by Pamela Clare
Cassie heard a low chuckle and saw a man’s form emerge from the darkness across the street. It was Luke.
Then it hit her.
“What are you two doing here?”
“We’re keepin’ an eye on you.” Luke pinned her with a stern gaze.
“What?”
“Aye. Master Carter knew ye’d try something like this sooner or later, so he picked yer father’s most trusty men to guard ye.” Zach grinned. “That’s us, of course.”
“How long have you been here lurking about in the streets like criminals?”
“Long enough to know ye shouldn’t be out here alone at night. It’s not safe,” Zach said.
“Then you’ll help me? I’m going to the gaol—”
“You’re not goin’ anywhere, Miss Cassie—except back to bed. Come along.”
“But what about Alec?”
“He’s no longer your concern,” Zach said.
“No longer my—How can you say that?”
Zach reached for the musket.
Cassie made her move. Thrusting the weapon against the men and shoving them both as hard as she could, she darted down the street. But she hadn’t gone two steps when strong arms again imprisoned her. She struggled, but couldn’t break free from Zach’s iron grip.
“Please don’t fight me, Miss Cassie,” Zach whispered. “You don’t have the strength to get away, but you might hurt yerself or yer babe in tryin’.”
Cassie sagged against him in defeat. This had been Alec’s last chance, her last hope, and it had been destroyed by friends. Zach lifted her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. “Trust us.”
Then he swung her rather unceremoniously into his arms and began walking back toward the gate, Luke leading the way, carrying the musket.
It was then that Cassie noticed that both men reeked of whiskey.
Strange. They didn’t seem drunk.
They had just shut the small gate door behind them when church bells began to peal, shattering the quiet of the night. “Hurry!” Zach ran toward the back door.
Cassie started to tell Luke the back door was unlocked, but by the time she’d spoken the first word, he’d already shattered the glass with the butt of the musket.
What was happening?
She had no time to ponder it now, as Zach was running through the darkened house, carrying her like a sack of potatoes. Stopping at the foot of the stairs, he deposited her squarely on the floor. Cassie heard footsteps upstairs as the household sprang to life.
“How are we goin’ to explain this?” He motioned toward her attire from her heavy boots to her gown to the winter cloak. “Do ye have something on beneath all of this?”
Cassie nodded. “Zach, what’s going on?”
“It’s best that ye don’t ask. Just play along.” He began to remove her clothing.
For a moment Cassie was too stunned to say or do anything, but when she realized his aim, she began to undress, bundles of powder and shot tumbling from the bodice of her gown onto the floor, until she stood in nothing but her shift.
“I’ve heard some women pad their bosoms. Here’s proof.” Zach grinned, grabbed the powder and shot off the floor, and threw it to Luke.
“What should I do with these?” Cassie asked in a panic, her arms full of clothing. The footsteps were growing nearer.
“Give them to me.” Zach took her clothing and stuffed it into a nearby closet. “Muss your hair. Ye’ve been asleep, remember?” Not sure why she was doing all this, Cassie did as he asked, pulling out her pins and shaking her head, while he stepped into Master Carter’s study, tipping over the chairs and scattering papers. Behind them came the sound of more shattering glass, and Cassie whirled to see Luke smash in the front of the gun case, spilling its contents on the floor.
The footsteps from upstairs seemed to be upon them.
“There’s only one thing left.” Zach came to stand before Luke. Luke smiled and chuckled—and slammed his fist into Zach’s face.
Cassie stood speechless.
“God’s balls!” Zach staggered, felt his jaw, and smiled. “Ye pack a fair wallop. But now it’s my turn.”
Then he drove his closed fist into Luke’s jaw, nearly knocking the huge man onto his back.
The two then stood face-to-face.
“Do you think that’s good enough?” Zach asked.
“It will have to be.”
They vanished.
“Cassie! What in heaven is going on?”
Cassie whirled about.
It was Lucy. She stood at the top of the stairs in her nightshift, her eyes wide with fear.
“ I…I don’t know,” Cassie stammered. It was the truth.
