“And you don’t make many of them, I’ll wager.” Katie thought it over for a moment, then shrugged. “Hanging as a rebel would be better than returning to Virginia.” She rubbed her temples with her fingertips, as if their verbal dueling had given her a headache. “I agree to your arrangement.”
“Good.” He rose and walked toward the door of the study, beckoning her to follow. “It’s nearly dawn. I’ll escort you back.”
Neither of them spoke as they retraced their steps to the Mermaid. She had a great deal to think about, and so did he.
Was he doing the right thing? Or was he making a terrible mistake? It was rare for Ethan to have doubts about his decisions, but he’d never been spied upon by an unscrupulous girl who could probably lie to God and get away with it.
Whether he had made the right decision or not really mattered very little at this point, anyway. If he had not taken steps to ensure her silence, if he had not given her the incentive to work for him instead of the Tories, he would have run the greater risk of losing all that he and his comrades had been working for.
That was something Ethan could not have allowed. If she had refused his proposal, he probably would have been forced to ensure her silence in a far more permanent way. He was very glad she had not refused.
7
Inside the Mermaid, all was dark and silent. Ethan lit a lamp and started for the door through the buttery. “I probably won’t be back here until next Friday, so I’m going to wake David and Molly to tell them about your little adventure this evening and of our new arrangement.”
“You mean before I have the chance to give them my version of events.”
“Exactly. God knows what lies you’d spin for them. I suggest you stay here. You’ve gotten into enough trouble tonight, as I think you’ll agree, so I wouldn’t recommend you try tiptoeing upstairs and listening.”
“I wouldn’t dream of such a thing,” she answered with dignity. “I don’t eavesdrop on people’s conversations.”
“I’m very glad to hear it.”
“Besides, I’d never get away with it,” she added as he left the kitchen. “The stairs squeak abominably, and you’d hear me coming by a long way.”
Her words made him grin. She was right about the stairs. He went up to David and Molly’s bedroom, listening to the creaking and groaning of the steps as he mounted them. The noise was loud enough that it woke the innkeeper and his wife, and when he reached their bedroom door, he found it open. Both of them were standing just inside the room, and Molly had a lit lamp in her hand.
“What is it?” David demanded. “What’s happened?”
“We have a problem, but I believe I have resolved it.” Ethan entered the room and shut the door behind him. He told the couple succinctly of the events of that evening and his agreement with Katie.
When he had finished, both David and Molly stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Finally, Molly let out a heavy sigh and shook her head in disapproval. “And Katie agreed to this insane arrangement?”
“Of course. She has little choice but to agree.”
David pushed back his nightcap, setting it askew. “This is a fine kettle of fish,” he muttered. “Using innocent girls as spies.”
“That girl is no innocent,” Ethan countered harshly. “She intended to spy on us and sell that knowledge to Gage. She knows her way about well enough.”
“Aye, perhaps she does, but you can see why by just looking at her. What is the purpose of making her your mistress?”
“If everyone thinks she’s my mistress, she can move in my Tory circle and help me find out Lowden’s purpose in Boston. I can let a house for her nearby and use it as an alibi for myself.”
“An alibi?” David repeated. “What do you mean?”
“If Ethan Harding is ever suspected or followed, it will be assumed that my carriage has stopped in front of her house because I am staying the night with her. I can then change clothes there and sneak out the back for my nighttime activities. Katie can also carry messages for me.”
“This could be dangerous work for a slip of a girl.”
“Can you think of anyone more suited to the task?” Ethan countered. “She is intelligent, resourceful, and she’s an even better liar than I am. In fact, she has all the qualities needed in a spy.” The scene in North Square flashed through his mind again, and he added, “She has another extraordinary talent. She has the ability to captivate any man she chooses.”
“Except you, it seems,” Molly put in.
“Except me,” Ethan agreed, ignoring the sarcasm.
David spoke again. “All this may very well be true. But the real question is, can she be trusted? Given her intention, I doubt it.”
Ethan shrugged. “Katie has no political convictions, but she is not a fool. She knows her refusal would be a worse option. Besides, I had little choice, and I have a very powerful incentive for her to keep silent. She is a runaway bondswoman who made it very clear to me this evening she does not want to be returned to her master.”
“And you threatened to do exactly that!” Molly shot him a furious look. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing! You would really have sent her back to indenture if she had refused? That young girl who’s had nothing in her life but misery? Really, Ethan, sometimes you can be incredibly cruel.”
He was not perturbed by Molly’s outrage. He had expected it, given that she had become inconveniently fond of the girl. He returned her hostility with a cool glance of his own. “I warned her to stay out of my business, and she responded by following me home, hoping to betray me to Gage for money. I cannot afford to let her sell what she knows about me. Can you think of any other way to ensure her silence?”
“So you will use threats and intimidation to force her into committing sedition? What if something happens to her? It’s not as if you can protect her from getting arrested.”
“I already told her I will buy her indenture and free her. She’ll be getting her freedom out of this, and that is what she truly wants. So we all benefit by this arrangement.”
“How convenient,” Molly responded tartly.
