“Maybe,” he snapped. “But who knows what could have happened?”
She felt herself swaying toward him. Maybe it was the moonlight. “I am not your responsibility.”
“Yes you are. I have orders from the army.” Supporting her, he put his arm around her shoulders and led her to a little clearing. When he told her to sit down and be quiet, she didn’t bother to protest, but leaned against a tree, hugged her arms about her, and closed her eyes.
She wasn’t about to tell him so, but the miners’ abduction of her had frightened her. It was some time after they’d burst into her tent before she realized that they’d only wanted her to sing. Had she known they were merely drunks looking for someone to entertain them, she might have protested, but she had been afraid they were from Laurel’s captors.
When she’d realized they’d merely wanted her to sing, she’d been furious and had then just sat and waited, waited for Captain Montgomery to find her.
She sat up with a start when he touched her shoulder and handed her a cup of coffee.
“I didn’t bring much to eat. I left in a bit of a hurry.”
She watched him as he tended to the fire and his horse, then spread blankets on the ground for a bed. He gave her a couple of the horrible dried army crackers called hardtack to eat, and when she’d finished, he took her by the hand and led her to the blankets.
“Where will you sleep?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m not the one who gets into trouble every five minutes.”
“I wasn’t in trouble. I was perfectly safe. I—”
“But none of us knew that, did we? Sam had blood running down his neck, and you ought to feel the size of the lump on my head. My head still hurts so bad I can hardly see straight, while you just say that you weren’t in danger. You—”
“Let me see,” she said, interrupting him. Anything to make him shut up. She sat down on the blanket and motioned for him to bend to her. She put her hands in his thick, dark hair and immediately felt an awful lump and she also felt somewhat guilty. She hadn’t meant for anyone to get hurt because of her.
On impulse, she leaned forward and kissed the lump. “There, does that make it feel better?”
“Not much,” he said, and when she looked at him he was still frowning.
“Really, Captain, don’t you have any sense of humor at all? I apologize for causing you so much trouble, but, may I remind you that I never have yet asked for your help or your interference. I’ve never wanted, or felt I needed, an army escort. You are free to return to your post at any time you want.”
He turned toward the fire, sitting not a foot from the blankets. “And who would protect you?” he asked softly.
“Sam and—”
“Ha! You’re better at protecting yourself than they are.”
“Was that a compliment? If it was, I want to mark it down in my diary.”
“I’ve complimented you. I told you I like your singing.”
She frowned into the fire. “True, you like my singing but you’ve said nothing but dreadful things about me as a person. You call me a liar and—”
“As far as I can tell, most of what you say to me is lies.”
“Don’t you understand that there are sometimes reasons why a person must lie? Or has your life always been so easy that you’ve never found a lie necessary? Are you perfect, Captain Montgomery, utterly perfect?”
He was quiet so long that she turned to look at him, and by his face she knew she’d hit some chord in him.
“No, I’m not perfect,” he said. “I have fears just like everyone else.”
“Such as?” she whispered. At the moment they didn’t seem like an army officer and his captive, but just two people, alone, sitting by a campfire, surrounded by darkness. “What do you fear?”
He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. “When you’re ready to tell me your secrets, I’ll tell you mine. Until then, let’s keep this on a different plane. Now, Miss Whatever-your-true-name-is, get between those blankets and sleep.”
He stood and walked away into the darkness, allowing her some privacy as she made herself ready to sleep. When the miners had burst into her tent she’d asked to please be allowed time to change out of her nightgown. She’d dressed as hurriedly as possible, not bothering with her corset, but without it she couldn’t fasten her skirt and was glad for the concealing tail of the jacket she’d slipped over her blouse.
It was cold in the mountains at night so she snuggled under the top blanket fully clothed, put her head on Captain Montgomery’s saddlebag, and went to sleep. As a child, she’d slept this way often, with a campfire crackling and stars overhead.