A Reluctant Companion by Kit Tunstall Read Free Book Online Page B

chin high and pushing back her shoulders, she scowled at him. “You already know the answer to that. What choice do I have?”
     
    “None,” he said with a tinge of satisfaction.
     
    Keeping her voice cold and distant, she asked, “May I at least say goodbye?”
     
    He scoffed. “You’re not leaving this house until we’re ready to travel. Write them a letter, and Nash will deliver it.” He started walking toward the door. “But hurry, because we leave soon.”
     
    She waited until he closed the door behind himself with a solid thud to toss one of the pillows from the settee in his direction. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d hoped and couldn’t compare to her longing to toss a brick at him instead.
     
    Mouth compressed, she went to the writing desk nearby, easily finding an inkwell, feather quill, and paper. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, but she couldn’t let them fall. If her papa saw a tear-stained letter, he might come after her in a vain attempt to rescue her. She couldn’t allow that. No one in her family could be at risk. This was a conflict she’d have to fight alone—and the commander was in for a battle. If he thought she was just going to easily surrender to his sex demands, to be his compliant companion, he was about to learn differently.
     

     

Chapter Four
     
    Before Tiernan had morphed from tender lover to tyrant, she had briefly wondered how he and his troops had traveled to Graceport, since there weren’t enough steam vehicles in all of the surrounding area to ferry more than fifty people. Her mild curiosity had faded, but she still got her answer as Blaney’s driver brought the big station wagon to a halt near a train platform. Disdaining the hand the commander offered to assist her from the car, she slid out behind him and moved aside so Cleo and his personal chef could exit.
     
    He gave her no choice about walking beside him by reaching out to grasp her wrist and pull her along at a brisk pace. Perhaps he feared she would try to flee into the surrounding woods. Perceptive. The thought had crossed her mind, only to be discarded before he ever took hold of her. There were too many soldiers—who must have marched here earlier in the day to await Archer’s arrival—and she was still too close to home to risk an escape attempt.
     
    With as much dignity as she could muster, she walked beside him up the wooden steps and preceded him into the first car, luxuriously appointed with leather seats and fur rugs on the floor. Not looking at him, she took a window seat, sighing softly when he sat down beside her. Would she never have any freedom from him? The best she could hope for was he would tire quickly of her passive resistance and let her go.
     
    The train was underway in a few minutes. At first, the motion was strange, and she grasped the metal bar below the window. Soon enough, she became accustomed to the swaying motion, which induced a state of involuntary relaxation. Her tranquility deepened when Tiernan got up to leave the car. As the minutes passed without his return, she let her body sag, feeling free of tension for the first time since he’d made his despotic announcement earlier in the morning. Lulled by the train, she ended up dozing off, unused to spending half the night in such physical pursuits.
     
    *****
     
    Tiernan returned to the head car to find Madison sleeping, her head angled awkwardly against the window. He had an impulse to stretch out her seat so she could rest more comfortably, but resisted. Instead, he turned away from her in favor of the liquor cabinet. Catching Cleo’s gaze upon him, he lifted the bottle of amber liquid. “Cognac?”
     
    She shook her head. “It’s a bit early for me, honey.”
     
    Ignoring what might have been a small admonishment, he tossed back a finger’s worth before pouring another to take with him back to the seat. He was restless, feeling as caged as an animal. Train rides were always nerve racking, because