Quincy raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you done?”
“I don’t know,” she grumbled.
“I love you.”
“Quincy.”
“Let me finish.” He laid his fingers over her lips. “I love you. I admit that I am not always the best at letting my guard down and sharing personal information with women, but I will try to be better.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. “I don’t want you sharing personal information with women, Quincy.”
“Goddammit! Let me finish!”
She sighed and crossed her arms. “By all means, continue.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not perfect and I admit I haven’t treated you with the respect you deserve. All I can do is beg your forgiveness and promise to work harder at making it right. I want you as my partner in life, but I need you to help me. I need you to be patient with me and show me how to do this right. You’re everything to me and I can’t lose you. Will you forgive me?”
She shrugged. “I suppose after that speech, I have to.”
“I love you, Rebel. Never doubt that,” he said, and kissed her.
She wove her arms around his neck and ran her hands through his hair as he deepened the kiss. She felt her body melt into him. “I love you, too. Sometimes. Conditionally, on Tuesdays.”
Quincy laughed. “I appreciate that, sweetheart. Now, we have the rest of the day to reconcile. Would you like to go for a ride?”
She frowned. “Is your shoulder okay?”
“I’ll put it in a sling, it’ll be fine.”
“In that case...” She grinned up at him. “I’d love to go for a ride with you.”
“Change while I’ll saddle the horses.”
Quincy left the room and Victoria pulled a skirt over her jeans, sans hoops. Hannah had told her it was how Sophie and Emma rode, which made sense since she didn’t want to ride sidesaddle. Victoria tamed her hair the best she could, using her scrunchy and hairpins and then made her way downstairs.
She stepped off the last step and almost ran into Quinn as he came through the front door. “Oh! Sorry, honey. I should probably slow down.”
He chuckled and pulled her close. “You can run into my arms anytime, sweetheart. I have the horses outside and I’ve packed us something to eat.”
QUINCY LED VICTORIA out to the horses. The horse he’d chosen for her was a large Arabian stallion, and he was black, except for one white sock on his back right fetlock. Victoria instantly fell in love with him.
He didn’t seem to like being tethered and his eyes were frantic, but she walked up to him and gently stroked his muzzle, letting him sniff her hand. She had hidden a cube of sugar in her palm before she came out of the house and she gave it to him while she moved to his shoulder. He sidestepped, but she continued to croon to him and he seemed to calm. “Quincy, he’s beautiful... and really big for an Arab.”
Quinn smiled, and before she could protest, he lifted her into the saddle.
“Honey, your shoulder! You’ll pull your stitches,” she admonished.
“I’ll be fine.” He jumped onto his horse and grinned. “Ready?”
“Yes! I want to see what he can do.”
They took off toward the lake and Victoria’s heart soared as they flew over open fields and the occasional fence. Her horse was focused and responsive, and she was disappointed when Quincy slowed them to a walk.
“Are we there?”
Quincy shook his head. “Not quite, but we should really walk them the rest of the way.”
“Oh,” she said disappointedly.
“We can fly home, sweetheart, if that’s your wish.” Quincy chuckled.
She rewarded him with a very wide smile. Quincy drew his horse to a stop near a grove of trees and dismounted before assisting Victoria. Once the horses were secured, he grabbed the saddlebags and took her hand.
She gasped as the trees cleared and the lake came into view. “This is perfect, Gus.”
“I thought you might like it.”
She walked close to the water and Quinn laid a blanket on the ground before joining her. He wrapped an arm around her waist from behind and kissed her neck.
Victoria sighed and leaned into him. “This is so beautiful.”
“Yes, you are. How’s your leg?”
She turned to wrap her arms around his neck. “It’s much better. How’s yours?”
“It’s almost completely healed. A nice leathery scab has formed.”
Victoria wrinkled her nose. “Thank you for the detail. What about your shoulder?”
“It aches.”
“Quincy,” she growled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was slightly distracted.”
She reached in her pocket and pulled out some Advil. “Here, take these.”
“Thank you.”
“Let me check your stitches.” She pushed him to the blanket and waited for him to sit down. She knelt and helped him remove his jacket. “You have to be careful. You’re feeling better, getting more movement every minute, so you’re getting a false sense of strength.”
Quincy unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it off his shoulder. “I think I may have overdone it today.”
“Fighting with your brother, hauling me over your back, throwing me onto a horse... I wonder why,” she droned. She pulled the padding away and sighed. “Gus, it’s bleeding.”
“How bad?”
Victoria put the padding back over the wound. “Not bad, and it doesn’t appear as though you’ve pulled any of the stitches... but, seriously, honey, you need to keep your arm still. Where is the sling you promised?”
He lowered his eyes in contrition. “I forgot.”
She cupped his chin and lifted his face. “I will make you one when we get home, but you have to promise me that you’ll wear it.”
“I will.” Quincy smiled as he lay on his back and held a hand out to her. “Come here.”
She snuggled into the crook of his arm, laying her head on his good shoulder. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“I won’t be gone forever, sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead.
“It’s going to just seem like it,” she grumbled. “What are your plans when you get home?”
