Page 162 of Feathers in the Wind
“I don’t care,” she muttered. “You said tonight was just for us.”
“And so it is, but tomorrow we have to face the world.”
She lay in his arms, not wanting to sleep and not wanting to talk about the future. He was a soldier, they were at war and he would be gone within a few days, a few weeks... it didn't matter. She just wanted to enjoy what time she had with him.
They talked about trivial matters, small snatches of childhood memories of happier times. When she pressed him to talk about his family, he silenced her again with a kiss. Eventually he stretched and pulled himself away from her, swinging his feet on to the cold stone floor.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
He looked down at her. “I think you should go back to your own bed. While I am sure no one in this castle is in the slightest doubt about our relationship, I think we should at least maintain an appearance of respectability.”
Deliverance groaned. “I don't want to face the day.”
He bent over and kissed her. “You must. We both have responsibilities.”
He tossed her chemise at her, and she reluctantly dressed and slipped into the dark corridor, every floorboard creaking as she crept back up to her room. Meg didn't stir and Deliverance slipped into bed beside Penitence, putting her cold feet on her sister.
Penitence grumbled. “Where have you been?” She turned over. “Don't tell me, I don't want to know.”
Deliverance stared up at the dark alcove of the bed and whispered, “Pen, have you and Jack...?”
Penitence gave a sharp intake of breath. “No!”
“Why not?”
“Because we're not wed.” Penitence sat bolt upright. “Deliverance what if he gets you with child?”
“I don't care,” Deliverance said. “He could be killed in battle tomorrow. Isn't it better to have known total happiness with the man you love? And if there is a child, well at least there will be a part of something you had together.”
“Oh, Liv,” Penitence sighed, sliding back under the covers. “We are so different.”
“That's why I love you, Pen.”
Deliverance put her arms around her sister and kissed her on the forehead.
Chapter 23
Luke leaned against the castle wall, ostensibly watching the repair work to the roof of the residence, but his mind kept drifting to the night spent with Deliverance. When he next saw Sir John, he would ask for her hand.
As he ruminated on what exactly he would say, Ned's elbow in his ribs brought him back to earth.
“Collyer!” His friend looked at him with knowing eyes and shook his head. “You have got a bad case, my friend,” he said.
Luke sighed and ran his hand across his eyes. “I know. What were you saying?”
“The quicker we get our orders to move on, the better,” Ned grumbled. “I was just saying that I've received this list of demands for reparation to the villagers and farmers who suffered losses.”
Luke took the paper Ned brandished and ran his eye down the list of figures amounting to a considerable amount of money. “Not much I can do about it. I haven't even got coin to pay the soldiers.”
“Captain Collyer!”
Luke sprang to full alertness as one of the scouts he'd sent out that morning, came riding across the drawbridge at a full canter. He threw himself off his lathered horse and came running up to where Luke and Ned were standing.
“What is it?”
“Farrington...” The man puffed as if he had been the one doing the galloping. Weeks of siege did nothing for the fitness of man or beast. “An armed force with Farrington's standard coming from Ludlow. About an hour away at the pace he's going.”
Luke swore. “I didn't expect him back. Ned, sound the alarm and get everyone back inside the castle walls.”
