Part 9 (1/2)
”Monahah!”
”Well, the colonel may try to stop him from going.”
”What do you mean, might try? The colonel outranks him, doesn't he? Or am I missing something?”
”No, no, but Jamie is up for reenlistment.
Technically, he could have walked away from the cavalry a month ago.
Paperwork gets slow out here sometimes.”
”But why would the colonel want to stop him from going?”
”Oh, the colonel probably wouldn't. Not by himself, that ” Monahah, you are near to frustrating me to tears! What are you talking about?”
Now Monahah was a brilliant red. He stuttered, then started again.
”Miss. Eliza is the one who might mind.”
”Eliza Worthingham.”
”Monahah!”
”Oh, you don't know! Why, miss, Eliza is Colonel Worthingham's daughter.”
”Oh!” Tess cried, startled.
”Tarnation, I didn't mean to upset you none. Don't you worry. The lieutenant ain't n.o.body's fool, and he ain't about to have his life run by a skirt, even if Miss. Eliza is a pretty piece of fluff. Ah, h.e.l.l, not that you're not every bit as pretty--prettier!--but you see my point? He ain't ever gonna have his mind made up by a woman. Not any woman.
Oh, dear, this ain't getting' no better, not one wit! Come on, Miss.
Stuart, let me do one duty fight and get you home for the night!”
”Ah, yes, thank you, I think that I am quite ready to retire,” Tess told him, He walked her through the now empty alehouse and she thought of how disastrously the evening had ended. Then she found that her fingers were fluttering to her lips and that she couldn't forget the way Jamie had kissed her.
She would never forget the way he had kissed her. Not if she never-saw him again, not if she lived to be a hundred and two.
He wouldn't ever let himself be run by a woman. That was what Monahah had said. But if he came with her, he would feel he had been trapped into doing it. He had been forced to say he would come with her to calm down Clara.
But if he stayed. Then it might be worse, because if he stayed after he had stated he would go, it would be because he had been ordered to stay--because of Eliza.
He's torn between the two of us, Tess thought. And which one of us will win?
They had come to the Casey house. Monahah opened her door and lit a lantern for her, then looked around the small building.
”Seems clear,” he said.
”Why, Lieutenant, this is a cavalry outpost! What would I be afraid of here?” ”Never can be too careful,” Monahah said cheerfully. ”We learn that out here, ma'am.”
”Yes, I'm sure you do,” she said softly.
”Well, thank you. I do feel quite safe now.”
He told her good-night and left. Tess sat down on the foot of the bed and slipped off her black leather dance slippers.
Then she paused, feeling as if something in the place wasn't quite fight.
She stood up and looked around. She hadn't had much brought in from the wagon, but one trunk was s.h.i.+fted away from the wall when she was certain she had left it against the wall. Her brush, which she had set on the small vanity, had fallen to the floor.
She picked up the brush and set it on the vanity. Then she walked over to the trunk and opened it.
It wasn't in wild disarray, but she knew someone had been into it.
She always folded her clothing meticulously and kept it in defined piles, her flatiron on the bottom of the chest, her heavy skirts next to it, her light blouses and lingerie on top. Things had been moved.
She sat again. Maybe Monahah was fight. You never could be too careful.
There was no one in the little house now, but there had been. Who?
Eliza. Tess was certain of it. She smiled.
”Eliza,” she whispered softly.
”I've been dealing with the likes of yon Heusen. Fighting you is going to be easy.”
She finished undressing, slipped on the borrowed nightgown and crawled beneath the covers. Her eyes wouldn't close, though. She was ready to deal with Eliza. But what if she had already lost the battle?
There was no way she could know until morning. It was a horrible night.
She pt feeling Jamie's kiss upon her lips again and again. And no matter how she fought it, she k~pt imagining that kiss falling against her throat, her palm. and Other places.
She slept very late. D~pite the bugles and the commotion of a company heading out for a day's scouting, when Tess finally slept, she did so deeply and well. It was nearly noon when she imagined she heard a sharp rapping on the door. She ignored it. Then she shot up as the door burst open and heavy footsteps fell within the house.
The covers fell away. Her hair was tousled and falling around her shoulders, her gown dislodged from one shoulder and draping precariously low over her breast. Startled and disoriented, she gasped when she saw Jamie Slater in full uniform, his plumed hat low over his eyes, his legs apart and his gloved hands on his hips as he stared at her.
”You,” she muttered.
He swept his hat from his head, bowing very low.
”Yes, do excuse me, Miss. Stuart. I wanted to let you know that we would be leaving at the break of dawn tomorrow. I realize, of course, that dawn might be difficult for you, sinee you are still abed this midday, but I do intend to leave promptly. Are we understood?”
”Tomorrow! You're still--you're still taking me?” His eyes narrowed sharply.
”I said I was. Why wouldn't I be doing so?”
”No--uh, no reason.” She allowed her lashes to fall, shading her eyes.
”I was just worried that maybe ... that maybe you hadn't meant what you said.”
He was silent for a s~ond.