They emerged onto the quiet main road. The town didn’t look any different, but it felt different now. He realized this rough and tumble place which he’d secretly mocked in his mind had come to be his home, and when he saw its little buildings and muddy thoroughfare, he was happy. It was a very civilized place compared to the harsh wilderness and unforgiving frontier of Penn’s Woods.
***
The Colonel had made more improvements to the mansion in the short time Pyke had been away. Some artisans had touched up the gables, and this morning a whole bevy of workers rushed in and out of the front door.
The liveried footman awaited Pyke outside the front door. “Right this way, Lieutenant.”
The man preceded Pyke into the marbled foyer and then walked to the Colonel’s drawing room, the same place Pyke and he had discussed the mission two weeks ago. It was startling to consider how much could happen in so short a time. In some ways, the whole world had changed for Pyke.
The footman poked his head into the drawing room through the cracked door. Pyke waited impatiently, wanting to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible. He’d prepared what he wanted to say. He knew he’d acquitted himself as a gentleman and shouldn’t worry. But if history was any indication, the Colonel could be crafty as a fox in getting what he wanted out of a bad situation.
The footman finally opened the door the entire way and turned to Pyke. “The Colonel will see you now.”
Stomach churning, Pyke stepped into the drawing room. He was just as nervous now as when they were about to meet Azariah’s men in battle. It was silly, he knew.
But he couldn’t help it.
The Colonel was his superior officer and could make or break his future. Father had warned him of men in power repeatedly. Unfair as it was, good men often fell to the whims of those in authority if they weren’t careful.
“Mr. Pyke!” the Colonel said, beaming a smile. The man met him near the door and shook his hand excitedly. “Come in! Come in! Have a seat, son. It is good to see you.”
Caught off guard by the Colonel’s warm greeting, Pyke uttered some kind platitude in return as the old man led him to his desk. Pyke heard the door shut behind them, and he took the same cushioned chair as before.
“Brandy?” the Colonel asked before he’d even sat down.
“Thank you, sir.” What had Damaris said to him?
The Colonel poured out two glasses and handed one to Pyke across the desk. Out of politeness, Pyke sipped the drink. He wasn’t in the mood for any liquor. His stomach was in knots.
“I’ll come right out with it: good job, son. Well done. Things were a little messier than I would have liked, and now the rumors are circulating, but I guess that was unavoidable either way.”
At first, Pyke couldn’t tell if he were being asked a question or not. When the Colonel paused, Pyke said, “Unavoidable, sir.”
The Colonel put his glass of brandy down without taking a sip. Pyke stiffened in his seat. The friendliness, he feared, was a ruse. The Colonel wanted something. He always did.
“It did not come off without a hitch, but that’s how all military operations seem to go, right? It’s why a little bit of initiative and adaptation are necessary.” The Colonel sat back in his seat and folded his arms. The man’s body language did not match his apparent jovial mood.
“Quite right, sir.” Pyke reached into his pocket and produced Azariah’s locket. “In case you wanted this, sir.”
The Colonel took the locket and examined it for a moment as if it held some great import to him. “Thank you, Mr. Pyke. Mr. Bennett’s demise has already been verified for me, but it is nice to have this heirloom back in the family’s possession.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Pyke said, “Any news of the surgeon?”
“Ah.” The Colonel shook his head in disgust. “He’ll turn up somewhere. If it were up to me, the man would be court-martialed, but the Army needs its surgeons so he’ll probably worm his way out of any serious punishment.”
Pyke frowned. The man had openly conspired with the enemy, and he would at worst get a slap on the wrist? Back in England, he would have been put to the death for that sort of behavior.
Pyke wondered if he’d ever get used to living in the Province.
The Colonel put the locket on his map-covered desk and sat forward. Pyke felt the change in conversation coming from a mile away.
The Colonel said, “I want you to know that you have my blessing, Mr. Pyke. I do not need proof of your family’s holdings. I will arrange the wedding. I assume you would prefer sooner rather than later. It can be done this month.”
