Cornwallis and his troops had now moved to Fort Carolina. Alaina spent the next week trying to avoid Colonel Tavington. She figured that if she never saw him, she would not have the opportuntiy to insult or offend him any further. But her efforts were useless. It seemed that every time she left her room or stepped outside, he would turn up.
Though she did not manage to embarrass herself any further, she still had the distinct feeling that his piercing gaze was upon her when she was not looking. She wodered if he would hold a couple of slips of the togue against her forever. She certainly hoped not. Being disliked wasn't something she was accustomed to.
She was getting used to his attitude of superiority. He was commanding, he was arrogant, he was a little cruel, she had to admit. His practice of slaughtering prisoners of war and anyone who stood in his way was disturbing to her, to say the least. But she wondered if, when he was not enthrolled in the task of serving the king, there was a gentler or maybe even charming side to him. He certainly had the looks, she thought, that could make a woman melt. The stern line of his jaw, broad shoulders, lean features, powerful hands, and those gorgeous eyes. That, added to his rank, would be enough to make him a perfect catch for any young lady.
Alaina stood, staring out of her dark window, contemplating these thoughts for almost the hundredth time. She really had nothing better to do with her time. There wasn't alot she could do that would not distract someone or get in their way. However, she decided to risk another sojoun out of her room. Perhaps her father would have some small task she could do that would occupy her mind.
She was about to knock on the door, when she heard Tavington's voice from inside. Alaina wasn't one to ususally eaves drop on her father's conversations, but she wondered what they could possibly be talking about this late in the evening. She knew it was her father's usual dining time. Curiousity made her stand quietly outside the door.
"I am prepared to do what is necessary. I alone will assume the full mantle of responsability for my actions...free of the chain of command...rendering you blameless," Tavington continued. "However...if I do this...you and I both know that I can never return to England with honor." There was a pause. "What, I wonder, is to become of me?"
Alaina heard a chair move and some footsteps cross the room. She heard her father's voice next. "When this war is over here in the Colonies...the new aristocracy...will be landowners."
The sound of a map crinkling drifted to her ears. "Tell me about Ohio," Tavington said.
Ohio? Wasn't that the territory that His Majesty had given to her father? Alaina wondered what kind of bargain was being struck here. Whatever it was could not be good, if it would indeed prevent Colonel Tavington from returning to England without honor. Could it possibly have anything to do with the Ghost and the disruption that had occured earlier that day? Genral Cornwallis, everyone knew, was furious about having been tricked.
She shifted, and the floor creaked with her movement. Deciding that it would not do well for them to find out she had overheard their dealings, she walked quickly and as noiselessly as possible down the hall. She stopped when she reached the end and pretended she had been peering out of the window. Tavington stepped out into the hall moments later, looking very smug. He rushed downstairs and outside.
Ten minutes later, she saw Andrew and several others of the Green Dragoons saddling their horses, down below. "I wonder where they are off to," she murmered to herself. She decided that she could find out by going down to see Andrew off.
The wind blew gently and tossed about the stray pieces of hair that Alaina had left out of her braid. She was now standing aside, waiting for Andrew to finish mounting his pack on his horse. Once he finished, he gave her his full attention. "Did you need something, Miss Cornwallis?" he inquired.
"Andrew, I do believe after all of the years we have known each other that it would be quite alright for you to address me as Alaina." Her reasoning was quite correct, because they had practically grown up together. He only being three years her senior.
Andrew shook his head. "Then I would not get to see you raise your eyebrows like that." He grinned.
Alaina smiled too. "Alright then, Corporal Brink," she teased. "Where are you off to?"
"To coerce the Ghost and his men out of hiding. Colonel Tavington has come up with a plan that he is sure will make them surrender, either that or cause the colonials to give up his whereabouts."
Her face brightened. This would be the perfect opportunity for her to end some of her boredom and, perhaps, even get her mind off of a certain colonel. "I think I shall tag along," she said more to herself than Andrew. Her shoulder brushed his as she walked swiftly past, heading for the mansion and her father's study. She didn't notice the small tremmor that went through his arm when they came in contact.
