Free Major Wyclyff's Campaign (A Lady's Lessons, Book 2) by Jade Lee

irrational anger still poured like hot lead through his blood.
    "A thousand guineas, man," he said curtly. "You know I have not that much, not to mention what winning the wager will do for me."
    Kirby shook his head, clearly dismissing the thought. "Your father can pay the debt."
    "I will not run to my father!" He said the words, but inside he cringed. He had considered doing just that at least a dozen times. He still did not understand why he had made so impulsive and clearly reckless a bet. But wager he had, and now he was forced to honor it. The thought of trying to explain the entire wretched situation to his father made him wish he had died in that hospital bed.
    "She ain't worth it," Kirby pressed. "I know that yer thinking she's an angel. She pulled you back from the dead, and there ain't a day that I don't thank God in Heaven she brought ye back from the Grim Reaper's fist when I couldna done it." Kirby paused, squaring his shoulders in what for him was an unusual display of awkwardness. "She's a right fine woman, sir, when she ain't burying furniture in the dales. But she weren't there just fer you. She went ta all the men, Major. The dying and the poor. She visited ever' one of them like clockwork. Ye can't be basin' a marriage on a visit t' the sick."
    Anthony did not answer. He knew all of this. Even sick with fever, he knew Sophia had visited all the patients in that hospital. But despite the doubts that plagued him each night, he believed her visits with him had been different. They had spoken of so much together. She had told him her dreams, and he had seen the longing in her eyes when she looked at him. Only when she looked at him.
    With a clenched jaw, he glared at his batman. "You have said your piece. Now get out."
    He did not wait to see Kirby leave, but turned his back. Swinging stiffly around on his leg, he specifically ignored the man who had seen him through swamps and battlefields, who had shaved him, nursed him, and even bathed him. He turned his back and waited in anxious tension for the sound of Kirby's heavy footfalls as the man stomped away.
    Instead, he heard her voice. "If you will not explain it to him, Major, perhaps you will explain to me."
    He spun around, shock coursing through his body at the sight of Sophia standing directly beside his orderly. Never had he thought to be startled by her soft voice. The sound of her footsteps was imprinted in his consciousness. He listened for them in his dreams and waited for them by day. And yet she surprised him, coming upon him when he was least prepared to speak with anyone, much less her.
    "Sophia," he whispered, his throat closing up at the sight of her serene face surrounded by soft waves of golden hair, short though her curls now were. Beside her, Kirby bowed formally to him and took his leave, but Anthony barely noticed. His angel was before him, demanding answers he was not prepared to give.
    "Was your man correct? Did you propose to me because I visited you in the hospital?"
    He shifted awkwardly, thankful that she had not heard him discuss the unfortunate wager. "I offer you the protection of my name and my person," he said stiffly. "The reasons are unimportant."
    She was implacable. "I have already refused your most generous offer, Major—"
    "You accepted in the hospital."
    "I have already cried off your most generous offer," she corrected. "If you wish me to change my mind, you will need to offer your thoughts. Why is it so important that I marry you?"
    He flexed his shoulders backward and lifted his chin. He might have been facing a firing squad for all the tension that surged through his body. Why was this so confounded hard?
    "I owe you my life, Lady Sophia. You were the sole reason I recovered from my fever. The doctors said it was a miracle. I know it was you."
    "Your remarkable constitution and bullheaded stubbornness are the reason you recovered. I merely gave you a little incentive."
    He nodded, his muscles straining with the