Enchantress by Constance O'Banyon

do think.”
    “I am sorry this had to happen,” he said, regretfully.
    Suddenly she surprised him with a smile. “Do not reproach yourself, Thorn. I always get what I want in the end—you will see.”
    She straightened her gown and patted her hair into place. “I was leaving for Savannah in the morning anyway, and this was to be my little going away gift to you.” Her eyes became hard and cold. “Can I assume you are a gentleman and will not mention what happened between us tonight?”
    “Yes, you can assume that.”
    Thorn was numb, but also relieved that she would be leaving Charleston. He hoped he would never have to see her again, but he had not reasoned with Wilhelmina’s strong drive for vengeance.
    How could he guess that Wilhelmina would one day come back into his life. It was but one year from the day she left Charleston that she married Thorn’s father. It did not matter that she was twenty years younger than his father; all she cared about was getting even with Thorn.
    Thorn’s world had been shattered the day his father brought Wilhelmina to Stoddard Hill as his wife. “I know you were fond of her at one time, Son. Now she will be your stepmother, and we will have her in our family.”
    Thorn was sick inside, knowing that she was making a fool of his father. Wilhelmina knew that Thorn could never tell his father that his new bride was not the innocent she pretended to be.
    As the weeks passed, Wilhelmina took pleasure in flaunting her indiscretions in Thorn’s face, as if daring him to tell his father. She was a brazen creature, but Thorn managed to avoid her whenever possible. And he made sure he never saw her without his father being present.
    One night when his father had been away from home, Wilhelmina came to Thorn’s bedroom. In a cold voice, he ordered her to leave, but she merely laughed at him.
    She slipped out of her dressing gown and stood naked before him. Anger burned inside him as she walked toward him slowly.
    “I told you I always get what I want, Thorn. Are your dreams haunted by the thought of me lying in your father’s arms? Do you desire me?” she taunted.
    He scooped up her dressing gown and threw it at her. “I am merely disgusted by you, Wilhelmina. Have you no feelings of regret for what you have done?”
    Her eyes sparkled with the light of madness. “No, no regrets…save one. I still desire you.” She crept across the room, moving her hips sensuously, and his eyes fastened on her creamy breasts. He hated himself because she still sparked desire within his body.
    “Get out,” he growled as she slid her arms about his neck.
    It was at that moment that the bedroom door was torn open and Thorn looked up to see his father standing there. He would never forget the stricken look on his face.
    He could still remember the anger in his father’s voice as he had accused him of seducing his innocent wife. Thorn had not told his father that Wilhelmina had come to his room, nor had he told him that she had been with every man at Stoddard Hill from the stable boy to the overseer. By his silence that night, Thorn had taken the blame for Wilhelmina.
    His father had ordered him to leave Stoddard Hill that night, and Thorn had not been back since…
    Sometimes, even now, if Thorn closed his eyes, he could smell the freshly harvested hay, and hear the wind in the pine trees outside his bedroom window at Stoddard Hill. He had been only twenty when he left his home. How foolish he had been to allow lies and pride to come between him and his father.
    Lately, Thorn had been overcome with a strange loneliness. He wanted to gaze upon the land where he was born, the land where his mother had been buried. He had come torealize that his real love was for the land. He was no longer content with a seafaring life.
    Thorn had made up his mind that when the Victorious docked once more in Charleston Harbor, he was going home. His father might order him out of the house, but not before they cleared