3

He sat in her living room, reading a book. Deep concentration on his face, yet his body was relaxed. It pleased her that he felt safe to do so in her home. Pleased her to have him there.

“Evening, Loyal. I’ll be with you shortly and we’ll have dinner. Unless you’ve already eaten?”

He stood and nodded, tipping his chin with respect in a very old-school way. “Evening, Verity. I will admit I ate the entire basket of baked goods you left for me. But I’m more than ready to enjoy that stew. Tempting me all afternoon with that scent.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I’ve spent some time during the last hour or two just thinking about it. I need to wash the day off and I’ll return. If you peek in my pantry, you’ll find some ale and a bottle of wine. A trader from Charity Bay, he was. Always pays that way.”

“I’ll get us a glass while you clean up.” He nodded at her as she left the room.

She chose a deep blue dress. Casual of course, the type worn in the evenings at home by many women. But the color complimented her skin and hair and she liked looking pretty for him.

In the bathroom she noted he’d left her a gift. He often did that when he stayed with her. Several small soaps shaped like shells. She picked one up and brought it to her nose. The scent was fine, as delicate as the shape. And more, these oval-shaped cakes of every day soap. Though these too had a lovely scent. River lilies, mountain violets and the lush, nearly velvet scent of orchidium, found far south of Silver Cliffs. Past the capital city.

She picked that one and soaped up a washcloth, choosing a quick lather-up instead of a long, leisurely bath. She wanted to be with him, to soak up as much time with him as she could before he left. Once he did, she’d have plenty of time for long baths. Alone.

Brushing out her hair, she spritzed it to keep the curls behaving and chose to bind it loosely so it hung on one shoulder.

Which had been the right choice as he paused, his lips parting slightly when she came back out.

“How’s the wine?”

“I saved the first sip until we’d toasted.” He handed her a glass and clicked his with it.

“Go dte tu slan.” In the old tongue for safe travels.

She smiled and repeated it back before taking a sip.

“Sit down and I’ll get some bowls filled. There’s fresh-churned butter in the cooler.”

“Some days, usually while I’m in Silver Cliffs, I wonder if being paid in credits doesn’t rob a man of the finer things like cream, honey, fresh butter and the like.” He lifted his glass. “Fine wines on a cool evening as well.”

“Ah well, I’m sure in the capital you can buy all those things and more with credits.”

She ladled up the stew in two large bowls and placed them on the table, returning to her cooler to grab a jar of pickled vegetables.

“Nothing in the capital tastes anything near this good and fresh. Though I’m of a mind to bring some butter I favor the next time I come. It’s caked with salt from the Great Sea. I think you’d like it.”

Once she’d settled, he sat, placing the linen napkin across his lap.

“And how do you do, Loyal?”

The stew filled him, warm and delicious. She would have made a good wife. Though from the bits and pieces he knew, the man she’d had before didn’t deserve her. Not so very uncommon.

“I do just fine, Verity. And you?”

“The same. My sister is with child again. The rumors, and I know how much you love those”—he snorted at the tease—“are that the garrison chief is sneaking through Madeline Johnston’s back door most nights. Course, they’re both of age, neither is married to anyone else. He’s fine looking, which I suppose is part of it. The jealousy, I mean. The river is full of sweet, fat silver fish. There will be plenty drying all around town this week. You’ll be of a knowing when the wind shifts. Planting will begin soon. The ground is softening up. You only just missed the mud.” She sighed. “Takes too much time to deal with the floors downstairs when we get a few days of mud. Like all of my life is about sweeping and mopping and sweeping some more. Telling people to kick their shoes a bit afore they come in.”

He knew she was hungry for details of the world outside the walls. So when she finished, he’d give them to her. Part of his pleasure in visiting her was sharing those details, watching the delight on her face, hearing the rushed pleasure in the way she asked for more.

“This is a delicious stew. The pickle as well. Did you make it?”

“Yes, thank you. My garden was heavy last season. Had so much extra it seemed a shame to not pickle and put some by. Sold quite a bit downstairs to folks my mother would have termed the grasshoppers, aye?”

He smiled at the memory of the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ants worked hard to prepare for lean times but the grasshopper lazed about and was caught unawares when the snow fell.

“If she were still alive she’d laugh to know those grasshoppers keep food on my table all snow long.”

“Indeed.” He shifted in his chair, settling in to speak. “The grass is very tall now down in Solace. They had their thaw two moons back.”

“More temperate to the south, yes?” She leaned in, eyes alight as he started to give her those details he knew she wanted.

“Yes, doesn’t snow much south of Shelter City. Only round the annum end. Powerful hot in the mid year down there though. No icy cold river to dip your toes in. Though in Solace there’s a mighty large lake. In the mid year the town guards it often so folks can go on down after the workday is over, or on off days to cool off.”

“Solace has those little cookies?”

“Yes, they’re green because the flour they’re made with is cut with the sweet grain that grows with the grasses. Seem to recall you have a powerful like for them.”

She blushed. “You brought me some last annum. They were delightful with tea.”

He’d remembered of course and would leave her a small bundle of them to find once he’d gone.

“And how is the Highway? Jackson down the garrison heard tell the brigands were active again on the southern passes?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Whole town was attacked, Brilliance. One of the furthest south, where the Highway begins.”

