Richmond, Virginia, United States of America, end of February 1814

Amelia resigned herself to the incessant stomping of the horses’ hooves on the hard-frozen ground. The full moon sent silvery beams through the windowpanes belonging to the carriage. Outside, the snowy landscape was cast under a moonshine kiss. Nothing could have been more romantic had the circumstance been different.

Next to her, Jonathan brooded in silence. Their supper had come to an abrupt end after the announcement of his plans to bring Amelia back to her family. His motives were nothing but honorable. He wanted to keep to his word and do the right thing by Amelia. And yet, he could not help but think that honor was completely misplaced in this instant. Amelia was not happy. He could feel the energy course between them. It was like an invisible barrier that drew them closer only to force them apart again.

What should he have done? Jonathan knew the answer. Jake had told him as much. “Follow your heart, and you will know what to do.” His heart had screamed at him back in the dining room. It had alternated to soft but insistent whispers when he did not react, telling him with barely audible commands what he had to do. They had been clear, so very clear that they were unmistakable.

The moment Jonathan had opened his mouth; his brain usurped his begging heart’s commands. In the face of cerebral superiority, it had collapsed into lachrymose inertia. The battle had been lost. Misplaced reason defeated beautiful, emotional illogicality with an army of past experiences that had nothing to do with what was going on. As in most cases, people tend to trust what they think they know even though that which their mind presents them feels like the worst thing to do.

Before Jonathan knew it, he found himself telling her about his plan to return her to where he thought she belonged. He had tried to stop speaking, but it had been too late. The shock was there, written right across her face. Amelia wanted to stay even though she didn’t truly know it yet.

Now, it was up to Jonathan to make her believe, to make her see that he was the right man for her, no matter what that entailed. He knew it now. His heart had taken over once more. His instincts shouted at him to do what his heart commanded. Reason chimed in with its customary attempts, but the game was up. Jonathan knew that now – he would let his heart rein this night and his heart alone.

The chemistry between them was there. Jonathan felt it like he would feel the sun’s rays on his skin on a summer’s morning. There was no denying that fact. Amelia wanted him as much as he wanted her. No matter their origins, their patriotic beliefs or the manner in which they had met, none of it could stand in the face of what was there.

Jonathan pressed his lips together as his mind fashioned more things that made a union between the two of them feasible and more than that, magical. His gloved hand slid over the leather bench. It did not stop until he felt hers, her little finger at first.

Amelia felt Jonathan’s hand before it touched hers. His movements were initially tentative, discovering and careful. When she gave no response, his fingers slid up the back of her hand, interlinking with hers. Without her being able to do something about it, her hand turned and opened up like a flower’s blossom, basking under the sun’s rays.

They remained like that in silence, touching but not moving. Amelia felt the heat off his skin despite the gloves they wore. It felt so right no matter the words he had uttered back at the hotel.

She tried to immerse herself in the moment. They held hands as if they were strolling, just two people who felt intimacy toward one another. Amelia knew what closeness between a man and a woman was. She had just never experienced it.

Thoughts of William Shakespeare came to mind. Was she Juliet and he Romeo? Had their chance meeting on board two different ships, flying different colors, in the Atlantic Ocean been love at first sight – just like when Romeo snuck into the Capulet’s house to attend the ball and when he laid eyes on Juliette for the first time.

Had her subconscious mind spoken of Jonathan like Juliet had done of Romeo in the orchard outside the house where Juliet spoke of the unimportance of a name in the face of love? Had she not thought the same? Despite their truculence concerning the war, was not their burgeoning love that was but a whisper, more important than the fate of nations?

Amelia began to whisper, oh so very lightly. Her initial words were pounded into oblivion by the angry horses’ hooves. Her mouth became more forceful, coaxing forth volume from deep down where her lungs lay. She recited Shakespeare’s words. They were aptly suited. For what greater love existed than that between Romeo and Juliet.

The last words trailed off into the night, lost into the secret annals of lovers’ delight. Amelia felt Jonathan’s hand squeeze hers. He had heard her.

“I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new batis’d; henceforth, I never will be Romeo.”

Amelia turned her head in the direction of his deep voice. That sound that had captivated her the first moment she had heard it on board the HMS Capricorn – thick and potent as molasses.

