Two weeks later, when Lynna was certain that her aching bones could not stand to be jostled a second longer, Mary announced they were only a few miles from Cedar Hill. She, along with the other exhausted travelers perked up, eager for baths, clean clothes, and a soft place to rest their much abused behinds after the dusty journey on cushioned seats that had long since begun to feel like wooden planks beneath them.
The weary group departed the carriage and were making their way to the steps when the front door suddenly burst open. Samuel Fletcher bounded down the steps two at a time, followed by Beth and their charming daughter Bethany Breanne. After greeting his family warmly, Samuel turned to Lynna with a broad grin on his face. “Well now, just look what a gorgeous young lady you’ve turned out to be.” Then, turning to his wife with a playful grin, he added, “Perhaps I should not have been so eager to leave home.”
Fearing what Beth’s reaction might be to Samuel’s teasing banter, Lynna lowered her eyes, but Beth only smiled. “Never mind him, Lynna. Samuel always was the worst jokester, but I don’t need to remind you, do I?”
“He always teased me mercilessly.” Lynna remembered well Samuel’s penchant for tomfoolery. “You never knew what mischief he had up his sleeve.”
“Or what bug he had in his pocket to chase and terrorize you with.” His mother laughed fondly.
“And he is still that way, even to this day.” Beth led the ladies into the house, tossing over her shoulder as an afterthought, “Ladies, follow me upstairs so you can freshen up before dinner. I’m so glad you could come a few days early since we are having a special dinner guest tonight. Suzanne has invited our neighbor and dear friend, Joshua Jordan.”
Lynna jerked her hand from Beth’s to clutch at a heart that was suddenly threatening to fly out of her chest. Joshua Jordan? Here?
How could she face him again?
“At last.” Mary affected an exaggerated sigh. “We will finally have the honor of meeting the irresistibly charming, unspeakably divine, astonishingly handsome, and just plain perfect Mr. Joshua Jordan.”
Everyone laughed at Mary’s facetious remarks concerning Suzanne’s often heard descriptions of Joshua, except Beth and Lynna. Beth realized that each description fit Joshua to a tee, except maybe the one about being perfect. She chose to keep mum and allow each of them to discover his numerous attributes for themselves.
Lynna found absolutely nothing about the man to be worthy of laughter. Instead she felt the urge to throw up, sob hysterically, and walk every step of the way back to Magnolia House. What would she do? What would she say? What would he say?
He was such a vile, despicable bounder. Would he relish watching her squirm and happily inform Suzanne and the others of their… acquaintance? She should never have come.
Good Lord, she should never have come!
Upstairs, after being shown to her room, Lynna poured water from a green pitcher into a matching bowl and breathed a deep sigh of relief as she sponged her body, washing away the light film of grit that had settled over her during the seemingly endless carriage ride. How she longed for a hot soothing bath to soak her tired bones, but there was no time. Company was coming to dinner in the form of a black hearted sea dog, and she was expected to hurry downstairs and pretend to greet him for the first time.
She would love to greet him with a hard uppercut to his finely chiseled jaw.
Perhaps she could send word that she had an upset stomach and planned to retire early. How discourteous would that be? Plus, she had never been ill a day in her life and a sudden ailment would only cause her aunt unnecessary worry. No, it was best to get this ordeal over with. Huh! With the quantity of women that he had bedded, Captain Jordan would be hard pressed to even remember her name.
Feeling revived after her sponge bath, Lynna sat at the dressing table pinching her cheeks until they turned a becoming shade of pink, and pulling her heavy mass of golden hair atop her head. Deciding against that style, she dropped her hair to trail caressingly down her back and fall in soft shimmering curls of spun gold. Pulling the sides back, she held her hair in place with turquoise combs, while bouncy tendrils fell to frame her oval face.
Suzanne had often chided Lynna for wearing her hair in such an unfashionable style. Hair should always be swept off your shoulders for effect, Lynna. But unlike Suzanne, Lynna had never conformed strictly to the fashion of the day.
With her toilette complete, she chose her favorite gown of sea green dotted muslin. The dress was cut fashionably low with off the shoulder puffed sleeves and a velvet sash at her waist. The hem flounce, sleeves, and neck border were appliquéd with double rows of creamy French lace that Mary had been considerate enough to supply. Adding matching kid slippers, she stood in front of the cheval glass for a final inspection.
Satisfied with her appearance, Lynna braced herself for the drama that was surely about to unfold and descended the stairs to the sound of robust laughter drifting from the parlor. That laugh. She would recognize it anywhere. Joshua! She could not face him again. Now or ever.
