Southern Seduction by Brenda Jernigan Read Free Book Online Page B

two years since she’d lived the other life. From the moment Jackson had taken her in, she’d not had to work her wiles to get what she needed. At the moment, she felt pretty much like a brand-new virgin – well, maybe a well-experienced virgin. She chuckled to herself.
    Her maid, Millie Anne, swung into the room, a bright smile on her face. “Good mornin', misses,” she said cheerfully. “I come to help you get dressed. I sees you are already thinkin’ on what to wear,” she said, standing behind Brooke. “You got so many pretty things to choose from. I reckon you turned every man’s head back home.”
    Brooke chuckled. “Perhaps a few,” she said modestly. She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked over her selection of garments. “I believe I shall go riding today,” she said, over her shoulder. “It’s about time that I inspected the rest of the plantation.”
    “Fresh air will do you good.”
    Brooke was glad to have Millie Anne. The young woman seemed to be the only cheerful person in the entire household. She was pert and sassy, perhaps sixteen, and usually wore a bright smile, and her dazzling black eyes snapped with intelligence and humor. It seemed Millie Anne was one of Mammy’s nieces, and like Mammy, she was a free-black woman. Brooke learned that many of the workers on the plantation had been freed and now earned wages for working.
    “Is it cold outside?” Brooke asked.
    “Oh, yes ma’am. Or rather cool. Fall is in the air, and it’s only the end o’ September. Sometimes, October can be mighty warm, and dat’s good for sugarcane. If’n we get an early frost dat won’t be good. I heard the foreman say we’s goin’ to start cuttin’ the cane today.”
    Brooke had gotten used to the fact that once Millie Anne started talking, she would likely rattle on and on about whatever she was talking about. But Brooke also realized that she learned quite a lot of useful information from Millie’s ramblings.
    “What does the weather have to do with the sugarcane?” Brooke asked as she selected one of her several riding habits.
    Millie Anne moved over to the bed and began straightening the covers. “Dat dere cane is sensitive to cold. If’n we have a freeze, Master Travis will lose de crop. Somethin’ about the sugar won’t be sugar. Don’t know whats dey mean ‘bout dat, only dat, it ain’t good. Three years ago we had us a hard freeze, and Master Travis, he was in a real bad mood for a right long spell.”
    Brooke laughed. “You mean his present demeanor is an improvement?”
    “D--demeanor?” Millie Anne’s intelligent eyes narrowed with puzzlement.
    “Mood,” Brooke explained. “Do you mean that Travis is in a good mood now?” Brooke asked.
    “Yes’um.” Millie Anne smiled. “I even seen him smile a couple o’ times. But not much,” she added, fluffing the bed pillows. “He jus seems--” she paused, searching for the right words, “--kind o’ like he’s tryin’ to prove somethin’.”
    “Well, let me know the next time you do see him smile. I would really love to see that for myself,” Brooke said with a laugh as she brushed a bit of lint from the green, princess-style riding habit.
    Millie Anne giggled. “You sure do make me laugh, Miz Brooke. I’m sure you’ll make him laugh, too.”
    Brooke arched a brow. “Believe me, Millie Anne, that hasn’t been the case thus far.” Brooke shook out the habit, trying to eliminate the wrinkles, and then handed it to her. “I think I’ll wear this today.”
    The girl held up the garment so Brooke could step into it. “I used to work in de cane, you know. It be hard work. I sure like workin’ in de house much better.” Millie Anne tugged the ends of the riding jacket together. “Dis here was sure made fo’ you. It fits like your very own skin.”
    “I had it made that way.” Brooked tugged on the sleeves to adjust them. She inspected her reflection in the mirror. “I don’t like to wear anything bulky