“I have to report to the war offices on Monday morning to find out what my options are. Christopher’s set up a meeting for me.”
Victoria picked at a blade of grass. “Will you have to go back to war?”
Quincy stroked her hair. “It’s a probability, sweetheart. My shoulder is healing nicely, thanks to you and Stephen.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I wish I’d let that horrible excuse for a doctor continue, maybe it would have taken longer for you to heal and you’d be able to stay.”
He pulled her closer. “I will come back as soon as I can.”
She nodded into his shoulder. “Will you stay with Chris?”
“Yes.” Quincy smiled. “I’m renting out the townhouse I purchased a few years ago, and don’t feel it’s fair to take it back until I know what we’re doing. Chris has to return with me, so it makes sense to stay with him. He’s not happy about leaving Hannah, but it can’t be helped.”
“War sucks,” she grumbled.
Quincy leaned over to kiss her. “My sweet little rebel, don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying,” she sniffed. He kissed her again and she lost her battle with her emotions. “I don’t want you to leave, Quincy.”
“I know, sweetheart.” He wiped a tear away with the pad of his thumb. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Please don’t fall in love with someone else,” she sobbed. “Someone who’s nicer to you.”
“Victoria, I’m not going to fall in love with anyone else,” he said.
“Good answer.” Smiling through the tears, Victoria laughed, which came out as a snort since she was still crying. He handed her a handkerchief. She sat up and wiped her cheeks and blew her nose.
Sitting up beside her, he stroked her back. “Better?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
His eyebrows puckered. “For what, sweetheart?”
“For being so emotional. I’m typically pretty even-keeled.”
“I forgive you.”
She slapped his arm playfully. “You’re supposed to say ‘no, little rebel, you’re not being emotional.’”
“No, little rebel you aren’t emotional. You never yell, or curse, and you always do exactly what I tell you to do.”
She smiled and kissed him. “That’s better.”
“You’re perfect in every way and there isn’t another woman alive as beautiful as you.”
“Okay, that might be going a little too far.”
Quincy kissed her nose. “I love you, silly girl.”
“I love you, too.”
He pulled her back down beside him, and they spent the next two hours talking about nothing and everything at the same time. Victoria shared things with Quincy she never had with anyone and Quincy did the same.
“You look as though you’re falling asleep,” he said, and kissed her temple.
“Well, I was kept up quite late and then woke at dark o’clock this morning. Oh, and then, had two... count them... two big fights with the man who claims to love me—”
“I do love you.”
“I’m not done.”
“Sorry.” He raised an eyebrow. “What else?”
She started to laugh. “I forgot what I was going to say.”
“Perhaps because you’re tired, sweetheart.”
She groaned. “You can’t leave me tomorrow.”
Quincy chuckled. “How about this? I’ll depart tomorrow and that’ll be the last time I ever leave you.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Gus.” She pushed him away and stood.
He stood as well and faced her. “Victoria.”
“Quincy, you cannot definitively say that you’ll never leave me again. There are things in the world that are out of your control.”
“You’re right.” He laid a hand on her hip. “How about, I will never leave you, provided it is within my control.”
“Mm, hmm,” she murmured and dropped her head onto his chest. “Fine.”
He kissed the crown of her head and pulled away from her. “Let’s go back to the house. I promised Christopher I’d look at the horses he wants to buy from Richard.”
She nodded, and they gathered their supplies and walked back to where they left the horses. Reaching to take her horse’s reins, Victoria stroked his muzzle gently. “He’s such a beautiful horse, Quinn. Do you think I might ride him again?”
“Absolutely.”
She peered around the horse with a hopeful expression. “Truly?”
Quincy joined her and patted the horse’s shoulder. “Well, he is your horse, so I’m certain you may ride him again.”
Victoria’s eyes widened in shock. “My horse?”
He nodded. “Your horse.”
“How exactly is he my horse, Gus? What did you do?”
He smiled down at her. “He’s a gift.”
Her eyes filled with tears again. “You bought him? For me?”
Quincy shrugged. “Perhaps.”
Victoria gasped. “What for?”
“He was abandoned, sweetheart.”
“He was?” she said sadly.
“Yes. He was passed from owner to owner and mistreated. He has a fire in his belly that is rarely seen in a human, let alone an animal, and when I saw him yesterday, I thought of you.”
Victoria smiled. “You thought of me because he has an attitude?”
Quincy grinned. “No, sweetheart. I simply felt that you might be the perfect owner for a horse without a home.”
She threw herself into his arms. “I love you. I don’t deserve you and I love you.”
He chuckled. “That is true, you don’t deserve me. And I love you, too.”
The couple mounted and rode back to the house. When they arrived, Victoria insisted on rubbing her horse down herself and spent some time getting to know him.
“Quinn, what’s his name?” she asked as she peered out of the stall.
Quincy stood in the middle of the barn and hung up the bridle he had just cleaned. “He doesn’t have a name. Yet.”
“Oh! I get to name him as well?”
“Yes, you get to name him.”
