Lady in the Mist (21 page)

“What is it?” She gave him an encouraging smile.

“You. How I feel about you.” With the aroma of mint and thyme rising on the mist around them, he slid his fingers into her hair, tilted her head back, and kissed her.

Unlike before, this was no mere brush of his lips on hers. It was long and deep and hungry. The world spun while she told herself to stop him. She dropped her bag and cupped his face in her hands while telling herself she should smack both his cheeks. She leaned toward him while telling herself she should run in the opposite direction.

“There.” He raised his head but kept his hand in her hair. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Then why did you?”

“Why did you let me?”

“I—” She licked her lips, tasting something sweet like strawberries and cream. “I always feel lonely after attending a lying-in.”

“I thought a birthing was a joyous occasion.” His tone teased her as his fingers toyed with her earlobe.

She swallowed, trying to concentrate. “It is, but then I have to give the baby to the mother.”

“I see.” He released her, leaving her colder than the mist. “Then you should marry Raleigh Trower.”

“You kiss me, then tell me to marry another man?”

She should have been angered. She wanted to weep.

“I can’t marry you until I’m free, and that looks like it’ll be too far off.”

Four years with only a hope and perhaps nothing at the end, waiting for another man, a man who would leave.

“Yes, four years is too long.” Regret constricted her heart.

“But perhaps it could be sooner.” He stroked the side of her throat. “If you help me.”

She stepped back. “I won’t help you run away. The consequences are too great.”

“And I would be a rascal to ask such a thing of you. But—” He glanced toward the house, where yellow light reached through the mist. “Kendall has left for Norfolk for a few days. May I call on you . . . in the daylight?”

“Noon tomorrow. The tide will be coming in. We can do some crabbing.”

“Letty would like that.” He kissed her again, lightly this time. “Trust me, please.”

“That’s probably asking too much right now.” She smiled to soften her words.

He didn’t smile back. “Perhaps you should forgive Raleigh for abandoning you at the altar, so you don’t tar us all with the same brush.”

“I’m not—”

But maybe she wasn’t trusting anyone, wasn’t trusting God, isolating her heart from caring too much. Even falling for Dominick was a way to protect herself. He was impossible to form an alliance with, since she knew he would leave eventually.

She had fallen for him, though. Fallen hard enough to hurt every time she looked at him, though that was such a pleasure.

A shiver raced through her. “Perhaps I am.”

“That’s my girl.” He retrieved her bag and gestured toward the house. “After you.”

She preceded him into warmth and the fragrance of brewing coffee and baking sugar buns. Three pairs of eyes turned toward her, flashed to Dominick, then back to her. One of the identical blonde girls clapped her hand over her mouth and emitted a giggle. Tabitha realized why. Dominick had pulled down her hair.

“I—I just came from a lying-in,” she stammered.

“I encountered her while delivering eggs and cream, dear Letty.” Dominick kissed the cook on the cheek. “I hope this means something delectable for our supper.”

“You should go to bed without any, naughty lad that you are.” She turned her green eyes on Tabitha. “Did he tell you what happened last night?”

“I promised her coffee—and the tale before she walks home.” Dominick drew a chair out from the table. “Sit, Madam Midwife, and I’ll do the honors.”

While the two young women watched and hid snickers behind their hands, he brought Tabitha a cup of coffee and a sugar bun. Before he sat, he gave the twins a stern look. “Don’t you two have dusting or something useful to do?”

“No, Mr. Cherrett,” Dinah said. “Not with the mayor gone.”

“What about your sewing?” Letty turned from the fire and a bubbling pot of something savory. “You have only a week until the festival.”

“Ah, the fete.” Dominick sighed. “My dear Tabitha, I regret to tell you I am no longer allowed to go. It was part of my punishment.”

“I’m so sorry. All the young ladies will miss you.”

And she wouldn’t attend now either. She could go with Raleigh or on her own, but the idea of the festivities without Dominick there to flirt with her, lead her into a reel, or walk her home through the night, left her flat.

