Savage Deception (Liberty's Ladies) (15 page)

She didn’t realize that though Tanner’s hands still cupped her face, her arms were no longer resting demurely by her sides. They were clasped around his neck in an attempt to bring his face closer to her. Also, she hadn’t yet realized that her naked breasts were wantonly pressed against Tanner’s broad chest and that she was writhing beneath him, or that tiny mewling sounds of pleasure emanated from her own throat.

It wasn’t until Tanner finally broke the mind-drugging kiss to replace it with a lingering one on her lips that she grew aware of her surroundings and the position in which she found herself.

“Why did you stop?” she blurted out in a breathy voice that surprised even herself.

Tanner shook his head and groaned. “You are an innocent, Diana, if you have to ask. I’m a mortal man who has reached his limits with you. I want you again, and I’d have you, too, but I promised you that all I’d do was kiss you and I won’t go further.”

Diana watched in a daze as he rose from the bed to stand. The dawn’s light gilded his magnificent body in a transparent gold hue. Tanner looked large and masculine as he stood there, extremely masculine, she decided, as her eyes found that part of him that indicated his desire for her. She wanted to glance away but didn’t, somehow deriving some sort of strange satisfaction from looking at the object that had claimed her earlier and wanted to claim her again. A ragged sigh rushed through her lips as she unwillingly imagined that, but she adopted an indifferent air.

“I have absolutely no wish for you to go further,” she said and pulled the diaphanous robe around her and sat up. With dark hair all atumble around her shoulders, Diana smiled. “Your kiss affected me not at all.”

Tanner bent over and suggestively rubbed his forefinger against her cheek. “If you say so, my sweet.” He straightened and flashed her a winning smile. “Now get dressed and let’s attend services on this Christmas morning bright with promise.”

Diana watched as Tanner began dressing. He whistled and grinned smugly to himself. The infuriating grin was still on his face two hours later when they entered the church. Diana sensed that he didn’t believe her, not one bit.

10

“Deceitful devil,” Diana groused as she finished packing the rest of Anne’s gowns into a trunk. Cammie, who was nearby and occupied with the children’s’ belongings, heard her.

“Did you say something, ma’am?”

“Just talking to myself,” was Diana’s curt reply, knowing it wouldn’t do any good to repeat what she had said because she’d been complaining aloud about Tanner, and Cammie was loyal to him. In fact it seemed that the whole world was loyal to her husband. Curtis and Cammie doted on his every whim and word. Even Ruthie, whom Diana assumed would be harder to win over with the Sheridan charm, had fallen for his dark, masculine handsomeness. And though Tanner might hate admitting that he was Harlan Sheridan’s son, he couldn’t deny the resemblance to his father.

Yet Diana’s irritability had very little to do with the servants, much more to do with Tanner himself. Granted, he’d been more than pleased to send Ruthie on to wherever it was he’d spirited David, Anne, and the children, and Ruthie had been more than eager to join them. Diana didn’t mind packing extra things for her family or closing up the Richmond house. She did mind that Tanner didn’t trust her enough to tell her where the Richmonds were. She missed her sister and the children but had to remain content with the knowledge that they were safe. She couldn’t help but feel that Tanner held the trump card in the deck by keeping her in the dark and in her place.

However, she could deal with that. What she couldn’t deal with was Tanner’s hobnobbing with the British. Since Christmas Day, she and Tanner had attended a number of parties hosted by Tories and attended by British officers. Captain Farnsworth had been at one such gathering, and had explained to her that he would soon leave for Briarhaven and that he hoped to see her safely returned. He congratulated her and Tanner on their marriage, making a grand show of it by offering a long-winded toast to the newlyweds, but Diana sensed he wasn’t as pleased as he pretended and that the polite smile on his face was there only for Tanner’s benefit. For some odd reason it seemed that Farnsworth didn’t wish to offend Tanner Sheridan, and he wasn’t the only one. Diana had noticed a number of British officers hovering around her husband, speaking intimately to him, acting like obsequious fools. At one point Tanner had drawn away from them by saying with a blunt edge to his voice, “I’m retired now,” and seeing that she was watching him, he’d taken her arm, and they bade their hosts farewell and departed.

But what was he retired from? This thought haunted Diana day and night. Once she’d gathered the nerve to ask him and been told again that he’d had business contacts with the British, but still she had no idea what sort of business it was, and he didn’t volunteer the information — which was one reason why she decided he was a deceitful devil.

