The Butchers Love

Chapter 10

That night I couldn't stop thinking about what happened and what almost happened. All the evening consisted of was tossing and turning, then starting at the ceiling. Eventually I fell asleep but kept waking up for the most peculiar reasons.

I was relieved to find out that William had volunteered to go out on a raid, At least he would be out of the way. However another part of me wanted him to be safe and to stay out of harms way.

During the week I had away from William I would explore the grounds and sometimes skim rocks across the lake. No one questioned my actions, well they barely even noticed me.

When the dragoons came back from the raid there was a small knock at the door. My initial thought was that someone needed something but when I opened the door, William stood there with his hands behind his back and once he saw me a small smile invaded his lips "Lord Cornwallis wishes for you to attend dinner"

"Is that all?" I asked and William just raised an eyebrow "I'll be down in a moment then"

"Alright" he spoke and turned away.

"It's good to see you again" I spoke and he smiled softly before turning to face me once again "I've had no one to annoy for a week"

"Well, If its any comfort to you, I missed your company"

"Listen I got something for you, one of the General's didn't lock up his cigars" I smiled and opened my bedside table to produced a medium sized cigar wrapped in a handkerchief

"You stole that for me?" he asked as I put the cigar in his hand.

"It was wrong of me, I know, but I didn't get caught"

"I'm truly flattered" he spoke before putting it in his pocket. Tavington stared at me for a moment before a small smile broke on his lips "you really shouldn't have"

"your welcome" I leant against the doorframe and he looked to the floor.

"About what happened the other evening, it was wrong of me to do so and I apologise for that" William talked quite quickly and that caused me to raise an eyebrow "Do you accept that apology?"

"You're apologising for kissing me?" I asked, I still didn't really understand what he said beforehand.

"It would be deemed inappropriate for us to do something like that again, my position is far too important to me"

"I still don't follow"

"Mable, we can't do this, we could never be together!" it felt like someone had just mentally slapped me across the face "I'm sorry..." with those words he retreated back into his room. I stood there for a moment and looked at the door to his room, a few tears escaped my eyes before I rushed back into my room and slammed the door shut.

I didn't know why that hurt me so much and I didn't know why I was crying. He made it perfectly clear that I didn't mean anything to him. All he were doing was toying with my feelings. Eventually I composed myself and got dressed for dinner, I tied my hair back into a low plait and wiped my tears away with a handkerchief before making my way to the dining hall.

When I made my way into the hall everyones eyes were on me, except the Colonel's "Sorry I'm late, I had some issues to deal with"

"That alright dear, take a seat next to Captain Borden" Lord Cornwallis added and I did as he asked.

The dinner was quite boring, just the same war stories and drunken generals trying to get lucky with their wives. I kept quiet most of the evening and every so often I would catch the eyes of William, to which we both looked away immediately.