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‘Mortal bad, miss,’ said Robbins harshly. ‘When Major Flint told him how you and Major Bartlett here are fixed, he got very upset. Took two of us to keep him from coming straight round here with a horsewhip.’
‘Well, I’m very sorry he was upset,’ said Sarah with a toss of her head. ‘But would he rather I’d left one of his officers lying on the battlefield at death’s door?’
‘Couldn’t rightly say, miss, but what I do know is that the upset made the bullet move. Miss Endacott had to call for a surgeon to dig it out. Getting on nicely he was, until then. But now he’s the one at death’s door.’
Sarah gasped as he turned on his heel and marched out.
‘I never meant to cause any harm,’ she said, turning pale. ‘I thought I was helping.’
She looked down at the note in her hand, and tore it open feverishly.
‘Oh. Oh. Mary says... Oh, it is just as Robbins said. I thought he might have been exaggerating. Trying to scare me, but...’ She sat down in the chair by his bed as though someone had cut the legs from under her.
‘I didn’t even wonder why he hadn’t sent a letter. I just assumed he couldn’t know— That Mary would be shielding him from anything that might upset him. But I should have...’ She shook her head, staring wildly, and Tom thought probably sightlessly, round the room. ‘Not Justin, too. I can’t lose both of them.’
Tom reached for her and pulled her on to the bed, right on to his lap. It was a measure of her distress that she didn’t make the slightest attempt to stop him. And it was a measure of his character that he was glad of the opportunity his colonel’s relapse had given him. Not that he wanted her distressed. Just that in moments like this, she turned to him. Sought comfort in his arms.
And that might be because he was the only person here.
But what did he care?
About anything—when she was in his arms.
Chapter Ten
‘What am I to do?’ she said. ‘What can I do? It’s all my fault. All my fault.’
‘Now you stop that right now.’ He cursed Robbins soundly and colourfully under his breath. ‘If Colonel Randall was really as dangerously ill as Robbins implied, surely Miss Endacott would have written to inform you before? She knows how much you care about your brothers. She was with you when you found him near the battlefield, wasn’t she?’
The wild, desperate look faded from Sarah’s eyes.
‘You really think so?’ She looked at Tom in confusion. ‘But then why...?’
‘Robbins is extremely loyal t
o the Colonel. Your brother inspires that in the men. Gutter rats, who’ve never had anyone to look up to. Anyone they can trust. Until he showed them that a man in authority isn’t necessarily going to stamp on them, just because he can.
‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Robbins is trying to ease the Colonel’s worries by making you feel guilty enough to run back to him and stay where he can keep an eye on you.’
Her eyes filled with tears.
‘No! Surely he wouldn’t?’
‘Oh, I think he would.’
‘Oh!’ She sat up a little straighter. ‘What a mean, dirty, low sort of trick to play on me.’
‘That’s the way the Rogues work, Sarah. And, to be fair to Robbins, he probably thinks he’s doing you a favour, too. Getting you away from me.’
Her mouth firmed into a tight line.
‘I wish everyone would stop trying to organise my life the way they think is best for me, without even asking me what I want.’
She wriggled off his lap, got back on to the chair, and looked down at Mary’s note again.
‘Do you know, I think you may be in the right of it. Mary doesn’t say anything about it being my fault. Not at all. Which I’m sure she would if she thought it. She doesn’t like me very much. With just cause, I may add. I—’ She bit on her lower lip, then took a deep breath, lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye.
‘I tricked her into going with me to the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, you see. Gussie was too poorly to take me and I was desperate to find Gideon. Because he’d been—’ She broke off. ‘Well, I knew I couldn’t attend without a chaperon. And I couldn’t think who else to ask. I thought she was the one person I might be able to persuade, because she was bound to want to see Justin one last time before they all went off to fight, just the way I wanted to see Gideon.