The other had to do with her nightly bedtime instructions. Even now as she stood to catch sight of herself in Anne’s bedroom mirror, Diana saw that she was blushing. Over the last four days they had progressed from her kissing lessons, in which, according to Tanner, she was beginning to excel, to fondling. The memory of the way his large warm hands had cupped and massaged her breasts before kissing and teasing them with his lips was still vivid. She actually shivered with a sudden tremor to recall how it felt when he’d leisurely suckled the taut nipples, filling his mouth with what he termed her sweetness. His velvety voice ordered her to lie still and relax, to concentrate only on the feel of his hands and his mouth, to enjoy herself.

She’d later told him that she had felt nothing, again aware that he didn’t really believe her. In fact something had stirred within her, but it was something she couldn’t name and she was a bit more than sorry when he told her that the lesson was over for the night. Lying there in the huge bed with Tanner asleep beside her, she knew that only three days were left until their bet officially ended. Three more days — New Year’s Eve — and she could claim Briarhaven as her own and be free of Tanner Sheridan forever. Yet for some odd reason it was becoming more difficult to lie dispassionately beneath Tanner’s touches and kisses. He hadn’t made any effort to have his way with her again, and she knew he was waiting until she wanted him in that way. But she’d never want Tanner or any man like that, and she couldn’t explain why she felt so odd, almost frustrated, when Tanner finally gave up and fell asleep.

“It’s only three more days,” she said to her reflection, “and then I’ll never have to see him.” But that thought felt a bit discomforting and she was glad to hear Curtis’s voice and know that he’d arrived to take the trunks. Going to tell him that the trunks were in the two upstairs bedrooms, she saw that Curtis was already heading past her on the stairs and that Tanner stood nonchalantly by the bottom step, one elbow propped on the banister.

His gaze swept possessively over her figure. She was dressed in a pale blue velvet gown with long sleeves and white lace at the square neckline. Like a ninny of a schoolgirl, Diana felt high spots of color stain her cheeks.

“I’ve always liked the way you blush,” he told her and took her hand in his when she reached the first step.

Her lips were level with his, and a sudden urge to kiss him gripped her but she resisted, knowing that Tanner always managed to snare her in a sensual trap — only to destroy her.

“A gentleman wouldn’t comment on such a thing.”

A short laugh escaped from his perfectly formed lips and he slowly shook his head. “You already know I’m not a gentleman, so I can ask you straight out about what naughty thoughts are hovering in the back of your mind, because I know that some are. Admit to me that you’re beginning to feel something when I kiss and touch you. You’re thinking about what I did to you last night, just as I am.”

“I was not!”

“Liar.”

“Cammie and I have finished with the packing,” Diana muttered stiffly, eager to stop this conversation. She started to move past him, but Tanner stopped her with a slight tug on her fingers.

“The best is yet to come, Diana. I promise you.”

A thrill of something darkly pleasurable swept through her at the thought. But she’d been married for years to Kingsley and nothing remotely pleasant had happened to her in bed. Whatever it was that Tanner wanted her to feel wasn’t about to occur for her, and suddenly she felt less than a woman in his eyes. Surely, if this pleasure that Tanner told her about, this delight he’d given to many women over the years, didn’t happen to her, then she was just like Kingsley had said. Cold. Frigid. But nothing wonderful would happen to her beneath Tanner’s hands. Nothing had happened so far, had it?

She must retain some dignity if all of this tutorship came to naught. Tanner had wounded her years ago by leaving her to Kingsley’s abuse, and she could wield cutting remarks that would hurt him almost as deeply as she had been hurt. “Perhaps you’ve overestimated your prowess in the bedroom,” she said. “I remember you told me that a woman is only as good in bed as the man who teaches her, and to be truthful I’m not very good, am I?”

This time it was Tanner’s face that filled with what she assumed at first was a blush, but she quickly realized that it was red with rage. “You’d be damned good if you’d forget for a moment who I am, forget that I’m a bastard by birth. Try thinking of me as one of your fancy suitors from years back, or pretend I’m Farnsworth, the proper gentleman. Right now I wonder if your heart is made of ice or stone. Ice can melt but stone can’t.” He looked deeply into her eyes. Never before had she seen his eyes so hard and black. “I ought to forget the whole idea, Diana. It might be utterly hopeless.”

“Does this mean our bet is off?”

“Hell no! You’re a challenge to me now.” He gripped her by the upper arms and brought her against him. “I want you to mewl like a contented kitten when I touch you, to know that you want me. But more important, I want you to experience passion for yourself, to feel your womanhood blossom beneath my hands. Otherwise, you’re only going through the motions and are half a woman. I want more for you than that. I want you to experience desire.”