“Least of all you?” His dark eyes dared her.

She laughed. “Least of all me, as I won’t be there.”

“I am gratified.” He reached for her hand beneath the table and squeezed her fingers. “Now then, I’ll tell you what happened last night after I left the Trowers’ house.”

He told her of running into Wilkins, of the brief scuffle he allowed Wilkins to win so as not to compound his crime with striking a free man, of being locked in his chamber the rest of the night. He told her the details of his punishment.

“And I know which side my bread is buttered on, where the mayor is concerned,” Letty put in. “He will be locked up at night.”

“She is such a trusting soul.” Dominick’s gaze fell on the older woman. “She knows I’ll acquiesce like a lamb.”

“You will or pay the consequences,” Letty said.

“I’m glad, Dominick.” Tabitha held her cup. “If you’re confined, you can’t be accused of working with the enemy on these abductions, should any more occur.”

“Or should someone decide I should be made to look guilty,” Dominick responded.

Tabitha nodded, then pushed back her chair. “I need to get home. I haven’t had more than two hours of sleep since six o’clock yesterday morning.”

Dominick rose. “I’ll walk you home, if Miss Letty says I can.”

“It might look like dusk out there, but it’s not, so go ahead. I’d feel better if she weren’t alone in this fog.”

Tabitha thanked Letty for the refreshments, then exited the house. Carrying her bag, Dominick strode beside her through the garden and into the alley. By silent consent, they took the back way around the graveyard and out into the square beside the church.

“Shall we avoid the beach today?”

“I think we should. It’ll be full of flotsam after the storm.” She took his arm. “Raleigh regrets what he intended to do, you know.”

“I thought he might. But it doesn’t change the fact he tried, and with whom?”

“He won’t say. And you’re saying too little.”

“I have every intention of being honest with you, Tabitha . . . tomorrow. Not today. Voices carry in the fog.”

And so they did. When she stopped listening to Dominick, she caught snatches of conversation from pedestrians she couldn’t even see. She heard the footfalls before the form loomed up before them, blocking their path.

“You keep low company, Miss Eckles,” Harlan Wilkins said. “Haven’t you learned your lesson about associating with the bondsman?”

“A man’s worth is in what he does, not the station in life he holds,” Tabitha said through stiff lips. “Mr. Cherrett has proved himself worthy of my regard through his actions.”

“You’re just another foolish female then.” Wilkins snorted.

“Like Sally Belote?” Tabitha shot back.

The muscles under her hand went rigid. Wilkins emitted a sound like steam hissing from beneath the lid of a teakettle. It erupted in an epithet.

Tabitha felt her face flame despite the cold mist. She kept her mouth shut. She’d said too much already.

“I’m watching you, Cherrett,” Wilkins growled. “I won’t have an English bondsman wandering about at will in my town.”

Then he was gone, disappearing into the fog.

“That was probably not a wise remark, my dear.” Dominick began walking again, his footfalls swift and light beside hers. “You have thrown down the gauntlet.”

“No, I think I’ve taken it up. He threw it down when he campaigned to have me blackballed with the council.” Tabitha ground her teeth. “But I shouldn’t have spoken in front of you.”

“Perhaps you should let Mayor Kendall know what Wilkins did to that girl.”

“I’ve already broken my vow of confidentiality to my patient with you, which was wrong of me. Of course, it’s not wrong if I’m called into court by one of the interested parties.” They rounded a corner. She caught a whiff of sea air, which promised the fog would blow away by morning, and took a deep breath. “Wilkins knows that.”

“But you’re protecting a blaggard of the worst sort.” Dominick sounded frustrated.

“But now no one will believe me. They’ll think I’ll be lying out of revenge.”

“Perhaps he’ll be happy with that and let the matter drop.”

“Maybe.” Tabitha suppressed a yawn. “So have you read any of the Shakespeare?”

