He couldn’t ignore the possibility that there could be absolutely nothing going on, and the incident resulting in the arrest of Andrew Ransley and Jeremy Hawkshurst, had been a one-off incident. However, his years in the Star Elite warned him that villagers living in places like Bentney on Sea, tended to look after their own. Getting any one of them to reveal dangerous secrets would be like trying to prise blood out of a stone. Dogged persistence and determination usually won in the end though, he just needed to find that one weak link that he needed to uncover the truth. From the mulish look on Kat’s face, it wasn’t going to be her.
Jonathan sighed and he could stay and talk to her a bit more. “Are you going to the harvest festival in a few weeks’ time?”
“Yes, I help with the cider stall. Are you going to stay around that long?” The words this time hovered in the air between them.
Jonathan took a breath to assure her that he would, but stopped. In all honesty, because of his work with the Star Elite, he couldn’t be sure where he would be tomorrow let alone in several weeks’ time. For some reason, he didn’t want to offer Kat assurances he couldn’t bring about. It didn’t seem fair to give her false expectations but the urge to ask her to go with him was so strong that for one brief moment, he wished he had a normal life, far away from the Star Elite and its dangers.
“I will be there if I am able to arrange it, yes,” he replied. He felt strangely uncomfortable being evasive with her. It just didn’t seem right to start their relationship off with untruths or secrets between them. If they had any chance of a future together, they had to be honest with each other. That would mean he had to take her into his confidence about what he really did while he was away, and he couldn’t do that until he was positive that she was being honest with him and not up to her ears in smuggled cargo. He mentally sighed and wondered if all relationships were this complicated.
“I will take my leave of you then and will see you tomorrow?” He waited only for her confirming nod before he moved toward the back door.
“Aren’t you going out that way?” Kat nodded toward the front door, the usual entrance and exit point for visitors, and frowned when Jonathan shook his head, a strange smile on his face.
“I prefer this way.”
She studied his back suspiciously as she followed him across the yard. She couldn’t prevent her gaze flickering to the huge manure pile standing beside the gate and she fought hard to keep her face bland, and the guilty blush off her cheeks. At the gate she waited until he disappeared from sight before she turned to stare at the manure. She didn’t relish having to dig around in there to get the goods back, and could hear Harrison and his men going about their searches in the distance.
She could only hope that the goods hadn’t been ruined while they lay festering under the warm mound of Molly’s offerings. With a shudder, she decided to leave them where they were for the time being and hurried back inside to clean herself up. Later, when Billy was back to help her and Harrison was completely out of the way, she would see if there was anything left worth saving. If there was then she had just, purely by chance, managed to find them a brand new hiding place.
Once washed and dressed, Kat walked the several miles over the cliff tops to the nearby market town of Tattersnell. It was just after noon and the place was a bustling hive of activity that created a cacophony of noise within the small market square that almost deafened her. It was impossible to think, much less have a conversation with anyone that was any less than a shout. Still, Kat loved the energetic throng as they hustled and bustled from one stall to the other. The children played and squealed with delight as they chased the various small livestock through the market traders and were scolded occasionally when they toppled goods all over the floor when they got too rambunctious.
Kat smiled at one particularly evasive piglet and lifted her leg while the small beast ran past. She smiled at her mother, and then frowned at the worry evident on Agnes’ face.
“What’s happened?”
“A couple of the buyers haven’t arrived yet, and one doesn’t want the extra goods.” Agnes cast a furtive glance around the market place. “We can’t take it back Kat, we have far too much as it is. What do we do now? We have nowhere to put it all.”
“I have found somewhere new for the time being, so don’t worry too much,” Kat hastened to assure her. She hated to see her mother so distressed, and wondered whether this was all getting a bit too much for all of them. Kat was fed up with having to spend her days running all over the place and, while they had managed to set up a nice network of purchasers, none of them ever lost sight of just how precarious their position was.
Each time Kat looked out of her window at Hester’s house, the realisation of just what they were risking by being involved with the smuggling, was strong. Luckily, Kat and Agnes had kept a tight hold on the purse strings and had managed to secrete a growing stash of funds that would tide them over. Whether it would be enough to keep them going while they waited for the war to end though, she wasn’t sure. There was no end of the war in sight and, while the taxes on even the most basic goods remained exorbitant, they needed the extra money.
“Go and get some rest, I will cover here for a while,” Kat murmured to her mother. “Take Billy with you.”
“Oh, Kat, if you are sure?” Agnes sighed.
“Go.” Kat’s order was softened with a smile and she watched her mother bustle off with Billy in tow. Her eyes landed on another group of excise men who worked their way through the crowds. It wasn’t unusual for excise officers to check up on what stall holders were selling, but the sight of the men in the market, while Harrison scoured the village, gave her the shivers.
