Ecstasy's Promise (Historical Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

gun pointed at her head, was a man in the hated blue uniform of the Union Army. "Make one move," he told her, "and I'll blow your head off." He was not a tall man and must have been somewhere in his forties. The look on his face was enough to cause Victoria's heart to jump from fear. She remembered the Yankee, Mace, and wondered if this man had the same objective in mind. "Get up slowly, boy," he said.
    Victoria felt relief wash over her. He believed her to be a boy. She was safe. His next words, however, caused her fear to return. "What are you doing so near to our camp? Were you spying on us?" Victoria stood up slowly. She tried to speak, but no sound would come out. "Speak up, boy. What are you doing here?"
    She said the first thing that popped into her head. "I have been out hunting."
    "Hey, Sergeant Bates, look what I found," a second man said as he led Rebel forward.
    "Well," the sergeant said suspiciously. "What is a young boy doing with a horse like that? You cannot be more than thirteen years old, fourteen at the most. That horse don't belong to no kid."
    "He is my horse," Victoria said defensively.
    "A likely story." The sergeant had lowered his gun. Victoria thought that if she could just make it to Rebel, she could be on his back and away before they could stop her. She moved slowly toward her horse. The sergeant saw what she was about to do and stuck out his leg and tripped her. She fell to the ground, landing flat on her stomach. The man then grabbed her arm and jerked her to her feet. He twisted her arm behind her back until Victoria thought it would break. "There is more here than meets the eye, Taylor," the sergeant said to the other soldier. He put more pressure on her arm. Tears of pain came to her eyes. The man holding Rebel looked from her to her tormentor, Sergeant Bates.
    "Come on, let's take the boy back to camp. Major Courtney will get to the bottom of this. Look at this horse, ain't he a beauty?"
    Sergeant Bates released Victoria's arm and she slumped to the ground. "Maybe I will just put a bullet through your head right here and now." Victoria raised herself weakly to her feet. Would Bodine come back to the camp and find, her dead body? She shivered. "On second thought," Ser geant Bates said slowly, "maybe I will take you to Major Courtney. He will get the truth from you or I miss my guess."
    Before Victoria knew what was happening, the sergeant lifted her onto his horse and climbed into the saddle in behind of her. The other man, Taylor, mounted his horse and led Rebel along behind him. They were taking her to their camp. Victoria caught her trembling lips between her teeth, and rubbed her arm, trying to restore the circulation. She had to keep her wits about her. So far her disguise had fooled the two men, which proves that one sees what one expects to.
    It never occurred to the two men that Victoria was other than she seemed. If she kept a cool head, she thought, maybe she could get out of this situation she found herself in. If they found out that she was a woman, it would not be long until they connected her with the shooting of the Yankee soldier at Farraday.
    The camp was a beehive of activity. Men in blue uniforms were everywhere. Victoria noticed wagons loaded down with what she knew was plunder. One wagon was full of sweet potatoes, another with corn. Others had household goods: silver candlesticks, a wooden   cradle, butter churns.  All stolen, she thought bitterly, thankful that Farraday Plantation had been spared from that indignity.
    She noticed many former slaves about the camp. Some of the men were carrying picks and shovels. Others were dressed in the fine garments of gentlemen. One old woman in a white bandanna reminded Victoria of Bess. She was sitting on a wooden stool rocking a small child in her arms, and chanting over and over: "You is free, you is free. No more shackles and chains, you is free." There were other faces, too—painted faces of women dressed in brightly