Siege of the Heart (Southern Romance 2)

Jasper froze. He knew the voice.

Robert Knox had served in his regiment.

Jasper turned his head sharply, noting that the men had gone silent. The stupid cloth on his head would not come off and he could see nothing but blurriness through it.

“Don’t scare the lady.” Robert paused, perhaps turning to Cecelia. “Miss, would you like something to eat?”

Cecelia’s sobs abated somewhat, but there was no answer.

“Miss, please. You have to eat something. It’s been hours.”

“I don’t want to eat,” Cecelia whispered, and Jasper’s heart broke. She was so frightened, and trying to be brave, trying to be defiant. Clara had no knowledge, truly, of how self-possessed her sister had become.

“Some water, then. Come now, miss, you know you’ll be in trouble if you don’t take some water at least.”

“It’s not poisoned?”

“I promise,” Robert said gently, but the edge in his tone made Jasper think he was staring down the other men angrily, daring them to comment. No one did.

Jasper waited while he heard Cecelia drink something.

“That’s good,” Robert said encouragingly. “You should try to eat something if you can. We have dried meat, see—”

“No!” Her voice was soft, but emphatic. Some of the men laughed, and the sound was hastily bitten off; Jasper could just imagine, though, the thought of a woman who had just seen army rations for the first time. He could not blame her for looking askance at them.

“Well, we’ll see how you feel in the morning.” Robert’s voice was dubious, but he let it be.

“Knox.” Jasper’s voice was low, and he heard the camp still.

“Perry,” Robert said after a moment.

“Suppose you tell me what this is about.”

“You know what it’s about,” Robert said in a low voice.

Jasper heard Cecelia catch her breath.

That was all Robert would say on the matter.

It was only later, as Jasper sat alone in the darkness, the choked up water they’d tipped too fast into his mouth still drying on his shirt, that he heard the crunch of footsteps. “Knox?” He could only hope. Knox had been a volatile man at times, but he’d commanded the respect of the others, as he did now, Jasper could tell.

“Yes,” the man said after a moment’s pause. He sat at Jasper’s side.

Jasper, the stupid burlap blindfold still covering his head, could at least tell it had gone dark outside now. “Why am I here?” he said quietly, hoping it was just the two of them alone.

There was a pause that chilled him.

“I think you know,” Robert told him quietly.

Jasper let his head fall. “Say it.”

“You’re here,” Robert said softly, “to be brought back and stand trial for defecting when the Confederacy needed you. You’re to hang, Perry.”

“You must let me free,” Jasper begged. He knew at once that he had miscalculated.

“I don’t think we do,” Knox told him. There was muted anger in his voice.

“Do you want to know why I left?” Jasper knew he sounded desperate, but he