His Defiant Wife, the Adventures of Linnett Wainwright, Book 2 (4 page)

Linnett looked
down at her hands tightly knotted in her lap and a tear trickled
down her face and splashed onto them.

John looked at
her and thought how very young she still was and how very
vulnerable. He took a deep breath, determined to get this right.
“Oh sweetheart, don’t you realise that I, too, feel terrible guilt
for not joining the crew and fighting alongside my friends? Instead
I chose to stay and protect that which has become the most precious
thing in my life....You, Linnett! I am also guilty of putting you
in terrible danger by bringing you across the sea. When I think of
what might have happened on board that ship and afterwards out in
the wilderness. Christ, Linnett, you were nearly
raped
!”

John reached
out and caressed her cheek. “My darling, you have no need to feel
any guilt. I feel guilt at not fighting, even though it wouldn’t
have changed the outcome, but I will live with that guilt gladly
because the alternative was to leave you unprotected in the cabin,
and I just couldn’t do that.”

Linnett raised
her eyes to his. “I didn’t realise you felt that way,” she
whispered, her eyes suddenly flooded with tears.

John gathered
her in close and let her weep. “Why do you think I was so harsh
with you after you wandered off? It was because I love you so much
that I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you. I had to make sure
you would never again put your life in danger like that. Oh, and a
spanking is not a beating. I would never
beat
you,
Linnett.”

Linnett sniffed
and gave a watery smile, saying, “Really and here I was thinking it
was only because you enjoyed beat....spanking me!”

John chuckled.
“Well actually, since you mention it, I do, you have such a cute
round bottom......but you have to admit my explanation sounded
better!”

Linnett punched
his arm. “You swine. Honestly, I was glad afterwards of the
punishment. I felt as if I had been exonerated somehow for what had
happened on the ship. I felt so much better when I thought it.”

John was
shocked. “Linnett that is dreadful! What happened between us had
nothing whatsoever to do with the ship. God, if only I’d known that
was how you felt!” Linnett shook her head.

“What
difference would it have made? You were furious because I’d
disobeyed you. You would have punished me anyway.”

John stared at
her. “No, Linnett, I might not have done had I known the amount of
guilt you were feeling. You should have talked to me about this
instead of foolishly trying to send me away to Boston.”

Linnett’s
temper flared up again “Well, I might have done so if I had been
given the chance to
speak
!”

John sighed.
“Look here now, that wasn’t just about obeying me. It was about
keeping you and others safe. Your repeated defiance endangered
yourself and young Peter.”

Linnett’s eyes
flashed suddenly and she shouted, “
Oh really
! What about in
England then, in the coach? I was in no danger then, except it
seems from you!”

John raised his
voice, bellowing, “This is absolutely ridiculous, Linnett! You were
behaving like a spoilt child. You
bit
me for Christ’s sake!
Come to think of it, you bit me again in the barn!
You darn well
deserved
everything you got!”

Incensed,
Linnett raised her hand to slap his cheek, but John caught her
wrist and yanked her forward crushing her to him as he kissed her
grindingly hard on the mouth. He then kept a firm hold of her
hands. “That is enough, Linnett, unless you want yet another
spanking and in public! Stop it! We are supposed to be
talking,
not fighting. I’ve explained how I feel and why I
took the actions that I did and I think I understand how you feel.
However, Linnett, I will
not
apologise for punishing you,
however resentful you may feel about that. You are my
wife
and if you defy me or use any foul language, I will
punish
you. Make no mistake, Linnett,
that’s the way it is with no
discussion
!” John growled. “Now do you wish to talk about
anything else?”

Linnett nodded
vigorously. “Just this: You’re wrong if you think I am resentful.”
She took a deep breath. “No, no I will be honest about this. I
confess that I am a bit resentful. I still think you went far too
far but I am also relieved that you have placed some limitations on
my behaviour. Always in the past I have done the things that I
wished to do, however dangerous or stupid they were and no one ever
tried to stop me.... until you came along. At first I was furious
that I couldn’t bend your will to mine. Then after a while I
enjoyed trying to get my own way but I felt a sort of, I don’t
know...safety in knowing that you would stop me if I went a little
bit too far....am I making any sense at all?”

