Ashes in the Wind (46 page)

Cole spun on his left heel, and a moment later the slamming of the bathing room door made Alaina’s ears ring.

Breakfast passed much as dinner had the night before. Cole was tersely silent, while Braegar supplied all the conversation. After the meal, the glib Irishman said his farewell with the assurance that he would be back that evening with his kin. Left alone with Cole in the dining room, Alaina felt his gaze move dispassionately over her simple printed gown of wine muslin as she moved to stand before the windows. To avoid another confrontation, she directed the subject to a less volatile matter.

“I should like to look about the house if it’s permissible.”

“Of course. I’ll have Mrs. Garth show you about,” he muttered into his cup. “I have some accounts to look over in my study.”

“I wasn’t asking to be escorted,” she carefully explained. “I don’t wish to put anyone to any trouble.”

“Madam,” he sighed wearily. “I have never known you to ask for anything, and I find that almost as maddening as Roberta crying for the moon. The servants are here for your convenience, as well as mine. Mrs. Garth will escort you.”

On that final word, he rose from the table and limped from the room. Several moments later, when Alaina crossed the hall to the stairs, she noticed that the study door was closed against any casual intrusions. Even Mrs. Garth, as she led the tour about the mansion, avoided that portion where the master chose to remain closeted.

The house was a mystery. The rooms were either overly embellished or, in sharp contrast, stark and barren. Only the servants’ quarters on the third floor seemed appropriately furnished. The tour did little to lighten Alaina’s mood, and she was almost regretful of having asked to see it. An aura of gloom pervaded the rooms, and she was glad when the tour was ended and she could escape from the house. The study door was open when she passed it, and she could only guess that Cole had finished his business and left for some other part of the house.

From the porch, she let her eyes feast upon the natural beauty of the hills and forests. The bracing breeze had only a hint of chill in it, and she filled her lungs with its heady autumn scent. She meandered the length of the veranda and back, peering off into
the distance from each end, familiarizing herself with the landscape of this northern clime that intrigued her more than the house could ever do.

A large bell was mounted on the post beside the front steps, and she watched in wonder when Miles came out and rang it, striking it twice, apparently as a signal, then, after giving her a polite nod, reentered the house.

On the west side Alaina roamed through the weed-filled rose garden, but the sight of the stunted bushes and the spindly yews were hardly pleasing to the eye. She knelt beside a thorny bush where a lone flower struggled for survival and plucked the weeds from around it, but her attention was rather belated, for the evening frosts had already nipped the edges of the leaves.

Alaina paused, suddenly convinced that someone was watching her. Shading her eyes, she looked up and realized Cole’s bedroom window overlooked the garden above the parlor. The polished glass was a black void, preventing any glimpse behind them. Yet, as her eyes raised, Alaina thought she caught a fleeting shadow on the widow’s walk. Was he up there? Was he still brooding? Was he sorry he had married her?

The questions were not for her to answer. Indeed, she might never understand him, for he seemed intent upon keeping himself apart from her.

A buggy came briskly up the lane to the house, and Alaina recognized Olie in the seat. When it stopped, the man jumped down, tipped his hat, and called a cheerful morning greeting to her. “Yu be out here enjoying the sunshine, missus?”

“Oh, yes,” she laughed. “It’s a beautiful day. Much better than yesterday.”

“Yah! Yah! A goot day for a ride, maybe?”

Reluctant to admit that Cole had not invited her, Alaina nodded toward the bell. “What’s it for, Olie? I heard Miles ring it some time back.”

“Oh, dat be the signal to let us at the barns know if the doctor be wanting the brough’am, or dis here buggy. It be a fur piece to come ’cause the old master had this here big house built after the outbuildings were raised down yonder a ways.”

“And this rose garden, Olie. Is there no one to tend it?”

“Maybe no.” He lifted his cap and thoughtfully scratched his head. “We not see the last gardener for some time now. The first one never came back from de war.”

“Were you in the war also, Olie?”

“Yah, I tend de horses like I do now.”

Cole came out onto the porch, casually dressed in narrow black trousers, silk shirt, and leather vest of the same hue. With a wave, Olie hurried to meet him, and they talked for some moments as Alaina unobtrusively observed her husband. She could not help but admire his tall, lean but muscular physique and the tanned handsomeness of his features.

