Red, Red Rose

by Marjorie Farrell

  “Captain Grant thought you might be needing this, sir.”

  Val rubbed his hand over his eyes.

  “I brought you your saddlebags, sir, and laid out a clean uniform.”

  Val grinned. “This is luxury indeed, Corporal. Do you do this for all the exploring officers?”

  “No, sir,” said the man with an answering smile. “But this one time Captain Grant thought it would be appropriate.”

  “God bless Colquhoun Grant,” whispered Val as he washed himself. “Although he is doing himself a favor, given how I look and smell!” He was just scraping the last of the dark stubble off his jaw when someone called from outside the tent.

  “Are you awake, Lieutenant Aston?” When Val recognized Major Gordon’s voice, his hand slipped and he gave himself a small nick with the razor. “Blast it,” he muttered, “I’ll be bleeding all over my clean tunic.” He hastily wiped his face and stuck a small piece of plaster on his chin.

  “Give me one moment, sir,” he called out. As he hurriedly pulled on his jacket, he watched the major’s shadow nervously. Major Gordon looked restless, for he was pacing back and forth.

  When he was finally dressed, he opened the tent flap. “I am glad to see you, Major Gordon. I was intending to call on you the first thing this morning…this afternoon,” Val amended after a glance at the sun. “Do you wish to come in?”

  “No, no, lad, let’s walk for a bit. I want to hear all that happened, for Elspeth was unwilling to say much about it.”

  “I can imagine that the memory is disturbing to her.” Val told the major the bare bones of the story and then patiently answered every question put to him.

  “Once again, I thank you for my daughter’s life, Lieutenant,” said the major. “I have already commended you to Captain Grant.”

  They had walked a little way outside of the camp and Val pointed to an old oak tree that would offer them some shade. “Shall we take shelter from the sun, Major?”

  The closer they got to the tree, the more nervous Val got, so by the time the major took a seat on a large boulder, he just said bluntly, “You realize, sir, that your daughter and I spent the night together in rather, uh, intimate circumstances.”

  “She told me you were lucky enough to find a cave.”

  “I am sure you came to see if I would act the gentleman, Major Gordon. Your daughter spent the night asleep in my arms and is therefore compromised. Were I another man…were my circumstances different…I would not hesitate to ask for her hand.”

  Major Gordon looked up at Val with a puzzled look on his face.

  “You see, sir, though I may wish to act the gentleman, indeed be considered one by virtue of my rank, in truth, I am none.”

  “I see. You have acted in some way dishonorably in the past?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then I do not understand, Lieutenant. My daughter says you were very much the gentleman with her.”

  “I am a bastard, Major Gordon,” Val announced harshly. “My father is the Earl of Faringdon, my mother a farmer’s daughter.”

  “I see,” said the major, standing up.

  “So we are in a pretty mess, sir,” Val continued more softly.

  “Well, we might be, if that was what I expected of you. Or Elspeth, for that matter,” the major added with dry humor.

  “I don’t understand, Major. Surely you must expect me to make an offer under the circumstances?”

  “The circumstances? You saved her life, you young idiot! And you kept her from freezing up there on that mountainside. And you brought her safely home to us and for that I bless you.”

  “But for a well-bred young woman, sir—”

  “This is not Berkeley Square, Aston, in case you hadn’t noticed,” said the major, waving his arm around him. “We are in the middle of a war and those were extreme circumstances. Even if they weren’t,” said the major with a laugh, “my lass has been following the drum since she was three. She would never have expected such a sacrifice.”

  “It wouldn’t have been a sacrifice, sir,” Val protested.

  “Perhaps not for you, sir. I was talking of her. We have tried to get her to live with her mother’s family in London and take her place in Society. But she refuses to. So why should she sacrifice her freedom to satisfy the standards of polite society when she doesn’t live amongst them?” The major looked over at Val and said shrewdly, “I suppose you have been agonizing over this since yesterday, eh, lad? Well, I admire you for your sense of honor and your honesty. As for the circumstances of your birth, well, you did not choose them. Any man chosen by Captain Grant is a man who has made something of himself.” The major clapped Val on the shoulder and said, “Come on, lad, Mrs. Gordon is waiting to see you and so is ma wee lass.”

