In Enemy Hands

by Linda Winstead Jones

  Quint lowered her to the bed, and they sank into the depths of the luxuriant mattress. He pushed aside all the doubts that assailed him. He should have told her. Now it would have to wait. From here they would go to Wilmington, and he would put her, forcibly if necessary, on the next steamer for Nassau. She still believed that their days together would go on uninterrupted, but he knew that was just another lie.

  “I love you, Lily,” he said intensely as he kissed her flat belly and trailed his lips upward to take a nipple in his mouth.

  Lily arched her back to feel more of him—his warm, wet mouth against her breast, his strong chest against her soft belly. His warmth was her comfort. His love was her strength.

  “I love you, Quint. More than you know. More than I ever thought possible.”

  They loved one another, fast and slow, desperately and contentedly, with a heat that threatened to burn them with its fire, with a cold and calculated search for pleasure.

  For one afternoon and one long night, the war ceased to exist for them. The world ceased to exist but for the small room, the heat of their bodies, and the love that had so suddenly and unexpectedly claimed them both.

  They woke to the crack of the bedroom door as it crashed against the wall. The pale light of early morning streamed through the windows, illuminating the blue-coated soldiers who rushed through the doorway and in a split second surrounded the bed, rifles trained on them, by the time Quint had fully opened his eyes.

  “The old man was right,” one of the soldiers observed as his eyes traveled over the thin sheet that covered Lily’s body. “They do match the description.”

  He turned his attention to Quint and grinned. “Good morning, Captain Sherwood.”

  Quint’s gut impulse was to jump out of the bed and take them all on. He didn’t like the way they were staring at Lily as she lay there covered only by the white sheet. In spite of it all, he remained cool. It was the only way to get Lily out of this.

  “Actually, the name’s Lieutenant Quintin Tyler, United States Army, soldier.” The tone of his voice was calm and authoritative. “The lady is my —”

  “You got proof?” the same soldier pressed. Out of the corner of his eye, Quint saw Lily’s face. She hadn’t panicked, and he admired her for that, but she was coldly assessing the situation as if she planned to act. He grabbed her arm under the sheet, his fingers tender but firm.

  “If you’ll contact Colonel Fairfax in Washington, he will vouch for me.” Quint hoped that the colonel still would acknowledge him, after what had happened at the prison. At least he could buy a little time with the revelation.

  The soldier, a husky sergeant, drew his eyebrows together. “Colonel Fairfax. I know that name.” He looked at the private who stood at his side, and the younger man whispered an aside to the sergeant before turning his eyes back to Lily.

  “Colonel Fairfax with the Secret Service?” the sergeant asked the question rather unsteadily, as if he’d stumbled upon something that was over his head.

  Quint nodded. “Yes.”

  He felt Lily glaring at him, and when he turned to face her, he saw the knowledge of his betrayal in her eyes. “I wanted to tell you myself,” Quint began, as Lily yanked her arm away from him, the arm he tried to hold under the thin covers. She drew away from him until she was all but hanging on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry…. ”

  “You’re a goddamn Yankee spy.” Lily whispered, but everyone in the room heard her.

  “I’ll explain later,” Quint said in a low voice, but he could see that she was not listening to him. Anger was flashing in her eyes, and her face flushed pink.

  Then, in a flash, the angry fire was gone, and a coldness stole over her eyes. Those lush lips thinned, and the color drained from her face. Her eyes were riveted on Quint’s face as the change took place, and it was only after the transformation was complete that she turned to the sergeant, looking up at him as she held the sheet bunched above her breasts.

  “He’s telling the truth, sergeant,” she said boldly. In her fantasies about telling the Yankees that she had been the one to make fools of them all, she had never imagined that her tongue would taste of copper and her heart would beat so hard she expected it to burst through her chest. She made sure that none of the signs of her fear were evident to any of the men in the room—not to the blue-clad soldiers, not to Quint.

  “He’s not Captain Sherwood,” she said icily. “I am.”

  “Lily!” Quint exploded.