The full moon gave his deep blue eyes that were almost black a kind of romantic sheen that Amelia could not describe. They drew her in with their potency. At the same time, their hands, still interlinked on the bench, started to move, touching and stroking. She couldn’t move the rest of her body. It was as if her left hand was the only part of her body that had any mobile function. She released herself to it, that strong hand that fondled with hers.

Jonathan’s gaze was a serious one. He did not smile. He did not look angry. He was in equilibrium and where he wanted to be most in the world. He resigned himself to her touch that drew him in more and more. Without him knowing it, he automatically moved closer, seduced by Amelia’s face that shimmered under a silvery sheen.

“I am going to kiss you now,” he said with authority. He suppressed reason in his brain once again. It hit back with unfounded theorems, explaining why what he was about to do was sheer folly.

By now, a hand’s breadth separated Jonathan’s face from hers. And still, Amelia could not move. Like the cobra’s victim, she remained seduced by the snake’s power. Only in this case, Jonathan was not a lethal predator, but the man her heart claimed she loved. She did not think about it. None of it made any sense to her. She was lost in emotional rapture and had to offer herself defeated in the face of such power.

Amelia thought of Shakespeare some more. The story was so romantic and beautiful. All the while, his head moved closer, slowly and with purpose. Would kissing him be Jonathan’s lips worshipping my lips as if they were his shrine? His pilgrims to my shrine as Shakespeare intoned in his play. No…!

Before Amelia could withdraw her mind from its faraway places, Jonathan’s arms were around her, as safe and unbreakable as on the white snowy road to Fair Weather Heaths’. She felt again the rush of vulnerability, the sinking yielding, the surging tide of warmth that left her limp.

The handsome face of Jonathan Mitchell was but a blurred vision drowned to nothingness by her passion and the night. Amelia felt him tip her backwards, slowly and carefully. When her head rested on his arm, he kissed her, gently at first, and then gradually building up intensity and force until she clung onto to him as if he were an oak standing fast and strong in a storm.

His mouth was relentless. It parted her trembling lips without Amelia even knowing what was happening to her. The sensations coursing through her that teased her nerve endings with delightful tingles and made her toes curl in her shoes were like nothing she knew. Without thinking, and being completely unaware of the happenings between man and woman, Amelia pressed forth and kissed him back

“No, this cannot be.” Amelia pulled away. She breathed heavily, still enveloped by the power of the contact. She looked him in the eye. It was impossible to break away from the power of his gaze, subtly aided by a moonshine kiss. She held her hands across her chest as if she attempted to use the symbol of the cross of Christ to ward him away. No, he is not an evil spirit with inclinations of idle wantonness – he is but a man, and I, but a woman.

It was not enough. Rational mindset appropriated emotional and romantic rapture. This could not be, of that Amelia was certain. The goosebumps that had so shamelessly populated her skin, betraying her heart’s desire, dissipated in melancholy retreat. It was tragedy spoken to her by a quixotic playwright.

“Did I hurt you?” Jonathan was confused. It had been a long time since he had kissed a woman. He could remember it clearly. Not because of its intensity or its romantic power but because of its sheer languidness – there had been nothing rousing about it.

This was different. Kissing Amelia had been life itself. The way her body had shuddered within the cozy cage of his embrace had bordered on a step toward heaven. Jonathan had been in that paradise briefly before she broke away with such fear in her eyes. He did not comprehend what it was that he had done wrong.

“You did not hurt me, but you will.” With those words, Amelia opened the door to the vehicle and darted out of the carriage that had only recently pulled up in front of the mansion a short moment before.

“Amelia…wait.” It was too late. Amelia had entered the house and was gone.

The whole way to his home, into the hallway and the final steps to his study, Jonathan tried to piece together what had happened to make Amelia act so. None of it made any sense to him. All he could think of was that he had acted too fast. It had not felt like that at first, but of the little he knew of female caprices, indecision was the most potent.

“Ye look like somebody died, Jonathan,” said Jake, lurking indolently in the shadows in attendance of his dear friend.

When Jonathan did not answer, he probed further, “Ye told her that ye were taking her to Canada, didn’t ye? Dammit, Jonathan. It is not what ye want – why did ye do it?”