“Father?” Lucy called, hurrying down the stairs toward the light of the study. All at once her eyes took in the disorderly state of her father’s study and the shattered glass of the gun case, and she screamed.
“Father!”
Cassie rushed to her side.
“Oh, Cassie, where is he? What has happened?”
“I wish I knew.” What was going on?
Servants and slaves huddled nearby, their sleepy eyes wide with fear and uncertainty.
Guilt gnawed at Cassie. She very much doubted that these good people were in danger, but she dared not say a word for fear of betraying whatever mysterious plot was afoot.
Suddenly Zach staggered back through the doorway, his eye blackened, his lip bleeding, his clothes torn and reeking of whiskey. “He took ‘im!”
“Who?” asked Lucy and Cassie together.
“The convict. He took yer father.”
Cassie and Lucy looked at each other in stunned surprise. Cassie felt as if her heart would soar free from her breast. They’d broken him out! She didn’t understand how they’d accomplished it or what had been involved, but she knew that Alec was free.
Run, my love, she prayed silently. Godspeed.
Lucy looked at Cassie as if expecting some kind of explanation. About to speak, Lucy was interrupted by Bess, the old cook, who had come from the kitchen and was now wielding a skillet in Zach’s direction.
“I don’t know who you are or what you’re doin’ here, but you’ll not be causin’ no mischief, or I’ll have at you!”
Cassie choked back a laugh at the absurdity of the sight before her. There stood Zach, pretending to be drunk, his thick arm raised in surrender as he backed away from an old woman with a frying pan.
“Don’t worry, Bess. We know this man,” Lucy said. “He works for Father.”
“Aye, that I do, but sure and I let him down this time. Me and Luke, we were—”
“Drinking?” Lucy asked hotly.
“Aye. And the convict just came out of nowhere. He knocked me down and, well, Luke is … he’s beat up,” stammered the sawyer. “The bastard stole two horses! Pardon my speech, ladies.”
For a moment, there was silence. Then Lucy stood, transformed from frightened daughter to mistress of the household.
“Bess, please aid these injured men and then make tea. Stella, see to it the fires in the kitchen and sitting room are lit and kept burning, and bring us our robes. It is a cold night.” She turned to face Zach. “If there are any men among you who are not in their cups, see to it that Sheriff Connelly is sent for at once and my brothers and sisters are notified. Miss Blakewell and I will be in the sitting room should word of my father arrive.”
Slaves and servants scurried into action, carrying out their mistress’s commands, as Lucy and Cassie walked hurriedly hand in hand into the sitting room. As soon as the door was closed behind them, they began to talk at once. When neither could understand the other, they both stopped and started over, one at a time.
“Alec would never hurt your father, Lucy. You needn’t fear for him on that account, I promise.”
“I know that, silly. Do you think Alec escaped on his own, or did Father help him?”
“I think your father helped him. In fact, I’m certain.”
“Do tell!”
Cassie hesitated. Telling Lucy the truth would mean confessing the way she had crept from the house as a thief. “Oh, Lucy, please forgive me! I never wanted to betray you.”
Cassie poured out the entire story, telling how she’d stolen the musket and the hunting knife and planned either to threaten the gaoler or bribe him with her body if necessary to help Alec escape.
Lucy smiled. “If the musket and knife had saved Alec’s life, I’d not have missed them. Besides, we knew you were going to try something like that. But your plan would never have worked, you know.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I once overheard Father say the gaoler prefers men!” Lucy whispered, her face alight with mirth.
Cassie gasped in shock, and the two burst into giggles, which had grown into tearful laughter by the time Cassie reached the part of the story where Zach and Luke struck each other.
A young girl entered carrying their dressing robes, followed by a slave carrying tea, and Lucy lowered her head, choking back laughter in what truly sounded like sobs and wiping the tears from her face.
Cassie put her arm around Lucy’s shoulders, pretending to comfort her. “There, there, Lucy. You poor thing! Your father will return safe and sound. You’ll see.”
Of that Cassie was sure. But what of Alec? He’d be shot on sight. The life of a condemned man was not worth the cost of the chains that bound him.
