Married At Midnight Read Online Free PDF Page B

experience of her life. But now she thought of what she must have looked like
    —what she must have
    sounded like—and turned hot from head to toe.
    No wonder they kept men out of these affairs!
    The next thing she knew, a strange noise was dragging her out of sleep. An animal? A baby . ..
    Her baby!
    She jerked up and grabbed him. "Shhhhhh."
    "What is it?" the captain asked sleepily.
    "I think he's hungry."
    " 'Struth."
    Kate swallowed a chuckle as she exposed a breast and tried again the tricky business of attachment. The baby seemed willing to take a good firm grip of just about anything near its mouth but it took a few tries to get him on the nipple.
    Then there were the strange sensations of suckling and a kind of tingling in response. Kate relaxed back against her lumpy pillow, relieved that the babe was silent and sucking away with remarkable strength and confidence.
    Kate heard a faint snore and looked to see that the captain was fast asleep again on his back. The wonders of birth
    and babies had palled a bit, she assumed.
    The baby didn't feed long and soon they both drifted back to sleep.
    The next time her son woke her, the captain sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Horses are definitely easier." He spoke softly,
    for the men were still sleeping, and the only light was the embers of the fire.

    "I beg your pardon?" said Kate, the babe already suckling.
    "Foals find their mother without having to demand attention." She could hear teasing humor in his voice as he added, "And they don't make such a stink."
    Kate was only too aware that the baby had wet his cloth, but she retorted, "I have smelled a stable, Captain."
    Clearly the infant had only wanted a light snack, for he soon slid off the nipple, fast asleep. Kate put him down and began to struggle to her feet.
    Immediately, Captain Tennant pushed her down. "What the devil do you think you're doing?"
    "I need water to wash him."
    "Stay there. I'll get it. I put a jug by the fire last night so it will be a little warm."
    He brought the bowl of water and a candle he'd lit in the embers. She thanked him, but added, "I don't think I need
    to lie abed, you know."
    "Then why do they call it 'lying in'?"
    "Are you always so logical?" She set about cleaning and changing the child, being especially careful in the dim light. "Perhaps women do usually keep to their bed for a few days. But that requires a bevy of female assistants to fetch
    and carry and a deal more security than we have here."
    He rubbed his big hands over his face. "Gads, you're right. We have to get you out of here, though I'm damned if I know how. If no transport comes by, you'll have to walk."
    "I know."
    "But can you?"
    She looked up, hoping she looked and sounded calm and confident. "What choice do I have? Quite apart from
    warfare, I'm soon going to run out of clean cloths for him."
    He touched her hair. "As soon as there's a trace of light, I'll send a couple of men to try to find some form of transport. I'd escort you, but. . ."
    "But your duty lies elsewhere." She picked up her clean little tyrant and held him close. "I understand, Captain."
    "You're a remarkable woman, Kate."
    "Am I? I feel like a remarkably foolish one, all in all."
    He stretched, hands brushing the rafters, then coiled down again to sit beside her, leaning on one raised knee. "What happened between you and Fallowfield, Kate? If you were willing to go to such lengths to force a marriage, why not sooner?"
    Kate delayed by looking down and stroking her baby's tiny head. She could feel a light fuzz beneath her
    fingers, but
    now it had dried, the poor thing looked almost bald.
    "You don't want to talk about it?"
    She looked up then into those remarkable eyes, eyes that mocked cowards and fools. "It's just such a sorry tale. The truth is that until a short while ago, I thought we were properly married."
    "What?"
    She grimaced. "I'd heard tales of false clergymen and lying witnesses used by libertines to cozen virtuous young ladies, but of