Free The Sergeant's Lady by Susanna Fraser

creaking of the wagon wheels. “But Juana and I did wonder where you’d got to last night.”
    “Did you?” Will asked, annoyed. He’d already had his fill this morning of people who couldn’t mind their own business.
    “We worried you might be up to no good.”
    “When have I ever? And what kind of ‘no good’ could anyone be up to out here in the middle of nowhere?” Will stooped to clear a fallen branch from the road and quickly caught up with Dan.
    “We thought you might’ve gone off with Mrs. Arrington.”
    “Why would you think that ?” He did his best to sound amazed.
    Dan shrugged. “After all she’s been through, I doubt she’d mind a little comfort just now. And I’ve noticed how you stare at each other when you think no one is looking.”
    Dan was entirely too good at noticing. “Surely you don’t imagine I spent the night in dalliance with her.”
    “Dalliance? Is that what her kind call it? I suppose she’s too ladylike for a knee-trembler, or a good fu—”
    “Don’t!” he snapped, his hand curling into a fist. He took a deep breath and relaxed his hand. What had got into him? He wasn’t usually quick to anger.
    Dan spread his hands. “I shouldn’t have spoken of her that way. But, damn it, Will, I’m worried about you.”
    “You needn’t be.”
    “Really? You think I can’t see how it is for you, being just a little above the rest of us?”
    Will sputtered in search of a response. He knew humility wasn’t among his virtues, but surely he didn’t put on airs like young Montmorency. “But I—when have I ever acted like I thought anyone was beneath me?”
    “It’s not how you act, it’s what you are. You’re not here because it was join up or starve, or join up or be transported. You ran away from a perfectly good home. You’ve had schooling. You can read—”
    “So can you and every NCO in this regiment,” Will said.
    They crested a hill and paused for breath. “Yes, and you’re the one that taught me! But it’s one thing to be able to read slow if you must, and another to be always on the prowl for a new book because it’s your idea of fun. Face it, Will, you’re a cut above most of us, and you’re too clever by half. It’s no wonder the captain likes you—you’re the only man in the whole regiment as book-mad as he is. And it’s no wonder a lady like Mrs. Arrington would give you a second look. But that doesn’t make you their equal.”
    “You think I don’t know that?” he asked wearily as they began walking again.
    “Sometimes I think you forget. You look at her like you’re starving and she’s a feast. But it can’t be. You’d never be more than a few days’ dalliance to her before she went back to her own kind. And proud as you are, you’d hate that. I’m telling you this for your own good. The lady is trouble.”
    “You named your daughter after her.”
    “And if I’d known she was going to get herself widowed and start making sheep’s eyes at you, I might’ve chosen differently.”
    “Where are Juana and Anita today?” Will asked. Anything to change the subject.
    “Riding in one of the wagons. Your Mrs. Arrington spoke to some of the wounded men and got them to make room for her. She’s strong, but it’s too soon for her to walk so far, and wash and cook besides.”
    Will smiled. So Mrs. Arrington had made truth of the lie she’d concocted for their protection. “Much too soon. You have to admit Mrs. Arrington is thoughtful. And she’s not mine.”
    “Almost left that out, didn’t you? I’m not denying she’s good and kind. If she was my friend, I’d be warning her . You’re as dangerous to her as she is to you.”
    “I know. And that’s why I mean to stay away from her.”
    “May I hold you to that?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.”
    They walked on in silence.
    The day’s march proved uneventful. Again the men had success shooting game for the dinner pot. It was hotter than the day before, so they made camp by a stream