O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [35]
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. The only thing that Horace Kerr fears is public ridicule. So long as the news never reached his clubs or banks or the press, he wouldn’t give a damn. Just his fine name matters to him.”
“Was it worth it?”
“Hard to say, Amanda. After a while you stare at the rose pressed in a book of poetry and hardly remember what he looked like. What I do know about Horace Kerr causes me to shiver on your behalf. He was beyond cruel to your brother Upton, his only son.”
“And Emily, hidden away for none to see?”
Daisy sagged. “We won’t talk about your sister.”
Amanda arose deliberately and began to walk off.
“You’d be a fool to underestimate this man. He’ll stop you. He’ll stop anyone. The way your father adores you, he’ll destroy you before he lets you go, even if it means he must destroy himself in the process. Do you hear me, for God’s sake?”
“I hear you.”
“Hang on to this place you’ve won and learn to live in it. Don’t test him. Do not test him!”
• 13 •
THE PLEASURE GARDEN
Two Weeks Later
Something tickled Zachary’s nose. His hand rubbed it as he opened his eyes and yawned. He saw Amanda kneeling over him and smiled.
She had teased him to awakening with a stem of hay. Zach propped on his elbows. He was in the barn of the Inverness stable.
“I wasn’t expecting you to arrive till noon.”
“I got off duty early yesterday. Captain Storm loaned me his chaise. Anyhow, I got here in the middle of the night and didn’t want to make a grand entrance. The guard and his wife invited me to sleep in the gatehouse, but after I got the horse fed and watered, I decided to open a bale and bunk in here.”
“You must be hungry.”
“Always,” he said.
“Are we going to Chesapeake Park?” she asked. “You promised.”
“You got permission?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said.
“Let me grab my pack and clean up.”
Zach followed her to a kitchen as large as the one in his barracks. There were several servants’ tables, according to rank. A platter arrived with a Maryland breakfast, including fried chicken. “Sawyer will show you to the washroom. I’ll be back in a bit.”
He could not eat the platter clean. Zach gave off a happy stretch and followed the servant to a washing room and showers.
Zach returned to the kitchen and saw Amanda waiting at one of the tables with a black girl, of her age, sitting beside her, and assumed she was a member of the household staff. On closer look, the girl was dressed in a lovely way, with a stunning hairdo and a smart little bonnet perched on her head. She was altogether quite pretty.
“I want you to meet Willow Fancy,” Amanda said. “You heard me speak about her.”
Zach caught his bearings instantly, smiled and held out a hand gallantly. “Very pleased to meet you, Miss Fancy,” he said, and slipped onto the bench opposite them.
“Willow is my best friend,” Amanda said. “She was dying to meet you. Isn’t he gorgeous?” she asked as she turned to Willow.
Zachary blushed and became shy.
They made a half hour of banter, enough for Zach to realize that Willow was obviously educated and extremely well spoken. And finally . . .
“Zach, I had your chaise cleaned and your horse put out to pasture for the day. He might as well roll around and get a grooming later.”
“That’s nice.”
“Then off we go,” Amanda said.
Zachary felt a moment’s clumsiness, realizing Willow could not be asked to join them, but clearly the two girls had many such awkward moments and handled them with ease, embracing and bussing cheeks.
“He is gorgeous,” Willow whispered.
* * *
Down Butcher’s Hill they rode, pulled by a magnificent Hambletonian trotter. They skirted the docks, then went bayside until they were lured by the siren call of a calliope belching out “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” and soon smelled