ROSEDALE IN APRIL
Chapter Twenty-Three

Rated NC-17 for Content

Diamond Bessie’s Saloon and Brothel, a two-story clapboard structure painted in complementing shades of green and trimmed in burgundy, was located on a bluff bank overlooking the river, far enough from downtown Jefferson so when business heated to the boiling point the township wouldn’t be offended. River traffic was bustling before the war. Boats could dock right at Marie’s doors and clients could slip in and out of the shady establishment without showing their faces. However, there were no boats tonight. Hadn’t been too blasted many since the onslaught of the conflict; therefore, business as usual had seemingly become a distant memory. Not only that, but the torrential April spring rains had swelled the river to near flood stage and the fast, raging currents could be dangerous to even the bravest of souls.

Union Army Captain Jack Dalton sat at a round table drinking whiskey, chain smoking, playing poker, and silently debating. He had his back to the staircase and landing that led up to the gem-named rooms carrying on the bordello’s seedy business, facing the outside swinging doors. Loud player piano music banged, thick foggy smoke choked, liquor glasses and mugs clinked, dozens of indiscernible conversations with occasional shouts droned, all aiding to a constant roar in Jack’s head. Tommy, Fabrizio, and several other soldiers joined their commander in the card game and shortly, Miss Marie Dupuis strolled over and placed a stroking hand on Sergeant Ryan’s shoulder that awarded her a sly wink from her former dalliance.

"Glad you boys could make it. ‘Bout time yaw took me up on my invitation and decided to pay my pleasure palace a call." Marie welcomed in a gravely voice.

Jack cast the proprietress a furtive glance and simply nodded in greeting and continued staring at his poker hand before blowing out a cloud of smoke and setting down an empty glass. He motioned for another drink from the bartender as his betraying mind began to wonder in a direction he had promised himself that it wouldn’t…at least not for this fateful night.

That morning during breakfast at Rosedale, after announcing to his men that tonight would be a chance for much needed recreation in the nearby tavern, every man present had ridiculously transformed into horny juveniles anticipating their first lay. You couldn’t wipe those silly grins off their beaming faces if you’d informed them the North had lost the damn war! Yet, Rose had been fashionably tardy to the meal as usual. Usual…hmm…well not quite! She had been pale and cool and withdrawn with a pasted on fake smile that never quite reached those haunting sage green eyes. Matter of fact, she hadn’t uttered a single word or even afforded him a glance until she nonchalantly commented that she had Lizzie draw him up some bath water for the special occasion. And then, without warning, she sarcastically teased but with a hard glint in her eyes, "We can’t have you offending one of Marie’s girls, now can we, Captain?"

Later as he relaxed in the over-sized tub, Rose had suddenly appeared in the master’s bathing chamber like a mystical apparition. Scared the holy daylights out of him! She must have sensed his unwarranted fear, or maybe it was the guilt that forced him to nervously jump and nearly tip the tub over in a heart stopping instant. Rose cackled a peculiar laugh before sweetly feigning, "Captain, do you need to wash your hair? I’ll gladly rinse it with some fresh water if you like."

Although skeptical, Jack warily agreed just to be doted on for once by the fiery hellion. Closing his tired eyes, he attempted to put himself in Rose’s shoes and to understand what was going through that inscrutable mind of hers. Of course, he shouldn’t have been so stunned. If anything, he should have learned after these past few weeks not to put anything past the exasperating wench. Freezing, ice cold chunks of water sloshed over his head causing his breath to stick in his chest in a sharp whoosh. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think…at least about nothing but the pain stabbing his body like a thousand knives all over. He couldn’t comprehend anything right then but the all consuming chilling pain drawing his balls up into his groin like fleeing cowards. And then before his tongue could even curl to viciously curse, she had hastily exited the door throwing back over her shoulder in a prophetic cautionary manner, "Have fun tonight, Captain Dalton. Just remember…be careful what you wish for…you might get it!"