“I’ve read it twice. Prospero’s speech at the end, when he gives up his magic, speaks to the heart.”

“Do Englishmen have hearts?” She meant the question to tease.

He paused on the path and his expression held no humor. “I used to, but I do believe you have it now.”

“Dominick.” She tried to laugh. It was more of a gasp. “You don’t mean anything of the kind.”

“I do.” He drew her to him. With his lips against hers, he murmured, “I love you.”

22

______

Dominick bounded down the steps and into the kitchen. “No uniform. No powder,” he crowed. He felt as free as he would until he completed his mission.

Letty frowned at him from the table, where she kneaded bread. “I don’t like this, Dominick. Tabitha Eckles deserves better than what you can give her right now.”

“He kissed her in the garden,” Deborah called from the pantry.

“Tell me you didn’t.” Letty glared at him.

“A gentleman doesn’t tell anything.” He raised his voice so Deborah could hear over her racket of rattling jars. “And neither does a lady.”

“I’m not a lady.” Deborah poked her head into the kitchen. “I’m an indentured maid servant. And you’re not a gentleman.”

Dominick laughed and tugged one end of the bow of her cap beneath her chin. The ribbon untied and the cap slid over her eyes. With a shriek, she retreated back into the pantry.

Letty thumped the mound of dough onto the table with unnecessary force. “Tell me you didn’t kiss Miss Eckles.”

“A man, gentleman or not, doesn’t lie to a female.” Dominick began to gather the things to make his own tea, a skill he’d acquired since his new life began.

Behind him, Letty sighed. “Are you coming between her and Raleigh Trower?”

“If I am, there’s no harm done to her.” Dominick measured tea leaves into the china pot. “He’s not good enough for her.”

“And you are?”

Dominick’s hand shook, scattering leaves on the table. “Only if I can redeem myself.”

“Oh, Dominick.” Letty reached across the wooden surface and laid her flour-caked hand over his. “You can’t redeem yourself. Only God can redeem you.”

“No, no, I rejected Him.” Dominick used his need to fill the teapot with hot water as an excuse to turn his back on Letty. “I need to earn my forgiveness.”

“You can’t. You can only get it free for the asking.”

How he wished that were true. His heart ached for a freedom that had nothing to do with the sale of his indenture, free of the burdens of the past and present.

“My sins are too many.” He ladled water from the boiling kettle into the teapot. The tannic aroma of tea drifted to him on a cloud of steam. He inhaled it like life itself. “Add kissing Tabitha to them. I am a rake, a rogue, and a roué, but I love her with all my heart.”

“For all the good it will do her,” Letty grumbled. “You’re not free to wed, and she doesn’t deserve to have to wait for you.”

“I know.” Dominick concentrated on pouring his tea. Even if he were a free man, he wasn’t in a position to offer Tabitha marriage. “But a man can wish.”

“I wish you’d tumbled head over heels for someone else.” Dinah stomped into the kitchen, a chamber pot in hand.

Everyone covered their noses and backed away.

“Wash before you come to the table,” Letty admonished her.

“Mr. Cherrett deserves to wear this for flirting with Miss Tabitha.” Dinah tramped out the back door.

“Will you save us some crabs for our supper?” Deborah asked.

“Presuming I catch any.”

“You’ll need bait,” Letty said. “I have some chicken parts from the bird I’m preparing today.”

Dominick shuddered.

“I’ll wrap them up well. Tabitha will have her own, I’m sure. She knows how to catch crabs as well as anyone in these parts, but a little extra never hurt.”

In the end, Dominick agreed to take the bits of the chicken no one wanted to eat. Wrapped separately but in the same basket were several little seed cakes, a bottle of lemonade, and a bowl of strawberries dusted with sugar.

Whistling for the first time since his plans to avoid the church went awry, Dominick set off down the alleyway, swinging the basket and not caring that he couldn’t carry a tune. It was that sort of day—the air warm in the sun and cool in the shade, a light breeze off the ocean, and the aroma of roses and honeysuckle perfuming the air.

