Conall: The 93rd Highlanders, Book Two (14 page)

“
Douglas
didn’t mind switching huts with her,” Conall said. “A lady like
Mrs. Scott can’t be left unguarded around here.” He almost dared
Miss McMillan to refute Avril’s status.

“
Oh, I
agree,” Miss McMillan said instead, so sincere, her big eyes wide
with alarm. “I’m sure the good men here outweigh the bad, but one
can never be too careful. And Mrs. Scott is quite pretty and
vivacious, why any man would want to seek her company, I’m sure.”
She reached out and patted Avril’s arm. “You must have been very
frightened. I know I was the one time I was accosted while riding
around the camp. It’s why Papa insists I have an escort now.” She
linked her arm with Avril’s. “Have you any tea? I’m frozen right
through.”

“
Of course,”
Avril said, looking stunned. “I can fetch it for you, but let me
brew some fresh.”

“
I’ll help
you,” Miss McMillan said, and Brodie noticeably winced. Miss
McMillan glared at him. “I can brew tea, Lieutenant Fletcher,
without burning it or setting the hut on fire.”

“
I didn’t say
a word,” Brodie said innocently. “You brew an excellent cup,
ma’am.”

“
Humph,” Miss
McMillan said, flouncing off and dragging Avril with her. The two
disappeared inside and shut the door behind them.

“
What is that
about?” Conall asked as soon as the ladies were out of
sight.

“
Tory is
worried that Mrs. Scott will be shunned by the other ladies in camp
because of what the three of you are up to,” Brodie told him
flatly. “She insisted on coming over here and making it all
respectable.” Brodie glared at him. “And I’m sure to get an earful
from her father about it. What the hell are the two of you about,
taking up with her bold as brass like this?” He waved at the chairs
in front of the hut and Graeme sitting there like he owned the
place.

“
Tory, is
it?” Conall said, turning the tables on him. “And what was that
business with Alec? I’d like to know.”

“
We weren’t
discussing me,” Brodie said. “We’re discussing your damn
foolishness.”

“
So Alec’s
temper is your fault,” Conall said. “I surmised as
much.”

“
No, Alec’s
temper is his own fault,” Brodie argued. “And you didn’t answer my
question.”

“
What
question?” Conall strolled over to his chair and sat down again,
mirroring Graeme on the other side of the door. Graeme grinned
slyly at him and he smiled back, a little frisson of awareness
skittering down his back and making him shiver. Brodie snorted in
disgust.

“
And the two
of you,” he said. Conall froze and avoided Brodie’s eyes. “Don’t
bother trying to deny it,” Brodie told him. “It’s as plain as the
nose on your face what’s going on here. You’d best be careful, both
of you.”

“
Are you
being careful?” Graeme asked casually. He was whittling something,
as he was wont to do when they were whiling away the hours. He blew
the small curls of wood off the stick as he regarded Brodie. Brodie
grew flustered.

“
I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” he said, and Conall was instantly
suspicious of his tone of voice. Brodie could never lie worth a
damn.

“
Oh,” he
said, “you know.” But despite his taunting, Conall didn’t. He felt
woefully slow.

“
Is Alec a
better liar?” Graeme asked. “I can’t imagine you or Miss McMillan
can deceive a blind man.”

“
You should
know, Graeme Munro,” Brodie accused. “You’ve been giving him the
eye since we arrived and everyone knows it.”

Conall was catching up
fast. Brodie and Alec and Miss McMillan? How had he missed that? He
laughed out loud. It would seem he and Ham weren’t the only
Fletcher boys to take after their father.

“
Hush,”
Conall told his brother. “You’ll be telling all to what few men in
camp don’t know.” He stroked his beard as he watched Brodie, who
was blushing as he stood there with his arms crossed defensively.
“Have either of you bedded the girl?” he asked solemnly. “She’s not
the kind you can dally with and walk away from. Her father will see
you hanged or wed.”

“
Of course
not,” Brodie snapped. “Not all of us can set our light o’ loves up
in convenient quarters and throw rules to the wind.” He shook his
head. “Please tell me that you aren’t dallying with Mrs. Scott with
plans to walk away.”

