Free The Virtuous Widow by Anne Gracíe Page B

intense.
    “Stupid,” she repeated in a flat voice. “He said he’d keep an eye on me.” She shuddered. “I didn’t realise exactly what he meant by that.”
    “And that’s why you feared for Amy that day when you left her with height=You thought you’d been ‘stupid’ again. Trusted another wrong ‘un.”
    She nodded. They fell silent. It was too silent, she suddenly realised. “ Amy! ” Had she been hurt in the scuffle? Ellie raced into the cottage.
    Her daughter was squatting before the fire, earnestly stirring the porridge. “It nearly burned, Mama,” she said, “an’ it was too heavy to lift and you said I wasn’t to touch the fire things, so I just kept stirring it. Was that right?” She gave them an odd, guilty look.
    Relieved, Ellie hugged her daughter. “Yes, darling, it was very right. Mr. Bruin has saved us and you have saved our breakfast.”
    He chuckled. “Nonsense, you were both well on the way to saving yourselves. Princess, I never would have expected it of you!” His laughter died as Amy’s gaze dropped in shame.
    “It’s wicked to bite people, isn’t it, Mama?” she whispered.
    “Oh, my darling,” Ellie’s eyes misted. “You’re not wicked at all. I thought you were very brave and clever to do what you did.”
    “You mean you’re not vexed with me, Mama?”
    “No, indeed.”
    “And it’s all right to bite the squire again?”
    Before Ellie could reply, she and Amy were swept into Mr. Bruin’s arms and whirled around the room in a mad, impromptu waltz. “Yes, indeed, Princess,” he said. “You may bite the nasty old squire as often as you want. And your mama may hit him with a poker. And then when my two little Amazons are finished with him, I will toss him out the door.”
    Laughing, he set them down, then knelt down and said, “Princess Amy, you are one of the bravest, cleverest young ladies I know. Not only did you bite the evil Squiredragon and rescue yourself, you saved the porridge from burning! I would fain be your knight.”
    The little girl laughed delightedly, seized a wooden spoon and tapped him lightly on each shoulder. “Arise, Sir Bruin!”
    Ellie laughed, even as her eyes filled. His nonsense had transformed the ugly incident into a bold adventure. He understood children so well… Too well for a bachelor?
    “Are knights and princesses interested in porridge?” She forced a light-hearted note.
    “Oh, yes, indee—”
    Rat-tat-tat!
    Everyone froze for a moment as the knock echoed through the small cottage.
    “The squire,” whispered Amy. “He’s come back to put us in prison!”
    “Blast him for his impudence! I’ll see to this!” He strode to the door and flung it open. “What the devil do you—?”
    He stopped. A small, spare, neatly dressed man stood at the door.
    “Gawd be praise, Capt’n!” said the man, beaming up at him. “When your horse came home without you, we all thought you was dead! Only I know’d better. I told ’em you was a survivor.”
    There was a sudden silence in the small cottage. The stranger’s words seemed to echo. Ellie wondered whether anyone else could hear her heart thudding the way she could.
    It was over, then, their brief idyll. He had been found.
    “Capt’n? What’s the matter?” The small man frowned at the tall, silent man in the doorway and then glanced behind him, to where Ellie and Amy stood, watchful and apprehensive. His bright bird-like gaze ran over Ellie and the little girl and his eyes narrowed.
    The man he called Capt’n finally spoke. “Since I gather you know who I am, you’d better come in out of the cold.”
    The small man’s head snapped back at that. “Know who you are? Are you bammin’ me, Capt’n? Course I know who you are!”
    “Come in, then.”
    He ushered the stranger inside and closed the door. He turned and met Ellie’s gaze briefly. She couldn’t read his expression. He began to offer a chair, then stopped in mid-movement. It was as if he was suddenly unsure