Light to Valhalla (32 page)

Alex raised a brow
.
“
How did you hold the
m off?”

Charley pursed her lips but could not keep a prideful grin at bay
.
“
I took out one of your father’s dueling pistols
and threatened to shoot the husband
.
His name was Josiah Baker
.
I’ll never forget it as long as I live
.
Apparently Mr. Baker
thought I was serious.”

Alex snorted with laughter
.
“Were you?”

“I’m not really sure,” she replied honestly
.
“Fortunately he didn’t press and left never to be seen again
.
Sailed to Australia of all places I’m told
.
I hear from Missy from time to time and she is well.
”

“That is quite a story.”

“Every word of it is true too,” she said proudly.

He wrapped
an arm
around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head
.
“
Few would have looked twice at an abused servant woman
.
I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.
”
She snuggled the side of her face in his coat
.

“Now, t
ell me about your charity work
.
”

“Your mother doesn’t approve.”

“Why does that not surprise me?
”
He smiled down at her, encouraging
.
“However, I am not my mother.”

She squeezed his arm, a weak smile accompanying the warm gesture
.
“Mostly I
sponsor fun
ds for the London orphanages, and a
lmost every week I go to read to the children.”

Alex had seen countless thin faced children on the continent, families destroyed
,
left penniless
and—perhaps worse—
fatherless
due to war
.
“I should like to join you for that.”

“
Truly?
”
Charley appeared thoroughly astonished, which irked Alex in no small degree
.
Did everyone believe him a callous, selfish ass?

“Of course.”

“
Then
I shall hold you to it
.
The children would love to meet a real war hero
.
Many of them lost fathers to the war.
”

“I probably knew some of them.”

“Have you lost
many me
n?”

“Dozens.
”
Though if he stopped to count the number would climb to hundreds, and still he remembered every last one
.
Their names filed neatly away in his mind like rows of
tidy soldiers
.
He dared not forget them lest he lose a piece of his humanity, become like his superiors who no longer saw men, only numbers
.

Charley opened her mouth to respond.

“This is a dark subject,” he cut in quickly, deterring further
             
questions
.
“I daresay, let’s enjoy this beautiful day
.”

Charley cocked her head to look up at him, quiet for a long moment mouth puckered in the singular way it did when she warred with what to say
.
An emotion almost akin to hurt drifted elusively through her eyes, or perhaps more accurately disappointment
.
“As you wish.”

The flash of emotion was gone before he had much time to dwell on it, leaving Alex oddly discontented, as though he’d erred in some way
.

A companionable silence lapsed, and a
rm in arm, t
hey crested a gently sloping hill and
the
lodge
came in to view
.
Picturesque and quaint, the small stone cottage sat in a grove of wintry green pine trees, a vision so homey and inviting Alex actually ached
.
Like a dream from one of Charley’s fairytale novels
—and he
was sharing it with her
.
Not that he was a romantic, anything but, however,
being with her left him
hopeful
.

“Finally,”
Charley said, releasing
his arm
, oblivious to his wistfulness
.
She
dashed forward into the snow
with an exuberance born of guiltless purity
.
What he wouldn’t give to feel that innocent again
.
That young
—funny… he was only two years her senior
.
“I’ll race you to the front door.
”
She flashed an impish grin
over her shoulder
and
galloped
animatedly down the hill
.

“That is not fair,” Alex called after her
sprinting form
.
As if he could run as fast as she with a bum leg
.
Granted, losing was not so bad given the view of her perfectly curved backside
.
H
e clocked his head to the side
.
Yes, losing definitely had
its
perks
.

Breathing Heavily, Charley laid a hand on the fro
nt door, surveying the area around the cottage
.
“Alex, come look at this,” she called
.
“Someone’s been here.”

Odd
.
Given
the recent snow any fresh foot
prints would have come from that day
.
He quickened the pace
only to slow
when the first booted track
struck his gaze
.
Unease slithered down his spine, rekindling the sense of being watched
he’d experienced just the day before
.
Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he scrutinized the woods behind the cabin
.

“Rather strange, don’t you think?
”
Charley appeared as his elbow
, pointing a toe at the l
arge print
.
A few miniature clumps of snow rolled into the indentation.

