Mademoiselle At Arms

Major Gerald Alderley had been told to expect a frightened girl. The young woman pointing a small, very steady sword at his chest was emphatically not frightened.

"You will, monsieur, lower your hands, or I shall be obliged to demonstrate that the sisters taught me a great deal more than my catechism."

He had survived three campaigns and a duel with a French dragoon. None of it had prepared him for a pair of dark eyes that did not, even for a moment, look away.