Sudden tears of tenderness sprang to her eyes for Tanner. He truly wanted her to be a whole woman, but she doubted she’d ever experience this indefinable something he claimed existed. This thought prompted tears of impending defeat to mingle with the other ones until she could barely speak. Why did he have to reenter her life and churn up emotions she’d thought she’d buried years ago? She hated losing control.

Tanner wiped away her tears somewhat clumsily with the pads of his thumbs. “Don’t cry. It will happen for you, Diana, I swear it will.”

“I’d like to go home now,” she told him, unable to say anything else. For some odd reason she hoped Tanner was right, but if he was then she’d lose Briarhaven and the chance to be free of him. She didn’t relish being at any man’s mercy, especially this man’s. There was a great possibility that if she won the wager she’d never see him again and could go back to the same dull life she’d led up until a few weeks ago. This was what she wanted, why she willed herself not to enjoy Tanner’s lovemaking, but the dull aching pain that wrapped around her heart like iron fingers at such a thought surprised her.

~ ~ ~

The carriage ride home was silent and took longer than Diana had anticipated because Tanner had business on the outskirts of Charlestown. She had no idea where they were headed until the small, squalid settlement known as Rawdontown came into view. When they stopped, she looked at Tanner in perplexity. “What are we doing here?”

“Helping out a few friends. Come along.” Holding out his hand to her, Diana automatically took it and stepped from the carriage to find herself surrounded by dozens of dirty and ill-kempt people who seemed to materialize out of their primitive lean-tos like foxes out of their lairs. Dressed in her elegant and very warm sable cloak, Diana felt terribly out of place. She was all too aware of the envious looks thrown her way by women warmed by shawls that had seen better days.

Children of all ages ran hither and yon, shouting in excitement. A few pulled on Tanner’s coat tails. “What you got for us today, suh?” a little boy of about five asked as he wiped his runny nose with the back of a dirty hand.

Tanner stooped down and smiled warmly at the lad and ruffled his sandy hair. “Andy, my boy, you’ve grown since last month. Your coat no longer fits you.”

Diana saw that the child wore a coat that was two sizes too small and was riddled with gaping holes. But it seemed that Andy was one of the luckier children to have any coat at all. Most of the boys and girls didn’t even have that.

Andy grinned. “I know. My mudder says I’m gonna be big like my papa.” The child’s smile died. “He was killed by those bad patriots, you know.”

“I know,” was Tanner’s solemn reply. Motioning to Curtis, who immediately began pulling down the trunks that Diana had spent packing all afternoon at her sister’s house, Tanner helped drag them from the top of the carriage to the ground.

“What are you doing with those trunks?” Diana asked as he placed one on the ground and began opening it.

“Distributing goods to the needy,” he replied without looking up at her.

He couldn’t mean to give these people her family’s clothes. It was inconceivable that he’d do this, not when her sister, David, and the children might have need of them. She told him so and wasn’t prepared for the disdainful curve of his lips or the condemnation in his eyes. “Your family is well cared for, Diana. They’re warm and clothed, fed three times a day. I doubt if they’d mind sharing their goods with those less fortunate.”

“But these people are Tories,” Diana whispered, horrified to even consider giving aid to those whom she secretly fought against. It was treasonous.

Tanner stood up and considered her for a long moment, oblivious to the excited people who waited with eager hands. “I had no idea you were such a staunch little patriot, but if that’s the way you feel then so be it. We’ll close the trunks and haul them back home where they’ll sit in the attic, doing little good for anyone. You do surprise me, however. I would have thought you’d be quite willing to help your fellow man in times of trouble, whether he be Tory or rebel. But the decision is yours, Diana. I’ll abide by whatever you decide, and I do apologize for taking liberties with your family’s possessions. That was wrong of me. I should have asked you first.”

Tanner
should
have asked her permission, but that wasn’t the point. He wanted her to decide what to do with the clothes. From what she’d packed, Diana knew that Anne had warm and serviceable gowns, that David had perhaps as many as four topcoats and woolen undergarments, plus shirts and pants. The children’s’ apparel was so abundant that they filled three trunks and would easily clothe all of the dirty urchins here. But these people were Tories, driven from their homes by the very enemy she spied for. How could she ever explain any of this to Tanner without giving away her secret? But how could she not distribute the clothes to people who were needy and cold? No matter what side they were on, they were still South Carolinians, the same as she. Just ordinary people. Wouldn’t she hope someone did the same for her family?