Free Erin's Rebel by Susan Macatee Page A

that she was deathly ill after Manassas. By the time he got home, she was gone.”
    Erin tightened her grip on his hand. “He told you all of this?”
    Doc shook his head. “My wife, Josie, had known Anne since childhood. We know Will’s family.”
    “And the little girl?”
    “Amanda. She was three when Anne died. Will’s sister, Jenny, and his parents care for her now.”
    Erin gazed at Will’s face. His brow furrowed as if he were in pain or dreaming of something unpleasant. “How bad is he, Doc?”
    “If we can keep the wound from getting infected, he should recover. Fortunately, nothing vital was hit.”
    Nodding, she vowed to personally clean his wound. If her purpose in being here was to keep this man alive, she had her work cut out for her.
    ****
    Hours later, Doc woke her. She’d fallen asleep sitting at the edge of Will’s cot with her head resting on a side table, where she’d left her basin and rags.
    “Go back to your tent and get some sleep. You’re no good to anyone like this.”
    Erin shook off the grogginess. A few hours stretched out on her cot sounded like a good idea.
    As she crossed the camp to her tent, the heavy rain that fell revived her. Pulling back the canvas, she gasped. Her table and bunk had been upended, and the trunk gaped open, its contents spread everywhere. What could she have that anyone could want? She reached into the trunk, only then realizing the journal was gone.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Twelve
     
    That evening Jake sat in his tent hunched over a lantern while rain pelted the canvas. He’d set the lamp on a flat block of wood away from the bedding and canvas and draped his rubber sheet over the opening of the small tent to keep the rainwater out.
    Erin O’Connell’s journal proved to be very interesting reading, although he had a bit of trouble with her small handwriting. Pages that had been torn out most likely contained the information she’d gathered on troop movements. But what he found most interesting were the entries regarding him. Seems the woman tolerated him for what information she could get. Furthermore, she was attracted to Captain Montgomery.
    As he deciphered Erin’s scribbling, his thoughts drifted to the woman who’d taught him to read. As a boy, he hadn’t had any formal education, and at the age of fourteen, his father had farmed him out to do chores for a widow who, before her marriage, had been a schoolmarm. The woman had taught him not only how to read but had taken him into her bed for further education. He still held fond memories of her.
    He turned his attention back to the journal. The last entry was dated the tenth of June. Nearly three weeks had passed since she’d written anything. He counted back, trying to recall how long it had been since she’d fallen from the horse. Everything had changed that night, but why? He had a hard time believing the woman had lost her memory.
    He squinted against the lantern’s glare to study the script. Although no military entries remained, notes on her involvement with him could possibly implicate her as a spy. Why had she made such personal entries? She was nothing but a foolish bitch.
    Unfortunately, if anyone else found this book, he would be branded as her accomplice. A traitor. He sucked on his lower lip. There had to be something he could hold against her. He’d just keep this book in a safe place. If need be, he’d have to burn it.
    But if she switched her allegiance and tried to betray him, he now had the means to bring her down with him.
    ****
    Will drifted in and out of consciousness. One minute he was in the barn surrounded by wounded soldiers, the next he marched on a hot, blazing battlefield. Explosions tore men to shreds, but he plodded on. This was his duty, to defend...defend what? He thought of Amanda. The child had already lost her mother. If he should fall, she’d be alone.
    Doc’s voice brought him back to the barn. “Wake up, Will.”
    He opened one eye. The doctor’s