An Undeniable Passion Ch. 21

"But Billy, what if someone sees us?"

"No one will. Drake's gone home and Ginny's in bed. She was dancing so much tonight, she's probably already sound asleep. Come on, no one will see us." Billy was on the steps holding Elizabeth's outstretched hand, urging her up the stairs. Drake and Virginia watched them from around the end of the mezzanine. Elizabeth giggled and began to climb the stairs. Not wanting the young couple to know that they had seen them, they quietly ran into Virginia's room and closed the door. They both placed their ears against it.

They heard their footsteps outside in the hallway. From their staggering and the noises they were making they were kissing as they made their way to the end. The two paused outside the door and Billy whispered, "See? She's sound asleep."

They heard Billy's bedroom door open and then close. Virginia stepped away from the door with round eyes. She couldn't believe it. "My dear, you look positively shocked," Drake whispered.

"I am shocked. I never would have guessed that they were...that they're ... doing ... that!" she whispered back. "Not them!"

Drake chuckled softly. "You think you're the only woman with sexual urges, my darling?"

"Stop calling me dear and darling. I don't like it one bit." She glared at him and reached behind her back and began tugging on the lacings of her dress. She looked up in surprise when she heard a faint cry come from across the hall. She and Drake exchanged a look and she couldn't help but giggle.

He rose from the chair he was sitting in and approached her. "As enticing as it is to see you struggling with your gown, I suppose I should help you." He stepped behind her and pulled loose the ribbons of her dress.

"How did you get the corset on in the first place?" he asked.

"Elizabeth helped me earlier and I had assumed she would again help me now."

She held the dress to her chest. "If you remove the ribbons entirely, you should be able to loosen the corset without me having to remove my gown." When he didn't move, she said "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, but I don't want to loosen your corset while you still wear your gown. I want you to take it off," he whispered in her ear.

She spun to face to him. "I've had all I can take of you tonight! You can go to the devil! I'll sleep in the damn thing if I have to!"

He cocked an eyebrow and chuckled. "Such language from a supposedly well bred young lady!" When she continued to glare at him, he turned her slowly and pulled the ribbons out of her dress. He then proceeded to loosen her corset.

"Why didn't you ask Timothy to help you with this?" he asked, almost conversationally.

Ignoring his intentional error, she snapped, "You know very well why. He would have been most shocked by such a proposal!"

"But you think it's perfectly acceptable to ask me?"

"Our relationship is entirely different. I'm sure even you can see that!"

"Yes, it most certainly is," he said. He had loosened the corset and trailed his finger along her spine. A shiver followed close behind his touch.

She quickly stepped away from him and inhaled deeply.

"Finally, I can breath," she sighed happily. She turned to face him and taking a few steps back, in a brisk voice said, "Thank you for your assistance. Good night." She stood facing him, still holding up her dress, waiting for him to leave.

"Is that all the thanks I get?" he asked suggestively. As if on cue they heard another cry of passion from the room across the hall.

"If you think you're going to get something like that, you best think again," she retorted.

"I just want a kiss. Just a small, little kiss," he said approaching her again.

"You know there is no such thing between us." She backed away from him, but he kept walking towards her. He was driving her to the edge of her bed.

She stopped a few feet away from her bed and turning her head she said softly, "Could you please go? I really am quite tired and do not have the strength to fight you."

He was standing very close to her, and running his hands softly along her upper arms he whispered "Why must you fight me? Just give in."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "I can't. I just can't."

He knew that tonight was not a good time to press her and even if she did give in to him, she would hate him again in the morning, claiming that he had once more taken advantage. He bent his head and kissed her on the cheek, turned and left, closing the door softly behind him.

She let her clothes slide to the floor and she stepped out of them, leaving them where they were. She heard the front door close and quickly walked to the window. She peered out and saw him walking down the front steps and around the house towards the stables. He stopped below her window and looked up. She stepped back quickly, hoping he hadn't seen her. She waited a moment and moved forward again. When she looked out again, he was gone. She pulled off her remaining garments and pulled a nightgown on over her head. She crawled into bed and reached under her pillow for the amber pendant. With it clutched in her fist she drifted off to sleep.

Virginia was eating breakfast in the kitchen late the next morning when Billy walked in the back door.

"You've been out already?" she asked.

