At Long Last Read online

  At Long Last

  The Southern Women Series

  Book Three

  by

  Shirlee Busbee

  New York Times Bestselling Author

  AT LONG LAST

  Reviews & Accolades

  "One of the best romance writers of our time."

  ~Affaire de Coeur

  Published by ePublishing Works!

  www.epublishingworks.com

  ISBN: 978-1-61417-706-7

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  Please Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Copyright © 2014 by Shirlee Busbee. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Cover and eBook design by eBook Prep www.ebookprep.com

  Dedication

  To John Westlund, the original family storyteller and legendary jokester.

  AND

  To Howard, for all the things you are to me and all the things you do for me.

  Chapter 1

  "You did what?" exclaimed Arabella Montgomery, her voice a mixture of horror and incredulity.

  Across the brief distance that separated them, her younger half brother Jeremy would not meet her eyes as he muttered, "I gambled away the plantation. Everything. We have nothing left."

  As Arabella stared at him transfixed, he sank down into a chair near her desk and buried his blond head in his hands. "Dear God, Bella, we are ruined! What am I to do?"

  Telling herself not to let blind panic seep in, Arabella took a deep breath. This particularly lovely April morning, she had been seated behind the desk in the small room she used as an office, humming happily to herself and looking for a recipe for making rose water. The tranquility shattered by Jeremy's announcement, she carefully laid aside the scrap of paper she held in her hand, and in a surprisingly calm voice said, "Tell me what happened."

  "I don't really know," Jeremy replied despairingly. "I was too drunk."

  With an effort Arabella bit back the angry recriminations that sprang to her tongue. Now, she reminded herself grimly, was not the time to take him to task. She would see to that once the current crisis was past.

  Suppressing a sigh, she stared at his bent head, not really seeing him as her thoughts turned to all the other crises they'd faced in the past few years. The sudden death of their father, William, just barely two years ago had been by far the hardest to bear and overcome—there were still days that she longed painfully for his calm, steady guidance and affection.

  Besides Arabella, his eldest child and the only issue of his first marriage, at the time of his death, William had left behind five minor children and a widow—his second marriage over twenty years ago, to the young Miss Mary Kingsley, having proven to be quite fruitful. Arabella had been ten years old when William married his second wife and after an initial stiffness between the two females, she and Mary had become fond of each other. As for her half siblings, Arabella loved all of them.

  In addition to the now twenty-one-year-old Jeremy, there was seventeen-year-old Sara, a budding blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty, who already had the young gentlemen falling over their feet in their haste to become part of her court. Fourteen-year-old Jane, her hair still in braids, thought that Sara was too puffed up with herself and could not understand what all the fuss was about. Nine-year-old George and seven-year-old John were too young to be more than a pair of limpid-eyed mischievous little imps whose antics left Arabella uncertain upon occasion whether to smack their bottoms or laugh aloud—laughter won more often than not.

  There were times, however, when she wondered what life would be like if her father had never remarried and she had only herself to worry about. She made a face, attractively wrinkling her saucy nose. She would probably go mad from boredom within a week.

  William's tragic death falling from his horse had only been one more crisis for the family to bear—although, by far, it had been the most painful and hardest to overcome. For many in the Natchez area, the years from 1789 to 1796 had been difficult, anxious ones, the tobacco depression reducing most planters to near ruin—including the Montgomery family. Only the invention of Eli Whitney's saw gin in 1795, the year William had died, had given them a glimmer of hope. The following year, everyone with any sense had planted cotton, and for the first time in years, the planters felt that they had a future.

  Arabella smiled sadly. She wished her father had lived long enough to see the near-miraculous profits of his five far-flung plantations last year. But having overcome one hurdle, another loomed—one that not only touched the Montgomery family but encompassed the whole Mississippi Territory.

  For as long as Arabella could remember, Natchez and the surrounding lands had belonged to the Spanish, and while she and her family were English, as were many of the other inhabitants in the area, they had lived well and prospered under the rule of the Dons. But that was to change. Last year all the lands east of the Mississippi River and above the thirty-first parallel claimed by Spain, which included Natchez, had been transferred to the control of the young United States. The entire territory was currently a hotbed of intrigue. Despite the treaty, Spain was showing a strong reluctance to turn the land over to the Americans. The Americans were grimly persisting in their efforts to oust the stubborn Spaniards, and rumors of an English invasion from Canada had been sweeping through the district.

  It was an unsettling time. There had already been riots, and amongst some of the rougher element of the town there was loud talk of attacking the Spaniards. Intrigue and plots were everywhere—Arabella was never certain when she woke in the morning if she would find herself and her family in the midst of a war, or if they were to be greeted by another day of surface placidity. And now this, she mused, her gaze sharpening as her thoughts turned once again to the present.

  "Whom were you gambling with, Jeremy?" she asked quietly. "I cannot think of any of your friends who would allow you to play for such high stakes."

