Page 51 of The General's Gift
But this? This slip of a girl? She would be his undoing.
So be it.
“Sleep, Little Tulle. I’ll watch over you.”
“Iam in love with him.”
The words tasted sweet and strange and new. The morning was crisp, the orchard bathed in golden light, but Celeste barely noticed. Her gaze was fixed on the paddock below, where Hawk rode past, guiding his stallion with effortless control. Alexander. A man sculpted by war, all precision and restraint, every movement calculated, every muscle honed by discipline. It was maddening.
Surely, her confession would unleash some great catastrophe, some divine smiting from the heavens. She braced for gasps, for cries of outrage—perhaps even a lecture on the unthinkable impropriety of falling for one’s guardian.
Instead, there was silence.
She turned to her trusted confidantes.
Rue leaned against a tree, casually tossing an apple. Prue clutched her hands together, her expression hovering somewhere between devout prayer and deep personal distress.
Celeste frowned. “Did you hear what I just said? I’m in love with the general.”
Rue narrowed her eyes. “Does this mean we can stop picking apples?”
Celeste blinked. “Why, I thought we—”
“Or at least find another excuse to ogle the general’s thighs?” Rue added.
Celeste choked. “I—what—you knew?”
Rue arched an eyebrow. “Darling, the kitchen has enough apples to feed the entire Peninsula campaign. We know.”
Celeste whirled to Prue, hoping for some form of protest, some horrified insistence that this was madness and must be stopped immediately.
Prue pressed the apple to her chest as though she could absorb its virtues instead of consuming them. “Oh, Lady Cecilia, I beg your pardon! I shall flog myself tonight. I shall let the lash cut through my fervent flesh until this sin is released.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” Celeste said, and hugged herself. “Shouldn’t you at least tell me this is improper? That I should not be mooning after my own guardian?”
Rue merely shrugged. “Oh, we should. But let’s be honest—you’re too far gone, and it’s far too entertaining.”
Prue rubbed the apple slowly against her cheek. “Are you sure, my lady? That man’s shoulders are as broad as a cathedral door. Have you imagined him in the marital chamber, moving against you as relentlessly as a battering ram at a fortress gate, until he squeezed every last drop of perspiration from your exhausted body, and then starting all over again until you can do nothing but gasp—”
Rue growled. “I swear, Prue, one of these days I will wash your mouth with the soap I used to clean blood from my late husband’s shako. Just bite into that apple and be done with it.”
Prue’s eyes crossed as she gazed at the fruit. “I cannot. It is too ripe. Too full of sin.”
Celeste's face flamed redder than the apple in question. She should be afraid of the physical aspect of love… Yet, after the kiss, a palette of new feelings had sprouted in her, from mad fluttering to waves of heat to an incontrollable tingling... Tall and impressive as he was, Celeste knew in her heart he would never hurt her.
Rue rolled her eyes and strode to Celeste. “Are you sure about this?”
Celeste watched Hawk patting the horse’s neck and was jealous of the beast. How could she be sure when this was so new to her? But she could not stop thinking about him, and ever since she had stepped into his house, she had felt sublime. Not afraid, not delicate, not dependent.
“He sees me as a child who does not know what she wants. I must find a way to overcome his reluctance,” Celeste declared. “Surely one of you knows how to move a man’s heart?”
Rue folded her arms, nodding as if recalling a well-executed battle. “Men’s hearts are like cannons. If you want them to fire, you need powder, aim, and the guts to withstand the recoil. But I have to be honest. After the fourth husband, I just dragged them to the pastor. Worked every time.”
Celeste groaned. “That hardly seems romantic.”
“Romantic?” Rue barked a laugh. “Romance is a luxury for women who don’t mind becoming widows.”
Celeste turned to Prue. “And you? What would you advise?”
