Rebel Enchantress (2 page)

His gaze was unrelenting. How was she supposed to concentrate when she felt the barriers to her mind were being burned away by the heat of it?

“I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

“Ask him.”

“No.”

The word was short and sharp, uncompromising, his expression only slightly altered. Delilah decided he looked vaguely apologetic, interested, less censorious.

“I’m sure if you tell him Delilah Stowbridge is here to see him on a matter of utmost importance he’ll see me.”

“He won’t.”

The change in the man’s voice and expression shocked Delilah. No longer did a physical heat, maybe even a sensual interest, live in his gaze. The coldness in his eyes would have daunted a much more intrepid heart than hers.

A desperate fear of failure made Delilah’s temper flare. “How do you know? Where is he? I’ll ask him myself.”

“He’s upstairs in the front bedroom on the left, but he won’t answer you.” The man stood when Delilah started to rise. “My uncle fell from his horse three weeks ago. He’s been in a coma ever since.”

Delilah sank back into her chair. “Will he recover?”

There’s no way to tell. The doctor says he looks sound of body, but his mind is gone. He could be like this for months.”

“That’ll be too late,” Delilah groaned. “I’ve got to talk to him now.”

“Maybe I could help.”

Delilah looked at him, and her mind faltered. Why had she never before noticed the way a man’s breeches clung to his body? She averted her eyes. If she kept looking at him, she’d never be able to think.

“How?”

“I’m Nathan Trent.”

“So what does that make you?” Delilah asked before she realized what a rude question it was. She expected him to be angry, but she saw a look of melancholy briefly cloud his eyes.

“Nothing much, I’m afraid. It’s not much of a name.”

“I’m sorry,” Delilah said, a blush turning her cheeks quite hot. “I didn’t mean to say that, but Mr. Buel’s illness has upset all my plans. I can’t think what I’m about.” Not as long as she looked at him, she couldn’t. “How can you help me?”

“I can’t possibly know until you tell me why you’ve come.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Delilah said, a trifle more impatiently than she wished. “I mean what can you do about his affairs?”

“Quite a lot as it happens. I’m my uncle’s heir.”

Delilah didn’t know how many more shocks she could endure in one day. Everyone had assumed Ezra Buel’s estate would go to Serena Noyes and her daughter.

Nathan seemed to be cynically amused by her discomfiture. “I’m his nephew,” he explained. “I was about to have tea. While you compose yourself, I’ll have Lester bring in the tray.” He walked over to the bell pull but turned as his hand reached out to grasp the long silken rope. “You colonists do drink tea, don’t you?”

Between the effect of his smile—so condescending, so intolerable—and the sight of his handsome face and taut body, Delilah quite forgot her good sense.

“Every day.” She meant it to be sarcastic. She’d never had tea. She and Jane drank coffee. Reuben drank ale or cider. But apparently her companion took the remark for irritation.

“What kind would you prefer?”

Good God, were there different kinds? “Whatever you prefer” she replied. And sit down, she pleaded silently. Seeing the lower half of his body, encased in those skin-tight breeches, was making her utterly distracted.

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, Nathan did take a seat, but Delilah continued to feel the need of a fan. She suspected a telltale blush might have stained her cheeks. Nathan cast her a look which showed he was puzzled, and her tension increased when a black man entered the room and placed a Sèvres teapot before her.

Delilah would have kicked herself if she could. She should have asked for coffee, but no, she had had to be sarcastic. Now they were both staring at her, waiting for her to do something. Did he expect her to make me tea? She didn’t know how, and she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself by proving it.

Fight fire with fire.
She folded her hands in her lap, settled back on the chair, and brazenly stared back at Nathan. When it became clear that she didn’t intend to make the tea, Lester made it for them.

“Sugar and cream?” he asked.

Delilah nodded her head. She had no idea what one was supposed to put in tea, but she wasn’t about to let them know that either. She noticed Lester eyeing her askance.
He knows I’ve got no business drinking tea with the likes of Nathan Trent, but he has to treat me as if I belong here.
She took courage from mat.

