He ran a handful of grass over Buttercup’s sweaty back. “Believe me, I don’t want to, but I see no alternative. Are you ready to get some sleep? I’m bushed. I don’t know how you keep such hours. Maybe it’s all the years you spent in Europe. You want to sleep on the right or the left?”
“I sleep alone,” she said pointedly.
“I’ll do the best I can to allow you to do that. There’s some slack between us with this chain.” He pulled her to her horse and began unsaddling it.
“I…I have to have some privacy. You’ll have to release me to allow me a few moments alone.” She made her voice sound as sincere as possible.
“And then you’ll come right back here and let me put the cuffs back on?”
“Certainly.”
Even in the dark she could see the brilliance of his white teeth as he smiled at her. “Sometimes I may seem like I was born yesterday, but if I have learned nothing else, it’s that you, my dear little songbird, are not to be trusted. You can go behind those bushes over there. I promise I won’t look.”
Maddie’s lips tightened. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Suit yourself, but it’ll be a long night. Now, which blanket do you want?”
She snatched the nearest blanket from him. To think that just a while ago she had been feeling sympathy for him. She started to stomp away, but she took only a few steps before she came up short. Being chained to him was rather like being chained to a tree. If he didn’t move, then she couldn’t.
“Oh, pardon me,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I forgot for a moment that I now have even less freedom than I’ve had since I met you. Now I can’t walk where I want or sleep where I want.”
“You may not need any privacy, but I do.”
“I’ll wait for you by the horse,” she said a bit too eagerly.
He chuckled. “I don’t think so. I think that your delicate sensibilities will have to bear up under the shock.”
She turned her back to him. She would have crossed her hands over her chest, but he had to use both his hands, and when he did he pulled hers forward. She noticed that he had pinned her right hand and his left, leaving his more skilled hand free.
“That’s better,” he said.
“I don’t want to hear about it.”
“You planning to be angry at me all night?”
“All night? Captain Montgomery, for your information, I plan to be angry with you for the rest of my life. Don’t you have any concept of the fact that I am a free human being and that I have rights and wishes of my own? That I have as much right to freedom as you do?”
“You don’t have the right to get yourself killed and, as far as I can tell, that’s just where you’re heading.”
“I am in no danger.”
“I see. Then who is in danger?”
“You!” She clamped her free hand over her mouth.
“That is interesting. Very interesting. So, I guess all this sneaking about of yours has been to protect me. You’re so fond of me that you’re risking your life to protect me.”
“No, I didn’t say that. I just meant that…” She had no explanation for him.
“Come on, let’s get some sleep. You’re so tired that you’re getting your lies mixed up.”
She stood to one side, trying to not allow him to jerk her forward every time he moved, but not succeeding, while he spread two blankets on the ground.
“Sorry, but that’s about as far as I can get them apart. We’ll have to sleep with our arms outstretched as it is.”
“This is really ridiculous. Will you release me if I swear to not run away? I will sleep very near you, so near that you’ll hear me if I so much as turn over, but please take this off my wrist. It’s heavy and it hurts.”
He turned toward her, and for a moment she thought he might give in, but then he sighed. “I’d like to, but I can’t. Which side do you want?”