Ride swiftly, my sweet.
The servants left the room. Lucy’s gaze met hers, all laughter gone.
“He’ll make it. He must.”
“Oh, Lucy, pray for him.”
Lucy took Cassie’s hand, and they sat together in silence. They hadn’t sat for long when the sheriff arrived to investigate the kidnapping. It took him nearly an hour to piece together that “Nicholas Braden” had broken into the house and kidnapped Master Carter from his study to guarantee his safe conduct should the tracking party catch up to him.
“He can’t have gotten far, of that we’re certain. It was silly of him to waste time by coming here. We’ve got men searching every street and alley, Miss Carter. We’ll catch him.” Then Sheriff Connelly’s gaze fell upon Cassie and hardened. “And when we do, we’ll string him from the nearest tree.”
“Sheriff Connelly, please keep such talk to yourself.” Lucy glared up at him. “We’re both far too upset by tonight’s unhappy events as it is.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Carter. I just can’t understand why you and your father would waste your time on the likes of her.”
Cassie forced herself to meet the sheriff’s hostile gaze, refusing to feel shame.
“Sheriff Connelly!” Lucy snapped. “Leave us.”
He gave Lucy a courtly bow, turned on his heel, and was gone.
“Don’t listen to him, Cassie,” Lucy said. “He’s an odious man, cruel and stupid.”
By first light, news of the escape had spread through town. Soon townspeople had filled the street outside, hoping to catch a bit of news or to witness some excitement. Zach and Luke, by now magically sober and afraid the crowd might turn ugly, insisted Cassie retire to her room. The two, sporting matching black eyes, stood sentry in the courtyard, not trusting Master Carter’s servants to protect her.
Cassie paced restlessly within her protective prison, grateful her window faced the courtyard, not the street. She was able to look at the sky beyond and count the passing hours without fearing that someone would hurl rocks at her from below.
For weeks she had dreaded the passage of time. Now she rejoiced at each fleeting second. Every minute brought Alec closer to freedom and safety. Lucy told her that search parties had long ago given up on finding Alec within Williamsburg, and men with hounds had been sent to search the countryside. Meanwhile, Master Carter’s other sons and daughters had begun to arrive to await news of their father together. Unlike Lucy, they knew little about Alec and believed him to be every bit the dangerous criminal. Lucy could not put them at ease by telling them the truth. To do so would risk exposing the plot and put Alec’s life in further danger. Cassie was grateful not to be among them, certain as she was that their feelings for her would be far less generous than those of their sister.
Her luncheon tray arrived. She had no stomach for food. Outside, shadows lengthened into afternoon, gray clouds moving in their slow and silent dance across the sky. The babe in her womb moved restlessly, as if it, too, knew something important was happening. Cassie smiled at the odd new sensation, wondering for the first time whether it was a son or a daughter growing within her. She lay on the bed, stroking the swell of her belly, cherishing the tiny life Alec had planted inside her.
Someone knocked impatiently on the door. Cassie opened her eyes. She’d fallen asleep. Beyond her window, night had fallen. The knock came again.
“Cassie?”
It was Lucy.
Cassie’s heart stopped in her breast. Dear God. Had they captured him? Fearing the worst, she rushed to the door and pulled it open.
“The governor’s here to see you.” Lucy’s blue eyes were wide with excitement.
“The governor? Why?”
“He’s brought someone with him—an Englishman with one leg.” Lucy took Cassie by the hand and pulled her down the hallway behind her.
An Englishman with one leg? Cassie’s mind raced. Who could it be? She hadn’t much time to speculate before she stood face-to-face with Governor Gooch, who astonished her by bowing his head politely when he saw her.
“Miss Blakewell.” He cleared his throat. “May I introduce Lt. Matthew Hasting.”
Lt. Matthew Hasting.
Cassie felt wondrous relief flood through her like laudanum. A peg-legged man in uniform stood before her. His eyes were sky blue and gentle as he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips.
“I’m delighted to meet you, Miss Blakewell. I hope I haven’t surprised you overmuch in your delicate condition.”
“You’re … You’re … ” Cassie whispered.