Her hand went to her chest. “How did the people fare?”

“Many didn’t.” Including several lawmen who’d been nearby and had raced to help.

She shook her head. “A tragedy to be sure. I’m sure you heard when you checked in that we had some news of scouts.”

He had and it had filled him with rage. And worry for her.

“You know if they come you’re to head to your storeroom and lock yourself in.”

She waved it away. “I know that’s what everyone tells me to do. As if I would hide away when I could help. I’m a good shot with a rifle. I have extra ammunition here. If they come to our gates I will not hide while they burn us to the ground. I will protect my home. But the sentry towers are on alert. We’re fine. I have a tunnel, from the cellar out to a plot of land a bit away. I’ve got food and water, supplies and the like, stored back there too. But I’m staying as long as I can.”

He frowned. “Finer if you’d keep yourself safe instead of trying to do battle with scum like the brigands. They won’t just burn things, if you take my meaning. Beautiful woman like you has far more to worry over.”

“If you think women are unaware of such dangers, you have no idea what it’s like to live in this world as a woman.” She pursed her lips and sniffed as she delivered her set to and he had to grip his spoon to keep from touching her as the heat of want washed over him.

Prim and proper Verity was delightful enough, but when she got fire in her eyes? His cock grew hard and heavy and his mouth watered to take a taste of her lips. And other parts.

“I appreciate the way women are viewed.” He nodded. “But I know these brigands. They would rip everything you hold dear to shreds.”

He spent the rest of the meal entertaining her with stories about all the garrisons he’d been in over the last moons. About what people wore, what they ate, how they celebrated this or that holiday. He colored in her world, adding details she craved about the world outside the walls.

“One day I want to travel down to Shelter City. Stay for a while. Stand on the shores of the Great Sea.”

“It smells so clean. Like nothing else. The sand, so soft, like a cloud, aye? And the water chases away and rushes back. Over and over. Nipping at your toes. Cool and fresh. You’d like it.”

People did travel for holiday. They could book space on official transport, but the price was dear and there was a wait list. A very long one. Extremely difficult too, for unaccompanied women unless they were visiting to be courted. She frowned at the idea.

She dried the last of the dishes and hung the towel on the peg.

“Would you like some music then?”

“I would. I brought you some books as well.”

She smiled. When he visited he not only brought her little indulgences, but important things like books and periodicals. She loved to read and he did as well. He brought her all manner of things, from light and breezy stories of fancy and love to heavier, darker tales. Reference manuals she kept in her kitchen shelves. She traded the books around the garrison and they ended up in the library when she was done. She wasn’t the only one who loved to read.

“Thank you.”

Her music player was charged and soft music played through the room after she hit the switch. He’d built a fire earlier so the living room was cozy and warm. He handed her a large bundle and she settled on her settee to look through the titles as he settled in the large chair and pulled the newspaper out.

It was so lovely. Normal and yet a rare treat, as he’d be gone in just days and she’d be alone here once more. His smell filled the space and she breathed it deep, wanting to be bold enough to tell him how much she wanted him to touch her. Damning the world she’d been raised in, the world that had kept her from knowledge, had raised her to always use soft words, to keep her gaze averted and to wait for the man to do the talking and action taking.

It was a silly world and it had raised silly women all chafing at the rules that were supposed to protect them. From what no one ever seemed to want to tell her.

She only knew she was fortunate not to be under a man’s thumb any longer. Her independence came at a cost. A price she’d pay a thousand times over to be in her own place, on her own terms. One she also realized wouldn’t last forever, but she planned to enjoy it as long as she could.

“Loyal?”

He looked up, awaiting her question. He wasn’t one of the silly men who’d fluttered around with flattery and charming smiles to talk her into sneaking a kiss, or far more. No, he didn’t waste words except when he told her the stories about the outside world.

“Are women like this all through the Highway?”

He folded the paper once and then another time, sitting it in his lap. “How do you mean?”

“Overprotected, aye? Taught to only speak the sweetest of words?”

He struggled with a smile and she narrowed her eyes his way.

“There are garrisons where the women are not allowed to come out when we arrive. Where women cannot be unescorted by a male. Others where the women are equals, who have the same rights as the men. Silver Cliffs is a garrison on that side of the continuum, though not as open-minded as Shelter City.”

“Hm.” She nodded. “I wish to visit those places.”

“Have some hard words you need to use, then?”

“Are you making fun?”

He laughed, the sound rusty, but lovely and welcome. “I would never dream of such a thing.”

He picked his paper back up. “Should you like to use the bad words or get up to things men do, feel free. I can even offer you assistance should you need it.”

Boldness burst through her. “Yes? Say if I wanted you to put your lips on mine then? Would you do that?”

His gaze snagged on hers. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Is that so? And why is that?”

“Because you are fine and beautiful. You are feminine and graceful and I am not.”

“If I had want of another woman I could find one and ask her for a kiss, Lawman.”

He blushed for a moment, swallowing hard. “You know what I mean.”

“No, I really don’t. Do you not have a wanting of me? A woman back home?”

He licked his lips. “My wanting of you is not the issue. I’m not for you.”

He went back to his paper and left her frowning.

Confused and frustrated.

But also, the fire in her belly lit. She saw it in his gaze. He wanted her and now curiosity and stubbornness worked together.

She wanted Loyal Alsbaugh.