Pyke was dumbfounded. Surely the man had heard of the shooting.
“The wedding, sir?”
The Colonel chuckled. “Have you forgotten? You are to marry my daughter. It’s what you wanted, Mr. Pyke. And you’ve proven you’re a man of your word. I can see no better husband for my darling girl.”
Incredulous, Pyke couldn’t help himself. “But surely you’ve heard that Miss Bennett tried to kill me?”
“Ah.” The Colonel waved the comment away, as if he were simply shooing a pesky mosquito. “She was in the grips of a young madness which has since passed. She is much recovered, you’ll see. And besides, she was clearly not trying to kill you. She didn’t even graze you, from what I’ve heard.”
“Her intent was most definitely to kill me.” He was losing control of his temper. He added, “Sir,” but the word came much too late.
“Nonsense.” The Colonel’s smile lessened into a sliver of a grin. “She is beyond her years in some ways, Mr. Pyke, but in many ways she is still very young. It is man’s nature to rebel against his parents at an early age. It is natural. And it passes. She is very sorry for what she did. She will tell you herself. You will be most impressed by her change in attitude. She wishes to make amends.”
“Colonel, it is impossible.”
The Colonel’s wooly grey eyebrows arched, and his lips tightened. “Mr. Pyke, please do not tell me you wish to go back on your word.”
Heart racing and anger rising, Pyke took a deep breath and controlled himself. “I believe I only asked for permission to ask for the lady’s hand in marriage upon your approval.” He knew it was a solicitor’s answer, but it was the truth, nonetheless.
“Do not mince words, Mr. Pyke. You and I both know what you wanted. Your mind was set at the time of our previous conversation, and I took it as such. I’m certain any magistrate would agree.”
The implied threat of legal action panicked him.
The Colonel pointed at him. “I’ll have you know that several suitors have been through since you left, and, despite their excellent prospects, I turned them all away because of my promise to you.”
Pyke didn’t believe that for a second, but he certainly couldn’t call his commanding officer a liar.
The Colonel continued, “These fine young men have gone on and probably gotten hitched already, that’s how well off they were.”
“I am sure there are plenty of other appropriate suitors, most of whom will have better prospects than myself,” Pyke said.
The Colonel’s neutral expression melted into a dangerous frown. “I thought you were a gentleman, Mr. Pyke.”
“I will not bind myself to a loveless marriage, Colonel. I do not want to marry your daughter any more than she wishes to marry me.”
“You are wrong. Damaris has seen the error of her ways and wishes to marry you.”
Despite himself, despite everything, his heart fluttered. Could it be possible? Had she seen the light of reason? Did she, dare he think it, come to love him?
Pyke liked to believe it was possible, and in this case, he was sorely tempted to make the exception. The power of his own contradictory feelings surprised him.
But then his Father’s words, from one of his many lessons, came to mind: Very few people change, Hugh, and if they do, it’s only over a matter of years.
No. The Colonel was trying to fool
him again. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry? You gave me your word, Mr. Pyke. I trusted you. Now based on your misleading representations, my daughter is put at a disadvantage. Are you not a man of honor?”
It was too much. Pyke couldn’t control himself any longer. The Colonel was abusing his position to force Pyke into a marriage no one wanted except the Colonel. He would not stand for it. And even worse, the Colonel was twisting his own already warped sense of honor to guilt Pyke into marrying the demented girl.
Pyke put the glass of brandy down on the Colonel’s desk and took another deep breath. He would not be bullied this time. No matter what.
“Colonel, I do not appreciate you challenging my honor. I am a man of my word. And I do not appreciate you using your position to force me into this.”
The Colonel shot up, palms slapping the desk and rattling the mess on it. “How dare you speak to a superior officer this way! You will marry my daughter and that will be the end of it! It was your damned foolishness in challenging Thornwood to a duel that put her in this awkward position, do you not realize?”
