Page 78 of Feathers in the Wind
‘I do,’ he grumbled.
Perdita slid out of bed and crossed to Adam.
‘Let me dress that arm,’ she said.
He looked down at the soiled bandage. ‘Later. It doesn’t bother me.’ Or at least it hadn’t until she mentioned it.
‘How did you do it?’
‘This? A musket ball tore my sleeve. It’s only a graze.’ His mouth tightened. ‘I was one of the fortunate ones, Perdita. You should see the general. He has a slash down the left hand side of his face that will mark him for life.’
Perdita nodded. ‘I have some idea. I saw Richard Ashley and the others that came to Barton.’
Adam straightened at the name. ‘Richard? I heard he had been wounded.’
‘He’s dead. A horrible lingering death, Adam.’
Adam flinched, he knew only too well the terrible ways a man could die. ‘What a waste,’ he muttered.
Impulsively he folded her in his arms. She felt so right. He buried his face in her hair, drinking in the scent of her. Reluctantly he pulled away, searching for his jacket, the torn, stained sleeve marking the passage of the pistol ball.
Perdita’s fingers played with the ragged edges of the tear, stiff with blood. ‘That needs cleaning.’
Adam looked down at her. ‘Now you are starting to sound like a wife.’
She took the gorget from his hand and buckled it around his neck.
‘Is this what a good officer’s wife does?’ she asked.
He straightened his crumpled collar over the piece of metal and kissed her upturned face, trying unsuccessfully not to run an approving eye over the womanly shape revealed beneath the chemise she wore.
‘Good,godly, officer’s wives don’t keep their husbands away from their commanding officer.’
He retrieved his baldrick and sword which hung on the back of the chair and turned to Perdita. Stooping, he kissed her gently. ‘I will return as soon as I can and we will make our plans.’
She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.
‘I will order supper for us. Don’t be long.’
* * *
‘Coulter! You took your time.’Sir Thomas Fairfax looked up from his paperwork.
Breathless, Adam swept off his hat and came to attention. ‘My apologies, sir. I was catching up with some sleep.’
Fairfax tightened his lips to stop a smile. He winced and put his hand to his face. The surgeon had stitched the hideous slash well but it would leave an ugly, disfiguring scar.
‘Don’t make me smile, Coulter. It hurts. You were enjoying a reunion with your wife, I believe.’
‘Sir.’ Adam felt the heat rising to his cheeks, partly at the lie and partly at the truth.
‘Well, your reunion will be short lived. We’re marching out on the morrow.’
Adam looked surprised. ‘But, sir, we’ve only just taken York.’
‘All the more reason to move on and clean off the other areas of opposition, Scarborough and Pontefract to begin with. I will need your men ready to march by sunrise tomorrow.’
Adam studied his commander’s swollen, ruined face. ‘Sir, my men are exhausted. Surely another day’ He refrained from making the observation that, in his opinion, cavalry were not best employed in siege work and that the next few weeks could mean little useful work for his men.
