Jessie_Bride of South Carolina Read online

  Jessie:

  Bride of South Carolina

  Rose Gordon

  JESSIE: BRIDE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

  Copyright © 2015 C. Rose Gordon

  All rights reserved.

  Amazon Edition

  Parchment & Plume, LLC

  www.parchmentandplume.com

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, events and locales are a product of this author’s imagination. If any name, event and/or locale did exist, it is purely by coincidence it appears in this book.

  This book may not be reproduced by any means, including but not limited to, mechanical, Xerox, digital, auditorial and/or in print without consent.

  If you obtained this copy illegally, please respect the author and her time enough to purchase a copy.

  Chapter One

  May 1891

  Williamsburg County, South Carolina

  Jessica Wilcox smoothed her hands over her full, pale blue skirts, inclined her chin, took a deep breath, and walked ramrod straight up the familiar, rotting steps that led to the porch of Joel Cunningham’s farmhouse.

  How many times she’d climbed these six creaky steps as a girl, she’d never know.

  But she prayed this would be the last.

  With another deep inhalation, she balled her right hand into a fist and gave the door a hearty BANG! BANG! BANG!that might give the inhabitant the impression that she was a big burly man of six feet and two hundred pounds rather than a petite woman of five-foot-one and not an ounce over one hundred pounds—soaking wet. Biting her lip, she glanced at the watch pinned on her bodice. He was taking too long. She made another fist and hit the door with another swift BANG!

  The door swung open before she could hit it again.

  “What the—”Joel’s words broke off, his lips forming a straight line.“I should have known it was you.”

  Jessie moistened her lips.“Wh-what do you know?”

  “That you’re the most impatient woman ever born.”He gave his head a rueful shake.“You can’t even wait three seconds for a man to answer the door.”

  At that, Jessie smiled.“Well, the good Lord doesn’t want us to be like the sloth.”

  He folded his arms across his broad chest, drawing her gaze to where the top three buttons of his faded white shirt were undone and offering her an unhindered view of the top of his tanned, hair-roughened chest.

  She jerked her gaze away. As long as he just thought she was impatient, that was fine. She cleared her throat.“I have a proposition for you.”

  He cocked his head to the side and let his blue eyes do a slow sweep of her form, then twisted his lips.“Not interested.”

  “Good, because I’m not interested in such a relationship with you, either.”She flashed him her best smile.“And I didn’t even have to clap eyes on you longer than half-a-second to determine it.”

  Reaching for the door, Joel shrugged.“Very well.”

  “No, wait,”Jessie burst out, throwing both of her open palms against the door to keep him from closing it on her.“You haven’t heard my proposition.”

  “I don’t need to. We’ve already both decided we don’t satisfy the other.”

  Jessie flushed.“Must you always be so forward?”

  “No. Not always. Just when I think it serves me best.”

  Doing her best not to roll her eyes heavenward in irritation, she said,“Perhaps you ought to save your clever wit for a female it might work on.”

  “So you think I’m clever and witty, eh?”he drawled.

  Jessie sighed. That hadn’t been what she meant, but maybe if he thought she was complimenting him he might be more willing to help her… “Perhaps.”She pushed her auburn hair away from her green eyes.“I need a favor.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “But you don’t even know what it is.”

  “It involves you, and that’s all I need to know.”

  She frowned.“Am I that horrific?”

  Joel twisted his lips again and tapped one long, blunt index finger against his chin.“No, you aren’t so awful. It’s more the way you act…and think…and behave…and—”

  “That’s quite enough, thank you.”

  Truly had there been anyone else to ask, she’d have done it. But anyone else would have gone back and told her father of her plans. Joel Cunningham was the only person in the county she knew wouldn’t. Pa had a way to charm people into liking him, or at least get them to do his bidding. Everyone, that is, except the Cunninghams. She didn’t know why, and she wasn’t concerned enough to ask.

  “I’m willing to pay you.”She held up her purse.“Quite handsomely, too.”Shaking her purse, she looked up at Joel.“Think of all the things you could do with this money.”

  His face hardened immediately and he reached for the door again.

  Panic raced through Jessie.“Wait!”

  He froze, his blue eyes hard as sapphires.“Go back to your castle and leave me alone.”

  In one short whoosh all the air left her lungs. Her castle?Had he forgotten how controlling her father was, or was he just being ugly about their difference in social standing? Jessie swallowed convulsively. Neither of those options boded well for her, but she didn’t care. She couldn’tcare. Her freedom was within arm’s reach and the only person who stood in her way was Joel.

  Throwing all remaining pride to the wind, she said,“I need your help.”

  “My help?”

  Jessie nodded.“I…um…I…”She wrung her hands together.“See, I…”

  He arched a brow at her.

  She swallowed what remained of her pride.“I need a ride to the train depot.”

  “In Charleston?”Disbelief, or perhaps that was sarcasm she’d detected, laced his tone.

  “Do you know of another one?”She bit her lip. Hard. That was probably not the best thing to say to him.

  “No. But I’m sure if you can find some fool willing to take you to it, he’ll know of a closer one.”

  “I don’t want another fool,”she said through clenched teeth.“I want you.”