And then she was gone like a fleeing elusive ghost…he hadn’t seen her for the rest of the day, made herself quite scarce needless to say. Good thing, too, he inwardly reasoned. For he didn’t want to meet those damning, defiant eyes that might cause him to rethink his disheartening decision and change his mind. A resolution not easily reached but one that was necessary for her…for him…for them. Jack had to prove to himself that there was life and love after Rose. He didn’t know which war was worst, the war between the States or the war being waged in his heart. Because regardless of the outcome, he couldn’t fathom a victory for either side. For Jack never wanted to intentionally hurt Rose…this was never a vindictive decision but one strictly of necessity. Mental exhaustion overwhelmed him. He wanted to pound his head against the wall—to knock some sense back into it. Soothe the pain…soothe the turmoil…and the self-recrimination.

Astutely, Jack redirected his thinking to the poker game at hand when Tommy spoke up and said, "I’ll raise you…"

There was a whole new set of sated faces around the smoke-filled, noisy tavern now. Obviously, they had enjoyed their carnal fun and the next group of patrons had alighted the fabled stairway to heaven consisting of a vast variety of jewel colored doors. Jack inwardly chuckled pondering if they had all drawn straws for firsts. About that time, Sven heavily slumped down in the chair next to his with half closed eyelids and a goofy grin twisting his lips bragging about the adept whore he had just bedded in the notorious Ruby Room. He hollered something to his best pal, Olaf, and motioned with his head that it was his turn prompting the big man to practically run up the stairs like a charging rutting bull. Something about it all seemed so decadent…so dirty…so nasty, and for the first time in Jack Dalton’s life, he felt out of place in a whorehouse. And his stomach rumbled and rolled in disgust as he took yet another swig of hard corn whiskey.

In quick succession, Jack chased down another stiff drink. Marie cast him a knowing grin and graciously offered, "Captain…if you’re ready, I’ve saved a very special gal especially for you tonight. It’s her first stint as a lady of the night."

"What…is she a virgin or something?" Jack skeptically laughed while blowing out a stream of smoke.

"No…she assures me that she’s not. But she’s in the Emerald Room waiting though for her first paying customer!" Marie chuckled with a hint of amusement.

For a moment, Jack almost took the bait but then his eyes collided with Tommy’s for a split second and then slid to the wide innocent brown eyes of Private di Rossi. This was his chance to make amends to the pup for his punishing outburst last night. Moreover, for an absolution for all that selfishness he had harbored and had been mulling over recently.

"Give her to Fabrizio, Miss Dupuis. This being his first time and all…he deserves something special." Jack heartily slapped the blushing boy on his back before playfully ruffling his hair and holding up his drink in a toast. However, Marie visibly paled before protesting, "Are you sure, Captain? You don’t know what you’re missing." Marie tried hard to conceal her anxiety and the slight quaver in her voice thick with uncharacteristic disappointment.

"Positive," Jack determinedly affirmed. "I’m all tuckered out of inexperienced special females. Just give me the raunchiest girl you got…whenever she’s available and let the boy here find out what he’s been missing."

At that point Sven obnoxiously spoke up. "Then you need to take a turn on Meesha, Captain Dalton. She just turned me every which way but loose. She’s doing Olaf right now but knowing him, he won’t be able to last very long with that one! Holy Mother of God!"

Jack crooked a doubtful brow and cast Marie an unreadable blank expression, "That truth, Miss Dupuis?" Jack swallowed hard simultaneously rubbing the back of his tense neck.

"Meesha is very experienced in the art of erotica, Captain. But I disagree with your man here. She doesn’t like to be rushed and this might take awhile. So enjoy your liquor and game and let me go and check on the sweetie for your Private here first. Calm her nerves and see if she’s ready yet. Then, we’ll get this show on the road so to speak." Marie deceivingly deluded. But as she climbed the stairs, Marie made the sign of the cross across her chest before murmuring, Yes, all hell was fixing to break loose in Texas tonight!