  Val’s relief was so great that this time he couldn’t help smiling at the phrase and the major laughed. “Oh, aye, she is above average tall, Lieutenant Aston. But she’ll always be ‘ma wee lassie’ to me.”

  * * * *

  When they reached the Gordons’ quarters, they were ushered in by his orderly to find Mrs. Grant and Elspeth presiding over tea.

  “Lieutenant Aston!” cried Mrs. Grant with a smile of pleasure. “I thought that Ian had failed in his mission to bring you here for a cup of tea.”

  “Lieutenant Aston and I have been having a private conversation, my dear. Concerning you, lass,” he added. “The lieutenant made you an offer of marriage, as a gentleman should, but I refused him for ye. I hope I was right in doing so,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Ian! You are incorrigible!” his wife exclaimed.

  “Oh, aye, but it occurred to me on the way that I had not given Elspeth a chance to have her say.”

  Val, who was standing tongue-tied and red-faced, was thankful to see Miss Gordon was not fazed by the frankness of her parent. She merely inclined her head to Val and said calmly, “I am very grateful to you, Lieutenant, for your thoughtfulness. But I think neither of us need worry, given the extremity of our circumstances. I am sure my father told you I don’t hold much to convention. At least, not empty ones. Now do sit down and relax.”

  Val gave her a smile that expressed his relief, admiration, and gratitude. Miss Gordon had put them all at ease by her commonsense reaction and Val could only be grateful that she had gracefully turned the conversation away from his gesture.

  Unfortunately, the conversation could not be so easily turned from his heroism. Mrs. Gordon picked up her cup and then set it down and said, “Lieutenant Aston, I cannot eat or drink until I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your brave action.”

  “I only did what any soldier would have done, ma’am.”

  “From what I understand, you were quite prepared to sacrifice yourself in order to save Elspeth from an unspeakable fate, Lieutenant.”

  It was clear to Val that Elspeth’s calm strength came from her mother. “I would have made sure she didn’t suffer, Mrs. Gordon, if it had come to that,” he answered seriously. “But the fact that it didn’t was largely due to your daughter’s quick thinking, ma’am,” he added with a nod of appreciation at Elspeth.

  “The major made sure a long time ago that both of us knew how to load and fire both rifle and pistol,” said Mrs. Gordon.

  “Well, I for one am grateful for his foresight!”

  “I understand that you are newly arrived to serve in Captain Grant’s service, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Captain Grant was my commanding officer in the Caribbean and he requested me when he’d heard I received a commission.”

  “You will have a hard time living up to Captain Grant’s exploits, I think, Lieutenant.”

  Val smiled. “I have heard many of the stories, Mrs. Gordon, and I agree. I’ll be lucky to do my job half as well.”

  “Aye, it is not everyone who can go behind enemy lines and bring back cattle to feed the army,” said Major Gordon.

  After almost an hour of conversation ranging from Wellington’s plans to Val�
�s experience in the Caribbean, he excused himself.

  “I have quite overstayed my welcome, Mrs. Gordon,” he apologized.

  “Not at all. We enjoyed your company, Lieutenant. I am hoping you will come again. We often entertain the officers for dinner and I will include you when you are available.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  * * * *

  “That is a fine young man, Elspeth,” said her father after Val left. “It is too bad you couldn’t accept his offer,” he added with a teasing smile.

  “I can’t believe you embarrassed him like that, Ian,” scolded his wife. “You did a good job of putting him at his ease, Elspeth.”

  “The lieutenant was rather distant in his manner yesterday. I am relieved to know it was his contemplation of his proposal rather than anything I did,” Elspeth replied lightly. “He relaxed a little over his tea, I was glad to see.”

  “Did I understand him correctly, Ian? Did he come up through the ranks?” Mrs. Gordon asked her husband.