In the hushed stillness that followed Olie’s return to the stable, Cole half turned to stare at her. The low-crowned hat shaded his eyes, but she was aware of the harshness that still marred his brow. Alaina waited for him to speak, lifting her woolen shawl closer about her shoulders. A long moment passed, and he did not. Then, without a word, he climbed into the buggy.
Propping his left foot on the dashboard, he lifted the reins, but paused, staring at the horse’s rump. Eyeing him furtively, Alaina walked slowly around the end of the porch toward the front steps and was about to climb them when he relented.

“Was there something you wished, madam?”

She turned hesitantly. “I haven’t seen Saul around, and I was wondering how he’s faring. He has so few clothes—”

“Climb in,” Cole urged, sliding over to make room for her. “I’ll take you down to see him.”

“I’ll get my cape,” she said with more enthusiasm. Before she could open the door, Miles pulled it wide and stepped out to hand her a long, hooded cloak her husband had purchased for her. “You will be needing this, mum.”

Alaina glanced back at Cole, wondering if he had ordered the butler to fetch the garment, but he stared off into the distance, appearing unmindful of the exchange. Whether he had or not, she was caught, and rather than air her arguments before the servant, she accepted the cloak.

Taking the hand Cole offered her, Alaina climbed into the buggy and settled herself in the space provided on the narrow seat. He held her hand longer than seemed necessary, and when she looked up into his face, she saw that his frown was tempered by the barest hint of a smile.

“I warn you, madam, there is a cost to this. For the duration of the tour you will utter only kind words.”

She was suddenly contrite and lowered her eyes to the open collar of his shirt. “Cole—” Her voice was tiny. “I’m sorry about the clothes. If you
will be patient with me, I’ll try not to embarrass you. But I cannot accept more than I can repay.”

“Why not?” he asked quietly and met her gaze directly. “I owe you and Saul more than I can repay.” He dropped her hand and smothered her reply in a command to the horse, giving her no choice but to clutch the armrest of the seat for security. In the brisk morning air, the steed’s high-heeled trot stretched out until they fairly raced down the hill toward the thicket of trees Olie had disappeared into. After skidding around the trunk of a huge, spreading, autumn-painted elm, they entered a narrow lane bordered on either side by towering maples. The buckboard dashed through the sun-dappled shade with a speed that dazzled the eye and, a brief moment later, burst out into a sprawling field where a nest of buildings clustered together in the middle. Among them were several small houses, a long shed, and a huge barn that dominated the rest like a mother hen does her chicks. As they neared the barn, a loud baying heralded their arrival, and Cole slowed the horse to a more sedate pace. A huge
black dog, bigger than a colt, broke from the thicket alongside the road and loped along with them. When Cole drew the buggy to a halt, the beast sat on his haunches and waited until the man stepped down, then, with a glad bark, he charged, swung aside at the last moment and made a lap around the buggy and horse before skidding to a stop before Cole again. He seemed confused and disappointed when Cole reached up to lift Alaina down.

“What on earth is he?” she gasped.

“A dog, of course.” Then at her exasperated glare, Cole laughed. “A mastiff.”

“He’s beautiful,” she murmured.

“Hardly,” Cole grunted. He snapped his fingers and commanded, “Soldier Boy, come here and greet the lady.”

The beast trotted forward, and Alaina’s eyes widened a trifle as she realized his head came well above her waist. Unconsciously she took a step backward, but with slow deliberation, the dog sat in front of her and lifted a paw, cocked his large, square head, and peered up at her with yellow eyes, as if to fathom the spirit of this new arrival.

“He expects you to shake hands with him,” Cole informed her softly.

Bravely she took the proffered paw, and a long, pink tongue lolled out the side of the huge jaws almost in a smile.

“He is safe, isn’t he?” Alaina questioned cautiously when the animal went off to inspect the buggy wheels. “I mean—he doesn’t eat people, does he?” Warily she sidled closer to her husband as the mastiff came trotting back and was much relieved when Cole bade the dog to sit .and to stay.

Cole looked down at her curiously, amazed that she should fear anything. Roberta had hated the animal vehemently and had refused to have it in the house, but had never displayed any such trepidation when the beast was around. Incredibility was strongly rooted in his tone as he questioned, “Is this Al? Frightened of a harmless beast?”