  “I should be good for a promotion, don’t you think?” She ignored her husband and continued to stare at the sergeant. There were half-a-dozen rifles still aimed at her and at Quint, the muzzles mere inches away. She ignored the deadly weapons as completely as she had ignored Quint. “If you and your men will wait in the hall, I’ll get dressed and we can proceed.”

  She finally turned to face Quint. “To Washington, I suppose. Isn’t that where we’re headed, Lieutenant Tyler? Wasn’t that to be our next stop?” She had her emotions under control, and the stare she bestowed upon him was icy cold.

  The sergeant shook his head. “I don’t think I should leave you two alone…. ”

  “Dammit, sergeant!” Quint bellowed. “Give us ten minutes!”

  The sergeant nodded to his men. “Search the room thoroughly for weapons.” The inspection didn’t take long. The soldiers had covered every inch of the sparsely furnished room in minutes. They left with Quint’s pistol and Lily’s precious saber.

  After the other soldiers had left the room, the sergeant turned to Quint and Lily. “There are guards posted around the grounds, should you be thinking of going out the window. You have five minutes.”

  Lily sprang from the bed as soon as the door was closed. She turned her back to Quint as she grabbed her clothes and began to dress. Her stiffened spine was toward him as she pulled the chemise over her head, and she was stonily quiet as she buttoned the high neck and cuffs of a plain sea-green cotton gown.

  Quint dressed quickly and tried to step in front of her as she struggled with the buttons. She was trying hard to show no emotion, but her hands trembled slightly. Quint reached out to assist her, but Lily pushed him away with all the strength she could muster.

  “I’d sooner prance stark naked in front of the entire Union Army than allow you to touch me again,” she seethed.

  “Lily, I was going to tell you.”

  “When?” She lifted cold eyes to him. “When you turned me over to your Colonel Fairfax?”

  “I wouldn’t have done that,” he swore softly, and in vain. She didn’t believe a word he said.

  “You’re a very good liar, Lieutenant Tyler,” Lily said in a chilling voice. “What sacrifices you’ve made for your cause. It’s very noble of you, I’m sure, to go to such lengths. Perhaps there will be a medal in it for you.”

  Quint reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she backed away violently. “Don’t touch me again, you bloody bastard,” she said in a low voice.

  Lily pulled on her black boots. When the full skirt of her dress fell to the floor it was impossible to tell that she wore the same boots she had sailed the ocean with, but when she walked, the sharp report of the heels against the floor echoed crisply. She was headed for the door, where she turned without warning.

  “I feel like such a bloody fool.” For a moment, she felt tears threaten, but she pushed them away. “Everything was going beautifully. I had my own house, and the Chameleon, and Tommy and Cora, and my crew… and then I allowed myself to be suckered in by the likes of you. You’re a damn good spy, Quintin Tyler.”

  Heartbreak was new to Lily. She had never suffered the pain of rejection or the despair of an unrequited love. She had never before allowed anyone into her heart, and therefore she was floored by the intense pain Quint’s betrayal was causing. She felt as though her heart would literally be torn apart.

  Lily pushed away the pain and steeled her heart. She would show Quint none of her weakness. In fact, she managed to meet his
look with an emotionless stare of her own.

  “Why in hell did you tell them that you were Captain Sherwood? Why didn’t you just keep your mouth shut and let me handle it?”

  The door opened just as Lily slapped Quint with all her might. Her years of fencing and sailing had given her more strength in her arms than most women had, and Quint’s head snapped back. But he returned his gaze to hers almost immediately, with no change of expression in his eyes. She knew he could see all the hurt and confusion she tried to hide, and that only made her hate him more.

  “Let me explain…. ”

  “I loved you, and you lied to me. No explanation can change that,” Lily whispered. The sergeant stood right behind her and could no doubt hear, but she didn’t care. “I’ll never forgive you… I’ll never forget what you did.”

  Their hands were tied in front of them, Quint’s as well as Lily’s. He would be treated as a prisoner until his identity could be confirmed. Joshua Wiggins was waiting anxiously at the bottom of the stairs, wringing his hands and crying out in dismay when he saw the bonds on Lily’s wrists.