Marie knocked once and hastily entered the Emerald Room. A gasp of surprise escaped her throat when she glimpsed the beautiful, alluring girl awkwardly posed before her. Rose’s red hair was twisted up in a tortoise shell butterfly comb with tendrils hanging haphazardly down the front and back. She wore a sheer beige wrap that resembled a sparkling veil over her curvaceous figure…a transparent covering that whispered of seductive sophistication. An ivory lace camisole of the thinnest embroidered batiste provocatively peaked through underneath. Flickering candles basked the greenish hued room with a romantic aura casting luminescent shadows in strategically placed locations. Rose’s scantily clad breasts stood high and full bathed in candlelight, the tips painted like dusky rosebuds. Her complexion glowed as pale as magnolia blossoms as her eyes shone dark green tonight like their permanent shiny waxen leaves. The sweet perfume of night jasmine tickled her senses and Marie instinctively knew, no sane man could ever resist such a temptress. Consequently, that lucky lost soul would blindly follow Rose to the ends of the earth or into the very depths of hell to possess her and make her his. The Captain is so foolish to deny his heart’s desire! "Mon Dieu, Rosa. You look magnifico!"

"Do I really, Marie? Is he coming?" The words gushed out in a heated anxious rush.

"No, Rosa, he’s not." Yet, Marie thought twice about lying to her cousin but wisely chose to be completely honest. Deception and lies were not traits the two ever allowed between them and she wasn’t going to start now…not for a damn blue-bellied Yank’s benefit! Oh, Marie wasn’t fooled by the Captain’s ploy. She saw right past it. Heavily drinking hard liquor to work himself up so he could go through with bedding another. Such an idiot…men, no wonder this war was interminably dragging on and ruining her business!

For an instant, Rose’s emerald eyes lit up and she excitedly grasped Marie’s hands. "He’s not going to be with anyone tonight? Oh yes, oh yes, I knew he cared, Marie!"

Marie took a deliberate deep breathe and negatively shook her head steeling herself for the heartbreak that she was about to bear witness to in the naive girl. "I’m so sorry, Rosa. Unfortunately, the Captain has foolishly opted to give his turn to the young Italian Private while Captain Dalton has decided to take Meesha instead."

Every hint of color left Rose’s shocked visage. Alas, stunned realization tragically sank in before peridot gems began to glitter like diamonds with unshed tears. Her trembling hand slowly came up to cover a quivering parted garnet mouth as her eyes widened in first confusion, then dawning, and finally heart sinking hurt. "Meesha? The same girl that’s been poking at least two different men in the next room since the Yankees got here? He wants her and not me?" Rose croaked in a voice heavily laced in misery and despair.

A slight hesitant sympathizing nod was her only answer. The only noises that could be discerned were muffled voices from down below and the tell-all squeaking bed springs that had been continual for the last couple of hours in the Ruby Room next door.

"The filthy, no good for nothing son of a bitch! These walls are so thin, Marie. I can hear everything…every move, every moan…oh, God…how can I bear this?"

"Rosa, let’s get you dressed and I’ll have someone escort you back home to Rosedale…"

"NO!" Rose cut her off. Huge emerald pools gradually became narrowed chips of ice. Turning her back, Rose ground out, "Marie, as soon as that damn, dirty bastard comes upstairs to do Meesha, I want you to send up Fabrizio."

"But, Rosa!" Marie vehemently protested in shocked surprise and trepidation.

"Do it, Marie. Two can play at his trashy little repulsive game. He doesn’t own me!"

Downstairs, Jack had been chug-a-lugging strong spirits for nigh to a trio of hours now…drowning his guilty conscience, numbing the deep reservations, tearing down all inhibitions. But despite his inebriation, his heart still protested while his mind spun around like a top. So it was with much dread and disdain when Meesha, the most vulgar harlot at Diamond Bessie’s abruptly plopped down in his lap.

The first thing that assailed his offended nostrils was the smell of stale, cheap perfume followed by the distinctive odor of sweat and sex…lots of sex. Eyes as dark as midnight wickedly stared into his squinted blue orbs as a hand flagrantly slid down his chest to his flaccid crotch. Painted bright ruby lips twisted into a saucy grin before a bawdy laugh left her chest…breasts that was surprisingly flat for a saloon girl. Meesha, a quadroon, stood close to six foot tall and was a bit fleshy in the waist and hips for his tastes. But what the hell, whore mongers couldn’t be choosy!