“Would it be better to let her go and have her running to Gage at the first opportunity?” Before she could answer, he went on, “Or perhaps you think letting the girl steal on the streets and run the risk of getting hanged for theft is a better choice? Or perhaps you think it’s better for her to remain on the run from a lecherous master who will eventually find her and drag her back to what was no doubt a sordid life?”
He rose to his feet. He’d had no sleep for two days, he was tired, and he was in no mood for Molly’s moral recriminations. To his relief, she made no further arguments, and Ethan started for the door. “I’d best go before it gets light. I’ll make the arrangements to let a house for Katie. I should be able to find something suitable nearby within a day or two. Until I get her settled in her new situation, let her continue working here. Molly, I want you to keep a close eye on her. God only knows what she’ll take it into her head to do next. She bears watching.”
“Aye,” the woman said heavily, “I’ll do it. I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”
“Good.” Ethan paused in the doorway and glanced back at the couple. “I told her only what she absolutely needed to know and no more. I did not mention Lowden to her, and I’m not going to do so until I must. I’m certain she’ll be asking more questions, but hold your tongues. The less she knows, the better for us all, including her.”
Both of them nodded their agreement, and Ethan left their bedroom. He returned downstairs, where he found Katie still sitting in the same chair by the kitchen table where he had left her. As he entered the room, she stood up and followed him to the door without speaking.
Before he departed, Ethan felt it necessary to remind her once again of her position. “I’ve told Molly to keep an eye on you when I’m not around. I’ll find a house for you in the next few days. Until then, you’ll continue to work for
Molly, and I’ve instructed her to keep close watch over you. Remember, Katie, if you betray my trust, I’ll not hesitate to send you back to Mr. Willoughby.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” she answered, and shut the kitchen door in his face.
Ethan stared at the closed door for a long moment, oddly reluctant to leave. He remembered the terror in her face at his threat to send her back to her master, and he could not help wondering what this James Willoughby had done to her. Even more important, he could not help wondering why he cared.
Stunned, Katie stared at the closed door of the kitchen. This whole situation was so incredible, so damned funny, she was finding it hard to believe.
With David, Molly, and their son in the house, Katie dared not laugh out loud, but she was hard-pressed to smother her jubilation. She’d been a spy for the Tories less than two weeks, and already she had the information she had been sent to find. Now she knew all about John Smith. She knew he was his own informant—Ethan Harding found out what the governor was up to, and, posing as John Smith, he passed that information to the rebel leaders. Lowden would surely give her the freedom she desired in exchange for news as valuable as this.
But would he? She froze, and her jubilation evaporated as she remembered the cruelty in Lowden’s eyes. She could not afford to trust him, either. First, she would need proof of what she knew. But if she told Lowden what she knew, handed over the proof he required, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t send her back to Willoughby anyway. She would have to protect herself. Before she handed over the proof that the viscount required, she would require papers signed by the governor that she was indeed a free woman, and she would demand the money Lowden had promised her. With working papers and money, she would run as far away from Willoughby, Ethan Harding, and Viscount Lowden as she could get. Then she would be safe. She would be free. No man would control her. Not even Ethan.
She remembered how he had kissed her in this very room, how that kiss had scattered her wits and robbed her of the ability to breathe. She’d been kissed before, but always she had been in charge of the situation, her goal to get something from a man, usually his purse. She had always thought kissing a necessary but rather repugnant activity. She hadn’t known it could make a girl feel as if she were melting like butter.
Katie scowled, still frustrated by her body’s traitorous response to that kiss and the man who had caused it. He could kiss her like a lover, sure enough, but he could also send her to her death the next day without losing any sleep over it.
Well, the tables were turned now. She was the one in charge of the situation. She held his life in the palm of her hand. All she had to do was find the proof Lowden required, and she would be free. She thought of Ethan leaning over her, his eyes as bleak and gray as a winter morning. He might mask his ruthlessness with good looks and charm, but she had no doubt that he was as merciless as Lowden, perhaps more so. She could not trust Ethan, either.
Look out for yourself. No one else will.
The sound of footsteps interrupted her thoughts, and she grabbed for the broom that stood in one corner of the kitchen. When Molly entered the room, she found Katie busily sweeping the floor.
Uncertain how much Ethan had told the other woman about her midnight activities, it was hard to know what manner she should adopt. After all, she had been caught where she had no business to be. Katie decided saying nothing was her safest course. She could feel Molly watching her, but she kept her head lowered and her gaze fixed on the floor.
Molly watched her for a long moment without speaking, then heaved a sigh. “Come along, Katie. It’s dawn. We’d best get ourselves to North Square and do our marketing. If we dally too long, all the fresh vegetables will be gone.”
Leaning back in the doorway, Molly shouted, “Daniel, you’d best milk that cow and fetch water from the well. David, don’t you let him shirk his chores. Katie and I will be back in a few hours.” She crossed the kitchen to pull her cloak from one of the pegs on the wall beside the door. Then she glanced at Katie. “Come along.”
