get on with her day.
“I would never permit my sister to remain in New York City on her own,” Captain Denning said.
“I don’t need his permission. We are estranged.” She was overstating the situation, but she wasn’t about to explain her relationship with Greg to a near-stranger who had no business asking her these questions.
“Your fault, no doubt,” the captain said, giving her a teasing smile.
“And why would you assume that?”
“Because a man understands his duty to his family. It had to have been your decision to distance yourself from your kin.”
Jocelyn opened her mouth to protest, but to her great irritation, Captain Denning had summarized the situation quite accurately. She had been the one roused to new heights of anger when Greg had disparaged her views and ridiculed her loyalty to the American cause the day they’d buried their father. He’d called her silly, ignorant, and childish. She’d called him a few choice names as well, not the worst of them being pigheaded, priggish, and cowardly. He’d threatened to force her to join him in Virginia, which was when she’d taken flight. She’d eventually written to him to assure him she was well and to give him the address of her lodging house, certain that he wouldn’t bother to come back for her, and he hadn’t.
“I was right, wasn’t I?” Captain Denning said, correctly interpreting her expression.
“I don’t need the protection of a man, Captain. I can look after myself,” she said, full of bluster.
“Oh, I’m sure you can. You are not only beautiful, you’re spirited, like a young filly that needs breaking in.” She could tell he was teasing, but for some reason that made her even angrier with him.
“I’m not a horse, nor do I require breaking in, as you so gallantly put it, Captain. Now, if you will excuse me.” She walked out of the dining room, shoulders squared, head held high.
“I apologize if I’ve offended you,” the captain called after her, but she could hear the grin in his voice. He wasn’t sorry in the least. In fact, he seemed to have enjoyed their exchange and still had a smile on his face when he walked past her to get to his office.
Staying away from Captain Denning proved harder than she’d expected. Unlike Captain Palmer, who’d remained in his office for most of the day and only came out for meals, Captain Denning was a constant presence. He stopped by the kitchen to ask for a cup of ale, stepped out into the back garden to stretch his legs just as Jocelyn was hanging out the laundry, and often sat in the parlor in the evenings, reading or just enjoying a glass of the major’s madeira. He was always scrupulously polite and respectful in front of the major, but when he got her on her own, which was a lot more often than she would have liked, there were the backhanded compliments and thinly veiled insinuations that she needed a man to look after her because she wasn’t quite as safe as she believed herself to be. Was he referring to the major? she wondered as she lay sleepless during those long, hot nights, or was there another threat she wasn’t aware of? Had he guessed at what she was doing?
“I’d like to meet this cousin of yours,” Captain Denning said one Sunday as they walked out into the stifling August afternoon after enduring a particularly dull sermon by a visiting reverend. Thomas was to meet her in an hour at their usual place.
“And why is that?” Jocelyn asked, affecting a playful tone to mask the twisting anxiety she felt inside.
“Because I don’t think he’s your cousin at all,” Captain Denning replied, smiling at her with all the glee of a cat who’d caught a mouse and meant to play with it before biting its head off.
“And who do you think he is?” Jocelyn asked coyly.
“I think he’s your sweetheart.”
“What if he were?”
“I’d be jealous in the extreme,” he replied. “Do you think you might forgo seeing him one Sunday and walk out with me instead?”
“I’m sorry, Captain, but I’d rather not, given that we are cohabitating,” she said, throwing his own expression back in his smug face.
“Do you think I have less honor than some colonial hick?” he asked, clearly stung by her refusal.
“I think I’d like to keep our association professional,” Jocelyn said, wishing the major would tear himself away from the verbose reverend and join them, which would put an end to