  “Yes, my dear. He was serving as a sergeant under Colquhoun in the Eleventh Foot.”

  “He told me that, Papa. I thought it very unusual that his father hadn’t purchased him a commission straightaway. Unless of course, they were estranged….”

  “The lieutenant told me very little about his relationship with his father except for the fact that the Earl of Faringdon never married his mother. Which was the real reason he was so distant, Elspeth. He believed he had put you in an unresolvable situation: If you didn’t marry him, you would be compromised. If you did, you’d be wed to a bastard.”

  Elspeth sat there, her mouth open in a wide O.

  “The Earl of Faringdon is his father, Ian? Why, then, Lord Holme must be his half-brother.”

  “I hear that Charlie’s regiment will be arriving within the month, Papa,” said Elspeth thoughtfully. “I wonder if they have ever met. And if they have, if they like each other.”

  “Who could not like the viscount?” asked Mrs. Gordon.

  Elspeth smiled. “I can’t imagine.” Except perhaps his illegitimate older brother, she added to herself thoughtfully.

  Chapter 3

  Val took a long walk around the perimeter of the encampment and, when a wave of fatigue washed over him again, decided to skip supper with the other officers and go to bed so he would be fresh for his meeting with Captain Grant in the morning.

  He awoke before dawn and lay in his cot for a few minutes, his eyes closed, thinking about the events of the past few days. As a seasoned soldier, he was used to violence, and the scenes with the bandits faded into the background. It was the sensation of holding Elspeth Gordon throughout the night that kept coming back, and the feel of her arms around his waist and the way she had finally relaxed against him. There was something about the way she gave herself over to her trust in him that moved him. He felt himself becoming aroused and he groaned softly. He couldn’t afford to be daydreaming about a woman who was so clearly not for him. As he got up, he told himself that it was only natural for him to feel this fleeting attraction; they had been forced into an intimacy they would never have experienced under different circumstances.

  It surprised him, this desire, for although he certainly admired Miss Gordon for her courage and humor, she wasn’t the type of woman he was usually attracted to. He preferred a smaller woman, one toward whom he could feel protective. Miss Gordon was too tall and slender for his taste. And yet, he remembered how soft and yielding she was when she fell asleep in his arms. Not a convenient thing to remember, he thought humorously, when you were a soldier and the only women available to you are the camp followers! For once he was grateful to the cold mornings, as he splashed his face with icy water.

  * * * *

  Val had thought he would be meeting privately with Captain Grant, but he was directed from Grant’s tent to Wellington’s, where he found himself in the company of several other officers.

  “Gentlemen,” said Grant, “I don’t think you have had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Aston yet, for he only arrived recently and I have made sure to keep him on the road these past few weeks! Lieutenant Aston, Lieutenant Lucas Stanton, Lieutenant George Trowbridge, and the Marquess of Wimborne.”

  Val just stood there, frozen in place, as did the others.

  “Is something wrong, gentlemen?”

  The marquess stepped forward, his hand outstretched. “Not at all, Captain. We are all in shock because of coincidence, is all. Lieutenant Aston is one of our former schoolmates. I am right—it is Val?” James asked with a smile.

  “Yes, my lord, it is.”

  “Well, then, a belated welcome to Portugal.”

  “Lieutenant Stanton?” Grant was puzzled by the viscount’s lack of response.

  “Uh, yes, James is right. We were schoolfellows for a short while. Quite a surprise, that is all,” he added blandly and waved vaguely at Val.

  “Well, now that the reunion is over, let us get down to business. Lord Wellington will be here shortly, but I wanted you to know that Lieutenant Aston will be working directly under me, helping me with the reconnaissance between here and Santarem. Massena seems to have settled in there, and for a time will be better provisioned than he was on the other side of the Lines. But Lord Wellington believes that the French will have to make a decision soon—make an all-out attack on the Lines, or a full retreat into Spain—so every piece of information is crucial.”

