“So you did hear me. As for other women, I don’t have the time for courting more women. You are all a man can handle. Of course, your own loyalties are not as clear. You lust after Ethan Ledbetter, spend half your life with Alexander Montgomery and even encourage old man Clymer.”
She pushed away from him. “What right do you have to talk to me about other men? Abigail Wentworth said you climbed in her bedroom window.”
“Who told you that?”
“Ah ha! You admit it.”
He caught her to him, but Jessica wouldn’t look at him and kept her hands tightly to her side. “Jessie, she’s a liar. She pops from behind trees at me. She brags with no reason to boast. A lot of the talk about me would die down if it weren’t for her. She keeps my life in danger.”
Jess softened toward him and when he kissed her hair and held her so closely, she slipped her arms about his waist. “Please leave Warbrooke. Pitman and his soldiers will catch you sooner or later. Your only chance is to leave now.”
“I can’t. There’s work to be done.”
“Work?” She clasped him tighter. “Not another raid? You can’t go.”
“Ah, Jessica, it means a lot to me that you don’t want me caught. Would you care very much to see me hanged?”
“Why should I care?” she said angrily. “What are you to me? I don’t know who you are. I’ve never had a conversation with you. You’ve done nothing but—”
He put his hand under her chin and made her face him. “I’ve done nothing but love you. No other man has been able to chisel through the shell of Mistress Jessica. Other men think you need no one, but I know better. You just need a man who is as strong as you are.”
“I hate you,” she murmured as she buried her face in his silk-clad shoulder.
“Yes, I can see that you do. Now, give me a kiss because I have to go.”
She kissed him lingeringly.
“Stay home tomorrow or go fishing. I hope I see you tomorrow night.”
“Hope? What do you mean?”
“Ssssh,” he whispered, kissing her softly to silence. “Eleanor will be out here in a minute.” He kissed her again, then pulled her arms away, kissed her palms and was gone.
For a moment, Jess stood there under the trees, rubbing her arms against the cold night air, then went inside. Eleanor didn’t say a word to her but gave her disarranged hair and clothes a keen look. Jessica didn’t offer a word of explanation.
That night, as she was tucking the children in, she leaned over Nathaniel. “What are the English doing that might interest the Raider?”
“Gunpowder,” Nate answered at once, not showing the least surprise at Jessica’s question. “Two wagonloads of gunpowder are being brought from New Sussex tomorrow.”
Jessica nodded and left the room. The Raider meant to take that powder from the English. And do what with it? she wondered. She knew right away that he meant to destroy it so the English couldn’t use it against the Colonists. But all he had to do was make one error and he could go up with the powder.
It was a long time before she was able to go to sleep.
Chapter Eight
JESSICA was relieved that Eleanor didn’t ask a single question when, at five the next morning, she walked with her sister to the Montgomery house. Jess mumbled something about wanting to see Marianna but guessed that Eleanor was at the point where she didn’t want to know exactly what her sister was doing.
Jessica waited until Eleanor had set all the children to a task, then disappeared into the corridors of the big house.
“Jessica!” she heard Sayer Montgomery call and, reluctantly, she went into his room. Sayer didn’t waste any words. “Nathaniel tells me you’re up to something and he thinks you’re seeing the Raider at night.”
Jessica made a vow to kill her little brother the next time she saw him.
“I’ll admit that your temper is lovely for your complexion, but come over here and tell me what is going on. And close that door.”
Obediently, Jessica did as he bid and in just a few sentences, she told him all she knew, ignoring his comment about the Raider’s nightly visits.
“So,” Sayer said, “you think the Raider is going to try to relieve the English of their gunpowder.” He didn’t wait for Jess to answer. “Nothing will happen before tonight. I want you to go fishing today. Stay out all day and come back about sunset. I’ll know something then. Go on now. Bring me fresh fish tonight.”