“Not too much cream,” she said. Lester had already put two large lumps of sugar in the cup. Delilah hoped it wouldn’t taste like syrup. She waited until Nathan had been served, then took a sip. The tea was hot and strong. The bitter taste made her wish she had asked for more sugar. She would have much preferred coffee.

“Now tell me why you need to see my uncle ” Nathan said.

Delilah was distracted again, this time by his hands. They were so slim, his fingers so long and elegant. So different from Reuben’s massive paws with their thick, hairy fingers.
Suitable for a thin-blooded English aristocrat but terribly attractive.

Speculation was back in his eyes, and Delilah knew it had nothing to do with Reuben’s oxen.

“It’s about my brother’s debt.”

“Forty shillings, isn’t it?”

Delilah’s expression showed her surprise.

“I have become acquainted with my uncle’s affairs,” Nathan explained.

“Reuben can’t pay it.”

His expression turned wintery; and the speculative glint disappeared. “Then I shall have to ask the sheriff to fetch his oxen.” His words were like pinpricks in her skin.

“You can’t do that,” Delilah exclaimed. She started up from her seat, spilling tea on her dress. Nathan rote from his seat as well, but Delilah didn’t pause. “He won’t be able to nut in the crops or anything,” she told him as she dabbed at her skirt with unconscious skill. “He’ll lose the farm.”

“I can’t do him any more favors. My uncle has already extended the debt twice”

Delilah’s pride turned to anger as she watched him settle back in his chair, the expression on his face even more cold than before.

“I’m not here to beg for special favors. I mean to work for Reuben’s debt.”

Nathan was in the midst of a swallow. Delilah saw that the hot liquid caught in his throat before it went on down.

“How?” he asked when he could talk.

“Here, in your house.”

“Doing what?”

She didn’t know whether he was stalling or he really wanted her to tell him what work she could do. His expression was beyond interpretation.

“I can cook, iron, sew, clean. I could even help take care of your uncle.” Odd. What could she have said to cause him to look relieved? “I’m really quite good with sick people.” The speculative look reappeared. She had hit a soft spot there.

“We are rather shorthanded as it turns out, but I’m not sure you are the right person.”

The word “please” almost escaped Delilah’s lips, but she held it back. “Reuben’s got two little boys with Jane swelling up for another come spring. If he loses those oxen, hell lose the farm.”

She could tell he was undecided now. The expression on his face was set, like a mask kept firmly in place, but his eyes gave him away. He couldn’t keep the interest out of his gaze.

“Reuben’s a good farmer, and Jane’s very frugal, but it’s the taxes. They’ve gotten worse every year since the war. Last year Reuben had to borrow money. He was sure he could pay it back this spring, but farm prices are too low.”

“I can’t speak for my uncle… .”

He was softening. She couldn’t let up.

“Do you know what it’s like to look into the eyes of hungry children and know you have nothing else to give them? Of course you don't, not living as you do in this great big house, but I do. They don’t ask questions. At least not with words. Only their eyes ask. Their eyes tear me apart. I can’t go back there knowing I failed.”

She was aware that he didn’t know how to refuse her. She had him cornered. Just a little bit more.

“I couldn’t face Reuben either. He took me in after Mother died and our farm went for debt. He’s never begrudged me a mouthful, even when he sees his own children hungry. Neither does Jane. Could you watch your children go wanting while someone ate their fill?”

“No, but then I don’t imagine you would eat at all unless they made you.”

Delilah blushed furiously. The only time she had fought with Reuben was the time he had found her trying to give her food to the children.

“What makes you say that?”

“You are the kind of young woman who would deny herself to help others.”

“I am not.” From anybody else, that would have been a compliment. Why didn’t it seem so from him?

“Then why are you here? Did Reuben send you? Does Jane know you hold back food for your nephews? Anyone can tell you haven’t been eating enough.”

“What you imagine is quite beside the point—and impertinent.”

He accepted her censure with a nod.

“Are you certain your brother can’t repay the loan?”

“The tax collector demands coin, but we haven’t seen any gold or silver in years. The merchants give only credit. That’s why Reuben had to borrow from your uncle.”

“But if I let you work off your debt, what will the other people say?”

