Before she could answer that, he took a sharp turn to the right and walked between two deserted buildings. Very little of the fading day’s light entered here and she held his arm with both hands. It was a pleasant alley compared to the ones she had been down occasionally in Pennsylvania. It appeared to have grass instead of scattered trash and dirt.
“Why are we down here?” she asked.
“Privacy.”
“So you keep saying, but I saw no one on the street.”
“They could be peering out the windows. Everyone likes to ken who is walking around outside, especially in the evening.”
Abigail nodded, easily able to understand that. She suspected it was not just the war that made a small town always curious about who was where and what they were doing. Now it could be a matter of life and death, however. She suspected not even the soldiers in blue were fully trusted. Many people sympathized with the South; they just did not feel inclined to fight about it. They also had enough sense to keep their sympathies quiet.
Matthew wrapped his arms around her and walked her backwards until her back was up against the wall. She looked at him and he held her stare for a moment as if looking for a refusal then smiled when he found none.
His mouth covered hers before Abigail could make up her mind about accepting or refusing. The moment his tongue entered her mouth she knew she was all for accepting. For a while they just kept kissing, breaking for air now and then as he spread hot kisses over her throat.
Still reeling from his kiss, Abigail said nothing as he tugged her around the corner and into the deserted house she had been leaning against. “Why are we in here?”
“Privacy. We rarely have any.” He led her into what must have been the parlor. “This family ran from here a day after we marched in. Knew the Rebs would follow and there would be a fight, I suppose. They headed east so think one of them had family there.”
“They are lucky it hasn’t been burned down.”
“It’s empty. Fire is usually set to drive the people shooting at you out of the house.”
“Ah, of course.”
“Now, I have set up a wee feast for us here. A picnic, if ye would rather call it that.”
“In this house?”
“Aye. It is cold outside.” He moved to light a lantern standing on a table near the door.
Abigail let him take her by the hand and lead her into the room where a table was set against the far wall. As she took the seat he held out for her she saw the two place settings and two wineglasses. There was bread, butter, cheese, and some slices of cold chicken. The big surprise was the bottle of wine he picked up and started to open.
It was mostly soldier fare, which made Abigail smile. She did wonder where he had gotten the chicken as she doubted there was a live one left for miles around. Soldiers scrounging were as bad as locusts. The bottle of wine and the glasses puzzled her even more. Alcohol, except for the occasional home brew, had been gone from the town long ago.
“Where did you find the wine and glasses?”
“The glasses were here so I have to be sure to put them back. Mabel gave me the chicken and cheese, and the bread is from the woman who bakes for the officers when we can get her the supplies.”
“Do you get the supplies often?”
“Nay. Too many of the men who drive the wagon from where they get it loaded are killed and then the wagon is stolen with all the supplies. Someone was letting the Rebs ken when and where the wagon was. I think we stopped that, but we also send men out to guard the wagon on its way here. It is a dangerous assignment.”
“I can imagine it is for the Rebs have to be as hungry as you and your men.”
“More so. Their supplies are harder to get.”
For a while they ate and talked idly about the war. Mostly they discussed the differences between the armies. She felt sad for all the widows being made and all the parents who would never see their sons again. It all seemed such a waste to her and it was nearly destroying life in the hills.
She sipped at her wine and decided it was tasty then drank it all down. As she set the glass down she noticed Matthew grinning at her. He refilled her glass but only partway.
“What are you finding so amusing?” she asked as she put some chicken on her bread and took a bite.
“Have ye ever had any wine?”
“I do not believe so. Had a bit of whiskey once and went to sleep for a few hours.” She smiled faintly at the memory. “Da kept his whiskey locked up after that.”
Matthew rubbed his hand over his mouth as he fought not to laugh. “Then I think ye should be careful with the wine. Always best to go slow, take time to learn what and how much ye can drink and still remain sensible.”
“Oh.” She cautiously sipped the wine. “It does not taste as mighty as the whiskey did.”
“Nay, but enough of it can be.”
“That seems a shame.” She had another bite of her food. “How did you find out about it all?”
“By getting mightily drunk on several occasions. Nay verra proud moments for me. My brothers take great pleasure in reminding me of each and every one.”
Abigail laughed then suddenly thought of her brother and her amusement fled. “My brother was just reaching that age when the Rebs came and took him.”
He reached across the table and stroked her clenched hands. “I hope, for your sake, he returns from this war and finds ye.”
“So do I. It is difficult at times to accept that I have lost my whole family.”
“I am sorry for that, lass,” he said quietly. “I was lucky to settle here with all my brothers, but my parents were killed before we reached a place to settle. My elder brother, Iain, is the one I praise for that success. I believe he carries a few scars on his heart though. We have a stockade around our house.” He smiled faintly at her look of surprise. “We get travelers wanting to spend a night or two inside the walls because they think it is a fort.”