"General, you cannot be serious?" Tavington exclaimed. "I do not have time to babysit her..."
"No one will have to babysit me. I am fully capable of taking care of myself," Alaina's temper was showing again. After receiving a stern look from Tavington, she lowered her tone and pleaded to her father. "Besides Father, I am a skilled nurse. If anyone should get hurt or sick, I could tend to them. Plus, I cannot stay here forever with nothing to do... I would go mad."
General Cornwallis looked back and forth between Tavington and Alaina. Tavington let out an exasperated sigh, seeing that he would surely side with his daughter. "Very well, Alaina. I shall stand by my decision and let you accompany the party. But I want you to stick close to Corporal Brink."
"Oh, thank you Father!" She placed a quick peck on his cheek and shot a look of triumph at Tavington. Then she headed out of the room to get her things and her horse. Tavington scowled, but he let the subject die as she left. There was no further point in arguing. If Alaina wanted to find out what a picnic it wasn't going to be, then he would gladly show her.
General Cornwallis only added, "See to it that she does not witness any of your...tactics."
Andrew seemed happy enough to learn that Alaina would be his companion on this trip. the two talked for hours when the journey began. Tavington simply ignored them and rode afront, with six other soldiers between them. No one could have told, but Alaina felt that she prefered his dissaproval to the indifference he was showing her now.
As the journey wore on, Alaina grew quite fatigued and sore. She was not used to the long rides, but she refused to beg the Colonel to stop for a rest. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was the fragile flower he had made her out to be in her father's office. She simply gritted her teeth and shifted from time to time. Andrew could see her discomfort and several times insisted that she needed rest, but Alaina stubbornly denied it and refused.
By nightfall, the regiment of Dragoons and Alaina were traveling through an old forest. The moon was hidden behind the clouds and the canopy of the trees, so the only light was that of two torches, carried at the front and rear of the group. Having never been too far from the confinements of a yard at these late hours, this was a new experience for Alaina. Every little sound and movement made her draw a nervous breath and tighten her grip on the riegns of her horse. The underbrush of the forest made the already dark ground seem even more undiscernable. She didn't know what she was expecting to jump out of the shadows, but the dark did not help her wild imagination to calm itself. Hear fear nearly made her forget about the aching of her muscles.
Some two hours after entering the forest, Tavington haulted the group in front of a plantation. They all rode up to the main house, but Tavington ordered that Alaina and Andrew stay on their horses. Everyone else got down and received orders to search the houses and grounds for any people. "What have these people got to do with the Ghost?" Alaina asked Andrew.
Some slaves were being brought up as he answered. "This plantation belongs to the sister of the Ghost's wife. His children are here under her care."
"What is he planning to..." her next question was cut off by a gunshot. Tavington had shot one of the slaves. Then he shot another. Soldiers were already busy firing the houses and barn. Alaina was horrified, suddenly understanding Tavington's plan of action.
Some more shots sounded in the distance, drawing everyone's attention down the lane on which they had come. It was the Ghost and part of his men. Tavington was ecstatic as he shouted, "To horse! To horse!" He and the Green Dragoons mounted their horses and began to chase after the fleeing rebels.
Alaina looked from the burning house to the persuing men. "Come on," Andrew coaxed her, grabbing the reigns of her horse and breaking them both into a run. She held tight to the horn of her saddle as they raced along after the others. Her mind did not yet know what to make of the ongoing events.
As she could have predicted though, the chase was fruitless. They lost their quary in the dark of the forest. At which point, Tavinton exuded some rather nasty undertones. To Alaina, he appeared like a madman. But his temper soon subsided.
They traveled on and eventually came to a small clearing with relatively less underbrush. Tavington issued the order that this would be their place of rest for the night. Alaina was not keen to the idea of stopping in a place that was so frightening to her, but she did not protest as she remembered her worn muscles. As the others tied up their horses and gathered wood for fires, Adrew helped her down from her horse. She found herself stiff and shakey, but she only smiled when Andrew expressed his concern.
