The Raider (12 page)

Jessica didn't say a word but picked up Sam and began to hug him until he also began to cry.

“Here,” Alex said, taking the baby from her. “Who wants to hear a story about pirates?”

The children, scared, tired, wanting anything to make their world seem safe again, agreed eagerly.

Jessica, looking numb, walked out the front door.

“Stay by her,” Alex told Nathaniel. “Don't let her go far.”

Nate nodded and followed his sister outside.

An hour later, Alex had all the children in bed and, he hoped, asleep. Jessica had returned, and she and Eleanor had repaired the mattresses enough that they all could sleep for the few hours left of the night.

“Jessica,” Eleanor said, “we have to accept help from someone. Look at us. All the clothes we have are our nightclothes.”

“We'll repair them.”

“We have no cooking utensils, no table, no chairs. They destroyed the flour. We have
nothing.”

“We'll manage,” Jessica said. “We'll repair the clothes and eat off clam shells.”

Alex entered the room. “Eleanor,” he said softly, “why don't you go to bed? Jess, how about a walk outside?” He didn't give her a chance to refuse but took her arm and led her through the doorway. There was a hint of dawn in the sky. He stopped at the edge of the cove by the water.

“It
was
you with the Raider, wasn't it?” Alex asked.

Jessica stood still and looked at the water.

Alex turned her to face him and gave her a little shake. “How could you do such a damnably stupid thing? Do you realize that you risked not only your life but your brothers' and sisters' lives as well?”

What had happened in the last few hours was beginning to penetrate Jessica's brain. What they had lost, what they could have lost—all because of her. She lowered her head and nodded.

“From what I heard, you ran into the midst of a circle of gunpowder that was about to explode. And for what? To save the life of a man you don't even know.”

Slowly at first, tears began to roll down Jessica's cheeks. She could taste the salt in her mouth but she didn't wipe them away. “I know,” she whispered. “The children could have been hurt.”

“Do you always plan to do this, to act first and think later? Oh God, Jessica, you could have been killed.” He wanted to pull her into his arms but he didn't dare. He was torn between wanting to thank her and wanting to strangle her.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered, her throat nearly closed with unshed tears. “I couldn't let him be killed. Marianna told me it was a trap and I
had
to warn him. There was nothing else I could do. I didn't mean for the children to be hurt. I didn't mean—”

“Ssssh,” he said, taking her hands in his. He didn't dare allow himself to touch her in any other way.

“He was hurt.” She pushed up the sleeves of her nightgown to show him the dried blood. She'd only had time to wash it off her hands before Pitman had burst into the house. “He threw his body over mine when the powder went off and he was hurt. He may be lying in a ditch bleeding to death. Pitman's soldiers will find him and kill him.”

He tightened his grip on her hands. “If Pitman searches the houses, your Raider will have time to escape. I don't think he's bleeding to death.”

“How would you know?” she snapped.

“That's better.” He smiled and drew a handkerchief from his pocket. His voice changed. “Now, Jess, we've got to talk business. You may be willing to eat your pride and try to clothe yourself with it, but those children deserve better. There are three trunks of clothes at my house that belonged to my mother and heaven knows Marianna couldn't fit more than her left leg in any of those dresses. It's time my father quit enshrining everything my mother touched. And there are trunks of children's clothes in the attics. They were to be used for our children, but Marianna doesn't look like she'll have any, Adam and Kit are too busy doing glorious deeds to settle down, and no woman will have me, so you may as well take those clothes, too. No! Not one word of protest. In a way, this has been caused by a Montgomery and Pitman's atrocities will be righted, as best they can be, by a Montgomery. Tomorrow we'll look into finding you some furniture and something to eat. Now, I want you to go to bed and get what sleep you can.”

Jessica managed a small smile through her tears. “You really were wonderful tonight, Alex. Thank you for saving the house from being burned.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “Thank you,” she repeated and went inside the house. She tried not to look at the debris around her, but just as she was turning toward the mattress where Eleanor was sleeping, she heard one of the children crying.