“Do many people owe you money?” She didn’t mean to sound impertinent, just curious.

“They owe my uncle. No one owes me anything, but that’s not the issue. I can’t allow debtors to work off their debts. I couldn’t possibly find jobs for hundreds of people.”

“Good God! Do that many people owe your uncle money?”

Nathan looked as if he wanted to say something rude and final, but he must have changed his mind. “We need coin, too. The government doesn’t want goods or services from my uncle either.”

Then it’s good business to give me the position,” Delilah said, trying to bring him back to the purpose of her visit. “Anyone else would want to be paid in coin. I only want Reuben to have his oxen.”

“Have you thought of how long it would take you to work off forty shillings?”

Delilah swallowed. “Would it be very long?”

“About four months.”

Four months!
She had thought in terms of weeks, not months. She tried not to think of being in the same house with Nathan for such a long time, but she was unsuccessful. She might be able to pretend his presence had no affect on her for an hour, but how could she stand to look at him in those breeches for four months! The shocking thoughts popping into her head made her breathless.

Still she didn’t have any choice. Regardless of how witless he made her feel, she couldn’t turn her back on Reuben.

“That’s only about two shillings a week. I’m worth more than that.”

“Not when I can get a grown woman for two and a half?”

“I’m a grown woman.”

“You’re no more man a young woman at best, and I doubt your brother knows you’re here. Furthermore, I don’t know if my aunt will take you on.”

“If you’re the heir, you ought to be making the decisions.”

“That’s an opinion not shared by anyone else in this household.”

He looked angry with himself. Delilah could tell he hadn’t meant to say anything that personal.

“I’m newly arrived, and my aunt has been running my uncle’s house for years.”

Delilah could see her advantage melting away. His sympathy for her plight seemed to be fading.

“You may not find anybody else who wants me job” Delilah said, thinking quickly. “People around here don’t like your uncle. They won’t work for him, not if they can do anything else. Considering all the men the Redcoats killed in the war, and you being fresh from London, people are more likely to spit on you than work for you.”

Nathan flushed.

She hadn’t said mat to hurt his feelings, but she had to have the job.

“If that’s so, why would you work for me?”

She might as well be honest. “Because I have no choice.”

“Have your brother and sister-in-law given their permission?”

“There was no point in asking before I had the position.”

“I couldn’t take you without it.”

“Then you will take me on?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she thought he was trying to decide whether she was suitable. But me look in his eyes told her he was thinking of something else.

“I think we ought to have a trial period, and you must have your brothers permission.”

“I meant to tell him as soon as I got home,” she said. “It only made sense to talk to Mr. Buel first.”

“And you found me instead.”

Relief made her careless of her words. “I near’bout swallowed my tongue.”

“Was I that much of a surprise?”

“What do you think, with me expecting your uncle or your aunt to come to the door? Instead you showed up looking like I don’t know what.”

“I take it I was a disappointment.”

“Oh, no.” She corrected herself. “I mean, yes. I thought at first they’d hired you to help out and wouldn’t have a place for me.”

“There’s not much difference,” Nathan muttered.

Again he looked irritated with himself. He might be as much of a stranger in this house as she was. That made her feel a little less nervous. And a little curious.

Nathan stood up. “I’ll have someone take you back. Sorry, I forgot. My aunt and cousin have the buggy. It will have to be the cart.”

“I can walk,” Delilah said, rising to her feet. “It’s not much more than five miles”

“I may be a Redcoat,” he said, anger momentarily flashing in his eyes, “but I don’t force females to walk home. Finish your tea.”

He disappeared, leaving Delilah alone to assimilate the shock of finding that rather than working for a grasping, cruel, ugly old man, she was going to be in daily contact with the best-looking man she had ever seen.

But she was a levelheaded girl. Nothing ever fazed her for long, and she didn’t doubt she would have herself completely under control soon. Working for Nathan Trent, or living in the same house with him, wasn’t going to upset her.

And he seemed to be interested in her. The speculative look never left his eyes for long. He had been swayed by her story, and everybody knew sympathy often preceded a warmer feeling.