  * * * *

  When the duke had finished briefing them on the current situation, he dismissed all of them except for Captain Grant. As Val left the tent he saw Stanton had walked on ahead with two other officers. They looked back at him curiously and Val knew that Lucas Stanton had effectively scotched his chances of feeling at home among the members of Wellington’s “family.” Having come up from the ranks was enough to set him apart—he had found that out the first three months after he’d received his commission—but Stanton would, no doubt, spread the word of his birth.

  “It has been a long time, Val,” said James as he stepped outside the tent.

  “Twelve years, my lord, to be exact.”

  “Please call me James,” said the marquess with a friendly smile. “We did agree on that once, you know.”

  Val hesitated and then gave him a quick smile back.

  “It was a delightful surprise to see you this morning, Val.”

  “I was surprised that you remembered me.”

  “Ah, but you were a most memorable schoolmate, Val. I have never forgotten how you thrashed Stanton so soundly.”

  “I fear he hasn’t either,” said Val.

  “Don’t mind him. His temper hasn’t improved over the years, but I don’t think he’ll cause you any trouble. And if you are working for Colquhoun, you’ll be out of camp a lot anyway. Will you come and have a cup of tea with me in my tent? I want to hear all about what you’ve been doing all these years.”

  It was the first time since he’d received his lieutenancy that Val had received a friendly gesture from one of his fellow officers and the marquess’s invitation touched him deeply, although he kept his face expressionless and merely said, “Thank you, James, I will.”

  The marquess’s tent was less spartan than Val’s, but by no means luxurious. Of course, having your valet with you was a sort of luxury, he thought, as he watched James’s man bustling around.

  “To old times, Val,” said James, making a mock toast with his tin mug.

  “I’d rather toast old schoolmates, James.” Val took a sip of tea and sighed appreciatively. “This is a real treat and the second time in two days I’ve been offered some. I had tea with the Gordons yesterday,” he added.

  “The story of your rescue is all over camp and I want all the details,” said James, “but first you must tell me where you went when you left the Hall. Charlie was heartsick, as I am sure you must know.”

  “I couldn’t stay, James, even for Charlie.”

  “No, I can understand that. It is difficult always to fee
l an outsider, I know.”

  Val looked over at him quizzically and James said apologetically, “No, of course I don’t know quite how it was.”

  “It wasn’t only that. I’d gotten used to it by then. It was how they dealt with, or rather didn’t deal with, Lucas Stanton.” Val hesitated and then smiled. “Do you remember the recruiting regiment that was in town? I signed up the night I left.”

  “So you have been in the army all this time?”

  “Yes, in the Devonshire Eleventh Foot. I made it to sergeant before I received my commission. Of course, I’ve been as much of an outsider in the army as I was at Queen’s Hall. Too common for the officers but too educated to make me one of the men—although my years with George Burton stood me in good stead. I never thought I’d be thankful to him in my life, but I was those first few years. None of the sergeants could intimidate me after George!”

  “Did you father…uh, the earl…know where you were?”

  “I wrote to him and told him I had left school and joined the army, but I had the letter mailed from the north so he couldn’t trace my whereabouts. Not that he would have wanted to, but Charlie might have gotten after him.”

  “And what about Charlie?” the marquess asked gently.

  “We’ve kept in touch over the years as best we could. We saw one another once in London, before we were to ship out to the Caribbean. I wanted to say good-bye to him, just in case.”

  Val was quiet for a few minutes, remembering his last meeting with his brother. He had known Charlie was in London for the Season, having finished his second term at Oxford. He had been there too, with a thirty-six-hour leave while the regiment waited to embark for the West Indies.

  He had put on his best uniform and made his way to the Faringdon town house on St. James Street. He had been planning to go to the kitchen door, but then thought, I’m his half-brother, damn it, and a soldier in the King’s army, so he walked up to the front and rapped sharply.

  Baynes hadn’t recognized him, of course, and he had to take off his shako and give his name twice before the butler’s blank look was replaced by a quick smile.