Marie’s most flamboyant prostitute was decked out in a red satin and black sequined dress with black net hose topped off with a gaudy scarlet ostrich feather stuck in her coarse ebony hair. Not an ugly or pretty woman, but one as different from Rose as day and night. Jack found himself unconsciously comparing their physical characteristics and even the red dress that the whore wore to that of the other half of his heart. He’d never forget Rose’s so-called wedding dress of glittering garnet velvet that first night at Rosedale and all that had followed afterwards. Get out of my mind! Jack silently raged.

Immediately, Meesha leaned forward and annoyingly simpered loud enough for the entire table to overhear, "Wanna poke, honey man? Fill me up like those well hung studs sitting over there? Meesha’s so ready for you to scratch my itch."

Jack thought he would literally puke. The bile rose up in his throat and lodged like a huge knot. Shit, this was going to be harder than he ever thought possible. Rose had made a damn eunuch of him! The heat rushed to his face flushing it scarlet…from embarrassment, anger, revulsion or the whiskey; he couldn’t grasp. With a cold, hard stare, Jack tipped the glass up and slammed it down on the table before suddenly pulling her out of his lap by a wrist and guiding her up the stairs with a gruff, "Come on."

Meesha loudly giggled as she exaggeratedly gyrated her broad hips through the Ruby Room’s bright red door. "So, Captain, how you want some of Meesha tonight? I’ll do anything you desire…anything…anyhow!" She throatily rasped.

"Let’s get this straight…Meesha is it? The name is not Captain…it’s Jack so use it. Second, I don’t plan on filling you up like Sven or Olaf. Ain’t even gonna try. I’m paying for this session so all I desire is my own pleasure. I could care less if you get your itch scratched or not! I’ve been told, by some, that I’m a very selfish man. There’s more ways of slaking my lusts than going where so many others have gone before. You got a problem with that?"

Not offended in the least, Meesha started to unbutton Jack’s dark blue overcoat huskily murmuring, "The dominant, authoritative and surly male…I likes that, Jackie. I’m gonna make you feel so good…let Meesha get to working some black magic with this here mouth. You like felatio, Jackie boy?"

As the Captain bit the inside of his mouth and took a deep steadying breath, he kept reminding himself, Just lay back, and enjoy Jack…and whatever you do…don’t think!

"Private di Rossi!" Marie summoned from the upstairs landing upon seeing the Captain and her working girl enter the Ruby Room. "Your lady awaits!"

Fabrizio’s eyes nearly popped out of his head in both nervousness and anticipation. He downed the last drop of his beer before Tommy heartily chuckled, "All right, moment of truth. Somebody’s life is about to change!"

In the Ruby Room, Jack impatiently pushed Meesha’s roaming hands away from his jacket and gruffly ordered, "I can do this…can you just go change the sheets or something?"

When Jack stood shirtless, he turned around to check the door lock when Meesha laughingly teased, "Oh, Jackie…you’ve been with a lady tiger lately for sure. Look at those nail marks on your sleek muscled back…nasty battle scars from a wild little she-cat! You must really like it rough!"

The sullen Yankee Captain crossed the room and heavily sat down on the edge of the huge bed to remove his boots viciously swearing under his breath at the stark reminder of Rose. Meesha began what was meant to be a seductive striptease but Jack ill-humoredly held up his hand to halt her. "That won’t be necessary. All I want is an experienced mouth right now to take my mind off a particular problem that’s been bugging me lately. Understand? Think you can oblige me…uh…Meeka?"

"It’s Meesha, Jackie…you’re so funny…so handsome…such a fine male physique…this is gonna be all my pleasure. May not charge you one red cent as a matter of fact! A man like you…so nice looking…if what you got in those pants is half as good as you are to look at…then this hour of naughty fun is on the house!"