“Pr
obably one of the hands hired to maintain the place,” Alex rationalized
.
“The house does look in excellent repair.”

Charley visibly relaxed
.
“Yes, that does make
sense
.
After those men…
”
She shuddered
and Alex
wrapped an arm around her shoulders
.
She leaned into him
, and a thrill of victory shot thr
o
ugh him
.
“A
fter what happened the other night I can’t help
but be a little nervous.”

“Understandable, love.
”
He couldn’t resist dropping a light kiss on her head, relishing the heady perfume of her hair
.
“How will we get inside?  I doubt if the
door is unlocked.
”
Releasing Charley, he strode forward giving the handle a quick shake
.
Next he rattled the window to the right of the portal
.
Wouldn’t budge
.

“I’ll climb through that window.
”
She stepped around the stone corner and pointed up
.
“It’s never locked.”

Alex followed her index finger to the second story
.
“You’ll never make it up there
.”

“Of course I will
.
Thomas and I used to come here all the time
.
All I have to do is
climb up that tree, open the window and jump inside
.
It’s not hard.”

A smile tugged at his lips
.
Some things never changed
.
“As a gentleman I must insist
that I
go up the tree
in your stead
.”

“Nonsense.
”
Charley
grasped the bottom most branch
, and propped a booted foot on the
wide
trunk
.
“Seeing as I am
not
behaving as anything of a lady, I see no reason for you to behave as a gentleman.
”
She flashed another of those puckish grins
and climbed up into the lowest set of
boughs
.

“Charley, I really must protest.
”
He grabbed the lowest
limb
, reaching for her hand.

She ignored him,
venturing further into the bare, gnarled branches
.
“Don’t be s
o overbearing
.
It makes you see
m
even
stuffier
.
”

“Stuffier
,” he muttered under his breath
.
Ouch
.
“I take offense to that.
”
Silently adm
itting defeat, for he knew when
not to argue with his wife, h
e stepped beneath her
.
The least he could do is catch the chit if she tumbled from her precarious perch
.
“
I’m not stuffy, merely concerned for your welfare
.
How would I explain your broken neck?”

“
An acciden
t,” she replied flippantly
.
“
I’m sure your mother would be thrilled.
”
She straddled a branch level with
the window and scooted across, sending a shower of bark down on Alex
.

He held up an arm to shield his eyes
.
Her words bothered him, bringing back the memory of Regina’s reaction after Charley’s kidnapping
.

“Besides,” Charley called down, “you would never fit through this window.”

He glanced toward the square white paned
casement
and grudgingly agreed
.
The window would never accommodate his shoulders
.
“Fair enough.
”

With the agility of a cat, Charley stood on the branch and leapt onto the narrow ledge
.
She teetered
on the balls of her feet, swinging one arm for balance and grasping the upper windowpane with the other
.

Cold fear shot through Alex
.
“
Christ, love, d
o be careful
.”

Hardy laughter rained down in response
.
“Please, Alex, I’m fine.
”
She hoi
sted the window upward and clamored
inside
.
A moment later her head poked through
.
“Meet me at the front door.
”
She slammed the portal closed and disappeared.

Alex shook his head, and ambled back to the front door
.
He leaned against the doorjamb awaiting his wife
.
What a gem.

The inner lock rattled
and a moment later the door swung open, revealing Charley’s disheveled, albeit radiant, form.

“You would make one hell of a soldier.
”
Alex strode into the
cabin,
eyes fixed on Charley
.
All he wanted
was to sweep
her
up and kiss
her senseless
.
Granted he had the sneaking suspicion
it would be
him
falling senseless to
her
charms.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.
”

“As you should.
”
He advanced on her steadily more than ready to claim that kiss
.

“The lodge isn’t terribly big,” Charley said,
moving
through
the small entryway,
into
the parlor
.
A
meager kitchen
split off to one side
of the room,
and
narrow stairs—no doubt leading to a bedroom; h
e’d
love
to see the bedroom—sat at the back
corner
of the
parlor
.
Green and brown
décor lent a warm, inviting aura to the interior.