John’s eyes
twinkled and his lip twitched with amusement. “Yes, I follow you
perfectly. Your father spared the rod and so spoilt the child! I
knew you needed a strong man for your husband, one who could stand
up to your stubborn wilfulness. Had you married that poor boy
Charles, you would have run rings around him! It would have been a
complete disaster. You would have had no respect for him, and he
would have had no idea how to deal with a reckless little minx such
as yourself!”

Linnett flushed
a deep red and muttered under her breath. John grinned at her.
“What was that my love?”

Linnett
glowered at him, “I
said
he was far too much of a gentleman
to behave the way you do!”

John threw back
his head and chuckled delightedly. “I think it’s just as well you
married me then!”

Linnett
suddenly gurgled with laughter, “Actually.... yes! Poor dear
Charlie, I would have made his life utterly miserable, although I
hate to admit that you are right and swell your arrogant head still
further! Seriously, though John, I
do love you and
I am
beginning to understand you and what you need from me as your wife.
I promise not to knowingly put myself in danger...but only if you
will promise me the same.”

John nodded. “I
hope you mean your promise to me, Linnett, because, in return, I
promise to protect you in whatever way I can... but if that means
risking danger then so be it. I also promise to blister your behind
whenever I think you require it.”

Linnett pouted
but reached out and wrapped her arms around her husband, crying,
“
John!”

He held her
tightly against him before kissing her soundly and releasing her.
“Now please can we find this eating house Hans mentioned because I
am absolutely starving and my ribs are sticking to my vitals!”

The eating
house John led them to had a glass front, unusual in a small town
establishment; however, the glass was of a thick green variety
unlike the fine thin glass to be found in the buildings of New York
and Boston. Nevertheless, the presence of glass at all gave the
eating house a prestige that the other premises within the town
envied, and business was booming.

Inside there
were wooden benches and long tables set out in lines across the
width of the room. When someone vacated a space, the next in line
sat down and was served. There was a simple menu; the meal
consisted of soup, fried chicken or stew and a hunk of bread,
followed by a cup of strong black coffee. Pie was optional when
apples were in season.

Linnett was
surprised at how tasty the meal actually was. The girl that served
them smiled, simpering at John, and asked him if they were here for
the hanging and from whereabouts were they from?

John sat back
in his chair and told her they were staying with Hans and Sarah
Lammers. The girl, a carrot-haired freckled miss, with wide blue
eyes and an overdeveloped bosom, was pressing herself far too close
to John’s side for Linnett’s liking. She then proceeded to gush
with verbal enthusiasm about Hans’ size and good looks, asking John
whether Hans would be joining them for lunch, batting her gingery
eyelashes at John as she spoke.
Just like a demented butterfly,
or more like a carrot fly,
thought Linnett sourly.

John puffed out
his chest and sat back in his chair, going on to explain about the
shipwreck that had landed them here. Linnett kicked his ankle under
the table, giving him a sharp shake of her head. John glanced up at
her in surprise. He raised an eyebrow at her and then turned away
to listen to some flippant comment the carrot top made about the
hanging.

It seemed that
the lad who had been hanged was one Tom O’Cleary, who had come upon
a half-caste girl who had rejected his advances. In a fit of
drunken rage, he had raped and murdered the poor girl before being
caught red-handed by the girl’s father who had been looking for his
daughter, concerned when she had not appeared in time for her
supper. The town had been in uproar ever since. Half the town’s
folk thought that the lad should be hanged; the other half did not,
based on grounds that the girl was half Indian. In the end a trial
was held, and Tom was sentenced to hang by a jury of twelve
men.

As they were
finishing their meal, Hans strolled in and joined them. He greeted
the carroty girl with a big hug and she squealed with delight,
kissing his cheek and pulling his whiskers. Linnett glared at them
both as she stood up to leave. “I am leaving,” she stated regally.
“Are you coming with me, John?” she asked coldly.

John looked up
at his wife in some surprise “Of course I’ll come with you,” he
said standing up.

Following
Linnett’s retreating back, he shrugged at Hans, who laughed and
called after him, “I will see you at the wagon my friend as soon as
I have eaten my fill.”

