What Happens By Candlelight

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Breaking Curfew

~Third Person Perspective~

Corporal Nottingham glared suspiciously at the girl. The Lieutenant Colonel had left a while ago, yet she was still out in the garden... and talking to herself.

Either she was crazy, or someone else was with her.

When silence surrounded the area once more, he revealed himself, carefully dissecting the look on Christina's face. "Private-private Nottingham, I didn't expect to-"

"It's Corporal now. Who were you talking to?" His stern voice and sharp gaze made Christina gulp. This was no longer the man who wanted to dance with her. This was not the man who wanted something from her. This was a man with the capability to ruin both her and her brothers.

"Talking to?" She recovered quickly, choosing to use the typical innocent act. "I must have been thinking aloud, for no one is here with me - besides you, of course."

From the way she smiled to the way she stood sent warning signs off in his head. She wasn't telling him the whole truth. Besides, Miss Evans was not known for her bright smiles and kind nature.

There was a reason no one bothered her about her courtship to the Lieutenant Colonel. Everyone, but Madeline it seems. The poor girl can't seem to get it in her head that the man couldn't care less about her.

With his mind now occupied elsewhere, Corporal Nottingham dismissed the strange behavior of the woman. Instead, he turned away, occupying his thoughts on how to get the general's daughter to share a night with him. Preferably not ending in his hanging, that is.

Christina slowly let out the breath she was holding, turning her head to glare at the dark recesses of the hedge maze. Captain Wilson would one day be the death of her, quite literally. If he wasn't careful, then his favorite honeypot will become his favorite tree decoration.

~~

Gabriel glared at the three men before him, who squirmed and fought against the bonds they had been placed in. He was so close, so very close to becoming happy. His life was almost one step closer to becoming complete before he was informed of the fools before him.

He forgot to even say anything to his love before storming off.

With a scowl, he spat at the ground in front of them, taking in each of their expressions.

The middle one was furious, overweight, and was nowhere close to clean-shaven. The man to the far-right was petrified, scrawny, and looked no more than a boy. The far-left man seemed completely calm and somehow seemed to be the perfect center to the other two ends of the spectrum. 

The two Evans boys were beside him the next moment, out of breath and ready to comply with any orders they were given. Thomas held a serious face, all of his joking and humor gone, while Edward seemed worried.

They must have switched personalities for the day.

Gabriel removed his gloves, handing them over to the usually serious Edward, who remained completely unmoved. His expressions remained completely the same. Everything about him was cold and cut off from the world.

But in reality, he was pissed.

These idiotic men ruined the most perfect moment in his life.