“I’ll go,” Callie said. “I have more nursing experience than any of you men.”
“And I have more yet,” Sarah said belligerently as she bandaged Peter’s arm. “I want to go to my grandbaby!”
Before Josh could protest, Richard said, “You haven’t fully recovered yet, Sarah. You need to be here and fit to patch him up.” His gaze shifted to Callie and Molly. “I know you want to come, but you’re both too pretty to take into a war zone. The potential for trouble is too great.”
“You surely make a refusal sound good!” Molly said ruefully.
“He has a very talented tongue,” Callie agreed before she realized how suggestive her comment was.
Mercifully not taking the innuendo up, Richard said, “We won’t be back for hours, so keep your pistol close to hand just in case.”
“I will.” Reluctantly she accepted that he was right; she and her pistol should be here since neither Sarah nor Molly knew how to shoot. “Sarah, do you need to replenish anything in the medical kit before they take it?”
“As long as they don’t decide to drink the rest of the whisky, there are enough supplies.” She closed her medical kit and handed it to her husband.
“I’ll collect blankets to pad the cart,” Josh said. “Gordon, will you go to the livery stable and get the horses harnessed and bring them to the back of the warehouse? The cart is stored back there.”
“Of course.”
Callie asked, “Peter, how far is it to where you left Trey?”
He thought a moment. “Maybe four miles or so. About halfway back from where we shot Ross and this side of the fighting unless our troops retreat like they did at Bladensburg. We should be back by nightfall.”
“There will surely be delays,” Richard said. “Don’t worry, we’ll return with Trey as soon as is possible.” He moved to his satchel and pulled out his pistol. It was on top of his other belongings and already loaded. He holstered it, then slung a powder horn and a pouch for shot on the other hip.
His expression had changed and he was no longer her amiable Richard, but the menacing Lord George Audley who had thundered out of the night in Washington to rescue her. A dangerous angel.
“You all be careful!” Sarah kissed her husband hard.
Richard stepped up to Callie and drew her into a full body kiss. Not a polite brushing of the lips but mouth and tongue and pulling her hard against him, his hands moving hungrily over her back and hips.
After an instant of resistance, she fell into the embrace with equal hunger. Fire burned through her veins and her brain, eradicating awareness of where they were and the crisis they faced. Her trusted friend, the man she cared for most in all the world . . .
Then he released her, his breathing rough. With his steadying hands on her arms, he said forcefully, “I’ll be back, Callie. Never doubt it. And we’ll have Trey, so don’t worry.I will be back!”
He spun on his heel and left. Callie stared after him, touching the fingers of her left hand to her lips.What had just happened?
Her life had turned upside down. Again.
Round eyed, Molly exclaimed, “I thought you were just friends!”
“We were.” Callie moistened her lips with her tongue, still shaken. “That’s changing.”
Sarah gave a deep chuckle. “Next time that boy asks you to marry him, you need to say yes!”
Maybe she would. The idea was starting to make sense.
The apartment felt very empty after Richard and Josh and Peter left. In the silence, Molly said uncertainly, “Trey will be all right, won’t he?”
“He will.” Sarah put a comforting arm around her granddaughter. “Peter Carroll didn’t sound too worried. It’s just that a leg wound makes it hard to walk, and it’s a mighty hot day. The boy is tired.”
Callie didn’t disagree with any of that, yet a pall of anxiety hung over her. Was danger really threatening, or was she generally tied in knots of anxiety? It felt like real danger coming at them. Maybe a small group of British soldiers would make their way into the city. Or British sailors might come ashore in a small boat to wreak havoc.
Both ideas were highly unlikely. Yet her unease wouldn’t lift.
A tired Sarah relaxed in the padded, extended chair. Eyeing Callie, she said, “You look like a cat dancing on hot coals, Miss Callista.”
Callie took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “It feels like something is about to happen. Not the British invading the city. At least not yet. Butsomething.”
