The Officer and the Traveler (6 page)

Jack’s face flushed, just as Gray imagined his did as memories cycled through his mind of a naked Indian named Dark Moon jumping around, shouting at them after inviting them into his tent. And that was preferable to the man wearing only a three-by-three-square patch of leather that hung down over his prick and insisting on riding Gray’s horse with him. He shuddered.

“
Fond memories there, boys?” Colonel Lewis asked in a light tone.
 

Jack cleared his throat. “A hunting party.” He glanced to the pair of Indians seated on the sofa. “Made up of only men.”

Gray shook his head in disbelief. “No women—or men—” Gray added for good measure— “were accosted by either of us that night.”

White lines formed around the edges of General Ridgely’s pursed lips. “I have a hard time believing that.”

“
Why?” Jack blurted.
 

“
I believe there was some sort of an altercation that night or Captain Montgomery here wouldn’t have reported to work the following day with bloodied knuckles and a bruised jaw.” The gleam in his eye dared Gray to deny the charge, but he couldn’t. He had been in an altercation that night: with Jack. They’d fought, first verbally sparring, then physically, over Jack’s foolishness.
 

“
Boys, would you like to explain that to the general or shall I?” Colonel Lewis asked.
 

Gray and Jack exchanged another look, then Gray cast a quick look behind him to where General Davis stood, his head cocked slightly to the right in what appeared to be either interest or amusement.

“
No,” Gray said, turning back to face Colonel Lewis. “Let him believe whatever he wants to. He will anyway.”
 

“
You’d better watch it, Captain, the future of your very life depends upon these answers,” General Ridgely said in a tone harder than granite.
 

“
Their bruises came from an altercation that took place between the two of them before they even left,” Colonel Lewis said matter-of-factly. “I was there, and so were Wes and Allison. You can send Sarah next door to ask them to join us, if you’d like to hear them say it.”
 

“
No, I have no desire to discuss why these two got into a round of fisticuffs. We have a far more important matter to discuss—the rape of Soft Dove.”
 

“
She wasn’t raped,” Gray bit off, crossing his arms.
 

General Ridgely’s dark eyebrow rose. “Oh, and how do you know that?”

“
She’s pregnant.”
 

All eyes in the room shot to the young girl’s barely covered form—more specifically narrowing in on her flat, almost concave stomach.

“
I don’t mean to do your father’s job, boy, but when a woman is expecting a babe, her stomach grows out, not in,” General Ridgely said gruffly with a tinge of sarcasm.
 

“
I know that,” Gray said with a sneer. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “I’m telling you, she’s pregnant.”
 

General Ridgely’s nostrils flared. “And you know this because she told you?”

“
No.” Gray released another breath. “I’ve never spoken to her. I just know.”
 

“
Just like I just know who did this,” General Ridgely said.
 

“
No, you don’t. You just think you do, but I’m telling you—” he met Ridgely’s gaze straight on— “it wasn’t me.”
 

“
No?” General Ridgely asked.
 

“
No.” Gray confirmed. “You have no proof that I did it.”
 

“
And you have no proof she’s pregnant.”
 

Gray stood quiet. He could try to explain it, but they’d never believe it. At least not without him divulging details. Details he had no interest in telling anyone. Ever. “You’re right, I have no proof as to the state of her body and if she’s carrying a child or not, but I do have to wonder why she’d wait almost a full week to come forward.”

General Ridgely shrugged. “Perhaps she was scared.”

“
Yes, of her father that he might kill her when he realized she’d conceived a bastard,” Gray muttered.
 

“
That’ll be enough of that, young man,” General Ridgely snapped. “You have no proof that she’s carrying—”
 

“
And
you
have no proof that it was me who accosted her,” Gray fired back.
 

“
Perhaps not. But I know your character well enough and that’s all I need,” General Ridgely countered. A superior expression came over his face. “Why just today I witnessed you forcing yourself on—”
 

“
His intended?” General Davis interjected smoothly, stealing the very air from Gray’s lungs and keeping him from voicing the denial he longed to speak.
 

“
Intended?” General Ridgely asked, a dubious expression on his face.
 

Nodding, General Davis pursed his lips and said, “Amos, I had hoped to talk to you before now to introduce you to my daughter Michaela, Captain Montgomery’s intended. But, as you saw, she was...uh...otherwise engaged.”

The color rose in General Ridgely’s face as he looked back and forth between Gray and General Davis.

“
You’re allowing your daughter to marry
him
?” General Ridgely asked at last.
 

“
And why else did you think I would come to this fort so forsaken it’s not even on a map?” General Davis asked. “As it would happen, I have come to see my daughter and new son-in-law united in a wedding that would outshine the grandest in any of the big cities. Since my other daughter deprived me of that by sneaking off early to marry his friend she hardly knew.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to allow that to happen again.”
 

Gray nearly choked on his own tongue. That was the last thing the man had come for and they all knew it. There was no use in lying about it.

“
There will not be a wedding,” Gray announced without ceremony.
 

General Davis’ face transformed back to granite, making him appear more rigid than General Ridgely ever had. “What did you just say?” His words were more of a demand than an actual question.

Tension crackled in the air. In the entire two years Gray had spent under General Davis’ watchful eye at Fort McHenry, he’d never seen anyone dare to defy him. Ever.

Gray looked the man straight in the eyes and said, “I said, there will not be a wedding between me and Miss Davis.”

“
And that just proves my point,” General Ridgely said with a slight edge to his voice. “He’s just as good as admitted to you that he doesn’t intend to marry your daughter—a woman who he has openly
showed affection for. What makes it hard to believe he wouldn’t force himself upon a young lady who cannot defend herself?”
 