“
Of course
not,” Conall said angrily. “How is it that my own brothers are the
ones who think the least of me? You know I want to marry her. Or
Graeme will. It’s just a matter of convincing her.”

“
With the two
of you rutting around her she’s bound to turn up pregnant,” Brodie
mused. “Women are strange about that. She’ll marry you then, mark
my words.”

“
That’s what
I’m counting on,” Graeme said, surprising Conall. “But for now, all
we can do is try to hurry that along.”

Brodie laughed. “I’m sure
you’re doing your best,” he said mockingly.

Just then the door opened
and Miss McMillan emerged, holding several cups. Avril was just
behind her with a steaming pot of tea. After giving each of the men
an empty mug, Miss McMillan sat down across from Conall and Avril
poured everyone tea.

“
And now you,
Mrs. Scott,” Miss McMillan said firmly. She glared at Conall.
“Perhaps she might have your seat, Lieutenant Fletcher.” Avril
protested, but Conall rose and ushered her into his seat. He was
truly chastised by Miss McMillan’s reminder of his manners. He’d
best stop taking Avril for granted and start treating her like the
lady he wanted everyone to believe her to be, or this whole mess
was going to end in disaster. He watched Miss McMillan chat with
Avril like an equal and realized his brother, like him, may have
found a hidden treasure here in the frozen steppes of the
Crimea.

“
We’ll be
returning after dark,” Graeme announced from the doorway. Conall
waited behind him. Neither man had entered the hut since Brodie and
Miss McMillan rode away, which Avril found odd.

She turned to him, her
expression stunned. “What?” she asked. “Where are you
going?”

“
We’re going
to walk around camp and make sure everyone sees us,” Graeme told
her. “It isn’t right, us being here all the time and being so open
about what’s going on. People are talking.”

“
Not that
nonsense about people talking,” she said. “That’s what drove Conall
away before. Are you going to let it happen again? Going to let
other people tell you what to do?”

“
We’re in the
army,” Conall said, amusement in his voice. “That’s all we
do.”

Avril crossed her arms
and regarded them angrily. “Fine. Go walk about, then, for all I
care. What you do is your own business.”

“
Be careful,
Avril,” Graeme said calmly. “I’ll only take so much sass from you,
woman.”

“
Ach, go on
with you,” she said, pretending a disinterest she was far from
feeling. Graeme’s words had made butterflies take flight in her
stomach. He was a man who liked to administer a good pinch and a
slap on the bottom when he was fucking her. She’d often wondered if
there was more to that. His words quieted her nerves in a strange
way. They weren’t walking away from her. They were coming
back.

“
Think about
what I said,” Graeme warned her.

“
I know I
am,” she heard Conall say and had to smile at the eagerness in his
voice. Always ready for anything was her Conall.

A few minutes later there
was a knock on her door. The sun hadn’t yet set, so she was smiling
when she answered the door, amused they couldn’t wait that long to
come back to her. She was shocked speechless to see Miss McMillan’s
father, Colonel McMillan, at her door. He removed his hat and
politely bowed to her.

“
Good
evening, Mrs. Scott,” he said. “Have you a moment to
talk?”

She hesitated a moment.
“Of course,” she said, frantically wondering what he wanted of her.
“Let me just grab my coat.” Not even the colonel was getting inside
her hut when she was here alone. Graeme would have a
fit.

“
Of course,”
the colonel said with a polite smile. “I’ll wait here.” She looked
over his shoulder and saw his two aides standing several feet away,
holding their horses. They wouldn’t meet her gaze. Avril’s stomach
churned with worry.

When she’d donned her
coat she shut the door firmly behind her and joined the colonel
outside. The sunset was beautiful, orange and red and pink blazing
across the horizon.

“
It would
seem, Mrs. Scott,” the colonel began, “that you have become a bit
of a distraction here in camp.”

