Sacrifice for Love: Runaway

By Soleil Berlin

Anne has lived a good life even though she is part of the servant class. Living in Virginia as a black servant is daunting and she yearns to return to England where her life was simple and free. When she learns of her lover’s plan to sell her to the highest bidder, she sacrifices love and takes to the sea to return to her beloved England. Will she find solace in England or will she long for her lover’s touch.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Soleil Berlin
• Release date: Sep 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301594009

Soleil Berlin

Soleil Berlin was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Since she was a teenager, she has been an avid reader of historical romance novels. She enjoys writing novels that keep you interested until the very end.

Book preview

(SACRIFICE FOR LOVE: RUNAWAY)

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by (Soleil Berlin)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN 9781301594009

Printed in USA by Bookista Publishing (www.bookistapublishing.com)

Hayworth Plantation, Warwick County, Virginia. April 1737

Chapter 1

The plantation was never silent, even at night. Anne tossed and roused from her sleep, awaking to the pitch darkness of the room. They slept in the customary four poster mahogany bed of a southern plantation master bedroom but it had no bed curtains. Of all things, she missed having bed curtains.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could make out Nathan’s sleeping figure beside her in the bed. His tousled raven hair was a dark cloud against the white linen covering the goose down pillows. She sighed at the sight of him, feeling safe and contented. Life in Virginia was turning out to be too different from the one they had lived together in the countryside of Derbyshire, England. It was too public and too constrained. Life for a coloured woman, and more so one in love with her master was just too complicated.

She heard the grandfather clock in the downstairs parlour striking five o’ clock and sighed. It was time to get up and get the other servants in the great house ready to start the day. She could not allow any of them to see her coming from the upstairs rooms undressed. It would rouse suspicions, more complications. She quietly got out of the big bed and donned her slippers and a robe, leaving the room without a sound. It was painful to leave Nathan there fast asleep at this hour of the morning. At Allerdyce House they had always woken up together. The memory of Nathan’s favourite ways to wake her sent a shiver through her body as she carefully descended the main stairs. They had made love behind her beloved bed curtains sometimes until noon without being disturbed, excepting on Sundays. The servants at Hayworth’s Seat, the estate’s manor house, always had the day off on Sundays so Anne would fill in for the morning and the family would set out on their way back to London before midday. Working for Nathan at the cottage meant she was the only servant permitted on the premises because as a third son, Nathan had no real privileges or responsibilities. He was expected to make his own living and build his own fortune, which he did trading in commodities from the colonies. His time was his and so was his privacy. But that was not so here in Virginia; on the plantation every day was a work day for her and the rest of the household in one way or another.

In the housekeeper’s chambers, Anne carefully washed and then perfumed her cafe au lait skin, brushed the masses of auburn curls into a tight chignon and put on her housekeeper’s uniform before leaving the room. She went through the hallway briskly knocking on the doors of the maids and footmen to let them know it was time to get up. The house was already springing to life and as she neared the kitchens she could hear the hushed voices of Mrs. Norman and her kitchen maids. They were busy getting everything ready for the morning. When she arrived there, she saw that the eggs and milk had already been brought in, bread was fresh out of the ovens and water was set to boil on the stove.

"Good morning, Mrs. Norman,’ Anne said announcing her entrance.

Oh, Good morning to you, Mrs. Fulton, she replied without looking up from the steaming kedgeree she was placing in a silver serving bowl.

Though both spinsters, it was customary for the housekeeper and the cook to be referred to as Mrs. As a sign of respect and station amongst the house staff and even though Mrs. Norman was white and Anne was coloured, they had a mutual respect for each other.

Mrs. Norman was descended from a long and illustrious line of servants, as was Anne. They both could trace their lines back to ancestors who were servants in noble households since the Tudor dynasty. Anne’s great-great-great-grandmother, Rozana, had been among Catherine of Aragon’s court that arrived in England with her in 1501. She had been the head of the queen’s household at Fulton Palace, hence the acquired surname, and had gone on with Catherine to More Castle and then to Kimbolton Castle. After the queen’s death, her servants either returned to London or were passed on to William Cavendish and relocated to his estates in Suffolk and later to Derbyshire. They were coloured and in service, but they were not slaves. Anne’s family served with the Cavendish’s to this very day. Being a Spanish mulatto, Anne’s ancestor had not found it difficult being in service and neither had her offspring, who became fairer and fairer with each generation that was bedded by their white masters. Anne had come to Hayworth’s Seat after her mother had died and Lady Catherine had agreed to let her accept her brother’s invitation to join him in service there. She was glad of the change of scenery and more so when that scenery was found to include Nathan Hayworth.

Anne set to preparing Nathan’s tea tray which Mister Barrows the butler would take up to him at 6 o’ clock. She placed all his favourites on it; Earl grey tea leaves in a white porcelain pot accompanied by one slice of hot toast with English marmalade. As she picked up the tray, Mister Barrows walked in.

