controlled it more easily than she did her own surprise. “Harvard?”
“Do you find it so hard to believe that this disreputable liar should have a passion for the law and seek to learn it in the best possible arena?”
She considered his shrewd intelligence and his unswerving directness. “No.”
But then why was a man who professed to love the law determined to pursue the one he thought guilty of treason outside its parameters? She stewed on that for a moment, but her mood was too buoyant to dwell on it for long.
“What made you choose the law, Major?”
“Call me Noble. There’s no one out here to protest the informality.”
“Do you come from a family of lawyers—Noble?”
He laughed, a soft mocking sound. “My father knows all about the law, all right. As a politician, he knows his way around all of them.”
“So you went into the legal profession tohelp him?” She couldn’t keep the disappointment from abrading her tone or suppress her wish that he’d prove her wrong in this.
“Not to help him. To spite him. I’ve seen enough injustice in my day to make me sick of the way things are done in my hometown. Those with money and power pretty much make the laws, laws they don’t have to abide by. I plan to change that.” He grinned at her, the dazzling gesture making her pulse leap. “Not exactly what you expected to hear from a slave-holding secessionist, eh?”
“Not exactly.”
“I don’t believe in this war, Juliet, but I believe in the reasons behind it. I believe in the right of states to make decisions on their own behalf, but beyond that, I believe in the right of men to be treated as men.”
“I should think that would be an unpopular view with your plantation neighbors.”
“And with your father and those like him who are just as determined to dominate the rightful owners of all that we see. Supremacy of the rich white man isn’t exclusive to the South, Miz Crowley.”
“Nor is compassion and open-mindedness exclusive to the North, Major Banning.”
He regarded her for a moment, then nodded at the roundabout compliment.
“So you would use what you learned at Harvard to put your own father in jail?”
“No, ma’am. Only to stop him from what he’s doing and to save him from spending therest of his years behind bars. I have the greatest of love for my father but unfortunately little respect for his occupation. He gave me the freedom to think for myself, and I will not turn against him by forcing my own values upon him.”
Juliet’s emotions gave an odd shiver. To stabilize them, she said rather dryly, “Ah, a man of impeccable honor.”
“No, ma’am. I have my faults and I struggle with them daily.”
“And what might those horrible faults be? Using the wrong glass at dinner?”
He leveled an unblinking gaze, locking hers within it as helpless prisoner. “Nothing so frivolous as that. I allowed my pride to take the lives of those who followed me without question. I let my agenda force others to bend to my will in declaring allegiance to their enemy. I am not without fault, Miz Crowley. Far from it.”
Before she could prompt him to say more, they were surrounded by Miles Dougherty and a small party of anxious men, who’d obviously expected to find her broken in some ditch instead of chatting comfortably with the Southern officer.
The look Miles gave her stated he’d have preferred to find her in the ditch.
“Are you all right, Jules?”
“Fine, Miles.” She put on a shamed face. “Please forgive my little childish display. Ishouldn’t have let my vanity cause you such concern.”
Miles was immediately all gruff awkwardness. “Don’t apologize, Jules. You shouldn’t have gone off on your own. You know my first concern is always you.”
How she twisted beneath the guilt of that simple statement, because the reverse was not true. “If Major Banning’s Rebels can ride as well as he does, I suggest you let them tame the rest of the horses while you
“Do you find it so hard to believe that this disreputable liar should have a passion for the law and seek to learn it in the best possible arena?”
She considered his shrewd intelligence and his unswerving directness. “No.”
But then why was a man who professed to love the law determined to pursue the one he thought guilty of treason outside its parameters? She stewed on that for a moment, but her mood was too buoyant to dwell on it for long.
“What made you choose the law, Major?”
“Call me Noble. There’s no one out here to protest the informality.”
“Do you come from a family of lawyers—Noble?”
He laughed, a soft mocking sound. “My father knows all about the law, all right. As a politician, he knows his way around all of them.”
“So you went into the legal profession tohelp him?” She couldn’t keep the disappointment from abrading her tone or suppress her wish that he’d prove her wrong in this.
“Not to help him. To spite him. I’ve seen enough injustice in my day to make me sick of the way things are done in my hometown. Those with money and power pretty much make the laws, laws they don’t have to abide by. I plan to change that.” He grinned at her, the dazzling gesture making her pulse leap. “Not exactly what you expected to hear from a slave-holding secessionist, eh?”
“Not exactly.”
“I don’t believe in this war, Juliet, but I believe in the reasons behind it. I believe in the right of states to make decisions on their own behalf, but beyond that, I believe in the right of men to be treated as men.”
“I should think that would be an unpopular view with your plantation neighbors.”
“And with your father and those like him who are just as determined to dominate the rightful owners of all that we see. Supremacy of the rich white man isn’t exclusive to the South, Miz Crowley.”
“Nor is compassion and open-mindedness exclusive to the North, Major Banning.”
He regarded her for a moment, then nodded at the roundabout compliment.
“So you would use what you learned at Harvard to put your own father in jail?”
“No, ma’am. Only to stop him from what he’s doing and to save him from spending therest of his years behind bars. I have the greatest of love for my father but unfortunately little respect for his occupation. He gave me the freedom to think for myself, and I will not turn against him by forcing my own values upon him.”
Juliet’s emotions gave an odd shiver. To stabilize them, she said rather dryly, “Ah, a man of impeccable honor.”
“No, ma’am. I have my faults and I struggle with them daily.”
“And what might those horrible faults be? Using the wrong glass at dinner?”
He leveled an unblinking gaze, locking hers within it as helpless prisoner. “Nothing so frivolous as that. I allowed my pride to take the lives of those who followed me without question. I let my agenda force others to bend to my will in declaring allegiance to their enemy. I am not without fault, Miz Crowley. Far from it.”
Before she could prompt him to say more, they were surrounded by Miles Dougherty and a small party of anxious men, who’d obviously expected to find her broken in some ditch instead of chatting comfortably with the Southern officer.
The look Miles gave her stated he’d have preferred to find her in the ditch.
“Are you all right, Jules?”
“Fine, Miles.” She put on a shamed face. “Please forgive my little childish display. Ishouldn’t have let my vanity cause you such concern.”
Miles was immediately all gruff awkwardness. “Don’t apologize, Jules. You shouldn’t have gone off on your own. You know my first concern is always you.”
How she twisted beneath the guilt of that simple statement, because the reverse was not true. “If Major Banning’s Rebels can ride as well as he does, I suggest you let them tame the rest of the horses while you
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