With a sigh, Kat turned and smiled at a lady holding out cabbages and completed the transaction while her attention was firmly locked on one of their regular customers who stood behind her. A telling look passed between the women and, when Kat turned to place the dozen apples in the woman’s basket moments later, nobody noticed the small package of tea that was secreted at the bottom. Anyone paying attention would have noticed that the apples cost three times more than they ordinarily should do, but nobody was that close. A quick hug gave Kat the opportunity to inform the woman of their problem. She almost wept with relief when the purchaser, Delores, promised to take as much of the extra goods as Kat could provide. With a grateful smile of thanks, Kat accepted the negotiated payment and watched the woman weave through the crowds.
A cough at her elbow drew her attention to the man standing beside her and she took the carrots off him. For now, one problem was sorted, however they still had one massive, and very smelly, problem at home to resolve before they could consider themselves ahead of the game.
Jonathan ambled through the crowd with a scowl. He had absolutely no idea what had drawn him to come to the market in Tattersnell. He had just finished meeting his contact with Harper, but had come away empty handed and more frustrated than ever. There had been no sighting of Dubois, only rumours, and Jonathan was starting to wonder if they were on a wild goose chase.
He had no idea what had drawn him away from the idea of returning to the peaceful tranquillity of Dentham Hall. It wasn’t even as though he needed anything from the market stall holders. He rather suspected that it wasn’t the goods he had come to inspect, more likely one of the market traders.
At the far end of the square, Billy handed a lady a bushel of vegetables and a small packet. As the elderly lady hurried off into the crowd, her place in the queue was immediately taken by another customer who held out two cabbages. Jonathan dodged around a group of children and looked up in time to watch Billy hand another lady several larger packets along with a small mound of vegetables. There was nothing unusual in the transaction at all, but something within Jonathan was ringing alarm bells, only he couldn’t understand why. They were stall holders selling their wares, nothing more. But there was something deuced odd about what he had just seen. Not only had the woman not paid for her goods, but m
ost of them were carefully wrapped. Since when did anyone need to wrap vegetables in broadsheets?
Jonathan scowled and from within the shadows of a stall selling bolts of cloth, watched Kat as she dealt with a continual flow of customers. With a curse, he pushed a thin veil of silken material away from his face in annoyance when his view was blocked, and was astonished at what he saw. Hers was by far the busiest stall there. People were coming and going all over, but Kat’s stall had a constant flow of people who took away baskets of produce at a time and emptied the table and cart. His gaze locked on her flash of white teeth as Kat smiled at a middle aged gentleman, and he felt a surge of jealousy sweep through him at the easy camaraderie between them as they chatted. Kat handed the man a handful of vegetables before she followed him around the far end of the stall toward the front of the cart.
He hated the fact that he couldn’t see her and wondered what they were doing. He couldn’t even see the tops of their heads. Where had they gone? What were they doing? With a scowl, he shoved the lace out of his face and headed down the narrow walk way toward Kat and Agnes’ stall.
“Hello, Agnes.”
He frowned when his greeting made Agnes freeze. The initial look of astonishment on her face was quickly replaced by nervous hesitation, and he wondered what she was worried about. As far as he knew he had never done anything to scare her, or give her reason to be concerned about him, but her behaviour made her appear almost frightened of him.
“How are you today?” he asked. He tried to keep his voice jovial and non-threatening but it made no difference to the scared look on her face.
“I am fine thank you, my lord, and yourself?” Her query was accompanied by a furtive glance around them as though she wasn’t comfortable with being seen conversing with him. It annoyed him that the woman seemed to think that he was a nabob who rarely mixed with the masses.
“I am very well, thank you. I see you have done a roaring trade again today,” he drawled smoothly. He had to dig deep for all of his charm, especially when he wanted to shake the woman and find out where Kat had gone with that customer.
“What?” Agnes’ eyes grew wide. She physically jumped when she realised that he was talking about the fruit and vegetables. “Oh, yes, well, we are always busy,” she replied vaguely.
“Is Kat not about?”
“She has gone for a break,” Agnes sighed with a frown. She had no idea what the man wanted with Kat, and made a mental note to ask her daughter about it later. A quick glance at the packet Billy held was enough to warn her that they had to be careful. This was the lord over the parish in which they lived. He had no idea about the smuggling and, if they were all to maintain their freedom, he could never know what was going on. Jonathan Arbinger would have no hesitation in informing the magistrate if he ever got wind of anything clandestine going on. She tried to conceal her shudder of horror and shifted to one side. Her movement drew Jonathan’s attention back to herself when he started to study the area behind her in search of Kat with far too much intensity.
“Can I interest you in some erm –” Agnes glanced disconcertedly down at the empty table behind her and realised that most of the vegetables were at the far end of the table, near to Billy, who was only just completing his transaction “- vegetables,” she finished weakly.
Jonathan kept his face bland, and only just stopped himself from scowling. He could smell a rat when he was near to one, and knew with certainty that something was definitely going on with the stall. If only he knew what. He glanced at the tavern across the square and wondered if that was where Kat had gone.
“Not today, thank you Agnes,” Jonathan replied. “I wish you good day.” He nodded his head and moved away, his gaze riveted on the tavern doorway.