She stroked the horse’s muzzle as she thought of what might be appropriate. She was reminded of another discarded would-be champion, a stallion from Pennsylvania who would go on to greatness. She smiled to herself. “His name is Rocky.”
Quincy laid his arms on the stall door and leaned inside. “Rocky?”
“It’s a very famous movie about Rocky Balboa who is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time.”
“What’s a movie?” he asked.
“Remember the photos I took of you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s a lot of pictures strung together to form a moving picture and then sound is added, and you would think you were watching live action,” she explained. “Rocky was a person who was beat down and still got back on his feet to win. So, Rocky will be Rocky.”
She walked out of the stall and smiled as Rocky stuck his head out and nuzzled her shoulder. She took Quincy’s hand and they made their way back to the house. Stepping into the foyer, Victoria removed her bonnet and her gloves.
“Quincy?”
The couple turned to see Millicent standing in the doorway of the parlor. Victoria saw a scowl cross his face and then he gave Millicent a tight smile. “Yes?”
“May I have a word with you, please?” she asked. “In private.”
“I’ll make myself scarce,” Victoria said.
Quincy frowned at Victoria and shook his head, but she smiled serenely and walked away.
* * *
Quincy turned and let Millicent lead him into the parlor. “What is it you need?”
“I thought we were getting married.” Millicent burst into tears.
Quincy sighed. “Millicent, I have always told you that would never happen. I’m confused by how else to phrase it.”
“But I love you.”
“And I love Victoria.”
“You bastard!” she seethed and then quickly wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t curse. You love me, I know you do.”
He tried to gently pull her hands apart, but she wouldn’t budge. In the end, he bent down and ducked out of her arms. “I don’t love you, Millicent. I’m sorry about that, but I don’t. Victoria is the only woman I will ever love and I intend to marry her. The sooner you get used to that idea, the better.” He turned and strode out the door. He heard Millicent squeal in anger as he crossed the parlor.
The next few days were a flurry of activity. Quincy and Victoria spent Sunday morning saying good-bye, and the pain she felt from his departure surprised her. In her mind, it was illogical, and she felt like a lovesick idiot. Victoria put her fingers to her lips, remembering their final kiss and his words of love. The girls sat in the parlor trying to play a game of cards and failing miserably.
“Hel-lo,” Emma said, snapping her fingers and giggling.
“Oh, sorry! What did you ask?” Victoria said.
“Sophie and I are going for a ride. Would you like to join us?”
Victoria stood. “Absolutely.”
“Perhaps out to the lake?”
“Sounds good,” Victoria said. “Did you happen to see the horse Quincy bought for me?”
“Yes, he’s beautiful. Clayton told me that Richard bought him at auction. Apparently, it was the horse’s last chance. He was scheduled to be shot that afternoon,” Emma answered.
Victoria’s heart swelled at Quincy’s thoughtfulness. “I didn’t know that. What a sneak, Quincy said nothing.”
“Clayton said the moment Quinn saw him he wanted him. I don’t think anyone knew he wanted him for you, though. It’s all very romantic.”
Victoria’s eyes fill
ed with tears. “Yes, it is. He’s such a beautiful horse, Em. Very sweet.”
Emma laughed. “You sound like Sophie when she’s talking about Samson.”
“What do I sound like?” Sophie asked as she walked back into the room.
“Dreamy. Like he’s the most wonderful animal that ever lived.”
“What-ever!” Sophie laughed. “I can’t wait to see this horse of yours in action. Jamie told me the story and it’s so romantic.”
Victoria blushed. “Emma just filled me in on the parts of the story I hadn’t heard and, I have to admit, Quincy did very well.”
“Yes, he did.” Sophie grinned. “Are you both ready? I left Junior with Hannah, and they’re taking a nap. Besides, it’s only going to get hotter.”
Emma clapped her hands in excitement. “Ooh! Let’s go for a swim!”
Victoria’s head whipped up. “Where?”
“In the lake.”
Victoria scrunched her nose up. “Is it clean?”
“It’s perfect,” Emma said. “You’ll see.”
“I’ll grab some towels and you girls change,” Sophie said.
Emma made a break for the door. “We’ll meet you in the foyer in ten minutes.”
Victoria rushed to her room, pulled her jeans on under the skirt she currently wore, and discarded the hoops. She had to admit she was excited to ride again. She was getting to know Rocky, so hadn’t ridden him much, but had a feeling that he would be her escape while Quincy was gone. She made it downstairs in record time. Sophie and Emma arrived shortly after her.
“Let’s go,” Sophie said, and they made their way to the barns.
Victoria and Emma’s horses were in the Maddens barn and Samson was in the Wades’, so the girls collected Samson first. Sophie’s arms were full, so she unlatched his stall door and whistled. He followed her like a puppy and it made Victoria laugh.
“I’ll get him tacked up and meet you in a minute,” Sophie said.
As the girls approached the Madden’s barn, they heard a commotion and rushed in to find Rocky whinnying and kicking at the stall as though there was a fire and he needed to escape. One of the soldiers was trying to calm him, but would get attacked when he went anywhere near the horse.
The Rebel Bride Page 16