Frowning, Wes put the coin back on the table. It was odd that the girl would keep the gold when she obviously needed so many things. Her hair, greasy beyond belief, was pulled back from her head and, idly, he wondered what color it would
be if it were clean.
As Leah reached for the coin, she touched his fingertips and, her breath held, she touched them with her two fingers, marveling at the cleanliness of his nails, the shape of his big square-tipped fingers.
Bess set two mugs of flip on the table with a splash, while glaring at Leah. “Mr. Stanford, why don’t you tell my sister here about that beautiful young lady you’re about to marry? Leah’d just love to hear all about her. Tell her how pretty she is, how she can dance, what pretty clothes she has.”
Wes moved his hand away from Leah’s and chuckled. “Perhaps you should tell her, Bess, since you seem to know so much about my wife-to-be.”
“I think I’ll do that,” Bess said, grabbing a chair from a nearby table and moving it to the end of their booth. But a look from Leah stopped her from sitting down.
“I’d rather hear what Wesley has to say,” Leah said quietly, but her eyes bored into Bess’s.
Bess’s eyes held her sister’s for a moment. Why was she trying to protect her sister? Isn’t this what she’d wanted her to do? If only Leah weren’t so serious about the man. With a sigh, Bess left them alone.
Wes drank deeply of his steaming drink while he looked at the emaciated girl across from him, and wondered how long she’d been a prostitute. She certainly was good at getting a man’s attention in spite of her unappetizing appearance. The way she looked at him made him feel as if she’d been waiting all her life just for him. It was flattering, but at the same time it was disconcerting. It was almost as if she felt he owed her something.
“You were saying, Wesley…?” Leah prompted, leaning forward so that he got a whiff of her body odor.
“Kimberly,” he said, only half-aloud. It might be better to think of Kim or, heaven help him, he might be tempted by this fragrant witch. “You’re sure you want to hear? I mean, usually one woman doesn’t want to hear about another woman.”
“I wanta know all there is to know about you,” she said with heartfelt sincerity.
“There’s really not much to tell. We met about two years ago when she came to visit her brother, Steven Shaw. Their parents died when they were young and Kimberly was sent East to live with an aunt and uncle, while Steve stayed here with relatives.”
Wesley’s “not much to tell” turned into an hour of extended rapture. Wes had fallen for the beautiful Kimberly instantly, but so had twenty or so other young men, and he’d had a two-year courtship battle to win her. He talked about how pretty Kim was, how gentle, delicate, how sweet-tempered, how she loved beauty, books, and music.
Leah’s hands gripped the pewter mug so hard her knuckles turned white. “And you’re soon to be married?” she whispered.
“Early spring. April. Then the three of us, Steven included, are traveling to the new state of Kentucky. I’ve bought land there.”
“You’ll leave Virginia?” She gasped. “What about your plantation here?”
“I don’t think Virginia is big enough for my brother and me. For all my thirty-four years, I’ve been called Travis’s little brother. It’s made me want a place of my own. Besides, starting all over in a new land with a beautiful woman appeals to me.”
“You won’t return?” she whispered.
“Probably not,” he answered, frowning at her intensity. In spite of her looks and her smell, he found himself drawn to her. “The rain’s stopped and I better get home.” He stood. “It was a pleasure meeting you.” He tossed coins on the table for the drinks. “See you next week, Bess,” he called as he started out the door.
Leah was after him in a second, but Bess caught her arm. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Leah jerked away from her sister. “I always thought you wanted me to enjoy men.”
“Enjoy them yes, but I’m afraid you’re obsessed with Wesley Stanford. You’re going to get hurt and hurt worse than from Pa’s blows. You know nothing about men! All you know is how to plow and scrounge wild plants for food. You don’t know—.”
“Maybe I can learn!” Leah hissed. “I love him and he’s leaving soon and I have this one chance and I’m going to take it.”
“Please, Leah, please don’t go after him. Something awful will happen, I know it will.”
“Nothing awful will happen,” Leah said softly and was out the door.
Wesley was just mounting his horse.
“Will you give me a ride?” Leah called, stumbling along the path in the dark.
Wes stood still, watching her in the moonlight and wishing with all his might that the girl would go away. There was something about her that was almost frightening, as if it were fate that had brought them together, as if what was going to happen were inevitable. And damn! He’d been so good, faithful to Kimberly since they’d become engaged, and he’d planned to remain celibate until they were married. But it wasn’t worry of tumbling the girl that bothered him but her intensity, her seriousness. Why in the world had she kept that coin all these years?
“Let’s walk,” he said, holding the horse’s reins, not wanting Leah’s thin little body near his on the horse.