Bitterleaf – Lisa Gregory

There would be imported burgundy and brandy for the men to drink, as well as rum punch and homemade beer. There were also various fruity, homemade wines for the ladies. An ox was butchered and hung in the springhouse until the day of the party. Hams were brought from the smokehouse and soaked for two days, then simmered all afternoon to make the tough meat tender. Slaves were sent out to snare game birds and catch fish. Several domestic geese and chickens fell beneath the hatchet. Meat pies were cooked in rectangular pans, either “trap” pies without upper crusts, or “coffin” pies, which had upper crusts.

Stone jugs of sweet pickles and watermelon rinds were brought from the pantry, and potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes from the root cellar. Dulcie and her helpers boiled and baked puddings and tarts and sweet candies. The day before the party, they lit a fire inside the bread oven beside the fireplace.

When the oven was completely hot, they removed the coals and placed the pans and loaves of bread inside. Spoon bread was baked in covered pans placed among the coals of the fireplace. For days the kitchen was fiery hot as the food was prepared for the feast. The house buzzed with activity. By the time it was sparkling clean and the food ready to be set on the long, damask-covered board, everyone, including Meredith, was exhausted.

Meredith had welcomed the work, though, because it gave her little time to think of Daniel’s illness or the approaching marriage. Also, she was able to avoid Jeremy, declining all invitations to join him riding and after each meal scurrying off to work. She had to endure his presence only at mealtimes, where she carefully avoided speaking to him unless Jeremy spoke to her first.

He noticed her efforts and acknowledged them with a wry, knowing smile. She might run, but they both knew eventually she would be his. He could afford to be patient. When the day of the party arrived, late in the afternoon, Lydia dragged Meredith away from the kitchen and shoved her upstairs to clean and dK.5S. Meredith went reluctantly. She dreaded the coming evening and the humiliation she would endure in front of her friends and family.

What would Galen and Althea think of her! She couldn’t bear to even imagine it.

Jove books are published by Jove Publications, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. The words A JOVE BOOK” and the stylized “J” with sunburst are trademarks belonging to Jove Publications, Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1kitap1.com/en HER DESIRE WAS HER SHAME In sultry Charleston, Meredith Whitney was known as the icy Mistress of Bitterleaf. Then she met the regal blue gaze of a golden-haired slave upon the auction block, and with one burning look he branded her as the victim of his desire and revenge.

Tall, sapphire-eyed Jeremy Devlin was no simple servant. He was a nobleman’s son betrayed into bondage, unhumbled by the lash, who treated Meredith and every woman as his possession. Again and again, she would be shamed by her own secret desires. Then they were secret no longer…and as her wildfire passions locked with his, all fears and doubts were swept away in the ecstatic storm of unexpected love… 1kitap1.com/en BITTERLEAF “I hate you!”

“Why? Because you desire me?” Jeremy asked. “I don’t desire you!” Meredith lied desperately. “The hell you don’t.” His words were low and thick. Not giving her a chance to protest, he ground his lips into hers. Against her will, her mouth opened, and their tongues clashed in a battle of pleasure. She twisted beneath him, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. “Please, Jeremy, please.” “Tell me,” he growled. “Say you want me.” “Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, I want you.

Oh, Jeremy, how I want you. Love me. Please.” Her words melted him. He could hold back no longer . . 1kitap1.com/en Chapter 1 Meredith Whitney sighed and pulled out the straggling stitches she had just put in her usually meticulous needlework. Frowning over the sampler, she berated herself for having accompanied her stepfather to Charleston.

The idea of a few days spent in town, with its fine houses and cobblestoned streets, its stores and their profusion of goods, had seemed rosy at the time. Why she had even persuaded Daniel to take her to the theater. But now, after two days in the vapid company of her cousin Phoebe. Meredith regretted coming. Phoebe could do nothing but prattle of clothes, parties, and the young gentlemen who had come to call on her, and Meredith was unsure which she felt more, boredom or irritation.

Across the room from her. Phoebe Spencer, blithely unaware of the vexation she inspired in her cousin’s bosom, patted her fashionably high, powdered coiffure and said, “However do you stand it out there on that deadly dull old plantation? I declare, I would melt in a day.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: acb1ea6a867f4902
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,259,361 bytes (2.155 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 0515063339
• Pages: 394
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 689.61 minutes
• Total Words: 137,921
• Total Characters: 774,831
• Average Words per Page: 350.05
• Average Characters per Page: 1966.58

Most Frequent Words

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