Spring Fires (17 page)

Well,
she mused,
I've got my pride... so what?
Her mind pulled her unwillingly through the memories of the conversation she and Nicholai had shared a few short hours ago. How recklessly candid she had been—and he had reacted with a gentle encouragement that melted her defenses. It was as close as she had come in years to vulnerability... why was disillusionment the inevitable consequence?

Lisette's eyes, luminous in their sadness, gazed over the dark rooftops toward Spruce and Second streets. Was Nicholai making love to that sharp-tongued harlot? Kissing Amelia in the same scorching way he kissed her? Why had he asked her to wait for him if he had made an appointment with another? Was that his cowardly male way of communicating his preference for casual attachments?

Chapter 15

April 19, 1793

"You are looking absolutely radiant!" Caro proclaimed for the second time. "Oh, Meagan, I'm so relieved to see that you are yourself again!"

Meagan lifted her cup for a sip of tea so that Caro would not notice her faltering smile. As her fifth month of her pregnancy drew to a close, she was undoubtedly the picture of rosy-cheeked good health, but unfortunately the glow was only skin-deep.

"I am grateful to you for coming all this way on such short notice, Caro. It seems like three months, rather than three weeks, since we came out here to the villa... and I've missed your unselfish and sympathetic ear."

"I have missed
you
as well, silly goose! Besides, a ride into the country and a visit here make a wonderful spring outing." Her eyes swept the sunny parlor, which was decorated in rich shades of dove gray and cranberry. Barely four years ago, Markwood Villa had been a deserted and musty shell of its pre-revolutionary grandeur. Mr. Markwood, killed in a duel, was rumored to haunt the place, so until Lion bought and restored it, no one would come near.

The two women were seated in wing chairs that flanked a sun-drenched Palladian window. As Caro sipped her tea and surveyed the garden, Meagan found herself staring at the blood red moreen of her chair, remembering the day, four springs past, when she had chosen the fabric. Lion had been engaged to Priscilla then, and he still believed Meagan to be a common serving girl. They were in love, but to avoid scandal as they planned and shopped for Markwood Villa, she had masqueraded as a boy. The risk and adventure brought them closer together than ever, and she had been Lion's partner in transforming the villa.

"You are certainly looking pensive!" Caro said.

Meagan's smile was sad as she smoothed out a wrinkle in her lavender silk gown. It was part of a newly completed wardrobe that flattered her blossoming waistline. She couldn't blame her dejection on ill-fitting gowns any longer.

"I was thinking about the first spring Lion and I had together, when we worked out the new interior for this house. Life is so perverse... then, I believed that to marry Lion would mean eternal bliss. It seemed that if we could ever untangle the obstacles that complicated our lives—"

"Well, you
did,"
Caro broke in, wondering what Meagan meant. "Lion chose you over Priscilla—even before he knew your true identity. Not only were you married, but he has become a senator despite the scandal, and now there will be a child born of your love."

"I am very fortunate."

"Meagan! You look like you have lost your best friend! What is it? Now that the Congress is in recess and Lion has brought you out into the country for the time alone you craved, I thought you would be ecstatic!"

"But I wanted time alone with him!"

Caro blinked and set her teacup on the pembroke side table. "I don't understand—"

"Lion is scarcely here at all!" Tears welled in her eyes as the swollen dam that held in her misery finally gave way. "When we came down here, to be together and enjoy the spring, I was so h-happy! But, after a few days, Lion began to make trips into Philadelphia that he wouldn't explain. They have become more frequent and longer...." She accepted the gauzy handkerchief an anxious Caro held out and pressed it to her eyes. "Last night, he didn't come home until m-midnight! I was so miserable, I pretended to be asleep, but then, when I woke today and found he'd left again—there was just a vague note on my dressing table—that's when I knew I had to talk to someone...."

Caro knelt beside the other wing chair and embraced Meagan, patting the ebony curls that fell down her back the way she would with one of her own children. "Try to calm down a bit, and then we can sort out this madness. You have not told me what it is about Lion's absences that devastates you so. I feel certain that whatever takes him into Philadelphia must be related to the Senate—"

"The Senate is in
recess,"
Meagan reminded her flatly. She sat back, dry eyed, and Caro retreated to her own chair. "And even in March there were mysterious absences at night. If he were going to meet with Mr. Jefferson, for instance, why could he not say so?"

"Where do
you
think he goes?"

"Lion is—" She swallowed. Her head throbbed, her eyes stung, and her face was hot from weeping. "Lion is involved with another woman."

Caro gasped. "What! Oh, no, I cannot—"

"It's true. I haven't wanted to believe it myself, though I've suspected for weeks...." Two fat tears slid down her cheeks. "I have proof now... and after last night and today...!"

"No wonder you are so distraught. But, unless you have seen him in bed with this other woman, you cannot be certain. I know how easy it is for the imagination to run wild—please, tell me about your proof."

"I—I've wondered for weeks, pushing it back in my mind, hoping one day I would awake and find Lion his normal self again. Until today, I haven't been able to say the words."

"I'm glad you are finally talking about it."

"I told myself it was the pregnancy, the Senate, my imagination—but after we came down here and he made the first trip into town and wouldn't tell me why, my heart just sank. Last night, trying to distract myself, I thought I would clean the drawers in our bedchamber and put in fresh sachets. And I found it."

Caro held her breath.

"A note. It was a note recording a huge amount of money he had given Lisette Hahn... on that first day he went back into Philadelphia."

"I don't understand! You aren't suggesting that Lion is having a love affair with
Lisette?"