He hesitated and stammered, "Yes, I woke up early and felt like going for a ride." He avoided her gaze and sat down to breakfast.

"You were still dancing when I went to bed last night. What time did you take Elizabeth home?"

Still not looking at her he said nervously "I...um...I'm not sure what time it was." The rising sun had been peeking above the horizon when Elizabeth had kissed him goodbye outside of her house.

"We really should have had her stay over. We do have that extra room. Although, I can understand that it wouldn't be proper for her to stay overnight without her parents here. Imagine the scandal!" she said with false alarm.

"Yes, it would have been most improper."

Unable to resist teasing him she said, "I had the most unusual dreams last night. I don't remember exactly what they were about but there was an awful lot of moaning and crying out, but the sounds were coming from a distance. I awoke at one point and could have sworn that I could still hear them." She glanced at Billy and seeing his reddening face, she laughed. "Isn't that the strangest thing?"

"Yes, well, sometimes when awakening, dreams and reality do become blurred." Clearly uncomfortable he muttered, "Excuse me." He quickly rose from the table and left the room and Virginia had to struggle to stifle her laughter.

The servants she had hired for the party were to return that day and clean up. She was so relieved she had thought to do that, for the amount of washing up was enormous. Not a task that she would have wanted to undertake. She stretched and thought I really must hire a maid. It would be so nice right now to ask her to draw me a bath, but as it is I must do it myself. She rose from the table and adding the kitchen dishes to the remnants from last night, she stoked the fire in the massive oven and went to go fetch water.

When she returned downstairs, the servants had arrived and were making quick work of the dishes. She found Billy in the library, staring into the fire.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she sat down in a couch opposite him.

He looked up at her with guilty eyes and blurted out, "I can't lie to you, Ginny. Lizzy spent the night here last night." Looking away he said, "I took her home just before dawn."

Virginia laughed and said, "I know Billy. I was only teasing you earlier."

"You knew?" he asked, truly shocked.

"Well yes, I went to bed only minutes before you. I heard you coming down the hall and later in your room. You weren't being very discreet," she said smiling.

"You don't think badly of us?" he asked worriedly.

"No, I am certainly not one to judge that sort of behavior, when as you know, I'm guilty of far worse. At least you're to be married in less than a week," she replied, staring into the fire.

"Well, with the way Mr. Ogilvy has been talking you'll be married soon as well," he said, trying to cheer her up.

Forcing a smile, she said, "Yes, perhaps you're right.

Billy looked up at the clock on the mantle. "Drake will be here soon. He said he would help us take down the decorations."

As if on cue, Drake walked in the room. He bowed to Virginia. "Good morning Miss Templeton. Thank you again for the wonderful party. I thoroughly enjoyed myself last night, especially the latter part of the evening," he said, smiling at her.

"Good morning Drake," she replied, not meeting his gaze. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

"Good morning Billy. You were up quite late last night. Did you manage to sleep well?" he asked the younger man, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"Good morning Drake. Yes, I did thank you," as much as he tried he couldn't help but blush.

"Shall we get started then?" she asked briskly, walking out of the room.

Both men climbed up on ladders and began pulling down the swags of greenery that were still hanging on the walls and over the tall windowsills. Virginia gathered up what fell to the floor and heaped them into piles which would later be taken outside and burned.

After a few hours they decided to take a break. Virginia went outside for a breath of fresh air and to cool down a bit. She was sitting on a bench on the lower terrace when Drake came out through the french doors. She watched him warily, not sure if she wanted to be alone with him. He approached and sat on the other end of the bench. After a few moments of silence he said, "V, I'd like to apologize for last night. I was out of line and I'm sorry."

She stared at him in amazement. She wasn't expecting this. However, she wasn't going to let him get away with a simple apology. Turning her gaze from him she said," You were out of line several times last night, Mr. Stratford. Which incident are you apologizing for?"

He turned to her. "All of them. From the balcony, to under the mistletoe, to our brief dance and then later in your bedroom. I keep telling myself that I don't understand why you're continuously upset with me and then I look back on a night like last night and can't blame you at all. I would have banished me from this house long ago if I were you. I don't know why you put up with me."

Turning to look at him, she said, "You mean a great deal to Billy and although I hate to admit it," she lowered her eyes before continuing, "I do have a soft spot for you."

He looked at her with surprise. "You do?"