He had no idea what was driving him to find out where she had gone with the man, and why, but something kept pushing him, warning him that he needed to know. If only to make sure that she was safe from harm.
He was about to go into the tavern when movement from the alleyway beside him drew his attention and he watched as Kat said goodbye to the man before they parted company. A dark scowl fell over his face, and he watched in consternation as Kat returned to her mother’s side. The urge to follow the man and find out everything about his opponent was strong, but he knew that right now, he had other things to contend with.
The odd conversation with Agnes was a little disconcerting, if only because he now knew that he made Kat’s mother nervous, but it was the knowledge that he really knew very little about the woman who had held his heart for practically all of his life and it was strangely disconcerting. If she was to become his wife, and he still sincerely hoped that was the case, then he had to be on a considerably better footing with her friends and family. How the hell he went about that was anyone’s guess. Who was that man? Why had Kat disappeared behind the buildings with him? Why was Agnes so shaken by his arriving in the market today?
He shook his head, went to the bar and ordered a tankard of ale before he chose a seat at a table overlooking the market. From his position, he had a clear view of the market and a small view of Kat’s stall. As he drank, his gaze remained firmly locked on the woman who brought about so many questions. Not least of which was; what on earth was she up to?
From his position he could see Kat, her mother and Billy, as they went about their business on the stall. There was nothing untoward about any of their behaviour and he started to wonder if he was chasing shadows. After all, they had been polite, but were busy selling their wares in just the same way as all of the other market traders who were selling their goods at the market today. Did he suspect that something was amiss because he had spent so much time working for the Star Elite, and had learned to trust nobody, not even Kat? That thought bothered him immensely. If Kat was innocent, and she discovered that he had considered her involved in smuggling, she would never forgive him and he would lose any chance he may have of getting her to the altar.
He sighed and fought the urge to bang his head on the table. There were so many possibilities and probabilities that he just couldn’t spend the weeks he needed to make sense of it all. One thing was for certain, he wasn’t getting his job done sitting in a tavern gazing at the love of his life. He had a Frenchman to unmask, hunt down and bring to justice, as well as an estate to put to rights, and a smuggling gang to unmask.
Maybe then, if Kat wasn’t involved in smuggling, he could set about sorting out his love life.
CHAPTER FOUR
Later that afternoon, having watched Kat pack up the stall with her family, Jonathan headed back toward Dentham Hall. He made a mental note to speak to Harper as soon as possible to see if he had found anything out about smuggling in the area. On his way through the large port of Upper Dentham, he spied the Excise House and, without thinking, headed in that direction.
“Good afternoon.” He wandered into the darkened recesses of the main lobby and stopped at the officious looking man standing behind the desk. The man immediately drew himself upright at the sight of Jonathan, a lord of the realm, standing before him, and nodded his head politely.
“Sir.”
For a moment, Jonathan wondered if the man was going to salute him but, at the last moment, he seemed to realise it wasn’t necessary.
“Is Harrison about?”
“No sir, he is out doing Excise business.”
Jonathan’s piercing gaze looked the man straight in the eye. “Is he still scouring Bentney on Sea?”
The man flicked a glance at the clock on the wall. “He should be done about now sir, unless they have found something amiss.”
“Like smuggled goods, perhaps?” Jonathan watched the man’s gaze turn sharp and allowed silence to stretch between them for several moments. “I take it that is what Harrison is after?”
“I am not at liberty to say, sir,” the man stammered. He was clearly at a loss to defy orders but didn’t want to annoy the powerful man before him either.
“He is very persistent,” Jon
athan drawled. “I wonder when he is going to get the message.”
“Message, sir?”
“That there is no smuggling in Bentney on Sea.”
“Oh, sir but we have very reliable information that smugglers run in the village somewhere. It is only a matter of time before we catch them.”
“With a man like Harrison at the helm, I am sure you are right,” Jonathan replied conversationally. He watched an almost derisive look appear on the man’s face for a moment. It was so brief that if Jonathan hadn’t been looking he would have missed it. “I hope Harrison doesn’t make such a pain of himself this time,” he added with an almost dramatic sigh.
“Pain sir?”
“Oh yes. He was moved from his old post because he became too officious. I am afraid that he is going to have to move on again soon if he does it again.”
“He is a -” The man seemed to realise what he was about to say and snapped his mouth closed.
“Pain in the arse, you can say it,” Jonathan drawled with a conspiratorial smirk. “I take it Harrison is behind the one-off incident just down the coast?”
The man frowned and Jonathan mentally sighed. He couldn’t help but wonder if all of Harrison’s men were this dense. “Ransley and Hawkshurst,” he snapped and watched the man’s brows lift. “Mr Hamilton-Smythe is my associate,” he boasted.
“Harrison did get information about their activities, yes sir,” the man replied casting a nervous look at the connecting door that led to the rear of the building.
“From where?”
“Well, I am not sure, sir, but it was very accurate information,” the man sighed. He hesitated, as though he wanted to confide in Jonathan but didn’t know whether to trust him or not.
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