She mounted the stairs to the loft. At first glance, all the children seemed to be asleep—but Nathaniel had his eyes too tightly shut. She knelt beside the bed and pulled the boy into her arms. He tried to do the manly thing and control his tears, but Jess rubbed the back of his neck and rocked him and he cried until he didn't have any more tears left. Nate acted so grown up that sometimes she forgot that he was just a little boy.

“Is he going to burn our house down?”

“I don't know,” Jess answered truthfully. Pitman had been thwarted tonight, but she didn't know what would happen when Alex or someone else wasn't around to stop him.

“I'm scared, Jessie. Mr. Pitman hates us. Why?”

“I'm not sure. I think he hates the Raider and he thinks we're connected with him.”

“But you
are
connected with the Raider, Jessie. You see him at night and you saved him from the gunpowder, didn't you? You're the only woman brave enough to walk into gunpowder. Maybe Mr. Pitman knows that about you.”

“I'm not sure it's bravery as much as stupidity. Someone had to save him. When Marianna told me—”

Nate drew away from her. “Why didn't
she
save the Raider? She came to you because you're brave and she isn't. And Mr. Alex is brave, too.”

“That he is. Now you go to sleep. It'll be morning soon and we have lots of work to do.” When he started to speak, she smoothed his hair. “I don't know the answers to your questions. Maybe someday you'll be like me and act before you think. But from now on, I'll think of my family first. All right?”

“Yes, Jess. Good night.”

“Good night, Nate.”

*   *   *

Nick was awake by the time Alex returned from the Taggert house—as was everyone in the Montgomery house.

“What have you done now?” Nick growled. “A man can't get any sleep with you roaming about the country. Your father wants to see you.”

“He can wait,” Alex said. Now that he was home and with someone who knew his secret, he didn't have to hide his pain. “Help me undress. The blood's stuck my clothes to me.”

“Ah, I'd heard the Raider was wounded. Your brother-in-law has dogs looking for you and the woman.” Nick helped Alex ease out of his banyan, then his nightshirt. Under the garments was wrapped the padding and under that his tattered Raider costume. “It looks as if some of the gunpowder hit you.”

“Just the debris. It removed some skin on my back.”

Nick gave a low whistle as he pulled away the blood-soaked padding. Great furrows of skin were gouged from Alex's back and embedded in the gashes were pieces of black silk. “I'm going to soak this with water. It'll loosen the blood. I take it the woman was Mistress Jessica.”

“Of course. Only she'd be fool enough to walk into a circle of gunpowder that was ready to explode.”

“But she saved your miserable life, didn't she? I'm going to have to use a knife to remove the cloth. My father would disown me if he saw me playing nursemaid.”

“Stop bragging and get on with it.”

“Where did you go after the explosion?”

“To save Jessica's hide. Pitman ran right to her, just as I thought he would.”

“So now Mr. Pitman has another enemy: Alexander Montgomery. How are you going to smooth this one over?”

Alex gritted his teeth against the pain as Nick pulled shreds of silk from the raw places on his back. If he could have had treatment soon after the explosion, it wouldn't have been this painful because the blood would not have dried with bits of the fabric inside the wounds. But he didn't regret his actions. He had been right in going to Jessica before having his own wounds seen to. As it was, he had barely made it to her in time. “I don't know. I just want to sleep for a few days. Tell Pitman I am indisposed after my ordeal at the Taggerts.”

“And let him suspect you may have injuries besides exhaustion?”

“Then I'll tell him I'm in love with Jessica and I couldn't bear to see her come so close to harm.”

“You're in love with her? Or is the Raider?”

Alex was quiet for a moment. “She risked her life to save a man she says she hates. She's as bad as Abigail, in love with a dashing figure on a black horse.”

“Sit up and I'll bandage your ribs.”

