Eugenia's Embrace

"But why?"

"I can't carry a tune," Eugenia giggled, taking another bite of duck. "And you didn't tell me. How do you know such a big word as 'protegee?' "

"I've had some schoolin'," Drew answered. "And I thought you were supposed to have read so many books. You should have known what that meant yourself."

"Maybe I'm dumber than you think," she argued, feeling hurt by his implications.

Again, Drew pulled her into his arms, caressing her face, tilting her chin upward so their lips could meet. "This ain't no time for arguin', my love," he said. "Our time is too short."

"I know, Drew," she said, trembling inside with each added touch from Drew. She wondered if he would always have control over her in such a manner. It had to be true love for sure. Then she cringed inside when she heard horse's hoofs nearing, and the sound of carriage wheels squealing in the silence of the night.

"It's him. He's back," she said, suddenly rising. "I must rush. He may be fat, but he makes it to his room mighty fast."

Drew thrust the watch in Eugenia's direction, her having laid it on the blanket beside their picnic lunch. "Here. Take it."

"But you will be here in the morning, won't you?"

"More than likely, my love," Drew said. "No other way out of here 'cept by nightfall. I 'magine we can have some hours together tomorrow if you can get away from this Clarissa you speak of."

"Oh, yes," she whispered, watching him rise to a standing position before her. She tilted her face upward, feeling the warmth of his breath, then the softness of his lips as he bid her good-bye.

"Until then, my love," she whispered, then hurried from the room.

She became breathless when she reached the foot of the steep staircase, then stiffened inside, knowing that she had only a little

way to go to reach the safety of her room. If only she hadn't lingered too long with Drew. If only she could rush through the semidarkness before Frederick came up the spiral staircase. She stepped out onto the hallway floor, listening, then hurried on her way when she heard the tapping of Frederick's cane coming closer, up to the top of the stairs. She flung her door open, then closed it silently behind her, leaning against it, breathing laboriously. She put the gold watch to her chest and hugged it to her. She would always cherish it. It was a part of Drew. Oh, how she loved him. She could hardly wait until tomorrow. To be in his arms once again, to be carried to such heights of gratification.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

The clattering of horse's hoofs and the sound of carriage wheels against brick awakened Eugenia with a start. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretched, then bolted upright, remembering the night before… and Drew. Her eyes sought the clock on the nightstand beside her bed. She let out a loud gasp, realizing she had slept much later than planned. Being with Drew half the night had tired her more than she had realized.

Pulling a robe around her, Eugenia jumped from the bed and went to the bedroom window. Looking downward, she could see that someone had shoveled the snow from the brick drive that led to the front door, and she could see a black carriage pulling up in front. The roof of the porch kept her from seeing who it was climbing from the carriage, and she hadn't been able to make out who was in the carriage earlier because this carriage had a fringed top over it.

Knowing that visitors were a rarity at The Towers, Eugenia began to hurriedly dress. Her thoughts raced, wondering if it could be someone searching for Drew. And if so, why they had decided to check this house?

A light tapping on her bedroom door startled Eugenia to attention. She buttoned the last button on the back of her silken dress, a dress with a small blue and green background and small flowers dotting its skirt, adding a bit of spring to this cold day of December. She flipped her hair behind her shoulders, running her fingers through its long tresses, then went to her dresser, searching for the combs that her Papa had made for her. Then she remembered, Drew had removed them right before they had made passionate love. She smiled, thinking of him possibly clasping onto them all night, thinking of her, just as she had done, sleeping with his watch at her side.

"Eugenia? Aren't you up?" Clarissa's voice spoke through the door.

"I'll be with you in just a minute, Clarissa," Eugenia said, her eyes flashing toward the bed, so glad that she had remembered the watch. She hurried to the bed and threw the covers back and pulled the watch to her lips, kissed it softly, then tucked it inside some of her soft underwear in a drawer of her vanity. Surely no one would ever find it there. It would be there for her to pull out whenever she thought of Drew, and what they meant to one another. Something deep down told her that he wasn't going to take her with him when he left this house. But surely he wouldn't leave her. She could hardly wait until she could find some free time this morning to sneak up into the tower room. She could already feel his hands on her body, his lips parting her womanhood. No, she just couldn't let him leave her. How could she be without his love, and what he could do to her? But she knew that he had implied strongly that he was leaving. She would just have to persuade him to do differently!

The door flung open wide. Clarissa entered, frowning. "Eugenia, there's a lady here to see you. She calls herself Dawn. I thought you said you didn't know anyone in town?"

Shutting the vanity drawer with a bang, Eugenia could feel her face reddening, seeing Clarissa's eyes settling on Eugenia's fingers still tightly clutching onto the knobs of the drawer. Could Clarissa tell that Eugenia had just hidden something inside the drawer? Now Eugenia didn't know what to do. "Did you say Dawn?" she asked meekly, remembering Dawn well, and also how Dawn resembled her sister Elizabeth so much. "We met briefly that first day I arrived in town. She's the one who told me about the Hillcrest Hotel."

"So it isn't family or a close friend?"

"No, Clarissa," Eugenia said, not liking the third degree she was being put through.

"Well then, hurry along," Clarissa said. "We must present you in a proper manner. We don't want anyone leaving here saying you're not being treated right."

"I'm feeling a bit too faint again this morning," Eugenia said, brushing the back of a hand against her forehead, shutting her eyes momentarily. She was afraid to leave the room now, afraid that Clarissa suspected that she was behaving a bit irrationally. She was afraid too that Clarissa would open the drawer and find the gold watch. She would only have to guess where she had gotten it.

"We don't entertain guests in bedrooms, Eugenia," Clarissa said stubbornly, tilting her head upward. Eugenia had grown used to this stubbornness, and when she saw Clarissa's lips grow tightly together and her dark eyes snapping angrily, Eugenia knew that there was no swaying Clarissa in any way.

"Oh, all right," Eugenia said, now thinking of Dawn, wondering why she was visiting her. Eugenia had put Dawn and her parlor from her mind long ago. She took another fast glance toward the closed drawer, then walked on past Clarissa, but not before Eugenia gave Clarissa a look of dislike. Oh, if only Drew could take her away. She had to talk him into it. She just had to!