This is Prompt No. 15- Turmoil

"You did what?!" Nate yelled, jumping up in the confines of the carriage and banging his head on the roof of the vehicle.

"Nate," Shane said calmly, "sit down. You'll do absolutely no good by shouting."

Nate sat down, rather ungracefully, in the moving carriage, and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "I'm listening," he said grudgingly.

His brother shrugged his shoulders. "There's no more to tell. We almost kissed and then her friend showed up and interrupted us. I excused myself the best I could and came to get you. You know that we have to be back in the States soon."

The carriage went over a dip and Nate grabbed wildly for the cushioned handle on the door of the carriage to keep himself steady. "I don't understand why you did it, though," he said, his tone implying that he didn't approve.

Shane felt his anger flare up. "What would you have had me do, Nate?" he demanded. "Should I just have left her there to be-to be-" he couldn't even formulate the rest of his words as he shuddered, remembering the terrified, vulnerable look on Mitchie's face when he had found her.

"No, no, no," Nate said impatiently, waving his hand dismissively. "I didn't mean about the part in the study. That was a perfectly gentlemanly thing to do, and I would have done it as well. I only meant that you should have left it at that and not have gotten mixed up with her by asking her to dance with you, and then to take a walk with you!"

"Nate, I was just being polite!" Shane rebuffed, but he knew that he had not just been polite. He had wanted her to accept his dance invitation. He had wanted her to take a walk with him, and he had wanted to kiss her. Oh yes, he had wanted to kiss her, and it was all her friend's fault that he was not able to.

"She could've been a spy," Nate offered, crossing his arms as he watched his brother give a start. Ah, so he had not thought of that! "She could be telling someone about us right now!"

Shane, though, relaxed once more after the initial seed of doubt was implanted into his mind. "No," he said. "She wasn't a spy. I felt as though I could see into her heart, and I was pretty sure that she could see into mine. No, she definitely wasn't a spy." He smiled at his brother and said, "And the only person that she'll be telling about me is that friend of hers that walked in on us. Because if I know anything about women, she'll be wanting any and all details that she can get."

Nate shook his head and stared out the window of the rocking carriage. "I don't think you should get involved with women with your line of work. It's dangerous."

Shane smirked and tried to act innocent as he asked, "And how is Caitlyn?"

Nate turned from his spot near the window only long enough to glare at his brother and said, "She's different."

As Nate turned back around, effectively dropping the subject, Shane glanced over his brother and realized that he had never seen him as happy as he had been when he had secretly married Caitlyn a year ago. Now, with his thoughts flying out the window he had pressed his nose against, Nate was obviously thinking of his young wife and where she might be at that very moment.

Shane let the matter drop, not wanting to aggravate his brother, and leaned back against the seat, letting himself relax and think. At first, his mind was on the assignment he had been given, bringing him to France in the first place, but inevitably, his thoughts turned to Mitchie. He thought for a moment about what Nate had said, allowed the seed of doubt to fester for a moment, sprouting only long enough for him to pluck it out of his mind forever like an unwanted weed.

No, she was not a spy. He had tested her during one of their first conversations by not telling her exactly where he lived. If she had been looking for information, she would have pushed him, pressed him to be more specific, but no, she had dropped the subject until he had brought it up again, giving her one last chance to pry. She had not. At that moment, he was assured that she was not a spy. Her innocence was one aspect of her that had given him reason to think that she was not involved in anything underhanded, for innocence was a difficult mask to slip on, but the added experiment had solidified his answers the way he had wanted them to be.

He sat back once again, all tension and doubt erased. The turmoil was over, and the truth had won out.

A/N: I'm not going to beg, but please guys, if you read, review and tell me what you think. I hate not knowing! :D