Jonathan poured himself a large tumbler of whisky from the decanter on the mantelpiece in his study and sat down on one of the large leather seats. He took a large slug. “Yes, I did tell her what I had planned. And yes, she did not take it well…”

“I can imagine.”

Jonathan sneered at his friend. “But that was not it.” He took another hearty dram, emptying the glass.

“Let me get ye another one of those. And judging by the way ye are acting, I will need one too.” Jake filled the glasses and sat down opposite his friend. “Out with it?” he said, handing over the whisky.

Jonathan promptly took a sip, wincing slightly as he swallowed. “I kissed her on the way home…it was wonderful…until…”

“Until what, Jonathan?” Jake sipped his drink slowly, not once taking his eyes off his friend.

“Until she pulled away and said, ‘No, this cannot be.” I was perplexed. Her behavior was so strange.” Jonathan looked Jake in the eyes for the first time. “She ran into the house after that…it was as if I frightened her.” He frowned. “She did say something else. She claimed that I would hurt her.”

“Ye weren’t in any way… how shall I put it…too forward with ye affections?”

“Of course, I bloody wasn’t. I behaved as a gentleman would. I don’t understand, Jake. I think I really feel something for this woman.”

Jake chuckled. “Now, that was the worst declaration of love if I ever heard one. Ye are going to have to do better than that if ye want to get back into Amelia Carlyle’s good graces. Now, leave her be, my friend. She’ll come ‘round in the end.”

Jonathan swallowed deeply. He did not share in his friend’s optimism. Amelia had been scared, confused and distant after their kiss. She had run away from him as if he was some repulsive monster from a swamp. He knew how stubborn she was. It would be a miracle if she came ‘round. As far as Jonathan was concerned, Amelia was as good as gone.

“What happened, Amelia? Ye are shaking like a pup standing in an icy wind.”

Anna had been waiting for her mistress to return home. She still took her duties very seriously no matter her engagement to Jake.

She moved closer to Amelia who stood facing the window in her room. There was nothing to see for the heavy yellow curtains were drawn shut. Anna gently placed her arms around her, stopping occasionally when Amelia tensed. After a few moments, Anna had her completely enveloped in her embrace.

“Why don’t ye come and sit over by the dressing table so that I can do yer hair and prepare ye for bed.” Anna smiled wanly when Amelia began to move in the direction in which she guided her. “All right. Now that ye are settled, ye can tell me what happened this evening?” probed Anna, starting to comb Amelia’s hair softly.

Anna combed in silence without Amelia uttering a word. All she did was gaze at her reflection in the mirror. She looked haggard to the point of exhaustion. Her eyes were red from her crying, making them appear puffy. She sighed. “I have wronged poor Jonathan. He must think I am a crazy woman.”

Anna had to lean in closer to catch all of her words. “What happened? Why do ye think ye wronged him?

“We were at the hotel in Richmond having supper. I didn’t think anything of it because I was in a foreign town I would never return to…”

Anna patted Amelia on the shoulder. “Ye need not explain yer reasons for frequenting a public establishment with a man without a chaperone. Ye are the epitome of ladylike grace and comportment – I ken no other like ye. Just tell me what happened.”

Amelia took a deep breath. “He told me about your betrothal to Jake…I am so happy for you, Anna.” She sniveled a tear away. “But why didn’t you tell me? I would not have been angry.”

“I wanted to in the library this afternoon but ye were in such a rush to get ready that I lost my nerve. And then I tried in the carriage on the way to Richmond.” Anna stopped combing and hitched her shoulders. “I never found a way to tell ye. I am so sorry if I disappointed ye.”

Amelia turned to face her friend. She took her hands in hers. “It’s all right. I forgive you.” She became serious once more. “Just never hide something like that from me again. I nearly fell off my chair when Jonathan told me, and I felt so left out.”

“I won’t, dearest Amelia. Never again.” The two women embraced. “Enough about Jake and I…what happened during supper?”

Amelia’s eyes reddened again as tears started to seep out of them. “He said that he wanted to escort me back to Canada.”

“Oh, I see. That is quite a shock. I never expected him to do that, especially after Jake…” Anna’s voice trailed off.

Amelia did not notice the lapse. She held onto Anna with all of the strength she still had left in her. They remained like that until Amelia gradually calmed down. She gratefully accepted the handkerchief Anna offered her and turned to face the mirror again. Once more, Anna resumed her combing.