  “No,” he cried out as he blocked the foot of the stairway. “Not the girl. He’s the one you want.”

  Wiggins was unceremoniously knocked aside by a stone-faced private. Lily tried to have some sympathy for the frightened man, but she glared at him, stopping on the bottom stair to look down at him as he lay half sitting, half lying on the floor.

  “Why, Mr. Wiggins?” she asked coldly.

  He shook his head and dropped his head, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her. “I didn’t mean for them to take you, Miss Lily. I’m… I’m an old man, and as long as I… I help these soldiers out now and again, they leave me alone and see that I have food.”

  His rationalization did nothing to ease her anger. “Make sure you get your thirty pieces of silver as well.”

  He was another one. She hadn’t loved him, but she had felt affection for the old man. His betrayal didn’t cut as deep as Quint’s, but it added to her burden.

  With the assistance of a young soldier, Lily was seated on the saddle of her mare. The reins were taken by another soldier, and Lily stared straight ahead.

  She heard the footsteps stop beside her and looked down haughtily. She would show no emotion. Not to Quint. Not to any of them.

  Quint was standing beside her. If he’d stretched out his bound hands he could have touched her leg. But he stood very still, staring into her eyes.

  Lily stared back hard, refusing to be the one who broke that contact. She swore that she would get even with him, somehow, for his treachery. But as he looked up at her with those dark eyes, she felt herself soften. Surely it hadn’t all been lies.

  “It’ll be all right, sweetheart,” he whispered. “I promise.” His eyes softened, and Lily felt her resolve begin to melt.

  But she couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Her answer to his vow was to swing out her leg, catching Quint under the chin with her sturdy boot. He practically flew backwards, and was caught by the two guards who stood behind him.

  A group of soldiers burst into sporadic laughter sprinkled with colorful curses, as Lily turned her eyes forward and ignored them all.

  She hardened her heart then and there. There was nothing that could make her forget what Quint had done to her. He had used her body and her heart against her, and that she could never forgive. She resolved that she would never love anyone again. Ever.

  They traveled less than an hour before they joined a huge contingent of Union soldiers. All Lily had thought of was escape. The plans that ran through her mind kept her thoughts from Quint and his deception. She cursed when she saw the number of the troops before her. It would be bloody impossible to escape from this place.

  The private who had led her horse, giving her wary glances now and again over his shoulder, helped her to the ground, heedful of her dangerous booted feet.

  Lily didn’t kick him, as she had Quint. It would have served no purpose. She reverted to her old ways, smiling at the Yankee sweetly as he released her.

  Her smile obviously confused the young soldier, and Lily saw that she had not allayed his suspicions. He’d seen too much that morning to dismiss her lightly. She couldn’t fool even him.

  “Captain Brighton.” She heard the sergeant’s deep voice somewhere behind her. But she had no time for this Captain Brighton. Eventually they would have to transfer her to a prison, and they wouldn’t want to spare too many men for that chore, if they could help it. If she tried to appear harmless, fragile, then perhaps they would assign only two or three the task. She smiled as she thought of that. It would take at least two days to reach Washington. Plenty of time and opportunity to escape.

  “Captain Brighton, sir.” Lily returned her attention to the sergeant’s voice. “Damndest thing I ever did see. According to the description we got, this man’s Captain Sherwood. But the woman claims she’s Captain Sherwood. Probably trying to cover for him, but she’s a wild one, so I took them both.”

  “That’s fine, sergeant.”

  Lily stiffened at the sound of the captain’s lifeless reply. She would never forget that voice. Some nights she still dreamed of it, in her worst nightmares. She made herself turn around slowly. The captain was making his way toward her. He was thinner and grayer. The war had aged him badly, but it was the captain responsible for her father’s death.

  He stopped several feet away from her, his instant recognition evident on his stunned face. The captain looked her up and down, as if he expected her to change before his very eyes and become some other woman. But she glared at him, let him know that his eyes were not playing tricks on him.

  “Bloody hell,” she murmured, and that made him smile. “It’s you.”

