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reassure her.
    She brushed her hands over her apron. “I’m fine.”
    “If he hurt you,” he continued, “I’ll see that he’s punished.”
    She glanced in the direction Wagner had taken and scowled. “I can handle him.”
    He doubted that. He’d seen Wagner drunk and knew how mean he could get. “If you don’t mind my asking, ma’am, how are the two of you related?”
    Her mouth dropped open. He didn’t consider it an unusual question, since a sergeant normally appointed his wife, or one of his other relatives as laundress and took a cut of her pay.
    “He’s a cousin,” was all she said.
    “Well, cousin or no, if he bothers you again, you come to me.”
    She smiled. Her teeth were small, even and white, surrounded by lush, pink lips. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. He had a hard time drawing his gaze from her mouth.
    Whoa, I don’t know anything about this woman. Getting involved with her will likely bring me nothing but trouble.
    “Thank you,” she said. “I’d better be getting back to the laundry.”
    Will tipped his cap. “Ma’am.” He watched her return to the washtub. She rolled up her dress sleeves, exposing the ivory skin of her forearms.
    He admonished himself as he turned away. Don’t get sweet on a camp laundress, especially one who could turn out to be a Yankee spy.
    ****
    After a meal of salt pork and corn the men had been permitted to pick from a local farm, Will spotted Wagner leaning against a wide oak tree at the edge of camp. The sergeant puffed on a cheroot.
    Will watched him, and anger bubbled up inside. What hold did he have on Erin O’Connell? Maybe a talk with the man would shed light on their situation.
    Wagner’s eyes widened, then narrowed when Will approached. He tossed his cheroot to the grass and ground it out with the toe of his brogan.
    “I’d like a word with you, Sergeant,” Will said.
    Wagner straightened. “Sir?”
    “Mrs. O’Connell has not been herself since she fell off the horse.”
    “Ah...” Wagner hesitated. “She does seem to be having a hard time recollecting things.”
    “Perhaps if she were to return home, a familiar setting might jar her memory.”
    Wagner glanced away. “She don’t have a home to go to. That’s why she’s here.”
    “But surely, your family—”
    “My family?” The sergeant shook his head. “I have no family I care to associate with.” He raised his gaze to Will. “She has nowhere else to go, sir.”
    The bleakness of Wagner’s statement caused Will’s chest to tighten. Mrs. O’Connell had no one but this man?
    He dismissed the sergeant but noted the intense glare in the man’s eyes as he turned to go. He was dangerous. Will didn’t know Mrs. O’Connell’s true relationship with Wagner, but he was damned if he’d allow him to hurt her again.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Erin arrived at the medical tent that evening cradling a peach pie Brigid helped her make that afternoon after she’d hung laundry to dry. Doing anything in this century took so much time and effort; she was amazed these people had any leisure time at all. When Doc dropped by to invite her to share his evening meal, she couldn’t resist the opportunity, hoping she could pump him for more information about Erin O’Connell’s past. Brigid didn’t know anything about her, other than she was a widow.
    After reading the journal entries, she learned Erin O’Connell had tolerated Wagner for the information he provided. But a later entry revealed that her Civil War relative had been more than a bit attracted to Captain Montgomery, although he showed no indication of reciprocating her feelings. She suspected the woman had a secret crush on him.
    And she couldn’t blame her. That afternoon, when he’d come to her rescue, she’d forced herself to breathe after having been literally swept off her feet three days before into his strong arms.
    In her dreams, she’d had a romantic relationship with the handsome captain.