“Alec’s brother-in-law,” he finished for her. “Soon to be your brother-in-law, I hope.”
Cassie clutched his hand and looked into his kind eyes, too overwhelmed to speak.
“Poor thing. She can scarce believe it,” said a woman’s voice.
“To think all this time she knew he was telling the truth,” said another.
“These past weeks have been the worst of nightmares for her, I’m afraid,” Lucy said.
Cassie looked into the lieutenant’s eyes, searching for her voice. “We must find Alec!”
“That, my dear, is why I’ve come.”
Chapter Thirty-five
Alec pulled his mount to a stop and gazed at the stars through a break in the trees above. He’d never take seeing the sky for granted again.
Hooves approached behind him.
“Gotten us lost, have you?” Carter asked.
“Try to have a little faith.”
Alec checked the older man for signs of fatigue or weakness, but found none. Robert Carter was surprisingly fit for a man of his years, despite a persistent cough. He’d not asked to dismount once, and they had been able to cover ground quickly, keeping well ahead of whatever tracking parties had been sent after them.
He urged his horse forward, turning its head slightly to the east. They’d reach the island within the hour. There they’d find a warm meal and a place to sleep waiting for them. With Micah’s musket at the ready should anyone approach, they’d spend the night there, then hide themselves on board a small ship manned by Carter’s most trustworthy men. They’d sail south at daybreak, leading to a port in the Carolinas, where Alec would buy passage aboard a ship bound for England. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was a good one.
Alec guided his gelding through a maze of tangled vegetation behind tree roots, careful not to lose his sense of direction. The marsh was a different place in the winter, the chirping and squeaking of birds and insects hushed. A wet breeze blew over the water, seeping through the greatcoat he’
d stolen from the poor surprised gaoler, but Alec found the cold exhilarating. After so many weeks behind bars, it felt good to be in the open. He’d come far closer than he’d wanted to the hangman’s noose. He owed Carter a life debt and intended to repay him tenfold as soon as he returned to England.
His time spent with Carter talking horseflesh had given him the measure of the man. Carter was honorable, but he had a stubborn streak. And he enjoyed taking risks. Alec had known Carter would protect Cassie and hadn’t been surprised when Carter had shown up at the gaol to make certain he was being treated fairly. Alec had taken advantage of the opportunity to ask Carter for help with his will, explaining that he wanted to make sure Cassie and the baby were well taken care of should he be executed. That had led to Carter’s hiring counsel and having Alec fitted for new clothing. The two had begun to talk, and slowly this plan—or wager, as Carter called it—had developed. Carter had agreed to help Alec stage his escape by acting as his hostage, gambling that Alec was who he said he was and would not slit his throat once they were safely away. Alec had wagered the escape would work. At stake were both men’s lives—as Carter had said, the greatest wager of all.
Alec wondered again what was happening in Williamsburg. Had Zach and Luke been able to distract the sheriff as planned by making it seem as if he’d broken into Carter’s house? Had they been able to keep Cassie safe after the alarm had been sounded? Carter assured him that no one, not even the governor, would dare to remove her from his house. But Alec was not so certain. It was one thing to gamble with his own life. It was something else entirely to gamble with hers and the baby’s.
A baby. How strange it was to think that he was going to be a father. A father. Were it not for Matthew, he’d have no idea what that meant. Whereas Alec’s father had rarely smiled at him or offered him a word of encouragement, Matthew lavished affection on his children, played with them and read them stories. Alec was determined to be like his brother-in-law, and not the cold, heartless taskmaster his own father had been. He thought of Jamie and Blackbeard and found himself smiling.
How difficult this must all be for Cassie. He and Carter had agreed it was best to keep her in the dark, lest the escape plan fail. Alone and locked up in that house, she must have felt that God had forsaken her. While Alec had scarcely seen the light of day these past weeks, she’d been exposed to all the vilification the townsfolk had to offer. He had watched them stare at her over the tops of their Bibles at church and point fingers at her outside. Women looking at her with scorn, men’s glances colored with lust. Cassie had held her chin high, ignoring them all.