‘Maybe,’ she replied cautiously.
‘Either way you are the only person who can help me, so hold that lantern a little higher to guide me to the horses, will you?’ Seeing that she did not move, he made a noise of acute impatience and informed her sharply, ‘You’ll have a man’s life on your conscience before morning if you don’t help.’
‘And who says I’ve such a luxury?’
He sighed and took a shilling from his pocket and held it so it caught the poor light. ‘This does,’ he informed her so wearily that Thea almost dropped her guard and did as he bid her out of fellow feeling.
After three weeks of running and hiding and walking until she could walk no more, she had a lot of sympathy with the weary. Reminding herself she must not drop her guard, she eyed the shiny coin as if it represented nigh-irresistible temptation. It should of course, for heaven alone knew when she would have a chance to earn another one, so she nodded as if coming to a purely mercenary decision and signalled him to follow.
Complete darkness had fallen while they had stood arguing, but as her eyes adjusted to the night she saw a shadow move at the edge of the woods. Nervous of what she could not clearly see, she fought the urge to run back inside the hut and hide in a dusty corner.
‘My horse is wondering where on earth I got off to,’ the soldier’s voice reassured her gruffly.
His presence reassured her more than words and she relaxed a little as she let him lead the way. While she would find it unbearable to be ordered and bullied like a raw recruit in his regiment for long, for now it was oddly appealing.
‘Ah, but he’s a beauty, ain’t he?’ she murmured and reached out a gentle hand to the great horse so patiently awaiting his master.
‘Reluctant though I am to interrupt such a touching scene, more light would help me judge my cousin’s condition better.’
‘There’s no need to be sarcastic,’ she murmured as she held the lantern aloft and saw the vibrancy of gold braid and dash that was a Hussar’s uniform, but which now only emphasised the thinness and pallor of the gentleman wearing it.
‘There’s a lean-to round the back of the hut where the charcoal burners kept their beasts,’ she volunteered and would have taken the bay’s reins, if the first soldier had not put out a hand to stop her.
‘Light the way while I lead them.’
Knowing he thought she would ride off with his horse, she flounced along the overgrown track to the hovel, where the few ancient bundles of hay might serve to bed the animals for the night, even if they could hardly eat it. The officer hitched the black’s reins to the sturdiest post he could see and untied the ropes that held his friend in the saddle. Thea forgot her anger at being so mistrusted and hung the lamp on a nail driven in for the purpose.
‘I can manage his feet if you hold his arms,’ she offered, only to step back in awe when he hefted the unconscious man out of the saddle, setting him gently on the nearest pile of hay.
She shook her head in astonishment at such mighty strength united with gentleness. It flew in the face of all her experience and she didn’t want to soften toward his sex, unless some miracle led her to sanctuary. Even then she would probably do well to avoid this abrupt gentleman. Silently she moved to soothe the restless black until he calmed down enough to let her rub him down with a wisp of hay.
‘You have a way with horses,’ the man said, and if he was expecting her to fall at his feet in delight at his compliment, he would be disappointed.
‘I like them,’ she told him, wishing she could hate him.
‘He must be able to tell. I’ve often seen the bad-tempered brute lash out when he has a mind to be awkward.’
‘Shame I can’t be a groom then, ain’t it?’ she replied lightly and went back to reassuring the restless stallion.
‘Yes, it’s a lot safer for a boy to wander about unprotected than a girl.’
‘I don’t need nobody’s protection,’ she lied as he lifted the packs the horses had carried and took out nosebags and a good supply of oats.
‘Soon as we get your friend bedded down we’ll water them,’ she observed. ‘He looks about to wake.’
‘The sooner we get him inside the better. Are you good with people?’
‘Can’t abide ’em.’
He chuckled and she tried not to smile, even if he couldn’t see her.
‘I thought not. Bring my pack along like a good girl, will you?’
She scowled and tried not to show the slightest awe when he hauled his lanky comrade into his arms and bore him as if he weighed little more than a child.
Chapter Two
‘Light the fire again,’ the tall rifleman ordered, when they were inside the hut with the door safely shut behind them.
‘It’ll give us away.’
‘I have a rifle, four pistols, a sword and a cavalry officer’s sabre at my disposal, so I think we can deal with any intruders, don’t you?’
‘I dare say Boney’s too busy to call tonight, so likely we can.’
‘A wench with a sense of humour, how refreshing,’ he said drily and Thea subsided into mutinous sulks once more.
As she reached for the precious kindling she had gathered in case she could not get through the night without the comfort of a fire, she wondered just what the pampered girl of a few months ago would have made of this ridiculous situation. In all likelihood silly Miss Hardy would have thought a dark stranger in rifleman’s green deliciously overwhelming, and fallen headlong in love with him at first sight.
‘Silly clunch,’ she murmured at the very thought.
‘Who is?’
‘Who is what?’
‘I may be a clunch, but I’m not a deaf one.’
‘I meant someone else,’ she said, surprised to find she didn’t want to hurt his feelings after all. ‘A young lady at the last house I was in. She insisted her fire must be lit three hours before she got up every morning, so there was no risk of her delicate little feet getting cold. The maids had to rise early in the winter just to do as she bid us.’
Ashamed of the memory of that unnecessary demand, Thea was glad the subdued light would hide her blush. What an inconsiderate, objectionable female she had been, before the Winfordes took a hand in her education.
‘Cold-hearted bitch,’ he growled, and, if it had not been her true self he was traducing, she might have been warmed by his partisanship.
‘I dare say she’s learnt her lesson now. They say she’s to be wed for the sake of her fortune.’
To her surprise she saw a blush fire his tanned cheeks as the fire caught properly and began to warm the room at last.
‘We need hot water. There’s probably a shaving mug somewhere in my pack if you can find nothing else to boil it in.’
‘Then you find it. I’m not putting my hands in there. They might come out without some fingers.’
His teeth flashed white in the firelight as he grinned at her maidenly refusal to search a soldier’s possessions, and for once did as he was bid.
‘You really are a most unusual female,’ he told her as he handed her the tin mug, almost as if he approved of her rather odd behaviour.
She filled it carefully from the handleless jug she had made sure was full to the brim earlier, so she would not need to venture outside until morning. A precaution she might just as easily have not bothered with, as it happened.