The Bride Price (19 page)

“Let me have a look.”

A trip to the hospital ended with eight
stitches and a scar that was a constant reminder of how close Jamie
came to losing function in his left hand.

* * *

Sophie jerked awake and sat up slowly.

James.

Jamie. Looks like him, sounds like him, has
identical scar. If I could just get him to show me his chest.

“For more than just confirmation,” Sophie
said aloud, her body suddenly aroused.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sophie woke up late, her face and lip
smarting from the night before, and the dream about Jamie’s cut
hand feeling more like a nightmare.

Well past nine o’clock when she finally
dragged herself out of bed, she splashed water on her face in an
effort to wake up. Walking over to the windows, she opened them,
allowing the breeze to freshen the room. A beautiful spring day
greeted her, and she took a deep breath. The smell of wild flowers
was better than any Glade Plug-In she’d used in the future.

Observing activity over at the stables, she
noticed James almost immediately, speaking with a few of the men
and laughing. His jacket had been discarded and he wore a light
shirt and a blue pair of pants.

Yum, aren’t you magnificent?

Settling her elbow on the windowsill, Sophie sighed
as she watched him direct, and then stand back and observe as the
men worked with the horses. She stood up and pushed her hair away
from her face.

Maybe I should take a little walk to visit
Samson.

Sophie dressed and stepped across the hall to
check on Topper before she made her way downstairs. He wasn’t in
his room and when she arrived in the dining room, no one was
around, so she grabbed a quick bite of food before gathering her
outerwear and making her way to the stables. The sun was bright
despite the slight chill, and she kept her head down as she rounded
the corner into the darkened interior. She ran into a solid wall of
muscle. Strong arms gently grasped her arms to steady her. “I’m so
sorry, excuse me.”

“Pardon me, I’m sorry,” Sophie said at the
same time. When she looked up, her heart skipped a beat. “Oh,
Lieutenant Emerson. Good morning.”

After studying her for a brief moment, he
smiled. “Good morning, Mrs. Ford, how are you this morning? How’s
your lip?”

“Much better, thank you for asking. It’s
still a bit sore, but I think I’ll live.” She smiled without
thought, and grimaced slightly as her lip smarted. Putting her hand
to her mouth, she chuckled quietly. “Ow.”

His eyes flashed with concern. “Are you all
right?”

He was staring at her as though she was the
most important person in the world, reminiscent of a man she was
not ready to forget. Sophie lowered her head shyly. “Yes, I’m
fine.”

“Sophie, is that you?”

James stepped away from her and Sophie rolled
her eyes. “Hi, Richard.” She turned towards his voice coming from
the barn, irritated at the interruption.

“Is everything all right? What are you doing
here?”

“I came to see Samson and ran into Lieutenant
Emerson.”

“Literally.” James chuckled under his breath
so that only she could hear him.

Sophie glanced up at him and he gave her a
small grin. She felt warmth in her cheeks as she looked back at
Richard. He had moved to her side in an obvious attempt to put
himself between her and James. She tried not to scowl.

“Lieutenant Emerson!” The group turned to see
Topper jog from the arena. “I think I did it.”

James turned and reached out to take the rope
Topper held out to him. He turned it over in his hands a few times
and then yanked the edges to test its strength. “This is well done,
Private. I dare say I couldn’t have done better.”

Sophie’s heart melted at the look on Topper’s
face. His countenance changed in an instant, and she could see the
pride in his eyes. She smiled. Jamie was great with angry
teenagers; it would appear his doppelganger was as well.

Richard squeezed her elbow. “Would you like
to watch the training this morning?”

No, I don’t want to watch the training. I
want to watch the lieutenant. Preferably without clothing.

Sophie shook off her fantasies and glanced up
at Richard. “Um, sure. Let me just check on Samson and then I’ll
join you in a moment.”

“All right.” Richard nodded towards the
arena. “James, if I could speak with you for a moment?”

“Certainly.” Giving Sophie another quick
smile, he followed Richard. “Topper? You coming?”