“That is not it.” Amelia gulped. “Jonathan kissed me on the way back to Fair Weather Heaths’. It was enchanting. I got lost in his touch. He claimed me, and I fell for his charms until…” She could not continue as more tears flowed down her face.

“Until what?” asked Anna, dreading the worst.

“Until I broke away. I don’t know what overcame me until I did. When Jonathan first held my hand, I felt like Juliet in Shakespeare’s play. As he began to kiss me, it was like a scene in that play when her lover Romeo kissed her. I let myself, like Juliet, become one with love no matter the consequences of that love.” Amelia sniveled. “But do you know what happened to those two lovers in the end, Anna?”

Anna shook her head.

“They died because of a fate that did not accept them to be as such. Their families fought and hated one another, Romeo and Juliet betrayed their families’ fealty by falling in love and placing their emotions above those of their heritage.” Amelia gulped. “I cannot do the same…”

“It is but a play,” said Anna.

Amelia brushed her words aside with the flick of her dainty hand. “No, it is more than that.”

In that instant, the dear sweet Amelia had forgotten something that could be equally as potent to her implied interpretation. Maybe, the loss of a loved one is powerful enough to end a violent feud like the one the Montague and the Capulet shared. If love was so formidable, then why was the kiss with Jonathan so wrong?

“I will not betray my country and my family. I have responsibilities, and I am honor bound to make sure I fulfill them,” continued Amelia with conviction written right across her face.

“But…”

“No buts, Anna.” Amelia got to her feet and walked over to the bed. “Help me undress, if you please, Anna.”

“Amelia, does that mean you will be returning to Canada and then to England?” asked Anna, starting to unfasten her mistress’s dress.

“Yes, it does. Jonathan said we would be leaving in a few days time once he has made the arrangements. After that, I go to my sister’s and then home…to England.”

Anna shivered. She continued to work in silence. By the time she slid Amelia’s nightdress over her body, she had made up her mind. “I will, of course, escort you,” she said, not really sharing the conviction her words conveyed.

Amelia turned around slowly. “I am most grateful, Anna, but you do not have to do that. I will be quite all right on my own. And besides, you have a betrothed in Jake now.”

“I ken. However, like ye, I have my duties to my mistress. And I will not let ye down when ye need me the most.” She lifted her chin up proudly in a gesture that did not invite further argument.

“Oh, darling Anna…what would I do without you,” said Amelia embracing her. “You don’t have to do this. I will not have it. My sad situation does not warrant the birth of another one just as sad.”

“I do, and that is the final word on the matter.” Anna held onto her for dear life. She would never leave Amelia after all of the kindness she had shown her. Anna knew what some mistresses were like and Amelia had been a godsend. They were soul mates in the way women could – a bond forged by the universe and unbreakable in its nature.

“Until the day we leave, I shall remain in these chambers. I cannot face him – not now. He has such power over me. I don’t know if I’d be able to resist him.”

Anna only nodded as she laid Amelia to bed. They said their goodnights. Anna dreaded the prospect of facing Jake the following day. He would not be best pleased to find out that his betrothed was leaving for God only knew how long. Before she entered her room, she heard the faint sound of raucous banter from downstairs – the gentlemen are in their cups, she thought as she entered her chambers.

It was a trying ordeal to find the cozy encirclement of sweet slumber. A constant throbbing pain resided inside of her. Amelia felt both relieved to finally be going home and deep melancholy that she might never see Fair Weather Heaths’ and Jonathan again. The worst of it though, was that she had dragged the dearest person in the world with her – Anna had decided to join her on her travels.

Allowing her to do so was wrong. However, Amelia also knew that Anna would not broach argument. When she had made her mind up, there was no turning back. If only there was a way to convince her that her place was with her man. This thought only brought on the question of where her place was – was it with Airy Templeton French as her family dictated? Or…

The last wakeful thought Amelia had was of Jonathan. His face had miraculously appeared and kissed her good night before she gradually drifted off to sleep. The realms of nothingness that awaited her were a welcome respite after the cerebral bashing to which she had been subjected. A busy mind could offer Amelia only one thing this night, a fitful and angry sleep.