Nerves tingling, Rachel almost missed the jovial interplay between the two brothers and spoke quickly. “You must not let an unhappy circumstance prejudice your opinion.”
Lucas smiled. “It’s been a long time, Ryan.”
“Too long. But not long enough where brothers can’t keep their commonsense and help each other out.”
“I didn’t know how you’d actually feel,” admitted Lucas.
“I know you helped out, John. Admirable.”
“John had been captured by Yanks and nursed back to health by a schoolteacher. But there emerged some intrigue with the woman and he ended up in the hands of Irish thugs. They were about to hang him when I discovered his location. I tried to keep him out of the war. I didn’t want him in a Northern prison or shot dead in battle. Even found a foolproof place to keep him locked up during the war. Or so I thought.” Lucas grinned at the memory. “But you know our brother, John. He escaped. I don’t know the rest of it. Did come to find out that the schoolteacher was really a wealthy heiress and he had the gall to kidnap her right out of Washington. Why he risked it, I’ll never know, but he did have a personal vendetta against her.”
“He did,” Ryan informed him. “But now things are straightened out. They’re happily married and she’s at our home in Virginia, expecting their first child.”
Lucas shook his head disbelievingly. “Strange things have happened in this war.”
“I’d like to think that someday, we’ll all be back home and consider this time a bad dream.” Ryan paused and looked at Rachel. “I have to say you’ve caught yourself the loveliest of flowers.”
Rachel blushed, remembering all the horrible things she’d said to him.
“She’s a handful,” Lucas admitted, and she wanted to give him a good kick.
Colonel Ryan Rourke picked up a pen, dipped the nib in ink and began writing. When he finished, he handed the papers to Lucas. “These passes will see you through the next five miles south where you can run into Union lines. There are two fresh horses in the back of my tent.”
Ryan unrolled a map and pointed. “There’s a parting of troops at Brook’s Crossing. You should be able to get through easy enough. I’ll keep my boys circling farther west so you won’t have any skirmishes with them. I will warn you that you could get shot.” He angled his head to the Confederate pants Lucas wore.
“I’ll take care,” Lucas promised. “I owe you an extraordinary debt.” He extended his hand but, instead, his brother threw his arms around his shoulders and embraced him. Rachel grew warm from her head down to her toes. Despite the war, brothers remained brothers.
Colonel Ryan Rourke turned to Rachel and kissed her on the cheek. “Welcome to the family.” Rachel had been so worried and was so emotional that she could barely say a simple goodbye and thank you.
Chapter Eighteen
“I told you, Lucas, I’m not a gambler. I’d rather not risk my life on a ‘maybe’ when the odds have been so stacked against us. I say we take the bridge.”
In the shadow of the trees, Lucas squinted over Brook’s Crossing. Serene. Quiet. A sparkling river meandered through the forests. Up against the bridge, a fallen tree leaned drunkenly against the embankment. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck in disbelief of her obstinacy. It bordered on lunacy. They argued again as to which way to go.
“As an officer…” Lucas pulled rank, observing her gritting her teeth, “I find it best to plan military affairs on whatever is impossible and imminent. But as you can see,” he waved his hand over the vacant woods on the other side, “there might be something to be concerned about.”
“You are trying to be clever with me. I’ll have you know that I’m being quite charitable.” She smiled, placating him as if he were without any brains whatsoever. “But I’ll not countenance any further arrogance on your part for there is no justification or grievance to excuse your sarcasm.”
Light danced across fern fronds and glittered off the morning dew. He smiled inwardly. He had complete admiration of her. The way she stood up to his brother when she thought Ryan was going to hang him. He shook his head. Never had he met such a woman and wondered what Ryan thought about the hellcat. “The location of Confederate troop weaknesses my brother divulged has held true. My brother committed treason to protect us by giving us the safest route and sending his cavalry elsewhere. Time is of the essence. Troop movements can change at any moment. I don’t have the luxury to argue with you. We should risk going a mile farther through the woods to cross.”
“Either you do as I suggest, or you can go on your own, get caught or catch a bullet through the heart. And I won’t shed a tear.”
A slight breeze rustled through leaves and he allowed an instant of pretended offense to steal into his expression. He mounted and spurred his horse to the east away from the bridge. Rachel grabbed his reins and stopped him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she snapped, swinging her icy gaze up to him.
His breath whistled out. With her cheeks rosy from the sun, her hair curling in thick waves about her shoulders, and that bare dip between her heaving breasts—was there any defense? He smelled wild flowers and saw a soft spongy bed of moss that led his mind to other things. “It’s Sunday, isn’t it. That part of my brain has it upon reflection. I think I’ll take a stroll.” In one fluid motion Lucas snatched the reins from her grasp.
“Wrong.”
How he loved hearing the rebelliousness in her voice. Lucas took his pocket watch out to check the time. “I do have enough wits to realize I am heading to General Grant’s lines. After you.” She mounted her horse. He waved a hand and let her pass with a slap on her horse’s rump.
Rachel turned, her eyes shooting daggers. “You know what’s wrong with you? You can’t admit when you’re wrong. You get everything bound up in that pea brain of yours, rolling and twisting any peculiar thought which pops up, until it has so flattened and confused you into a resplendent state of bewilderment.”
That startled a chuckle from Lucas, along with the ticking tap of a woodpecker. “My head’s a whirl, Rachel. Indeed, how you maneuver me into the addled state of a moron.”
“It’s a miracle you can pull on your boots. That accomplishment alone must have taken years. Ponder that glorious success in your life for the time being and follow me.” She turned her horse a hundred and eighty degrees, spurring past him. “I’ll get you there safely.”