Alex struggled to sit up. “Alexander rides up and holds two pistols at the head of the king's man and all he gets is a kiss on the cheek. Yet the Raider stupidly walks into a trap and he gets tears shed over his welfare. She was scared the bastard was bleeding to death in some ditch. And when
I,
Alexander, assured her he was safe, she bit my head off. Damned stupid woman! Why can't she see who is the real hero in her life? Do
all
women fall in love with a pretty face and broad shoulders?”

Nick poured a tumbler full of rum. “Tell me, if Nelba Mason had been standing on the porch that day of the first raid, would you have tried to kiss her? Would you have dumped her in washwater if she'd refused you?”

Alex downed the rum and shivered at the thought. “I'd have celebrated,” he said a moment later. “It's not the same thing at all. Nelba can't remove that nose of hers and besides, she didn't risk her life to save the Raider.”

“Maybe she would if the Raider courted her in the middle of the night.”

Alex refused to comment. “Get out of here and let me sleep. And take those bloody rags and burn them.”

“Yes, master,” Nick mocked before leaving.

A
ND
now the Montgomerys seem to have adopted the Taggerts,” Mrs. Wentworth said. “I think that if they wanted to exercise their Christian charity, they could have chosen a more worthy cause.”

Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth were at breakfast with their only child, Abigail. There was nothing on the table, in the room or on their bodies that wasn't of the finest quality, all of it imported from England. They wanted nothing to do with any crude American products.

“Eleanor has worked for the Montgomerys for years—she practically runs that house—and of course there is the fact that if Marianna hadn't married Mr. Pitman, the Taggerts might still have their belongings,” Mr. Wentworth said.

“The Raider!” Mrs. Wentworth declared. “Don't mention that highwayman to me. It's people like him who are going to get us in trouble with England. We lose England's support and
then
where will we be? What kind of government could we have without England to guide us?”

Abigail was concentrating on a buttered roll. “What did you hear about last night's explosion?”

“Everyone thinks that Jessica Taggert was involved. Mr. Pitman had every right to search their house, although I didn't appreciate his waking us up to make sure we were all here. As if
we'd
be involved with a ruffian like that Raider,” Mrs. Wentworth said, giving her daughter a fierce look. “No one in my family would ever have anything to do with such as him.”

“Do you think Jessica Taggert was that brave?” Abigail asked. “Do you think the Raider is in love with her?”

“Love? Ha!” Mrs. Wentworth snapped.

“The town is saying she's a heroine,” Mr. Wentworth offered. “I was out this morning and that's all anyone could talk of, how Jessica had saved his life, and how much this town owes her. Not to mention the Raider. He'd be dead now if it weren't for Mistress Jessica.”

Abby stood up so quickly, her chair nearly fell. “No one knows for
sure
that it was Jessica Taggert who saved him!” she cried. “The soldiers said she looked as if she'd been asleep and there was no evidence that
she
was the one who helped the Raider. If Alexander Montgomery hadn't—”

“Now there's a young man you ought to encourage,” Mr. Wentworth said. “Alex had many fine qualities as a boy and I'm sure—”

“Now he wears them on the outside,” Abigail interrupted. “He's fat and ugly and lazy and he follows Jessica Taggert around like her lapdog.”

“Yes, but his father owns—”

“I don't care what his father owns. I'd much rather have a
man
like the Raider than a hundred rich, fat toads like Alexander Montgomery.” She ran from the room.

Upstairs in the privacy of her own room, she was boiling angry at the entire town. Why was it assumed that a bit of riffraff like Jessica Taggert would risk her life to save the Raider? After all, wasn't it she, Abigail, who he'd first kissed? He'd shown his disapproval of Jessica by throwing her in the washwater, but he'd obviously very much liked Abigail. So why did they think Jessica was the one who'd saved him? Why not Abigail?

She leaned forward and looked into her mirror. That mirror had come all the way from France. Wouldn't someone as brave and gentlemanly as the Raider choose a woman from a family who could afford French mirrors? Why would anyone believe he'd want one of the Taggerts?