He shared the last of the bread and cheese with her. Matthew finished off his wine as she told him a few stories about her brother and he told her a few about his. When she began to quietly sip her wine, he collected up what he needed to return to its place in the house and cleared off the table. Then he moved to her side, took her by the hand, and led her to a large settee draped in cloths to keep off the dust.
As she sat down, a little surprised by the lack of a cloud of dust rising up, Abigail watched Matthew. They had had a pleasant meal and she was curious about what he planned to do now. She thought it strange that she was feeling nervous now, after an enjoyable dinner. When he sat down next to her, she took another sip of wine and then turned away to set the glass on a table next to the settee. When she turned back he was right there at her side and her heart made that odd little skip again that continued to surprise her.
Matthew could think of nothing to say so he just tugged her into his arms and kissed her. She returned his kiss with an eagerness that had him hardening nearly to the point of pain. He was going to have her tonight if she allowed it. If not, he knew it would happen soon. No one could return a kiss with the eagerness she returned his unless their blood was stirred as much as his was.
Abigail was getting drunk on his kisses. She did not complain when he inched her body down until he could lie on top of her because she liked the feel of his hard body on top of her, particularly the part he settled so eagerly between her legs. She knew she ought to be shocked, and a tiny part of her mind was, but most of her was delighting in the proof of how much he hungered for her.
When he began to kiss her neck, pausing to occasionally stroke it with his tongue, she became aware of the fact that he was undoing the buttons on her bodice. A little clarity came to her thoughts and Abbie considered the fact that she should stop him. Then he brushed a kiss over the top of one breast while massaging the other. Such a wide range of feelings were stirred inside of her, she was unable to say a word and certainly not the word stop.
“Lieutenant? Miss Jenson?�
�
Abbie struggled to sit up and an already standing Matthew pulled her up by one hand. She hurried to do up her gown and was just combing her fingers through her hair when Mabel came to the doorway. She knew the woman could guess what she had been doing but forced herself not to blush as she tied her hair with the ribbon that had fallen out at some point.
“What is it, Mabel?” she asked, pleased with the calm evident in her voice.
“We can’t find Noah.”
“What? Where could he go?”
Mabel started twisting her hands together. “We do not know, which is why I was sent to find you. I knew you were here because the lieutenant had mentioned it when he collected up the things I had put aside for him. I am sorry I had to interrupt your time together.”
Abigail waved that aside. “Don’t fret over that. Just tell me when Noah vanished.” When Matthew held out her coat, she quickly put it on, keeping her eyes fixed on Mabel.
“He was just in his room; he went up there after lingering in the kitchen for a while. All the lightning bugs were out behind the house and the child could not stop watching them. It was not until they moved farther down the hill that he left. He said he was tired and since he is still growing he knows he should get his sleep at night.”
“Oh, dear.”
“What?” asked Matthew.
“I have begun to learn that when Noah mentions how he is growing, he is after something,” said Abbie, and she smiled apologetically at Matthew. “This was very nice, but I think I better go and see what the child has done.”
He took her arm and Mabel’s and started toward the door. “Ye have some idea of where the lad might be?”
“I think I might. I shall just have to have a look.”
“I will help ye look.”
She did not refuse the help for she just might need it. “Why come for me, Mabel?”
“Because the boy has taken to you. Thought you must have spent a lot of time with him so you might know what he has done.”
“Oh, I have a good idea, and it could well be the end of his ‘growing.’” Abigail smiled when Mabel laughed.
When they reached the house, Abbie asked Matthew to wait for her and hurried up the stairs to check the children’s rooms then her own. She trudged back down and headed for the kitchen. She knew the child had gone out after the lightning bugs, obviously forgetting there were all those nasty biting bugs out at night as well. It did not make her feel very kindly toward him that he was forcing her out into them just to find him.
“He came out here, didnae he?”
“He did. He loves the lightning bugs. Loves them so much he forgot about these,” she growled and slapped a mosquito that had landed on her arm.
She wandered down the hill and heard a scrambling noise in the brush. “Noah?”
“Abbie! Come see the bugs. There are so many of them.”
“I know,” she grumbled and accepted Matthew’s hand as she continued down the hill and kept slapping at the mosquitoes trying to feast on her.
She found the child crouched in the bushes, ajar in his hand already holding several lightning bugs. The fact that he had few mosquitoes around him annoyed her. The traitorous things left him and headed for her.
“What are you doing, young man?” She could tell by the way his small shoulders stiffened that he knew he was in trouble.
“Catching lightning bugs. My mother used to do it with me and then we would set the jar in my room and snuff the light out. It was nice.”
She gently touched his hair. “It sounds it. A very nice memory to have and hold close. But you should have told one of the adults that you were doing it. They thought you were in your room and got terribly worried when they could not find you.”
“Oh. I am sorry.”
“Well, I think you will have to say so to them.”
“Now?”
“Yes, because although you and Matthew don’t seem to be having any trouble with all these silly biting things . . .”
“Skeeters,” Noah said and grinned. “They are skeeters.”
