Page 28 of The Heart’s Charge

Well, two could play the stubborn game. Widening her stance, she crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin. She’d stand here as long as it took. Stare him down. He was the interloper here, not her. This was her barn, her property. And the children of Kingsland were her responsibility. She wouldn’t let him go until he told her everything he knew.

The silence grew heavy. Tense. One minute passed. Then another. The urge to repeat her demand for an explanation became harder to ignore. She shifted her weight. The man in front of her shifted his mouth. Into an incredibly annoying half-smile. As if he knew her struggle and found it amusing. Which only made holding her tongue more difficult, as the desire to flay him with it nearly overwhelmed her.

“Hey, Wallace,” the obnoxious man finally said, breaking the silence as well as their eye contact as he glanced at his companion. “Why don’t you fetch Miss Palmer? Might as well fill them both in at the same time.”

“The children—” Eliza began to protest.

“Will be just fine,” Mr. Brooks finished for her. “Abner can be in charge while they finish their lunch. He seems more than capable.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Abner was a born leader, one the other children idolized. She and Katherine had depended on him more than once to tend the younger ones when their attention was required elsewhere.

The scuff of shoe leather on hard-packed dirt echoed behind her. She didn’t turn to look, preferring to continue glaring at the man in front of her.

“Be right back,” Mr. Wallace said as his footsteps retreated.

Once his partner was gone, Mr. Brooks straightened away from the wall, making him taller and . . . closer. Eliza swallowed.

“It’s not polite to listen at doorways, you know.” His voice was low, almost intimate. Her pulse fluttered in response.

Eliza frowned. Her pulse never fluttered. She didn’t have time for fluttering.

“Yes, well, it might not be polite, but it is certainly informative.” Her gaze darted away from his, but she ordered it back to the front line. Embarrassment had no place here. She lifted her chin. “When one has neither the privilege of being white nor the privilege of being male, she must find other ways to balance the playing field.”

“Did your mother teach you that? Or your father?”

“What difference does it make? The lesson was learned.” And she’d really rather not share personal details of her upbringing with a man she’d just met. One just passing through.

“It makes a difference.” The statement was so simple, yet the depth ringing inside it rocked her back on her heels. “Lessons taught from love bring wisdom. Lessons spawned from fear and pain often come with cynicism and bitterness attached, which can cloud the truth.”

“And you’re the all-wise seer of truth, are you?” she snapped, not liking the way his words made her skin itch.

Something changed in his deep brown eyes as he gave a small wag of his head. “Nope. Just someone who’s spent a lot of years expecting the worst instead of looking for the best. It’s kept me alive, but sometimes I wonder if it’s also kept me alone.”

Eliza rubbed her arms, a stone or two shaking loose from her defensive wall. “What about your fellow Horsemen? Aren’t you close with them?”

From what she’d heard, only one Buffalo Soldier rode among the four. Mr. Brooks didn’t seem the type to ride with a group who didn’t respect him, but respect of a man’s skill and respect of the man himself were two different things. She’d been fighting for both types her entire life.

“They’re my brothers,” he said, his tone adamant. “But a man don’t live with his brothers forever.” Something in his gaze shifted. Warmed. Made her belly tighten. “Captain Hanger married Dr. Jo a few months back. Hung up the Horsemen’s spurs and took on a partnership with Miss Josephine’s daddy. Matt gave us all jobs at Gringolet, puttin’ our horse know-how to work. But seein’ him settle down, realizin’ there’ll be little Hangers running around afore long, the rest of us read the writing on the wall. The time’s comin’ for us to set up lives of our own. We’ll always be brothers, but we gotta be our own men too.”

“I can’t imagine anyone who is more his own man than you.”

It wasn’t until his lips tipped up at one end that Eliza realized she’d spoken the thought aloud. Heat rose to her cheeks, but she refused to look away like some foolish schoolgirl caught in a flirtation. She would not pretend to be anything other than who she was. Not for the father who had treated her like a daughter in private and a servant in public. Not for professors who warned she’d be too white to teach in black schools and too black to teach in white. Not for the wealthy donors who disliked the lack of segregation in her foundling home. She owned her thoughts, her beliefs, her principles, and she would not hide.

The longer she held his gaze, the more his smile widened. Yet the light in his eyes was not amusement. It almost looked like . . . admiration. Unsure what to do with that, Eliza fidgeted with the fabric covering her elbows until approaching footsteps signaled the blessed end of her torture.

“Eliza?”

She turned at Katherine’s voice and moved to clasp her friend’s hand even as she noted Mr. Wallace’s palm at the small of her back. Unbidden, thoughts of sisterhood and Jonah’s comment about how one didn’t live with siblings forever flooded her mind. Ever since she and Katherine made a pact to run Harmony House together, she’d envisioned this being their life’s work. The two of them ministering to children until their hair turned gray. But what if Katherine’s old flame rekindled their romance? What would happen to Harmony House? Katherine wasn’t the type to back out of her commitments, yet Eliza couldn’t expect her to continue serving at the same level if she started having children of her own.

A squeeze of her hand brought Eliza out of her thoughts. “Is it that bad?” Katherine whispered, her brows raised and her face growing pale. “Mark wouldn’t tell me anything beyond the fact that they needed to talk to us about some children who might be in trouble.”

Eliza patted Katherine’s hand and forced a smile onto her face. “Mr. Brooks told me nothing either. I just got caught up in my imagination for a minute. Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

Some of the color returned to Katherine’s cheeks. “I am well acquainted with the dangers of an unhindered imagination.” She slanted an accusing look over her shoulder at Mr. Wallace and raised her voice. “So let’s end this subterfuge and get down to the facts. Who is in trouble, and how can we help?”

Mr. Wallace stepped deeper into the barn, but instead of starting the explanations, he gestured to his friend to take the lead.

Mr. Brooks glanced at Katherine momentarily, but his attention fixed on Eliza. “Yesterday when we stopped at Miss Georgia’s home, Sam and I had a chat.”