Captured by Victoria Lynne

Author:Victoria Lynne [Lynne, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical Romance, dialogue, Action adventure, award winner, civil war, Romance, Historical Fiction, RITA
Publisher: Amazon.com
Published: 2010-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Devon glanced at Cole, who rode on horseback next to her as they traveled north on their way to Washington. Though he was physically near, in every other sense he was miles away. He wore his hat pulled down low over his brow, shielding himself not only from the sun but, she suspected, from her gaze as well. His rugged features were completely shadowed, giving her absolutely no insight into what he was thinking or feeling.

She doubted if they’d said more than a dozen words to each other since leaving General Brader that morning. With each passing moment, she could feel Cole withdraw a little further away from her. Somehow the fact that they couldn’t share their sadness over Emmett’s death only made it worse.

They traveled as they had before, staying off the main trails, moving along back roads that carried them past small farms, weaving through dense thickets of woods and into broad open fields. They rode until dusk, stopping only when the horses were too weary to continue. Cole helped her down from her mount, releasing her as soon as her feet touched the ground. He wasn’t cold, but there was no gentleness in his touch either. The absence of any emotion in his touch hurt almost as much as the silence.

She watched him without comment as he went about making camp. When he finished tending the horses and spreading out blankets for them to sleep on, he straightened and looked at her. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

Devon was about to shake her head no, then thought better of it. Eating would give them something to do, a routine that might make things more normal between them. “I suppose so,” she answered, mustering up what little enthusiasm she could.

He nodded and removed their provisions from within his saddlebags and passed the food to her. Devon took a couple bites of the meal before her appetite deserted her completely. The meat‌—‌she guessed it was rabbit‌—‌tasted hot and greasy, the cornmeal biscuits coarse and dry. She set the food aside, noticing that after a couple of bites Cole did the same.

Devon studied him from beneath her lashes, watching the moonlight dance across his rugged features. Dark shadows hung beneath his eyes; his shoulders were stiff with tension. She doubted if he’d slept at all last night. After leaving General Brader’s office, she’d returned to see to the wounded, then, hours later, curled up in a deep chair in a back parlor. She’d awakened at some point in the night to find Cole standing in the doorway, watching her sleep. He’d said nothing, simply moved toward her, tucked a blanket around her, then left as wordlessly as he’d come. She would have dismissed the whole incident as a dream had she not awakened the next morning to find the blanket still wrapped around her and her tapestry bag at her feet. Given the late hour, apparently he’d gone back to the boarding-house to collect their belongings by himself, rather than disturb her sleep.

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