Glorious Angel Read Free Page B

Then he could have thrown her down and gotten what he came for.
    In his reckless race away from the scene of his humiliation, Billy almost careened into a passing carriage. He cursed aloud, then flushed when he saw who was in the carriage. Crystal Lonsdale and Candise Taylor barely glanced at him as they went by. Seeing them brought back the morning clearly.
    Now Angela was probably laughing at him, just like that Crystal. But she wouldn’t be for long. He’d have Angela yet. She’d never make a fool of him again.

Four
    Hannah went the full mile back to Golden Oaks, almost running. She didn’t bother with the back entrance, but walked right through the front door and made straight for the master’s study. Lord, but Master Jacob was going to raise the roof.
    Hannah could hear Candise Taylor and Crystal Lonsdale playing backgammon in the drawing room. Candise and her father had been honored guests at Golden Oaks for two weeks now, but they would soon be going back to England. Crystal Lonsdale had been a regular visitor to Golden Oaks for quite a few years now, and her brother Robert even longer. Robert had joined the Alabama troops along with Zachary, Jacob’s younger son, when the war first broke out. Under Braxton Bragg, they defended the coast between Pensacola and Mobile. Robert had stayed toguard Mobile Bay, but Zachary had gone with Bragg when he took command of the Army of Tennessee. Lord, protect them, Hannah thought, as she had so many times.
    Hannah knocked softly on the study door and entered when Jacob Maitland bid her. She stood before the desk where Jacob was poring through the ledger, as he did every afternoon. He hadn’t looked up yet to see who had come into the room, so Hannah stood patiently.
    She knew Jacob was going to be upset and that was bad. He had had a mild stroke a few years before and was supposed to take it easy. He left most of his business interests to others now.
    Hannah would die if anything happened to Jacob Maitland. She remembered all too well what life had been like before he came to Golden Oaks, buying the land and mansion as well as all the slaves. Those had been days of constant fear, fear of having family members sold away, fear of the whip.
    Now the slaves no longer felt like slaves, and it was all Jacob Maitland’s doing. Hannah knew there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for Jacob Maitland. He had given her new life, self-respect. Most important, he had given back her firstborn, her son taken from her and sold eighteen years ago, when he was four. Jacob found the boy and brought him back to Hannah.
    She knew where Jacob’s convictions lay, that he would have set all his people free if it weren’tnecessary to give the impression of conforming to southern standards in order to live here. But, in this war, he actually supported the North.
    Of course, Jacob was unaware that Hannah knew all these things and more. Only she and her family knew, for her husband, Luke, was Jacob’s manservant, and overheard Jacob talking in his sleep. But her family guarded those secrets. Hannah had once slipped and revealed a fact to Angela that no one was supposed to know. But Angela was a good girl. She knew the tragedies that would result if she told anyone the secret. Hannah was certain Angela wouldn’t.
    Jacob still hadn’t looked up from his ledgers, but Hannah stood patiently, her brown eyes resting on him fondly as she waited. He was a fine-looking man of forty-eight, with only a slight shading of gray at his temples. The rest of his hair was still so black it sometimes looked blue. But his eyes! Lord, that man had scary eyes. If the devil ever came up and showed himself, Hannah was sure he would have eyes just like Jacob Maitland’s. They were a light golden brown, except when he was angry. And for all his goodness, this man sure had a temper. And when that temper rose, those eyes would change to pure gold-yellow flames, ready to burn into whomever they lit on.
    Of Jacob