Sophie had a feeling Richard trumped up the
question just to separate them, but she watched them make their way
back to the arena, Topper following quickly. She made her way over
to Samson’s stall and tried to calm her racing thoughts. Samson
poked his head out to greet her and she spent a few minutes with
him. It gave her time to pull herself together before walking back
to the arena. Although she spent over an hour watching the
training, Sophie wasn’t really paying attention, drawn to the
lieutenant who stood to her left working with a group of about ten
men. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Realizing she couldn’t stand and drool over
the Jamie clone forever, she turned to Richard and let him know she
was leaving. Walking towards the house, waving to James and Topper
as she left, she let the emotions of the night before swamp her. By
the time she got home, she felt raw and emotionally exhausted.

Hearing Nona in the parlor, she went in to
say hello, looking for a distraction. Nona raised her head, laying
her needlework on her lap as she said, “Good morning, dear. Did you
go for a walk?”

“I did. Have you been outside yet?”

“I was thinking I should do just that.” Nona
stood and discarded her chore. “Is there anything you need before I
leave?”

“No, thanks, Nona. Have a nice walk.”

Nona left Sophie in the parlor and she began
pacing. True to form, she chewed on a ragged fingernail as she
tried to figure out what she was going to do today. She was not
scheduled at the hospital, so she decided to see if she could find
another book.

She made her way to the library and found a
few options. Rather than take them to her room, she curled up in
her favorite chair in front of the fireplace and prepared to read
before lunch was served, figuring she had an hour or so to kill.
She was wrong.

“Sophie?”

Sighing in frustration, she looked up from
her book and toward the familiar voice. “Richard, what are you
doing here?”

“Nona invited me for lunch. I offered to tell
you that it was being served in the dining room.”

I’ll bet you did.

Following him down the hall—at a distance—she
saw him wait for her to catch up, and as they entered the dining
room, he placed his hand possessively on her back. She tried to
step away from the touch, not understanding why he wasn’t grasping
the concept of giving her space. Then she saw who sat at the dining
room table.

James, Topper, and Michael stood when she
entered the room and she realized that Richard was obviously trying
to mark his territory. Moving away from Richard, she approached
James. “Lieutenant Emerson, what a nice surprise. Welcome.”

James gave her a deep smile and took her
outstretched hand.

“Topper, you look well.” Sophie smiled and
almost died of shock when he smiled back.

Nona came into the room a few seconds later
and the group sat down to eat. During the meal, Richard attempted
to sit by, speak to, or monopolize Sophie at every turn. She was
still tired from the night before and didn’t know how much longer
she could hold her temper. Every time she’d start a conversation
with James, Richard would interrupt with something inane.

The meal passed too quickly, and the men had
to go back to work. Sophie walked James and Richard to the foyer,
wishing for some time alone with James. “Lieutenant, thank you for
spending lunch with us today.”

“We really need to get back to the training,
Lieutenant,” Richard interrupted.

“Yes, we should get going.”

Although Sophie was annoyed with Richard’s
interruption, she let it drop, entirely too tired to get into it
with him again. Topper followed the men, and Sophie stood on the
porch for a few minutes watching them ride away.

* * *

As they rode back to the arena, James found
himself preoccupied with his thoughts. His world was a blur of
contradictions. He didn’t recognize anything around him. The
clothing seemed wrong, the speech didn’t always make sense, and he
found himself suddenly in the middle of a war he knew
entirely
too much about.

Over the past few months, he had been having
strange dreams that confused him even further. They weren’t full
dreams, just snapshots of visions. A woman without a face in an
ivory dress, a woman without clothes. A large ship. A wedding by
the ocean. Nothing that gave him any clue as to who he was, or what
he was dreaming about.

James’s attraction to Sophie overwhelmed him.
She filled his dreams every night, and his thoughts every day. For
whatever reason, he hated seeing her in pain and felt unusually
protective. He wasn’t certain why, but after spending a sleepless
night thinking about her, he made the decision to explore his
attraction to her. Richard Madden be damned.

