Glorious Angel (18 page)

“Why? You didn’t mind my touching you in Springfield,” he reminded her.

“That was different. You didn’t know who I was then,” she answered nervously.

“What the hell difference does that make?” he demanded.

“Bradford, please! Let me finish my bath and get dressed first, then we can talk.”

“No! And don’t tell me you’re embarrassed in your natural condition, because I won’t believe it,” he said cruelly.

“Why did you come back?” Angela cried in desperation.

“Because of you,” he answered simply and came around to the side of the tub. “Don’t you ever take this necklace off?” he asked, lifting the gold chain from the water.

“No!” she snapped and grabbed it out of his hand.

“Why did you keep it, Angela?”

“It’s none of your business, Bradford, and it doesn’t matter anyway,” she answered.

“It matters because I gave it to you.” He smiled at her surprise. “When you explained how you got the coin, I remembered. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“It happened ten years ago,” she said, lowering her eyes. “I didn’t expect you to remember.”

“And my vest, do you still have that too?” Bradford asked, his brow raised in ironic humor.

“It’s in the bottom drawer of the dresser if you want it back,” she replied reluctantly.

“I don’t want the vest back, Angel. What I want is some answers.”

He reached down and lifted her out of the tub and quickly carried her to the bed. He started to remove his clothing while Angela grabbed her nightdress to cover herself.

“Bradford, don’t!” she pleaded earnestly. “Please don’t do this!”

“Why not? You were willing enough in our little hideaway. I wanted you then, and I want you now.”

“Not like this!” she cried. “Not in anger!”

“I melted your anger once, remember?” he asked brusquely and fell down on top of her, pulling her nightdress out from between them. “Now you try melting mine.”

Angela was torn between desire and misery, and her tears spilled freely. His body was pressed hard against hers.

“Tell me why you did it, Angela. Why did you give yourself to me that first time?” he asked in a soft whisper as his fingers traced circles around her taut breasts.

“Why must you torture me like this?” Her eyes were shimmering violet-blue pools when she
opened them to look at him. “Isn’t it enough that you hate me now?”

“I don’t hate you, Angel,” he said tenderly. “I admit that I was furious this morning, but that doesn’t mean I hate you. I just want to know why you did what you did. You gave me your virginity and I want to know why. I think you used me for some purpose you’re not telling me about.”

“You’re lying, just so I’ll tell you what you want to know! But I can’t, Bradford,” she said in a pitiful voice. “I can’t because you would never believe me.”

“What do I have to do?” he growled angrily, losing his patience. “Do I have to beat it out of you?”

Angela’s eyes opened wide. “All right!” she sobbed. “I love you, damnit, I love you!”

Bradford’s gentle laughter washed over her. “That’s what I suspected, Angel, but I had to hear it.”

Twenty-six

Angela awoke with a sudden start, half expecting to find Bradford in bed beside her, but she was alone. Had it been just a dream?

It was too wonderful to be real. She remembered it all clearly, telling Bradford she loved him, hearing his happy laughter when she did. He had made love to her then, gently, just like the first time. Afterward they had talked. She explained everything to him, telling him how an eleven-year-old girl had fallen in love, and how that love continued, growing stronger through the years. She told him what her feelings were that day in Springfield, how she had wanted her one day of happiness, not caring what it would cost her. He listened intently, asking only a few questions.

And then he had told her how he’d searched for her, about his countless trips. He said he had
thought about her constantly, dreamed about her, hoped for the day he would find her again and could make her his.

“And now that I’ve found you, I’ll never let you go, Angel. Never,” Bradford had said, words that made her the happiest woman in the world. They made love again, joyfully and passionately this time.

They talked all through the night, learning about each other, regretting the time lost to them. And then Angela fell asleep in Bradford’s arms. Or had she been asleep all along? Could it really all have happened as she remembered it?

“Lordy, Missy, I’s never knowed you to sleep this late before. It’s almost one, and everybody’s done had lunch already,” Hannah said as she came into the darkened room.

“Goodness! Why didn’t Eulalia come to wake me this morning?” Angela asked with wide eyes.

Hannah chuckled gleefully. “Master Bradford went and chased her off—chased me off too. Said he kept you up late last night talkin’ about old times, and you was to sleep till you woke by yourself.”

“Did he really say that?” Angela asked excitedly.

“Yessum, that’s just what he said.”

“Oh, Hannah, I love you!” Angela cried and threw her arms around the older woman.

“I loves you too, child, you knows that. And I can see you’s as happy as a babe bein’ born.
That’s good, that’s sure good. ’Bout time your wishes come true.”

“Oh, they have, Hannah, they certainly have! Where is Bradford now? Is he downstairs?”

“He’s in the dinin’ room, sippin’ coffee,” Hannah replied as she went to open the curtains to the day. “He’s waitin’ for you to come down, so’s he can keep you company while you eat.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Angela cried as she dashed to her large wardrobe and quickly picked out a gown of glossy cream-colored cotton.

“Slow down, child. That man ain’t gonna run away.” Hannah laughed again.

For a change, Angela wore her gold coin on the outside of her dress, and she put on a pair of dangling gold earrings to match. But she wasn’t about to waste any more time by pinning up her hair, so she just tied it back with a piece of velvet ribbon, letting the russet waves hang in loose curls down her back.

Angela ran down the stairs in haste, slowing to a dignified walk just before she entered the dining room. She stood breathless, growing weak from the warm smile Bradford gave her. He stood up and went to her, then took her in his arms and kissed her. He pressed her closer to him, squeezing the breath from her with his powerful arms. And then his lips left hers, and he loosened his hold. But he did not release her from his arms.