She heard the front door open and close as her parents left, her father going to the big ship's chandlery he owned and her mother to the market. Not that her mother
had
to do her own shopping, but one can never trust servants.

Abigail kept looking at herself in the mirror and wondered what the town would think if they knew someone else had saved the Raider. Abby wondered if even the Raider knew who the woman had been. After all, it had been very dark and everyone said she had been covered from head to foot with a black cape and hood.

She stood up straighter, admiring her shape in the glass. If the Raider didn't see the woman and he thought Abigail had saved him, then wouldn't he be…grateful?

Of course she'd need some proof—just in case people didn't believe her. With a smile, she thought of the flames in the fireplace downstairs.

*   *   *

As the
Mary Catherine
sailed into dock, the first thing Jessica saw was Alex glistening in the sun, looking like a small, oddly shaped lighthouse. If he was waiting for her, then he must have news she had to know.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” he called, smiling.

Jess frowned but she hoped his smile meant there was no tragic news he had to tell her. “Aye, sailor,” she called as she threw down the gangplank. “Did you bring your scented handkerchief?”

“That I did,” he called back. “And a pomander,” he said, holding up an orange studded with cloves.

He started up the gangplank, but halfway up, he seemed to have an attack of sorts. He put his hand to his head and began to sway as if he might fall. Jessica ran to him and put her arms about his waist to steady him.

“Are you all right, Alex?”

“Much better now, thank you. Just let me stand here and get my balance. No, don't move your arms. I need your strength.” He rested his cheek against the top of her head a moment. “Ah, I think I can move now. If you'll just help me inside.”

“Of course, Alex,” she said, holding on to him as he leaned heavily against her. She had to help him every step of the way into her cabin. She helped him into a chair. “Could I get you some rum?”

Alex sighed as he leaned back in the chair. “No, I raided the larder. Here.” Slowly, he began pulling things from his pockets: a little bottle of French cognac, half a loaf of bread, a quarter pound of cheese and a jar of mustard.

Jess laughed. “And I thought you had news.” Since Alex seemed to be so weak, she sliced the bread and cheese, applied mustard liberally and handed it to him.

“I do. Abigail Wentworth has been arrested for helping the Raider escape the gunpowder.”

“What?!” Jessica gasped, choking on a mouthful of bread. “But she couldn't have. Didn't Pitman search the houses and wasn't she home sleeping?”

“So were you, Jessica,” Alex said calmly, sipping his cognac.

“All right, give me the details. What did that idiot girl do to get herself thrown in jail?”

“She started telling people that she was the one who saved the Raider. And as proof she showed where her hair had been singed off by the explosion.”

“Didn't she realize that when Pitman heard, she'd be arrested?”

“I don't think she thought that far ahead.”

“Probably not,” Jess said. “She probably only thought of getting the Raider's attention. But surely she knew the Raider'd know she wasn't the one who saved him?”

Alex shrugged. “Who knows what she thought? You haven't said much about that night. Was the Raider very grateful to you?”

She ignored his question. “So, what's to be done about Abigail? We can't just let her rot in prison. What will Pitman do to her?”

“Maybe we should let the Raider save her since he's the one she wants.”

“Alex, don't start being jealous again. I'm sorry Abby is in love with the Raider and I know you courted her for a while, but you wouldn't really want her. She doesn't have a brain in her head. As this episode proves. Now, what are we going to do?”

“I don't think
we
should do anything,” he said sternly. “Jess, haven't you learned your lesson
yet?
You nearly destroyed your family's home by running off to help the Raider. Abby has gotten herself in trouble and it's not your responsibility or problem to get her out.”

“The only way she'll be released is if I step forward and confess that I was the one who helped the Raider.”

“Over my dead body,” Alex said with feeling. “And maybe over your own dead body if that's what it takes.”

“I will do as I see fit!” she snapped.

