savanna's apparel, it was also apparent that money, at least money
coming from Savanna, had not been an issue. The planter aristocracy in
the southern United States was small and virtually everyone knew
everyone else and in most cases was related, even if only distantly.
The fact that Betsey had never heard
anyone
mention the name Savanna was telling and she drew the obvious
conclusion—Adam's wife was not someone who moved in the upper reaches
of society; worse, she probably wasn't even some poor little cousin
twice removed of a wealthier, more powerfully connected relative! She
was a
nobody!
And this incensed Betsey almost as
much as the fact that Savanna was married to Adam. But having drawn her
own conclusions, Betsey was still puzzled as to why Adam should have
married a provincial miss with no pretension to wealth or power. Oh,
there was no doubt that Savanna was a striking creature and that most
men would find her attractive, but
marriage?

Betsey was still mulling this over as the two women left the
room and began walking sedately in the direction of the long, curving
staircase which led to the foyer of the hotel. What possible reason
could Adam have had for having married her? Betsey wondered
viciously—not that it made any difference to
her
plans! She just hadn't quite figured out precisely how she was going to
dispose of his present wife. She would have to move swiftly, though,
she realized—Adam was a virile, demanding lover and she certainly
didn't want to get saddled with another woman's brat!

Betsey stopped as if she had walked into a brick wall. Of
course! she thought with a narrowed cruel gaze on Savanna. The stupid
bitch was pregnant!
That
was how she had trapped
Adam! The oldest trick in the world!

Oblivious of Betsey standing transfixed behind her, Savanna
reached the top of the stairs. Betsey didn't plan what came next—it
just happened, rage and fury making her react without thought. An
opportunity suddenly presented itself and she took it; from the foyer
below, no one would see what had happened, and up here there was no one
nearby. The sight of Savanna, a
pregnant
Savanna,
Savanna, Adam's
wife,
standing there with one
foot outstretched as she prepared to begin her descent down the stairs
was simply more than Betsey could bear. Her lovely features twisted
horribly by the ugly emotions that racked her, she rushed forward and
gave Savanna a swift, powerful shove.

Caught totally without warning, Savanna could not save
herself, and a soft, frightened gasp came from her as she was pitched
violently forward. Frantically she tried to right herself and grabbed
at the wooden railing, but her hand missed its mark and sheer momentum
sent her crashing uncontrollably down the long staircase. Jolting pain
exploded through her body as she tumbled and bounced downward to land
in a silent, rumpled heap at the bottom of the stairs.

Appalled and excited at the same time, Betsey stared down at
Savanna's still form from the top of the stairs. She had done it!
Killed the silly bitch! she thought elatedly, her eyes glittering with
satisfaction. As the horrified onlookers in the foyer rushed forward to
lend aid, her elation faded just a bit and a strong sense of
self-preservation quickly asserted itself. Fixing a becomingly
distressed expression on her beautiful face, Betsey floated gracefully
down the steps, crying out in a pitiful voice, "Oh! Oh! What can have
happened? I saw her start to fall and tried to grab her! Oh! Oh! This
is
dreadful!
The poor,
dear
girl! Tell me she is not dead!"

As several people rushed to comfort Betsey, who was sobbing
prettily, the gentleman who had first reached Savanna's side glanced up
at her. "She is not dead yet," he said soberly, "but she is bleeding
and I fear the worst."

Not dead? Betsey could have stamped her little feet with
vexation, but lifting her face from where she had so affectingly buried
it in her hands, she stared in riveted fascination at the crimson stain
that inexorably seeped out from the lower half of Savanna's body.

SAVANNA
DRIFTED HAZILY INTO AWARNESS of her surroundings and
in the dim light she stared, puzzled, at the satin hangings of the bed.
As she regained her senses more fully, she recognized where she was—in
the bed that she and Adam shared at the hotel. But
why
was she in bed? Surely it was not still nighttime? And where was Adam?
She frowned, trying to remember. The events of the day suddenly flashed
through her mind… except that once she had left her rooms with Betsey
Asher, her memory dimmed. Vaguely she recalled that they had walked
down the hall together and she could faintly remember standing at the
top of the stairs preparing to descend, but after that there was a
terrifying blank.

Filled with an odd foreboding, she jerked upright, only to
gasp and fall backward as pain erupted through her body. She ached in
every bone and muscle, and for one terrible moment she feared that she
would faint. What had happened to her? What was wrong with her?