Jack heavily exhaled as his boots hit the floor and propped up on a pillow across the mattress crossing his arms behind his head. The Jack Dalton of a month ago would have already had her stripped, sprawled out across the bed face down with his hands twisted in her hair, sweating and slamming inside her making her scream for more. Good God Almighty…what had become of him? He had to get Rose out of his system. And if not with this hot blooded whore, then he was fighting a losing battle.

As Fabrizio hesitantly opened the dark green door posted with a fancy sign declaring it the Emerald Room, he nervously cleared his throat as he squinted inside. At his entry, the indistinguishable silhouette of a curvaceous young woman was sitting crossways in the window seat with her back against the wall smoking a cigarette and sipping a flute of fine wine. She slowly came to her high heeled feet and shucked the cigarette out the open window before blowing a haze of smoke out in a rush. He couldn’t make out her face, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt, this young girl was breathtakingly sultry. The mesmerizing figure gowned in a candlelit silky transparent chiffon that twinkled like tiny stars reached up with her right hand and took the comb from her thick hair and began to slowly shake out long strands of curly auburn hair. Slender fingers then went to the satin ribbon ties of the sparkling ivory veil-like dress and shrugged her creamy shoulders before it stubbornly caught at the bend of her elbows. In a low, husky whisper, she cajoled, "Good evening, Fabrizio…you ready to find out what’s under these shimmies?"

"MISS ROSE!" Fabrizio di Rossi blasted in incredulity, shock, and then mounting anxiety which quickly catapulted into stark fear.

As Rose sexily strolled up to her substitute bedmate, she placed slightly quivering hands on the cording of his neck that was strained and tight as strings on a violin.

"Shh, kiss me, Fabri, and show me how it feels to make love to a man besides your Captain." Her delicate fingers slowly slid down to sensually trace the outline of lips gaping wide open in overwhelming astonishment.

"BUT…MISS ROSE…THE CAPTAIN WILL GELD ME!" Truthfully, Fabrizio was paralyzed with terror. His breathe rushed out in anxious gasps as he nervously began to glance back over his shoulder as if he expected an enraged Captain Dalton to sinisterly burst into the room at any second and commit bloody murder on the spot without a moment’s hesitation or any explanation whatsoever.

"Your Captain doesn’t want me, Fabrizio." Rose sadly admitted while her heart lurched painfully. "Will this be your first time?" Rose softly purred trying desperately to change the disheartening subject that the young private had inadvertently brought up at the mention of the man that laid claim to her aching soul.

"Yes, Ma'am, Miss Rose. And my last if the Captain finds out!" Fabrizio was literally quaking in his boots…for if the lady didn’t already suspect…Fabrizio was whole-heartedly convinced that his superior was quite possessive, insanely jealous and very enamored of this one-of-a-kind enchantress. But hell…who wouldn’t be?

Hesitating, Rose slowly brought his dark head down to meet her full lips with his. Fabrizio protested a mere second before his hands came around to crush her to his heaving chest while his inexperienced mouth began to invade hers. Rose’s hot blood turned to ice, congealing in her veins. Trying desperately with every ounce of her being to attain some type of desire to enable her to go through with this charade, she moaned in abject frustration. It seemed that her entire body was numb, like being inside a dream or something…fire had turned to ice…desire to passiveness! Her exploring hand determinedly slid to his obvious erection, one that was so different while so very disappointing…mentally comparing the Private’s bulge to that of him. Him…why was the Captain’s image so branded into her mind and heart even in the arms of another man? Please, God, let me love again! Just for a little while!

Groaning in mindless arousal, Fabrizio clumsily began to paw at her tender, enlarged breasts. Rose unconsciously flinched before beseechingly whimpering, "Please, Fabrizio, wipe him from my mind…from my body…for tonight…just for tonight."

"GAWD, MISS ROSE…YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL!" The young private couldn’t control the trembling that seized him. Couldn’t control the volume of his squeaking voice, the rapid harsh breathing constricting his chest, the tightening of his pants, the overpowering desire that threatened to shame him without even unfastening his breeches.