Katie set aside her broom and donned her cloak. She’d pocketed that extra half a crown from the viscount instead of purchasing a bonnet, but she figured the hood of her cloak would work just as well as a signal. She pulled the hood up around her face as an indication that Captain Worth should stay away. She did not want to meet with the viscount until she had the proof that would ensure he kept his part of their bargain. Besides, she could not very well arrange a meeting with the viscount as long as Molly was with her.
The sun was just coming up as she followed Molly out of the tavern and into the street. The two women headed toward the marketplace in silence, and it was not until they had walked several blocks that Molly finally addressed the situation on both their minds.
“Well, Katie,” she said, her breath coming in white puffs from the cold, “you’re in a fine mess now.”
Katie suppressed a smile. If Molly only knew the truth! But her voice was meek and—she hoped—contrite when she answered, “Yes, ma’am.”
Molly turned to give her a disapproving frown. “What on earth were you thinking of, following him through the streets in the middle of the night and thinking you could sell the information? I warned you. Didn’t I tell you to stay away from him?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“But no, you wouldn’t listen,” Molly went on as if she had not spoken. “That’s the worst of girls—they never do listen. Always think they know best.” She shot Katie a warning glance from beneath the brim of her bonnet. “Ethan has his cause, and that’s all that matters to him. You interfere in that, and he’ll cut you to ribbons without a qualm.”
Katie had no doubts about that. Yet she could not help but wonder if there was any heart at all beneath his ruthless ambitions. She remembered him sitting in the kitchen with Daniel, the coldness gone from his eyes and the weariness gone from his face as he talked with the boy. She remembered the affection he had shown the child, but she also remembered his callous treatment of her last night, and she wondered how a man could be so tender one moment and so ruthless the next. It was such a contradiction.
She could still hear the passion in his voice when he had spoken of a new world, a world where people controlled their own destinies. An absurd notion, of course, and one that King George would never allow. Ethan and his friends were fighting a losing battle, and Katie knew that being on Lowden’s side was the only choice for her.
Molly spoke again, breaking into her thoughts. “I thought you an intelligent girl, but now I’m beginning to think you’ve no more sense than a hen. By casting your lot with Ethan, do you realize the danger you are putting yourself in?”
“You and David have obviously cast your lot with him as well,” she pointed out. “So who has no sense?”
“Aye, you’ve the right of it there,” the other woman agreed. “But I never claimed to have any sense, and I know for certain that husband of mine has none, either. We’re idealistic fools, I suppose. Still, we would follow Ethan into hell and back if he demanded it.” Before Katie could ask the reason why, Molly added, “Instead, he has demanded it of you.”
“Indeed?” Katie murmured. “Perhaps you are right, but he gave me little choice.”
“Aye. He would have returned you to your master.”
“And that would be worse than hanging.” She took a deep breath. In a hard voice, she added, “I will never go back to Virginia. I will never be indentured again. In truth, I’d prefer to be hanged for sedition.”
Molly turned her head to look at her, and her brown eyes were not without sympathy. “Beat you, did he, that master of yours? Or something even more cruel, perhaps?”
Katie shuddered. “You don’t know what it was like,” she whispered. “You can’t possibly know.”
“Can’t I?” Molly pulled off her knitted glove and turned her palm up to reveal the T that marked her skin, a brand identical to Katie’s. “I was indentured myself once. I know exactly how you feel. All you
can think about is surviving one day to the next.”
Katie knew that wasn’t enough. She didn’t want merely to survive. She had done that nearly all her life. She wanted to be free and secure enough that she never need worry about going hungry or being a man’s property or sleeping in the cold.
She had no doubt that Ethan intended to use her to gain his own ends, but she had intentions of her own. She had to bide her time, keep him dangling until she could find the proof Lowden required. Then, and only then, Ethan’s threat to send her back to Willoughby would mean nothing. She would have freedom, money, security. Everything she had ever wanted. As for Ethan, he would be hanged for sedition.
Katie abruptly stopped walking.
He’ll hang. The thought whispered through her like a cold wind, and she shivered at the vision in her mind of Ethan swinging lifeless on the gallows. If he died, it would be at her hands.
Suddenly, all her triumph left her, and all her brash self-confidence disappeared. Suddenly, the situation was not amusing or exciting, and the idea of the reward she would receive no longer brought any sense of satisfaction or relief.
Katie shook her head, fighting back the guilt that was suddenly twisting her insides. Now was a damned inconvenient time to develop a conscience.
She pushed guilt aside. After all, it would not be her fault if he died. Ethan had chosen his course, with all its dangers, knowing that sedition was a hanging offense. And it was not as if she had the luxury of other choices. She would not go back to Willoughby and sacrifice her own life to save a man she barely knew from his own folly.
Katie knew she had not chosen this course—it had been forced on her—and she could not change that now. She told herself not to think about the price Ethan would pay for her freedom. She told herself not to think about the fact that he would die because of her. But no matter what she told herself, the harsh truth remained. A new life for her meant death for him.
Lord North would be expecting a report. Viscount Lowden frowned down at the letter he was composing to the king’s chief minister, not at all pleased with it. North would be impatient for results, and there were no results yet. He was going to New York to determine the extent of rebellion there. Perhaps he should wait until he returned to send North a dispatch.
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