The Magnolia Duchess by Beth White

Author:Beth White [White, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: military, Lieutenant, Undercover, Gulf Coast Chronicles Series, Shipbuilding Family, American Ships, War of 1812, 19th Century, Historical Romance, Women's Fiction, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Regency, Victorian, London Society, England, Britain, Life-Changes, Second Chances, Honesty & Trust, British Invasion, American Colon's, New Orleans, Mobile Bay, Summer Storm, Wreaks Sailing Ship, Hend Injury, Temporary Amnesia or Memory Loss, Political Loyalties, Clean & Wholesome, Christian, Inspirational, Love Inspired
ISBN: 9781493401666
Publisher: Revell
Published: 2016-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

11

Charlie was going to have trouble explaining to his commanding officers how he’d come to be captured by a girl.

He sat on the cold, damp ground, trying not to cry out as Fiona used her hunting knife to cut the leg off his breeches. He couldn’t help thinking of the time she’d nursed him after the battle of Fort Bowyer, when she’d been so tender and efficient (not to mention willing to kiss him). Now, her expression was grim—eyes narrowed, those sweet lips clamped together, jaw tight—as she cleaned his wound with water from the bladder she’d produced from her saddlebag.

“You could at least look the other way,” he said, going for a smile.

Ignoring the joke, she examined the blackened gash running from his upper thigh almost to the knee. “I’ve seen a man’s leg before. This is going to hurt like the dickens, but you’ll survive. Take off your coat and give me your shirt.”

“Miss Lanier! My modesty—”

“Oh, stuff it. I don’t have anything else to make bandages out of.” She sat back on her heels. “If I’d had on a skirt—”

“You wouldn’t have caught me.”

“I assure you I would.” She gave him a steely blue stare that would have cowed a braver man than Charlie. “The shirt, Lieutenant Kincaid.”

He sighed and shrugged out of the coat, then pulled the shirt off over his head. Teeth chattering, he handed it to her. “So now I’m to die of exposure?”

“Put the coat back on and stop being such a birdwit.” She tore the edge of the shirt with her teeth, then efficiently stripped it into a long bandage. With little apparent consideration for his pain, she began to wrap the bandage tightly about his leg. “We’re going to have to hurry to get you to a doctor. I don’t have any whiskey to dull the pain or wash this with. If we had time, I’d cauterize it, but . . .” She shrugged and gave him a resentful look. “I’m not putting you on Washington. We’ll have to ride double like we did before, and lead him.”

“I didn’t know he was lame when I took him.”

“You shouldn’t have taken him to begin with! You—you horse thief!”

“I left you my ring!”

“How can you possibly justify not only taking my source of income but depriving me of my only way to get my brother back?”

If she’d shrieked at him, he might have felt some measure of justification, but the exaggerated control of her tone told him how much he had hurt her.

He grabbed her cold, gloveless hands, still stained from his blood. Her dainty fingers folded under the warmth of his. “Fiona, I would give anything if things were different between us. I meant what I said that night. I know you remember—”

“I choose not to remember.”

That was a lie, and he knew it. He pulled her toward him, cupped his hand behind her head. “I’m going to kiss you, Fiona. Fair warning.”

She didn’t resist, but the moment he touched her lips with his, he tasted the brine from her tears.

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