  Unhappily his blue eyes met hers. "It wasn't a friend; it was Daniel Leyton."

  Arabella's breath caught sharply. "Daniel Leyton! Oh, Jeremy, how could you? You know that he is the most unscrupulous gamester in Natchez. You should have known that the only reason he would play with a stripling like you was because he knew you were easily duped. What were you thinking?"

  As soon as the words left her lips, she bit back further recriminations, cursing her unwise tongue. Having turned twenty-one only three months previously and having come into control of his inheritance at that time, Jeremy was painfully conscious of his youth, and he tried to compensate for that fact by attempting to act far more adult and mature than he was. Behind his back, Arabella and Mary smiled fondly at his posturing. Arabella was certain that, since he generally had a good head on his shoulders, he would soon enough become less sens
itive about the issue and return to his easygoing self. But chastising him and pointing out his youth just then were the worst things she could have done.

  Jeremy stiffened, and resentment was obvious in his expression. "Thank you very much! I come to you for help with the disaster we are facing, and all you can do is criticize me." But his resentment did not last, and, sounding very young, he muttered, "Oh, Bella, do not scold. I know I was a fool. What are we going to do?"

  "Well, I suspect that the first thing we need to do is get our property back," Arabella returned coolly—far more coolly than she felt.

  "Can that be done?" Jeremy asked with a frown. "A gentleman does not go back on his word, and I would never fail to pay my debts. I signed the vowels." He grimaced. "At least I think I did. It was all very hazy to me."

  Arabella rather thought that it would be. Jeremy was not prone to drink, and Daniel Leyton and his cronies were known for their hard drinking and less-than-fair play. Jeremy was just one of many young men who had come to grief at Leyton's hands. Only last year a neighbor's son had shot and killed himself over his gambling debts—gaming debts owed to Leyton. Her soft mouth tightened. That was not going to happen to Jeremy, Arabella swore fiercely to herself. They were going to get back those vowels if she had to steal them back.

  Appalled at her own thoughts, she looked at her brother and decided there was no reason to involve him in whatever she finally decided to do. She asked simply, "Do you want to tell me all about it?"

  Jeremy nodded. His eyes everywhere but on hers, he began, "Uh, we started in, uh, a little place on, uh, Silver Street."

  "Silver Street, Jeremy?"

  He nodded again, a flush on his cheeks.

  Wisely Arabella made no comment about his presence in the notorious area known as Natchez-under-the-hill. Its reputation was legendary up and down the Mississippi River, and the stories of knifings and killings, eager whores, free-flowing drink, and cutthroat gambling were more understated than not.

  "Did you go there by yourself?" she inquired. Silver Street was not a place that she thought Jeremy would gravitate to on his own. He was, in his way, an innocent young man and much preferred his horses and hunting to drink and loose women. In fact, she had seldom known him to partake of much more than a glass of hock before dinner. And as for women—he still blushed when addressed by the sisters of his friends.

  Jeremy tugged at his neatly tied stock. "The first night there were several of us—Tom Denning, James Gayle, John Roache, and Edward Crocker," he said, naming his usual quartet of friends. Arabella knew them all—every one of them a nice young man about Jeremy's age and station. She could not picture any of them leading him into the kind of situation in which he had apparently found himself.

  When Arabella said nothing and merely regarded him with a slightly raised brow, he added reluctantly, "And, uh, Vincent Walcott."

  "Ah," Arabella said softly, much suddenly becoming clear. Vincent Walcott was as nasty a piece of goods as it had been her misfortune to meet; but as is often the case with impressionable young men, Jeremy and his friends thought him to be a model of sophistication. Older than Jeremy and his cronies by nearly a decade, he was closer to Arabella's age than Jeremy's. He was a handsome man, tall and urbane, and came from a respected family, but his predilection for scandal and unsavory pursuits had made him somewhat of an outcast amongst the more staid planters and their families. Which, of course, coupled with his easy charm, elegant dress, and fine eye for beautiful women and horses, made him quite alluring to the younger set.

  Vincent's family had quietly disowned him years ago. These days he managed to live on a small inheritance from a great-aunt, supplementing it by methods that were not discussed in polite circles. Winnowing young fools into Leyton's net was only one of the ways that Vincent managed to maintain a facade of wealth. Jeremy was not the only green youngster Walcott and Leyton had befriended, fawned upon and ruthlessly ruined.

  "What do you mean by that?" Jeremy demanded. When Arabella looked innocent, he said, "You know what I mean—that 'ah', you just gave."

  Arabella shrugged.Only that Vincent's addition to your party explains a great deal."

  His defensiveness fading as quickly as it had come, he sighed, and said morosely, "I've made a fool of myself, haven't I? And ruined us in the bargain."