“Damned if I haven’t found myself missing
you already, Angel,” Bradford laughed. He held her with one arm and tilted her face up to his, then kissed her again, only softly this time. “I find myself wanting to be with you every minute. I hated leaving you this morning, but I suppose it would have been awkward if I’d been found in your room.”

“Hannah would have understood. She’s always known how I felt about you.”

Angela recalled all the times she used to ask Hannah about Bradford. She understood now why the older woman never wanted to talk about him. She had known that Angela loved him, but that he was engaged to Crystal. Sweet Hannah.

“Eulalia, on the other hand,” Angela continued with a smile, “would probably have been quite shocked.”

“Well, after I announce that we’re going to be married, maybe that uppity maid of yours will look the other way when she finds me in your room.”

“Married?” Angela gasped. Married to Bradford!

“For God’s sake, Angela, don’t look so surprised!” Bradford chuckled. “What did you think I meant when I told you I’d never let you go?”

“I—I didn’t think you would want to marry me,” she stammered.

“And why not? I’m not going to hide you, Angel.”

“But I thought you still loved Crystal. From the
way you talked last night at dinner, I was sure of it.”

Bradford sighed deeply, but his eyes were warm and golden as they caressed her face. “I did love Crystal once, but that was a long time ago, Angela. She killed that love when she married my brother. Crystal was part of my youth, and it took me a long time to get over her. But you are my future, and I want to love you and make you happy for the rest of your life. Will you let me do that? Will you marry me and let the whole world know that you are mine?”

“Oh, Bradford, yes! Yes!” she cried, tears of joy stinging her eyes as she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.

“Then I will make the announcement tonight at dinner. And there will be no long engagement, my beauty. A week or two will be long enough.”

“No!” she spoke sharply, surprising him with the sudden alarm in her voice.

“Very well, I’ll marry you tomorrow,” Bradford grinned. “But Father is going to be disappointed that he couldn’t plan a big wedding.”

“No, I didn’t mean that, Bradford. I meant we can’t tell anyone yet.”

“For heaven’s sake, why not?” he asked in a confused voice. But then his eyes brightened dangerously and his fingers tightened automatically on her waist. “You weren’t lying to me last night, were you?”

“Oh, Bradford, no!” she quickly reassured him, and was relieved to see the flame disappear from his eyes. “I love you with every breath I take. Whatever you want, then that’s what I want too.”

“Then why don’t you want me to make the announcement tonight?” he asked.

“Your family won’t understand, Bradford. In their eyes you have known me for only one day.”

“They know we met seven years ago.”

“You were a man then, but I was only a girl of fourteen. Though that meeting meant the world to me, your family would never believe you fell in love with me then. You still loved Crystal at that time and were planning to return to her. With no other meeting between then and now, your family would not understand.”

“Ah, but there was another meeting, Angel,” Bradford murmured deeply, the corners of his mouth turning up in a devilish grin as he pulled her closer to him.

“Bradford!”

He laughed shortly. “I suppose we must keep that enchanted encounter to ourselves, mustn’t we?” he teased. Then his voice changed to a deep, husky whisper. “Even I was beginning to doubt that I had you all to myself for that week in December—until yesterday. Yesterday, my life began again.”

“As did my life, my beloved,” Angela returned, joy filling her heart near to bursting. “But you do
understand why we should wait before telling anyone, don’t you?”

“No,” he said flatly. “I’ll just tell the members of my straitlaced family that I met you in Springfield when you first started school. I’ll say that I visited you often over the years, that I fell in love with you, but that you, with your thirst for knowledge, wanted to finish school before we married. And now that you’ve done that, I have come to claim you for my wife. Though it is not all the truth, it is believable. Will you not agree to that?”

“But your father will be hurt. He will wonder why I never once mentioned these visits to him, or told him that I loved you. He will wonder why you never wrote to tell him about us. And if what you tell the family is to be believed, then why have you stayed away from Golden Oaks these last four years when I have been here each summer? They will all wonder. Your story will cause Jacob to be very upset.”

“Angela, that story I concocted would be for Zachary and Crystal’s benefit, not my father’s. He’s not that gullible.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re not going to tell Jacob the truth, are you?”

Bradford sighed. “Why do you have to search for flaws, woman? It would have been better if you had stayed the illiterate farm girl. Then you would marry me tomorrow.”

“Then we would never have met again, and I would have died an old maid, loving you to my grave.”

“Perish the thought, Angel,” he grinned. “You will be my wife, have no doubt of that. And we will wait, as you suggest, but no more than a month. In a month the family will know that I have fallen hopelessly in love with you. But in truth, it took only one day—the day you gave your innocence to me.”

“Did you really love me then?” she asked, her eyes limpid pools of violet as she gazed up at him.

“Yes, only I didn’t know it until yesterday. I thought I only wanted you in lust, but it is so much more than that. You are going to be the mother of my sons, the mistress of my lands, the keeper of my heart. You are the woman who has wiped all others from my mind. I want to grow old with you and love you forever, Angela.”

“A happier woman has never lived,” Angela whispered, and brushed her lips against his, only to be caught and held in a fiery kiss that brought to the surface all the wonders of the night before.

“I will make the announcement the day after Crystal’s ball, and we will be married the following week. But, dear God, tell me how I am to endure this wait. You tempt me to my very soul. I haven’t the will to withstand you, Angel.”

“You didn’t feel the need to last night,” she teased him lovingly.

“But that isn’t proper, Angela. We will have to restrain ourselves now. So how am I to endure these many nights, wanting you beside me in my bed, but knowing I must wait?”

Angela’s ire was aroused. “Honestly, Bradford, you men really can be ridiculous. It’s all right to sleep with a woman, but once you propose to her, she’s taboo? Is that it?”