There was a curious emptiness within her and her breath caught
painfully in her throat as she became aware of the thick padding
between her legs… as if someone had tried to stanch the flow of blood…
Her baby! Comprehension exploded in her brain— she had lost her baby!

Savanna had always viewed her pregnancy with mixed emotions,
and her life had been in such turmoil since before even its conception
that, beyond a fierce protectiveness toward her unborn child, she had
never been able to experience the more tender emotions that most
expectant mothers did. But the knowledge that the child was no more
sent a shaft of agony through her entire body. A tiny broken cry came
from her and she began to sob quietly, the tears streaming down her
cheeks as the full enormity of it hit her. She would never hold this
child in her arms, never hear its first cries or touch the downy
softness of its head…

The silk bed-curtains were suddenly thrust open and faint
morning light spilled into the widening gap as Adam, his face haggard
and drawn, stared down at her. "You're
awake,"
he
said thickly and with such heartfelt relief and great satisfaction that
Savanna could only look at him in astonishment.

Her lovely blue-green eyes drenched in tears, she stared at
his strained features. He looked terrible. His lean face was shadowed
with a bearded stubble, his cravat crumpled and his hair mussed and
untidy. But it was the agonized expression in his dark blue eyes that
made Savanna look at him in growing confusion. Had the baby meant that
much to him? The memory of the way he had kissed her abdomen and of the
wonder and awe in his voice when he had said, "My child!" suddenly
swept over her, and she knew that for whatever reasons, he, too,
mourned the loss of their child.

In a small, pitiful voice she asked, "What happened? How did I
come to lose the baby?"

Adam's heart twisted painfully in his chest as he relived
those first terrible moments when he had returned to the hotel and
found the foyer in an uproar and a crowd gathered around the fallen
body of his wife. He closed his eyes in anguish. He should never have
left her! If he hadn't let his damnable,
damnable
temper rule him, this would never have happened! It was
all
his fault! And it didn't lessen his pain any to know that he had
already realized that stalking off in a flaming rage was no answer to
their problems. He had stormed but a short distance away from the hotel
before the worst of his hurt fury had dissipated, and once cooler
reasoning had taken over, he could see that finding solace in the arms
of another woman was
not
the way to handle the
situation! Savanna was his wife! She had to be made to understand that
their lives were inalterably linked and that they
were
going to make this marriage work! He had spun around on his heels and
walked rapidly back in the direction of the hotel, his mind busy on
ways to woo his intractable bride, thinking of all manner of schemes to
win her love…

The devastation he had first felt when he had stared down at
Savanna's crumpled, bleeding form suddenly swept over him again, and
dropping down gently on the bed beside her, mindful of her injuries, he
very carefully folded her into his arms. His mouth against her temple,
he confessed baldly, "I thought you were dead! I have never been so
frightened in my entire life!"

It was wonderful to have his strong arms around her, and
leaning confidently against him, her hand lightly caressing his chest,
she asked softly, "But what happened? I can remember nothing beyond
starting down the stairs to have lemonade with Miss Asher."

Adam's mouth thinned. He would have liked to wring Betsey's
neck! If she hadn't meddled, hadn't been trying to worm her way into
Savanna's good graces, none of this would have happened! She'd been
like a little bee buzzing around him as she, and the physician who had
been instantly summoned, had bent over Savanna where she'd still lain
at the base of the stairs. "Oh, Adam!" Betsey had exclaimed. "It was
terrible! I was just being nice to her—we were going to have a lemonade
and she fell down the stairs! We were standing there and then all of a
sudden she just
fell!
It was horrible for me!
Just horrible! I'm sure I don't know how I've kept from fainting from
the shock of it all."

Adam had brutally ignored her prattling, and once it had been
determined that it was safe to move Savanna and she had been
solicitously transported to their rooms, it had given him great
pleasure to shut the door on Betsey's incessant chatter. He had barely
understood a word she had said anyway, all his attention being on
Savanna. He never again wanted to experience anything remotely like the
night that had just passed. The loss of the baby hadn't really impinged
upon him in the beginning. He'd been too terrified of losing Savanna to
fully understand what had happened. The physician had been grave as he
had worked over Savanna, but after an anguished, interminable length of
time to Adam, the physician had nodded and said, "She should recover
without any lasting harm. She is sleeping now—she must have taken a
hard knock on the head on the stairs, but I believe that by morning she
will come to her senses. There are no broken bones, and though she has
bled heavily, she is young and healthy and should, within a few weeks,
be her old self."