The pain of her heartache on the Windjammer was still too fresh. No, her aunt could make her apologies and she would remain cloistered in her room for the duration of the visit.
Pausing midway down the stairs, she was about to turn and flee to her room when her eyes were drawn to the unmistakable physique of the man standing with Silas and his sons. It really was him, standing only a few feet away. Even with his back turned, Lynna recognized him at once and her ragged breath caught in her throat.
At the same moment Joshua felt eyes like simmering coals burning into his back. Turning slowly, from where he stood he alone saw the breathtaking creature poised on the stairs like a goddess about to take flight. That face. That body. Those eyes. Could it be? No, of course not. Evidently, he had overindulged in Samuel’s stock of fine Jamaican rum. For the exquisite beauty perched on the stairs held more than a passing resemblance to…no…it couldn’t be.
Placing his rum glass on the mantle, his hand moved to scrub his face before again looking toward the stairs. It was her, the very vision that had haunted his dreams for the past three bedeviling years, even more breathtaking now than when he had first witnessed her stunning beauty onboard the Windjammer.
Lynna.
Hardly realizing that someone was speaking his name, or that anyone else was even in the room, Joshua found himself silently moving toward her. Nor did he realize that he had left Samuel in mid sentence, looking after him with a confused frown. Joshua came to a halt at the foot of the wide staircase, gazing up into familiar crystal blue eyes.
Lynna clutched the banister for support as his eyes slowly caressed every square inch of her. If she should dare try to take a step, her quivering limbs would surely cause her to tumble head first down the steps and land in a crumpled heap at his feet.
She was stranded on the stairs, as she could not trust her legs to flee the man’s presence by running either up or down. What a humiliating quandary. Breathe. Just breathe. He is but a man. A flesh and blood man. She sought to still her racing heart and erratic pulse before blood shot from her ears.
Determined to ignore Joshua, she knew it was her only hope of enduring the night without making a complete fool of herself. She moved on trembling legs with slow, careful steps so as not to trip on the hem of her petticoat before safely reaching the bottom of the stairs. But far from snubbing him, she found herself unable to free her eyes that were being held prisoner by his searing gaze.
“Lynna, I see you have met our dinner guest.” Samuel coughed and repeated the words, neither having heard them the first time. Noticing Lynna’s obvious distress, he hurried to her side.
“N… no,” she stammered, pleading with her eyes for Joshua not to yield their secret. “I have not yet had the pleasure.”
“Then allow me,” Samuel turned to Joshua and said, “This ravishing creature is Lynna Mathison. Lynna, this is Captain Joshua Jordan.”
Only after Joshua’s eyes
had leisurely traveled down and then back up her slight, yet fully rounded frame and rested on her face did he extend his hand to take hers and bring it to his soft mouth. Turning her hand over he pressed his warm, moist lips to her palm. “It is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…ah… Mathison.” He flashed a sensuous smile that seemed to light his entire face and cause his sea green eyes to sparkle. He would have to be very careful for he had almost called her Miss Rhodes.
Lynna’s hand tingled, burned, from his touch. When his lips placed soft kisses on the tender skin of her palm, hot liquid fire traveled from her hand to all parts of her anatomy leaving her stunned and breathless. She again clutched for a banister to steady herself. Then, drawing a shaky breath, she gratefully took the arm Samuel offered and allowed him to escort her into the parlor where the others were waiting and watching, especially Suzanne.
Joshua had not failed to notice Lynna’s quaking reaction and was pleased to note that he had not been so easily dismissed from mind either. In retrospect, he hadn’t changed in the last few years, whereas she had blossomed into the most breathtakingly beautiful woman his eyes had ever beheld. Turning to Silas, he remarked, “You do grow stunning women in Georgia, sir.”
“Yes, I will be the first to admit that there are some gorgeous women in our fair state.” He beamed proudly. “However few to rival Lynna and Suzanne.”
“Why, Joshua, honey,” Suzanne quickly left her seat, almost colliding with Beth as she grabbed Joshua’s arm while wheedling for a compliment. “I’m sure some of the young ladies you have met during your travels abroad fair put Lynna and little ole me to shame.”
Ignoring an infuriated Suzanne and looking straightway across the room into Lynna’s azure gaze, Joshua smiled a most besotting smile. “Oh, to be sure, I have had the privilege of meeting some exotic females in my travels. But I said it then and I will say it now. I have never seen one more beautiful.” Then, as an afterthought, he added, “than the two of you, of course.”