Next door in the Ruby Room, as Jack laid back and closed his eyes, Meesha began to expertly perform her notorious tricks of the trade. But it was a curtain of copper red fire that surrounded his head as encompassing dreams began taking over all reality. He shook his head as if to clear it and forced himself to open his eyes to watch the female that was actually servicing him…and not to imagine the mystical red headed illusion that was bound and determined to make her presence known...even in her absence. Jack desperately tried to convince himself that it wasn’t all women that he no longer sexually desired or needed…just ostentatious whores. For surely he’d find himself a young, submissive, attractive lady to take to wife when he finally returned home after the war…one that never talked back…one that obeyed without question…one that never picked a fight…one that honored him…yes, that’s what all men wanted, wasn’t it?…a boring fellow Yankee woman.

Abruptly, Jack began to comically cackle in amusement at his silly silent musings. He couldn’t believe that he’d just unintentionally utilized in his own private thoughts the defamatory term that Rose constantly used regarding his residence and wartime loyalties…Yankee, but alas with a few more cleverly chosen vulgarities tacked on to boot! Jack wasn’t sure if it was the strong whiskey or the ludicrous uncomfortable predicament he now found himself it; nevertheless, he helplessly doubled over in drunken laughter. Rose DeWitt Bukater had a stronghold on his soul and she wasn’t gonna let go…no way…no how.

Meesha heard the guffaws and cast her preoccupied client a perplexed stare like he had just taken leave of this senses which only served to ream another ribald chuckle from the tipsy Captain. She was about to inquire if she was perhaps tickling a particular sensitive spot in his groin area when in the next instant, without warning, Jack bolted straight upright. Through the paper thin walls, he overheard an excessively loud exclamation, "MISS ROSE!"

The blood rushed to Jack’s spinning brain as he shook his head as if to clear it from a drunken fog. Dammit to hell, I’m even hearing her name in a whorehouse of all places…I am losing it! However, convincing himself that it was merely damnable fantasies of Rose whispering in his ear, Jack slowly laid back down to try to catch an even breathe and motioned for Meesha to continue her semi-stimulating oral manipulation. Staring at the ceiling, he was just forcing himself to relax again when there it was again.

"But…Miss Rose, the Captain will geld me!"

This time, Jack pole vaulted off the plush bed as Meesha’s sharp teeth painfully scraped his manhood which he didn’t seem to notice in the least. With the prostitute vehemently protesting, he dramatically motioned for her immediate silence, "Hush…shut your mouth!" With incredulous eyes, Jack flattened his ear against the west wall and intently listened in anxiety and horror. The Captain almost passed out at the ongoing conversation playing out in the Emerald Room next door. It was Rose and she was literally begging his Private to make love to her to wipe him out of her memory! "God dammit all to hell!" Jack darkly thundered in a vicious rage and sprinted out the door before Meesha even had time to close her drooling, shocked mouth.

Jack violently kicked the Emerald Room’s door in knocking it clean off its brass hinges. Crossing the distance in the wink of a startled eye, he savagely grabbed Fabrizio by the scruff of the neck with his feet dangling in the air and threw him flying across the room. That one of his own men would have the nerve and audacity to lewdly fondle and kiss what was his!

"Get your hands off of her, you filth! What makes you think you can put your hands on my…"

Rose furiously cut Jack off with a defiant gleam in twin pools of green ice.

"Your what, Captain? Your whore? What…now you want to heat things up a bit more with a menage a trois or something? Get out and wait your turn! You had your chance!" Rose disgustingly snarled.

"Like hell I will! Get out of here Fabrizio before I…" Jack’s face was dark as evil itself while his hands were tightened in white knuckled fists. He was so enraged he couldn’t find adequate words to form the death threat eating its way into his roaring intoxicated mind. Rose had pushed him past the limits of his endurance this time. Never in his entire twenty-six years had he ever been so angry at a person. Not even the vile, despicable Major Caledon Henley! He was ready to throw all caution to the wind…the laws of civilization could be damned! Jack drew back his clenched fists ready to pommel both the terrorized youth cowering against the wall and the seething woman that was just daring him to finish his intimidating claim.

