Moonwitch Read Online Free Page B

her lost love, or even the shocking kiss she had received earlier that day, but when she retired to her room, sleep wouldn’t come. Drawing on a wrapper over her white muslin nightdress, she slipped through the French doors of her bedroom and onto the gallery.
    A full moon shone brightly through the slats of the louvered jalousies, while a soft breeze caressed her skin and stirred her pale tresses. She hadn’t braided her hair that night, and it hung fine and straight down her back, like a silver mantle. Resting her head against the cool stone of a gallery arch, Selena stared out at the shadows of a towering silk-cotton tree.
    She should have been happy. It was crop season, when work was the hardest but spirits were highest for slaves and planters alike. The harvest had been good, not like some years when the lack of rainfall had resulted in barely enough output to keep the islanders from starving. And she was soon to be married. Avery might not be the essence of a young woman’s romantic dreams, but he cared for her in his fashion and would make her a good husband. And she would soon be mistress of her own home. She could leave behind the insecurity she had felt since Edith had usurped her mother’s place in Thomas Markham’s heart.
    Yet an inexplicable heaviness weighed on her heart—probably, Selena thought, because she hadn’t yet determined what to do about saving her birthplace. It didn’t help, either, that her thoughts kept returning to that devastating kiss Kyle Ramsey had given her. His rugged strength had made her feel so very feminine, his earthy sensuousness, so very desirable. No doubt
he
hadn’t been affected by that embrace as she had been. Captain Ramsey was the kind of man to whom kisses meant little, the kind of seafaring adventurer with “a woman in every port.” By now he would have forgotten about it entirely.
    Yet she couldn’t forget. She kept remembering the hardness of his sleekly muscled body, the musky male scent of him and the strange ache it had aroused in her, and kept wondering what would have followed his kiss if it hadn’t had to end. She had a general idea of what happened between men and women, so she could imagine—
    Abruptly, Selena shook her head. Such fantasies weren’t acceptable for an unmarried young lady, especially one of her social standing, not when she was engaged to one of Antigua’s leading citizens.
    She raised her gaze to the horizon. She couldn’t see the ocean, but she could smell its freshness mingled with the exotic scent of tropical flowers. The place where Captain Ramsey was staying as a guest was only a short distance away. Five Islands plantation, which got its name from the five small islands off the coast, was adjacent to her own land and near one of her favorite coves. She went there frequently to bathe in the sea. Not at night, of course, but in the early morning, before the sun was hot enough to burn her white skin.
    The plantation house at Five Islands was less formal than her own, a low, rambling bungalow surrounded by spacious verandas and towering coconut palms. Would Kyle Ramsey be there now? Or would he have stayed in town and found a willing tavern wench to warm his bed?
    Selena shrugged. She couldn’t imagine why she was thinking this way. She would do far better to try to sleep. She was turning toward her bedroom when she heard a sudden cry coming from around the corner of the gallery. It was softly uttered, as if someone were in pain but trying to hide it. Greatly concerned, Selena went to investigate, her slippered feet making no sound on the slatted wooden floor as she moved along the gallery.
    Around the next corner, on the opposite side of the house from her own bedroom, a light was shining from Edith’s room. When Selena heard the soft moan again, she recognized her stepmother’s voice. Worried, she hastened her footsteps, but when she reached the French doors of Edith’s room, she halted abruptly, staring past the long, sheer