Page 31 of All We Carry Home

Eva

The moment broke.

Peter must have felt our stares. He stepped back, shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked at the ground, kicking pebbles around and now ignoring the horse beside him. Phantom watched the kid as he meandered back toward the car and leaned against the trunk.

Warren hummed knowingly.

Eddie cleared his throat and turned to me. “You know, Eva, I think a summer here might be just what we need.”

Relief flooded me, and I felt the same sense in Warren.

“I’d love that,” I said. “I can show you around.”

“I can look around on my own.” He held up a hand. “I know Annie will be wanting that ride and don’t want to keep you.” He exchanged a look with Warren and then went back into the barn, looking all over the property as if with a new perspective.

Before I could escape, Warren turned and gave me the no-nonsense stare that only an officer could give. “Now, tell me what’s going on. What did Cheryl tell you?”

Now wasn’t the time. Annie was anxious to hit the trails, Eddie and Peter were close by. “It can wait. I overreacted in the moment.”

“I don’t think you’re even capable of overreacting.” His steely look indicated he wouldn’t budge.

“Fine.” My heart thumped against my rib cage. “Victor is spreading rumors and trying to make me ineligible to compete on the Arabian show circuit.”

“What rumors?”

“About us.”

“What about us?” His eyebrows bunched in confusion, and I wanted to wallop him on the side of the head to knock sense into him. Did I have to spell it all out?

The silence stretched.

I sighed. “That we’re . . . involved.”

Realization dawned on him, and he smothered a smile. “Oh, is that it?”

I felt a strange laugh build up inside me, and I slapped his arm with the back of my hand. “Stop that. This is serious.”

“It’s hard for me to picture Lieutenant Eva Bryant caring about propriety after all your years in the battlefield,” he said. “Doesn’t Cheryl ever work with other horse owners who are men?”

“Yes. Though she’s married and works with her husband,” I said. “And you’re right. I don’t really care. We’ve had these rumors flare up from time to time, mostly just from gossipy parties.”

“So why is this one different?”

“Because Victor is trying to get my membership revoked and disqualify me from competitions and the championship running.”

Realization spread across his expression, but then his joking smirk returned. “So, we have to get married.” A slight dimple appeared with that cheeky grin, and he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Captain, be serious.”

“You should call me Warren if we’re now betrothed.”

“Stop it,” I said as seriously as I could manage, but his lightheartedness dredged laughter from deep inside. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d felt this levity—perhaps one of the quieter days in the field hospital, when the soldiers I tended were comfortable and safe and we joked about everything from a commander’s bad breath to the men’s failed relationships. I missed the comradery of those moments and felt the whisper of it return with Warren and Eddie nearby.

Or was the warmth in my chest whenever I was near Warren something different?

He shook his head and looked off in the distance. “Would it help if I went back to Philadelphia?”

“Victor will spin his lies no matter what,” I said. “I don’t want him to win by driving you off. You should return when your business demands it of you, not to protect me.”