“
He just said there wouldn’t be a wedding, not a marriage,” General Davis said in his usual tone. He shrugged. “’Tis for the best, I suppose. Large weddings can be costly and there aren’t too many guests ‘round these parts to invite.”
 

Gray pierced the man with his eyes. And of course the older man ignored him. Did he just have to come out and be blunt? There wasn’t going to be a wedding or a
marriage
. “There will be—”
 

“
A wedding tomorrow,” General Davis finished for him. He made a show of looking at Gray and acting the authority in the room. “I know the two of you might be eager for your wedding night, but it will have to wait another day.”
 

Gray just stared at the man. That’s all he could do. Words swirled around in his head, but for some reason his tongue had grown so thick he couldn’t speak them.

“
Wedding or not, this man has committed a crime that is punishable by a sentence of no less than seven years of hard labor,” General Ridgely said, jarring Gray from his fog.
 

“
Is my son-in-law not to have a trial, then?” General Davis asked.
 

“
Well, yes,” General Ridgely said quickly. “But, I don’t think there’s much of a trial needed.”
 

“
Perhaps not, but he is owed that, wouldn’t you say?” General Davis pressed.
 

“
Of course.”
 

“
Very well. We shall all rejoin the other guests over at Colonel Lewis’ and speak more of this trial tomorrow,” General Davis said.
 

***

“
There will be no wedding tomorrow,” Gray hissed to General Davis as soon as they’d all made it into the alley and out of earshot of General Ridgely.
 

“
You think so, do you?” General Davis asked sharply. “And would you rather spend the next seven years hauling bricks and stones through the mud and the muck, gravel and twigs, snow and ice without shoes on your feet or even a thin scrap of fabric to cover your back?”
 

“
No and I won’t have to. That girl is pregnant and as soon as everyone sees that, they’ll know I’m innocent.”
 

General Davis laughed hollowly. “You have much to learn, boy.” He jerked his thumb behind him toward General Ridgely’s house. “If you stay in the army long enough you’ll understand his position. You might be innocent, but it’s his job to keep peace with the Indians and if there has been some sort of complaint that anyone has done something to upset them, he’ll have to solve the situation to their satisfaction, even if it means sacrificing an officer to keep peace.”

Gray stared at the man, the truth of his words sinking in. There was no reason for General Rigid to believe him, and even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. He had to do something to appease Soaring Eagle that the problem had been dealt with or everyone at the fort
would
be in danger.
 

He swore under his breath and raked a hand through his dark hair. Why had he been the one blamed for this? He knew his answer before he’d even finished the question: everyone already saw him as a womanizer, it wasn’t much of a stretch to see him as a man who paid for the company of a loose woman to being a man who forced himself onto another in desperation. His throat burned with bile and he gulped it down with a grimace.

“
While I appreciate your believing me, I have to admit that I do not understand your insistence that I marry Michaela.”
 

General Davis sent him a hard look, then shook his head and walked inside Colonel Lewis’ home.

“
Your marriage to Michaela will help clear your name or at least will allow you a fair trial,” Colonel Lewis said quietly when they were alone.
 

Gray kicked a rock with the toe of his boot. “I don’t see how having a wife would prove that.”

“
She’s not just any wife. She’s the daughter of a very powerful man. Amos is in a position no man wants to be in—deciding whether to sacrifice one man to spare a thousand or keep the peace in a place where it’s hard to get the supplies and men we’d need if a fight broke out. Your marriage to Michaela ensures he’ll do his best to find the man who’s guilty.” He chuckled. “It wouldn’t do for Amos to sentence Michaela’s husband to hard labor without a genuine trial and he knows it. Sam would write a letter to the president and Amos would be stripped of his uniform before you’d have a blister on your heel.”
 

Gray stared at the man, so much more of today’s events now making sense and yet, just as much still didn’t. “Was this entire thing a ploy?”

“
Not exactly,” Colonel Lewis said. “After you and Jack disappeared from the rounders game, I tried to keep General Davis occupied in my office to give Jack and Ella a bit of privacy before being interrupted. While we were chatting, we overheard Soaring Eagle shouting at General Ridgely. General Davis excused himself and I didn’t see him again until he arrived at my house to have dinner and he didn’t say a word then about his plan to announce you were engaged to Michaela.”
 

Gray closed his eyes and leaned the back of his head against the side of Colonel Lewis’ log cabin.  Did he have a choice not to marry her now? Not really. He could try once again to convince General Ridgely he was innocent, but Colonel Lewis was right, he’d have a better chance of being believed and treated fairly if he was married. He almost groaned. Married to Michaela? Could he do that? She was certainly appealing to the eyes with her curly, auburn hair, deep green eyes, and generous feminine curves in all the right spots. As her father had pointed out earlier, finding a passion for her would not be a problem. But what of the rest? How would they get along in the evening hours? Would they just stare at their plates during dinner and tolerate each other’s presence for the rest of their days on this earth?

Did it even matter? Wasn’t that a better fate than doing seven years of hard labor?

He took a deep breath and nodded to the colonel. “I suppose I’ll need to go in there and allow General Davis to announce our engagement.”

“
I would if I were in your position,” General Davis said, peeking his head outside the door, a triumphant gleam in his green eyes. “Although, I’d probably ask the young lady in question if she’ll marry me first.”
 

Gray forced himself to meet the General’s eyes. He knew he needed to thank the man, but the words were too bitter on his tongue. He just couldn’t. Not with everything that lay between them. “And if she says
no
?”
 

He shrugged. “She might surprise you yet.”