“Thanks for reminding me. I really needed to be told that, since she begins every sentence with, ‘Any nephew of mine...’” Kit mimicked her screechy falsetto.
“Just tell her you’ve got some business to tend and that you’ll be gone for a few days. You could stay here, be out from under her and she’d never be the wiser.”
“I need to check on Jan’s family, and Maddie has always had an uncanny ability to tell when I’m stretching the truth. No.” Kit shook his head and chewed his pipe thoughtfully. “I need to find something to keep her busy, busy enough to leave me alone.”
“Then she needs another lost cause,” Lee said. “You could suggest she join the movement to clean up the city. Even the authorities have had little success. That’s a cause that should keep her busy.”
“And get her killed, too. She might be bossy and domineering, but despite the trouble she causes, I do deeply care about her. It was Maddie who taught me how to fish. Those sneaky brothers of mine ran off without me because they didn’t want some little kid tagging along. So Maddie took me fishing.” Kit smiled at the memory. “We came home with twice as many fish each as Thomas, Nathan, and Benjamin had all together. She’s a spry one, and just like my mother, when she gets an idea in her head, she doesn’t give up until she’s had her way. Considering her strong views on women, I’d say she would set her sights on cleaning up the bawdyhouses in Frenchtown. Then what would you do whenever you came to port?”
“Same thing I’m doing now,” Lee retorted. “Which reminds me, I’ve an appointment this afternoon with a certain senorita. You’ll have to think of a way to keep your aunt busy on your own. I can’t think of anything, unless you want to loan Maddie to Hallie. I’m sure she could use the help handling those twins. I had one helluva time keeping up with them the other night. All those questions those two ask would keep your aunt busy.”
Kit turned to him. “Now that’s perfect.” He stood and traversed the room again. “I’ll send them—the twins, Hallie, and the girls—to live at my place with Maddie. I can use one problem to solve another. I’ll stay with you until I can find another place.” Kit stopped and spun around to face Lee. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”
“How are you going to get Hallie off that ship?” Lee asked, his voice filled with skepticism.
“I’m thinking...” Kit stuck the pipe back in his mouth and considered his alternatives. He could try to order Hallie off the ship, or carry her off bodily, but in the past week he had learned something. He had gone back to the ship the day after his aunt arrived. Before he’s looked for Hallie, he’d given the boys his old marbles and taught them how to play. Later, when he found her, Kit had a one-sided conversation with a locked cabin door.
He wasn’t above using bribery, and the one thing he could use to bribe Hallie was theSea Haven. Now that he thought about it, he had to admit that if Hallie hadn’t made him so goddamn mad in the first place, he never would have forced the issue of the sale. He’d give Hallie title to the ship if she, along with her brothers and sisters, would move in with his aunt. That high-spirited group would occupy Maddie, and she, in turn, would take care of his wards.
This plan would also solve another problem—his reaction to Hallie. With his aunt guarding Hallie, Kit would be forced to control himself around her. And that was certainly something he needed. It had been a long time since holding a woman in his arms felt comfortable and like home, like family.
What he didn’t need was thoughts of family and marriage mucking up his life. “I’ll bribe her with the ship,” Kit said with resolve.
“So she wins,” Lee said.
“No, I have,” Kit said, reasoning that he’d given up little to set his life back in order.
Dagny stepped from thewooden planks of the wharf onto the gravel of the street. The soft dirt muffled her purposeful steps as she marched up the steep hill, heading for Oatt’s, which was ten blocks and another hill away.
“Hallie’s being ridiculous!” Dagny muttered. “It’s full daylight. Nothing’s going to happen to me.” She continued walking, and thinking about the argument she had with Hallie before she’d slipped away. The whole thing was silly. Hallie was just being overprotective again. It was perfectly safe for her to go alone to get the supplies they needed. Why should she wait for the rest of them? Hallie certainly never did. She used to take off alone all the time.
Dagny looked up the street. There were only a few people coming her way, and just to reassure herself of her safety, she glanced back. There was no one behind her. She crossed another street and was once again on a wood-paved walk. As her heels clipped along the raised wood, Dagny saw that this street, like the last, was almost deserted, but it was darker. She looked up at the high brick buildings, noticing how their added height shadowed the street. A little splinter of fear pierced her, but she dismissed it, rationalizing that Hallie’s dire warnings had stirred her own imagination.
Another set of heels, sounding heavier, deeper, echoed up from behind her. Dagny stopped. So did the sound. She quickened her pace and the heels drummed faster. She looked over her shoulder, but no one was there.
Dagny sighed, relieved and a bit amused by her silliness. She walked on, and within minutes the heavy heels sounded again. She looked again, but still no one was there. The whole thing was making her awfully uneasy. At the crest of the hill, Dagny crossed the street. She needed to ease her mounting fear, and she could see a small crowd a few blocks down the street. She was almost running toward the safety of the crowd. Her anxiety swelled, so she looked back once again. From seemingly nowhere, someone grabbed her arm in a grip so strong that she was suddenly lifted off her scurrying feet.
“You shouldn’t be out alone.”
Duncan!“Oh, thank God,” she breathed, trying to still her galloping heart. She glanced up. Concern cloaked his plain, oversized features, until all she saw was the blue softness in his eyes. “You frightened me.”
“You should be frightened. This is not a good place for a woman to be walking alone. See that group up ahead?” Duncan pointed to the group she had targeted as safe. “Those are Hounds. You know who they are, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said quietly. The Hounds were a notorious gang of thieves who were not above killing to get whatever they wanted. They rivaled the Sydney Ducks for status as the worst bunch of criminals to ever plague a city.
Hoping that he had been the owner of those heavy heels, she asked, “Have you been following me?”
“No. I just came out of the livery and saw you coming this way. Is that why you were running? Was someone after you?” Duncan looked down the street.
Dagny didn’t want any trouble, and now that Duncan was here, she knew she had no reason to be frightened, so she decided not to tell him what she heard. It probably was her imagination anyway. “No, I’m going to Oatt’s, and I’m in a hurry.”
“I’ll go with you. You shouldn’t go alone.” He offered her his arm and led her through a side street. “I’m surprised your sister would let you go alone.”
Dagny grimaced with guilt. “She didn’t.”
“I see,” he said.
She kept her eyes pinned to the ground, wondering what he would think of her admission. She waited for a lecture, but he said nothing, although she could feel his stare.