Joshua was tempted to reach out and touch Lynna, to see if she was real or only a figment of his imagination. He had dreamed of her so often, dreamed of her standing in front of him just as she was now. Dreamed of her sweet, soft lips and smooth satiny skin.
Taking a step toward her, he was unaware of what his true intentions were until Beth rushed to grab his arm. “Shall we go in to dinner, Joshua? You must be starving.” Beth had known her reaction would have to be swift in order to avoid a scene. And what a spectacle Suzanne would have created had Joshua succeeded in his mindless endeavor to embrace Lynna. Having witnessed Joshua’s initial reaction to Lynna’s dazzling beauty she realized that her sister-in-law was in for a rude awakening. Heavenly days. She already dreaded that dramatic scene.
Turning to go into the dining room, Lynna felt a warm hand pressing her elbow and relaxed. She needed Samuel’s calming presence and reassuring touch. Clutching his arm, she breathed deeply, leaning against him for support as she attempted to still her racing heart.
“All the nights I have dreamed of you, and here I find you practically in my own back yard,” Joshua’s whispered words caressed her ear.
Where did he come from? A second ago, Beth had him firmly by the arm and was leading him into the dining room. The odious oaf. Did he expect her to fall breathlessly into his waiting arms again, as she had on the ship? Did he imagine her to still be the young naiveté who had capitulated heedlessly to his lustful advances after a few glasses of port?
He would soon learn that she was no longer the dewy eyed eighteen-year old, unversed in the ways of the world that she had been on his ship. Her uncle had forced the harsh realities of life down her throat shortly after her arrival at Magnolia House. And now, hearing Joshua’s smooth southern drawl so close to her ear caused the memories of his cold, callous treatment to return in a rush. Lynna froze for a second before jerking away from him faster than a duck after a June bug. She turned toward him, lambasting him with her eyes.
“Is anything amiss, my sweet?” he questioned guilelessly.
Moving a few steps away to a more respectable distance, Lynna chose to disregard his question and ask one of her own. “I am certainly not your sweet, Captain Jordan, and shouldn’t you be escorting Suzanne? You are her dinner guest, are you not?”
He once again flashed a disarming smile that sent her heart to flutter wildly. “I have terrible manners, to be sure. I almost didn’t come tonight.” Moving even closer, he slid his hand down her arm to rest on the small of her back. “Only now I see what a grave error in judgment that would have been on my part. Believe me, Lynna, I would not have missed this night for the world.”
Trying to remain aloof, she gave him a withering glare, calmly moving out of his reach. “Sir, you forget yourself. Please do not attempt to besmirch my reputation by forcing your unwanted attentions on me.”
Joshua threw back his head and laughed uproariously, then leaned toward her to whisper, “Madame, I have never found it necessary to force myself on any woman.” With a devilishly wink, he added, “As you should well recall.”
Lynna’s outraged gasp drew the attention of everyone in the room, including Suzanne who shot daggers from her blazing eyes. Lynna hurried to the table, relieved to find her place between Daniel Fletcher and her aunt, who were observing her with keen interest.
Suzanne had made a point of being seated next to Joshua, but try as she might she was unable to gain the man’s full attention. He dutifully answered her questions, but his gaze remained firmly fixed on Lynna. It was Silas who was finally successful in gaining Joshua’s attention with a question about Sea Grove.
With Joshua’s head turned to answer Silas, Lynna took the opportunity to peruse him more closely. He was just as she remembered, not a hair on his head had changed. And she remembered everything about him... so well. Watching as he carelessly brushed a lock of raven hair from his forehead, Lynna was just getting to an inspection of his firm jaw and broad, muscular shoulders when his head suddenly turned toward her and their eyes locked.
She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs refused to push air in or out. Thankfully, her neck muscles still worked and she was able to pivot her head toward her aunt, but not before seeing his emerald gaze dip purposefully to her breasts.
Her cheeks flushed crimson as she realized that the man had lost none of his brash effrontery. Ignoring him, she placed a trembling hand to her throat, hoping to slow her erratic pulse, which now pounded in her temple. Turning to her aunt to speak, she decided that under no circumstances would she look his way again.
At that very moment Samuel drew the rapt attention of every occupant in the room by tapping on the side of his glass with a spoon and addressing Lynna with a broad smile. “Lynna, darling, rumor has it that you have accepted my brother’s proposal and that I may soon have the honor of claiming you as my sister-in-law.”
Chapter 15