Shaking his memories away, he looked back to
see Sophie standing on the porch. She raised her hand and waved. He
smiled as she walked over the threshold and closed the door.

* * *

Sophie woke the next morning, disappointed
that James hadn’t joined them for dinner the night before.
Especially since Topper had spent the entire meal regaling them
with stories of the hero that was Lieutenant James Emerson. She
would have even accepted Richard’s presence if it meant she could
see the lieutenant again but she was left to entertain herself and
spent the majority of the night staring into the fire in the
library. Forcing herself out of bed, she got herself dressed and
made her way downstairs.

As she entered the dining room, she was
surprised to find James sitting at the table, tracing his finger up
and down the scar on his left hand. Standing in the doorway a
moment, she watched him. His hair seemed to grow longer every day,
currently falling over his eyes, and she noticed him try to sweep
it off his face. He had trimmed his beard but it was still bushy.
“Good morning.”

James stood quickly and smiled. “Good
morning.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, fine,” he answered somewhat
distractedly.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“Hm? Oh, no. Mitch—he’s my Sergeant. Anyway,
Mitch took a group of men out early this morning. I ran into Mrs.
Wade when I arrived back at the arena and she invited me to
breakfast.”

Sophie’s heart raced as his gaze lingered on
her, his blue eyes clear and familiar. “Um, will your sergeant be
gone long?”

James nodded. “He’s been called back to
Averell’s unit.”

“Oh,” she whispered. “Were you close
friends?”

James smiled sadly. “Yes.”

“Let’s hope you’ll see him soon, then.”
Sophie choked on the words, knowing there would be no
guarantees.

James took his seat and smiled. “Thank
you.”

“May I offer you some coffee,
Lieutenant?”

“Coffee would be wonderful, thank you.”

Sophie poured him a cup, and on autopilot,
put two lumps of sugar and some cream in his cup. “Oh, shoot, I’m
so sorry. I should have asked, I just assumed. That’s how Jamie
likes his coffee, not that you care how my husband liked his
coffee. Sorry I’m rambling. You probably like it black or some
other way, don’t you? I’ll take this back and drink it myself.”

She started to remove the cup, but James
placed his hand over hers. The touch sent a shiver up her spine,
making her heart race.

“Sophie, it’s just how I like it.”

As he stared up at her with his perfect
smile, all Sophie could think about was how much she wanted to kiss
him. She was shaken by the physical touch and desperately wanted
more, but pushed her desire aside as she sat down, slipped her hand
from under his, and placed it in her lap.

“I hoped you would be down here early. I
wanted to make sure you were doing all right after that nasty
incident at the ball. You seemed quite shaken by it at the time.
Not that I don’t think you can take care of yourself, of course,”
he added quickly.

She gave a quiet laugh. “No, I’m fine. Other
than a little swelling, my lip is almost completely healed.”

There was an awkward silence as they sipped
their coffee.

“So, tell me about yourself, James. Where are
you from?”

Slowly lowering his cup, his eyebrows
puckered. “I don’t know. I seem to have lost my memory of
everything prior to several months ago.”

“You don’t remember anything?”

“I have flashes of things in my dreams, but I
don’t know what they mean.”

Sophie raised her cup and sipped slowly.
“That must be frustrating.”

James nodded.

“How have you managed to engage Topper?”

James smiled. “He just needed a way to focus
his anger and some minor instruction on how to do things with one
hand. I started with simple tasks, and have been moving to more
difficult ones as he gets used to using his left hand.”

Michael and Nona walked into the room, and
Sophie forced away a frown. She wanted to continue their
conversation, wanted to watch him eat, wanted to watch him
smile.

Before their morning greetings were finished,
Richard joined them. Sophie wanted to shrink into the corner when
he walked over and kissed her hand. “Good morning, Sophie, how are
you this morning?”

“I’m fine, Richard. How are you?” Pulling her
hand from his, she shoved it in the folds of her skirts and forced
a smile.