Lynda Trent - The Fire Within

“There’s not much to say about him, either. We grew up together. Everybody has assumed all my life that we would marry.”

“Is that why you’re marrying him?”

“Of course not. I love him.” She frowned slightly, as if she were considering the question. “What about you? Are you married?” She ducked her head. “I was thinking that if you are, I could get word to her somehow that you’re alive. I’d want someone to do the same for me.”

“No, I’m not married.”

She looked at him with her level gaze. “Why not?”

He smiled at her straightforwardness. “I never met a woman I wanted to talk to all my life.”

Megan put her head to one side. “That’s a funny way to put it. Talking is really important to you, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it to you?”

“The men in my family rarely talk to their wives and daughters. They talk to each other, I guess, but only about crops and hunting. Things like that. What would you have to tell a woman that would take the rest of your life to say?”

“That I love her, for one thing. I wouldn’t marry her unless I did and that’s something that needs to be said often, assuming it’s true.”

Megan frowned and let her hands drop into her lap. “I never in my life heard Papa tell Mama he loves her.”

“Most likely that takes place at night when they’re alone.”

She laughed. “You never lived in a cabin, did you? There’s not much privacy.” She caught herself and stood. “I have things to do.”

“I like talking to you. Can’t they wait?”

She went to the door, the soiled bandages soaking in the pan of water. “I’m not used to talking so much. I have work to do.” She paused as if she were considering coming back into the room, then left, pulling the door shut behind her.

Caleb lay back on the pillows. She intrigued him. Certainly she was nothing like anyone he had ever known before. “Doesn’t Seth talk to you?” he called out.

She opened the door again. She had already put the bandages to soak in clean water and was drying her hands. “What?”

“I said, doesn’t Seth talk to you?”

“He talks to me when he has something to say. What sort of a question is that?”

“But does he talk just to hear what you think or feel?”

Megan laughed, then saw that he was serious. “Captain Morgan, we have a lot more work to do here in Black Hollow than you seem to realize. We don’t have time to stand around talking about nothing in particular. Who would wash the clothes and mend the fences and repair the shutters if we spent the day in conversation?”

“It seems to me Seth would want to know about your thoughts and feelings if he’s in love with you.”

“Seth loves me,” she said with a stubborn lift of her chin. “You don’t even know him. Why would you ask such a thing?”

“You don’t seem to be accustomed to talking to a man.”

“Maybe it’s just that I don’t want to talk to the enemy. Have you thought about that, Captain Morgan?” she retorted.

“Call me Caleb. It seems only right since I’m sleeping in your bed.” A thought suddenly struck him. “There is another bed, isn’t there? For you?”

“I’m quite comfortable in the back room on a pallet.”

“I’m sorry. I thought you had two bedrooms—with beds.”

Megan gave him an exasperated look. “Does this look like a palace to you? I have one good feather bed and you’re on it. When I have children and they grow old enough to need a bed, Mama and I will stuff another ticking. Until then, it would just go to waste.”

“Why didn’t you put me on the pallet instead of in here?”

“I guess I just didn’t have time to think about it. You were hurt so bad and this was the closest bed.”

“But you left me on it, even after I started getting better.”

“Captain Morgan...”

“Caleb.”

“If you want to sleep on the floor, I’d be glad to oblige. But right now, I have a wash to do and a fire to tend in the smokehouse. I can’t stand around here all day and do nothing but talk.” She turned and pulled the door firmly shut behind her.

Caleb sighed and opened The Mysteries of Udolpho. He started on the first page. The familiar words greeted him. His convalescence would be long if there was no one willing to talk to him. Until now he had never realized how much he enjoyed conversation. “On the pleasant banks of the Garonne, in the province of Gascony...” he began reading.

“Here are your things,” Megan said, holding out a handful of the objects Caleb had carried in his pocket. There was a pocket watch, the money left from his last paycheck, a locket. “She’s very pretty.” Megan had the grace to blush. “I looked inside. Normally I wouldn’t have pried, but under the circumstances...”

“If I can share your bed, you can examine the content of my pockets. I think she’s beautiful.”

“Is she your intended?”

“No, she’s my sister.”

Megan found herself smiling. “Your sister?”

“Her name is Felicity, but that’s a contradiction. She’s full of mischief. Since she’s the youngest, we’ve all spoiled her shamelessly.” His expression told Megan he loved his sister and didn’t regret the spoiling in the least.

Megan wondered what it would be like to be pampered. Also, this talk about brother and sister made her miss Owen a great deal.

“Were you spoiled as a child, Miss Llewellyn?”

“Certainly not. And you may call me Megan. After all, you gave me permission to call you by your first name so it’s only proper.”

“And after all, I’m sharing your bed.”

“Will you stop saying that?” She frowned at him in exasperation. It put too many ideas into her head. In the few days he had been here, she had started to find him far too interesting. “In the Hollow we don’t believe in spoiling children. It only leads to trouble later.”

“I don’t believe that it does. How can it hurt to love a child?” His gray eyes gazed into hers and she had the uncanny impression that he could see her thoughts.

She turned away. “I was loved. Just not spoiled.”

“I would think Seth would pamper you a great deal.”

Megan didn’t want to talk about Seth to Caleb. He always came off in a bad light. “I’ll remind him to do that as soon as he comes home again,” she said tersely.

“If you were my fiancée, I would treat you as if you were the most beautiful and the most cherished woman in the world.”

She looked at him in surprise.

Caleb looked away this time. “Sorry. I guess I overstepped the bounds. It’s none of my business how Seth or anyone else treats you.”

“That’s all right.” She was dismayed at the surge of warmth his words had caused. Had he been able to tell? She was afraid to meet his eyes. Reluctantly she came farther into the room. “Seth means well. He really does. I’m a plain person, Capt—Caleb. I’m not used to frills, nor was I brought up to want them. Seth is the sort of man I’ve known all my life. He’s like my father and my uncles and my cousins. He fits into my life. It’s not natural for men like Seth to pamper their women.”

“I think all women bloom when it’s obvious that they’re loved. I couldn’t love a woman and not treat her as if she were a fragile treasure.”

Megan laughed. “Fragile treasures don’t haul water from wells and hoe gardens. I wouldn’t know the first thing about being a woman like that. There aren’t any fine ladies in the Hollow.”

He smiled at her as if he disagreed with her. For a moment Megan wondered if he were trying to sweet-talk her in order to get her to free him. But that made no sense. He couldn’t walk as far as the road, let alone all the way to a Union camp. Besides, she had already told him she would return him to his people in exchange for Seth as soon as possible. No, she must have misunderstood him altogether.