Replaced chapter

# 2 - Awkward

Ben's POV

"I'm sorry, miss, but I'm afraid I'll have to search you." Ben said, his cheeks turning pink very rapidly.
"Search me?" The woman, who still refused to tell him her name, asked with eyes wide from surprise.
"Yes, but I won't enjoy it any more than you will, so let's get it over with, shall we?" Ben replied and motioned for her to stand up.
"He is telling you the truth." Caleb chuckled from the other end of the marquee. He was looking through the gown she had been wearing, when she arrived in camp. "He'll be so embarrassed that you'll…"
"Caleb!" Ben shut him up. "Would you mind?"
"Oh, you want me to leave, sir?" Caleb teased.
"You're staying. And that's an order!" Ben replied with a very annoyed look at Caleb. "And you're keeping your mouth shut!"
Caleb just laughed.
"Don't mind him." Ben told the young woman. "Now, will you hold out your arms, please?"

Major Benjamin Tallmadge was a very decent man. He wasn't one to deal with ladies in the way that most unmarried men sometimes would. He hadn't kissed a girl since he was sixteen, and that was some years ago. He was too preoccupied with his military duty, he told himself, and, besides, he was the son of a reverend. He couldn't fool around with women, and he also didn't want to. They made him feel very insecure.
All of his men knew this, so they would use every opportunity they got to make him feel uncomfortable. If they were at a tavern after a long journey, they would do their best to get him drunk, and they would pay the women there to surround him and touch him, sit on his lap, try to kiss him, and stuff like that. He would most often retire early. Not because he didn't want to drink with his men, but because he felt too uncomfortable around the women.
Maybe he should just get it over with?

"I do believe you're blushing, Major." Caleb's voice brought him back to reality. He had been searching the lady's arms, not trying to think too much about his hands on her body. At least there were still a few layers of fabric between his hands and her skin.
"Thank you, Caleb." Ben replied with a roll of his eyes, and moved his hands to the upper part of her body. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She obviously didn't feel very comfortable, either.
He hurried his hands down to her waist, not touching her too much on the way. How much could she have hidden underneath those skirts? Well, probably a lot.
He sighed, which made Miss Abbott open her eyes and look straight into his. Even though she was not as tall as he was, their faces were very close to each other, as Ben was bending a little in order to reach down. For a moment, they locked gazes, until Ben turned his face away and let his hands run further down her gown.

Caleb was quiet. No doubt, he was watching and grinning. Ben didn't dare look at him. Then something even more embarrassing occurred to him. She could've something hidden in her stockings!
"Ehm…" He tried. Then he cleared his throat. "Would you mind…" He stood upright again, facing her.
She looked questioningly at him. Her cheeks were a becoming pink.
"Would you…" He tried again. "Would you take off your stockings, please?"
"Would I…?" She looked shocked.
"Well, it's either that or I…"
Caleb gave a loud laugh and continued rummaging around, searching the desk drawers and anywhere else she could've hid something.
"Oh. Of course." She replied and turned around. "Would you…?"
"Of course." Ben said and turned his back to her.
"No,that's not good enough." Caleb interrupted, suddenly being serious, and made both of them look at him in surprise. "How'd you know that she's not hiding anything from you while you got your back against her?"
Caleb was right, of course. Ben had to watch.
"I don't supposed you would…?" Ben tried, but he already knew the answer.
"As much as I'd love to watch a lady take off her stockings, that's your job, Major, not mine."
He walked towards the exit, but Ben caught his arm on the way.
"You're staying." The latter hissed, trying not to watch too closely while Miss Abbott, or whatever her name was, took off her stockings.
"I can't wait to tell everyone about this." Caleb chuckled back, but at least he stayed. "By the way. Nothing in her clothes. Or anywhere else in here."

Ben and Caleb watched the girl take off her stockings. Once they had made sure that she wasn't hiding anything, they gave her a minute alone to get properly dressed again. Ben needed some air, too. His cheeks still felt warm, so he figured his face was still a very dark pink. He took off his coat to cool down. There was a chill in the air, but he didn't feel it.
"You ready for the second round?" Caleb asked after a couple of minutes. Ben nodded, and they went back inside to continue questioning the girl.

#

"You've got to give me something." Ben asked with a sigh. The woman opposite him still didn't say much. Had she been a man, they probably would've used other methods. "I can't help you, if you won't tell me anything."
She, too, sighed. Then, finally, she spoke.
"My first name is Lavinia. I'm afraid that's the only name I can give you."
"So you're not Miss Lavinia Abbott?"
She looked away.
"I take that as a no."
Caleb was standing close to the exit. He hadn't said anything for a while, but Ben knew he was listening.
"And why is it that you can't tell me your family name?" Ben continued.
"What would you do to my family if I did tell you?" She looked up at him. Scared.
"That would depend on what else you'd tell me. Or what you've done."
"Exactly. I can't know for sure that you won't hurt them."

Ben sighed again. She was right. If she turned out to be a spy, which he very much doubted, she put her family's lives in jeopardy as well as her own. And as long as he didn't know for sure that she wasn't a spy, she'd better not tell him her family name. Well, seen from her point of view, of course. He had to try to find out, anyway.

"Can you tell us where you're from? Not your family name. Just… Give us something. Anything."
"Setauket." It was barely a whisper.
"Pardon?" Ben asked with a frown. He thought he saw Caleb stir, but the move was so vague that he couldn't tell for sure.
"I'm from Setauket." She said again. "I grew up there."
Ben looked up at Caleb, who looked back at him with an almost invisible shake of his head.
"Now, Miss…Lavinia," Ben said and did his best to sound unhappy with the situation. "It makes me very sad that you're telling me this, because now I have no other choice than to keep you here. You see, Caleb here…" He nodded in direction of Caleb. "…and I grew up in Setauket. And you didn't. We would've remembered."
For a split second, her eyes darted from Ben to Caleb and then back to Ben again. She looked horrified. Then she looked away.
"We're not going to hurt you. But we also can't let you go." Ben said and got up. "We'll give you some time to collect yourself. If you want to talk, tell it to one of the soldiers outside, and he'll come fetch me. You'll have everything you need to eat and drink, and if there's anything else, have one of the men outside call on me. Understood?"
She nodded. Ben couldn't tell if she looked relieved or scared. Her eyes were blank.
"Alright, please excuse us."
Caleb left the marquee and Ben followed. The latter gave a small, courteous bow at Lavinia, before they let the entrance canvas fall down in place again.

"I want two men guarding her quarters day and night." Ben said when they got outside. "Jennings and Hodson are already here, who else can we spare?" He beckoned towards the two soldiers standing guard outside.
"I'll find someone." Caleb more stated than offered.
"Good. Find her a mattress, too. She may come around if she realizes that we're serious about it. If not, she'll need it for the nights, anyway. She's not leaving until I'm sure she won't compromise us."
"I'm on it." Caleb replied and walked away hastily.

Ben walked to his own quarters and lay down on his primitive bed. He needed to think.
The girl definitely hadn't grown up in Setauket, but she did seem familiar. Did she have family there? Lavinia… He didn't remember anyone having a relative with that name, but he also had no chance of remembering all relatives to everyone from Setauket. Maybe she wasn't lying. Maybe she was just twisting the truth?
Had she been a man, that would've been considered lying, too, he reminded himself. He couldn't let her get away with it so easily just because she was woman. Not even if she was a very beautiful one. And she was. He was not unaware of that.
Somehow, he had a feeling that he had met her before. Her eyes and the way she spoke seemed so familiar, and it reminded him of something nice and safe. He just couldn't remember what that something was.