Once a Soldier (Rogues Redeemed) by Mary Jo Putney

Delilah.” Athena smiled reminiscently. “The best was a beautiful little pony when I was six. I hated saying good-bye to that pony, but we traveled a great deal and seldom stayed anywhere longer than a few months. Delilah always engaged excellent tutors wherever we were, so I learned all kinds of interesting things. How to use firearms because she said a woman must know how to defend herself. She often moved in diplomatic and government circles, so she discussed politics and statecraft with me. If we stayed on someone’s estate, she would ask the land steward to explain planting and animal husbandry. It was . . . an unusual way to grow up, but wonderful and exciting.” Athena’s eyes closed and her voice cracked. “She was everything to me.”
    Tired of looking up at his companion, Will rose from the bench and took a relaxed position against the stone wall opposite where Athena was standing. “The drawback, surely, was that when you lost her, you had no one else.”
    Athena opened her eyes and smiled with brittle humor. “You are much cleverer than you look, Will.”
    He thought a moment. “Should I be insulted?”
    Her tension eased into a genuine smile. “I hope you aren’t. What I meant was that you look like a solid, unimaginative officer, vastly competent but not . . . not . . .”
    “Not very intelligent?” he suggested.
    Athena bit her lip as if suppressing laughter. “I would rather end my sentence by saying you don’t look particularly imaginative. Or insightful. But you are both.”
    “Being imaginative, I’m now wondering if one of your mother’s wandering amorous adventures brought you to San Gabriel.”
    “ Much cleverer than you look! My mother met Prince Alfonso when he was in London and followed him back here. She was a great favorite with the whole royal family, so we were welcome to stay even when the affair burned out. We lived here long enough for me to learn the language and make friends, and visited again later. I was told to call the king and queen Uncle Carlos and Aunt Isabella. She and the king had lively discussion about how to run a small country, and she let me sit in when they did. That proved really useful when I ended up being an advisor to Sofia.”
    “Which is why Prince Alfonso confuses you with Lady Delilah. Is San Gabriel as much of a home as you’ve ever had?”
    Athena’s brow furrowed. “I suppose it is. The longest I’ve ever spent anywhere else was in school, and I hated the place.”
    Since it didn’t sound as if Delilah would have put her in a hateful school, Will asked, “Were you sent there after your mother died?”
    Athena nodded and began pacing again. “I was fourteen. Delilah was very ill and she explained to me that she was dying, so she must put me under my father’s protection. I was devastated, of course.” Her paces tightened to swift, tense steps. “She took me to my father’s family seat and marched in with me beside her. He was furious and horrified, yet I could see that he also still desired her.”
    Will frowned, imagining what such a meeting must have been like for Athena. “It doesn’t sound like a scene that any fourteen-year-old should have to witness.”
    Athena sighed. “I needed to be there, if only to meet my father for the first and last time. Delilah told him that I was a good, intelligent, obedient girl who would be a credit to him.”
    “Were you obedient?” Will asked with mild surprise.
    She shrugged. “When I wanted to be. Not that it mattered what she said about me. My father was revolted by my existence, but apparently the resemblance to his legitimate children was strong enough that he couldn’t deny fathering me, particularly since he’d known of my existence since Delilah first found herself increasing. He snarled that I would be cared for and slammed out of the room.”
    “My father was not an easy man, but he was a saint by comparison,” Will said sympathetically. “Your father sounds