Cinderella and the Colonel Read Online Free PDF Page B

Army.”
    Cinderella almost dropped the carrots . She immediately fixing her reaction, casually brushing her fringe of bangs out of her eyes. “Colonel?” she said, as if enquiring after the weather.
    “Quite so ,” the-no-longer-nameless-officer said.
    Oh dear . I should have listened to everyone , Cinderella thought. Although she was able to keep herself schooled, the baker came down with a coughing fit and the ropemaker froze—he didn’t even notice when one of the milkmaid’s goats started nibbling his shirt.
    A colonel was one of the highest offices an Erlauf soldier could achieve. A colonel ran a regiment of over 600 soldiers and served directly under a general. There were only a handful of them in existence, and the rank was a great honor.
    As a conquered noble , it was safe to say Colonel Friedrich’s rank was considered higher than Cinderella’s—even though Cinderella had more assets and a higher monetary worth. Such was the value Erlauf placed on the Army.
    What this meant was Cinderella could not safely disregard the Colonel. If he was so inclined, he could make her life a misery. In the span of a few heartbeats, the Erlauf officer had gone from an irritation to a danger Cinderella could not flee.
    “I am honored to make your acquaintance , Colonel Friedrich,” Cinderella said.
    “I’m sure ,” the Colonel dryly said.
    “What can I do for you , sir?” Cinderella asked.
    “I would like to spend the day with you.”
    Cinderella twisted her fingers together. “I am afraid I must respectfully decline, sir.”
    “Oh?” the C olonel said, his voice weighted with his displeasure.
    “Yes , I have…prior engagements,” Cinderella said.
    “T hen tomorrow?” the Colonel said, tapping his fingers on the rough wood of a beam that supported Aveyron’s stand.
    Cinderella almost winced. He was going to be persistent, was he? Perhaps it was better to bore him into giving up. “I may be able to accompany you today if…”
    “If?”
    “If my time was properly compensated,” Cinderella said.
    The C olonel went very still. His eye was neither friendly nor amused as he studied Cinderella. She could almost feel the power and danger radiating from him as he asked, “You want to be a paid woman then?”
    As a proper lady , Cinderella didn’t know exactly what kind of work the colonel referred to, but she knew it was a kind of work no lady would do. Cinderella’s anger burst past the walls of decorum. “ WHAT ?” she shrieked, stepping back from the Colonel.
    “You were the one who said it,” the Colonel said, his stance once again relaxed and liquid.
    “I said compensated . I work in Werra in the afternoon, and I cannot afford to miss the pay! I meant as long as you expected me to trail behind you, I had better get a pay equal to my job—or I will never be able to accompany you,” Cinderella said, the words rushing from her mouth before she was aware she thought them. When she realized what she said, she almost clamped her hands to her mouth, but settled for stiffly awaiting the Colonel’s anger.
    To Cinderella’ s surprise, the man seemed amused. “You work? Why?” he said, his familiar smirk flashing on his lips.
    “Why not? Have you something to say about working for a living?” Cinderella said, pointedly staring at the medals pinned to the Colonel’s uniform.
    “No , nothing at all,” the Colonel said, chuckling with a maddening confidence. “I would be happy to pay you for your missed wages. I shall return in an hour then to pick you up.”
    “Are you so sure you can cover my pay?” Cinderella asked.
    “I assume it isn’t more than a handful or two of copper coins?”
    “A day’s work is one silver coin ,” Cinderella said, giving herself an outrageous raise.
    The one-eyed C olonel shrugged. “Hardly more than spare change. In one hour, then,” he said before setting off.
    Cinderella angri ly gawked at his back as he left the market. A silver coin was spare change ?