She was silent as she went to her horse and he didn’t speak either. He’d already heard and seen enough to know that there was no use asking her what she was doing and why. But he meant to find out. No matter what he had to do or say, he meant to find out all the answers to his questions.
Chapter 4
Hours later Maddie was alone in her tent and at last she could allow herself to give in to her fear. The man she’d had to meet was dreadful. He had mean, hard eyes and, worse, he was stupid. She knew there would never be any reasoning with him about Laurel or anything else. He’d given her the letter, but he’d also demanded she give him the little pearl and diamond brooch she wore. It wasn’t worth much, not in money, but it had been a gift from her mother and it had belonged to her grandmother as well. Forgetting herself, she’d protested when he’d demanded the pin and she’d seen him grow angry. He’d yelled at her and she was ashamed to remember that she had been afraid. She was afraid for Laurel, yes, but she was afraid for herself too.
She put her face in her hands. All her life she seemed to have been given whatever she wanted. She had her talent, the adoration of thousands of people, and she had her family, who had always supported her in whatever she wanted to do.
Now, rather abruptly, her luck seemed to have run out and she was so utterly, totally alone.
She glanced up when she heard someone enter the tent, and to her consternation she saw Captain Montgomery. They’d had to ride down the mountain together, on the same horse, but she’d refused to speak to him, and for once he hadn’t asked his hundreds of questions.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “This happens to be my tent, my private place, such as it is. If I want you in here, I’ll invite you, and furthermore—”
“We have a bargain, remember?”
She frowned at him. “I have no idea what you’re—” She broke off because she did remember what she’d said. “You couldn’t possibly mean…”
“You said you’d go to bed with me if I’d let you have thirty minutes alone with the man. I did, and I’m here to collect.”
“I didn’t mean…” she whispered.
“Didn’t mean what you said? Do you lie about everything? Is there even an ounce of truth in you?”
“I am not a liar. I never lie. I never have the need to lie,” she said, her back straight, but her hands were trembling.
“Good, then.” He smiled at her in a way she found particularly insidious. “Let’s get to it.”
Laurel, Maddie thought. I’ll do this for Laurel. Besides, maybe it would be better this way. Perhaps if he were her lover, she could more easily persuade him the next time she had to meet a man to exchange letters.
She tried not to think as she put her hands to the buttons at the front of her habit. She looked up at him. He’d put his foot on the trunk at the side of the tent, leaned his arms on his knee, and was watching her. “Sh-shouldn’t we turn down the lamp?”
“No,” he said slowly. “I want to see what I’m getting.”
Her face turned red and she had to look down to keep him from seeing the hatred in her eyes. She thought she might possibly kill him after this night. She would like to see him lying dead and bleeding.
She finished unbuttoning her jacket and was about to slip it off her shoulders when he put his hands on hers and stopped. When she looked up at him, all her hatred, all her rage, was blazing in her eyes.
“I’m glad those eyes of yours aren’t daggers,” he said, amusement in his voice.
She jerked out of his grasp. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? I’m to pay you for allowing me”—she spat the word out—“to use my own God-given freedom. What does it matter what I think or feel? You’re the stronger one, Captain Montgomery. You’re the one with the strength to take what you want.” She jerked the jacket off her shoulders, and when it caught in her hair, she pulled harder.
“Stop it,” he said, and pulled her into his arms, trapping her hands between them. “Quiet,” he soothed, and began to stroke her back. “It’s over now, no one’s going to hurt you.”
“You!” she gasped, her nose smashed against his chest, but she didn’t struggle against him; she was fighting too hard to keep her tears in check to do anything else. “You’re going to hurt me.” She was swallowing hard and fast to keep the tears at bay.
“No, I’m not, and I never meant to. I just wanted to know something and I found that out.”
She pushed away from him so she could see his face. He seemed to be amused about something. “What have you found out?” she asked softly.
“How much you wanted whatever you were doing today. You must have wanted to do whatever it was with all your soul if you were willing to go to bed with someone you dislike as much as you dislike me in order to get it. And…”
He smiled at her so that she could see his bottom lip disappearing under his heavy mustache.
“And what, Captain?”
“And I found out about General Yovington.” He gave her a knowing look. “Undressing for a man is not something you’ve done very often.”
“Oh?” She barely whispered the word.