Then he smiled, his decision made. Without another word he lifted her from the floor and set her on the bed. He tied her wrists above her head and left her.
That evening when he brought her dinner tray, he said nothing to her of the afternoon’s incident. He even allowed her to cover herself with the sheet while she ate.
‘Do drink your wine, Juliana,’ he said. ‘It is from my own private stock, and quite tasty.’ She shook her head.
‘You’ve never tasted wine before?’ he asked with mild interest. He rose and poured himself a glass. ‘Come, now, just a bit to see if you like it.’
Jules, her mind numb and empty, raised the glass to her lips and drank. The deep red wine was rich and sweet. It sent welcome warmth all the way to her stomach.
Jameson Wilkes watched closely as she downed the entire contents of the glass. He smiled. ‘Excellent,’ he said.
It would take a while, he knew. He had no idea whether the amount of the drug he’d poured into the glass was correct. The old Chinese gnome who’d sold it to him had merely said that the dose ‘depended.’ On what? Jameson had wondered. Well, he thought, leaning back in his chair, he would soon see. The drug was a mixture of opium and other things, the old man had said, things that would make women utterly wild. Jameson wasn’t certain that such things as aphrodisiacs existed. Certainly the myth about oysters was just that, a myth.
‘We will be in San Francisco within a week.’ he said, cutting through the thick silence. ‘We’re making excellent time, better than I’d expected. Did I tell you, my dear, that this was my last voyage to the islands?’
Jules was beginning to feel odd, somehow detached from herself. She heard his soothing voice, understood his words. She said slowly, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth, ‘I want to go home. I do not particularly like my father or my sister, but Lahaina is my home.’ She looked a bit startled at what she’d said, but continued in a soft singsong voice, ‘I collected flowers, and cataloged fish. I don’t want to be a man’s whore. I don’t want to be like some of the women on Maui.’
‘You are a smart girl, Juliana. Perhaps the man who buys you will indulge you in your interests. Perhaps you should consider how best to … endear yourself to your future protector.’
‘No,’ she said quite clearly. But Jameson Wilkes wasn’t very clear anymore, and she blinked to keep him in focus. ‘My family would know.’ She realized vaguely that what she’d said didn’t make any sense.
She saw he was smiling at her, and wondered at it. She also realized at that moment that she had to relieve herself. Always before, she’d been alone. ‘I must use the chamber pot,’ she said.
‘Go right ahead, my dear.’
Jules shook her head in confusion. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I can’t, not while you’re in here. Please leave.’
This was interesting, Jameson Wilkes thought, studying her face closely. A loss of inhibition, an excellent start. ‘Of course you can,’ he said, his voice as soothing as smooth honey.
But still she sat there looking confused, bewildered. He said very gently, ‘I won’t pay you any heed. Go ahead.’
Jules eased off the bed and walked to the chamber pot, which was stored beneath a small cabinet. She didn’t realize that she was quite naked. Nor did she pay any more attention to Jameson Wilkes. When she was finished, she turned, straightened, and stared at him.
To his complete and utter surprise’ Jameson Wilkes felt a powerful surge of lust. He’d believed himself immune to her ;a body – to any woman’s body, for that rnatter. It was a heady combination, her standing so confidently before him, but her eyes dazed and confused.
‘What do you feel, Juliana?’ he asked, forcing himself not to move.
She shook her head, not understanding what was happening to her. ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Why don’t you lie down? Surely what
you’re feeling will pass quickly enough.’
She did, stretching languidly, her eyes closing. Her body felt tingly, strangely alive in places she’d never paid much attention to. But she wasn’t frightened of the feelings.