Pyke’s anger gave way to confusion. How could the duel have—
The Colonel answered the question in his mind. “By challenging the man, you made his words into public gossip. Now all of Philadelphia society knows what people say about my daughter. Untrue as it is, such a rumor nevertheless kills a young woman’s reputation and ruins her marital prospects.”
Putting that on Pyke wasn’t fair. And Pyke also knew better now. Thornwood’s words, the rumors … they weren’t untrue.
“I will not marry your daughter.”
The Colonel’s face turned a bright red, and a vein in his forehead popped out. “You will do as you’re told, like a good soldier!”
That was the end of it. He was being given an order. To refuse it would be the end of his career. To follow it would be the end of that bright future he’d envisioned, with a loving woman by his side.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” the Colonel said. “I will make the arrangements and let you know.”
But Pyke didn’t move.
“You’re dismissed, Mr. Pyke.”
There was a way out of this. It didn’t sit well with him, but Pyke knew there was a way.
He recalled his last confrontation with the Colonel, in this very room behind closed doors. He’d driven too weak a bargain last time, not realizing that the Colonel was in as tenuous a position as he’d been at the time. The same was true of the present circumstance, wasn’t it? The Colonel didn’t want certain information coming to light about his unmarryable daughter, the same as before.
But it meant stooping to the Colonel’s level. Pyke hated the idea of what he was about to do, but the Colonel had forced his hand. The more he thought about it, the Colonel had not played the gentlemen or acted with honor during this whole business. Pyke should not suffer as a consequence.
“Colonel, it gives me no joy to act this way, but you have not treated me fairly. You have not done right by me, one of your loyal officers.”
The Colonel’s jaw dropped. No doubt he’d never been spoken to this way by a lower-ranking officer. “How dare you!”
“How dare you, sir.” Pyke kept his voice calm, level. He choked his anger down, knowing it wouldn’t help him in these fragile moments. “How dare you for trying to force me into a marriage with a woman who despises me and tried to kill me, because she herself has ruined her own prospects. I have had no hand in that and should not suffer because of it.”
The Colonel’s red face turned purple. He looked like he was about to have a stroke. “You call yourself a gentleman! How ridiculous!”
“I am a gentleman, sir. And I will continue to be. There are certain things I have learned and will keep to myself, as a gentleman should.” Did he need to make it any clearer? Would the Colonel press him? He felt sick to his stomach, but he kept his bearing.
“Speak plainly then.”
“I will not say any more than I have to, sir. But I have learned certain things about Miss Bennett that have not become gossip yet. I will never speak of them, and I will never speak of her shooting at me. As far as I’m concerned, it was a stray shot from a dying Indian. I do this out of the affection I once had for her, and the perhaps foolish belief that she was under that man’s spell. I do not do this out of any duty or loyalty to you.”
The Colonel finally breathed. Then, he sat back down and regarded Pyke with a suspicious eye. “I don’t know what devilish plans you have, but say what you want.”
Pyke was astonished. Could it actually work? He reminded himself not to drive too weak a bargain or else the Colonel would take advantage like he had last time. But he also decided not to press for too much: after all, he still had to report to this man for duty and didn’t need to make an enemy out of his commanding officer.
The Colonel shook his head when Pyke didn’t answer and himself said, “What do you want? A promotion, more money? I should have known. I thought too highly of you, as it turns out.”
Pyke ignored the Colonel’s ill-advised comments. “I’ll tell you what I want. Nothing.”
The Colonel frowned in confusion. “Nothing?”
“No special treatment, no favors. I ask to be treated fairly. That’s all. If I’m deserving of a promotion, then I should have it. I don’t want this episode to affect my career negatively. I deserve better than that, as I held up my end of our bargain.”
The Colonel’s mouth opened and closed shut several times. The man didn’t know what to say. Then he seemed to get his mind back. “And I suppose you want me to continue to protect you from Mr. Thornwood?”