"I’ll take care of him, Jackie!" Meesha suddenly cooed from the hallway. "Maybe the young Italian stallion can enjoy and appreciate Meesha’s talents a bit more than you tonight…but I think I understand now what’s been troubling you, Jackie…tsk tsk…you ready for some hot loving, Private?"

Picking himself up off the floor, Fabrizio di Rossi fled the room without a backwards glance. The tension in the air was so thick you could slice it with a knife. Rose was standing with her hands on her hips and except for the rapid rise and fall of her breasts, she stood motionless, her challenging green gaze fixed on the Captain menacing mask. Jack took one step forward and Rose thrust an index finger at him in warning, "You’ll never touch me again, Captain Dalton! I’m not exclusively yours! I belong to no one! Is that in any way unclear?"

Jack stopped dead in his tracks…then he unexpectedly lunged for her. Rose swung. He ducked. She kicked. He sidestepped, caught her foot in midair and flipped her backwards so she sprawled across the plush mattress. He immediately covered her protesting body with his, sinking her down into the bed with the pressure from his heavier weight. Her fists pounded him then she drove her knee hard into his groin.

Gritting his teeth against the agonizing sharp pain that ripped through his loins and threatened to render him unconscious, Jack pinned her thrashing arms to the bed and wedged his knee between her thighs.

"Be still before I give you a reason to—stop squirming, dammit," he said through his teeth while he locked his fingers around both flaying wrists, hurtfully crushing them down into the mattress.

"Get off of me, Yank! You smell of her and I’ll hate you till the day I die!" Rose furiously spat.

"If you don’t behave yourself, Rose, that’ll be sooner than you think!" Jack ground out, then with a cocky grin marring his handsome face, he retorted, "That’s just your dirty imagination though, mia. I don’t wreak of Meesha!"

"And I’m not your mia! I’ll never be solely yours until you’re solely mine! You heartless bastard!" Rose’s heart was cracking and unbidden tears flooded her glowering eyes.

"What do you want from me, Rose? I’m not ready to commit to anyone. Can’t you understand that it’s simply not possible under the circumstances?" The anger now was evaporating at the sight of those tears, being replaced with an emotion that he had promised himself that he couldn’t reveal. Loving Rose would unman him…most men didn’t love their women like he did her. Then again…there wasn’t a hell of a lot of women like Rose. None, as a matter of fact, and that was probably a good damn thing. Jack closed his eyes for a second and waited for the pounding of his heart to ease…and for the room to stop spinning out of control.

"What about Meesha?" Rose croaked as the jealously sliced through her body like a razor’s sharp edge.

"What about her? She’s just a whore, Rose."

"And what am I, Captain? I’m not asking for a commitment…I just need to know…" Rose listlessly stopped struggling and bit her bottom lip tasting the coppery scent of blood to stem the flow of tears. All the fight and fire had burned out like ashes in the wind. Defeat marred her pale, ashen face as she fought the nausea rising up in her throat. Forcing herself to utter the next words, they were so lowly spoken, Jack had to strain to catch them. "Am I nothing more than your convenient wartime courtesan?"

Silence…time drew to a halt. The outside world ceased to exist. Flashing emeralds and sapphires intensely interlocked and softened to jade and turquoise. It was the stare of two star-crossed lovers that mirrored destined souls…which said everything.

Jack opened his mouth as if to answer her…then the lights went out and his body heavily collapsed on top of her. Rose tried pushing him off, but he was dead weight.

"Captain? Are you okay?" Rose pleaded in a concerned quivering voice.

Her only answer was the deep sounds of a redundant, drunken snore. Rose frustratingly rolled him over onto his stomach. Lifting the quilt folded down at the foot of the bed, she pulled it up and over the Captain’s sleeping form. Changing out of her scanty costume of the night, she slipped back on her street clothes and blew out the kerosene lamp and candles flickering in the night breezes. Taking one last lingering look at the passed out Captain, Rose amusedly shook her copper head and sighed, "I love you…you damn, dirty Yankee!"

Chapter Twenty-Four
Stories