  “Miss Radford.” The captain continued forward after a long pause. “I must admit I’m quite surprised to see you again.”

  All Lily’s plans went awry when she saw him there. “You’re still alive, I see. What a shame. Suffered any serious tobacco injuries lately? Cigar bombs? Pipe blasts? Whatever happened to the private who shot my father? Is he a captain, also, or does he outrank you, that fine soldier?” She couldn’t keep the anger and sarcasm from her voice. The very sight of the man infuriated her.

  Captain Brighton’s smile faded. “That young man was killed less than a month after your father’s death. You shouldn’t be surprised. He was a nice boy, but a poor soldier.”

  Another private led Quint forward. Quint held his jaw tenderly with both bound hands. A trickle of blood marked his lip, and beneath his dark bristle a patch of his skin was red, and would be purple before long. Lily actually smiled a little. Served him right. He glared at her before she turned her attention back to the captain.

  Captain Brighton grimaced at Quint’s battered face. “What did you do to him? I thought you said he claims to be one of ours.”

  The sergeant defended himself stoutly. “We didn’t touch him, Captain. It was the girl. She booted him right beneath the chin.”

  “Ah, Miss Radford. I see you haven’t changed at all,” Brighton said tiredly.

  Quint tried to move closer to Lily, but his guard restrained him. “Do you know this man, Lily?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  Lily ignored him, but Brighton answered him with a wry smile. “Miss Radford and I have met.”

  “And you’re wrong, Captain Brighton,” Lily said the name hatefully. At least she had a name to put with the face that had haunted her in nightmares. “I have changed. If I held my saber to your heart today, I wouldn’t hesitate to run you through.”

  Captain Brighton turned to the sergeant. “If this woman claims to be Captain Sherwood, then I assure you it’s the truth.”

  The captain approached Quint with the same lazy step Lily always associated with him, as if he’d just risen from a restless night.

  “Lieutenant Quintin Tyler, sir,” Quint said as crisply as he could through clenched teeth.

  Lily broke away from her guard an
d rushed toward the two men. “He’s a bloody spy!” she shouted, her eyes on Quint. The control she had planned to show was forgotten. She would have slapped Quint again, if her hands had been free, but she satisfied herself with a swift kick to his shin. As her guard grabbed her and pulled her back, Quint lifted his bound hands, palms forward.

  “It’s all right,” he said, looking at the anxious private who held Lily so tightly.

  “The two of you should be great friends,” Lily spat. “You’re two of a kind, you are. Deceitful, blue-bellied, lily-livered, egg-sucking bastards. Spineless, back-stabbing, flea-brained vermin.”

  They all stared at her, the soldiers who surrounded her as well as Quint and Captain Brighton. Captain Brighton sighed tiredly, and Quint raised an eyebrow. He was so damned infuriating! How dare he look at her like that? The charade was over. Why couldn’t he simply turn away from her and be done with it?

  Captain Brighton turned to the sergeant who dogged him. “Noon meal in my tent for three.” He looked from Lily to Quint. “I’d like to get to the bottom of this.”

  Lily straightened her spine and glared coldly at the captain. “I’ll starve before I eat with the likes of you.” She shared the cold stare with Quint, including him in her vow. “Quint, my love.” She said the endearment coldly, and she could see the hurt on Quint’s face. “Be sure to tell the Captain every scandalous detail. I’m sure it will make for an entertaining afternoon.”

  She turned away from him before he could see the sudden tears that threatened.

  Seventeen

  Lily sat cross-legged on the floor of the small tent that had been provided for her. The light of several campfires glowed bright yellow through the coarse canvas, silhouetting the four sentinels who had been assigned to her.

  Four guards! If she hadn’t lost her senses when she’d seen Captain Brighton, she’d probably have only one or two guards—but four!

  Even when she’d politely asked to be excused to tend to her personal needs, she’d been accompanied by the four vigilants. When she’d protested the need for privacy, one enterprising young soldier had tied a rope securely to her waist, the tight knot at her back too difficult for her to disengage without alerting the guard who held the other end of the rope, keeping no slack in the line.