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Raven moaned way back in his throat for her words cut him far more deeply than her nails had. “No,” he denied forcefully. “Marrying you was the most honorable thing I’ve ever done, and even if our lives never run smoothly because of it, I’ll never be sorry.”
Eden did not want to debate the issue when he seemed so anguished over it. Taking care not to hurt him, she rested her hands lightly on his shoulders and leaned forward to kiss him. Her gesture was both sympathetic and enticing, but Raven did not respond as she had hoped.
Instead, he tightened his hold on her waist and set her on her feet. “I don’t want to lose myself in you again this morning. Get dressed, and we’ll go downstairs and have breakfast together. Since we can’t leave or tour the plantation, we might as well clean out Alex’s room. That will take us the whole day.”
While Eden didn’t look forward to that chore, she didn’t argue, and carried Yadira’s salve back to the washstand before going to her room. Once there, she decided to bathe before getting dressed and went outside to the room above the privy to do so. Water was heating on the stove, and not bothering to summon a maid, she poured it into the copper tub herself. She hung her wrapper from one of the hooks on the back of the door, and turned to step into the tub.
It was not until then that she noticed the small lavender shadows Raven’s impassioned kisses had left on her inner thighs. It seemed each of them had marked the other, but she bore only the pale imprint of his mouth, while he wore bloody cuts from her nails.
As she sank down into the tub, Eden knew there was a message in that contrast, and while its meaning taunted her, it existed only on the edge of her mind and refused to come clear. She stayed in the tub until the water was too chilly to remain. Then recalling Raven was waiting for her, she got out, dried herself off, tied the silk wrapper tightly around her waist, and hurried back to the house to prepare for the day.
Chapter Twenty-One
October 1863
The storm brought high winds that again left the shore littered with palm fronds and heavy rains that soaked the fields. Although not of hurricane force, it delayed Raven and Eden’s trip to Kingston for a week. They did not count the time lost, however, for Raven’s confident assumption that they could sort through Alex’s effects in a day proved to be woefully inaccurate.
At first Eden feared they would come across a reminder of Alex’s affair with Yadira, or possibly love letters or tokens of affection from other women he had known, but the room was devoid of any evidence of romantic liaisons. Other than a miniature of Eleanora, there were no mementos of her either. What his bedroom did contain were countless things that called forth a flood of memories for Raven.
Eden had not been surprised to find he had as perfect recall of incidents that had taken place in his childhood as those that had occurred since she had met him. It took little to catch his interest: a favorite waistcoat Alex had worn until threadbare and then never discarded, a dog-eared volume of poetry, or an unusual piece of jewelry. He would stop working then, take it to her, and with what usually evolved into a colorful tale, explain why Alex had treasured it. She was the perfect audience for him, and deeply grateful, he was willing to share so many of his precious memories. With such distractions frequent, they would often spend more time at the windowseat reminiscing than working to clear the room.
Occasionally they would look up to find Yadira standing at the door. She would shake her head and wander off, but she made no comment on their project, or the slowness of their pace while completing it. She had soon realized from the reverence with which they handled Alex’s belongings that she need not fear anything he had loved would be thrown away.
She had already known that Raven had idolized his uncle, and assumed Eden listened with such rapt interest as he spoke of him because she adored her handsome husband and would have been content to listen to him talk all day no matter what the subject. Having lost her only love, it saddened Yadira to be around the affectionate couple, and she devoted herself to her other duties as soon as she realized they did not need her help.
With their days spent in such a loving pastime, no new arguments had sprung up between the newlyweds, nor did they resort to recalling their old ones. At the close of each day, they made love with a touching sweetness rather than a reckless passion, but it was no less pleasurable. When fair weather returned, and Raven announced they would leave the next day for Kingston, Eden hated to see the tranquil week come to an end. Being with Raven was never dull, but she doubted they would have many other opportunities to complete a project with such perfect accord.
After the blissful calm of the plantation, the boisterous port of Kingston provided Eden with a noisy return to the real world. Bordered on the east by the rugged Blue Mountains, the town had a spectacular natural setting but it was as vulgar and corrupt a place as any in the civilized world. While Raven was eager to show Eden something of the town, he intended to choose those sights with care.
Eden, however, wanted to go straight to the Fife and Drum to meet Molly McCay. “You haven’t forgotten that I wanted to speak with her, have you? I’m sure if John Rawlings frequented the place, there are others among your crew who do as well. She ought not to learn of John’s death from some careless comment one of them might make.”
“No, I’d not forgotten,” Raven said, but he was still reluctant to escort Eden to the dockside tavern. “It’s just that you’ll surely be the first countess who ever set foot in the place.”
Eden was dressed in her gray gown and bonnet, and held out the skirt as she turned slowly in front of him. “Oh come now, surely I look more like an industrious captain’s wife than a countess, don’t I?”
How she looked was exquisitely beautiful, but that compliment stuck in Raven’s throat. “Well, I suppose we could go over there now. The place might not be too crowded in midafternoon.”
“Will we have to rent a carriage?”
“I wish that we did, for the Fife and Drum would undoubtedly be far more respectable if it weren’t so close to the docks. It’s only a short walk, however, so none of the sailors who enter the port can get lost on their way there.”
“My goodness, it certainly sounds popular.”
“That it is,” Raven assured her, and offering his arm, he left Randy to supervise the unloading of the cargo and guided his bride to the Fife and Drum. A drunken sailor had just been forcefully ejected and, after picking himself up off the walk, would have reeled into them had both Raven and Eden not been so light on their feet.
“You see what I mean?” Raven asked with a rueful shake of his head. “This is no place for a lady.”
“We won’t have to stay long,” Eden assured him as she peeked through the open doorway into the tavern’s dimly lit interior.
On a sudden impulse, Raven moved ahead of her. “Wait here a minute. I’ll go and ask for Molly. If she’s not working this afternoon, we needn’t stay.”
Before Eden could argue with that idea, Raven had disappeared into the smoke-filled tavern. She had no choice but to stand back from the doorway then, and try to ignore the curious glances she was drawing from the sailors strolling by. Only a few seconds had passed before three amorous young men mistook her nervous smile for an invitation to stop and chat.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty one,” the most gregarious of the trio greeted her enthusiastically. “My name is Robert, but I always ask women to call me Rob. This is Paul and Jack but you needn’t bother to remember their names.”
Eden clutched her reticule more tightly, but did not respond, a fact Rob and his companions failed to notice. Rob stepped closer still and again flashed a wide grin. “We got into port too late yesterday to have any fun, but we intend to make up for that today. Do you want to go into the Fife and Drum for a pint or two of ale first, or would you rather take us straight to your place?”
Eden did not appreciate the men standing so close. They were at least clean, and sober, but she knew she had done nothing to encourage their company and just wanted them to go away. The boys she had known at home were certainly a lot better at sensing a woman’s lack of interest but she hoped these men would get that message soon. Not wanting to be drawn into a conversation with strangers, she turned to look into the tavern, praying she would see Raven on his way out. Unfortunately Rob again misinterpreted her actions. He slipped his arm around her narrow waist, simply picked her up, and carried her inside with Paul and Jack following close behind.
