Glory Read Online Free PDF Page B

poppies,” she said.
    “Who is this angel, Colonel?” Paddy demanded.
    “A kindly Yankee widow who has taken pity on our small band of recruits,” Julian said firmly, wishing Paddy had remained unconscious.
    But Paddy was no fool. “Ah, and grateful we are, ma’am,” he said passionately. “Still, have you a name, angel?”
    “Rhiannon,” Julian said, snapping his suture with his teeth, and staring across the bed at her.
    “Angel!” Rachel suddenly piped in from behind her. “That’s nice. They’ve been prone to call her a witch hereabouts!”
    “Rachel,” Rhiannon murmured.
    “Witch?” Julian inquired politely, hiding a smile.
    She shrugged. “I told you, I grow poppies and other medicinal plants. To some that makes me a witch.”
    “Ah,” he said.
    “Angel,” Paddy protested.
    “It’s all in the eyes of the beholder, isn’t it?” Julian queried lightly.
    She didn’t reply. She smoothed Paddy’s forehead, then took the basin of bloodied water and left the room, Rachel at her heels.
    “You’re sewn, Paddy, but you lost a lot of blood, and you’re very weak.”
    “I’ll make it, Colonel. You got me here, you patched me up. I’ll make it,” Paddy said cheerfully. Then he winced and sucked on the whiskey bottle once again. “An angel. Must be an Irish angel—she’s an angel with whiskey!”
    “Get some rest,” Julian said, patting his shoulder. “We’ll stay until daybreak. Then, I’m afraid, we’ll have to get on the road again. There’s no help for it, Paddy. We’re cut off from the rest of our own troops.”
    “The lady thinks we’re Yanks?”
    “An expedient lie Kyle told,” Julian said briefly.
    “Ah, then. I’ll get some rest and not be such a burden when we ride come the daylight,” Paddy said.
    Julian patted his shoulder.
    “I’ll stay with him,” Liam offered.
    Julian nodded, retrieved his hat, and exited the room. He could hear conversation and followed the sound of it. Corporal Lyle and Keith and Daniel Anderson were seated at the dining room table, eating bread, cheese, and cold meat. Lyle saw him and quickly stood. “Sir! Jim, Kyle, Thad, River, and Ben are on guard. They’ve eaten, so now these boys and I are—”
    “Having some supper, of course,” Julian said. The meat was cold, but the smell of it was still tantalizing. He sliced a piece; it was smoked beef. Delicious. He sliced another, wolfing it down. He looked up.
    Rhiannon stood in the hallway, looking in. He felt the atrociousness of his manners, then felt anger, because she couldn’t possibly understand what it was to fight and never having enough to eat.
    He cut off another piece of meat, knowing she was watching him. He wolfed it down as well. “Ma’am,” he said, “we do thank you for your hospitality.”
    She turned away, starting down the hall. He got up and followed her, but she had disappeared. He walked along the great hall and discovered that she had stepped out the breezeway door to the porch beyond. She stood with her back to him, beneath the moonlight, and he was taken again with her grace, her serenity—and her chilly disdain for her uninvited company.
    She didn’t turn around.
    “What is it—Colonel?” she demanded, her back to him.
    “We do thank you for your hospitality.”
    She still didn’t turn, and so he walked around her until he faced her.
    She stared at him, rebellion flaring in her eyes. Then she smiled coolly. “Colonel, sir,” she said, and the words had never sounded so mocking, “don’t you recall informing me that if I didn’t offer my hospitality, you would simply take it?”
    “All for the war effort,” he replied smoothly.
    She studied him, her mocking smile deepening. “Ah! Yes, all for the war effort.”
    “I’m sorry. I’m assuming you lost your—father? Husband?” he said, indicating her attire.
    “Husband.”
    “Where?”
    “Antietam.”
    “Last year ... I’m sorry.”
    “Yes, so am I.”
    “Were you ...” he began, then