  "We are not precisely ruined and although your losses will certainly hurt us, the family does have a few other assets. You were reckless, but you've done nothing that half your friends wouldn't have done in the same situation," Arabella said gently. "You were flattered and excited by the attention that a pair of older, worldly men paid you and they took advantage of that fact. You are not to blame."

  "But I am," Jeremy said miserably. "I knew that Vincent was friends with Leyton, and everyone knows his reputation. And I knew that I should not have gone back the next night. Tom and Edward tried to dissuade me, but Vincent..."

  "But Vincent mocked their efforts and made them look young and foolish, and so you went."

  "Yes, that's exactly what happened," Jeremy replied, much impressed by his sister's quick grasp. "I thought I was being singled out by Walcott and Leyton because I was so much more sophisticated than my friends. I was quite puffed up with myself, believing that I was so much more mature," he said with loathing. "I realized late yesterday—when the enormity of what I had done became clear—and my head had stopped aching—that they had only befriended me to take advantage of me. And fool that I was, I let them."

  Arabella frowned. "This did not happen at one sitting? But several?"

  Jeremy gave a bitter laugh. "Oh, yes, indeed—I've been gambling with them off and on for nearly a month. I can see now that they played me skillfully. Teasing me, letting me win occasionally, letting me think that I was this incredibly lucky gambler as they baited their hook and lured me to strike. It wasn't until Sunday night—or rather the early-morning hours of yesterday, that they set the hook and landed me." He shook his head. "I should have known better, but I was caught up in the excitement of it all. We were drinking and we played for hours and hours—I lost all idea of the time—and how deeply I was plunging. On the last hand, I pledged everything on the turn of a card, encouraged by the pair of them to believe that I could win back all that I had lost that night—and other nights." Dully, he added, "Instead I lost everything, Bella. Everything." His voice muffled, he hung his head again and said, "Realizing what I had done, I lay awake all last night bracing myself to tell you and wondering if it wouldn't be easier just to kill myself."

  "Well, that would have been silly in the extreme—and cowardly. It was very adult of you to decide to accept your responsibilities," Bella said carefully, trying to assess just how serious he was about the latter half of his statement. Leaning forward, she said urgently, "Jeremy, we need you now more than ever. You are the head of the family and do not forget that your mother and brothers and sisters look to you for guidance. They would be devastated if anything were to happen to you. They need you, Jeremy."

  He looked up smiling faintly, and the hard knot of fear in her breast eased. "You are the one everyone looks to when there is a problem, and you know it, so don't try to bamboozle me, my girl."

  She grinned at him, her cat-slanted eyes crinkling at the corners, golden lights dancing in their sherry-colored depths. "Now who is bamboozling whom, my good young man?"

  A crack of laughter came from Jeremy. "Oh, Bella! What would I do without you? I was certain my life was over, and now you have me laughing." He sobered immediately, and asked, "But what are we going to do?"

  "I've already told you—we'll get the vowels back... some way." When Jeremy started to argue, she said quickly, "And if the worst happens and we do not, we shall not be as bad off as you think. If you will recall, I have my mother's fortune and the plantations left to me by my grandfather. Fortunately," she said dryly, "those you could not pledge because they do not belong to you. We may have to practice a few unpleasant economies, and, of course, Greenleigh is
not as grand or as lovely as Highview, but we shall survive. We shall not be destitute."

  Relief flooded Jeremy's face, and he stood up and took a few steps around the small room. Looking back at Bella, he said, "I had forgotten about Greenleigh—it is small, but it would do. I should have known that you would find a way to save Mother and the children. They were my first concern." His young face hardened. "As for me, you do not have to fear that I shall expect you to see to my welfare. I shall find some way to support myself and even if it takes me my whole life, I shall repay you whatever it costs to take care of the family." He straightened his shoulders.

  "It is my fault that we are brought to this point, and I shall do my best to see that the others do not suffer from my mistakes—I swear it to you, Bella!"

  He looked very young and proud as he stood before her, and Bella's throat closed up with emotion. Keeping her voice as even as she could, she said, "Admirable sentiments—and I would not have expected any less from you, but for the time being let us keep this matter between us. I do not want your mother and the others upset until it is absolutely necessary."

  Jeremy looked puzzled. "But Bella, there is no other solution. Do you not understand? I lost Highview and all the land I inherited from Father." He dropped his gaze and admitted painfully, "Even the lands and monies held in trust for the others—I have ruined their lives as well. We shall have to leave—although I am certain that even Leyton will give us a few weeks to depart the premises. Mother must be told."

  Bella rose to her feet and came around the end of her desk. Grasping Jeremy's arm, she guided him to the door. "Ah, yes, but she does not have to be told today, does she? Let us not worry her until we have no choice. We do not want her upset and anxious until we have everything worked out. You and I shall think on our problem for a few more days, and once we know precisely where we stand, we shall explain it all to her. Don't you think that would be wise?"