Read Online And One Wore Gray by Heather Graham - Free Book Online

faded.
    She was almost passing out, or almost sleeping. Perhaps she had been nearly asphyxiated, she wasn’t quite sure. But when the pounding came on the door a second time, he startled her until she nearly jumped out of her skin.
    He was still beside her. He pulled her along with him to her feet.
    Slowly, slowly, he eased his hand from her mouth. He turned her toward the door, and opened it.
    Johnston was there again.
    “We’re through here, ma’am.”
    She looked outside. The bodies were gone. All of them. She felt as if she would fall for a minute.
    All the poor young men …
    “Miss? Are you all right?”
    She nodded. Her mouth was very dry. She swallowed. Johnston wasn’t such a bad man. Not if you were on his side.
    “Yes. I, er … Thank you, Captain.”
    “Take care, then. If you need help with anything—”
    “No, no, thank you. I don’t need any help.”
    “Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you, miss. Captain Dabney did survive the day. He took a gash to his arm, but not a serious one, the surgeon says. Captain Dabney sends his regards, and his concern, but I took the liberty of informing him that you were very well.”
    “Thank you. I am so relieved for Captain Dabney!”
    Johnston saluted, then turned away. She watched him as he walked to his horse. He mounted it, signaled with his hand, and shouted out an order. His company—the group of horsemen and the wagons that now accompanied him—began to move. Callie stared after him.
    A slow smile curved her lip. The Reb hadn’t held the knife on her at all, not once during the entire exchange.
    The door suddenly closed. She was careful to let her self-mocking smile fade as she met the Reb’s stark blue gaze again.
    “Good,” Cameron muttered. “You did well.”
    “That’s because you have such a way with women, Colonel,” Callie told him sweetly.
    “And you ma’am, are pure sweetness and light!” He grinned slowly. He mocked her in return, but he was surprisingly, wickedly handsome.
    “Colonel—”
    “Who is Captain Dabney?” he demanded.
    Her brows shot up. “A friend, Colonel,” she said icily.
    “A friend, or lover?”
    Stunned, she felt her hand go flying through the air without the least bit of thought. He caught her hand before it could connect with his cheek, but it was no stay for her amazement and fury. “War or no war, sir, how dare you come up with a question—”
    “Because I have to know if this Captain Dabney is going to come stepping into this house at any given moment!” he told her.
    “You’ll just have to wonder, won’t you?” she said heatedly.
    He smiled. “Ma’am, you are a Yank to match any Rebel I’ve known in all my born days. Ah, but with outrage like that, you’re probably innocent.”
    “Innocent!” Callie exclaimed. She wanted to kickhim. “Mark my words! I will assuredly be as dangerous as any man you might meet on a battlefield! And Colonel, I’d be much obliged if you’d step outside the door before closing it again,” she said.
    “I can’t rightly do that, ma’am,” he said, sweeping down to pick up his hat and set it upon his head. He seemed affectionately attached to that hat.
    “Why?”
    “I’m bleeding.”
    “Is that supposed to mean something to me?” she demanded, suddenly furious. “Men bled and died all over my property—”
    “You must excuse us for dying. We don’t do it on purpose,” he interrupted dryly.
    Callie ignored his sarcasm. “You insult me, you invade my property—”
    “I invade it!” he snapped back. “Lady, if you think this is something, you should see Virginia! Your armies have ripped it to shreds. There are miles and miles where nothing grows anymore, where there isn’t a horse or a cow to be seen, where the children are half-starved! And you’re going to tell me about invasions!”
    She stepped away from the pain and the passion in his eyes.
    “I lied for you, Colonel. I kept you from a prison camp. Now you can go on to kill dozens more