  “Oh, do you now?”he asked with a laugh that lacked any trace of actual humor.

  She bridled.“You know what I mean.”Jessie let out a deep breath and idly fingered the strap on her purse.“I just need a ride to the train depot, Joel. Please?”

  “Why don’t you order one of your father’s servants to take you?”This time there was no mistaking his tone; it was full of disgust.

  “I don’t want anyone to know where I’m going,”she admitted.

  “My, my, Jessie, are you planning to disobey your father’s orders?”

  She gave a single curt nod, which garnered a chuckle from him—and a change in his eyes. Now, they looked almost mischievous. What a fiend.

  ~*~

  If this day could have been any stranger, Joel didn’t know how.

  First, the red-haired, green-eyed young woman he’d spent his entire adolescence dreaming about but was told he could never have had darkened his door. Then she begged himto take her to Charleston so she could disobey her father’s wishes.

  That sounded too good to be true. He must be imagining something.

  “Let me get this straight.”Joel leaned his shoulder against the doorframe and ran his hand through his hair, pulling it as hard as he could stand to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.“You’re on your way to the train depot in Charleston to disobey your father. You want meto drive you.”He dropped his hand.“And you’re willing to pay me.”

  “Yes, yes and—”she sighed— “yes.”

  “Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

  “I’m sure yours would be, too, if you were me.”

  Joel shrugged. Jessie Wilcox was th
e epitome of spoiled. Anything she’d ever wanted, she had. All she had to do was ask. Just like now, here he was actually considering taking her to Charleston. Not necessarily because he wanted to cater to her and her bratty ways, but oh to see the look on Mr. Wilcox’s face when he discovered Jessie had done something he didn’t approve of…

  Tell her no! One side of his mind shouted.

  Unfortunately for his conscience, the bitter, vengeful side of his mind was stronger.

  “All right. When do you want to leave?”

  Relief softened Jessie’s expression, but all she said was,“Whenever you’re ready. I’ve already readied the wagon.”

  “Readied the wagon?”He craned his neck to see around the side of the porch.“What wagon?”

  “Your wagon,”she said airily.“All you need to do is hitch up your horses. I’ve already loaded my things in the back.”

  Joel fought the urge to grimace.

  “I’ll go wait for you there while you—”she dropped her eyes to his bare feet— “get dressed.”She met his eyes.“Don’t be long.”

  “Yes, ma’am,”he said with a mock salute.

  Joel watched Jessie saunter out of his view before he closed the front door. This is a bad idea. Go tell her you’ve changed your mind. He ignored the voice screaming at him from somewhere in the far recesses of his mind and marched up the oak staircase.

  Five years ago Mr. Wilcox had warned Joel away from her. The old man would be furious with Joel for being the one who took Jessie to Charleston, but that was a small price to pay for the uproar the man was going to be in when he realized his most perfect prize had disobeyed him!

  Yes, Joel was morally repugnant. He just didn’t care.

  In his room, Joel’s mind raced as he looked through his wardrobe for a set of clothes that’d be more comfortable to travel in. Joel leaned over and peeked out the window. Jessie was already up on the bench of his buckboard. Her long cinnamon hair glistened in the sunshine as she kept glancing over her shoulder as if she were in danger of being spotted by the enemy at any moment—which she probably was.

  He jerked his eyes away and shut the door of his wardrobe with a loud thwack. Jessie Wilcox had always been a dangerous subject for him. Red hair and green eyes, she’d enchanted him from the time they’d first met. He was only ten and she was three years his junior, but that meant nothing. Something about her quick wit and wild curiosity called his attention to her even back then.

  No. I am not attracted to her.He snapped up a pair of socks and flopped down on his bed with a quick decision that his current attire was suitable He was traveling to Charleston to drop that siren off and rattle her father to the core, not attending a wedding. Who cared what he wore? He stole another glance at Jessie out the window and scoffed. She didn’t care about his attire, he was sure of that.

  Socks on, he pushed his feet into his scuffed, brown leather boots. He went back to the wardrobe to get a change of clothes for the trip then dismissed the idea. They’d be in a wagon for a few days, not dining with the president. He stalked over to his bureau, swept all the money on top into his hand and put it in his pocket, and then made his way to the door. Must not keep the queen waiting.

  Chapter Two

  Jessie tried not to stare at Joel’s broad frame as he lumbered toward the buckboard wagon holding the reins of the same two horses that had pulled the Cunningham wagon for as long as she could remember: Biscuits and Gravy.

  “I thought you were changing,”she said when Joel finished hitching the horses and had pulled himself up onto the bench next to her.

  “I did.”He lifted his filthy boot, then stomped it back down on the footrest with a resounding thud.

  Jessie heaved a deep sigh, trying to keep the smile off her lips.“And for that, I am eternally grateful.”

  “I knew you would be.”Joel released the brake on the wagon and snapped the reins.“Now don’t say I never did anything for you.”

  “You’re taking me to Charleston,”she pointed out.“Speaking of that…”She shifted in her seat.

  “We’re not reallygoing to Charleston?”he asked, winking at her.