He increased his pace. Not until several ladies smiled at him did he realize he had ceased whistling to grin. He didn’t stop just because he might look foolish. He hadn’t felt so good since his world had split apart in January. In a few minutes, he would see Tabitha. In an hour or two, he would tell her as much of the truth as he dared. In the moments after that, surely he would have her agreement to help him.

He reached her gate. A heartbeat before he laid his hand on the latch, the portal opened and she stepped onto the dune. A wide straw hat shadowed her face. A plain blue dress fluttered around her ankles, and she carried a basket in each hand, one covered, the other open to reveal ropes and an iron hoop.

Dominick gave her a flourishing bow. “Though the sun is so bright the shadows are hiding, and the sky so blue it makes the soul ache for heaven, your actions, my lady, have a clandestine appearance. Are you running away?”

“Or toward.” She peeked up at him from beneath the ridiculous hat.

“Hark, is this serious Miss Eckles flirting with me?” He slipped his hand beneath her chin and tilted her head back. “I do believe she is. Behold, the maiden blushes.”

“Dominick.” Her lips smiled, but her eyes were serious. “Patience worries about me spending the day with you. She says you’ll break my heart.”

“And what do you say?” He stroked his thumb along her lower lip.

She dropped her lashes over her eyes. “I say that she’s probably right, but it’s past time I stopped avoiding risk.”

“Oh, my dear.” Dominick feared she would break his heart. He brushed his lips across hers, then took one of the baskets from her. “If there is any way I can find, I will keep your heart safe.”

“But not from you.”

“Most definitely not from me.” He smiled into her eyes. “I want it with me.” He spoke the truth. He simply knew not how he would make desire become reality. “But on to fishing before the tide is wrong. Where are we going?” he asked.

“That jetty.” She gestured down the beach.

“Doesn’t that . . . er . . . belong to the Trowers?”

“Yes. That’s the
Marianne
moored there. His father must have brought her in last night.”

“We’re not going out on her, are we?”

“For crabs?” Tabitha laughed, warming the chill between them. “No, we’re going to work off the side of the jetty. The land shelves into deep water where the boat is moored. That’s where I find the best crabs.”

“Letty sent along some chicken innards for bait.”

“I wondered what was in that basket. I brought some too, as well as some chicken pieces for us and some bread rolls and water, in the event we don’t catch enough crabs to eat.”

“I have strawberries and lemonade.”

“Oooh.” She licked her lips.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then set out across the sand at an arduous pace.

She caught up with him, and they reached the jetty with little conversation and a bit of panting between them. From over the dune, he caught a glimpse of the Trower house, little more than a chimney puffing pale smoke into the cloudless sky.

“Is he well?” Dominick asked.

“I presume so. None of them have contacted me.” Tabitha walked onto the jetty, her footfalls ringing hollow beats against the wooden planks. She set her covered basket at the far end near the prow of the fishing boat. “Bring yours here too. The shadow of the
Marianne
will keep the food and bait cool.”

Dominick obeyed, then looked at the other basket with trepidation. “Why do we need bait?”

“To lure the crabs to us. Watch.” She drew a thin rope from her other basket, tied a slimy chicken liver to it, and lowered herself to the jetty so that she lay on her belly, her head and shoulders over the edge of the jetty. “Grab the net and join me.”

Dominick removed his coat first and rolled up his shirtsleeves, then did as she bade. Below them, the water was crystal blue over white sand. Flotsam from the incoming tide lay about—a bottle, pieces of wood, a hunk of glass the color of the sea. Amongst the litter, multiple-legged creatures roamed.

“They’re hunting for food,” Tabitha explained. “We’re going to lure them up to it. When one grabs it, you take the net and scoop it up.”

“That’s all there is to it?” He felt vaguely disappointed that he didn’t need to do something requiring more of a show of skill.

