One Wore Blue by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

come in here calling himself ‘Isaac Smith,’ but it didn’t take no time for someone to guess who it really was!”
    “Oh, my Lord!” Lacey breathed.
    “And they got more. Reckon they got at least twenty people hostage, maybe more.”
    “Lacey heard shots,” Kiernan said.
    “Hell, yes!” Eban said. His father’s look of warning brought a flush to his face. “Sorry, ladies. Yes, there’s been shooting. And it just beats all, it sure does. Old John Brown, he wants to free the world. Well, ladies, he comes into Harpers Ferry and shoots down poor Hayward Shepherd, the free black man at the railroad station. Guess they didn’t want no alarm going out. But then the train came through, and he let that train go on by, and it seems they know what’s going on down here as far as Washington and beyond. You’d best get back inside now, ladies. There’s all manner o’ ruckus going on in the streets now. Some o’ those people out there get a little scared and get a gun and shoot up everything in sight.”
    Kiernan glanced at his nail-filled rifle. “Yes, I know,” she murmured.
    He tipped his hat to them. “Come on, boy,” he told Eban.
    Kiernan headed back into the house, and Lacey followed after her. “We’ll sit tight, Kiernan. News will come to us. I’m so glad you want to stay in the house!”
    “Lacey, I’m not staying in the house. I’m going to get dressed as quickly as possible!”
    She tore into the kitchen and pumped up water to bring to her room. She started up the stairs, smiling as she passed Lacey.
    “Oh dear, oh dear!” Lacey wailed.
    “I’ll be all right. I’ve got a Colt with real bullets, and I know how to use a gun.”
    Lacey stood at the foot of the stairs calling up to her. “Kiernan, dear, please! Heaven only knows what’s really going on!”
    Kiernan dumped the water into her wash bowl. She whisked off her torn nightgown and slipped quickly into a chemise and pantalets and a petticoat. She hesitated, then decided that in the midst of a revolution, she could dispense with a corset. Clad in her undergarments, she turned back to the water and scrubbed herself quickly.
    “Kiernan—are you listening to me? Oh!” Lacey murmured suddenly.
    Rinsing her mouth out, Kiernan wondered what had brought that quick exclamation to Lacey’s lips. She looked up, then froze.
    Jesse was back. He stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the frame, a lazy smile curving his lip as he watched her.
    Color flooded through her, rising from her toes to her hairline. What did he think he was doing? No gentleman in the world would come upon a lady in a state of undress and stare at her so.
    But Jesse would. Despite her rising fury, she also felt a sweet, exciting sensation ripple through her. Damn him! He was still one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, with his coal-black hair and wicked blue eyes and lazy, sensual smile.
    “Jesse—”
    “Well now, darlin’,” he drawled softly, and those eyes of his raked over her thoroughly with laughter, humor, and something else. Then his eyes landed upon her own. “You’ve grown up while I’ve been away.”
    She should have blushed to kingdom come. She probably had a right to throw a screeching fit or hysterics. But thesense of danger and excitement rippling through her demanded that she stare him down. If he wanted an innocent feminine reaction from her, she decided, he wasn’t going to get it.
    “Captain Cameron, if you don’t mind”—she faced him, her hands set disapprovingly upon her hips—“I’d appreciate it if you’d wait below until I’m decent to recieve company.”
    He laughed. “Kiernan, you must be the most decent thing I’ve seen in a month of Sundays. Isn’t it just like a woman? The town is in the grip of history, and you’re worried about being seen in your knickers.”
    “I don’t wear knickers, Captain Cameron.”
    “All right, then, petticoats.”
    “Jesse—”
    “Come on down as soon as you consider