Good morning, Mister Barrows, Anne greeted chirpily, Is Mister Hayworth awake yet?

Good morning, Mrs. Fulton, Barrows replied, Yes he has risen. I’ve just returned from opening his curtains and refreshing the wash stand.

Very well then, the tea is ready to go.

He’s asked for you to bring it, Ma’am. The butler said, looking at the floor. He says he wishes you to take a letter while he has his tea.

It was an embarrassing situation for Mister Barrows. The thought of a servant woman in the master’s bedchamber while he was still in it was scandalous. But it was well known that Barrows, as efficient a butler as he was, could neither read nor write.

Alright Mister Barrows, Anne said trying to sound as dignified as she could, Not to worry, we all must do what we can.

Turning to Mrs. Norman she announced, I shall take the master’s tea in now, have breakfast ready in the dining room at a quarter of seven. Mister Barrows shall serve it.

She lifted the tray carefully and went up the stairs to the second floor. Her heart was fluttering as she realised what Nathan was up to. He hated her leaving his bed early in the mornings too, just like her he missed their morning times together most of all. When she arrived at the master bedroom door, it swung open and he stood there looking down at her dressed only in his trousers. She could not mistake the look of lust in his eyes. He had been too tired from his trip into town the day before and too worried about the news he had received to make love to her last night but he was determined to make up for it. She stepped through the door and allowed him to close and firmly lock it behind her while she carefully placed the tea tray on the sideboard.

Turning towards him, she instinctively pulled the hair pin from the chignon and set her flowing hair falling down to her shoulders and back. The desire that stirred in him from what he saw showed on his face, and he crossed the distance between them in only a few steps. He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply running his hand from her shoulders to the base of her spine sending shivers through her body. On the way up, Nathan’s deft fingers undid the laces on the front of her uniform corset pulling it off and throwing it to the ground. His mouth went to her neck and then to the exposed tops of her breasts, kissing the soft peaks with the gentle desire she only knew him to have. He undid the ribbons of the dress carefully and pushed it back over her shoulders letting it fall to the ground. He stepped back, admiring his handiwork while he undid his own clothes. As he stepped out of the trousers pooled on the floor he looked deep into her eyes and she went to him. He embraced her naked body against his and whispered in her ear.

I love you in the mornings like this. I miss you every time I wake up without you next to me.

I do too, my love. That is when I miss Allerdyce the most.

He lifted her and turned, placing her gently on the bed before climbing in and kissing her hungrily again and again.

*****

Get up, Nathan, Anne whispered angrily, as she tied the laces at the top of her corset Breakfast will be served in fifteen minutes.

Don’t go, he replied, Please just stay with me. I’m not done yet.

Darling, you were done two times already. It will not be easy to explain how the dictation of a letter which started almost an hour ago made you late to breakfast.

Anne helped Nathan into a clean, white shirt and laced it up, fixed his shirt sleeves and pulled a waistcoat delicately over his shoulders. She fixed her own hair carefully, straightened her clothes and picked up the tray. Nathan sat at the edge of the bed pulling on his boots as he watched her lovingly.

Open the door, silly. We have got to go.

Nathan sat alone at the dining room table pretending to read the Virginia Gazette. He hardly tasted the steaming kedgeree or the toast in front of him. He did notice that the coffee was too strong. He had not yet acquired a taste for it but valued its ability to keep him alert all day. This morning his mind wandered away with the news he had received at the post office the day before while he was in Williamsburg.

His father wrote to advise him that two potential investors were on their way to America from England to visit the plantation. A Mister Charles Brown and George James were merchants interested in purchasing the plantations tobacco and would be arriving sometime towards the end of that month. Nathan did not know what to make of his father’s presumptions of him not having a market for his own produce. He also didn’t know how to tell his father that he planned to work the plantation independently, save his money and buy a small manor and farm of his own so he could return to England. Or how to tell him that he hated America and his forced exile here without sounding childish and ungrateful. If no one else, Nathan realised that his father had no obligation to provide him with a living such as he had. By law all his father’s belongings were the inheritance of Nathan’s older brother, Richard and whatever remaining resources Sir Hayworth had in England he would use to make a place for his second son Henry, so granting Nathan the estates in the colonies was a legally risky move on his part.

He wondered what these investors were all about and how he was going to stall and hopefully dodge their proposals without rousing his father’s suspicions or insulting his guests. He shrugged it off and picked up the newspaper again, after all he was the owner here, the master of this plantation. He would not be bullied by anyone in this business. He would simply make them understand that he already had commitments for his crop...for the five next years, in fact. Sighing deeply, he pushed back from the table.

I am done with this, Barrows, he announced, "Please be sure to thank Mrs. Norman for