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utter confusion on her face. ‘I do not understand.’
    He gazed straight ahead, refusing to look at her. ‘I purchased a commission in the army five years ago because I had no other choice. My father threw me out.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘The family disowned me because a young woman accused me of … of raping her.’
    Miss Colebrook stiffened.
    Colly persevered. ‘When I refused to marry her, my father—’ He shrugged. There was no need to go any further. The horrified expression on her face said it all.
    â€˜Oh!’ She shrank away from him, a look in her eyes part fear, part something else he could not fathom.

    â€˜ Now do you see?’ He bit the words out as if he were chewing nails.
    It was exactly as he had expected. Now she feared him and knew him for the worthless animal that he was. Well, she had forced it out of him. He hoped she was happy with what she’d found.
    For a minute she sat quite still, her dark eyes clouded, her hands clenched around her reticule. Then she rallied. ‘I see. That puts a different complexion on things.’
    He had to admire her quick recovery. ‘Precisely. I’m sorry, Miss Colebrook. You must be wishing me at Jericho,’ he said, scrambling to his feet.
    And since this was the last time he would see her, he could damned well tell her how he really felt. ‘It has been an honour to know you, Miss Colebrook. I will always remember you with … with …’ Ah, to hell with it. He gave up, bowed stiffly and stalked away.
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    Getting on the ship’s manifest was difficult but his seniority obtained him the last cabin.
    â€˜The Maximus and the Resolution are off the coast, sir. They’re due tomorrow morning,’ the clerk commented.
    Colly nodded curtly. He didn’t give a tinker’s curse what he sailed back to England in. He just wanted to get out of here.
    He returned to the inn where he’d left his horse and baggage earlier in the day and enquired where he might sell his horse. The ostler directed him to a larger inn further down the road, explaining in halting English that the larger inns always had need of horses with stamina to rent out.
    â€˜Poor Marcus,’ Colly whispered to his horse as he haggled for a good price. Although the 60th was a foot regiment, most of the officers owned their own horses and Colly and Marcus had been together now for eighteen months. Marcus was exceptional. ‘I’d give anything to take you back to England,’ Colly told the horse, as he stroked the soft black nose for the last time. ‘But I can’t afford to wait for another ship. These two are packed to the gills and they refuse to take any horses. I’m sorry, old chap. So sorry.’
    And he walked away without looking back. After all, it was what he was best at, wasn’t it? Disappointing people and walking away without looking back.

CHAPTER FOUR
    J ULIANA HURRIED ALONG the dusty pathway beside the Douro. Mr Hetherington had given her an idea. She could not travel alone, but it might be possible to employ a companion at the English receiving office, perhaps an officer’s widow. She was half-English, was she not? Therefore she was entitled to go to the English receiving office.
    Her heart quickened as she thought of her narrow escape. To think the brigade-major had admitted to her that—She stopped walking and shook her head. Actually, he had admitted nothing. He said he’d been accused, not that he’d committed rape. Puzzled, she wondered why he’d said anything at all. She would never have known if he’d kept quiet about it.
    She felt a lumpy constriction in her throat and swallowed hard to get rid of it. Brigade-Major Hetherington had been woven into the fabric of her daydreams for so long that she would find it nigh on impossible to forget him. She’d never realized that one’s heart could actually ache.
    She trudged on, dispirited, and