Since there would be no room for tents, they would all sleep on the ground. This brought even more uneasiness to Alaina. None-the-less, she threw her cloak on the ground and settled on it as Andrew took out their rations. She picked at them, too anxious and tired to really eat much. "Are you sure you're alright?" Andrew questioned from his seat on a rock beside her.
"I'm fine, just a little shaken is all. I was not expecting that little scene earlier. Plus, this place scares me." She looked off into the darkness and trembled as a breeze russled the branches of the trees and a wolf howled in the distance.
He patted her hand that she was now leaning on reassuringly. "Don't worry. I won't let anything harm you." Her fright seemed to awaken a need in him to let her know that she was safe with him. He took notice of how icy her hands were, despite the warm night and the heat given off by the fires. He couldn't tear his gaze from her until he heard someone call his name.
"Corporal Brink. I want you and two other men to be look outs for the first part of the night. Bordon and a couple of others will releave you once they have rested." Tavington was only standing a few feet away. Unbeknownst to Alaina and Andrew, he had witnessed the whole little conversation, and now he found some strange pleasure in separating Alaina from her only comfort. Wether out of jealousy or spite, he himself did not know.
Andrew grudgingly obeyed the order. He did not want to leave Alaina there, looking so fragile, but he had no other choice. Alaina was confused that she was not even a little nervous about being left alone with Tavington, even after seeing his brutality earlier.
"You look pale, Miss Cornwallis. Do not tell me you are afraid of the dark?" Tavington mocked. He took a seat on the rock which had previously been occupied by Andrew.
Alaina drew an irritated sigh. "No, Colonel. Not the dark. Only that which lurks in the dark." She adjusted the skirt of her dress, trying to make herself appear less peaved. Tavington seemed to have aquired a knack for upsetting her. She even fancied that he got some sort of pleasure out of it.
"Do not be silly, child. Not a single thing could reach you while you are surrounded by His Majesty's finest." He meant it more as a jibe than a comfort. He added as an after thought, "Besides, you have little room to complain. You were the one who insisted on tagging along, and now you must suffer through the unpleasantries." He gave her an icy look of contempt.
Alaina clenched her fists and turned away. Damn that he could try her nerves so well. But better to grin and bear his biting remarks than to admit her anger. She would not give him the pleasure of hearing another stinging retort escape her lips. She would show him the exact picture of a well brougth up lady.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when a howl sounded so close by that it could not have been more than twenty yards away. She could feel her racing pulse as she placed a hand above her breast. Tavington, however cold his heart may have been, felt some small pity for the girl. "If it will ease your fears some small amount, I shall sleep here until Brink returns," he offered, betraying little emotion. In fact his tone sounded somewhat reluctant.
Shocked by the gesture, even as unwilling as it sounded, Alaina turned a greatful eye upon him. "I would be very appriciative of that, Colonel." She lay down and turned away from him, resting her head on one arm and allowing the other to rest on her side, palm on her stomach.
He stared at her as she lay there, taking in every curve. Standing up, he watched the rise and fall of her chest. A rather large amount of clevage visible from the postion in which she was laying. He felt a stirring in his loins at the thought of what he could do right now, under different circumstances. Had they been alone, making her feel secure and seducing her would have been all too easy. He smiled at the thought of how delicious it would be to ram his cock into her taut virginity.
He threw down his own cloak close to her. As he lay down, he could still smell her sweet scent that she still had, despite the hard day's journey. Tahetian Orchids. He wouldn't have recognized the smell, had his mother not grown them in her garden when he was a small boy. It was an intoxicating smell, and a sensual one at that.
Alaina's voice broke his thoughts. "Would you mind terribly staying awake until I fall asleep?" she asked, her eyes still closed.
"You are more of an annoyance that you are worth," he grunted. "But if it will suffice to shut you up, then I shall." He was still staring at her.
Perhaps it was the fact that she was half asleep already, or just the fatigue that softened her voice. But her next words came out extremely sweet and husky. "Promise me?" She did not hear his answer as she fell into sleep.