Gray Eagle took Joanie back to camp, and Pierce and Beth headed back to the abbey. Before parting company, Joanie had gladly taken off her black gown and wimple and handed them to her sister.
Beth was not happy about the arrangement. From behind Pierce on his horse, she said, “This is so unfair. I would have returned the gowns eventually.”
“Why do I doubt that?”
“Take me back to camp,” she demanded. How could she face the sisters after they had been so kind to her and she’d returned that kindness by taking what didn’t belong to her? But she’d left money. Surely that wasn’t considered stealing. In a quiet voice she said, “I can’t face them.”
“Oh, but you can,” he corrected. “I think the good sisters are due an apology.”
“From me?”
“Did Joanie take the gowns?”
“Partly.” That wasn’t exactly true.
“But mostly it was your idea.”
“Mostly,” she conceded. She didn’t care what he thought about her. “We needed a disguise.”
“So you helped yourself to the nuns’ habits.”
Beth ignored his goading. He wasn’t worth the effort. Somehow, she and Joanie would escape him and the others and then be on their way. Joanie couldn’t last forever traveling in this heat, and while the men appeared helpful, they were a headache.
The two rode in silence until Beth decided to speak her mind. She could do that; he hadn’t taken a whip to her yet. And so what if he struck her? It wouldn’t be the first time a man hit her. “I don’t feel I’ve done anything…much…that requires me to apologize to the nuns.” Her cheeks warmed at the thought of standing in front of those lovely women and admitting that she had stolen their clothing.
“You think not?”
“No. I refuse.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it. I won’t make a fool of myself, and you can’t make me.”
“We’ll see.”
“Don’t ‘we’ll see’ me, Mr. Montgomery.”
“We’ll see.”
He was so aggravating! Before she knew what she was doing, she had doubled her fist and whacked him across his shoulders—broad shoulders. Incredibly muscular shoulders. And then her life flashed before her eyes. He was the first man she’d ever talked back to, much less struck.
Stiffening, he said in a tight tone, “Beth, I feel compelled to warn you that my patience is not limitless.” He shifted closer to the saddle horn.
“And mine isn’t either. We don’t need your help. We were doing just fine on our own.”
“You were singing a different tune when we picked you out of that burning field. And when I didn’t turn you over to your uncle and cousin when we met them on the road.”
“I needed your help then,” she admitted. Her conscience pricked her. How could she be so ungrateful? She sighed. “I do thank you for intervening, both times, but now that Walt and Bear aren’t in sight, we can carry on from here.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“That’s good to know. Just think of this as my kind way of intervening again—on your behalf. You said you eventually planned to return the nuns’ clothes, didn’t you?”
She couldn’t really argue with that. It was the truth, but she didn’t know how she would have accomplished the task.
He shrugged. “Just being helpful.”
It irked her that she didn’t have a good argument. She pursed her lips and set her gaze straight ahead, refusing to say another word.
They approached the convent, and before Beth knew what happened she was standing in front of Reverend Mother.
“Well, Beth. How good to see you again so soon.” Reverend Mother smiled.
“I’m…sorry, ma’am. I borrowed two gowns—”
“You took two gowns without permission,” Pierce corrected.
Shooting him a miffed look, she modified her confession. “My sister and I helped ourselves to a couple of gowns from a wardrobe closet. We left money…”
Reverend Mother’s eyes looked pointedly at the stolen garments.
“And I planned to wash both garments and return them…”
The nun’s eyes skipped to Pierce.
“I will repay the cost if any harm was done,” Pierce offered.
“That won’t be at all necessary. We have ample cloth.” She focused on a quivering Beth. “Would you like to keep the gowns?”
Beth’s gaze dropped. “No, ma’am. But thank you.”
“Why don’t you both come in out of the heat.”
The sister stepped aside, and Beth and Pierce entered the cool foyer, but not without her mouthing the words to the annoying man beside her. “See? She isn’t upset.”
Pierce crossed his arms over his chest and pasted a smug look on his face.
It was enough to make Beth want to smack him again.