"Yes, I do. You've played a great role in my life. You brought me here and," she paused shyly before continuing, "you made me a woman. I'll never forget that."

"I thought you hated me for that," he said quietly.

"Isn't if funny how as time passes you tend to forget the bad parts of an event and only remember the good parts?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Moving closer to her, he touched a curly tendril that had escaped from the bun in her hair. "Yes, there were some good parts weren't there?"

Billy coughed loudly from inside before coming out onto the terrace. "Shall we get back to work?"

They rose and began to walk inside. She caught his arm just outside the doors. "Thank you for the apology," she said with a small smile.

He only nodded before stepping inside.

They worked for a few more hours and soon they were done. "Shall we take the extra chairs and left over alcohol upstairs to the attic?"

Virginia looked around the ballroom, crowded with chairs. "I guess we won't need quite as many for the wedding as we did last night, so we could take some of them up. How about we leave the alcohol and take up half the chairs?"

They spent the next hour hauling chairs up the two flights of stairs to the attic. When they were finally finished, Billy slumped into one of them and wiped his brow. "I wish you felt comfortable telling Mr. Ogilvy how to get up here, Ginny. We could have used his help with this."

Drake frowned and said, "We did just fine without him." Suddenly laughing, he gave Billy's shoulder a friendly shove. "Look at you, off the ship for only a few months and already complaining about a bit of physical labor."

Later, as Drake rode back to his house, he again pondered Thomas' lack of reaction to his conversation with Virginia the night before. He recalled Billy telling him that she suspected that he was more interested in her attic than in her. If that were true, it would explain his lack of action. It would suit his interests more to pretend that he hadn't heard anything. It only would endanger his plans to accuse her of lying and being untrue. If Thomas married Virginia and then found the treasure he could claim it as his own. Even if she chose the other man over himself, if that's what would truly make her happy then he would step aside. But if he was only after her fortune then he was going to fight to keep her. He had to find out what that man's true intentions were.

Virginia, Elizabeth and her mother were very busy over the next few days making final arrangements for the wedding. Dresses needed to be fitted for the women, suits for the men, decorations and food orders had to be finalized and any number of last minute decisions needed to be made.

The wedding was three days away and she was having lunch with Thomas.

"So how is Billy holding up? Is he excited about Sunday?" Thomas asked.

"He's trying to act all calm and cool, but I can tell he's so excited he can barely sit still," Virginia laughed. "He really is so happy to be marrying Elizabeth."

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "Weddings are always the happiest of days," he said, smiling at her.

She thought about how unhappy she would most likely have been had her wedding to Charles gone ahead. "I guess so," she said quietly.

"Oh my dear, I'm so sorry," he said quickly. "I forgot, how careless of me."

She managed a small smile. "It's alright. Lately I've been surrounded by memories of the preparations of my almost-wedding. I should be getting used to it."

"Are you all ready for your part?"

"Almost. My dress requires one more fitting and then I should be done."

Thomas took a sip of his coffee and trying to sound casual, asked, "And Mr. Stratford, is he ready as well?"

Noting his air of studied indifference, she replied slowly, "Yes, I believe he's ready. Why do you ask?"

"How is it working out, having him living in the out-building?"

"It's working out just fine. Thomas, is everything alright? Are you uncomfortable with Drake being here?"

Again trying to sound calm, he replied, "I just have a feeling that your relationship with him goes beyond friendship. I'm most likely just being paranoid and jealous." Taking her hands in his again, he continued, "I'm sorry, my dear. I didn't think anything of it until Doris kept mentioning how irresistibly handsome he is and I saw the way the women at your party reacted to him," he explained smoothly. "Forget I mentioned it, I'm being unreasonable."

"Well, he is very handsome, and women do flock to him, but I know him all too well and you don't have to worry about me losing my heart to him."

He noticed the scorn in her voice. "What do you mean? I thought he was a gentleman."

The memory of how she felt as the warm glow of lovemaking had slowly dissolved, leaving her cold, when he told her he wasn't going to stay in Virginia with her and that he was sailing back to England in a few weeks flowed over her. How he kept telling her he loved her and wanted her with him, when all he was trying to do was seduce her back into his bed. She gave a derisive snort. "He may appear to be a gentleman, but where a woman's heart is concerned, he is not to be trusted."

Recalling the conversation he had overheard a few days before, he knew what she was referring to and chose not to pursue it.