John caught up
with Linnett, catching her by her upper arm and stopping her in her
tracks. “Whoa there! What’s got into you all of a sudden?”

Linnett raised
her eyebrows. “Into me! By God? That girl couldn’t keep her hands
off you and Hans and you just adored it, didn’t you!”

John looked
incredulous “That’s what this is all about? You’re mad because I
talked to that serving wench?”

Linnett flushed
a deep red and sneered scornfully. “Talked!” Linnett’s voice
dropped copying John’s deep drawl. “
Let me take those heavy
plates for
you there, missy
," she mimicked, before
spinning round and marching off again at a brisk pace.

John grinned
and stood watching her shapely form appreciatively for a second or
two before striding after her. He caught her by the arm and dragged
her down an opening between two buildings. He pushed her roughly up
against the wall, intending to kiss her.

Linnett’s hand
flew up and slapped him hard across the cheek, leaving a livid palm
impression at the point of impact. John’s eyes smarted but ignoring
the sharp pain, he spun Linnett around and landed two heavy swats
to her already burning bottom. He spun Linnett back to face him,
placed his hands on either side of her furious face, and, forcing
her head up, he kissed her thoroughly. Linnett hit his shoulders
with her fists. She then tried to bring her knee up between his
legs but John forestalled her by quickly pushing his own leg
between hers. Breaking the kiss slightly to grin down at her he
murmured, “Uh- uh
naughty- naughty
girl!”

John resumed
the kiss, his lips moving in a sensuous slow rhythm that spoke to
her of passion shared. Linnett felt her legs turn weak and her body
ached with wanting. John drew slightly away from her and whispered
huskily. “Don’t you know yet, you
impossible woman
, that you
are the only one for me?” He lowered his lips to hers and kissed
her searingly once again. John’s hand moved up over the slope of
her hip until he reached her breast and Linnett immediately broke
the kiss twisting her head to the side.

“Stop, John,
someone might see us
! Stop now...
please
!” John
grasped her chin in his hand. “Let them stare for all I care, you
are my wife and if I choose to kiss you... then damn it, kiss you I
will!” He lowered his head, his fingers entwined in her silky hair.
To his surprise, Linnett’s arms wound themselves sinuously around
his neck, her hands stroked his thick dark hair, her lips opened
under his, and her tongue darted teasingly between his lips.

He crushed her
against him and they stood locked in a passionate embrace. When at
last he broke away from her he looked down into her eyes he saw
they were unfocused, a cloudy misty sea green, the colour her eyes
turned whenever she was fully aroused. He smiled at her dreamy
sensual look and kissed her small nose. “We must finish this
conversation,
later my love... in private.

Now come, for I
have a present for you.” Linnett reached up to tidy her mussed
hair, “for...
me
?” She looked astonished at John and reached
out patting at his pockets. He laughed. “Stop you minx, I don’t
have the gift on me! Come it’s this way.”

Taking her hand
in his, he towed her along, back the way they had come and along
the street. Eventually he stopped at the livery stable. John hailed
the smithy within and he led out a beautiful russet mare with a jet
black mane and tail. John took the reins from the smith and led the
horse over to where Linnett stood, “Yours!” John said simply
handing her the horse’s reins. Linnett raised a hand and let the
horse sniff her hand and then she turned shining eyes to John. “Oh
I can’t believe this!” Linnett flung her arms round his neck and
kissed his mouth. Spinning back to look at the horse she shook her
head in disbelief. “Oh she’s
absolutely
beautiful
!
Thank you my darling,
oh thank you
!”

John looked a
little embarrassed “She’s not the pedigree that your horse Pango
was but well, she is the best I could find at short notice.”
Linnett lifted a glowing face and laughed “John she’s perfect! I
just
love
her, look at her colour and she has beautiful
eyes.” Linnett was walking around the horse, lifting her hooves and
feeling her ankles, all the while talking soothingly to the gentle
creature at her side. The horse followed Linnett’s progress with a
tolerant eye, blowing softly through her velvet nose. Finally
Linnett mounted the mare and rode up the street with John walking
alongside until they joined Hans back at the now fully laden
wagon.