Pyke frowned. The Colonel made it sound like the man was still alive.
“Oh, you didn’t hear. As it turns out, Mr. Thornwood did survive his injuries. I was misinformed at the time of our last private communication.”
Pyke balled his fists. Misinformed, the devil! The last piece of the puzzle fell into place, and the picture cleared in Pyke’s mind.
“You tricked me,” Pyke said.
The Colonel was taken aback by Pyke’s words. He started to say something, but Pyke didn’t hear it because he was already talking:
“The duel with Thornwood.”
The Colonel’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Pyke had long since moved beyond insubordination, but he was already committed, just like the Susquehannock had been when Kicks-the-Oneida had foolishly charged. Pyke hoped he hadn’t made the same nearly fatal mistake as Wolf Tongue’s rival. “It was in your power to stop the duel if you really wanted to. You could have had Lieutenant Smith bring those orders, but you didn’t.
“Instead, you forced us to use pistols that were rigged to shoot wildly, so no one was hurt. Even with three shots, I was only able to allow for the wild aim and merely clip Thornwood.”
The Colonel still said nothing.
“That way, the duel would likely end without bloodshed. Thornwood and his cronies wouldn’t stir up too much trouble, but still you’d be able to press me into this service in exchange for your protection from them.”
The Colonel’s mouth opened in protest, but no words came out.
“In answer to your question, yes, I do want you to protect me from Thornwood. I shouldn’t have to remind you that I dueled on behalf of your daughter.”
The Colonel turned around and paced halfway across the drawing room to the bay window overlooking his empty garden. He put his hands behind his back and lowered his head in thought. Pyke stayed silent and waited for the inevitable outburst.
But the Colonel surprised him. When he looked back at Pyke, he smiled.
“Mr. Pyke, you surprise me.” He shook his head, as if admitting he’d been outwitted. He didn’t, however, admit that Pyke was right about the circumstances and outcome of the duel. “I believe you will make a fine officer. The Crown needs more like you.”
The Colonel laughed again, but Pyke, still wary and unsure what the joke was, kept his
mouth shut.
The Colonel offered his hand. “You will have what you want, Mr. Pyke. What you ask for is equitable. You will be treated fairly so long as you are under my command, I promise you, and I will see about Thornwood. Let us speak no more of this business and put it behind us.”
Pyke, still on guard, didn’t believe it. “Thank you, sir.”
“Go and serve honorably, Mr. Pyke.”
“I will, sir.”
“We’re going to need you, as war with those bloody French is coming to this continent any day now.”
The conversation over, Pyke snapped a salute and left the Colonel’s drawing room on quick feet. The footman closed the door behind him. Footsteps echoed from above and behind him, and he spotted Damaris coming down the grand stairway into the foyer. She stopped at the bottom step, seeing him, and looked embarrassed. Their eyes met in a moment of heavy silence. They stood no more than five feet apart. He watched as her chest heaved with nervous breaths.
Without a word, he started for the front door.
“Mr. Pyke, I wonder if you have a moment?” she finally blurted out. “There is something we must discuss of vital importance.”
Pyke stopped and gave her a weak smile. It was stupid—no other word for it, really—but his heart still fluttered at the sight of the woman despite everything. The rational animal indeed, as Thaddeus Blackstone would have said.
But he would not make any more mistakes with respect to Damaris. “I’m sorry, Miss Bennett, but I’m afraid I have urgent business presently. Have a good day.”
Without waiting for her reply, he left. He was a new man, changed by all that had happened. But he still had his code of honor, and he would follow it so long as he walked this earth.
As he trudged down the muddy street now officially named York Road, he thought of Wolf Tongue of the Wolf Clan, the warrior Susquehannock who was always jesting. He wondered if he’d ever see the man again.
A Note from the Authors
Thank you for purchasing our book. We hope you enjoy the following excerpt from the second book in the Tomahawk and Saber series, Through the Narrows.
Language of the Bear Page 33