  “Oh, yes, we are.”Jessie didn’t mean for her tone to be so hard, but didn’t offer any sort of an apology; instead, she clenched her hands tightly in her lap as they headed toward the only main road that led to the town of Lancefield, or better known as just Town. Crippling tension built within her. This would be the scariest part of their trip to Charleston since it was where they stood the highest risk of someone they knew seeing them.

  Joel drove right past their turn.

  “Wh—where are you going?”

  “This road will take us where we need to go,”he said easy as could be.“I might be fool enough to take you to Charleston, but I’m not fool enough to get caught.”

  “Will we still make it on time?”

  “On time?”Joel asked as he stretched out his long legs and propped his booted feet up on the dashboard.“I didn’t know we had a schedule.”

  Jessie mindlessly chewed her thumbnail. The fewer details Joel knew about her trip, the better. That way when Papa interrogated him, and Papa would,Joel wouldn’t have to lie when he said he didn’t know anything about Jessie’s plans.

  “There isn’t a schedule, exactly,”she said, feigning disinterest.“I just don’t want to be stuck in this wagon with you any longer than you want to be with me.”

  Joel snorted.“I hope this won’t send you into a state of hysterics, but we have at least four days of travel to get to Charleston.”

  “Four days?”She flushed at her obvious panic then cleared her throat.“So long?”

  “Yup.”

  She refused to bridle at his careless tone that matched his easy, casual attitude. She should have known he’d be so caviler. Joel had always been that way, which was another reason she thought of him as a means of transportation. She’d never met anyone else who’d just drop everything at a second’s notice to do something else if the something else was more intriguing or beneficial to him. Though Joel had enough manners to not directly ask Jessie how much money she was willing to pay him to take her to Charleston, they both knew it would be well worth his time to leave his struggling farm for a week.

  Frankly, she didn’t even know what he grew at his farm other than a small patch of common fruits and vegetables. It was obvious, even to her who’d never been made to sow a single seed in her life, that he only grew enough to feed himself—not any extra to sell or trade in town. What he did with his days, she’d never know and doubted it’d be to her best interest to ask. All that mattered is he was willing to take her to Charleston.

  Unfortunately Caleb McHale’s letter had only arrived yesterday saying he’d booked her fare for Tuesday the twelfth, and today was already Saturday the ninth. It had been a while since she’d received a letter from him, so it was possible his letter had been delayed in the post.

  It also hadn’t helped that she’d been corresponding to him through her friend Anna’s address…

  Jessie cleared her mind. She had a little less than four days to get there, but no more than that, and it wouldn’t do for them to arrive there without enough time to get to the train station.

  “Joel?”

  He didn’t take his eyes off the road.“Yup?”

  “Do you think we could be there Monday night?”

  “Could.”He shrugged.“Not likely, though.”

  “Not likely?”

  “No.”

  Jessie gritted her teeth.“And why not?”

  “Lots of reasons.”

  “Name them,”she said through her clenched teeth.

  “Any specific order, Your Highness?”

  Jessie closed her eyes. Why had she asked Joel? Because nobody would suspect he’d help her until after she was gone.She shook her head. There was no use in being irritated with him, no matter how much he tried to provoke her. They were going to be stuck in each other’s company for the next few days; causing tension so early p
robably wasn’t a good idea.“Alphabetically, please, kind sir,”she said matching his lighthearted tone.

  “Sung or spoken?”

  Despite herself and the irritation swirling within her, she grinned.“Alternate.”

  “Very well.”He hummed.“You’re a lady on the runnnnn.”He hummed three notes that went higher.“I’d like to avoid your father’s gunnnn.”He hummed another three notes.“We must go this way instead—or I’ll get a bullet in my head.”

  Jessie pressed her lips together to contain the giggle she’d felt welling up inside of her as soon as he’d finished the first part about her being a lady on the run. Thiswas the Joel Cunningham she remembered from her girlhood. The one who was clever and funny and didn’t avoid her or give her clipped answers.“This road can’t be the only reason we can’t make it by Monday night.”

  “It’s not, but we also left after noon.”

  “Well, last time I checked a calendar it was May and that means the sun will be out well past eight o’clock.”

  “It will,”he allowed.“But that doesn’t mean we will be.”

  “What? Why not? There’s no reason we cannot be out riding while the sun is still in the sky.”

  “And compromise your beauty sleep?”

  “What?”

  “Beauty sleep.”He gave her a slow glance.“You know all the sleep that’s required to make you so beautiful.”

  “Aaah, the sleep you’re clearly lacking—”

  “Yup,”he agreed without a bit of hesitation.“If I got any more then I’d be a danger to society.”

  “Oh, the way you already are one to yourself?”

  ~*~

  Joel grinned like an idiot. He missed this and until now he hadn’t realized just how much. No, that wasn’t true. When her father had first threatened him away from Jessie, he’d felt a sadness then. But that sadness and loss had soon been dammed up with feelings of resentment and bitterness. Not once since the day he’d sent her away had she so much as acknowledged his existence, leading him to believe more and more as time went on that she hadn’t minded losing his friendship nearly as much as he had. And to be quite frank, the knowledge was crushing. She was nothing more than a spoiled brat and he was replaceable.