For Her Love by Paula Reed Read Free Book Online Page B

the word as though it were sour to the taste. “But damn me if she’s not something very unique. And not just for her looks. She’s a thinker and speaks what’s on her mind. Why, she came right to the point about the way I profit by slavery…”
    “Aye,” Geoff cried, raising his hands to stop the tale ere it could be told for the tenth time. “And took it well when you challenged her, too.”
    “Is that not what you say pleases you most about Faith, that she gives and takes a challenge well?”
    Faith beamed at her husband. “Did you tell him that?”
    Geoff scowled. “Do not encourage her, Giles, else I shall never get a moment’s rest.” The scowl disappeared, replaced by a wide grin. “Aye, though, you’ve the right of it there. Choose well, Giles. Merely pretty wenches can be bought a plenty, there’s no need to wed for that.”
    Faith frowned, but the men ignored her.
    “And no need to tell me that,” Giles said. “As Faith’s father said, it seems Edmund might favor a match. It occurs to me now that, if his daughter is of an abolitionist bent, mayhap he challenged our policy on purpose. It may be that he wanted her to know my sentiments, as well. It gives us common ground. Still, the time I am there will be spent getting to know her some, seeing if she is what I first thought of her.”
    “Have a care,” Faith warned. “Try to see her for what she is and not what you want her to be.”
    “You’re much like your mother, you know,” Giles said. “Aye, I may know her only a little, but there is depth to this woman.”
    Geoff chuckled. “One can hardly fault a man for wanting to plumb a woman’s depths.” He was rewarded with an indignant shove from his wife.
    “‘Tis a serious thing, Geoff,” Giles chided. “It might well be that I can know her for years and never fully know her. I think that I would never find her dull.”
    He took a deep breath and tried to keep his thoughts clear. Faith was right indeed. He mustn’t let his obvious infatuation cloud his judgment. He would spend a bit of time at Welbourne Plantation, but he would proceed slowly, judiciously, reliably .
     
    *
     
    It was stifling hot in the kitchen, but not nearly as hot as it was in the sugar house, from which the sickening sweet scent of boiling sugar permeated everything. The smell was so overwhelming that Grace could hardly detect the spicy scent of pimento, or allspice as it was also called, which Keyah had been grinding. Keyah was the main cook, a wiry black woman with solid muscles despite her thin build. She sweated as she worked at a table on one side of the round open hearth and cook fire that dominated the center of the room.
    Grace groaned in frustration when Matu ran in, tapped her on the shoulder, and began emphatically gesturing about a ship.
    “Let it rest!” Grace cried. “Can you not see that I am busy?” She turned back to Keyah. “Aye, Keyah, the fish will be fine for dinner. Oh—and Mistress Welbourne is out of sugared almonds.”
    Keyah threw a cautious glance over her shoulder before muttering, “As many of dem as her eat, her don’t get no sweeta.”
    Predictably, Grace laughed. “Well, if they do no good for her disposition, we can always hope that she chokes on one.” Keyah laughed, too.
    Again Matu tapped Grace on the shoulder, and Grace brushed her hand away. “Gwey!” she said, using the slaves’ dialect.
    Matu gestured for the ship and then pointed to the back of the kitchen, in the direction of the sea. She grabbed Grace’s hand, tugging her out the door and toward the front lawn. Finally, Grace understood her maid’s urgency. Reliance , her sails billowing in the breeze, floated sedately into the bay.
    “He’s returned,” Grace breathed.
    Matu nodded and gestured to Grace to think on it.
    She had been thinking on it. No matter how many times she had told herself that it was a useless fantasy, she would find herself contemplating a life with this quiet man who preferred