River Queen (33 page)

After the play Lyle took her to the Red Velvet Restaurant, a pretentious upper-class eatery that lived up to its name, for every chair was covered in red velvet, and the curtains that separated the small private tables were heavy crimson draperies with gold tassels. It was scandalous for Julienne to be dining with him in one of those intimate little corners alone, but she no longer cared. This was the second time she had been out with Lyle without a chaperone. He had taken her family out, of course, to dine on the
Columbia Lady
twice, on a picnic, to dine at the grand home he had just bought, and to the Main Street Playhouse to see
Rip Van Winkle
, which Carley had loved. After two weeks he had asked the family to accompany him to a party at the town square. The city sponsored it, and it included fireworks, dancing, a barbecue, and fiery political speeches. By now Roseann and Aunt Leah were well aware that Lyle’s polite attentions were because of his obvious attraction to Julienne, and they had allowed her to go alone with him. Two nights later he had taken her to dinner at a friend’s home, a family named Tisdale that had also just moved to Natchez from New Orleans. Francis Tisdale was a distant cousin of Lyle’s, and he had just gotten his captain’s license, so the conversation was lively and interesting to Julienne.

Now, safely hidden from prying eyes in the restaurant in their booth, Lyle slid his arm around the back of the loveseat they were seated on and asked, “Lobster is the Red Velvet’s specialty, I hear. Would you like to have lobster for dinner?”

“I’ve never had lobster,” Julienne admitted. “I would like to try it.”

Lyle ordered lobster for her and prime tenderloin for himself. When she tasted her dinner she said, “I do like it, very much. I’m a little surprised, because I’m heartily sick of anything to do with fish.”

“Supposed to show good breeding to like lobster,” Lyle grinned. “I don’t like it and you do, which I think shows that it might be true.”

“Nonsense,” Julienne scoffed. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that good manners and gallantry have nothing to do with birthright. And besides, you like Shakespeare, and that’s not exactly the kind of thing that the common people care for.”

“I don’t like Shakespeare,” he said, pouring more champagne into her crystal wineglass. “I only wanted to go because I knew you do.”

“That’s nice of you, Lyle,” she said softly.

“Not really, I’m not just being nice. I like you a lot, Julienne. You’re smart and you’re funny and you’re a beautiful woman. Spending time with you has been one of my greatest pleasures the last few weeks.”

Julienne smiled at him. “I’ve enjoyed your company too, Lyle, very much. I know you must think it’s because you’re obviously wealthy, and I’m obviously not. But I really do like you too, Lyle.”

He shrugged. “I meet women all the time that are moneygrubbers. You’re not, I could see that from the first time I met you. But, Julienne, I have to ask you, since you brought it up. I understand about what happened after your father died, but now that you’ve got the
River Queen
running again and making a profit, why don’t you invest in her and get her fixed up to carry passengers? Even with your family living on board, you’ve still got, what, twenty staterooms? And the dining room could be fixed up, and you could have musicians and dancing in there too.”

“I would love to do that,” Julienne said harshly, “especially I would love to fix up our staterooms, they’re like—well, you’ve seen the empty ones. Ours aren’t much better. But it doesn’t matter, because the bank won’t loan me any money.”

“Which bank?” Lyle asked.

“Planter’s, and Preston Gates has been a friend of the family for years. But the Board of Directors has not. I’ve talked to Mr. Gates about it, but even though I didn’t have a figure in mind, he said there was no use in even getting estimates for fixing up the
Queen
. Without my father, the bank feels that loaning money to the Ashby family is too great a risk.”

Lyle nodded. “I do some business with Planter’s, and I know Gates. If he says it, it’s true.”

“I know, I trust him. At first, when my father died, I didn’t. I thought he was a vulture. But I’ve learned that he’s really a good friend, and he’s done all he can to help us. He even told me that if he had the money, he’d make a private loan to us. But he’s not able to do that.”

“Well, then,” Lyle said slowly, “why don’t you ask me?”

“What?” Julienne said, startled. “Ask you what?”

“For the money. I could loan it to you. After all, we were just talking about what good friends we are. That’s the kind of thing that friends do, they help each other out.”

She stared at him, bemused. “I never thought of such a thing, Lyle.”

“No, I know you haven’t. But if I had realized your situation, I would have suggested it before. I do this a lot, you know, it’s just a business investment. I invest in all kinds of enterprises. For you, the
River Queen
would be the security just like at the bank, only I’d charge you a lower rate of interest. Just business, see?”

For a moment Julienne couldn’t think clearly, because every alarm in her mind started blaring when she thought of taking money from a man. But the way he had explained it was not like he was giving her money in return for any “favors.” As he had said, it was a simple business transaction.

She tried to speak, and then finally all she could say was, “Wouldn’t that be an imposition?”

“I have eleven notes out right now, Julienne. Four of them are to my friends, the rest are businessmen, all of them are secured, and I’m making money on the interest. I’d be happy to help you in this way. I think the
River Queen
would be a solid investment.”

“I don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “I don’t even have any idea how much money it would take to refit the
Queen
.”

They were sitting very close together, and now Lyle took her hand. “Tell you what,” he said warmly. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got in mind, and that’ll give me a better idea of how much money you’re going to need.”

Bright hope began to glimmer in her mind, with visions of the
River Queen
painted and trimmed in gingerbread-work, of nicely-appointed staterooms with brass beds and fine satiny sheets, of marble-topped dressing tables and velvet curtains, of a dining room with glowing wood floors and paneling, of dancing in a satin dress in the ballroom lit by crystal chandeliers. Her eyes sparkled, and she began to talk.