She laughed. “It’s not as easy as it looks. They wriggle to get away, and they have pincers that hurt if they catch a finger. And don’t forget the pilings. The barnacles on them will rip the skin right off you.”

“Charming.” He turned his head to look at her. “This is amusement for you Virginians?”

“It’s a good excuse for lying about in the sun.” She grinned at him, the earlier gravity gone, and his heart melted as though it were beeswax in the sun.

God, is this more punishment for my sins? To love a woman I can’t have?

But if he won his freedom, he could.

If he gave up his family.

No, he wouldn’t think of that. Not now. He would concentrate on the day, the rose scent of Tabitha, the rhythmic movement of the water swirling around the jetty pilings, the sparkle of sunlight on blue water. The warmth of sunlight on his back. The heat eased tension in his damaged muscles. His eyelids drooped.

“Now,” Tabitha whispered.

Dominick’s eyes flew open. Below him, a hideous crustacean gripped the chunk of chicken liver.

“Slowly,” she admonished.

Dominick nodded, afraid to speak, and lowered the net into the water. The crab released the liver. Dominick rolled to his side, sent the net spinning in an arc, and caught the crab on its retreat.

“Hurray, you did it!” Tabitha flung up her arms. Water flew from the line and onto Dominick’s face.

He wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt. If he ruined this one, he’d need to spend some of his precious store of coins on a new one. But surely seawater was harmless to linen.

He smiled. “Now what do I do with it?”

“Put it in the basket where the net was and hang it from a plank of the jetty. See how that one sticks out? The crabs will stay cool and damp that way.”

“But we only have one.” He gazed at the spiny, buglike creature. “And it’s no beauty.”

“But it is. It’s enormous. And we’ll get more.”

And they did. While the sun poured over them like melted sugar syrup and the wind kept them from growing too hot, they took turns dangling the bait into the water and employing the net to scoop the hapless feeders into their clutches. After a while, they switched sides of the jetty. While doing so, Dominick glanced toward the dunes and caught a glimpse of a man standing a hundred yards away. With the sun behind him, the man’s features were indiscernible, but Dominick suspected, from the breadth of the shoulders, it was Trower watching them again.

“We’re being watched,” he said.

Tabitha glanced inland. “It’s Raleigh. He should be in bed.”

“Do you want to go speak with him? I can rest here.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Raleigh can come to me when he’s ready to tell me the truth about the other night.”

“When I’m done talking to you, you may already know.” Dominick smoothed a lock of hair off of her cheek, soft hair on softer skin. Just a little kiss on her brow . . .

She swallowed and drew away. “He can still come to me. Will you fetch your bait? I’m all out.”

He did so, nearly gagging at the smell. “Do I want to eat a creature that eats this?”

“You eat chickens, and they eat bugs.”

“True, but I don’t have to watch them do it.”

“You didn’t watch the chickens when you were—but of course you didn’t.”

“No, I watched my father eat lesser beings for breakfast, spit them out at noontime, and feed them to the goats for dinner. Now, hand me that line.”

They caught a half dozen more crabs before Tabitha spoke again. “You don’t like your father very much, do you?”

“I used to.” He remembered running to his father to show a perfect list of sums and anticipate the praise he knew was coming. “When I was young enough to think he could do no wrong.” He dropped the baited string into the water. “I’ve had enough of crabbing. May we eat something besides these water bugs?”

“If you like.” Face sober, Tabitha scrambled to her feet. “Let’s take the baskets of food to the sand.”

They retrieved the food baskets from the shade of the fishing boat, and each carried one ashore. Dominick set his basket in a hollow of sand and retrieved the lemonade, two glasses, and the bowl of strawberries. The dusting of sugar had brought out their juices. He would feed them to her so she didn’t stain her fingers. If only—

Behind him, Tabitha screamed. Dominick spun around in time to see the triangular head and catlike eyes of a snake rear up from the other basket.