"Oh, yes, I am! You needn't look so stunned—she hasn't two heads, after all. I'm not too proud to admit that she is more beautiful and elegant than I... especially now."

"This sounds quite mad to me! Don't you think that there must be another explanation? Perhaps you are just unaccustomed to his new routine!"

"This is much more than a normal working day. What about these nighttime absences and the time he has spent in Philadelphia during the Senate's
recess
? His colleagues are far away, tucked in at home with their families. Why, even the president has fled this city. Before we married, although Lion was promised to Priscilla, I knew that he was ruled by his love for me. Now... I couldn't say if he cares for me at all."

Caro looked pained. "My dear friend, it's a rare marriage that doesn't experience an occasional drought! But, how did you ever concoct this notion about Lion and Lisette?"

"Even before Lion became a senator, he told me about the mysterious, unapproachable Mistress Hahn. Since the election, he has spent more and more time at the CoffeeHouse. The first time I saw him with her, last month when you took me to meet Lisette, I felt ill. They laughed together—and she was so lovely and graceful. Afterwards, Lion began to go out at night, and of course now there is the note for all that money. It would seem that her elusive favors are not bestowed unconditionally."

"It seems to me that your evidence is very circumstantial! You have let your imagination run wild... and besides, I happen to know that my brother-in-law, Nicholai, has an interest in Lisette himself. What do you say to that?"

Her expression was frosty. "I would say that Mistress Hahn is a busy young woman... and most undeserving of her reputation for aloof purity."

"You do not even sound like yourself, Meagan Hampshire! I am going home now, because I want you to think this over very carefully. Try to remember that your only competition for Lion's time may be the United States Senate—and also that the trust between a husband and wife should not be so quickly discarded. You may regret your hasty doubts later on."

Caro kissed her friend and urged her to remain in her chair, to rest and consider all they had discussed. She herself was so preoccupied as she passed through the entryway and opened the front door that she failed to notice the tall man with the burnished hair and stormy face who stood back in the shadowed hallway.

* * *

Meagan, aching with fatigue after the tearful ordeal with Caro, sat back in the wing chair and stared at the willow-canopied garden until she fell asleep.

Dusk was enveloping the villa when Bramble shook her mistress's arm in an effort to revive her.

"Ye cannot wish to remain in this chair all night!" exclaimed the dour cook. Though Meagan was now her mistress, Bramble never quite forgot the days when the girl had masqueraded as a lady's maid and taken orders from
her.

"Oh—no—" Meagan blinked sparkly eyes and rubbed her neck. "Goodness, I am so stiff!"

"Supper is nearly done," Bramble warned.

Standing up, Meagan stretched and sighed. "I shall go upstairs and freshen up, Bramble."

"Good." Bramble kept her voice sharp as she watched her mistress leave the parlor, but she did allow herself a tight satisfied smile.

Ascending the stairs, Meagan tried to repress the tide of sadness that washed over her. Lion had been gone nearly twelve hours... Didn't he even care enough to come home and play the dutiful husband? Did he want her to suspect his infidelity?

When she opened the door to their bedchamber, she found that the plum-tinted dusk was warmed by a bright fire and the golden light of several candles.

"Good evening, fondling."

Meagan gasped in surprise. "Lion!" He was sitting on the huge four-poster, leaning back into a pillow propped against the headboard. He wore only a dressing gown of nutmeg velvet that accentuated the bronzed warmth of his skin and hair. As Meagan stared, Lion gave her a caustic smile and drank from a goblet of red wine.

"You seem surprised to see me! Is there somewhere else I should be?"

Meagan arched her eyebrow. "What a question! It seems to me that you have been
here
very little!"

"Through no choice of my own."

She made a derisive noise.

"Dearest wife," he implored, "do sit beside me so that we can look into one another's eyes as we talk." He patted the ivory counterpane.

Meagan saw the dangerous gleam in his eyes and wondered at it, but reminded herself that he was the sinner and she the victim. Gingerly, she perched near him, beside the other pillow.

"I have missed you so today," Lion declared. He hooked an arm around her and pulled her against him, tipping her chin up with his other hand. His mouth closed over Meagan's, kissing her with scorching intensity. She gave a little sob and pushed him away.

"Stop it! Somehow you are ridiculing me, and I won't allow it!"

"Do you think that I would play you false, dear wife? Are you certain you can read a lie in my eyes?" Roughly, he turned her face back. "Let us put your intuition to the test. I shall tell you two things—one lie and one piece of pure truth. Concentrate and then tell me which is which."

Meagan's expression was wary, but she met the challenge and felt her own anger and resentment bubble to the surface. Whatever game he was playing now, she knew that this would be the night they would have it out. No more silent brooding.

"All right, Lion. I will take your test."

"Excellent." There was a trace of venom in his grin. "Here is the first statement." He stared into her eyes with an intensity that unnerved her. "You are my wife, my friend and my passion; the warm glow that propels me through life. I love you far too much to ever betray you in
any
way."

His expression flickered from intense to cynical as he inquired, "How do you like the test so far? I suppose it is ridiculously easy for someone as intuitive as you are, but let us continue with part two anyway. Ready?"

Vaguely alarmed, Meagan nodded.

"Fine. I just wanted to tell you that I place no value at all on our vows now that you are pregnant with my child. I'm no longer physically attracted to you. Now, Lisette Hahn is another matter altogether... I do love a mysterious challenge! I could scarcely tear myself out of her bed to come home last night, and of course, I spent all day today right back under her sheets. It is wonderful to make love again to a woman with a flat belly."

Meagan wondered if her mind had been cauterized by Lion's fiery blue eyes. She was numb with confusion and a hundred questions crowded her mind.