Page 44 of In Honor’s Defense

“I’ll see to the horses,” he said as his hand fell back to his side. “Go rest for a spell. I’ll get Nate to unload the supplies.”

“Nathaniel’s home?” She twisted her neck to search the yard for evidence of her nephew. Usually he didn’t show up until mealtime.

Lunch!

Oh dear. Luke and Nathaniel must be starving.

“I’m sorry I’m so late getting back. I’ll get something on for lunch right away.” Lunch at three in the afternoon? “Or maybe I’ll just make a big early supper.”

“No need,” Luke said as he patted the horse nearest him and reached for a harness buckle. “The boy and I ate at noon.”

“You did?”

Luke chuckled softly. “Don’t sound so surprised. I never would have made it to the ripe old age of thirty-three if I hadn’t figured out how to feed myself when there weren’t a woman handy to do it for me.” He leaned close and lowered his voice to a rumbly rasp. “Don’t tell anyone, but entire battalions of soldiers have been known to stay fed and watered for months without a woman within a hundred miles.” His eyes danced with humor. “We fellas like to keep the truth hushed up ’cause we much prefer eatin’ cookin’ that ain’t our own, but we’re not completely helpless in the kitchen.”

Damaris grinned, the last vestiges of her guilt swept away by his teasing. “I’ll not tell a soul,” she vowed in a dramatic murmur, barely able to suppress the giggle tickling her throat.

“Whatcha whisperin’ about, Aunt Maris?”

Her nephew’s question sounded more like an accusation, pointed and barbed. Well, at least she knew where he was now.

Damaris flushed slightly as she pivoted, her lighthearted mood dampening at his scowl.

“You found out somethin’ about Pa, didn’t ya?” Nathaniel marched forward, his face a mixture of hurt and anger. “Whatever it is, I deserve to know.” He shot a heated glance at Luke before returning his focus to her. “No secrets.”

Damaris immediately stepped away from Luke and laid a hand on her nephew’s shoulder. “I’d never keep something like that from you, Nathaniel. We weren’t talking about your father, I promise. Luke was just assuring me that the two of you hadn’t starved while I was away. I thought I might have to whip up some eggs to keep your stomach from collapsing in on itself, but it seems there’s no danger of immediate implosion.”

She smiled, hoping Luke’s example of teasing good humor into a person worked as well on suspicious boys as it did on spinster aunts.

Nathaniel’s posture relaxed slightly, and a wry quirk of his lips gave her hope that trust had been restored. “He fed me army food. It didn’t taste like much,” he said with a gibing glance at Luke, “but he was right about it sticking to my ribs.” He wrapped an arm around his midsection. “I’ve been guzzlin’ water all afternoon, and I still ain’t managed to wash it down.”

“I told him marching was the only cure.” Luke looked up from the harness strap he was folding out of the way and winked. “An hour of drilling around the paddock perimeter woulda cleared him right up, but he wasn’t interested. Can’t imagine why not.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and groaned, but a smile lit his expression.

Luke was good for him. Understood him in a way Damaris couldn’t. A tiny part of her felt excluded from that connection and wished she could find a way to join. But a larger part of her rejoiced that God was bringing blessing to a boy who desperately needed it. If connecting with Luke drew Nathaniel away from the dangerous precipice he’d been flirting with of late, the pain of watching her Horseman ride away one day would be worth it.

Her Horseman? Oh, heavens. That didn’t bode well. She readily admitted to admiring Luke and feeling a greater-than- usual attraction to him. It was only natural to feel a kinship with the man she’d nursed back from the brink of death. But to think of him as hers? Not wise, Damaris. Not wise at all.

Unfortunately, banishing her feelings for him was not an option. They were sprouting far too fast to cut down. And if she were honest with herself, she’d have to admit that she didn’t want to cut them down. They made her feel alive in a way she’d not experienced before. As long as she kept reminding herself that his being in her life was temporary, she’d be able to handle the loss when it came.

“Aunt Maris?”

At the sound of her name, she shook free of her thoughts and quickly tried to piece together the bits of conversation that had floated around her while she’d been woolgathering. “Sorry, yes. You can leave the crates on the table. I’ll put the supplies away.”

Nathaniel nodded and moved around to the back of the wagon to grab the first box.

“Oh, and Nathaniel?”

He paused and looked up at her.

“I did learn several things about your father today.”

His eyes darkened, and a muscle in his jaw clenched.

Damaris held his gaze, silently vowing to be his ally no matter what the future held. “After dinner, I’ll tell you everything. And maybe between the three of us,” she said as she tossed a quick glance in Luke’s direction, “we can start to make sense of what really happened that day. All right?”

Nathaniel gripped the crate in front of him, his fingers flexing and unflexing. All at once, his grip and face hardened. He dipped his chin in a sharp nod, then dragged the box out of the wagon and marched it toward the house.