Married At Midnight by Katherine Woodwiss Read Free Book Online Page B

mouthfuls. She was sure the stuff was nutritious, but she'd never before tried to eat it without sugar and cream.
    "Yes." He pushed another spoonful into her. "I've to find my regiment and you must be out of here before the fighting starts."
    As if summoned by his words, a distant boom stilled both of them. A cannon. Silence followed and so
    they both
    relaxed a little.
    The baby—Stephen—had finished and so she quickly changed him, bundled him up, and placed him on the ground. Then she took off the captain's ruiried shirt and began to struggle back into the bodice of her dress.
    "Hold on." He came over, pulling out his sharp knife. "You've got to be able to feed him on the road."
    Pulling the
    bodice away from her, he slashed through over both breasts then helped her into it.
    "I can hardly walk around like this!" she protested while trying to bundle her heavy hair up with the few pins still caught
    in it.
    "With your cloak on top, you'll be all right." He brushed her hands away and began to drag a comb through her hair.
    "Ouch!"
    "Sorry. Hell, it's a mess." The next thing she knew, he'd just pulled it back and tied it with something, probably a piece
    of twine. "Once you get back to the baggage carts and the women you can get yourself in order again.
    There. You'll do."
    "I see I will have to!" she retorted, but she was laughing. "You are a tyrant, sir."
    A touch of humor lightened his grim face. "When I have to be. Can you use a pistol?"
    "Yes."
    He gave her one which she instantly recognized as Dennis's.
    "I've had all his possessions put in the cart."
    "Cart?"
    "The one that brought you. It's on the way back and had room."
    "You might have said! I've been steeling myself to walk."
    He ignored that. "The pistol's loaded, so be careful." He suddenly stilled to look at her. "I've never been married before."
    "Neither have I." She instantly regretting the sharp edge to it.
    He brushed his knuckles down her cheek. "Don't be bitter, Kate. It never helps." His knuckles brushed over her lips. "Be bold instead."
    "Very well." She stretched up to kiss him quickly but firmly on the lips. "Thank you, Charles the Bold.
    For everything."
    He looked at her in some confusion for a moment before the officer snapped back into place. "Come.
    You must be off."

    He gathered up her bundle and blankets while she picked up the sleeping baby. At the door she turned.
    Strange though
    it might seem, she was going to miss this place.
    Then another distant boom shook the air, dragging her back to the practical moment, and she hurried out to the familiar cart, now holding four wounded soldiers, one of them in a very bad way. Mr. Rightwell was standing beside the cart, clearly intending to walk.
    The men were already in line ready to march in the opposite direction. Toward danger.
    The captain picked her up and placed her in the cart, her belongings beside her. "Doesn't sound as if there's fighting between you and the main camp. If you need anything, ever. Thomas Tennant.
    March-mont Hall. Strode Kingsley.
    Got that?"
    "Yes."
    "God go with you!"
    As if that were a command, the driver cracked his whip, and the cart jerked off along the rough track.
    "God go with you, too," Kate said softly to all the soldiers marching briskly away from her.
    * * *
     
    On the slow journey back to the main camp, exhaustion felled Kate. The baby, too, seemed worn out by his adventures and scarcely bothered her, but the excited cries and welcoming arms of the women stirred a smile. Kate felt home and safe.
    She slept. She woke when someone brought the baby to feed, but never had to fetch him, or clean him.
    He had learned the business as quickly as any healthy animal and only needed her breast close to suck lustily until he gave up, replete, milk trickling from the corner of his soft sleepy mouth.
    "Little glutton," she murmured to him as she wiped away the dribble.
    "That's men for you."
    "All of them?" Kate smiled up at Red Jess who was sitting ready to take Stephen