Alaina straightened the cloak, somewhat embarrassed that her bravado had slipped so badly. “Didn’t say I was frightened of him. I just like to know where I stand with Yankees and their critters.”

For this quick moment, her mannerisms were so blatantly Al’s, the memory of the ragged urchin was
brought fully to Cole’s mind. He contemplated the features he had once accepted as boyish, but could find no reason for the success of her charade. What he saw now was delicately feminine and finely boned. Out here in the open, with darkly lashed gray eyes bright and irrepressibly gay, with the sun highlighting her dark, auburn-highlighted hair, she was close to dazzling. Had she really changed so much since Al? Or must he lay the cause to his own blindness?

“If you would rather not have him at the house, I’ll keep him down here at the barn.”

Alaina shrugged prettily. “If his manners are better than yours, bring him back. I think I may have need of a guard.”

“Ah, madam,” Cole sighed with a laugh. “The cost is dear indeed. Only kind words, if you please.

“Sorry.” She scratched her nose in embarrassment. “I forgot.”

Witnessing the strange mixture of Al and woman so neatly packaged into one being, Cole realized that watching her was fascinating. “You’re going to parch your nose if you go about without a bonnet,” he smiled.

“If you care to remember, sir, I no longer have a bonnet.”

“You have others,” he pointed out.

Alaina peered up at him askance. “You have others, Major! I have none.”

His brows arched in a half frown, but before he could retort, a shout interrupted the exchange.

“Miz Alaina!”

At the sound of her name, she turned from the shadowed face and saw Saul running toward them.
A broad, white-toothed grin fairly split his black face as he reached her, and not forgetting his manners, he snatched the cloth hat from his head.

“Why, Saul,” she laughed, surveying the red woolen shirt he wore and the new trousers that were held up by bright suspenders. He also sported tall, laced boots and a hide vest. “I almost didn’t recognize you in your finery.”

“Yas’m, Miz Alaina. Ah reckon ah ain’t never been so rich. Why, ah gots me mo’ clothes than I can wear at once. Even one o’ dem union suits, begging yer pardon, Major, with one of dem button up cellar doors in de back.” He appeared briefly pained as he scratched his ribs. “Though I been fearing dey done sold de chiggers with it.”

“Wool can get right prickly on a warm day,” Cole chuckled as he considered the other’s layered clothing. He glanced briefly over his shoulder toward the bright autumn sun before questioning, “Are you cold, Saul?”

The black beamed. “No, suh. Ah’s fine, thankee.”

“That’s good.” Cole smiled. Placing a hand on Alaina’s back, he nodded toward the barn. “Olie wanted to show me something. I’ll be back in a bit.”

The dog ambled after his master, and slowly Alaina turned her gaze from the limping figure of her husband as she realized Saul was rambling on.

“Mistah Cole gave me a house all to myself, Miz Alaina. For a Yankee, ah reckon he ain’t so bad.”

Alaina smiled. “You’ve been treated well then? And you like it here?”

“Well—de people—dey’s good, and de house is fine, and de clothes is warm. But, Miz Alaina”—his face grew serious—“ah sho’ do miss dat nice warm sun we had back home. Don’t seem like this one up here does the same kinda job.”

“It’s the same one we had,” she murmured, “though perhaps a little less friendly up here.” Staring off toward the barn, she mused aloud, “The major doesn’t seem to suffer unduly from the cold. Perhaps it’s all a matter of viewpoint.”

“Yas’m, maybe it is.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Guess ah’d best get back to de job now. Ah gots to work off all dese clothes and all, so’s ah don’t leaving owing Mistah Cole.”

“Leave?”

“Oh, ah don’t mean to say ah’m rushing off, Miz Alaina. But comes de day when ah can, ah think ah’ll mosey on down home. If yo’ finds yo’ is of de same mind, let me know. We’ll skedaddle jes’ like we came.”

“Thank you, Saul.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “But like you, I’ve run up a debt with the major, and I have no means of repaying him.” She paused as Soldier Boy came trotting out of the barn, and she knew that Cole would not be too far behind. “We’ll talk about this some other time. I think the major is coming.”

Saul nodded. “Yo’ take care of yo’self now, Miz Alaina. And like ah said, we’ll skedaddle right quick outta here whenever yo’ say. We can always send Mistah Cole what we owe ’em.”