Share
Chapter 31
Feeling the need for some fresh air, Stephen excused himself and started toward the rear exit. Thinking better of it, he turned and asked Elizabeth to join him. Smiling timidly, she accepted his arm and allowed him to guide her down the cool, dimly lit corridor toward the back of the house.
“I much prefer this part of the house,” Stephen said quietly.
“Might I ask why?” Elizabeth responded, hoping her nervousness did not show in her voice.
“‘Tis quiet and unpretentious,” Stephen replied.
“You find the main part of the house pretentious?” Elizabeth asked with mild surprise.
“Nay, not at all, I just prefer this. I fear I am a simple man who lives amongst splendor,” Stephen said.
He cursed himself for his fumbling words. Why was it that he became such a bumbling oaf whenever he was in her company?
Elizabeth smiled sweetly and moved closer as he guided her through the doorw
Related chapters
Love Misunderstood Chapter 32
The church bells echoed across the plantation grounds as they announced the happy reunion of Elizabeth and Stephen. Elizabeth somehow found it in her heart to spend time with Paulette and form some semblance of a friendship with the much changed socialite. This was something that pleased both Stephen and Arthur greatly.Paulette recovered from her injuries enough to attend the wedding. Although still sore and subdued, she managed to carry herself as efficiently as any lady of Savannah society might in her condition while she held Arthur’s arm on her left and her mother’s arm on her right.Arthur and Margaret managed to work out a truce as well as an arrangement for her funds to continue to be sent to her trust from his new plantation in Jamaica. She had no desire to visit such a barbaric island, which suited him just fine.Now that his sister was settled in her rightful place at her husband’s side, Herald was ready to brave the formidable
Love Misunderstood Chapter 1
March 1799 She made her way down the darkened alley between buildings that were constructed in such a way that the brilliant moon beams did not stand a chance of illuminating it. Her face laden with oversized spectacles distorting her vision and suffering from a mild case of night blindness, she did her best to steer clear of the multitude of hazardous obstacles cluttering the taxing and never ending journey to her destination.Elizabeth wished she dared remove the cumbersome wire rimmed spectacles assaulting the bridge of her delicate nose and prominent cheekbones. Finding her way through the poorly lit streets in the dark haze of predawn London was difficult enough without being encumbered by blurred vision. They were not even her glasses. Her vision was perfect. She secretly snatched them from the estate overseer’s desk just before departing to help with her disguise. Since the spindly old man kept a variety of vi
Love Misunderstood Chapter 2
Stephen leaned against the ship’s weathered rail and made a mental note of its need for maintenance while he watched the English shore transform into a tiny, thin line that looked about to fall off the edge of the ocean’s waters. It was good to be back on the open sea, even if it was under such unhappy circumstances. Sailing always made him feel free and alive. It was a feeling he especially craved after the heartache and trauma the last few months provided.The stuffiness of London society was in stark contrast to the freedom of his life in the raw and newly formed United States. Even if he had not learned of his bride’s voyage to the new world, he would have returned to it eventually. His bride’s outrageous antics provided him with the excuse to do so earlier, and with his father’s blessings.Upon summons of his ailing father Stephen returned to England immediately, although reluctantly. The affairs of his family’s estate wer
Love Misunderstood Chapter 3
Elizabeth leaned against the rail on the deck of the intolerably crowded ship and tugged the oversized hood of her fur lined, thick red lamb’s wool cloak closer around her face. Its softness provided a touch of comfort to her poor suffering head that felt like it had been struck by a massive blunt object. Her stomach fared no better. It was so incredibly twisted from the incessant tossing of the unkind sea it was impossible to hold anything in it. In fact, she emptied it to such an extent she feared the actual stomach lining was next to rise. At times, when she leaned against the rail and silently begged the waters for mercy, she was certain she heard the waters laughing wickedly at her misery.Not wanting to raise eyebrows or suspicion, the doctor purchased tickets for their passage as uncle and niece. Realizing she would be required to walk out of her home without luggage, he commissioned a new wardrobe and toiletries to be made ready in time for their voyage. Althoug
Love Misunderstood Chapter 4
Rain pelted against Stephen’s hunched back as he paced the deck, oblivious to its bitter cold. The ship’s captain, Jackson Sims, had just forged his way through the wet fury to advise him it was unwise to remain topside. The waves raged like giant mountains of bluish white foam around them, roaring thunderously while they tossed the sparsely manned frigate to and fro.Stephen grudgingly thought it his right to do as he chose on his own ship while he nodded to the captain as a means of appeasement. His mood was as angry as the waters. They suited each other.Stephen’s choice to stay topside was soon changed when he was almost seized by a wave determined to make him a prisoner of the water’s depths. Saved by his good footing and quick reflexes, he decided to heed his captain’s advice and go below.His cabin was a fraction of the size one might expect the ship’s owner to occupy. He spared the more spacious quarters for Jackson Si
Love Misunderstood Chapter 5
Elizabeth stood up and slowly paced around the room while stretching her aching back and legs in a cat-like manner. It was three weeks since she and Sally were dragged ashore and shoved into a dank, sparsely furnished and poorly lit room. The small window, that was far too high above the floor for either of them to see out of, afforded their only cool, fresh air. This came only in the wee hours of the morning before the blazing Charles Town sun arose high in the sky and turned their tiny room by the sea into a veritable steam room. The intense heat accentuated the pungent smells of the active streets beyond the confines of the tiny, box-like prison.They were told little about where they were or what fate lay in store for them. Although no one touched Elizabeth in the same manner as the captain, Sally was not so lucky. At least once daily and sometimes more often, she was forcefully dragged out of the room, kicking, and screaming, and returned several hours later, bruis
Love Misunderstood Chapter 6
The night proved to be long and tortuous.Sally took on a persona that Elizabeth hardly recognized. She grew more and more abrasive and bold with every return from the ravishing of their detestable captors.When they were first placed in the tiny, smelly room, it went without saying that Elizabeth would be the occupant of the single lumpy cot in their tiny box-like environment. Other than a worn looking wooden table and two dangerously rickety chairs, it was all the furnishings provided. Sally made a bed on the pile of rags and hay tossed on the floor in the corner. Since Sally never experienced sleeping arrangements even remotely as comfortable while in the service of the Jameson estate, she was content with the arrangement.That night Sally laid claim to the cot, suggesting Elizabeth start getting accustomed to living in the style of a slave and be thankful that there was at least some softness beneath her. Elizabeth recognized the truth in Sally’
Love Misunderstood Chapter 7
The sun was exceedingly hot for such an early morning hour as Paulette Moore grudgingly left the pleasures of a lazy hammock nestled in the shade of the hemlock grove to join her brother, Arthur, inside their Georgian mansion. He promised to take her to market in Charles Town and purchase a slave for her birthday. She could hardly wait.Her damned fool personal attendant, Jane, a comely mulatto who was a gift from her parents on her tenth birthday, smuggled herself into the bed of a field hand, got pregnant, and died giving birth. Now she was left to struggle with the clumsy ministrations of the unschooled hands of one of the second floor maids. Of course, the child Jane bore still lived and now belonged to Paulette, but he was of no use to her until he was at least three or four years of age.It certainly would not hurt if her brother gifted her with another slave or two as part of her dowry. Slaves were a commodity, after all. It was no secret the greater the dowry t
Latest chapter