“Fine. I see them as the Devil’s minions and they are feasting on me so we will go back inside.” When the boy did not immediately move she said, “Now.”
Noah got up with a heavy sigh and screwed the cap onto his jar tightly. To her annoyance, he scrambled up the hill with ease while she practically had to have Matthew drag her up. Once inside the kitchen she listened to Noah very politely apologize to Mabel as she took the time to help Abbie wash off her arms. Abbie took the damp cloth, rinsed it out, and carefully wiped her face. She did not look forward to tomorrow when all the bites she had gotten would begin to itch. As she dabbed herself dry and smoothed on some cream Mabel gave her she sent Noah up to bed promising she would be along in a moment.
“Those skeeters really liked you,” said Mabel, and Matthew grinned as he nodded.
“I know. Wretched things. Well, I thank you for a very nice evening, Matthew. Now I best go have a chat with Mr. I Am A Growing Boy.”
He kissed her quickly and nodded at Mabel before leaving. Abbie could not fully suppress a sigh. She felt an odd mix of relief and disappointment that they had been interrupted.
The moment she reached the children’s room Noah smiled at her where he was tucked neatly up in his bed. The rest of the children were asleep, or pretending to be so she spoke quietly to Noah. Not only did she not want to disturb them if they were sleeping, but did not wish to scold Noah in a way that could lead to teasing later if they were not really asleep.
“I understand your fascination with these bugs but it was wrong to go outside without letting anyone know what you were doing.” She held up her hand to stop his words when he opened his mouth. “I know you are growing but you are not grown, certainly not grown enough to go out at night all on your own and with no one knowing where you are.”
“How grown do I have to be?”
“A lot more than you are now. Something else, dear. You will have to let the bugs go in the morning.”
“Why?”
“Because they will die in that jar.”
He gave the jar a horrified glance. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
She sighed. “Because the ones I caught died in the jar. They are not made to be held in ajar to light up a room.”
“You used to catch lightning bugs?”
“I did. My da would go with me.”
“Okay. I will set them free in the morning. ’Night, Abbie.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else will you not do?”
“Go out without letting anyone know I am and where I am going.”
“Very good.” She kissed his cheek and made her way to her own room.
“Did you find him?” asked Julia as Abbie began to undress.
Startled, Abbie swung around to stare at the woman. “You startled me. I thought you were asleep.”
“I was. Almost. It is difficult to get comfortable at the moment. So, find him?”
“Yes. He was out back catching lightning bugs.”
“Oh, I did that a few times when I was very young.”
“So did I, but I believe he is now clear on the fact that he needs to tell someone what he is doing so they don’t panic when they can’t find him. And that it would be a good idea not to go out alone.”
“Oh, good.” Julia closed her eyes. “People were afraid and worried that the major would get angry since he gave the children into our care.”
Climbing into bed, Abbie fought to relax. She was growing too close to young Noah. That could cause him pain when she had to leave. She had little doubt it would cause her some. Yet she doubted she would be able to draw back now. She smiled faintly when she thought how Noah would not allow it.
At some point soon, she would have to decide what she should do about the boy. She was not wed so could not really raise him as her child even if she found a home to take him to. It
was sad, but she had to face facts. A young unmarried woman would have a difficult time raising a child, not to mention how suspicious it would make many about whether he was actually adopted, or whether it was just her trying to hide her own misdeeds by pretending he was.
Deciding such thoughts would make sleep difficult she turned her mind to Matthew. There were problems there too, but he was a bit more pleasant to think about. Abbie knew where they had been headed when Mabel had interrupted them, and she now feared she would have followed him there willingly. It was something she had to think about. Matthew had not even made any mention about how he felt about her, she thought crossly.
Flipping onto her back she stared up at the ceiling and sighed. Thinking about Matthew was not much better than worrying about Noah. It was going to be a very long night. She was getting very tired of those. She badly wanted to go back to a time when worries and fears did not disturb her rest.
Chapter Six
“Damnation, this is getting ridiculous,” complained James as he mounted his horse and joined Matthew in riding back to town. “Maybe we should just quietly move out. This town is not worth this.”
“Cannae do that,” said Matthew. “The major thinks it is better to stand firm.”
“He hasn’t seen what is gathering.”
“True, but we have gathered a goodly number of soldiers as weel. All the scouts have returned.”
“I know. Reckon the Rebs are just deciding when and how to come at us.”
“Slow thinkers.” Matthew grinned when James laughed.
“Or they know we are spying on them and hesitate just to make us relax our guard.”
“True. That is verra possible. But for all they ken, we are getting weel prepared for a battle.”
“They may be right although being well prepared isn’t always a guarantee of winning.”
“True again, but I think we have done weel. Still it is a puzzle that they have made no move for a month now. Might as weel get back to headquarters and leave them to it. They cannae be that indecisive. They cannae puzzle over it too much longer either. It is never good to have an army sitting about for too long.”
When You Love a Scotsman Page 7