She made no comment,
firmly closing her mouth and biting her lips. Better to let him get
it all out so she’d know what she had to defend herself against.
The colonel was watching her closely, waiting. Finally he nodded
and turned away. “Shall we walk?” he asked, holding out his arm for
her. She slid her hand tentatively into the curve of his
elbow.

They strolled
slowly away from the hut. Avril noticed the camp was strangely
empty as they passed.
Rats abandoning the
ship
, Avril thought bitterly.

“
You must see
my dilemma, Mrs. Scott,” the colonel said at last. “You are a
valuable member of our little community here. It hasn’t escaped my
notice how many of my men you take care of. You are mother, cook,
nurse and seamstress to half my officers and some of the soldiers
too.” He sighed. “Yet there are ladies here as well. Circumstances
have become complicated, you understand?” She nodded but still made
no comment. The colonel sighed again. “I do not wish to send you
away from camp,” the colonel said frankly. “I can’t guarantee your
safety should I do so, and there are many, my daughter included,
who would be very upset if I did.”

“
I’ve almost
saved enough for passage home,” she said, finally speaking. She
didn’t want to be sent away. “The men pay me for the cooking and
the sewing and such.”

“
Do they?” he
asked with interest. “Good. That’s good.” They walked for a moment
in silence. “How long until you have enough to get home?” he asked,
though he sounded reluctant, as though afraid to offend.

“
Not long,”
she said. “A month or two, perhaps, if the money keeps coming in as
it is.” She felt sick to her stomach, having to talk of leaving in
such a straightforward way. As though her heart wasn’t breaking to
leave Conall and Graeme behind.

They’d walked a circle
and arrived back at her door. “Then I shall do nothing about you
for the moment,” the colonel said not unkindly. “I shall silence
those who are whispering in my ear and wait. But if you are not
gone or wed in two months’ time, Mrs. Scott, I’m afraid I shall
have to insist you seek shelter somewhere else. Perhaps in Scutari?
They have need of nurses there, I’m told.”

“
Yes, sir.”
Avril blinked back tears. It had come to this, her being thrown out
of camp for being a loose woman and no better than a whore. He
hadn’t said the words, but she understood what he meant.

“
Give my
regards to Captain Munro and Lieutenant Fletcher,” he said, tipping
his hat politely. “I bid you good night.”

Avril was pacing the
small square of her hut when another knock came at the door. She
had no idea how long it had been since the colonel left. “Who is
it?” she called out fearfully. Had he changed his mind and sent
someone to evict her?

“
It is I,”
Graeme said formally through the door. “Are you all
right?”

She yanked the door open
only to find it was deepest night. “Yes,” she lied. She looked
about furtively but didn’t see anyone spying. Grabbing his arm, she
dragged him inside and shut the door.

“
What’s going
on?” Graeme demanded.

“
Nothing,”
she lied again, not looking at him. “Where’s Conall?”

“
We decided
to separate our arrivals by a few minutes. No need to be
obvious.”

“
A little
late for that, isn’t it?” she asked, some of her bitterness seeping
through.

“
You’re the
one who seemed to think our caution was unfounded. Now you’re
complaining. Should I go?” He sounded so calm and cool, and she
recognized it for what it was. A disguise, one he donned when he
felt the need to hide his feelings.

“
No. No, I
don’t want you to go. I never want you to go,” she admitted
foolishly. She’d have to tell them soon about the colonel’s visit
and her plans to leave. But not tonight. They were all in a strange
mood tonight. Perhaps Conall would set them right.

It happened so fast when
Conall walked in Avril’s door that he had no time to react or
resist. Graeme grabbed him and spun him into the room. Then he came
in close behind him and wrapped his arm around Conall’s neck and
grabbed Conall’s jaw, turning his head sharply to the side,
exposing his neck. Graeme had his other arm wrapped around Conall’s
chest, pinning his arms down. He leaned down and bit Conall’s neck
sharply. Conall cried out and then Graeme was sucking the spot,
licking it and kissing Conall’s neck. Graeme’s newly grown beard
scratched against his skin. He went from alarm to fear to desire so
fast his head was spinning.