“No, you won't,” Alex said calmly. “I'll get you out of this as I always have.”

“You? What have you ever saved me from?”

Alex looked at his cognac. “So soon they forget. The hangman's noose after you threw the rope and saved the Raider when he stole Pitman's money. Then I saved your house from being burned after you saved the Raider from the gunpowder. Did it ever occur to you, Jess, that this Raider you care so much about, is a particularly incompetent fellow?”

“How can you say that after what he's done to help this town? At least he's
doing
something to stand up against Pitman. He's making a stand when no one else is.”

“It's a stand that usually seems to catch fire—and you're always there with a bucket of water to douse the flames.”

Jess tried to control her anger. “I resent your saying these things, Alex. The Raider, I'm sure, meant well when he went into the gunpowder, it just happened to be a trap. Do you realize that right now he could be dying somewhere? I don't know how badly he was hurt and he couldn't go to someone for medical help or they'd know who he was. The man deserves more respect than you're giving him.”

“Or maybe not as much as you give him. Jess, let's not fight. Abigail is the problem here. I did have an idea of how I might be able to save her from being hanged.”

She was still smarting from his words against the Raider. “All right, let's hear it.”

“If we got someone, a man, to admit that he was with Abby that night, we could—”

“You mean the Raider?” she gasped. “Have the Raider come forward and say he spent the night with her? He was with
me
that night.”

Alex's eyes turned angry. “Can't you get that man off your mind for even a few minutes? I meant
any
man. A sailor. A store clerk. A male pelican for all I care. Just so he can talk. If he came forward and told the court that he was with Abby that night and it was a secret because he didn't want her parents to know, she might be excused.”

“But what about her hair? Stupid girl! The Raider protected me with his own body. Not a hair of mine was singed. Of course he—”

“Jess!” Alex stopped her. “Her hair was singed when they rolled too close to the campfire.”

Jess smiled. “Alex, that's awful. Abby will never be able to hold her head up again in this town.”

“As angry as Pitman is, the way Pitman is angry, she should be grateful to have a head still on her shoulders.”

Jess took a deep drink of her cognac. “But where are you going to find a man foolish enough to get up in front of the town and take the blame for something like that? Especially when he didn't do it?” Her head came up. “What will be their punishment? Surely they'll
both
be punished.”

Alex looked at the last bite of cheese. “Oh, probably nothing more than the stocks,” he said. “But I do have the perfect man in mind.”

“Who?”

“I think I'll surprise you. Leave it to me. I'll settle this like I've settled your other problems.”

“I can take care of myself, but if by some chance you do get Abigail free, I'll do something for you. I'll help you find a wife. By this time next year, the Montgomery house will be crawling with babies.” She put down her drink. “Oh, Alex, I just thought—your weakened muscles don't extend to…I mean…” Her face turned red. “
Can
there be babies? Your babies, I mean.”

He gave her a long look, then turned away and sighed. “I haven't tried being with a woman since my fever, but I think I could do all right if I were propped up and she gave me a great deal of help.” He turned back and gave her a weak smile.

“Oh,” she said, gulping the last of the brandy. “Perhaps we'd better not tell anyone that or we'll never get you a bride. I can't imagine a woman—” She stopped before she hurt Alex's feelings again, but she thought of the Raider, smiling broadly at the idea of his needing any help.

She recovered herself. “You work on a man for Abigail and I'll do my best to find you a bride.”

“It seems that I have the easier job. Here,” he said, tossing her an orange, “eat this and then we'll both set to work.”

*   *   *

Ethan Ledbetter stood in the box before the judges. All the women in the courtroom were leaning forward, eager to hear anything this beautiful young man said.

The judge, in his full, long wig, asked Ethan to repeat himself.

“Mistress Abigail didn't want anyone to know we were lovers, so she said she was with the Raider. She barely made it back before the soldiers came searching. If she'd been a few minutes later, she'd have been caught.”