They talked for an hour in the restaurant, and then all the way back to the
Queen
in his fine glassed landau. As always, he walked her on board, but instead of politely tipping his hat and bowing good-night at the end of the landing stages, he took her arm and walked her up the stairs to the double doors leading into the ballroom. He put his hands on her waist and turned her to him. “Why don’t you come to my house tomorrow morning? I’ll draw up the papers, and by tomorrow afternoon I can have workmen already starting on the
Queen.
I’ll bet you I can get her done and back on the river in a week.”

She hesitated. For an unescorted woman to go to a man’s house was unheard of, except for prostitutes. She thought about asking Aunt Leah to accompany her, but uneasily she thought that her aunt would not approve of Lyle loaning them money. Her aunt was always very polite to him, but Julienne sensed that she really didn’t care much for him, or at least that she didn’t trust him. And she couldn’t possibly ask her mother to come with her, for Roseann would flitter and flutter and the entire thing would make her so nervous she would probably end up in tears.

He watched the emotions flitting across her face knowingly. Coolly he said, “I know that Bronte has been something like a business partner to you, even though he’s just your pilot. You can bring him if you’re uncomfortable coming to my home.”

“No!” she said vehemently. “And I—it’s not that I don’t want to come to your home, Lyle, it’s just that—oh, forget it! I’m a businesswoman, after all, and it’s just business. What time shall I call?”

He grinned, his brown-black eyes glinting. “At your convenience, ma’am. Normal business hours begin at eight o’clock.”

“I’ll be there at eight o’clock, then.”

She knew that he was going to kiss her. He put his hands at her hips, swayed her against him, and kissed her full and heavy on the lips. He did it well, and she knew that he was a man that had known women. She didn’t care, she was acutely aware of the full masculine force of his personality, and she was drawn to him. She eagerly returned his passionate kiss and managed to utterly crush any tiny hints of doubt or regret or shame rising in her mind.

Lyle Dennison was going to give her back her life.

Julienne stood on the Texas deck, watching the Blue Moon Saloon. After she had returned from Lyle’s house that morning, she had steeled herself and gone looking for Dallas Bronte. She had decided to tell him that she had taken out a loan from Lyle Dennison first of all, even before she told her family. She knew she was going to have a fight on her hands. Dallas detested Lyle Dennison, though he would never tell Julienne why. They hadn’t been nearly as close since she had been seeing Lyle, and Julienne told herself that she didn’t care.

But she cared now, because she had made Caesar tell her where Dallas was. He had spent the night at the Blue Moon. Though she knew he had been spending time there when they were home, this was the first time he had stayed all night there since he had come on board the
River Queen.

He finally came out, blinking in the sun and pulling his hat down over his eyes. As he walked to the
River Queen
, Julienne saw that at least he wasn’t drunk, he was striding solidly, his shoulders squared. As he crossed the gangplank, he glanced up at her and imperiously she waved for him to come up.

When he reached the Texas deck, she said, “I need to talk to you, please. Would you come in and sit down with me for a few minutes?”

“Sure,” he said with surprise. It was the first time in a long time she had sought him out.

They went into the ballroom and sat at the dining table. She crossed her hands on the table, frowned, and seemed not to know how to begin.

Dallas said lazily, “You’re all prettied up. Little early to be stepping out with Dennison, isn’t it?” It was barely eleven o’clock in the morning.

“I haven’t been stepping out with him,” Julienne retorted sharply. “It’s a little early to be drinking in the Blue Moon, isn’t it?”

“I haven’t been drinking this morning,” he said quickly, but he dropped his eyes.

“You smell like you’ve been drinking for a week,” Julienne said with open disgust. “And you stink like cheap perfume. But I don’t care about that. I’m glad you brought up Lyle Dennison, because that’s who I want to talk to you about.”

His head came up alertly, and he repeated, “Dennison? What about him?”

Julienne shifted in her chair a bit and she began fidgeting, rubbing her fingers together restlessly. “You know I’ve always wanted to fix the
Queen
up so we can start having passengers, and a dining room and dancing.”

“Yes, I know,” he said cautiously. “And I’ve told you that’ll happen one day, but it’s going to take awhile before we can establish a reputation so the bank will loan you the money.”

“Lyle’s loaning me the money,” Julienne said defiantly. “He says the
Queen
would be a good investment for him.”

“What!” Dallas almost shouted. “Have you lost your mind, woman, to even consider that?”

Julienne swallowed hard and managed to make her voice even and firm. “I’m not just considering it, I’ve already done it. This morning I signed the papers.”

Dallas jumped up, knocking the chair over so hard it skittered across the floor. After pacing back and forth several times, his face working, he turned back to her.

“How much?” he asked, his voice rising.

“A lot, but we can pay it back easy,” she said quickly. “The payments are only ninety-four dollars a month.”

“How much?” he repeated loudly.

“T-ten thousand dollars,” Julienne answered. This time she couldn’t keep her voice from faltering.

His head dropped and he took a deep breath. He stayed that way, standing still with his arms at his sides, his head down, breathing hard. Julienne knew he was trying to control his temper. After what seemed like a long time he looked up at her, and his face was as darkly set as she had ever seen it.

“Ten thousand dollars,” he said in a dead tone. “Julienne, you could build a whole new steamer from the keel up, twice as big as the
River Queen,
fully outfitted.”

“I don’t have to use all the money,” she argued. “It’s been deposited in our bank account. Lyle just said he wanted to make sure I had plenty. I can make the payments as long as I want, and he said that in a few months the
Queen
will make enough money to completely pay off whatever monies I’ve used, and the loan will be paid off.”

“Uh-huh. And so, who’s managing this refit? Who’s getting the estimates from the carpenters, the painters, the metalworkers, the glassmen, all the vendors? Who’s getting the extra crew you’ll need, and who’s buying the extra safety equipment you have to have when you carry passengers, and the permits? Who’s hiring the cooks and servants you’ll have to have?”